Jackass Grace.
Tithing is the training wheels for giving. It gets you in the habit of trusting God.
Acts 20:35 And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” Again, Luke 6:3838 Jesus said, “Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” Is the tithe embedded in these scriptures? Of course, nowhere in the New Testament can anyone find where tithe ended. Yes, a bold statement, but true.
I earnestly pray that the following would find its way into every believers’ heart on the features of the Abrahamic tithing model found in Hebrews Chapter 7. Abrahamic model is faith, the High Priestly Ministry of Christ in Melchizedek, morality, and the pursuit of a personal relationship with the Ministry of the Church, which represents Abraham in the New Covenant. Hebrews chapter 7 shows a typology of Abraham as the Church ministering to the typology of Melchizedek as Christ.
The Bible is the greatest book ever written. The Holy Scriptures covers every need for humanity. It is a love story from God to His creation. The spectrum of Godly wisdom found within its pages for right living is unparalleled in literature. When reading this Holy book and looking for answers on a topic, one must be careful not to yield to shape the scriptures to fit your particular investigation. Here is an example of what I mean:Jeremy Bentham in the eighteenth century took a scripture and started a different interpretation on salvation. Romans 5:18 Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. He took this scripture and elucidated on it to mean that all are saved. The Unitarian Church was born. In other words, his interpretation no one has to repent. I could go on with many more examples where scriptures applied loosely to one’s situation, but I will not. The interpretations on tithing and offerings are no different.
Did Christ put His imprimatur on tithing in the New Testament? Yes, His stamp of approval is found in the synoptic gospels.
Matthew 23:23“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.” There it is, Christ stamp of approval on tithing. Nowhere in the New Testament teaches the tithe ended. In fact, what follows His imprimatur, is what is called Nihil obstat (Latin for “nothing hinders” or “nothing stands in the way”) is a declaration of no objection to an initiative or an appointment. So Christ is saying, continue in the way of mercy, law, judgment, faith and tithing. He never reversed any part of instruction in addressing the Pharisees.
What He was correcting was the neglected weightier part of the law. He was telling them stop being hypocrites and do it all. The point of clarification: “Woe unto you” is found in the New Testament 20 times in the King James Version. When this phrase was stated, it was pointing out the hypocrisy of not following the law whole heartily.You want to obey not that you have too. Biblical grace gives you the enablement to follow Christ’s teachings. Being under the law means you are a lawbreaker. Under Biblical grace, you have the desire and want to and Divine enablement to obey Christ.
My purpose for writing this booklet is to correct a downward trend in Christian giving created by cheap grace. Why? In the 1970’s lip service giving became popular amongst Christians as it was in Isaiah’s era. It is still going on today. Lip service is cheap and offers nothing to those who are earnestly seeking the truth.
Acts 20:34-35
Yes, you yourselves know that these hands have provided for my necessities, and for those who were with me. I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, ‘ It is more blessed to give than to receive. Christians are givers, not takers.
Hidden in this erroneous lip-service grace teaching is Christ placing no commands on your moral life or sacrificial giving? Lip service-grace at its core is an “obey if I feel like it gospel.” Christ is our model for Christian living. Is He not? Was not Christ upright in His moral lifestyle and was He not a giver? Did he live holy and give sacrificially? Did He obey because He felt like it or because of His will to please His Father? No middle ground with Jesus.
2Peter 1:2 – Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. You don’t take upon yourself His divine nature to change your character when you feel like it. Romans 1:1 Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ… The word here rendered “servant” means “bond- servant,” or one subject to the will and wholly at the disposal of another.2 Timothy 2:2 You, therefore, must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.
Precious promises are miracles intervening into our daily routines. In a post-Christian world, current science states there can be no miracles. Therefore, there can be no God. Christians have the opportunity to prove this false subjectively by demonstrating His miracle touch in our lives by giving.
