Tithing And Giving

Tithing and giving

Intro:

Reason why, we are “allergic to preach giving in the Church, in comparison to

Prosperity preachers, Ex. El shadai, The church of Kiboloy, ect,

El shadai sells, handkerchief, mineral water, candles, with blessings, to bless you,

Kiboloy says it is the seed for your prosperity.

A question of the heart, do you give because you want to receive more or you give because you want to worship God, it almost mis leading to judge who are titihers and are not in our offering report. Because it would seem that those who are giving bigger are more spiritual than those who are not.

Illus. The 500 bill and the ten peso bill story

Definition:

The practice of giving a tenth of one’s property or produce to support religious institutions or the priesthood. It is an ancient practice, widespread in antiquity and found in Judaism as well as in surrounding cultures of the ancient Near East.

Genesis 14:17-20 in Heb. 7:6, 8-9.

Tithing was practiced in the OT prior to the Laws,

17. And the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley), after his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him.

18. Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High.

19. And he blessed him and said: "Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth;

20. And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.’’ And he gave him a tithe of all.

The tithe was one of the tributary offerings imposed on Israel. There were strict regulations pertaining to the tithe (ma’aser, Lev. 27:30-33; Num. 18:21-32; Deut. 14:22-29; 26:2-15). All crops and the increase in cattle were subject to the tithe. The tithe of grain and fruit could first be exchanged for silver, but the Israelite was required to add 20 percent of the market value before taking the silver to the temple. He was not permitted to redeem the tithe of the herd or flock.

Numbers 18: 21-24

21. "Behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tithes in Israel as an inheritance in return for the work which they perform, the work of the tabernacle of meeting.

22. "Hereafter the children of Israel shall not come near the tabernacle of meeting, lest they bear sin and die.

23. "But the Levites shall perform the work of the tabernacle of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity; it shall be a statute forever, throughout your generations, that among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.

24. "For the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer up as a heave offering to the Lord, I have given to the Levites as an inheritance; therefore I have said to them, `Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.’ ’’

The Levites and the poor also enjoyed a portion of the tithe. However, every third year the tithe was reserved for the Levites and those in financial need (Deut. 14:28-29). The tithe also functioned as a kind of a tax to support the temple and its personnel. The tithe was retained by the temple personnel, for their own use.

In the book of Deuteronomy, the firstborn of the flocks and the tithes are to be brought to the central holy place in Jerusalem ("the place which he will choose, to make his name dwell there," 14:23). Families and the Levites of the towns were to travel to Jerusalem for the festive meal. If the journey was too long and carrying the tithe too difficult, one could sell the tithe and buy what was needed in Jerusalem (vs. 24ff.). Yet this system did not adequately provide for the needs of the poor, so the code stipulated that every third year the tithe should be kept in the local town (vs. 28-29; 26:12-15). It would be distributed to Levites, sojourners, the fatherless, and widows who could not produce food for themselves.

(Neh. 10:38; Mal. 3:10). Then too, tithes no longer were required to be brought to Jerusalem, but rather were collected by local Levites (Neh. 10:37-38). This in effect made the tithe a tax.

References to the tithe are few in the NT. Jesus attacked the Pharisees for paying the tithe (Gr. apodekatoo) exactly while neglecting the more important parts of the law: justice, mercy, and faith (Matt. 23:23; cf. Luke 11:42). The Pharisee is shown praying in the temple, "I give tithes of all that I get" (Luke 18:12). There are three references to Genesis 14:17-20 in Heb. 7:6, 8-9.

In the later history of the church, the obligation to tithe was always held in tension with Christ’s command to sell all and renounce possessions (Matt. 19:21) along with Paul’s teaching that Christ brings freedom from legal prescriptions (Gal. 5:1). By the fifth and sixth centuries, the practice of tithing was well established in old areas of Christianity in the West. In the eighth century, Carolingian rulers made the ecclesiastical tithe part of secular law.