I’d written a message quite a few years ago, one that was not well received by many who stand in the pulpits of our churches. This was a teaching on the practice of tithing within the church at large and a rebuke against those who would misuse law for personal gain or simply out of a faithless of heart.
I have heard some faithful teaching on the subject, but more commonly I’ve heard proud and self righteous men demanding that others meet a standard that the Lord has never required of the church. Some “churches” require members to “offer” a tithe of their income (10%) as a minimum to prove their faithfulness to the Lord. Sometimes this requirement is only a “proof” required for the holding of a church office, but the result of such requirements is commonly that the leadership of a church consists of members with substantial wealth, but not necessarily of substantial spiritual maturity. On the contrary, it is questionable as to whether such people even have a relationship with the Lord, not understanding grace or the manifold gifts of God.
So what was the purpose of the tithe to those who were under law? Abraham lived before the covenant of law and he gave a tenth of all that he’d gained from the Lord to “the priest of God Most High,” the man called Melchizedek, king of Salem. Why did he do this? In the context of scripture, Abraham made this grand gesture after rescuing his nephew, Lot from captivity. Lot had been captured together with others from the city of Sodom who were taken as booty during a war between the kings of those lands. Not only did Abraham make this offering to God through the priest Melchizedek, but he also refused an offer of reward from the king of Sodom, saying, “I will not take anything that is yours, lest you should say, “I have made Abram rich.”” Genesis 14:23 Considering Abrahams vow before the Lord from this passage, we can say that Abraham made this offering of a tenth of his possession to God’s priest in order to honor God as the One who had blessed him with wealth in His grace, not as a man for hire, working for reward.
God gave Abraham everything, Abraham gave a “tenth of all” back to God to honor Him with his wealth. Was God especially pleased with this? Was Abraham being generous with God? As God owns everything, the answer to the latter question is obviously not. Jesus made a point with regard to such giving, speaking of a widow who made a very small offering at the temple in Jerusalem. He said, “Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.” In the context of the passage, Jesus had observed how “many who were rich” made large offerings to the treasury, yet He considered the widows offering to be more than all that those others had given because it revealed her heart; She desired to please God with her offering more than she desired to preserve her own flesh, offering her “whole livelihood.”
So again, was God well pleased with Abraham for giving back “a tenth of all?” King david wrote while in the Spirit of prophecy, “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; My ears you have opened. Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require. Then I said, “Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart.” Psalm 40:6-8
The Author of the book of Hebrews quotes from these verses and others from the prophets as well in comparing the excellencies of the covenant made through the blood of Christ with the weakness of the covenant of law. Those verses speak to the heart of the Son of God who delights in doing His will and has His law written within His heart. We understand this as speaking specifically of Christ, but it speaks of more as well. If we have received Him by faith and have been made alive through His Spirit, then our desire has become His desire. That is, while our sanctification is a process which continues through out our lifetime, the renewing of our minds through the teaching of His word and conviction of His Spirit, our hearts were given new life in Him with the adoption through His Spirit by which we may love Him and gain the desire to do His will.
For this reason the Apostle Paul could write, “For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.” Romans 7:22-23
So what’s the point? God is concerned about our sin, not because it damages Him, but because it damages us. Having said that, God is far less concerned with what we do, than with the condition of our relationship to Him, or simply put, the bent of our hearts. He has given us choice so that we may choose to do good rather than to do evil. In his sacrifice to redeem us from sin, He has given us His Spirit so that we might be filled with good desire to please Him, rather than evil desire to please ourselves.
