Giving 10% and Having Jesus Call You a “Son of Hell”

Read the Bible…check.  Pray…check.  Go to church…check.  Give 10% …check.  Many today would consider these spiritual tasks being faithful to God.  After all, if you are giving 10%, you are doing what you need to be doing…right?

When Jesus confronted the Scribes and Pharisees in Matthew chapter 23, we see a shocking declaration made in verse fifteen to leaders who thought they were doing what was needed:

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.

What?! 

Here we have very dedicated leaders who work hard to advance their religion.  They are teachers who study the Scriptures and strive to carry on the teachings of Moses.  Yet, Jesus declares that they are “sons of hell” and that every proselyte they convert is twice a son of hell.  Why?  How could he say that when they were giving the required 10% and living very religious lives?  Let’s take a look at verse twenty-three:

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.

This verse begins to shed some light in reference to their giving.  It’s not that giving 10% is the wrong thing to do because Jesus shares they shouldn’t neglect this, but that they neglected what He calls “weightier” provisions while giving.  These weightier provisions included justice, mercy and faithfulness.  Why would they be so faithful with tithing, yet neglect such important matters?  The answer is found in verses twenty-seven and twenty-eight:

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

These verses help us to see that Jesus was revealing a heart issue.  Those weightier provisions are matters of the heart and would reveal the condition of a person’s heart and their relationship with God.  So, we see that we can strive to meet a set of religious rules like tithing yet not have a personal relationship with God.

In this example, we also see transactional giving vs. transformational giving like we discussed previously with Zacchaeus.  The Pharisees did not know God, yet they strived to follow a set of rules to satisfy a religion to justify themselves before God.  This is a transactional gift and does not involve the heart.  The Pharisees gave 10% and met the rule, yet they are called sons of hell by Jesus. 

Zacchaeus, on the other hand, was called by name by Jesus and was affirmed as a child of God when Jesus said, “today salvation has come to this house” (Luke 19:9).  This transformation resulted in radical giving.  As shared earlier, Zacchaeus was not concerned about a rule or the amount but responded hilariously by giving half of his income away and also repaid anyone he had defrauded.  He knew Christ personally and understood that he was saved by the grace of God alone and not by his works or because of his major gift.

Let’s take a minute to reflect on this.  What are your motives for giving? Are you simply giving to meet a rule or other’s expectations or is our giving a result of a personal relationship with Christ?  Is your giving an outpouring of love, joy and gratefulness to God or an obligation?