If there is one topic that preachers are
trying to avoid, it’s the topic of giving. Just like any other Biblical principle,
tithing is in the Bible and it has to be preached. Remember that preachers are just “expositors”
of the Word. The message is not our
message, it’s the Lord’s and we’re just His messengers. Uncomfortable as we may be in the topic of
giving or tithing, it’s something that we have to talk about . Whether
the church will respond favorably or not, is another story .
The
Bible says 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.' This was mentioned in Deuteronomy 6:16 and
mentioned by Jesus in Luke 4:12 when the devil was tempting him in the
wilderness. I searched the Bible and
found out that the word test was mentioned 58 times and in most cases it talked
about God testing man or the Israelites testing God and He was not pleased with
that. But there is one occasion when God
said that we can TEST Him and this is in Malachi 3:10 when He was talking about
giving. 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.
Do
you know what a flytrap is? It’s
something we use to trap flies. Have you
seen a flytrap? In the Philippines,
usually it’s a piece of paper that we place on top of the dining table. I
remember when I was a young boy, my mom would buy those fly traps and she would
place them all over and I would find myself accidentally touching them. Oh they’re so sticky and gluey. It contains such a honey-like substance that
attracts the flies. One day, there’s this fly that got attracted
to a fly trap, so when the fly saw that honey-like substance, he said “I want the honey I want the honey I want
the honey!” So the fly flew straight
to the fly trap and landed on it and he began eating the honey and he was so
happy saying “ I got the honey I got the
honey I got the honey” So, when the
fly was all full and so bloated with honey, he tried to leave but obviously he’s
stuck… so the trap started to shout “I
got the fly I got the fly I got the fly”
I’m
sure you understand the point this story is trying to tell us…sometimes we
thought we are in control of our money, but in reality, our money is the one
controlling us.
Is Tithing Biblical?
In the Old
Testament, we can see that God has instituted tithing 500 years even before before
the law of Moses.
Abraham started it in Genesis 14,
Abraham gave tithes to King Melchizedek.
Jacob continued it. In Genesis 28 he said “this stone I have set
up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you
a tenth.
Then during Moses time, it was made
part of the Old Testament law.
Leviticus 27:30 says “A tithe of
everything from the Land whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees
belongs to the Lord.”
It was further confirmed hundreds of
years later by the wisest man who has ever lived, <<CLICK>> King Solomon. In Proverbs 3:9-10 he said “honor the Lord
with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops.
500 years later,
the Lord spoke through a prophet named Malachi. He said “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.”
I don’t think
there is any argument about tithing in the Old Testament. But some people will
say we are New Testament believers. We are no longer subject to Old Testament
laws like tithing. We are no longer
subject to the laws? Didn’t Jesus Christ
abolish the law? Well, yes and no. The
law of sin and death – Jesus Christ has abolished that. Yes we are no longer a subject of that. If we have Christ in our heart, if we commit
a sin, we don’t die spiritually anymore.
We just claim assurance of forgiveness in 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and
just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” But there are other Old Testament laws that
still apply to us, in fact, Jesus even expanded the coverage of certain Old
Testament laws. What do I mean by that? Let’s see…
First of all,
Jesus did not abolish the law. He said
himself in Matthew 5:17 "Do not think that I have come to
abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill
them.”
Question: Did Jesus abolish the law or not? NO. In fact, do you know that Jesus even
expounded or expanded the Old Testament laws.
Jesus was a lot more strict.
He said during His
sermon on the mount, in Matthew 5 ---
On Murder -
"You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not
murder, and anyone who murders will be
subject to judgment.' But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his
brother will be subject to judgment
On Adultery
- "You have heard that it was said, 'Do
not commit adultery.‘ But I tell you
that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with
her in his heart
On Revenge "You
have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell
you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek,
turn to him the other also. You have
heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell
you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be
sons of your Father in heaven.
This next verse is
very important and this has been subjected to wrong interpretations. In Matthew 23:23 "For
you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but
you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You
should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.”
Question: Did Jesus abolish TITHING? NO!
Why, because He said the opposite.
He said, you should tithe, YES!
Yes means yes! I don’t know why some people will tend to interpret this
word as it is some sort of a metaphor or allegory. So when Jesus said you should tithe, Yes!
He means “yes.” I don’t know how else to
interpret this. Sometimes, we make the simple things
complicated. Sometimes, when we read the
Bible, we try to “read between the lines” when in fact everything that you have
to read is already “on the lines.”
But the issue in
this verse is not tithing, the issue is the failure of the Jews especially the
Pharisees to do the more important things in life, i.e. justice, mercy, faith.
This is similar to
what Paul said in 1st Corinthians 13.
If I speak in the tongue of men or of angels,
but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I
have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and
if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If
I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may
boast, but do not have love, I gain
nothing. Let’s add something that Jesus said, “if I
give my tithes but do not have love, I am nothing.”
Maybe you will ask, "will this apply to us? Jesus is talking to the
Pharisees." Read this verse: "For I tell you
that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers
of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:20
Why didn’t Jesus preach about tithing? Well, I don’t know why He did not preach
tithing. He might have a long preaching
about tithing. It’s found in John 21:25 Jesus did many other things as
well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole
world would not have room for the books that would be written.
Or maybe aside
from Matthew 23:23 where Jesus is clearly saying that we should tithe, maybe He
did not preach tithing at all. You know
why… because He doesn’t have to… you know why?
