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Monday, December 20, 2010

Is Tithing for Today?

Usually it goes something like this: "Is tithing for today, or is that an Old Testament concept?" Me, personally -- I'm always stunned by the question. It's very hard to read it without hearing, "You see, I don't want to do more than I have to for God, so please tell me I don't have to pay 10% of my income. I'd much rather keep that for myself." And, sure enough, if you ask around, the most common answer is indeed, "No! That's not for today!" Good news! You can keep your stuff! Yippee!

I suppose you catch the sarcastic tone behind that. Here's what I see.

Biblical tithing does not have its origins in a command from God. Did you catch that? The first tithe was not paid because God commanded it. We first read about the concept in Genesis.
So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the ground. And Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions (Gen 4:3-4).
Keep in mind that no command for sacrifices for sin was yet given, no sacrificial system yet implemented. This was just what they were supposed to do: Give of the first of their produce (whatever it was) to God. Now, of course, this wasn't technically a tithe. The tithe is technically 10%. The first tithe was given by Abram. He gave it to Melchizedek, the king of Salem, the priest of God Most High (Gen 14:18-20). What command was issued that caused Abram to give that? None. Not one. You see, to Abram the tithe was given to God as an act of gratitude.

Of course, eventually the tithe became codified. God commanded it in Leviticus 27. In Deuteronomy 12, He instructed Israel on the tithe after entering the Promised Land. Nehemiah made a point of restoring the tithe when they were restoring Jerusalem (Neh 10:37-38). And both Amos and Malachi have warnings from God regarding the tithe. Malachi is the most ... disturbing.
"Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, 'How have we robbed Thee?' In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you! Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this," says the LORD of hosts, "if I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows (Mal 3:8-10).
Associated with the tithe are curses and blessings. God promised that He would open the windows of heaven for them if they tithed. Most disturbing, though, is the phrase God uses. "Will a man rob God?"

Well, of course, we're all okay now. That was then. This is now. We don't have all those nasty ol' OT laws to worry about. It's no longer robbing God to refuse to tithe. It's ... godly now, right?

You see, maybe it is and maybe it's not. Maybe it is true that we no longer have a legal (as in "commanded") obligation to tithe. That could be the case. But we are told that the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil. We are quite clear that tithing is intended as an act of worship, a response of gratitude. And, look, let's face it, as believers it is not strictly true that we have anything. No, what's strictly true is that we have died with Christ, and that the life we now live is "Christ in you". What's strictly true is that, while we may not owe Him 10%, we certainly owe Him 100%.

Maybe it was robbing God to fail to obey Him by paying the tithe He commanded. Is it any less robbery to withhold from Him the 100% He now deserves? And if He deserves all, are we really going to quibble over 10%? "Is tithing for today?" Maybe, just maybe, there is no command. Surely, however, gratitude still makes its demand. Or is gratitude no longer applicable either?

4 comments:

David said...

Actually, tithing is added to in the New Testament by increasing it to giving on top of tithing.
I think the reason the tithe was codified was for the priests. The Levites did nothing to make a living or grow crops or raise livestock. Their whole purpose was the maintenance of the temple and all that goes into being a priest. The tithe is what God used to pay for maintaining the temple grounds and for keeping His servants fed and clothed. Bring it forward to today. Most pastors that I know of don't have a job outside of the church. Some assistant pastors might, but then tend to have a harder time working in their pastoral position. The tithes and offerings we give are given to God, who then uses it to take care of His servants that work all week long to tend to His sheep.
I don't think this diminishes the authority of Scripture requiring a tithe, but helps us to see why. Most people would probably ask, "What does God need with my 10%?" And strictly speaking, He doesn't. But He uses that 10% to take care of those that serve Him and His people daily.
It might be a little less...reverent, but you can think of paying your tithe as paying for the services your pastor provides, and his staff, and the building... Without our tithing we'd have no churches to attend or pastors to teach us.
Just to put it into some perspective. :)

Stan said...

Tithing may have been codified for the priesthood -- for the maintenance of the things of God -- but Abraham didn't pay tithes to Melchizedek on that basis. His was simply a factor of gratitude.

Now, the Bible is quite clear that we should be paying our "clergy" (although "clergy" is not in Scripture) -- those who minister to us (1 Tim 5:17-18). And there will, of course, be those who complain. "Yes, we should pay them, but how much is too much?" (I'd say, given some of the megachurches and such, that it's a fair question.) But I still see no point in codifying it today or in asking the question, "Should we be doing it?" ... unless, of course, we're willing to suggest that gratitude is no longer required.

Sometimes it can be legal to do something immoral, that having the legal right to do something doesn't mean it's good. Sometimes the reverse is also true. There may be no law about it (biblical or otherwise), but that doesn't make it not good. Is tithing mandatory? I'm not even willing to ask the question. Gratitude is.

Anonymous said...

If I follow u then we should still be offering and sacrificing animals to the Lord. As far as the Melchizadeck reference that is the only tithe Abraham paid. He didnt vow to pay tithes forever, just tithes from that specific incident.

Stan said...

Well, then it should give you great comfort to know that you don't follow me. Nothing I wrote requires it. Nothing I read in Scripture would suggest it. Nor is there any biblical connection between paying tithes and sacrificing animals. On the other hand, the Bible is abundantly clear that the sacrificial system is ended, not because it was wrong or faulty, but because it was completely fulfilled in Christ. The same is not true for tithes. (One is a sacrificial atonement system and the other is an act of gratitude for that atonement.)