Family Home Evening Lesson-Tithing

Our family has a monthly family home evening lesson/dinner every Fast Sunday. My siblings and their families come over and we have a nice family dinner and then a lesson prepared by one of the adults.

This month it was my turn to teach the lesson. I chose tithing as my topic. I thought I would share my lesson outline with you. I put two different lessons together and added a few quotes.

Tithing

Thought:
To those who faithfully and honestly live the law of tithing, the Lord promises an abundance of blessings. Some of these blessings are temporal, just as tithes are temporal. But like the outward physical ordinances of baptism and the sacrament, the commandment to pay tithing requires temporal sacrifice, which ultimately yields great spiritual blessings.
(Robert D. Hales, “Tithing: A Test of Faith with Eternal Blessings,” Ensign, Nov. 2002, 26)

No person knows the principle of tithing until he pays tithing.
—President Harold B. Lee

Scripture:
Behold, now it is called today until the coming of the Son of Man, and verily it is a day of sacrifice, and a day for the tithing of my people; for he that is tithed shall not be burned at his coming.
(Doctrine and Covenants 64:23)

Object Lesson:
For this object lesson, you will need ten pieces of candy. Before family home evening, confide with a family member and explain that at some point during the lesson you will give him or her ten candies as a gift but then ask for one back. Tell the person to resist and refuse to give one back.
As your family gathers together, find some reason to give the candy to the particular family member as explained above. When the person refuses to give one candy back, ask your family to silently read 3 Nephi 24:8-12 or Malachi chapter 3:8-10. Have them look for how these verses relate to the experience they just witnessed. Read these verses again, aloud as a family, and ask:
· Why do some people not pay tithing?
· What blessings will the Lord pour out upon a person who pays tithing?
· What are some blessings that are specifically mentioned in verses 11-12 and how can they be applied to our modern situations?
(Dennis H. Leavitt and Richard O. Christensen, Scripture Study for Latter- day Saint Families: The Book of Mormon, [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2003], p. 309.)

Story:
“That First Tithing Receipt”
President Spencer W. Kimball
When I was a little boy in Thatcher, Arizona, my father, desiring to teach his children industry, thrift, and tithing, turned over to my sister Alice and me a patch of potatoes which he had planted.
I hoed the weeds and helped to irrigate the potatoes until they were ready to dig. Then Alice and I dug and cleaned and sorted them. We took the larger ones of uniform size and put them in a box and loaded them in my little red wagon. Then, after putting on clean overalls and dress, we pulled the little red wagon with its contents to town.
We sold our merchandise to some of the neighbors, but a kindly sister who operated the hotel was our best customer. She looked them over and bought from us regularly through the season.
After selling our first load we were so happy we could hardly wait to get home to tell our parents of our success.
Father listened to us count our money—a very great amount, it seemed to us. Then father inquired: “That’s capital! Now what will you do with your money?”
We thought of ice cream cones and candy and Christmas presents we could buy. Then in his characteristics and impressive way, our father said: “Now you haven’t forgotten the bishop, have you? The Lord has been kind to us. The earth is his. He sent the moisture and the sunshine and all we did was plow and plant and cultivate and harvest. One-tenth we always give back to the Lord for his work. When you have paid your tithing to the bishop, then you may use the balance as you wish.”
I think I still have in my keepsakes that first tithing receipt.
(Leon R. Hartshorn, Outstanding Stories by General Authorities, vol. 2)

Activities:
Place ten dimes (or other denomination of money) on a table. Ask a family member to use the money you placed on a table, and demonstrate what “tithing” would be on ten dimes. Discuss the following questions:
· What is one tenth of $100? $1,000?
· Do you think it is harder to pay tithing on a little or a lot of money? Why?
· What is tithing used for? (Building churches and temples, and other church owned buildings, maintenance and upkeep on the buildings, missionary work, paying church employees, and stake, ward, and branch budgets.)
· What blessings have come to you from paying your tithing?
(Dennis H. Leavitt and Richard O. Christensen, Scripture Study for Latter- day Saint Families: The Doctrine and Covenants, [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2004], p. 226.)

Mark 12:41-44
Tell the story of the Widow’s mite

1. A man once said, “I pay tithing on all my salary after deductions, since I don’t get the money that is taken for taxes.” Is he correct? (Tithing is one-tenth of all our interest or increase, before anything else is taken out. See D&C 119:4.)

2. Another person made this statement: “I don’t know why I should pay tithing. The Church is rich enough, anyway.” (The Church does need everyone’s tithing to build buildings and operate its many programs. But even if it did not need our money, tithing is still a commandment and will bring us many blessings. See Malachi 3:10.)

“I think it is not well known in the Church that payment of tithing has very little to do with money. Tithing has to do with faith.” (A. Theodore Tuttle, in Conference Report, Apr. 1970, p. 86; or Improvement Era, June 1970, p. 80.)

I think this last quote is probably the most important to remember. And that was my lesson.

That's my two cents.