Free-Will Offerings by W. T. KNOX

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 23, 1913

Free-Will Offerings

By W. T. KNOX

WHEN one has rendered to the Lord all the tithe, or a tenth of all his increase, has he then discharged all his obligation in the support of the work of God in the earth? The tithing system itself teaches that this is not so. It has been said that this regulation, among other things, teaches man God’s ownership; for if to the Lord belongs the right to reserve to himself a tenth of man’s substance, it is evident that he has the power to make reservation concerning a greater portion, or all. But it pleased him thus to reserve but a tenth. While he has done this, yet he tells us that all that the earth contains is his.

“For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains; and the wild beasts of the field are mine.” Ps. 50:10, 11.

“The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts.” Haggai 2:8.

And even that which man has of himself accumulated, the Lord reminds us has come from him, and he warns us against holding wrong ideas concerning it. “And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.” Deut. 8:17, 18. This shows that from the Lord’s standpoint the substance entrusted to man, and even his ability to get wealth, whether by the work of his hands or the fruit of his brain, are trusts to be used primarily in the establishing of God’s covenant in the earth; that man in these matters is to recognize himself as God’s trustee, or steward.

This is in keeping with the teachings of Christ in the parable of the talents. “For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.” “After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.” Matt. 25:14, 15, 19. Whatsoever we possess, then, is of God, be it much or little, and there will come a time when we must render unto the Lord a reckoning concerning the goods, or the talents entrusted to us, and the use to which we have put them.

The parable represents two of these servants so exercising their stewardship that upon the reckoning they were able to return to the lord his own with increase. The third is represented as hiding his talent in the earth. He may have made great increase of his talent in things that belong to the earth. He may have gathered treasure of gold and silver, houses and lands, and flocks and herds, but in the reckoning day, he had nothing to return to the Lord; no increase had been gained for the kingdom of heaven. He had “digged in the earth, and hid his Lord’s money;” he had failed to lay up, or invest, his treasure in heaven. We can even imagine that this unfaithful steward had paid into the treasury the tithe required of the Lord, yet he fell short because the remaining nine tenths had not been devoted to the work of establishing God’s covenant in the earth.

The children of God are not only his servants, but he has given them the privilege of entering into partnership with him, of becoming associates with him in the greatest enterprise being carried on in the earth, of building up or establishing an eternal kingdom of righteousness. “We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.” 2 Cor. 6:1. Who would not rather be a worker with him than simply a worker for him? But to be a partner with God carries greater responsibility than to be merely a servant.

It is the grace of God that makes this privilege possible. But there is danger that this grace shall have been bestowed upon us in vain, so we are exhorted to receive not the grace of God in vain. What is the grace of God? In 2 Cor. 8:9 we are told: “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.” The grace of Christ, then, was giving up by him the infinite riches of heaven, and taking upon himself a poverty as great as any of us know,—or greater,—a poverty so absolute that from a human standpoint he had nowhere to lay his head, becoming a servant to the poorest of men, even to the most abject and degraded of slaves, so that we through his poverty might be rich, might become the sharers with him of riches such as “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man.”

Now, the Lord is extremely anxious that we shall not receive this grace in vain. To receive his benefits in vain will be to relate ourselves to them as did the foolish servant of the parable,—to dig, or invest in the things of earth, and consume them upon ourselves. To receive them not in vain will be to consecrate ourselves with our all to him; to fill our hands with service to him; to be possessed with the spirit that actuated Christ, causing him to relinquish the riches of heaven for his poverty on earth—for the enrichment of the human family. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” Phil. 2:5. No stretch of imagination will warrant us in concluding that this has been accomplished when we return to the Lord the tithe. Why, when man has paid to the cause of God the whole tithe upon all his increase, even to the last penny, he has not in that contributed a single cent as an offering to the Lord, nor given anything for the building up of the kingdom of God. “The tithe is mine, saith the Lord.” Man can not give that which belongs to another, but the Lord through Malachi accuses men of robbing him in offerings as well as tithes. It must be,

then, that we are inclined to withhold from God’s work the substance he has entrusted to us, to that extent that he looks upon it as robbery.

Some are surprised to see in the Word how prominent the instruction on offerings is made. The solution is evidently found in man’s natural tendency to consume upon himself all that he obtains, or to hoard it up for like selfish purpose. From Genesis to Malachi the Lord makes evident our duty and privilege in making offerings to him. Constantly, in different ways, we are exhorted not to appear before him empty-handed, but that always our offerings are to be of a free-will character. Nor is this a teaching peculiar to Old Testament writers. It is equally prominent in the teachings of Christ and all his apostles.

W. T. KNOX.