"Our Neglected Stewardship" by Kevin DeYoung (part 2)

On Mother's Day, 5/12/2013, Kevin DeYoung preached a sermon titled “Our Neglected Stewardship” at University Reformed Church in East Lansing, Michigan. DeYoung's sermon was almost exactly 1 hour long. In this single sermon, he covered:

    -The reason his church needs to hear this message

    -The state of giving in the American church

    -Jesus' teaching on tithing in Matthew 23:23

    -Pre-Mosaic Law passages on tithing (both Genesis 14 and 28)

    -The introduction to tithing in the Mosaic Law: Leviticus 27

    -Malachi 3

    -The Three Mosaic Law Tithes in Numbers 18 and Deuteronomy 14

    -The importance of firstfruits

    -Israelite freewill offerings

    -Paul's teachings on giving (1 Corinthians 9:13-14; 2 Corinthians 8:12; 2 Corinthians 9:1-5; 9:6; 1 Corinthians 16:1-2)

    -Acts 4: offerings laid at the feet of the apostles

    -Hebrews 7:1-10

    -The relationship between the Old Covenant and New Covenant and how Christians should approach the Old Covenant laws (biblical theology)

    -Tithing in Church History: Apostolic Constitutions, Irenaeus, Augustine

    -7 Applications for his congregation

This is an INCREDIBLE amount of material to cover. Seriously! The man touched upon EVERY major passage of Scripture that discusses tithing in BOTH testaments, did some biblical theology on the relationship between the covenants, traced the topic (briefly) in church history, and applied his teaching in extremely practical ways. That sounds like a ten part series, not a single sermon. DeYoung is a great communicator and he has an exceptional grasp of Scripture. As much as I disagree with his conclusions in THIS sermon, listening to it made me desire to listen to more of his preaching.

Let me give a few comments on where I agree with DeYoung:

    -I am also embarrassed that the American church is giving about 2-3% of its income

    -I am disappointed that only 12% of Protestants tithe to their church

    -We agree that the best reading of tithing in the Mosaic Law is that there were three distinct tithes: Levitical, Festival, and Charity

    -We agree that Israelite tithing equaled about 23% yearly (not including the Sabbatical year in the calculations)

    -We are both repulsed by the prosperity gospel

    -I love this thought: “If you want to be stingy towards God, God can be stingy towards you. And if you want to be bountiful toward God, He has at His disposal the means to be bountiful toward you.”

    -He says: “How you view tithing has a lot to do with how you view the Old Testament.” I think that is very insightful and raises why this can be an important topic.

    -He emphasizes giving to the local church first; I think that is entirely in line with what I gather from the New Testament

    -Stewardship should be an important aspect of discipleship

    -He says: “Use your wallet to test and to shape your heart.” Brilliant thought!

    -His last application point is: “Excel in the grace of giving because of God's grace to you.” I absolutely adore the idea of giving in response to God's grace in our lives.

I don't get the sense that DeYoung has thought lightly about giving, but that he has truly meditated on the importance of giving in the life of a Christian.

The MSJ and article on Repentance

The Master's Seminary Journal has a new format: all digital and free. The new volume is out and I have an article in it: Repentance Found? The Concept of Repentance in the Fourth Gospel. Some have said that repentance is not part of the gospel since the word doesn't occur in John's Gospel. However, not only is the concept present in John's Gospel, but the word is actually there ... sort of. Let me know what you think of my arguments for repentance as a recurring theme in John's Gospel!

Kevin DeYoung on Tithing

Kevin DeYoung is a pastor, author, and blogger I greatly appreciate. I have never been a Senior Pastor at a church and had the rigors of preaching every week placed on my shoulders. I'm so glad men like DeYoung are doing such a wonderful job shepherding their congregations. I have sent links to DeYoung's blog posts countless times to friends, urging them to read his man's insights. I have advocated his book Just Do Something, WhyWe're Not Emergent, and What is the Mission of the Church? to countless students and friends. I hold Pastor DeYoung in very high regard.

So when I heard that he had preached (and subsequently tweeted) on the topic of tithing, I was listening. Unfortunately, we disagree on this issue. I wasn't sure if I should weigh in on this until I listened to his sermon and heard this quote from an unnamed theologian: “There is a shape to the biblical story that seems to me to include tithing principally, even if the specific shape of the redemptive history calls for an adjustment in the New Covenant situation.” The sentence sounded very familiar and intriguing and sure enough, it was written on page 90 in a book called Perspectives on Tithing, in a chapter titled Response to David A. Croteau, written by Reggie Kidd; this is a book I contributed to and edited. Since DeYoung has quoted a response to me, I thought I would give my two cents over the next few days.

Before I do, let me comment that I fear that in responding to DeYoung's sermon, I might be accused of “whack(ing) at everything like its (my) special nail and whack(ing) at everyone for not being just as zealous about (my) one issue” (see DeYoung's blog here). Knowing some of the back story to how I got involved in writing on this issue might help clarify why some might think of me as a “academic who thinks everything that ails the church finds its root in” my dissertation on tithing (again, see DeYoung's blog here). Actually, I think the church is ailing, but the root has nothing to do (directly) with tithing. I think the church is ailing because the gospel that DeYoung so clearly explains regularly to his congregation isn't explained at all in most churches. We are a gospel-starved church. That has lead to many churches being filled with people who are not regenerated and the dumbing down of discipleship, the main mission of the church.

