Abiyah
You said:
It never ceases to amaze me--the number of people who use the "Old Testament" when it conveniently fits their agenda then throw it out, crying, "Grace!! Grace!!" when it does not.
All I do Abiyah is conveniently rightly divide the Word of truth. I never said that Old Testament was not useful, but the Law is abolished.
These are the same ones who plead that the Church is spiritual Israel and that our God is through with Israel, for they have thrown away the promise and it now belongs to the church.
You will never see me say the Church is spiritual Israel. Israel is not the Church. I make this distinction. And I do not believe that God is through with Israel and the promises given to her.
Okay, fine. Then it is time to throw away your great big Bibles and go out and buy little "New Testaments," but make sure they have neither Psalms nor Proverbs!
I wouldn't want to do that, I love the book of Proverbs. But I understand that some of the promises that lie within are written in the context of the Law. I also love the historical books such as Genesis, First and Second Samuel especially. I have learned a great deal about the grace and love of God in the Old Testament. As far as the Law goes, there are a lot of types pointing to the fulfillment of that law - Jesus.
For the rest of us, we tithe, minimally.
Rest assured most tithers let us know that they tithe. Do you feel closer to God for doing that? I am grateful He does not require payment from me in order to be blessed. He already blessed, therefore I give.
Yet our Lord mentioned that the scribes and Pharisees tithed, condemning them for omitting such weightier matters as judgment, mercy, and faith. In making such a statement, was He diminishing the importance of tithes? No! So why did they tithe? Because it was expected.
Not so, the Lord was in the 23 chapter of Matthew condemning the Pharisees for putting so much importance on this law. They went beyond what the law required, self-righteously. I see the same thing happening in Churches all over. He did not ask them to stop tithing according to the law because the law had not yet been fulfilled.
Did our Lord diminish, then, the tithe of the Pharisee who stood praying with himself? No. Again, tithe was expected; our Lord criticized him for his pride and self-righteousness
The point of this was self-righteousness, not if we should tithe or not. I find it ironic that here the tithe is associated with pride. Your use of these passages, dealing with self-righteousness in the midst of a commendation is poor.
For a reality check: Does your church have a....
Please do not confuse the doctrine of giving with that of tithing. I believe in giving. Because of my personal financial situation, I can't give as much as some, but I do give. And its not always $$$. I just don't believe that giving has anything to do with a tithe. Indecently I challenge anyone to find where the "tithe" has anything to do with money at all. It simply don't.
In fact:
Deut 14:22-27 Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the LORD your God always. But if that place is too distant and you have been blessed by the LORD your God and cannot carry your tithe (because the place where the LORD will choose to put his Name is so far away), then exchange your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the LORD your God will choose. Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice. And do not neglect the Levites living in your towns, for they have no allotment or inheritance of their own.
They had to transfer their tithe (food) into money when they traveled. Then they had to buy back the tithe (food).
Do you see how these games can be played?
Personally I don't consider this issue a game. I find it incredibly serious when you have pastors leading a flock in such legalistic teaching. Especially when it involves people who can't afford to pay a tithe. Pastors can exclaim that people are robbing God, but who is really doing the robbing? I find this to be a serious lack of studing what a Tithe even is, why it was used, and who it was for, and when it was given. They can cry that people who don't tithe lacks faith in God, but in reality it is them who lacks the faith in that they have to rely on an misused
law to get paid.
Our very own Lord said clearly (KJV) "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the pro-phets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or onw tittle shalll in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least com- mandments, and shalll teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
The word fulfill does not mean "to confirm". It means to complete, expire, and fill. When Christ said that He did not come to destroy the law, He knew that He would be living a perfect sinless life, therefore completing the law that no other man could fulfill. This Law could be obeyed by Jesus Christ here on earth without breaking it. If Jesus would have sinned then the law would have been broken or destroyed. It was a righteous law, that Jesus followed to the "T". Jesus did fulfill the law which he was born under (Gal 4:4) by living in perfect obedience to it (Heb. 4:15). He also fulfilled that law by His death on the cross (Heb. 9:7-28). And the fulfillment of the law is love which is the new commandment that Christ gave to us. Let’s look at a few of the many of scriptures which instructs us that it is through the blood of Jesus Christ that we are no longer under the Law (which was really only to Israel anyway).
Col 2:14
having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.
Eph 2:13-17
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.
Rom 7:1-5
For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. So then, if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress, even though she marries another man.
So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.
Rom 7:6
But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
2 Cor 3:5-11
He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant-not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!
John 1:17
For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
Rom 6:13-14
For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
The same One said, "If ye love me, kep my com- mandments."
What are Christ Commandments?
1 John 3:23-24
And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.
1 John 4:21-5:1
And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.
1 John 5:2-4
This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,
2 John 4-6
It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us. And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.
Gal 6:1-3
Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
John 13:34-35
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
John 15:12
My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.