am taking what i believe is the heart out of a paper i believe andy referred to.
this is for people who don't read long things.
realtionaltithe.com
embezzlement paper. ray mayhew

The wisdom literature of Israel unequivocally
asserted that “to give to the poor is to lend to the Lord” (Prov.19:17). It was upon this
foundation that later rabbinic scholars placed almsgiving even above prayer and fasting as
the primary act of devotion to God himself; “prayer with fasting is good, but better than
both is almsgiving.”13 Jesus, himself, builds on this legacy by teaching in Matthew 25 that
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giving and caring for those deprived of wealth and dignity was indeed giving and caring for
the Lord himself.
In the fourth century, Basil the Great was so moved by such truths that he built a
‘city’ on the outskirts of Caesarea devoted to providing medical care for the sick, shelter for
travelers, clothing for the poor, and work for the unemployed. In describing Basil’s work,
Gregory of Nazianzus instructs his readers to “go forth a little way from the city, and behold
the new city, the storehouse of piety, the common treasury of the wealthy, in which the
superfluities of their wealth, aye, and even their necessities, are stored.”14
Basil’s work became a model that was copied by many others who were equally
determined to courageously and imaginatively obey the mandate of Matthew 25. This
astonishing passage which climaxes and concludes the formal teaching of Jesus in
Matthew’s gospel, merits close examination, as it appears to have had a decisive impact in
shaping the theology of stewardship in the early church. Five things should not be missed.
First, it is the only place where our Lord gives a comprehensive description of final
judgment. What is intimated elsewhere in parabolic language is here revealed with
dramatic detail and vividness.15 The text emphasizes that “all his angels” and “all the
nations” are gathered to witnesses that which will distinguish the righteous from the wicked
on the day of judgement.
Second, the most striking structural
feature of the passage is that the list of six basic
needs, characterizing all those bereft of basic
human rights (hunger, thirst, stranger, naked,
sick, and in prison), is repeated no less than
four times. Such a catalogue is as
contemporary now as it was then. Almost all
human suffering is embraced by this six fold
catalogue of human heartache.
Third, on the day of judgment, the people of God will be identified as those who
ministered to these specific needs. This should not surprise us. Giving food to the hungry
and providing clothing for the naked was uniquely regarded as the work of the righteous in
the Old Testament (Ezek.18:7, 9; Ps.112:1–10; Job. 31:13–23, etc.). We usually define
righteousness by what we don’t do, a catalogue of misdemeanors, but here it is defined by
what we do, specifically on behalf of the needy. Righteousness is proactive. Many
righteous acts can be identified, all the way from prayer and fasting to giving one’s body to
be burned. However, only one is used at the Great Assize; our actions in relieving human
suffering. This is what will identify us as the community of faith.
Fourth, the Jews used the word “zedakah” both for righteousness and almsgiving.
Giving alms and being righteous were considered one and the same thing. Jesus
The Jews used the word ‘zedakah’
both for righteousness and
almsgiving. Giving alms and being
righteous were considered one and
the same thing. Jesus endorsed
this and used it as the criteria in
separating the sheep and the goats
at the end of the age.
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endorsed this and used it as the criteria in separating the sheep and the goats at the end of
the age. [It is insightful to substitute “almsgiving”, or “generosity”, for righteousness in
certain New Testament passages: Rom. 14:17 becomes, ”the kingdom of God
is...generosity, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit”. See also 2 Cor. 9:9.]
Finally, the Matthean passage is also significant because Jesus tells us, without any
ambiguity, that God views ministry to the neglected and oppressed as the mechanism by
which we can minister to him. As we have seen, this came as no surprise to the Jews, who
already understood giving to the needy as giving to God himself. Their literature abounds
in affirming the truth of Proverbs, that to give to the poor is to lend to the Lord. The rabbinic
parallel in the midrash on Deuteronomy 15:9 is
just one example: “My children, when you give
food to the poor, I counted it as though you
had given it to me.”16 Others include such
statements as, “almsgiving is an excellent
offering in the presence of the Most High”17
and, “the one who gives alms sacrifices a
thank offering.”18 “Zedakah” was not only the
manifestation of a righteous life, it was also
understood as the mechanism by which the
pious Israelite could give to Yahweh himself.
Jesus builds on this legacy with his words, “in as much as you have done it unto one
of these the least of my brothers you have done it unto me.” What shocked his hearers
was not that ministry to those in dehumanizing poverty was regarded as ministry to God
himself—this was something they already knew. The shock was that Jesus now assumed
the role of deity as the recipient of such ministry, and the role of the eschatological judge—
a right restricted to Yahweh himself. Today, for us, his claim to deity is clear. What we
need to recover is what his hearers already knew; that by giving to the poor we can give to
the Lord himself. Not to do so is to deny him what is his by right and to thereby risk find
ourselves among the goats, not the sheep, on the day of judgement.