2nd message on Generosity, to go beyond the 6 questions to identify where you are on the "Journey to Generosity," and more specifically address the question: How much is generous? ...or what does God expect? Many people are confused about whether we should tithe or not. Aren't we free from the Law that required tithing? Or is there a lesson that applies to today? We find 3 kinds of tithing in the Bible, and only one applies directly to Christians. 1) Tithing as covenant applied to the covenant people of God in Israel (in the Old Testament; 2) Tithing as legalism was specifically condemned by Jesus as sin [Matt 23:23-24]; but 3) Tithing as worship (and ultimately giving as worship) still informs our understanding of what it means to worship God and what it means to thrive in the creation in relationship with God and others. We are not required to keep the law [Heb 8:7-10; Galatians 5:18] but the law does teach us about worship. Jesus intensified the law to make it a matter of the heart. The law says not to murder, Jesus said not to hate and to even love your enemies. The Law says no to commit adultery, Jesus said that we should not even lust. If the standard of tipping is 15%, can we really say that giving at 10% is unreasonable, and as a standard or benchmark, that something less that what the Law required is considered the maximum of generosity? It seems that tithing should be considered a floor (beginning standard), not a ceiling of generosity. Regardless of where you are, God accepts us where we are and helps us walk daily toward the generous life that only he can achieve in our lives. We all need the strength and wisdom given by the Holy Spirit to please God. Rather than trying to do better by our own efforts, may we as God to make us more generous--that our giving would be worship!