James T. Cleland - "10% for God?" (June 27, 1971)

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	(vocal music)	0:17
-	Grace be to you and peace from God, our Father,	3:51
	and from the Lord, Jesus Christ.	3:54
	Christians are a people who believe that life	3:58
	is a gift from God,	4:01
	a gift to be accepted joyfully and shared freely.	4:04
	We affirm here that we have been given light.	4:09
	We also acknowledge here in our worship that most of us have	4:12
	not truly lived.	4:17
	We have used our lives with reckless unconcerned	4:19
	as though they belong to us and to us alone.	4:23
	Know the meaning of the scripture by our own fault,	4:29
	we have abandoned the fountain of waters	4:33
	and has built broken reservoirs which hold no water.	4:36
	So as we assembled to worship God,	4:42
	we turn again to his offer of redeeming love,	4:46
	confident that if we truly and earnestly confessed the state	4:50
	of our lives before that love,	4:54
	they will be forgiven, restored and returned to us	4:57
	with new meaning and with new hope.	5:02
	Thus, let us offer unto God	5:06
	our prayer of confession and for pardon,	5:08
	let us pray.	5:11
	Oh Lord, most holy and most merciful who had found us	5:14
	wanting and yet has not forsaken us,	5:19
	we turn again to the marveling at thy patience,	5:23
	with the children of men,	5:27
	we confess that we bring thee the same disappointments,	5:30
	the same broken promises, the same sins.	5:35
	Too many times we have plied thee	5:40
	with prayer on prayer oh God,	5:42
	without honest effort to put our own house in order.	5:45
	To labor at the foundations	5:50
	and to practice with persistence	5:53
	that elementary work of training our spirits	5:54
	to be humanly and Christian competent.	5:58
	Forgive us Lord,	6:02
	for words uttered without serious intention to thee,	6:04
	words that incarnate nothing of our real self,	6:09
	words that veneer our deeper need	6:13
	to ask for the eye forgiving and healing love.	6:16
	Help us now we ask to turn to thee with honest confession,	6:21
	and with every real hunger of ourself	6:26
	that may be cleansed of darkness and learn of thy love.	6:30
	Almighty God who did some liberate dine ancient people	6:35
	from slavery.	6:38
	And in the fullness of time did send thy son Jesus	6:40
	to deliver the people from their sins.	6:43
	Hear us as we pray for liberation from our bondage	6:46
	and lead us forth into the glorious liberty	6:51
	that is the inheritance of the children of God.	6:53
	Lord, we pray thy forgiveness and seek newness of life	6:58
	for every occasion when we have sold our birthright	7:03
	and betrayed our humanity.	7:07
	When we have succumbed to the luxury of self-pity,	7:10
	When we have drifted content in a river of mediocrity,	7:14
	we asked thy forgiveness oh God,	7:19
	we seek newness of life.	7:21
	For every occasion when we have run away	7:24
	from the hour of testing,	7:27
	when we have avoided the crises,	7:29
	the cries that come to us from hungry mothers	7:32
	and dying children.	7:35
	When we have deserted our fellow men and evaded	7:38
	our responsibility,	7:41
	we pray thy forgiveness oh God and we seek newness of life.	7:44
	Enable us oh Lord to open our souls to thy offered	7:48
	grace that we may make new beginnings,	7:52
	clear old paths of bitterness and hate,	7:57
	venture forward without prejudice or anxiety	8:01
	to carry whatever cross thy will demands.	8:05
	But being one with him who was crucified,	8:09
	we may also be resurrected to a life of the spirit	8:13
	in which his joy and peace shall be our own. Amen.	8:17
-	Let us hear these assuring words from holy writ.	8:27
	Jesus said be of good cheer your sins are forgiven.	8:33
	Go and sin no more.	8:36
	And the words of Saint Paul,	8:41
	if anyone is in Jesus, the Christ, he is a new being.	8:42
	The old has passed away and the new has come.	8:46
	For freedom Christ has set us free,	8:52
	stand fast therefore,	8:55
	and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery	8:57
	where you were called to freedom brothers,	9:02
	only do not use your freedom as an opportunity	9:05
	for the flesh,	9:07
