When Jesus calls Zacchaeus down from the tree and comes to his home and dines with him, Zachaeus is thrilled, yet convicted. Jesus is gracious and it drives Zacchaeus to repentance. He vows to give money to the poor and return the money he’s wrongfully taken from everyone else four fold.

This is in response to Jesus’ grace, not to attain Jesus’ grace. And, it’s a near perfect picture of grace-based tithing.

Tim Keller describes it like this:

If salvation had been something earned through obedience to the moral code, then Zacchaeus’s question would have been “how much must I give?” however, these promises were responses to lavish, generous grace, so his question was “How much can I give?”

We’re accustomed to thinking of tithing as giving our 10%. But, new-testament tithing is a grace-based institution. We’ve been given grace and we give in response to it.

I could learn from Zacchaeus’s tender heart in giving abundantly out of his abundant receiving.