Because the Jews had no issue about tithing. They were all tithing. They were all very obedient to the law. In fact, their issue is becoming too attached
to the law that they are overlooking the more important things like love,
justice, mercy. Their issue is too much
religiosity. Their issue is too much
strictly compliant with the laws and because of that, their eyes are spiritually blind that they cannot
truly see that the Messiah was already in their midst.
Do you think if we
know that WCF members are all tithing, we would preach about tithing? Probably NOT.
Probably we’ll mention it “in passing” in some of our sermons but not
devote the whole sermon about tithing because there are more pressing issues.
Let us look at some of the most respected Christian leaders of our time today, preachers who believe and practice tithing:
Dr. Rick Warren, author of Purpose Driven Life and pastor of
Saddleback Church said “the purpose of tithing is to teach us to always put God
first in our lives”. If just happen to
see how God has blessed Saddleback Church in Orange County – their property
there is probably the size of Richmond Center or even bigger. They have their
own roads and an overpass. They probably
have 7 worship centers and their Children’s Ministry alone has 3
buildings. You know one reason they
attribute this tremendous blessing? It’s
because they are faithful givers. Rick Warren himself, is reported to just have
kept 10% of his royalty earnings from his book Purpose Driven Life. In his case, he gave the 90%. He returned all his salaries as a pastors
during the time he was earning enough from his book. Rick Warren said:
““the
purpose of tithing is to teach us to always put God first in our lives”
Dr. David Jeremiah, pastor of Shadow Mountain and radio preacher. He said “tithing is a matter
of priority, a method of proving God and a measure of provision.
Greg Laurie of Harvest Christian fellowship, he said I
CANNOT AFFORD NOT to Tithe.
One of my favorite preachers, the late Dr.
Adrian Rogers said that “God’s tithe
is to be brought to God’s house on God’s day so that God’s work will be done
God’s way.” He was also quoted as
saying “a faith that hasn’t reach your
wallet probably hasn’t reached your heart” Pastor Rogers said one Sunday when the elders had taken up the
offering and brought the plates down to the altar, he took the plates and held
them up in the air and he gave a prayer: "Lord, regardless of what we say about you with our lips, this is really
what we say about you, this is really what we feel about you. This is really
what you mean to us. Amen."
Charles Stanley
of In Touch ministries said “when we give our tithe to God, we provide for His
work, prove his faithfulness and show him honor.
Ed Lapiz in his book siksik,
liglig at umaapaw has admonished his readers “subukan ninyo” or try it and then
you’ll see how God will respond.
Ron de Villa , Senior Pastor of Word Christian Fellowship
““Your attitude about tithing (faith-giving) clearly reflects your faith and
obedience to God.”
From our verse
today, Malachi 3:10, God is telling us:
1. Tithing is clearly a
command from the Lord (v10a)
Verse 10 starts
with the word “BRING.” The Lord is not
even saying “please,” not because the Lord is impolite, but because He is the
Lord, He is the King… He is giving us a command. He said “BRING” the tithes into the
storehouse. The Bible says “the Earth is the Lord’s and
everything in it. Psalm 50:10-11 says “for every animal of the forest is mine, and
the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the
creatures of the field are mine. Since
everything is owned by the Lord, including our very life, He doesn’t need to
say “please”
2. Following or ignoring the Lord’s command has
its consequences.
If we ignore the
Lord’s command, in verse 8 it says “we are robbing God.” Is this too harsh? Of course not… because it’s His. We are just caretakers. We are just stewards. He said in verse 9 to the Israelites, your
whole nation is under a curse because you are robbing me. If church members are not following the command
and we are not faithfully tithing, we are also robbing God. We should know what the consequences are by
not following. But let’s not focus on
the negative, let’s focus on the positive side… what if we OBEY?
The Lord said
“TEST” me on this… He’s saying “just try obeying me” 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. I will prevent pests from
devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit
before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty.
“Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a
delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.
3. God will certainly bless those who will obey
– not just the person but the church as well.
The BIBLE said the
purpose of TITHING as well…so there may be food in the storehouse. Tithing is meant for the operations of the CHURCH. The money you send to your families is not
considered TITHING. Tithing is given to
the church so the church can sustain its operations. We don’t have enough time today to discuss
“grace giving” Some people would reference to 2 Cor. 8:7 (please take
note).
Those of you who
have not experience giving your tithes.
I’m not expecting you to start next week. Do it gradually. Do it slowly.
It will hurt, yes I know. But remember what King David said “I will not give offerings that cost me
nothing.” Giving precedes the
blessing” God is only asking a
proportionate part of your income. If you earn less, you give less. That’s
plain and simple.
The big question is:
Why are you struggling?
Why are you drowning in debt?
Why cant you
have financial stability?
Could it be
because you are not OBEYING God?
There is a huge volume of blessing that awaits people who obey.
Test
Him and you will see!
PRAYER
Wherever you are, whatever you situation you may be -- you need the love of Jesus in your life. Please say this prayer sincerely from your heart:
Father God, I confess all my sins to you today. Please forgive me. Today, I open my heart to your Son Jesus Christ. I accept Him in my life as my Savior and as my Lord. May the Holy Spirit come to my life and make me the kind of person you want me to be. In Jesus Name, I pray. Amen.
(The above article is an excerpt from a sermon delivered at WCF Richmond on June 8, 2014)
(I apologize if there are grammatical and spelling errors.
If you are looking for a church in British Columbia, Canada please visit our website for more information at www.wordchristianfellowship.com)