	but through love be servants one of another,	9:09
	but the whole law is fulfilled in one word,	9:14
	you shall love your neighbor as yourself.	9:17
	With joy at this message,	9:23
	may we offer corporately to God,	9:24
	our unison prayer of thanksgiving.	9:27
	Let us pray.	9:30
	Almighty and most merciful father from whom cometh down	9:32
	every good and perfect gift,	9:37
	we yield the praise and thanks for all thy mercies.	9:40
	Thy goodness has created us,	9:44
	thy bounty has sustained us,	9:47
	thy fatherly discipline have to chastened us.	9:50
	Thy patients have born with us,	9:54
	thy love had redeemed us.	9:57
	Give us a heart to love and serve thee and enable us to show	10:00
	our thankfulness for all thy goodness and mercy,	10:04
	by giving up ourselves to thy service	10:09
	and cheerfully submitting in all things	10:12
	to thy blessed with. Amen.	10:15
	(classical music)	10:21
-	The morning lesson is taken from both the Old	13:58
	and the New Testament,	14:02
	both passages dealing with the subject of the tithe.	14:05
	First, the book of Deuteronomy the 14th chapter 22nd verse.	14:11
	You should tithe the all the yield of your seed,	14:22
	which comes fourth from the field year by year,	14:24
	and before the Lord, your God in the place	14:30
	which he will choose to make his name dwell,	14:33
	you shall eat to the tithe of your grain, of your wine,	14:37
	and of your oil,	14:40
	and the firstling of your herd and flock	14:43
	that you may learn him to fear the Lord, your God always.	14:46
	And if the way is too long for you so that you are not able	14:53
	to bring the tithe when the Lord, your God blesses you,	14:58
	because the place is too far from you, which the Lord,	15:04
	your God chooses to set his name there.	15:08
	Then you shall turn it into money,	15:13
	and listen to this.	15:19
	You shall turn it into money and bind up the money	15:21
	in your hand and go to the place which the Lord, your God	15:25
	chooses and spend the money for whatever you desire.	15:31
	Oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink,	15:39
	whatever your appetite craves,	15:47
	and you shall eat there before the Lord, your God	15:51
	and rejoice,	15:55
	you and your household.	15:57
	And you shall not forsake the Levite	16:01
	who is within your towns,	16:03
	for he has no portion or inheritance with you.	16:04
	At the end of every three years,	16:10
	you shall bring forth all the tithe of your produce	16:12
	in the same year and laying it up within your towns	16:15
	and the Levite,	16:21
	because he has no portion or inheritance with you	16:22
	and the Sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow	16:26
	who are within your towns shall come and eat and be filled.	16:30
	That the Lord your God may bless you in all the work	16:39
	of your hands that you do.	16:43
	And from the gospel according to Saint Matthew,	16:48
	the 23rd chapter,	16:52
	first three verses in verses 23 to 24.	16:57
	Jesus is speaking.	17:05
	Then said Jesus to the crowds and to his disciples,	17:10
	the scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses seat.	17:15
	So practice and observe whatever they tell you,	17:20
	but not what they do.	17:26
	For they preach but do not practice.	17:30
	Woe to you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites	17:37
	for you tithe mint and dill and cumin,	17:44
	and have neglected the weightier matters of the law,	17:49
	justice and mercy, and faith.	17:54
	These you ought to have done without neglecting the others.	18:00
	You blind guides,	18:07
	straining out and gnat and swallowing a camel.	18:11
	Here endeth the lesson.	18:20
	(classical music)	18:23
-	The Lord be with you.	19:08
Crowd	And also with you.	19:09
-	Let us pray.	19:11
	Let us offer unto God our prayers for others	19:19
	and for ourselves.	19:23
	Well, thou who has gathered us out of sundry places	19:29
	and bound us by the grace of thy spirit	19:34
	in this community of worship for this chapel,	19:36
	bless us as we pray together and for one another,	19:41
	that we may be mindful of the burdens born invisibly	19:46
	by each of thy children,	19:51
	standing at the deep center of our own need oh God,	19:54
