To Tithe Or Not To Tithe?

[PrisonerOfHope]

To Tithe Or Not To Tithe

by Jack Helser

(The $earch For Truth)

Though I've always struggled with the tithe, I still shook my head in disgust when I heard about the preacher who's congregation quietly left the church during the prayer following a long sermon on tithing. He said "Amen", looked up and cried out "half my church is gone!" I laughed saying "they must have fled the conviction of the Holy Spirit".

What the Lord said took me completely by surprise: "They fled from error and guilt-based giving". "What?!?" - I've heard more sermons on the tithe than on any other topic except perhaps our need of Jesus for eternal life! After I picked up my jaw from the floor, the Lord prompted me to study tithing and giving. Throughout the Bible study I prayed for His guidance and in the end I reached the inescapable conclusion that the "tithe" is to the modern church what the issue of "circumcision" was to the church in Paul's time.

NOTE: Nothing in this article is intended as an excuse to stop giving as the Lord leads you to give.

The verse most often cited in support of the tithe is from the Old Testament, found in Malachi 3:8-10:


8. ""Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, `How do we rob you?' "In tithes and offerings. 9. You are under a curse--the whole nation of you--because you are robbing me. 10. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.


Many preachers shorten Malachi 3:8-10 to just "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse", and almost always with the inference that their church is the "storehouse". For purposes of this paper, the Lord had me concentrate on the passage: "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house". From that passage, the Lord had me research several questions:
1) What is the tithe?
2) What was the tithe for?
3) What is the storehouse?

1) What is the tithe? The tithe is 10% of the increase, established in Leviticus 27:30-33 as an offering Holy to the Lord. The scripture identifies the tithe as grain and fruit, herd and flock. The tithe is food! An example of the tithe can be seen in a shepherd with a flock of 100 sheep who is blessed with the birth of 50 lambs in the spring. Five of the lambs must be offered to the Lord as a tithe. The tithe was brought to the temple in Jerusalem in acknowledgement and appreciation of God's provision for His people.

2) What was the tithe for? God doesn't need the food - God doesn't eat. God doesn't desire sacrifices or offerings ( Psalm 40:6 and Hosea 6:6 ) - He desires mercy. God doesn't need us to give Him a 10th of everything - when He already owns everything ( Psalm 24:1 and Job 41:11b ). The tithe was used to feed the Levite priests (and their families) who were required to work in the temple day and night ministering to God on behalf of God's people ( 1 Chronicles 9:33 ). Without the tithe, the Levite priests would have needed to raise their own food, thereby taking them away from ministering before God. Hence the reference in Malachi 3:10 "…that there may be food in my house". Nehemiah 13:10-13 records a time when the Levite priests were not receiving the tithe wherein they abandoned their daily temple responsibilities to work the farms to feed their families. The reference to 'robbing God' in Malachi 3:8 is in fact robbing God of ministry and worship by failing to take care of God's priests through the tithe of food items. Unlike the other tribes of Israel who were given land as their inheritance, the Levites were not given any land - only a few cities in which to live. God was their inheritance ( Numbers 18:20-21 ). Thus, the remaining tribes were obligated to provide the Levites with food since they had no land on which to grow their own.

3) What is the storehouse? 2 Chronicles 31 teaches that the storehouse is the Temple in Jerusalem. When the tithe was re-instituted under King Hezekiah, the king gave orders to prepare storerooms in the temple to hold the tithe. Apparently the grain "tithe" was heaped up in the streets, which caused a traffic jam of sorts. King Hezekiah had the storehouse built to relieve a bad case of urban congestion in ancient Jerusalem.

Having established the original purpose of the tithe, the Lord prompted me with several more questions.

Q: "What happened to the temple (storehouse)?"
A: It was destroyed in 70AD and has not been rebuilt.

Q: "Why?"
A: The old covenant system of animal sacrifice to atone for sin is finished. The new covenant is in the blood of Christ who is the final and everlasting sin sacrifice.

Q: "Where is the temple now?"
A: 1 Corinthians 6:19 says WE are the temple of the Holy Spirit. God no longer resides in a stone temple, but in the hearts of his children through the Holy Spirit.

