STEWARDSHIP SERIES
#2 The First Recorded Tithe
Genesis 14: 17-24
After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram, saying,
"Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
Creator of heaven and earth.
And blessed be God Most High,
who delivered your enemies into your hand."
Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything. The king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give me the people and keep the goods for yourself." But Abram said to the king of Sodom, "I have raised my hand to the LORD , God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, and have taken an oath that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the thong of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, ’I made Abram rich.’ I will accept nothing but what my men have eaten and the share that belongs to the men who went with me-to Aner, Eshcol and Mamre. Let them have their share."
Introduction:
The story of Abram’s battle with the kings and the ensuing encounter with the king-priest Melchizedeck, is a story of great significance to New Testament believers. While many spiritual principles can be learned from all of the Old Testament characters, the Bible attaches special importance to the man Abram (Abraham). Paul the apostle said this:
Consider Abraham: "He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham. The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: "All nations will be blessed through you." So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. Galatians 3:6-9
The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. Galatians 3:!8
When it comes to salvation, the New Testament teaches that we are justified by faith. The price needed to pay for sin was remitted when Jesus died on the cross. All we must do is believe and receive. The Bible teaches that the covenant God made with man through Christ is immutable and therefore it cannot and never will be rendered void.
(This is not the case for other covenants God made with man. For example, the covenant of law is no longer in force since it was replaced by the new covenant through Christ. This does not mean that the law is set aside as far as a moral code. It does mean that no one can be justified (made right with God) through keeping the law. The law was given to demonstrate how utterly hopeless it is to attempt to be righteous, for no matter how hard we try our sin nature is more powerful and we end up failing.)
That faith is the only way for mankind to be saved is something God wanted to make clear very early in his dealing with mankind. So, he chose a man through whom he could demonstrate principles of living that he decreed are timeless. That man was Abraham and through him God established powerful precepts (examples) of how we are to understand and live the Christian life.
The Tithe
The word “tithe” simply means “tenth”. Throughout the Bible the paying of tithes was practiced by bringing one tenth of every increase, to the place God appointed. In the Old Testament, tithes were paid to the priests who used them to advance the worship of Israel.
In the New Testament, Christians pay their tithes to the church. (More about why we do this in a future study)
The first recorded person to pay tithes was Abram and the account of this is found in Genesis chapter 14, (quoted above). I will in this Bible teaching, talk about three important truths as they relate to the tithe. They are: warfare, faith, and worship.
Warfare
Wars are a fact of fallen human nature. There is no dispute about that and Christians are by no means exempt. In fact, Christians fight battles in the highest possible sphere, in the realm of spirits. In Ephesians 5:10-19, Paul wrote about the nature of spiritual warfare and about the armour one must wear in order to both defend against evil, and advance against it.
Abram understood these principles. With 318 trained servants he went up against four kings and their armies. The odds were impossible. If ever there was a David and Goliath struggle it was this one. Abram had three allies; Mamre, Eshcol and Aner, all of whom were Amorites. (Genesis 14: 14). The amorites were descendents of Shem who formed a dynasty of kings that embraced the larger part of Mesopotamia and Syria. Their chief city was Babylon.
The Bible does not indicate that Abram asked his Amorite allies to join him in his battle against the kings. Why? Remember that the life of Abram is set before us as an example of how we should live as Christians, so there is an important truth for us to learn here. To answer this we need to consider the implications of this alliance should Abram have pursued it. In Genesis God made a covenant with Abram about the land that his descendents would possess. God told him that 400 years of enslavement of his people would take place first and then he added:
In the fourth generation your descendents will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure. Genesis 15:16
Abram knew that his arrangement with the 3 Amorites had its limits due to the sin in their nation and the impending judgment of God against them. You might say, “Abram was in the world but not of the world”. When it came to fighting life’s toughest battles, a few men from his own household, men who had been taught the principles of covenant, would comprise Abram’s entire fighting force. Abram would not enlist his Amorite allies lest he compromise the principles of God and thereby dilute his army’s effectiveness.
