Giving and financial management are spiritual issues

In giving, many go back to the Old Testament law of the tithe, the giving of ten percent unto the Lord. This is a good principle for giving, and perhaps a broad benchmark, yet the New Testament nowhere specifically commands tithing. The New Testament speaks with great clarity on the principles of giving. It teaches us that giving should be regular, planned, proportional, and private.
(1 Corinthians 16:1-4, 1 Now about the collection for God’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. 2 On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. 3 Then, when I arrive, I will give letters of introduction to the men you approve and send them with your gift to Jerusalem. 4 If it seems advisable for me to go also, they will accompany me. (1 Corinthians 16:1-4, NIV

Giving Is Church Centered
Now about the collection for God’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of every week…
Paul is responding to a question that had been raised in the letter that the Corinthians had sent to him about the collection that had been organized as a special offering for the poor among God’s people, especially the saints in Jerusalem. There was a great need there, and Paul was pulling together money from various churches to help them.

Regular Giving for Everyone
On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income…
God has a plan for giving. As a matter of fact, God has a plan for everything. People maybe capricious and unpredictable, randomly changing their mind and behavior for no apparent reason, but God is immutable or unchanging by nature. That means that he planned and designed everything according to his sovereign purpose. It should not surprise us that he has a plan for giving.

As God Has Blessed
On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income…
How much should we give? Well, it depends on what we’re talking about. Here Paul was talking about a special collection that was being set aside for the poor saints in Jerusalem. I am sure that he expected each person to pray about how much they were to give considering the blessing of God in their life. When he encourages them to give in keeping with his income, he is asking them to consider just how much God has blessed them.

God’s Work
Now about the collection for God’s people… your gift to Jerusalem……
The specific application of our text is Paul’s instructions concerning the collection for the poor saints in Jerusalem. The reason for the collection was that there was a great need.

Since the New Testament doesn’t emphasize tithing, one might not be strict on it for Christians (though some Christians do argue against tithing on the basis of self-interest). But since giving is to be proportional, we should be giving some percentage - and ten percent is a good benchmark - a starting place! For some to give ten percent is nowhere near enough; for others, at their present time, five percent may be a massive step of faith.
If our question is, “How little can I give and still be pleasing to God?” our heart isn’t in the right place at all. We should have the attitude of some early Christians, who essentially said: “We’re not under the tithe - we can give more!” Giving and financial management are spiritual issues, not only financial issues (Luke 16:11 If then you have not been faithful in the unjust mammon, who will trust you with that which is the true?)