Q: "What happened to the Levite priests?"
A: The Levite priesthood is no longer necessary as the old covenant system of animal sacrifice in the temple was superceded by the everlasting covenant of Christ's blood.

Q: "Who is the priesthood now?"
A: 1 Peter 2:5 and 9 says those who have received Jesus as Lord and Savior are the priesthood.

Come On Laity, Let's Do The Twist

Burdening the Body of Christ with the Tithe requires several twists and reinterpretations of scripture.

1) The tithe must be imported from the OT law of Moses to the new covenant of grace by Christ's blood.
2) The tithe must be redefined from "flocks, herds, fruit and grain" to "money" and often "time".
3) The storehouse must be redefined from the temple in Jerusalem to the local church building.
4) The Body of Christ must buy into the ordained clergy as the new priesthood, thereby replacing the Levite priesthood as the rightful recipient of the tithe.
5) The Body of Christ must forfeit their own priesthood and buy into the notion that they are the "laity".

The tithe has been introduced to the Body of Christ using 2 tactics of the enemy.

1) Sowing guilt and shame into the Body of Christ by quoting Malachi 3:8 "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, `How do we rob you?' In tithes and offerings." What devoted Christian wants to rob God? The net effect of sowing guilt has been to extort money from the Body of Christ, thereby robbing the Body of the joy and blessing of giving as God leads. The practice ignores Paul's instructions to the church at Corinth: "Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver ( 2 Corinthians 9:7 )."

2) Blaming the "laity" for the financial troubles in the Body of Christ , by telling the Body they are not blessed by God because they do not tithe. Often Malachi 3:10 is emphasized "Test me in this, says the LORD Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it." In so doing, believers are challenged to tithe, with the promise that God will bless them if they do. Such giving is not out of love for God, but out of selfishness. It implies a reward for works, which contradicts Ephesians 2:8-9 , and completely ignores our status as sons of God by faith in Christ ( Galatians 3:26 ) and joint heirs of God with Christ ( Romans 8:17 ). The practice also ignores Christ's words in Matthew 4:7 "Do not put the Lord your God to the test".

The Apostles Did Not Teach Gentiles To Tithe

Acts 15:1-31 records a dispute over circumcision that arose in the Gentile church at Antioch. Several false brothers had attempted to require Gentile (non-Jewish) Christians to be circumcised. Paul and Barnabas sharply opposed the false brothers and traveled to Jerusalem to discuss the issue of circumcision with the other apostles. In Jerusalem, they reported the miracles and conversions among the Gentiles. The apostles were filled with joy over God's work there, and they agreed that circumcision was not a requirement for salvation. Following the meeting, the apostles and elders in the church at Jerusalem sent Paul and Barnabas back to Antioch with a letter of welcome to the Gentile Christians. The essential text of the letter is found in Acts 15:28-29. It reads: "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell."

The apostles did not want to burden the Gentiles with Old Testament practices! The proof is in their letter to the Gentiles and the fact that the apostles did not impose the tithe on them.

Come, Let Us Reason Together ( Isaiah 1:18 )

Let's suppose for the sake of argument that Jesus had commanded us to continue tithing. It would be appropriate then to use the tithe to feed the priesthood as originally purposed. Who then is the priesthood? The apostle Peter writes in 1 Peter 2:5 and 9 that every believer is a priest ! Hebrews 5-8 also teaches us that Jesus is the only priest that we need . However the institutional church has borrowed from the Old Testament model of the Levitical Priesthood, thereby establishing a new priesthood (ordained clergy) that is separate from the rest of the Body of Christ. The division between the clergy, and the so-called "laity" is not Biblical (Is this the doctrine of the Nicolaitan's that Jesus says He hates in Revelation 2:6 ) ?In fact, Jesus did not establish the ordained clergy - He chose fishermen and tax collectors to preach His gospel. Neither did He establish division in His church, He desires unity ( John 17:20-23 ). The apostles did not set up an ordained clergy - they chose men full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom to serve the Body ( Acts 6:3, 1 Timothy 3 ). This man-made division between "clergy" and "laity" has effectively served to divert the offerings of the Body of Christ away from the people it is intended to bless and the offerings are most often used in ways contrary to the will of God. The net result has been starvation and financial bondage for many believers, and the real priesthood - the whole Body of Christ - has not been prepared to carry out Christ's command to preach the gospel to all nations!

