This is what Jesus meant when He said, “No one can serve two masters. But we cannot pursue greed and God at the same time. We all have a choice: we can put our hope in money, or we can put our hope in the Lord. He is our provider and our protector ( Hebrews 13:5). We put money in its place.īringing the tithe is a tangible reminder that everything we have is on loan from God. God doesn’t have to work through us, but He chooses to ( 1 Corinthians 16:2). When God commands us to bring the tithe to the local church, He is engaging us in His work on Earth. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it.” I know every bird in the mountains, and the insects in the fields are mine. I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. In Psalm 50:7, 9–12, God reminds us, “I am God, your God. When we’re obedient with what we have, we show God that we love Him and that He can trust us with more ( Luke 16:10). Test me in this and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it” ( Malachi 3:10). Then, He is- sues this challenge: “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. In Malachi 3, God rebukes his people for neglecting the tithe. God specifically promises to reward our obedience in tithing. God wants our obedience more than our loving words, and Jesus said obeying God’s commands is how we show God that we love Him ( John 14:15). We demonstrate obedience, and God always blesses obedience. What Happens When We Obey God and Commit to Tithing 1. Another time, while at the temple with the disciples, Jesus watches everyone giving their tithes and calls special attention to a widow because her offering, while small, was given sacrificially instead of thoughtlessly ( Luke 21:1-4).
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When Jesus taught on tithing, He always challenged people to take their obedience one step further and consider whether they were doing the right thing with the right heart.įor example, Jesus affirms the religious leaders for tithing, but criticizes them for neglecting their responsibility to act justly, merci- fully, and faithfully ( Matthew 23:23). Tithing was then outlined specifically in the laws God gave His people and affirmed by Jesus during His time on Earth. The first tithe between Abram and Melchizedek happened before God gave His people the law.
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Tithing is an Old Testament and New Testament principle. The tithes the people brought to the Lord supported the work of the church, cared for the poor, and helped the Gospel spread to communities around the world. Later, as God was establishing Abraham’s descendants as His people, God told Moses and the Israelites that, “A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord it is holy to the Lord” ( Leviticus 27:30). By giving Melchizedek a tenth, Abraham was giving God credit for his success. Sharing a tenth of the spoils of war was a common way to pay tribute to the gods after a victory. One of the first examples of a tithe happens when Abram gives a tenth of his gain to Melchizedek, a priest of God ( Genesis 14:17-20). God instituted tithing as a way to worship Him, to protect our hearts from greed, and to support the work of the church. “The Bible says it, so I do it.” Where Does Tithing Come From? We often respond to the idea of tithing in various ways:
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In the Bible, God commands His people to bring 10 percent of their gross income back to the church ( Malachi 3:6-10).