A chiropractor will tell you that everything starts with the atlas — the first bone at the base of the skull. If it's out of alignment, the whole spine compensates, and eventually something else breaks down. Fix the atlas first, and the rest of the body has a real chance to line up behind it.
I think tithing works the same way in a believer's financial life. It isn't the answer to every financial problem the people in your church are walking through. But it's the starting point — the thing that, once it's in place, brings the rest of their stewardship into alignment with God's economy. If we skip it, or bury it somewhere in the middle of a giving series, we're asking our people to build financial faithfulness on a foundation that was never actually set.
Say What Scripture Actually Says
Here's where I think a lot of us get gun-shy in the pulpit: we know Malachi 3:8 exists — "Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me... In tithes and offerings" — and we soften it, or skip it, because it feels harsh for a Sunday morning. But that language is in Scripture for a reason. Few areas of life get language that strong. Withholding the tithe was never presented as a neutral choice.
The move isn't to hammer your congregation with Malachi 3:8 and stop there. It's to pair the weight of that verse with the invitation right next to it: "Test me in this," God says, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven." That's not a threat. It's a promise attached to a warning, and your people need to hear both halves in the same sitting.
It also matters to show your church that Jesus Himself affirmed the tithe. In Matthew 23:23, He tells the Pharisees they were right to tithe even their spices — He just wanted them practicing justice and mercy without neglecting the tithe. That's a key text to have ready, because it settles a question before it gets asked from the pews: this isn't an Old Testament practice Jesus quietly retired. He assumed it and built on it.
Teach the Whole Tithe, Not a Partial One
One distinction has clarified more confusion in my own preaching than almost anything else: a tithe means a tenth — not two percent, not four, not even nine. I like to put it this way from the stage: no one applauds a husband who says he's "90% faithful" to his wife. In the same way, anything less than the full tenth isn't faithfulness with the tithe — it's tipping, dressed up as generosity.
That distinction also gives you a clean way to separate two categories your congregation needs to understand: we bring the tithe, and we give offerings. The tithe belongs to the Lord and is brought first, into the storehouse, to sustain the operations and people of the church. Offerings are what we give freely, above the tithe, out of our own worship and gratitude — the kind of gift the woman with the alabaster jar gave, or the kind Cornelius gave to the poor. When people understand that difference, they have a clear next step: obedience first, then generosity.
Give People an Honest First Step
If you've got people in your church who've never tithed before, don't wait for them to have it all figured out financially before inviting them in. Invite them to bring the whole ten percent before they feel ready — even if it means adjusting a budget, cutting something out, or selling something they don't need. That's a step of faith, not a financial plan, and it's the same step Scripture calls for over and over.
And don't let the teaching stop at obedience. Show your people that their capacity to receive can actually grow. Every time we tithe, heaven opens over that act. If people still feel like they're living in lack, that's often a capacity problem, not a blessing problem — and it's worth naming that directly from the front.
A Resource to Help You Teach It
I put together a Pastor's Teaching Guide on Tithes & Offerings that pulls together the key scriptures, the core principles, and eight practical keys for communicating the tithe to your church — the atlas picture, the tithing-versus-tipping distinction, and a handful of generosity stories you can use straight from the stage. It's built to save you prep time and give you language you can trust is both biblically accurate and pastorally clear, whether you're building a full series or just need one solid Sunday on giving.
You can find it here: Tithes & Offerings: Pastor's Teaching Guide.
If tithing has been sitting somewhere in the middle of your teaching calendar, I'd encourage you to move it to the front. Get the atlas aligned, and watch how much easier the rest of your stewardship teaching becomes.