Jesus is the Word of God in the flesh ( John 1:14 ). He knew that Malachi 3:10 says "bring the whole tithe into the storehouse" when He instructed the rich man to sell everything and give the proceeds to the poor ( Matthew 19:21 ). I imagine the Scribes and Pharisees about choked on what Jesus said as they were in the habit of devouring widow's houses for profit ( Luke 20:47 ) and the rich man's possessions would have been a real feast for them. In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus reiterated His desire to help the poor in the parable of separating the sheep from goats, wherein at judgement Jesus will reward those who feed the hungry and clothe the poor. Since Jesus judges us for our care of the poor and hungry, and since He commands us to preach the gospel throughout the world, why is most of our giving used for church buildings and salaries with only a small percentage devoted to the poor, missions and evangelism?

Is the church making goats out of us by not feeding the hungry and clothing the poor with our offerings?

Let's not wait until the Judgement of Christ to find out!

Sins of the Church Against the Needy

The Lord has been trying to bring me to the truth about giving for years. On many occasions, He prompted me to take what I would have normally put in the offering plate at church and give it directly to someone in need. I love giving like that! Still, in the absence of specific giving instructions from the Lord, I never questioned the common practice of giving everything to the church, whereupon I trusted the church to administer my gifts. That is until the day the Lord had me witness an abomination that left me nauseous.

In the main office of a church I attended years ago, I was fixing a computer one Friday morning. Two young black women, with 3 adorable children dressed in their Sunday best, came into the office to ask for a food donation. The 3 secretaries of our all white upper middle class church stared at them, and finally one said nervously "our deacon of benevolence is in the office on Thursday afternoons - can I make an appointment for you next Thursday?" One of the women pleaded "We can't wait a week, we need food now". The secretary repeated her offer, and I became sick to my stomach. I left quickly and drove a mile up the road to a cash machine and came directly back to the church only to find that the 2 women and 3 children had left empty handed. The staff did not know where they had gone, and I returned to my car and wept. I felt as if I had failed but the Lord said "you did not fail son, the church failed".

Since that first eye-opening experience, the Lord has shown me many more sins of the church against the poor that have left me ill. One church considered installing an air conditioning system for which several members had pledged $35,000 while another member of the church who was wheelchair bound from advanced multiple sclerosis didn't have enough money to buy food at the end of the month with what little state aid she received. Often she was forced to chose between food, medicine or heat in winter. For many months my wife and I gave to her anonymously and when she went to be with the Lord last winter, she was at peace - the kind of peace that only acts of love can bring ( 1 John 3:18, James 1:22 ). As she was relieved of her financial stress, she blessed everyone around her with unquenchable joy. Most importantly, she taught us about right giving.

More recently, I attended a conference where the host appealed to the audience to give "an offering for the poor". I heard the Lord say "the poor are among you" ( Mark 14:7 ) and immediately I thought of a dear friend in attendance who is experiencing financial difficulties and had recently lost her home. The next day I began a letter to the host saying "Last night you took an offering from the poor" . I groaned at the error and started to rip the page from my notebook when the Lord said "that is not an error - last night's offering was taken from the poor".

The Lord then brought to mind the parable of the sheep and goats, specifically Matthew 25:40 where it says "whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine , you did for me". The words "these brothers of mine" had not made an impression on me before, and the Lord brought me to the understanding that our first obligation to the poor is to the poor within the Body of Christ. The Lord then brought Matthew 15:26 to mind wherein Jesus said "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to the dogs".

