I fast twice a week and pay tithes of all that I acquire.’I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get.’I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.I fast twice in the week; I give tithes of all that I get.
5 sermons cite this verse
… What he's doing up at the temple to pray, I will never know. You see where his confidence lies? in what he doesn't do, and then in what he does. What does he do? Verse 12, I fast twice a week, and I give a tenth of all that I get. I'm a tither, and I'm a double faster. I'm twice as fast as anybody else. Here I am, twice a week fasting, tithing, not like this joker. Well, who told you to fast twice a week? No one. There's only one place in the whole of the Old Testament where fasting is demanded, and that's recorded in Leviticus chapter 16 in relationship to the Day of Atonement. Fasting appears all over the place for all kinds of reasons good, but in terms of God actually saying, this is what I want you to do, it only comes there in relationship to the Day of Atonement. You see, the issue here is not fasting per se. It is that fasting represents the way in which the Pharisees, with their systematized, organized religion, believed that they could be and would be accepted by God. So as long as they kept doing all these things meticulously, then God would be pleased to look on them with favor. …
… I'm not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. Then he said this. Do you remember it? You remember it? He said, I fast twice a week and I give tithes of all that I possess. Here's a guy bragging that he is doing all the things his religion says to do to be awesome, to be holy. I fast twice a week on these two market days. So here's the bottom line. Religion had become a joyless, solemn enterprise. The more miserable you look, that misery was next to godliness. Irma Bombeck said, some people come to church looking like they just read the will of their rich aunt and learned that she had given everything to her pet hamster. no joy john wesley said sour godliness is the devil's religion that's what they had sour godliness we fast you don't this is the problem with religious people they are self-righteous and the reason they are self-righteous is because their measuring stick, their yardstick is external. We do this or we don't do that. That's the basis of their religion. My question, our question should be, what are the disciples of John doing with the Pharisees? Verse 18. Now, of course, this is John the Baptist. …
… Look at the influence I have. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I possess. and then there's the tax collector the the view shifts in the story to the back of the service standing afar off he would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast saying god be merciful to me a sinner i tell you this is jesus speaking this man went down to his house justified rather than the other for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted. So when no one thanked you for the money you gave, when someone else got the promotion at your job for your hard work, when no one saw you help out that person, what is your response when it goes completely unseen? Are you more concerned with obedience or your image. See, when these things happen, we must pose the question to ourselves, what am I really in this for? What are my intentions? Because the moment we do something that we at first think is for the glory of God and that thought creeps into our head, well, no one's going to see it, right? Is it even worth doing if you don't post about it on your story, right? It is that thought that reveals the intentions of our hearts. And I think it's through that process of being honest before God that we actually get away from being dependent on our image and our influence and more dependent on him. St. John of the Cross wrote about this in his book, …
… or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give a tenth of my income. But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven but was beating his breast and saying, God be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you, Jesus told them, that this man, this tax collector, went down to his home justified rather than the other. For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves shall be exalted. Friends, this is the word of God for you, the people of God. Thanks be to God. Okay, so this week I've been wrestling with this text. And I've drawn help from somewhat of an unlikely source. You may know his name, Charles Darwin. And now if you know Charles Darwin, you might remember him from your high school biology class, Natural Selection. The voyage of the HMS Beagle on the way to the Galapagos Island. Yes, that Charles Darwin. But there's something else that maybe you didn't know about Darwin. …
… he's bringing God his resume He's like, I fast twice a week. God, you should listen to me. I pay tithes on my whole income. You should listen to me. I'm not greedy. I'm not adulterous. I don't do all those things. These are all of the reasons why you should listen to me. Remember, those are all good things to do. The things he's doing are all good things. They're very, in fact, he's pretty impressive. I mean, twice a week, struggle for one. Tithes on everything. That means 10% of all of his income he gives to the Lord. It's pretty impressive. Those are not wrong things to do, but they are the wrong way to approach God. This is so important for all of us, especially if we have resume faith. Here's one of the reasons why it's wrong. One of the reasons it's wrong is if I come before God and say, God, here are all the reasons. All these things I'm doing, these are all the reasons why you should love me. …