There is much misconception and
varied opinions among Church goers regarding tithing. Unfortunately in today’s Churches many
believers have adopted a worldly view of money and possessions and have
intentionally ignored the clear truth of God’s Word regarding the issue of
tithing. My position as a Pastor and as
a follower of Jesus Christ is built upon the teachings of Scripture.
First, it
must be understood that tithing predates the Law (Laws of Moses) found in the
Old Testament. Abraham tithed to Melchizedek,
the King Priest of God Most High, in Genesis 14:18-20. The best interpreter of Scripture is
Scripture. Hebrews 7 affirms the
Christian view of this event as tithing predating the Law and that the Levites
who received tithes in fact gave a tithe through Abraham to one spiritually
greater in Melchizedek, who is a Christophany (a pre-incarnate appearance of
Jesus before his birth) or the likeness of Christ in his position and order. So any attempt by Christians to state we are not
to tithe based upon a presumed idea that we have been released from tithing
because the death of Christ released us from the Law, do not understand the
simple fact that the principle of tithing began before the Law.
Second, the
word for tithe in both the Hebrew (maaser) and the Greek (dekate) of Scripture literally
means “one tenth of” or “a tenth.”
Third, God
gives us His perspective of tithing in Malachi 3:8-12. In verse 8 God states
when we do not tithe we are not robbing a man or a church, we are literally
robbing God. God states in verse 10 that
we are to bring the whole tithe to the storehouse of God, in the Old Testament
this would have been the Temple, in the New Testament it is the Local
Church. Your tithe belongs to the storehouse
of God, any offerings above the tithe may be designated as the Lord leads
you. As verse 10 continues it states the
tithe benefits others by providing “food,” or meeting the needs designated by
God to accomplish His kingdom’s Work. It
is also the only place where God actually challenges a person to test Him to
see if God is a liar or not. God says He
will open the windows of heaven and overflow you with blessings, to those who
are obedient. God states He will rebuke
who devours and destroys and all the world will see the glory of God in how He
blesses those who trust and obey His Word.
It is never an issue of whether one can afford to tithe, but an issue of
how one can afford not to tithe.
Christians and Churches do not have financial problems they have
spiritual problems.
Fourth,
tithing is an act of Worship and is to be given with a joyful heart. Second
Corinthians 9:7 states, “Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart,
not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” Psalms 24:1 says, “The earth is the Lord’s
and all it contains, the world, and those who dwell in it.” God does not need our money, He grows the
trees we use to make the paper we print the value of money on, He created out
of nothing the gold we think as most precious, He gave us the ground and the
seed to plant and grow our food, and He blesses us by allowing us to give to
His Work. Consider this, God has given
us all we have, then He asks us to give a tenth of what He gave us to invest in
His kingdom’s work, and because we obeyed He blesses us because we gave to Him
what He owned already. There is no
greater investment plan in the world that can give such a return. The tithe is a reminder in our life that God
owns it all. A reminder that we are but stewards
of God’s possessions and that He is just as concerned about what we do with the
other 90% as He is over the 10%. It is a
reminder to every believer to recognize not only all that he owns belongs to
God, but so does the believer. This
recognition is Worship.
There are
many arguments brewing around the idea of tithing within the church today. Most are unscriptural, sinful and based in
man’s greed and spiritual incompetence.
The Scriptures must be the guide to a clear conscience before God. As an act of Worship before a Holy God, a man
giving grudgingly may find himself in the place of Cain, where his offering is
unsatisfactory and unacceptable regardless of the value of the tithe, but the
greed of men in gathering possessions in indebtedness as an excuse to disobey
the Word of God is just as unacceptable and sinful.
We worship God on His terms, not
our own.
We must forever remember that our
giving must be with a joyful heart “for God loves a cheerful giver” (2
Corinthians 9:7). The Christian has every right to rejoice in the privilege of
being allowed to give to the work of God in and through His church. Rejoice that God, who does not need our help,
allows us to give to the furthering of His Kingdom.
Though this position statement is not
all inclusive to every question or aspect that may revolve around the principle
of tithing for the New Testament Church it gives a Scriptural foundation for my
position as both a believer and as a Pastor.