	grant us the grace to stretch our hands,	19:58
	to those who worship with us in this place	20:01
	and around this planet.	20:05
	Like with one accord,	20:07
	we may all seek that strength which is beyond us,	20:08
	but it's never withheld from any in need,	20:12
	whether it be health of body, clarity of mind	20:16
	or peace of soul.	20:21
	Turn us with ready lives to our neighbors need ,	20:24
	that in all things we may be faithful to our Lord thy son	20:28
	who came not to be ministered unto, but to minister.	20:33
	Almighty God, whose son has taught us that we're members	20:40
	of one body,	20:44
	we take our place in the body by offering our intersessions	20:44
	for our brothers and our sisters needs.	20:49
	Almighty father we call on thy spirit,	20:53
	and we ask thy presence and thy power	20:56
	for all those who need thee in this, our world.	21:00
	The poor and the hungry, for those who are outcast	21:05
	and unemployed, for children unwanted in their homes,	21:11
	for the wounded of war, for prisoners and exile.	21:17
	For all those who are persecuted for conscience sake.	21:24
	Be with all those who need thee oh Lord, the dying,	21:30
	and those who are about to die.	21:35
	Those who are sick and suffering in mind and in body	21:39
	for those who are made slaves by drugs or fear or well,	21:44
	we call on thy presence and we ask thy saving power oh God.	21:51
	We pray for all those oh Lord whom we fear or resent	21:58
	or cannot love.	22:03
	We asked like presence for all those who are close	22:06
	to us here and in every place.	22:08
	We call on thy spirit and we ask thy presence,	22:13
	that every person in his work and in his life may learn	22:17
	to express the natural vision of a child.	22:22
	In calling thy spirit,	22:27
	we ask thy power oh Lord that we may be able to give	22:28
	to our children and our grandchildren a restored	22:33
	and the whole planet as thou does intend	22:37
	for all of our children.	22:41
	Lord we lift before thee our individual needs and petitions.	22:45
	If we are weary, we asked for thy strength,	22:52
	if we are proud, we ask that thou wouldst humble us.	22:56
	If we are perplexed in likeness,	23:01
	if we are torn by inner strife, heal as we ask,	23:05
	if we are lost in meaningless activities,	23:10
	gird our wills with thy purpose.	23:14
	If we were discouraged by our failures,	23:17
	hearten us by thy merciful compassionate.	23:20
	We have sinned, teach us again how to repent.	23:24
	We have been sinned against, teach us how to forgive.	23:29
	We are selfish, deepen our love of thee and our fellow men	23:35
	that we may cast away our self concern.	23:40
	Oh God, our father save us from our pervasive problem.	23:45
	Save us from fear.	23:53
	The fear that haunts us, that blinds us, that strangles us,	23:56
	that breaks us.	24:01
	Save us from the sudden fear that terrifies,	24:04
	and the slow fear that nos,	24:07
	from fear of shame or pain or pride or failure.	24:10
	Save us from the fear of death and the fear of life as well,	24:16
	from the fear of those who love us and would protect us	24:22
	from thy judgment and from the fear of those who hate us,	24:25
	and will deal with us in their own way,	24:30
	deliver us from all fear oh God,	24:34
	except a right and proper fear of thee,	24:37
	that we may do thy will gladly and with our whole heart.	24:40
	God has called us to a life of wholeness and integrity,	24:47
	give us we ask not only a vision of what that homeless	24:52
	will mean in our time,	24:55
	but the courage and the power to bring it to being	24:58
	in our personal relationships and in our social structures,	25:02
	help us to see the blatant folly of the popular myth	25:06
	that we can have cake while most men starve.	25:09
	Help us see the terrible price we must be prepared to pay	25:14
	if we persist in seeing the world as our empire.	25:19
	Help us oh God,	25:24
	to move to those necessary and difficult reorderings	25:27
	of priorities that can spell reconciliation and resurrection	25:30
	for our people and our nation,	25:36
	may our arrogant concern for dividends and profits	25:39
	for better overkill and better missiles,	25:44
