Scott1
Puritanboard Commissioner
In the RPCNA one of the membership vows includes the promise to "...give to the Lord's work as he shall prosper you." If this is not being done (leaving aside for now the question of a 10% tithe or other amount) it is a breaking of vows. This is a double sin. Should the elders not follow up on this? It seems meaningless to me if a person may make such a vow as a condition of membership and then not be held accountable to it. That is just to say that a person can say whatever they want until they're "in" and then live contrary with impunity.
Tithing (Christian giving) is indeed a discipline that ought regulate the Christian life, and one can certainly imagine a disorderly life pattern for a believer to not include attending church, and not giving to the Lord's work, etc.
The difficulty is, how much, by what measure? E.g. is it 10%? Gross or net? What if they have a business? What about capital gains (here today, gone tomorrow)? What if the local church has no substantive ministry to its needy members? May one divide a basic amount, say 5% to a prospering local church and 5% to one providing direct benevolence to needy believers?
It is the details of application like this that make this much more ripe to admonition, good biblical teaching...
that yes, God owns it all, and the believer's life ought reflect something of that, to the end of God's Honor and Glory.
By the way of anecdotal evidence only, many of God's people are consumed by debt, or have become dependent on government, and are in their own "financial bondage," and this is one reason they are not giving more to the Lord's work.
Without the disciplines of saving, spending less than one makes, and working to live within one's means, the end result is lives that have less to tithe, many times rationalizing so.