The early church had a much better understanding of Christ's intent to care for the needs of the Body of Christ than we do today. The proof of their caring for each other can be seen in Acts 2:44-47 and Acts 4:32-37 where the Body of Christ shared everything, and through their giving, they eliminated poverty and indebtedness. In fact, Acts 4:34 says "there were no needy persons among them!" Taking up offerings to feed the Body of Christ was common in the early church. In Acts 11:27-30, the Gentile church at Antioch took up an offering for the believers in Judea who were experiencing a time of famine. Can you imagine a church today taking up an offering for a cross-town rival?

How did the church get so far off course?

Giving as Christ Intends

Though the tithe is not a requirement for the Body of Christ, we are still instructed to give. What changed from the Old Testament to the New is our motivation for giving. In the Old Testament, giving was compulsory - a tenth (tithe). In the New Testament we are to give with joy as we are led to give ( 2 Corinthians 9:7 ), not by compulsion.

Our attitude about giving should be like that of the poor widow who Jesus esteemed in Mark 12:41-44. She put 2 small copper coins, worth a penny, into the temple treasury. They were all the widow had to live on. She understood that God owns everything and was willing to give all that she had with cheer as God had prompted her to do.

It is time to invest cheerfully in what is eternal, specifically in God's children for the completion of Kingdom work ( Matthew 6:19-21 ). The children must be fed, clothed and equipped to carry Christ's gospel throughout the whole world and to make the Bride of Christ ready for her soon returning Savior. Imagine what it could be like if we resumed giving and sharing as Jesus intends. Surely we would rediscover the same abundant and powerful living as the early church enjoyed!

On the topic of giving, John 8:36 might seem like a strange scripture to cite: "So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed". While it is true that Jesus set us free from the curse of the law ( Galatians 3:10-13 ), sin and death ( Romans 8:2 ), our failure to give as Jesus taught us has kept the Church in financial bondage, and has prevented the Church from completing the work of Christ on earth. How many children of God fail to reach their full potential as ministers of the Gospel because they lack provision? It is through our giving and sharing that we equip the Church for service, eliminate hunger and poverty, and realize the fullness of our freedom in Christ.

We can no longer afford to misuse our offerings for church buildings, parsonages, conference centers, multi-purpose buildings, air conditioning, padded pews, pipe organs, and the like, all of which will soon be forgotten, while God's children go hungry, poor and ill equipped to minister the Gospel. Instead, like Abel, we should give our best gifts to the true Church - the people - because we love God and want to see God's work accomplished on the earth.

On concluding my study, the Lord asked one final question: What building ever won a person to Christ?

Ask the Lord to show you what to give and to whom, and remember that His words "Feed my sheep" (John 21:17) go much deeper than a pastor's sermon on a Sunday morning. His words are spiritual, and they are literal.

*****

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[PrisonerOfHope]

Facts on Tithing

By Pastor Ken Lawson

1. The English word "tithe" as well as its Hebrew-Greek equivalents "ma`aser" and "apodekatoo" means a tenth.

2. Many Christian churches preach tithing as a means of supporting the work of the Lord today. There are many variations of this theme. Some pay the local church one tenth of their income after taxes and bills are paid; some pay before. Others demand tithing on unemployment, inheritance, gifts, tax refunds, social security and even gambling winnings. The tithing issue has caused a great deal of strife and division in our churches over the years.

3. The most well known passage on tithing comes from the Old Testament book of Malachi 3:7-10. This Scripture has given rise to the practice of "Storehouse Tithing." Simply stated, the congregation is exhorted from the pulpit to channel all of their Christian giving through the local church (storehouse). If they wish to give to a Christian organization, radio or television broadcast, etc., it must go through their denominational machinery in order for the local church to get "credit." Also the pastor and elders often must make the determination if the cause supported by the giver is "worthy."

4. This use of the Malachi passage is a good example of Scripture being taken out of its historical and dispensational context. "This whole nation" in verse 9 is the backslidden nation of Israel, NOT the present day church (Malachi 1:1; 3:6). They were under the law of Moses as a system of conditional blessing. Believers today are not under the law but under grace (Romans 6:14). As such we have already been blessed by God with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 1:3) and are under a system of unconditional blessing with grace on the throne (Romans 5:21).