If God was please with Abraham’s offering, it was not Abraham’s gift, but Abraham’s desire which He found pleasing. Abraham was “blessed” with wealth through God’s provision and honored God in returning a portion to Him, but Abraham’s wealth was not his reward, for God said to him, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”
From the day that we are born to the day that we die our lives are concerned with things; things that we need, things that we want, things that we have or don’t have, but all these things will perish with time and with us. The only thing which we take into eternity is our relationship with God and this is expressed in this life in our relationships to others. The Apostle John teaches this explicitly to us saying, “If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him; that he who loves God must love his brother also.” 1 John 4:20-21
Now, you might be asking, what does this have to do with tithing? I’ll have to answer with another question, what was the purpose of tithing under the law of Moses? If you examine the scripture you find very practical purpose in the tithes of the law. The building and maintenance of first the tabernacle and later of the temple required money for both labor and materials and this money came out of the treasury which subsisted almost entirely upon tithes and offerings. You’ll also find that in giving the land of Canaan to the tribes of Israel, God provided gifts or grants of land to all the men, the heads of households, in all the tribes of Israel except for the tribe of Levi. This land was not mortgaged or rented, but given as a perpetual inheritance and as the source of the livelihood for all the people. The Levites were not given this portion of the land because God took that tribe to be His servants in the tabernacle and then in the temple, both priests and laborers. The Levites were given their sustenance, their livelihood, from the tithes of all of the other tribes. God made provision for Levi through the tithes of his brothers under the law given by Moses.
When congregations find themselves dwindling in number and “church” revenues are falling off, many pulpits like to drag out the book of Malachi and point out how God is robbed by the withholding of tithes, but what did Malachi write as the word of the Lord, “For you have robbed Me, even this whole nation. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house.” Clearly, God did not need the food, but in withholding tithes, the tribes were defrauding their brethren of the house of Levi and in that, robbing God. This is one point that I’ve never heard from a pulpit, probably as it would seem to be self serving on the part of a paid clergy.
So what part does tithing have in the new Testament church? None.
Now, for many centuries there have been “churches” which have survived as institutions funded and grown largely through the practice of tithing and other even more questionable fund raising methods. The leadership of such institutions love tithing as it places obligatory demands to provide for regular constant funding (and also the amassing of great wealth, but it is questionable as to whether such institutions have any part in Christ. I’m not suggesting that as member of the body of Christ we shouldn’t be generous. On the contrary, the new testament scriptures contain explicit instructions for giving and giving regularly to meet the needs of the church (not the buildings but the body.)
The gifts and offerings spoken of by the Apostles were all about meeting the needs of the brethren and extending also to help meet the needs of those outside the body of Christ as an expression of grace extended to all. The Apostle John expressed this as the satisfaction of God’s commandment to the church; “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him.” 1 John 3:16-19
With the advent of a professional clergy came the need to provide for them, but when Christ sent out His disciples through the land of Israel preaching the gospel of the kingdom, He instructed them to live on the hospitality provided them. When the apostle Paul went out on his missionary journeys, he labored for his own provision and not because he was unworthy of the hospitality or gifts of others, but to lend credibility to his gospel; “If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things? If others are partakers of this right over you, are we not even more? Nevertheless we have not used this right, but endure all things lest we hinder the gospel of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 9:11-12
In that passage from Paul’s 1st letter to the Corinthian church we find Paul giving the justification of a paid clergy as satisfying the commandment of God’s provisioning through the gifts made by the Church at large. God commanded that those preaching the gospel should live by it so this becomes a need of the Church that can’t be neglected, but God never required tithing by the Church for the purpose of building monuments to the memory of servants called to the ministry, vast cathedrals, and pulpits extending the reach of preachers to their own aggrandizement. I tell you that such men have already received their reward.
So why is tithing preached or held as a requirement rather than the teaching of the principles of stewardship and the provisioning of the body of Christ as the working out of God’s love in us and through us? Simple answer: faithlessness. The Church has regular needs as well as special ones and it is far easier to place an arbitrary burden on the backs of the congregation than to trust the Lord to meet the needs of the Church through the gifts of members given the grace to willingly make greater gifts. If pews are emptying out and revenues are dropping off, don’t look to the pews for the cause, look to the pulpits. If the professional preachers are dishonest with their handling of the word of God, why should the “Church” leadership be entrusted with the wages earned by the sweat of our brows? With men, if the head is sick, the whole body is sick. When Christ is indeed the head of the Church, the Church prospers. When the Church is failing, a man has stepped into his place, and sometimes more than one.