Running parallel with this false teaching on tithe today is an increase in debt affluence and selfish living.In other words, Christians, have increased their debt while their giving has dropped. They have increased their sins while not living holy. (I might add, it is not uncommon to find ignorant Christians living together and doing other odious acts who believe they are in right standing with Christ.) Should not pure grace giving increase ones monetary cause for Christ?Are you sold out for Christ? Giving reveals your heart concerning what you believe. I want to declare that I am not trying to get Christians to give legalistically, but from a joyful heart. If you have the heart to give, then, you will, if not you will not. Christian giving comes from the heart, and that decision is yours alone.
The Barna Research Group reported that the mean per capita donation to churches dropped by 19 percent in 2000, as compared to 1999, down from $806 to $649. Seventeen percent of American adults claim to tithe, but only 6 percent do. One-third of adults who said they were born again also said they tithed in 2000, but a comparison of household income and actual giving revealed that only one out of eight—that’s 12 percent of professing born-again Christians— did. Younger adults were even less likely to give money to a church. In fact, 23 percent of Christians gave nothing in 2000, a 44 percent rise in non-givers.It’s worst today. Umm. Is this new grace giving working?
What did the early Church Fathers write about giving? Here are a few amongst all the fathers.
The Jews were constrained to a regular payment of tithes; Christians, who have liberty, assign all their possessions to the Lord, bestowing freely not the lesser portions of their property, since they have the hope of greater things. IRENAEUS
Tithes are required as a matter of debt, and he who has been unwilling to give them has been guilty of robbery. Whosoever, therefore, desires to secure a reward for himself, let him render tithes, and out of the nine parts let him seek to give alms. AUGUSTINE
The early Church Fathers taught that giving should be done voluntarily with gladness for moral value has no value in coercion.Pharisaical legalism is obeying because you have to [fear of man], grace, is following Christ because you want to please Him. John 14:15 “ If you love Me, keep My commandments.” Grace obedience never means if I feel like it obedience. Each Christian has a moral obligation to Christ and a stewardship of goods to promote His Kingdom.
Luke 18:19-22
Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
So Jesus said to him, “ Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother. ’”
And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.”
So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” Jesus is at again about giving; Dang, He is demanding. Christian history taught about tithes and almsgiving as the Master commanded.
Give alms according to your power, for alms extinguish sins as water does fire. Show hospitality to travelers, visit the sick, take care of widows and orphans, pay your tithes to the church, and do to nobody what you would not have done to yourself. Fear God above all. Let the servants be obedient to their masters, and the masters just to their servants. Cling to the Lord’s Prayer and the Creed, and communicate them to your children and to those whose baptismal sponsors you are. Keep the steadfast, love what is right, stand up against the devil, and partake from time to time of the Lord’s Supper.
On the wall of President Lyndon Johnson’s White House office hung a framed letter written by General Sam Houston to Johnson’s great-grandfather, George W. Baines, more than a hundred years earlier. Baines had led Houston to Christ and the general was a changed man, no longer coarse and belligerent, but peaceful and content. After General Houston was baptized—an incredible event for those who knew him—he offered to pay half the local minister’s salary. When someone asked him why, he said, “My pocketbook was baptized too.”
The problem with grace-giving believers is they don’t give. Is neo-grace giving providing some Christians a loophole for not giving? It is inconceivable that Christians don’t give sacrificially.Not giving sacrificially is a brand of Christianity that is foreign to scriptures. Christians are givers, not tippers. Giving should not be based on your economic condition whether good or bad? Luke 21:2 and He also sawa certain poor widow putting in two mites. 3 So He said, “Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; 4 for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.” Again, Philippians 4:14 Paul said, “Nevertheless you have done well that you shared in my distress. 15 Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving but you only. 16 For even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my necessities. 17 Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account. 18 Indeed I have all and abound. I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things sent from you, a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God. 19 And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. 20 Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.”
When are we Christians going to embrace God at His word? He is not much of a God if He cannot keep His promises to us. Isn’t it about trust? 2 Corinthians 8:1 Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia: 2 that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality. 3 For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing, 4 imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.
