Tithing

SpiritualMadMan,

Thank you for pointing that out. I think you hit the nail on the head. Something many will not like to hear but I agree with the scripture you reference in Matthew 17.

 

Listen, God doesn't need your money. Tithing is a spiritual principle where you submit that realm of your life to God's authority and power. Tithing is a way of surrendering your materialism to God and demonstrating your belief.

Jam 2:18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

The only thing that meets human need is Jesus - money can never meet human need, unless it's being used to send someone who is bringing Jesus to them (ie preaching Gospel, bringing Bibles). Tithing is actually a Biblical principle, and one of the few principles God actually says to 'try him' to see if what he says is true.

Mal 3:10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that [there shall] not [be room] enough [to receive it].

God constantly seeking to bless his children, and the greatest way to recieve that blessing is to seek God. Those who seek God and do not seek a blessing will find God and by default be blessed. Those who seek material things will not be blessed.

God honors his Word. The laws that he sets in motion are as real as any physical law (gravity for example). While tithing is an old covenant truth, it's implications remain true today.

 

Gup20,

Yes, God honors the Word, and our Trusting it...

That's why I am convinced that we dishonor the Word and the Grace Jesus bought for us when 'we' teach tithing using the standard party line...

I agree, all of God's Children should work and give for the mutual support of the ministry and the fatherless, widows and strangers...

But, it *must* be voluntary and in Faith. For whatsoever is not of faith is sin...

This means, "whatsoever", taken literally, that tithing out of cumpulsion, obligation, or force (not of Faith) would be sin...

(And, we wonder why Malachi 3:8-10 doesn't come absolutely true all the time? )

It is my personal conviction that the Curse was done away with in Jesus, but, the Blessings remain...

(Unless 'sin' in one's life Frustrates the Grace of God...)

Now, that's an encouragement to consider tithing I can preach.

The 'other' text on giving is out of

I find it hard to believe that people can say they love God, but don't *really* love their fellow believers enough to give to a 'common good'.

 

If the standard party line is that we are required to give - then I supposed I would agree to a point. However, it would be equally as wrong for tithing to never be discussed or to never give the people of a body the opportunity to tithe or give.

Giving is actually more beneficial to the giver than to the 'church' to which it's given. There are two primary reasons for this.

Mat 6:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

It is simply true that the thing you spend most of your money on is the thing that has first place in your heart. By tithing, you can actually orient your heart in the right direction. For example, many psycologists say that smiling leads to happiness... not the other way around. That you can actually control your own mood by doing the things associated with the mood you desire to be in. By giving tithe, you can actually begin to orient your attitude and heart towards God. God says that when your attitude is right, and your heart is in the right place, He will give you good desires.

Psa 37:4 Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

The second reason is the fact that the entire kingdom of God works on the basis of sowing and reaping. How can one expect God to consistantly intervene in the realm of their finances when they are unwilling to submit that area of their lives to God.

Tithing, and the offering time during the service does more than pay the bills of the church... it allows each person the opportunity to orient their heart towards God, and it gives them an opportunity to plant seed that God says in Malachi 3 that He will surely water and nurture.

The Bible does say that when we give it ought to be with a happy heart. I tell you - I am really into computers. Nothing makes me happier than to slap down a couple hundred bucks for some cool new computer part I have been wanting. But do I have that same joy when the offering bucket is passed at church? Usually not - and I would submit that is a very clear indication that God is not oriented #1 in my life as He should be.

Yet our churches bring Jesus to people on a daily basis and we shy from giving.

Let no one think that becuase Jesus fulfilled the law (the old testament) that it no longer applies. We simply take those things by faith now, rather than appropriating them by works.

Gal 3:7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
Gal 3:8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, [saying], In thee shall all nations be blessed.
Gal 3:9 So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

These verses clearly show that WE - being gentiles - are saved (in part) as a result of God's promise to Abraham. So then, if our very salvation is afforded us by faith as a result of God's promise to Abraham, so too wouldn't the other blessings God promised Abraham be also ours to take by faith? Are we not heirs with Abraham according to the promise of God?

