The Law of Tithing

By Elder Stephen L. Richards (1900)
Former Counselor in the First Presidency and former member of the Council of the Twelve

MY subject is tithing. I can scarcely hope to contribute a single new thought to this matter, but I have felt that the importance of it would serve to challenge your interest, and I have hoped that some good might result from a discussion of it. For some things that I may say, I acknowledge indebtedness to a little volume, Dealing Squarely with God (Ralph S. Cushman [New York: The Abingdon Press, 1927]).

Relationship of Money and Property to Christianity
YOU can tell the sincerity of a man's interest in anything by the way he puts his money into it” (Dealing Squarely with God, p. 13). Indeed it has been said that the measures of a man's Christianity may be determined by the way he gets and spends his money. It is said that Jesus had more to say about money and property, strange as it may seem, than about any other subject. In sixteen of thirty-eight of His parables money and property are made His theme.

Money and Self
AFTER all, is not money myself? “Money is the medium for which men exchange their abilities, ingenuity, and labor. When a man gives his money he is giving himself, and the way a man gives his money is the way he gives himself. . . . ‘Money is myself. I am a laboring man,’ we will say, ‘and can wield a pickaxe, and I hire myself but for a week at $2 a day. At the close of the week I get $12, and I put it in my pocket.’ What is that $12? It Is a week’s worth of my muscle put into greenbacks and pocketed; that is, I have got a week’s worth of myself in my pocket” (Dealing Squarely with God, p. 25). So when a man gives the money that he has earned, he is giving literally of himself. Giving is worship. We are commanded “not to appear before the Lord empty[-handed].” (See Deuteronomy 16:16-17.) Not that the Lord needs the gift, but man needs to give.

Test of Faith
THE first principle of religion is the recognition of God—faith. The real test of that recognition is giving. By that test we may judge with accuracy the religious attitude of our country. More money is spent for face powder and cosmetics; more for ice cream, soft drinks, and chewing gum; more for cigarettes, respectively, than the total sum expended to support all churches.

Is that a criterion by which we may safely judge the religious attitude, the deep-set religious feeling of the people of the country? Do not the words of Malachi seem pertinent: “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings” (Malachi 3:8).

Sovereignty of God
WE do not rob God by withholding our gift, in the sense that we deprive him of the substance of earth. He always has that substance, never relinquishing it. But we do rob him of the satisfaction and joy that he must feel when his children respond to his mandate and open their hearts in giving and in worship. Someone has said, “God never gives a quit-claim deed, he only grants a leasehold estate, and he who receives the lease must ever return the rental.”

Bought with a Price
NOW the Lord has commanded that a rental be returned for all the substance and blessings he has given to his children. Christ bought us with a price, as we are told in the scripture. Is it to be thought that we are to gain salvation without a price, without giving and paying for it? When we speak of paying in this sense, we do not mean that pay which is given as if in barter. We mean the return of substance which is committed to out stewardship and which we hold in trust for the one who has so blessed us.

Partnership with God
I like to think of the Lord as a partner because the essence of partnership is a sharing of profits. It is, however, indispensable in a partnership that there shall also be a sharing of the burdens of the enterprise. The honor and the satisfaction that come to one in the realization that he lives his life in partnership with God is to me a lofty and exalting thought. One cannot hope to realize the profits from that venture without bearing his portion of the expense—the giving which is a requisite.

Payment of Dues
THE Church is probably the only society in the world where a man is not suspended from membership for failure to pay his dues. In substantially every other body organized for social or material gain, if a man fails to pay his stipulated contribution, he is dropped. While the Church does not drop from membership those who fail to pay, I feel certain that those who fail to pay their stipulated portion automatically drop themselves from the real advantages of Church participation and the blessings that inure from activity within it.

Spiritual Power
OBSERVANCE of tithing brings spiritual power, and to me, that is the main thing. Religion is more than mere repose or relaxation. It is positive spiritual exercise. It makes for the growth of the soul. It cultivates all virtues. So one who is serious about religion will be willing to give to it the things that are vital to himself.

Thrift Habits
PROVE me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven” (Malachi 3:10), speaking to those whom he had admonished to pay their tithes and offerings. What comes from the windows of heaven? Both temporal and spiritual blessings. Temporal blessings accrue largely from the cultivation of thrift habits. The payment of tithes of necessity compels an orderly arrangement of affairs. Accounting is indispensable. Budgeting is necessary. Saving follows. All of which are necessary to financial success.

