Taxes, Tithing, And Tribute Series

Tithing also has another very valuable function. Not only is it a reminder of who everything belongs to, it is a teacher. Tithing teaches us to rely on God in a very real very physical sense. When we allow ourselves to learn this reliance with the physical things we will also learn to develop our reliance on Him with the Spiritual things. This enables us to lean on Him when times are hard. To trust in Him when the world comes crashing down around us. But still I want to encourage you to stop tithing.

Throughout the Old Testament God would provide for His people giving them land and victories over their enemies. As recognition of God’s provision Israel was suppose to give God the first fruits/firstborn of the animals and fruits of the soil that God had given over to them. They were not giving to God they were giving back to God what was already His. This was an act of stewardship. A visible display of their acknowledgment that all they had they had because God had given it to them. That is what a tithe is all about. Giving should be faithful and a display of our recognition of who is in control of everything. It all belongs to God. Now a tithe was taken and used to provide for brothers in need, to take care of widows, to help the poor, and to support the Levites. Their tithes were not just of coin, but of livestock, fruits of the soil, and other materials including property. You see it has always been the responsibility of God’s people to take care of the poor in their community.

The purpose of a tithe is to offer a gift to God, to display our stewardship, and to remind ourselves that nothing that we have is ours. The Israelites gave of their time, money, property, and lives. They gave to the building of the temple, presented God with the first fruits of their grain and livestock, offered tithes at feasts. The Israelites devotion to God came at a high cost, but they were richly blessed in return. God always provided for them. That is in fact the point. The point of a tithe is to remind us that God provides for us, we do not provide for ourselves. If you look at Matthew 6:25 we see Jesus talking in His sermon on the mount about how we are to live this life. He instructs us not to worry about how we will be provided for because God will take care of us. The problem with this is that the NIV separates verse 24 from verse 25. In order to really grasp what this text is talking about we actually have to start a verse earlier with 24.

Mt 6:24 “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. Mt 6:25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Mt 6:26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Mt 6:27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life ? Mt 6:28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Mt 6:29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. Mt 6:30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Mt 6:31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ Mt 6:32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. Mt 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Mt 6:34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.