Ladies~ Giving…what does God really teach on this? Did He really set up a 10% for us to go by today? People live elaborately, yet are unthankful, enjoy luxury but are discontent. At times God providentially frustrates efforts….just as people are setting up to protect themselves with increased goods, something goes wrong. Why? Remember… God needs nothing at our hands. He set us on this earth for a short time, to glorify Him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. This involves more than our money and things. But it certainly involves our money and things. Let’s not be guilty of burying our talents in the ground when He expects us to be faithful with what He has given us to gain for His kingdom. Proverbs 3:9 “Honor the LORD with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all your increase” This verse teaches on giving. It clearly tells us that we are to give sacrificially, the very best of what we have, out of a heart that adores the Lord that gave it all to us. Any time that I teach on giving I like to address the issue of ‘tithing’ because, even conservative bible teaching churches tend to have misconceptions on this subject. You often hear it said that people think that we are to give 10% of what we make to God’s work. Tithe, of course, is a mathematical term in both the Hebrew and Greek, meaning ‘a tenth’. Because some of the OT Patriarchs gave tithes at certain times, people have adopted it as a concept that God set up for all people at all times. But the question should be … What has God actually taught throughout scripture concerning giving? We do not have time to do a detailed study on tithing; however we can dust the surface for now. If you take some personal time to follow OT giving you will find that even then, free will offerings from the heart are what God always wanted. I think that one of the passages of scripture that has people leaning on the ‘10% rule’ is in Genesis14 where Abraham was on his way back home after a great victory in battle against Chedorlaomer and the kings that were with him, which included taking a huge amount of the enemies goods. (Chedorlaomer…makes you wonder how his mother called that boy in for lunch; I have a hard time getting my kids names straight and theirs are easy ones!) Anyway, Abraham encountered Melchizedek, who was a priest of the Most High God and a king. Abraham chose, on his own initiative to give from his joyful and thankful heart to this wonderful man of God, a tenth of all that he had taken in battle. Note: it does not say that Abraham gave a tenth of ALL that he owned, but all that he had there with him. In fact it is never recorded that Abraham ever gave a tenth again. It is unwise to take a story like this and read anything more into it. The tenth was never intended to be the focus, the thankful, giving heart of worship that Abraham expressed toward God in giving to His priest, is the real issue here. In Leviticus 18 you will read of the tithe that God set up to give the Levites, which was indeed a 10% tithe. However it was not the only tithe to give. Deut 12 refers to a second annual tithe, Deut 14 refers to a third tithe. These three tithes were nothing more than taxes, funding Israel‘s government, just like you and I are required to pay today. They were never intended to be confused with voluntary giving. If you read carefully and study on this subject in depth, you will find that there were even more tithes Lev 19, Ex 23, etc. tell of ‘welfare’ tithing. The Jews under the Mosaic Law paid as much as 25%, per year in tithes! All this was required giving. We are required to do the same today, we have to pay our taxes (Mt. 22, Rom.13 etc). But we also, like they were, are required by God to give a free will offering. Numbers 18:12 describes the principle of first fruit giving, “All the best of the fresh oil and all the best of the fresh wine and of the grain, the first fruits of those which they give to the LORD, I give them to you.” God set up this example of pleasing Him by giving the very first and best of what we earn. This involves faith; when you give your very best you need to trust Him for what you don’t have. (For more on free will giving see Ex. 35:4-5, 35:21-22, 35:29 36:5-6, Deut. 16:10 &17, 1Chro. 29:9-10 &16.) The NT doesn’t really teach any different. There are still two types of giving, required and freewill. There are many scriptures that teach about the rugged taxation that was even unfair in NT times. Jesus addressed taxation yet never focused on the justice of it. He knew that they were swindlers; He knows the wicked things that are being done with our taxes here today. I want to get into our verse for the day and this is getting long, so I will give you the scriptures that Jesus taught on this and you can look them up. (Mt. 5:46-47, 17:24-27, 22:15-22, Mk. 2:14-16, Lk. 5:29-30, 19:2,8, Rom. 13:1-7, 1Pet. 2:13, Heb. 7:4-9 refers to the Melchizedek incident.) 2Cor 9:6-7 sums up our example of first fruit, free will giving: “He who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” Word Study~ Honor= glorify, promote Substance= wealth, riches First fruits= top most, highest, first in time, order or rank, the principal thing. Increase= income, fruit, gain, revenue, profit All that we have belongs to God. We are stewards of what He blesses us with and need to manage our wealth to His glory. Some have the attitude “I gave Jesus my heart, not my wallet!” But when we give ourselves to Jesus we give it all. Not grudgingly, but rather with the heart attitude of the Psalmist “What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits toward me?” (Ps. 116:12). We are to give now, with whatever we have. Don’t wait until you strike it rich, give from your poverty, and let God see to blessing you or not. “The LORD makes poor, and makes rich: He brings low, and lifts up” (1Sa. 2:7). The Macedonians were poor, yet they gave of their poverty to bless others in need (2Cor. 8) and God was well pleased! No one has to spell out our giving capacity to us. We know what we spend on clothes, our houses, our makeup, leisure, our children, vacations, our gardens, toys, our hair, nails, and diets. It isn’t necessarily wrong or sinful to have and do those things and more. The focus of our hearts is that we pay our taxes honestly, (letting God control what evil men do with them) and giving to the operation of our local church body, as well as meeting the needs of others. In Eph 4:28 we are taught that we are to work honestly with our own hands, that we may have to give to him that needs. “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good to all men, especially to them who are of the household of faith” (Gal. 6:10). Remember… God needs nothing at our hands. He set us on this earth for a short time, to glorify Him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. This involves more than our money and things. But it certainly involves our money and things. Let’s not be guilty of burying our talents in the ground when He expects us to be faithful with what He has given us to gain for His kingdom. (Lk. 19:13-27). In Haggai the Lord was upset with the people because they focused on making their own little personal worlds comfortable and pretty. They made their houses nice and focused on prospering themselves, yet they neglected the things of God. God wanted them to give to building His house, but they were preoccupied and uninterested in giving for that. So God revealed to them that He was hindering their prosperity because of their selfishness. They worked hard, yet God intervened in not letting them increase accordingly. They lived elaborately, yet were unthankful; they enjoyed luxury but were discontent. Sound familiar? God providentially frustrated their efforts….just as they were setting up to protect themselves with increased goods, something would go wrong. Let’s read it… “Then the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? Now, therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways. You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes. Thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways” (Hag. 1:3-7). Perfect note to leave off on… ‘Consider our ways’.
Posted on: Tue, 05 Nov 2013 22:20:50 +0000
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