	be replaced by a people committed to its initial mission	25:47
	of building a free and just and human society.	25:51
	And then educating a people dedicated to freeing mankind	25:56
	from it's age-old curses of war racism and exploitation.	26:00
	Enabled like people oh Lord to operate as agents	26:07
	of reconciliation and resurrection from the point	26:10
	of each of our callings,	26:13
	as students, as teachers, as workers,	26:15
	as parents, as citizens.	26:19
	Help us to ingest service and compassion into the crises	26:22
	that are an inevitable ingredient of our times,	26:27
	and remind us of our Lord that fearless prophet	26:31
	from Galilee, that our prophecy,	26:35
	that essential prerogative of the Christian	26:39
	and that ingredient all true education like kids	26:42
	will not warn of Armageddon,	26:46
	but we'll invite to mercy, to justice, and to love.	26:49
	In the name of Christ who taught his disciples	26:57
	to pray together saying,	26:59
	Our Father who art in heaven,	27:01
	hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come,	27:04
	thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.	27:09
	Give us this day our daily bread,	27:13
	and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive	27:16
	those who trespass against us,	27:19
	and lead us not into temptation,	27:22
	but deliver us from evil,	27:24
	for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory,	27:26
	forever. Amen.	27:31
-	In the name of the Father, and of the Son,	27:56
	and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.	27:59
	The Genesis of this sermon	28:08
	was both recent and uncomplicated.	28:11
	A medical doctor in Western North Carolina wrote me	28:17
	about a book which he hoped to edit entitled,	28:22
	Should Preachers Play God.	28:28
	He asked me to write a chapter on tithing.	28:36
	I answered that I had given little thought to the idea	28:41
	of the tithe that I would ponder it as a sermon subject,	28:45
	that if the sermon happened to be any good,	28:53
	I might rewrite it as an article.	28:57
	Here is the sermon.	29:02
	A tithe is a tenth part of something	29:06
	usually of landed property as a kind of a rent	29:12
	due to God the owner for the benefit and use	29:19
	of those who care for his holy places.	29:24
	It's an ancient and widespread custom.	29:30
	It has come to us primarily through the Old Testament.	29:33
	That is all that can be said about the tithe	29:40
	with any confidence.	29:44
	The Old Testament is that chaos of complications	29:48
	and contradictions on its origin and its usage.	29:52
	In early Genesis, Abraham gave Melchizedek a king	29:59
	and high priest, a 10th of everything.	30:04
	At Bethel, Jacob made God a promise of all that thou giveth	30:11
	us to me, I will give the 10th to thee,	30:20
	which is a remarkable bargain	30:27
	if Jacob can get away with it, think of it.	30:29
	If God will be with him and give him bread to eat,	30:34
	clothes to wear, a safe return to his father's house,	30:40
	that is a God will do all the work,	30:48
	then he may have a tithe of Jacobs possession.	30:51
	Jacob was something of a rascal.	30:57
	He had cheated his father, defrauded his brother,	31:01
	and was about to go his uncle.	31:04
	And he would keep 90% of the profits	31:08
	and God would receive 10%.	31:11
	Samuel the prophet and leader of Israel warn the people	31:16
	that if they did elect a king,	31:22
	one of the first things the ruler would do in addition	31:26
	to conscripting them for his own names would be to levy	31:30
	a 10% tax on their grain,	31:35
	their vineyard and their flops,	31:39
	but the people refused to listen to Samuel.	31:43
	So for me at least the origin of the tithe	31:48
	is confused and contradictory.	31:51
	The disposition of the tithe is no clearer	31:56
	beyond the fact that it is owed to God as his do and right	32:01
	as the God of Israel.	32:09
	It is to be given to the priests and to the Levite,	32:11
	the Levite being junior varsity priests,	32:16
	since the tribe of Levi was the one tribe granted no land	32:20
	when Palestine was divided up among the invading Hebrews.	32:28