Economy
IT was Victor Hugo who said: “Above all, teach the children to save. Economy is the sure foundation for all virtues.” I heard a banker say that if tithing served no other purpose than to secure an orderly adjustment of one’s affairs, a budgeting of the income and expenses, it would be invaluable. I feel sure that he who pays his tithes not only has a better conception of economy, but he is indulging in a practice that will bring him into better thrift habits and enable him to go forward toward financial prosperity.

Honesty
ONE who is honest with God is apt to be honest with his neighbor and with his employer. The need for honesty is attested everywhere and particularly in our own communities by defalcations, the extent and magnitude of which make us all blush with shame. I can scarcely conceive of a man who is honest with his God not being honest with his fellowman, and I can well advocate the payment of our tithing in a straightforward, square, honest way as being a safe foundation on which to build those principles of integrity that will make honest men and women in the community.

Need of the Tithe
THE need of the tithe in the prosecution of God’s work must be apparent to all of you. There are so many avenues in which sums may be expended to promote the work that I can scarcely take time to mention them. Not long ago I had the privilege of traveling in one of the missions of the Church. I was delighted to observe that in many rural sections the Church has erected inexpensive but beautiful small chapels. I could conceive the influence that these chapels might exert, not only in the furtherance of our religious views, but in their effect on the home life, the community life, the habits, and the practices of the people. These little chapels were clean and orderly, and I am sure they will bring an inspiration to many hundreds of homeowners to clean up their establishments, to live in an orderly and a more beautiful way. If the Church were endowed with sufficient means, these little chapels could be extended throughout the whole land and would bring wonderfully beneficial results.

Use of Tithing Funds
LARGE sums of money are required for our temples. Think of the great work of redemption that is performed there. Our whole missionary cause is, in large measure, dependent upon the financial support that comes to the Church and also that which comes to those who are called on missions. There is a definite relation between the finances of our people and the propagation of the gospel of Christ. There is a definite relation between missionary work and debt. I propose this constructive principle of the gospel embraced in the law of tithing as a solution for many of our financial problems, as a foundation upon which men may bring themselves into a position to accept the calls that come to them to spread the great truths that are committed to our custody.

Enjoyment of Tithe-paying
EVERY man who pays his tithing should enjoy paying it. The gospel of Christ is a gospel of enjoyment. “Men are that they might have joy” (2 Nephi 2:25). When one pays his tithing without enjoyment, he is robbed of a part of the blessing. He must learn to give cheerfully, willingly, and joyfully, and his gift will be blessed. In order that he may receive more employment, he needs to pay more frequently. Why deprive oneself of the joy that comes from this voluntary giving until the end of the year, when by payments throughout the year we may increase and enhance not only the joy of our giving but the practice of it.

Monthly Payments
I have found it to be a difficult problem in mathematics to pay one-tenth out of one-twelfth. I commend that thought to those who are receiving monthly stipends and who indulge the practice of paying their tithing at the close of the year. I am sure you will find it difficult to get the tenth out of the twelfth if your tithing remains for payment until the last month. I heartily recommend to you the payment of your tithes as your funds come into your hands, not only because it will be easier, but because greater blessings will inure to you.

Consecration
WE consecrate out lives in this Church to the advancement of the cause of God. There is no higher evidence of that consecration than this giving which has been enjoined upon us by the Lord.

“The gift without the giver is bare;
Who gives himself with his alms feeds three,—
Himself, his hungering neighbor, and me”
(Lowell, The Vision of Sir Launfal, as quoted in Thesaurus of Quotations [New York: Crown Publishers, 1941], p. 417).

So the law of tithing is the epitome of the gospel. It is genuine worship and true recognition of the sovereignty of God. It is real consecration, the giving of the muscle and energy of life to the cause, and it begets the abundant life of love and service for which Christ came. It is a measurement of true religion. By the extent of its observance every man may determine for himself the vitality of his own faith and love of God. A prophet has said, “The tenth shall be holy unto the Lord” (Leviticus 27:32). It will be holy unto you, men and women of Israel, if you give it lovingly, joyfully, willingly, to the great cause. God help us so to do, I ask in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.