In the end, liars will not prosper and fools will perish. Only those that love will endure.
I have heard some faithful teaching on the subject, but more commonly I’ve heard proud and self righteous men demanding that others meet a standard that the Lord has never required of the church. Some “churches” require members to “offer” a tithe of their income (10%) as a minimum to prove their faithfulness to the Lord. Sometimes this requirement is only a “proof” required for the holding of a church office, but the result of such requirements is commonly that the leadership of a church consists of members with substantial wealth, but not necessarily of substantial spiritual maturity. On the contrary, it is questionable as to whether such people even have a relationship with the Lord, not understanding grace or the manifold gifts of God.
So what was the purpose of the tithe to those who were under law? Abraham lived before the covenant of law and he gave a tenth of all that he’d gained from the Lord to “the priest of God Most High,” the man called Melchizedek, king of Salem. Why did he do this? In the context of scripture, Abraham made this grand gesture after rescuing his nephew, Lot from captivity. Lot had been captured together with others from the city of Sodom who were taken as booty during a war between the kings of those lands. Not only did Abraham make this offering to God through the priest Melchizedek, but he also refused an offer of reward from the king of Sodom, saying, “I will not take anything that is yours, lest you should say, “I have made Abram rich.”” Genesis 14:23 Considering Abrahams vow before the Lord from this passage, we can say that Abraham made this offering of a tenth of his possession to God’s priest in order to honor God as the One who had blessed him with wealth in His grace, not as a man for hire, working for reward.
God gave Abraham everything, Abraham gave a “tenth of all” back to God to honor Him with his wealth. Was God especially pleased with this? Was Abraham being generous with God? As God owns everything, the answer to the latter question is obviously not. Jesus made a point with regard to such giving, speaking of a widow who made a very small offering at the temple in Jerusalem. He said, “Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.” In the context of the passage, Jesus had observed how “many who were rich” made large offerings to the treasury, yet He considered the widows offering to be more than all that those others had given because it revealed her heart; She desired to please God with her offering more than she desired to preserve her own flesh, offering her “whole livelihood.”
So again, was God well pleased with Abraham for giving back “a tenth of all?” King david wrote while in the Spirit of prophecy, “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; My ears you have opened. Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require. Then I said, “Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart.” Psalm 40:6-8
The Author of the book of Hebrews quotes from these verses and others from the prophets as well in comparing the excellencies of the covenant made through the blood of Christ with the weakness of the covenant of law. Those verses speak to the heart of the Son of God who delights in doing His will and has His law written within His heart. We understand this as speaking specifically of Christ, but it speaks of more as well. If we have received Him by faith and have been made alive through His Spirit, then our desire has become His desire. That is, while our sanctification is a process which continues through out our lifetime, the renewing of our minds through the teaching of His word and conviction of His Spirit, our hearts were given new life in Him with the adoption through His Spirit by which we may love Him and gain the desire to do His will.
For this reason the Apostle Paul could write, “For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.” Romans 7:22-23
So what’s the point? God is concerned about our sin, not because it damages Him, but because it damages us. Having said that, God is far less concerned with what we do, than with the condition of our relationship to Him, or simply put, the bent of our hearts. He has given us choice so that we may choose to do good rather than to do evil. In his sacrifice to redeem us from sin, He has given us His Spirit so that we might be filled with good desire to please Him, rather than evil desire to please ourselves.