	But what is one to say about that passage from Deuteronomy,	32:34
	which our Old Testament lesson of the morning.	32:38
	Especially that verse about spending the tithe	32:44
	if it's too far to carry it in kind,	32:49
	taking money and spending the money	32:53
	for what ever you desire, oxen or sheep or wine,	32:56
	or strong drink,	33:02
	whatever your appetite craves,	33:04
	and you shall eat there before the Lord, your God	33:08
	and rejoice,	33:11
	it's a picnic, a jamboree made possible by the tithe.	33:12
	The passage goes on to recommend that the celebrants	33:20
	do not forget the Levite,	33:23
	and the sojourners, and the fatherless, and the widows.	33:25
	They too must eat and be filled.	33:31
	One commentator remarks about that passage.	33:34
	It's hard to imagine a church board urging the law as stated	33:37
	in Deuteronomy 14 as an ideal, but it's there.	33:44
	Now you're thinking all right,	33:50
	but we are not Jews, we're Christian.	33:52
	What does the New Testament say about the tithe?	33:56
	Very little.	34:00
	There are but seven references all referring	34:02
	to the Old Testament and not one suggests that it is binding	34:07
	upon the followers of Jesus.	34:14
	Paul never recommends it in his letters.	34:18
	Even when he praises his beloved church	34:22
	at Philippi for its generosity,	34:25
	he does not mention tithing.	34:29
	Jesus speaks of it once.	34:32
	Grant its validity for scribes and Pharisees,	34:36
	whom he describes as hypocrites pointing out that they have	34:41
	neglected the weightier matters of the law,	34:46
	justice, mercy, and faith.	34:50
	Someone has remarked that the New Testament has much more	34:54
	to say about the evil of money,	34:57
	than it has to say about the giving of money.	35:01
	What conclusion may be drawn from this brief,	35:07
	but I hope accurate study?	35:10
	Just this.	35:12
	The tithe is a very confused subject in its origin.	35:14
	Well, let's look at the situation today.	35:22
	Is it much clearer?	35:25
	Do Jews today tithe?	35:29
	I don't know.	35:34
	It can hardly be a requirement in line with any rabbinic	35:36
	interpretation of the Old Testament.	35:42
	Why? There is no temple,	35:45
	there are no priests and Levites.	35:50
	The ecclesiastical center is the synagogue.	35:55
	Now, synagogue maybe called a temple,	36:00
	but it's still a synagogue and its professional leader	36:03
	is a rabbi, a teacher an interpreter	36:07
	with no priestly function.	36:12
	As an intermediary between God and man.	36:16
	However, the concept of a tithe is not defunct,	36:20
	it has been resurrected in Christian sects,	36:24
	even in some denominational churches.	36:28
	Well, why not?	36:32
	It played an important part in the underwriting	36:34
	of the state churches in Europe,	36:37
	where church and state were co-partners	36:40
	in the ongoing contemporary culture.	36:44
	However in the USA,	36:48
	the tithe is voluntary to a point	36:51
	I know of one church in Durham where it's possible	36:58
	to be a member without tithing,	37:02
	but such a one could not become a deacon.	37:07
	Moreover, in the fifties and sixties,	37:13
	various individual congregations adopted the idea	37:15
	of the tithe that distinguished Methodist Church,	37:19
	Mount Vernon Place in Washington, inaugurated tithing,	37:23
	volunteering, not compulsory in 1951,	37:28
	and raised its income from $100,000 in 1951	37:33
	to 250,000 in 1961.	37:41
	I don't know the figures for the last decade.	37:48
	The stress is on regular giving,	37:51
	on a fixed percentage of income giving,	37:55
	even if it's less than 10%.	37:59
	Yes, tithing is still with us,	38:03
	and the basic biblical emphasis is still pivotal.	38:07
	It's a recognition of God's centrality, dominion and rights.	38:12
	I once wrote a businessman in this city,	38:19
	thanking him for what he had done	38:23
	for our Edgemont Community Center,	38:26
	He done it gratis.	38:30
	He replied, your letter would let her was addressed	38:32
	to the wrong person.	38:35
	It should have been sent to God.	38:38
	The cost came out of his share in our profits,	38:42
	his 10%.	38:47
	And not so long ago in the local church,	38:50