In my Ph.D. program I wrote a paper for a class on tithing. I had been thinking about the issue for about 3 or 4 years and had many stimulating debates and dialogues with fellow students and I wanted to write out my thoughts. So I did that and I was satisfied. However, when I talked to my Ph.D. mentor about a dissertation topic, he seemed more interested in me writing on tithing than the topics I wanted to write on. The two issues I had desired to write on were, basically, the phrase “eternal life” in the Gospel of John or the concept of repentance. I wanted to invest the next few years of my life into a topic revolving around the gospel, like I did for my Th.M. thesis. My conversations on those topics with my mentor didn't go anywhere, so I took his suggestion on tithing and ran with it.

I have published two articles in journals (co-authored: part 1 and part 2), a revision of my dissertation (You Mean I Don't Have to Tithe?), a four views book (mentioned above), and a soon to be released booklet on this topic. I have studied tithing intensely for about 8-10 years, so when the topic comes up I believe I have an informed opinion on it. So, I will post some thoughts over the next few days on DeYoung's sermon. You can listen to it yourself here.

Chinese Church and Hermeneutics (update)

On December 12, 2011, I blogged about the opportunity I had to teach a Chinese couple that were leading an underground church in China. You can read about that here. Those sessions were videotaped and were recently put on the web. Here are the links to them (in case you know of any mandarin speaking Chinese Christians who want to learn how to interpret the Bible):

Part 1: How to Interpret the Bible
Part 2: Interpreting Old Testament Law
Part 3: Interpreting the Letters in Scripture
Part 4: Interpreting the Parables in Scripture
Part 5: Interpreting the Gospels in Scripture

Also, the founder of the organization recording 32 lessons on salvation which are also translated into mandarin. Here is part 2 of 32.

J. Daniel Hays on Race

J. Daniel Hays, co-author of Grasping God's Word, visited Liberty University last month and spoke on the issue of race. Liberty has graciously provided the video from his two talks: a morning exposition and an evening discussion on interracial marriage. I think he did a wonderful job and, on the issue of interracial marriage, had some very insightful observations.

My Weight Loss Journey-Part 3

I truly do love the chocolate IdealShape. If you didn't catch the posts from last week, I was the March monthly winner for the IdealShape contest. Read the story here.

IdealShape is basically a powder that comes in chocolate and vanilla ... i highly prefer the chocolate. Most people probably drink it with regular milk or skim milk. I have different preferences. When I have a sweet tooth, I'll add some Truvia (an all natural stevia sweetener with zero calories).



1) 1 scoop of IdealShape chocolate plus 1 cup of vanilla sweetened almond milk = 210 calories
2) 1 scoop of IdealShape chocolate plus 1 cup of vanilla unsweetened almond milk = 150 calories
3) 1 scoop of IdealShape chocolate plus 1 cup of black coffee = 120 calories
4) 1 scoop of IdealShape chocolate plus 1 cup of vanilla unsweetened almond milk plus 1 tablespoon of peanut butter = 240 calories
5) 1 scoop of IdealShape chocolate plus 1 cup of vanilla unsweetened almond milk plus 1 tablespoon of PB2 = 195 calories

This last recipe is a new one. It tastes like a reese's peanut butter cup, but a little peanut butter taste. PB2 is an interesting product and I'm not sure exactly what to think of it yet, except it has less fat than regular peanut butter and a lighter taste.

My Weight Loss Journey-Part 2

IdealShape, the meal replacement shake I discussed yesterday on this blog, has a monthly context. I entered the context in March and WON! Here is the story. This gives me a chance to win a Caribbean cruise and $1000 later this year. It will be based upon voting done on Facebook. Monday I'll share some of the recipes I've used in making my shakes.

My Weight Loss Journey

About 13 months ago I saw a picture of myself and I was shocked. I couldn't believe how much weight I had put on ... it was incredible. I had been sitting around 170-180 pounds for several years, which for me is about 30 pounds or so overweight. That picture made me realize it was time to get serious ... the picture and my sore knees. So two main tools helped me lose the weight:

1) An app on my smartphone called MyFitnessPal. There is no magic to weight loss; it really comes down to counting calories for most people. This free app helps you track exactly how many calories you are eating. I slowly lowered my intake from 1600 to 1400 to 1200 per day. The hard part was figuring out how to "feel full" and take in foods that didn't have a lot of calories. That's when I found a second "tool".

2) IdealShape. IdealShape is a meal replacement shake. In that past I tried SlimFast, but: 1) I didn't care much for the flavor; and 2) it has way too much sugar. So, after researching replacement shakes, IdealShape seemed to be the most healthy. I was scared to sink in such a large amount of money for a one month supply, but I figured my health was worth it. So I ordered some of the chocolate. I think it's very good. One scoop costs about $1.50 and has 120 calories. I started off using vanilla sweetened almond milk (90 calories), then I tried the vanilla unsweetened almond milk (only 30 calories). So, my breakfast was only 150 calories and my lunch was only 150 calories ... I still had 900 calories for dinner. Sometimes I found myself trying to find a way to get all 900 calories for dinner because I was so full. I know how crazy that sounds ... and it wasn't every night ... but sometimes I had a hard time getting to 1200 calories. But I tried to make it a rule to never go much over 1200 calories per day.
In about 8 months I lost 65 pounds: from 207 to 142. That works out to close to 2 pounds per week, the fastest you really want to lose weight. I looked in to metabolism a lot and talked to a few doctors and I decided to try and hold my weight in the 140's for a few months. So from November through March I've been holding steady. My BMI (body mass index) is about 22.2, which is pretty much in the middle of normal ... 138 would be right in the middle of normal. That's my next goal.

Tomorrow I'll give some more news on IdealShape and Monday I'll share some of the different "formulas" I've used with IdealShape.