Gal 3:29 And if ye [be] Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

So then, is it not posssible for us, being heirs in Christ of God's promise to Abraham to know, experience, and operate in God's promise to Abraham?

Gal 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed [is] every one that hangeth on a tree:
Gal 3:14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

By 'the curse' I assume you mean the curse brought upon us by Adam - whereas by Adam's sin, death and corruption entered the world.

It is true that Jesus conquered death and sin. However, the fact that christians die mortally just as sinners and non-believers means that we sill live in a fallen and sinful world. Once saved, we are no longer bound by sin, but our mortal bodies are, and they will eventually die in judgment. Though we will live forever in christ with new bodies.

Before Jesus, our eternal souls and our bodies shared the same fate... linked to one another. Death is the result of Adam's sin, and that death reigned over us. After Christ's death on the cross, he took dominion over sin and death. He made a way for our eternal souls to be separated from our mortal bodies and live forever with Christ. This is why salvation is often referred to as 'new birth' or getting 'born again'. Just as christ did, we too will recieve new bodies on the other side of the death of these condemned ones. Christ's work on the cross condemned sin and death to perish with our mortal bodies.

Romans 5 and 6 describe this in detail.

This is one reason we tithe - so that we show outwardly what is happening inwardly. So that we demonstrate our faith - what we believe - by what we do.

For example, if a car was coming at you, and you said "I only need to take 2 steps to avoid being hit" and then you took 7 steps - those who heard you would know that you truely believed it took seven steps because of your actions. "what you believed to be true" was made evident by your actions. This is what James 2:18 means.

Jam 2:18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

Gal 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
Gal 2:17 But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, [is] therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.
Gal 2:18 For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
Gal 2:19 For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.

So then, it is not that the Law ceases to exist, but rather that the law is satisfied (pefected, judged) by what Christ did on the cross, and the judgement of such is condemned to perish with our motal bodies. While we are no longer obligated by life and death to uphold the law, the Bible makes clear that we are now FREE from the law to persue God and life.

While tithing my have been a ritualistic emtpy gesture one did to uphold the law in the past, it is now a freedom we can enjoy. We are free to give and take pleasure in giving. We are free to open up the windows of heaven so that God's blessing is poured out upon us so much that we cannot contain it.

Gal 3:11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, [it is] evident: for, The just shall live by faith.
Gal 3:12 And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.


The law was given so that we could learn about God and what is good and right. Before life and death stood in the balance of obeying the law. Now, however, the law is fulfilled, and while we may no longer be under the law, it's lessons teach us about God, and how to relate with God.

Gal 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster [to bring us] unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Gal 3:25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

Gal 3:29 And if ye [be] Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise

Gal 4:1 Now I say, [That] the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;
Gal 4:2 But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.
Gal 4:3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:

The trap of the Galations is that they were preaching that men needed to be circumcised to be in christ - that it was a thing of works. It is not by works, but by faith... however, our faith does not negate the law, but fulfills it's requirements in what Christ did for us.

Gal 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
Gal 5:2 Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
Gal 5:3 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.

This basically says that if you want to fulfill the law by trying to stricktly adhere to it (rather than by faith) then good luck, you will have to obey every single bit. You are like servent who can be fired for wrongdoing, rather than a son who remains even when they fail.

So too should be our attitude toward tithing. That it is not an action to fulfill some law, but rather a volentary expression of our love for God. And since God commands that we give a tenth... we now have the wonderful privilage to obey God in freedom - having no obligation to do so, but having the freedom and the will to want to.

Like I said... tithing is for the Giver... not the church, and the church that does not speak on tithing or give their patrons the opportunity to give on a regular consistent basis is a church that robs their congregation of the opportunity for blessing.

 

I agree, absolutely!

Taking wife to lunch will get back to you as soon as possible.