	I heard the minister announced the picking up	38:53
	of the collection.	38:56
	In words, something like these,	38:58
	let us give God his tithe and our offerings,	39:01
	His tithes and our offerings.	39:11
	That's a valid distinction depending on one's attitude	39:17
	toward that part of the service of worship,	39:21
	which involves the gathering of money	39:25
	and its presentation to God.	39:27
	Think what we could do in Duke University	39:31
	for the rehabilitation of the chapel,	39:35
	if every salary and wage was taxed 10%,	39:38
	if each student fee was raised 10%,	39:45
	if each meal and our dining rooms were surcharged 10%,	39:51
	I suppose there would be a riot.	39:57
	But now and again, it's pleasant to take time out	40:03
	to daydream as a respite from the nightmare	40:06
	of trying to raise some $750,000 plus for the chapel,	40:13
	like making bricks without straw.	40:23
	Well, what about the future?	40:29
	What about us and the idea behind and beneath the tithe	40:30
	or just a few comments which we may share and turnover	40:36
	in our minds?	40:39
	First, let us raise our eyebrows.	40:41
	When anyone tells us that Christians are bound	40:48
	by any interpretation of a scriptural passage,	40:54
	which requires that we must lead tithe.	41:00
	If we're pressed on the matter,	41:07
	let us offer that Deuteronomy picnic passage	41:10
	as our favorite verse on the subject of tithe.	41:14
	Let us be equally wary	41:21
	of any kindred ecclesiastical requirement.	41:24
	Second, let us ask what the connotation of God is,	41:30
	in the phrase 10% for God.	41:38
	Is God a synonym of the church?	41:44
	Be it a denomination, a cathedral a mission station.	41:49
	Is a contribution to Edgemont, to the salvation army home,	41:56
	to alcoholics anonymous, to the American Cancer Society,	42:04
	to the coordinating council for senior citizens,	42:12
	a gift to God?	42:17
	Did Jesus have anything to say in the matter?	42:22
	What do we make of the parable of the sheep and the goats?	42:26
	If we consider Jesus as the second person	42:30
	of the Blessed Trinity,	42:33
	how do we interpret the words from that parable?	42:35
	I tell you this,	42:38
	anything you did for one of my brothers here,	42:42
	however humble you did for me,	42:48
	now that referred to a cup of water,	42:56
	a bed for the night, a sick visit, some clothing,	42:59
	a helping hand to a man in jail.	43:06
	A gift to God need not be only a contribution	43:12
	to the visible church,	43:17
	as it's commonly understood much of the money talk	43:20
	in the New Testament has as its object, the poor,	43:25
	the down and almost out, the underdog.	43:31
	Third, the gift may consist about time and about work	43:39
	as well as our money.	43:43
	I think about polish made years ago in Amherst	43:46
	with a drunken husband and three or four growing children,	43:51
	she could not spare 10% of her earnings for the church.	43:57
	So she marched the children to church on Friday	44:03
	to a service? No.	44:09
	She tied dusters to the backs and the bottoms	44:10
	of the young ones,	44:17
	and they slid up and down the pews cleaning,	44:19
	the elder members reached higher and dusted there.	44:24
	That was their primary contribution, a labor of love.	44:28
	It was almost literally the giving of themselves.	44:33
	Fourth is sometimes, well, for us to remember	44:39
	that the federal tax laws allow the taxpayer to deduct	44:43
	up to 50% of his gross income for church charity.	44:47
	North Carolina permits 15%,	44:55
	secular government recognizes that this is good,	44:59
	essential worthy.	45:04
	In fact, it's more generous	45:08
	than the Old Testament requirement.	45:10
	Paul tells us that God loves a cheerful giver,	45:14
	and the taxing authorities give him an assist.	45:19
	Fifth, it's interesting to listen to those who do tithe	45:24
	voluntarily or under orders.	45:29
	One well-known football coach says quite simply,	45:34
	I am happy to be a tither.	45:38
	I've never known a tither to be a miser.	45:42
	I've never known a tither who felt he was wasting his money.	45:49
	A major league baseball manager comments,	45:56