5. This should put an end to the common charge that believers who don't tithe are "robbing God" and will be "cursed with a curse." The storehouse mentioned in verse 10 is not a local church but a storage bin or silo in the Jewish temple where the grain from the Hebrew's tithes was stored (2 Chronicles 31:4-12).

6. Under the law only agricultural products were tithed. They included grain, fruit, and livestock. Only products produced within the boundaries of the land of Israel were to be tithed. Jews living in Gentile lands were exempt (Leviticus 27:30-34).

7. Others exempt from the tithing law included the hired hands, fishermen, miners, lumber workers, construction workers, soldiers, weavers, potters, manufacturers, merchants, government workers, and priests. In short, all who were not farmers were exempt.

8. A farmer with only 9 cattle did not tithe because the law specified the "tenth which passeth under the rod." Likewise a farmer with 19 sheep paid only 1 sheep to the Lord's tithe.

9. The Jewish farmers in the land could redeem (buy back) the tithes of their crops with a penalty of one fifth. In other words, if a farmer wishes to keep his tithe of grain worth $1,000, he could pay the cash equivalent of $1,200 (Leviticus 27:31).

10. Livestock could not be brought back nor could the farmer exchange a good animal for a bad one or vice versa. Any attempt to substitute any other animal other than the tenth which passed under the rod would be penalized by the farmer forfeiting both the tenth and its substitute (Leviticus 27:33).

11. God ordained the Levites to be the ones to whom the tithe was paid (Numbers 18:21). They were one of the 12 tribes of Israel to whom no inheritance was given in the land. The Lord Himself and the tithes of the children of Israel was their inheritance. It was used for the service of the tabernacle (later the temple) (Numbers 18:20-28).

12. It was unlawful for anyone outside of the tribe of Levi to receive the tithe, such as prophets, preachers, kings or evangelists.

13. The Levites paid one tenth of their tithes to the high priest. Not all Levites were priests but only the sons of Aaron. The priests did not tithe.

14. The Lord Jesus Christ did not ask for or receive a tithe for support of His ministry. Being of the tribe of Judah (not Levi) He could not without breaking the law (Hebrews 7:14; Revelation 5:5).

15. Neither Peter (not of the tribe of Levi) nor Paul (of the tribe of Benjamin) could receive tithes for the support of their ministries.

16. Even the Jews do not practice tithing today because there are no Levites, priests, or temple worship in Jerusalem. Jewish rabbis know biblical law well enough to know that tithing under the present circumstances is unlawful. According to them, when the temple is rebuilt in Jerusalem with a consecrated altar with priests and Levites officiating, all Jews living within the biblical tithing zones will tithe.

17. Some Christian ministries today continue to support tithing, using the argument that it predates Moses and the law. But this reasoning is not valid, for the Sabbath also predates the giving of the law (Exodus 16:23-29) and yet it is not binding on God's people today (Romans 14:5,6; Galatians 4:9,10; Colossians 2:16,17).

18. Abraham gave tithes to Melchisedec, king of Salem, but this was the spoils of war, not the legalistic tithe of the land which Moses commanded. Also, God did not command the tithe, Abraham chose to give it of his own free will (Genesis 14:17-23; Hebrews 7:1-10).

19. The only other scriptural reference to tithing before Moses is Jacob. Again there is no command to tithe. In fact Jacob puts up numerous conditions to be met before he will pay the tithe to the Lord (Genesis 28:20-22).

20. The biblical references which address the tithing issues are: Genesis 14:20; 28:22; Leviticus 27:30-32; Numbers 18:20-28; Deuteronomy 12:6,11,17; 14:22,23,28; 26:12; 2 Chronicles 31:5,6,12; Amos 4:4; Malachi 3:8-10; Matthew 23:23; Luke 11:42; 18:12; Hebrews 7:5-9.1

21. Paul the apostle to the Gentiles for this present dispensation of Grace does not mention tithing but says a great deal about Christian giving. Romans 15:25,26; 1 Corinthians 9:7-14; 16:1-3; 2 Corinthians chapters 8 & 9; Galatians 6:6-10; Philippians 4:10-19; 1 Timothy 5:9-18.