If God was please with Abraham’s offering, it was not Abraham’s gift, but Abraham’s desire which He found pleasing. Abraham was “blessed” with wealth through God’s provision and honored God in returning a portion to Him, but Abraham’s wealth was not his reward, for God said to him, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”
From the day that we are born to the day that we die our lives are concerned with things; things that we need, things that we want, things that we have or don’t have, but all these things will perish with time and with us. The only thing which we take into eternity is our relationship with God and this is expressed in this life in our relationships to others. The Apostle John teaches this explicitly to us saying, “If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him; that he who loves God must love his brother also.” 1 John 4:20-21
Now, you might be asking, what does this have to do with tithing? I’ll have to answer with another question, what was the purpose of tithing under the law of Moses? If you examine the scripture you find very practical purpose in the tithes of the law. The building and maintenance of first the tabernacle and later of the temple required money for both labor and materials and this money came out of the treasury which subsisted almost entirely upon tithes and offerings. You’ll also find that in giving the land of Canaan to the tribes of Israel, God provided gifts or grants of land to all the men, the heads of households, in all the tribes of Israel except for the tribe of Levi. This land was not mortgaged or rented, but given as a perpetual inheritance and as the source of the livelihood for all the people. The Levites were not given this portion of the land because God took that tribe to be His servants in the tabernacle and then in the temple, both priests and laborers. The Levites were given their sustenance, their livelihood, from the tithes of all of the other tribes. God made provision for Levi through the tithes of his brothers under the law given by Moses.
When congregations find themselves dwindling in number and “church” revenues are falling off, many pulpits like to drag out the book of Malachi and point out how God is robbed by the withholding of tithes, but what did Malachi write as the word of the Lord, “For you have robbed Me, even this whole nation. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house.” Clearly, God did not need the food, but in withholding tithes, the tribes were defrauding their brethren of the house of Levi and in that, robbing God. This is one point that I’ve never heard from a pulpit, probably as it would seem to be self serving on the part of a paid clergy.
So what part does tithing have in the new Testament church? None.
Now, for many centuries there have been “churches” which have survived as institutions funded and grown largely through the practice of tithing and other even more questionable fund raising methods. The leadership of such institutions love tithing as it places obligatory demands to provide for regular constant funding (and also the amassing of great wealth, but it is questionable as to whether such institutions have any part in Christ. I’m not suggesting that as member of the body of Christ we shouldn’t be generous. On the contrary, the new testament scriptures contain explicit instructions for giving and giving regularly to meet the needs of the church (not the buildings but the body.)
The gifts and offerings spoken of by the Apostles were all about meeting the needs of the brethren and extending also to help meet the needs of those outside the body of Christ as an expression of grace extended to all. The Apostle John expressed this as the satisfaction of God’s commandment to the church; “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him.” 1 John 3:16-19
With the advent of a professional clergy came the need to provide for them, but when Christ sent out His disciples through the land of Israel preaching the gospel of the kingdom, He instructed them to live on the hospitality provided them. When the apostle Paul went out on his missionary journeys, he labored for his own provision and not because he was unworthy of the hospitality or gifts of others, but to lend credibility to his gospel; “If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things? If others are partakers of this right over you, are we not even more? Nevertheless we have not used this right, but endure all things lest we hinder the gospel of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 9:11-12
In that passage from Paul’s 1st letter to the Corinthian church we find Paul giving the justification of a paid clergy as satisfying the commandment of God’s provisioning through the gifts made by the Church at large. God commanded that those preaching the gospel should live by it so this becomes a need of the Church that can’t be neglected, but God never required tithing by the Church for the purpose of building monuments to the memory of servants called to the ministry, vast cathedrals, and pulpits extending the reach of preachers to their own aggrandizement. I tell you that such men have already received their reward.
So why is tithing preached or held as a requirement rather than the teaching of the principles of stewardship and the provisioning of the body of Christ as the working out of God’s love in us and through us? Simple answer: faithlessness. The Church has regular needs as well as special ones and it is far easier to place an arbitrary burden on the backs of the congregation than to trust the Lord to meet the needs of the Church through the gifts of members given the grace to willingly make greater gifts. If pews are emptying out and revenues are dropping off, don’t look to the pews for the cause, look to the pulpits. If the professional preachers are dishonest with their handling of the word of God, why should the “Church” leadership be entrusted with the wages earned by the sweat of our brows? With men, if the head is sick, the whole body is sick. When Christ is indeed the head of the Church, the Church prospers. When the Church is failing, a man has stepped into his place, and sometimes more than one.
In the end, liars will not prosper and fools will perish. Only those that love will endure.