The more America has gained wealth, the less the Church has taught on the subject of giving. Perhaps that’s why the percentage of income Christians give away has been declining for thirty years. In fact, dollar for dollar, the average American gave more during the Great Depression than today. And during that ten-year period of economic depression, more souls were saved. I wonder, do you think giving is connected to soul winning. The last ten years converts to Christ have been declining by 8% every year.
It is interesting that all occult worship gives to their cause: Records indicate that the Egyptians, Chaldeans, and Assyrians all tithed to their gods, as did some of the ancient Chinese, Greeks, Romans and Arabians. Of course, this is the same for Satanists. So, are we to say, those in bondage who give to their false gods are more dedicated than Christians who are redeemed? “Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops” (Proverbs 3:9). Nowhere in the New Testament indicates tithing ended or you have been given the choice to give or not to the cause of Christ.
If Old Testament believers only started with the tithe but didn’t stop there, why should Christians feel inclined to stop? Al Mueller wrote: “If we hadn’t learned of God’s ownership, we would have been content and comfortable giving 20 to 30 percent of our income away each year and feeling pretty generous, but doing whatever we wanted with the balance. Since then, we’ve tried to remember that we’ll give an account of what we do with the money we keep. We seek to have a steward mentality and an eternal perspective.”
David said, “I now give my personal treasures of gold and silver for the temple of my God, over and above everything I have provided” (1 Chronicles 29:3). Then family and tribal leaders “gave willingly” and generously (1 Chronicles 29:6-8). “The people rejoiced at the willing response of their leaders, for they had given freely and wholeheartedly to the Lord” (1 Chronicles 29:9).Do you lead by actions that inspire others to rejoice and freely give to the Kingdom of Christ? What you believe is cheap if not back up by actions.
Tithing’s stated purpose is “that you may learn to revere the Lord your God always” (Deuteronomy 14:23). Tithing is intended to train people to put God first in their lives. Because the giving of the 10 percent represents the other 90 percent, tithing symbolizes the giving of one’s whole life to God.
If both mandatory and voluntary giving coexisted under the old covenant, why not the new? It’s not a matter of either tithing or voluntary offering. The two have always been entirely compatible.
The disciples gave all that they had because “much [true] grace was upon them all” (Acts 4:33). Being under grace didn’t mean that New Testament Christians would give less than their Old Testament brethren. Just the opposite, it said they would give more.Christ systematically addressed such issues as murder, adultery, and the taking of oaths and made it clear that his standards were much higher than those of the Pharisees (Matthew 5:17-48). So you are under grace giving, indeed, easily verified by your giving statement. One last point, God, gives absolutes to prove Himself to those that obey His commands by intervening into their lives with miracles. There are laws of the kingdom of darkness and laws that govern the Kingdom of Light.
Jesus said to the hypocrite Pharisees’, “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.” Remember Matthew 23:23 above, was Christ telling the truth?
According to atheist Hawking, then, the reign of the laws of nature is absolute. They determine everything and permit no exceptions. There can, therefore, be no miracles. He writes: “These laws should hold everywhere and at all times; otherwise they wouldn’t be laws. There could be no exceptions or miracles. Gods or demons couldn’t intervene in the running of the universe.”Christians have an opportunity to prove miracles are part of the believers’ life. Malachi 3:10 and Luke 6:38 God declares the intervention of absolute laws creating miracles for an individual who believes. The joy of giving comes from a personal touch of Him. The choice is not that you have to choose tithing or offerings, but both are together.
THE SAME APOSTLE’S CONSTITUTION CONCERNING FIRST-FRUITS AND TITHES.
XXX. I the same make a constitution in regard to first-fruits and tithes. Let all first-fruits be brought to the bishop, and to the presbyters. and to the deacons, for their maintenance; but let all the tithe be for the maintenance of the rest of the clergy, and of the virgins and widows, and of those under the trial of poverty. For the first-fruits belong to the priests, and to those deacons that minister to them.