WHO is to give to the Lord's work? The Christian! He gives systematically, sacrificially, and joyfully. TO WHOM does he give? To Christ! FOR WHAT does he give? For the cause of Christ! NOT to a man or to a church, not for gain, but for the Gospel.
Endnote

1. According to Deuteronomy 14:22,23,28; 26:12; and Amos 4:4, the tithe was only given every three years.

[wateredseeds]

WOW! I give to several charitable organizations. And i give to our church as well....but this is really convicting. WE ARE TO CARE FOR THE POOR AND THE WIDOWS AND THE ORPHANS.

What a loving way of looking at it.

[mitchrg]

After reading both posts, I had to applaud. Excellent work. Something I had been studying for years. I agree 100%. I wholeheartily agree that the churches are using tithe to line their pockets and build bigger and more glamourous church buildings. One issue I'm not clear on from your posting. Are you saying that pastors and teachers should not be paid? I believe that 1 Tim. 5:17-18 and 1 Cor. 9:7-14 state that they should be compensated for their labor in the Lord. I think there should be full time ministers within the Church. I know that this is very much abused in the church. Those who devote themselves to the study and teaching of God's Word.
I remember during the economic calapse of 08 both my wife had lost our jobs due to corporate cut backs. When we went to our church for help, the church that told us to contact welfare when we were in need of food and utility assistance. Then this same Church asked for a second offering during a worship service because the Pastor felt the congregation hadn't given enough. Then he showed a video of a new Children's activity center where it would snow in the lobby. This was in Florida where the housing market colapse began.
Getting back to my point (sorry for the rant). I grew up in a Plymouth Brethren Church. They have no staff Pastors, only a board of Elders. They were not paid. Their Ordained ministers were those who were commissioned by the church for a particular ministry work. Their Elders were ordained ministers. They would take turns teaching during the teaching service after the Worship Service. The offering was strictly for the building maintenance, expressed needs and to pay the one who was teaching that particular Sunday. Yes, it was a small Church. I'm not sure MegaChurches are what Christ had in mind. James 1:27 "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their afflictions, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world." 1 Cor. 13 addresses that acts of Love are Worship to God. I wanted to thank you for the postings

[PrisonerOfHope]

Well, of course pastors should be paid - "A laborer is worth of his hire." But, we're talking a reasonable amount on which he can live comfortably, not the six figure incomes that many of them have, in addition to church-paid housing and other perks. And don't get me started on the Copelands and Hinns and other shysters who live like kings, with mansions, fancy cars, and fleets of private planes! Did you know that one of Morris Cerullo's private jets has a GOLD PLATED INTERIOR? Imagine how many widows and orphans that would feed!

I'm also opposed to the big, fancy church buildings. I was invited to an event at a classmate's church last Christmas season, and the huge buildings and land sure were impressive - they had a gym, a huge fellowship hall, beautifully decorated offices, etc. Assuming they had a membership of several thousand to support all this, I asked her how many members the church had. Imagine my surprise when she told me it was less than 200! I expect every cent taken in goes for the upkeep of all that, in addition to the pastor's salary. Not much left for the benevolence fund.

Admittedly there are churches who do help people in need. When I moved to Chattanooga with just two suitcases, not much money, and was trying to get my life together, I started attending Ben Haden's former church. They were lovely people (and a rather wealthy congregation), and I asked for help with, as I recall, a utility bill. Imagine my surprise when the Executive Pastor called me over one evening and handed me an envelope....with a check for $3,000! He said they wanted to see me get back on my feet. So, they're not all greedy, and some do help those in need. In fact, that church is very generous with helping people in the community.

[wateredseeds]

I went to timberline church in fort collins while i lived in loveland, colorado. About 8,000 people go there. They have a very nice sized church. But i can promise you that their pastors aren't overpayed....especially since they take great care to promote charity, including sending people from the church on mission trips. The pastors are very biblical in their teaching. But most big churches are the EXACT OPPOSITE. Nothing wrong with a big church, as long as it supports a large sized congregation. They have a food donation room as well...which takes a full time person to run.