	giving the first tenth of my income back to God	46:00
	was just unquestioned as putting on my socks	46:04
	before my shoes.	46:08
	Tithing is just a signpost that indicates the direction	46:11
	a man's soul is leading.	46:18
	Tithing is just a signpost that indicates the direction	46:23
	a man's soul is leading.	46:28
	And six, such giving is fundamentally our response	46:33
	to the grace of God.	46:38
	A thank you for creation, preservation and redemption.	46:41
	An expression of the love endangered by his love in us.	46:48
	It's not an attempt to lay up treasure in heaven.	46:57
	Though that have been hymns that suggested that,	47:03
	whatever Lord we lend to thee,	47:08
	repaid a thousand fold will be,	47:12
	then gladly will we give to thee who givest all?	47:16
	Your bet 1000% ?	47:21
	That's some investment.	47:25
	Even such a verse says,	47:28
	take my silver and my gold,	47:30
	not a mite would I withhold sit in the Methodist book,	47:33
	that worries me,	47:38
	maybe a sign of saintliness in the author	47:41
	who wrote the hymn,	47:45
	but it's absurd if not lying	47:49
	for most of us who sing it,	47:52
	and yet giving in response to the grace of God	47:55
	is a worthy act of worship.	48:01
	That's why the collection or the offering has a proper place	48:06
	in the service,	48:11
	where one's treasuries,	48:14
	there will one's heart be also the symbol of folk	48:17
	concern for God and his people.	48:25
	My own personal conclusion now about tithing	48:30
	is a very simple one.	48:34
	The tithe is a useful yardstick.	48:37
	If I am not tithing voluntarily,	48:50
	I had better ask myself why.	48:57
	Now let us sing as our prayer after the sermon,	49:06
	the hymn 181, all four stanzas.	49:10
	A commentator on this hymn said,	49:16
	it changes a prosaic collection	49:19
	into a net of self dedication.	49:24
	So be it hymn 181.	49:29
	(soft music)	49:36
	(vocal music)	49:58
-	Oh God, most merciful and gracious	1:00:02
	of whose bounty we have all received,	1:00:06
	accept this offering of thy people we asked.	1:00:09
	Remember in thy love those who brought it,	1:00:13
	and those for whom it is given.	1:00:17
	And so follow it with thy blessing	1:00:20
	that it may promote peace and goodwill among men,	1:00:22
	and advance the kingdom of our Lord, Jesus Christ.	1:00:27
	Go forth now to be God's servants in the world.	1:00:34
	May the blessing of God, the Father, the Son,	1:00:39
	and the Holy Spirit,	1:00:43
	go and remain with you always.	1:00:44
	(classical music)	1:00:53

Item Info

Title:

James T. Cleland - "10% for God?" (June 27, 1971)

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4pn92h0s

Date:

June 27, 1971

Speaker:

Cleland, James T. (James Tough), 1903-1974

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-0578
ref6359_eg4
uachapelsermaud
duke:628236
dcrau002565
ark:/87924/r4pn92h0s
dc8b2a22-f84b-4c37-9cff-e27f858260c1

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

Related Resources:

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Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

Format:

Provenance:

The Duke University Chapel Recordings were transferred to the Duke University Archives beginning in 1970.

Rights:

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In Copyright

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This material is made available for research, scholarship, and private study. Copyright in this material has not been transferred to Duke University. For reuses of this material beyond those permitted by fair use or otherwise allowed under the Copyright Act, please see our page on copyright and citations: https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

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James T. Cleland - "10% for God?" (June 27, 1971)

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1. James T. Cleland - "10% for God?" (June 27, 1971)

Duke University Archives

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James T. Cleland - "10% for God?" (June 27, 1971)

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Duke University Archives

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