Regarding spiritual warfare, Paul wrote:
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete. 2 Corinthians 10: 3-6
Abram was victorious against vastly superior armies because he understood spiritual warfare. As he was returning from his conquest of the kings he encountered two people, both completely opposite in nature and behaviour. One was Melchizedeck, who very likely was the Lord Jesus Christ himself. (This will be addressed in a later study). He represented all that was good and godly. The other person was Bera, King of Sodom, who headed a nation wholly given over to evil. Both of these men, Melchizedeck and Bera wanted to bless Abram. One brought bread and wine, the other brought enough riches to last Abram many lifetimes.
Though no one said he must choose between the two, Abram knew that the proposals before him demanded a choice. In the same way that he excluded participation from his Amorite allies, Abram also excluded the offer of Bera’s allegiance. Abram chose wisely, he rejected Bera and embraced Melchizedeck. The reason? Abram did not want to establish any kind of dependency relationships in the world, a world out of which God had called him. His dependency would remain entirely on God.
Melchiaedeck offered Abram that which would become the emblems of the body and blood of our Saviour and Lord, Jesus Christ. Abram accepted them and by doing so became the first person to ever partake of the communion. Though he had no idea of the significance of the bread and wine, and could not possibly appreciate how it symbolized the body and blood of Christ, there was something about this priest, this man with the strange name, Melchizedeck, that compelled Abram to partake of the elements offered and receive the blessing given.
How does one respond to God who helps us win life’s greatest battles? How do you acknowledge that the captain of the Lord of Hosts is right there with you in the midst of mortal combat? How did Abram do this? It was with the tithe!
Are you losing your battle? Is spiritual conflict something more than you bargained for when you became a Christian? Do you need help in overcoming? One of the first questions to ask in relation to this is; are you tithing? The precept of winning the war and paying tithes is firmly established in the life of Abram, the man God set forth as our example of the blessing and power of being in covenant with God.
Faith
So much could be said about faith. We are told that Abram believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Faith is the very essence of the Christian’s posture before God. It is the only human response God accepts.
Abram, in his defeat of the kings, demonstrated the greatest faith possible. He laid his life on the line for what he believed. If God did not come through for him, he would be a dead man. This kind of faith is total abandonment of all that a person is and all that he possesses, to God. Abram was willing to lose his life in order to find it.
Where does a life of faith lead us? How does one respond to God as a part of a faith lifestyle? Where did it lead Abram and how did he respond? Abram became a tither. For him it was a natural part of his faith life. To do less would be to deny the elements that had been placed before him – the emblems of the body and blood of Christ. To not tithe would be a denial of those emblems and would be testimony that his faith was in someone or something else.
We don’t have a shortage of faith in this world. People put their trust with remarkable explicitness in a wide variety of things. Abram’s faith was in one person alone – God. Abram’s faith rested on the greatest act of God in all history – the cross of Christ. There could be no other response for Abram than ones that were faith based. So, he tithed. In doing so he linked forever these two great God-ward actions; faith and the tithe.
Worship
Abram was a worshiper. He readily accepted the communion emblems he was offered. He didn’t have all the worship benefits of someone like King David who enjoyed music, singing, dancing, grand festivals and magnificent furniture all dedicated to the praise of God. In a way, this made Abram’s worship even more special. He had little beside a pure heart and a strong desire to offer thanksgiving and praise to the Lord. Today we enjoy even more worship attachments than David could have imagined. We have audio recording devices to replay the songs. Through television and video, we can set before our eyes images of worship services, of Christian music artists performing wonderful concerts, and marvel at the magnificence of great cathedrals and other places of worship. We can worship in almost every musical style and tradition. We are blessed to have all these benefits but, if we choose to ignore one of worship’s most essential elements, the offering of the tithe to God, there is something very hollow about our worship. One of life’s greatest opportunities is that of worshipping God with our tithes.
Warfare – faith – worship; three of the greatest calls on the believer life. Warfare - faith – worship; all three intricately and marvelously woven together with the tithe.
Amen!
All scripture quotations are from the NIV of the Bible.
Sermon preached by Bruce Morrison, pastor,
Emmanuel English Church, Hong Kong
Sunday, May 4, 2003
brucemarlene@netvigator.com
