Still tithing?

There are numerous passages in the NT about meeting the needs of the brethren, communicating gifts and funds, supporting preachers and other churches, etc.

For someone to attend a church and leach off what the other members willingly sacrifice in order to keep the local church operating, is appalling. BUT, there are plenty of scum in our churches this day who only know how to leach. There are those that leach in regards to the $$, those that leach in regards to the work, those that leach in regards to Biblical study, those that leach in regards to prayer, etc. ; always willing to get a blessing and a crown, seldom willing to bear the burden or the cross.

 

Man, if I was to quit tithing and instead put that money towards my debt, I could be debt free in no time.

However, I want to tithe and God and His work should be everyone's #1 priority. Anyway, 100% of everything belongs to God.

 

Mar 10:19Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.


Jhn 14:26But the Comforter, [which is] the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

If the Commandments had no meaning after the cross, I wonder why the Holy Ghost is going to bring them to our remembrance??

Does that mean that all that Jesus said was under the Law and therefore has no meaning to us. What about His death, it no doubt was under the Law also?

 

:tonofbricks: :tonofbricks: I do not understand what you a saying. Do you mean that we are not required to tithe? That makes no sense.
Faithgirl

 

Yes, faithgirl46. I wish there was a smilie of something with a roof so I can stop those bricks from burying you.

It means we are not required to tithe.

Tithing is an old testament practice, intended for the Jews, who lived in an agricultural context (so you also have the firstfruits offering).

In the New Testament where grace, and not the law, rules, we give "according as God hath prospered us", and we give as "cheerful givers". which if applied properly, means we give more than a tenth of whatever we earned, not out of a feeling of obligation, but because we love the Lord, His vineyard, and His laborers.

 

He was of course speaking to whom? Men under the Mosaic Covenant and requirements.

 

To answer the original post - yes, absolutely!

I've often heard this reasoning from people who just didn't want to give and used it as their excuse. God will never honor disobedience.

 

So you wish to be disobedient to the command to "owe no man anything"?

 

Thanks for your answers. They are reasoned and given in a good spirit.

 

Ivon, I take it you mean that if you tithe, God will bless you, and if not, he won't.

Well, Malachi made that connection. My own thought is that God is always pleased with obedience, and displeased with disobedience. The entire company of OT prophets preached the same thing to Israel and Judah: repent of your rebellion and God will bless, otherwise he will punish.

In other places, God promises blessings unilaterally to his children.

Now I do know people who say they are going to tithe not only because they should, but believe that if they with-hold it, God will take it from them in a way they really won't like. There is a part of me that thinks that, too.

And in my life I have received manifold blessings from God. Because I tithe? Maybe, maybe not. Maybe it's just God being merciful to one who manages to displease God fairly regularly.

I've been a little wishy-washy in answering your question because I want to avoid the tithing cliches.

 

That's absurd. Do you really not know of any Christian who failed to tithe for months, years, decades? How did God squeeze it out of them against their will? And do you know of Christians who did faithfully tithe and met with as many or more problems in finances, health and safety as the ones who didn't?

 

1. Why in the bright light of the NT can't we find a direct command to tithe?

2. Why are the book of Acts and the epistles so silent on the matter?

3. And the only mention of Tithing is in Hebrews, but within a historical setting to make a point about the superiority of Jesus' high priesthood. Why?

 

I know. But you will not convince them that it's absurd. They will cite instances where they didn't tithe faithfully, and they had unexpected medical bills, unexpected repair bills, that sort of thing. They never got to spend that money as they planned. On the ther hand, many tithers will testify that their money goes further now than it did when they didn't tithe.

Yet, I dont' know a single tither who will say they tithe in order to claim the promises of great blessings cited in Malachi 3:10.

I know, anecdotal evidence must be evaluated in light of scripture. Actually, that's exactly what they're doing. They're measuring their experience in light of Malachi 3:10 and it seems to fit.

Are there faithful tithers wh have financial and/or health problems? Yep. Are there non-givers who prosper? Yep. Can I explain the apparent inconsistency? Nope.

 

This has been the topic of conversation between my wife and I for the past 6-12 months and I have to agree with you on this one point: Tithe is part of the OT, not the NT command for believers today: but I still give 10% of my income out of the LOVE of GOD to support HIS ministry and I still need to do futher study into this matter so that I can be fully convienced in my own heart.

 

Have we created a false division between what is God's money, and what is our money, or between what is God's work, and what is not God's work?

As someone wrote earlier, 100% of what we have is His already, so how can we say we are going to carve off 10% and give that to God?

It seems to me that everything we spend money on, as Christians, is related to God. If we go to a movie, that is His money we're using, or when we buy groceries, that is His money.

Somehow we think spending God's money to pay for a church building that we sit in, or for utilities to make us comfortable, or for a minister to study for us, is more Godly than spending His money to buy groceries.

It's all His, just as we are all His, whether we're in church or in the movie theatre or the grocery store.

 

I found the following from John Macarthur: