This is a spiritual discipline that believers exercise in order to develop good stewarship. God is a giver and those who want to be like him must also learn to give. This long tradition among Christians will help you change attitudes of greed into cheerful giving.
The Basics:
Definition: The tithe refers to a disciplined offering that Christians regularly contribute to the local church based on their conviction of the teaching of God’s Word. The word “tithe” means a tenth part.
There is a difference between a tithe and an offering
- A tithe is regular and disciplined giving a specific a tenth of my income
- An offering is a spontaneous amount I give above and beyond my tithe.
Where should I give my tithe?
The Old Testament taught that the tithe should be brought to the local temple. Today, most Christians feel giving to the church they worship in should be the priority. Giving over the tithe to other charitable organizations or Christian works is the ideal.
It is commendable to give to charitable organizations – but this is not tithing.
Malachi 3:10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.
How much should I give?
The New Testament Christian life is not about obligations but about love and sacrifice. We shouldn’t give out of guilt or fear but out of trust, love and faith. The Old Testament made it clear that the tithe should come off the top of the harvest, not at the very end and never the inferior part of the crop, but the very best. As New Testament believers, we should take this as guidance. Its not about being legalistic over whether a person should give a tenth of their “gross or net” income— you must decide this in your heart. Give according to your faith, but understand that the Old Testament teaching instructed a clear 10% of everything a person reaped from the field or cattle born in the pen.
2 Corinthians 9:6-7 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver…
Summary:
God instituted the tithe to provide for the running of the temple to supply the priests to do their sacred work. Today, churches also depend upon the tithe to do the work of God. God doesn’t need our money, but he does use the money to accomplish his work here on earth. If every Christian would give a tenth of their income, the church would be able to make a huge dent in the problems of poverty and sickness facing the world. Sad that so many believers have failed God and the church in this area.
What does the Bible teach about tithing?
1.) The basic reason that I give a tenth of my income is because it was taught in the Old Testament as a practice to be obeyed by the people of Israel. Moses taught the people to keep the 7th day unto the Lord (The Sabbath) and to give 1/10 of their income, the tithe.
Leviticus 27:30 “‘A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD.’”
2.) Although never laid down as a law in the New Testament Jesus at least on one occasion, mentioned the tithe and indicated support of this practice. [The New Testament teaches a higher, non-legalistic standard of spiritual practices, done out of love for God’s dying on the cross rather than fear of God’s punishment]
Matthew 23:23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.”
3.) The Old Testament taught the tithe as a way to keep God first in our lives and to trust Him for all other things.
Deuteronomy 14:22 Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year. 23 Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the LORD your God always.
4.) The Old Testament seems to have taught the tithe also to help remind us that everything really belongs to God in the first place. Giving the tithe is an affirmation of God’s governorship over everything in my life.
Deuteronomy 8:18 But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.
5.) Giving a tenth of my income also expresses my gratitude to God for what he has given me.
Deuteronomy 16:17 Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the LORD your God has blessed you.
6.) Giving the tithe is an act of faith whereby I trust God to provide for my needs as I am obedient to giving him the first of my income.
Malachi 3:10 “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”
7.) When we refuse to give the tithe, we are actually cheating God from the very small portion of our income that he has asked us to set aside for Him. He uses strong language to confront the Israelites when they had neglected to give the tithe.
Mal 3:8-9 ‘‘Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. ‘‘But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ ‘‘In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me.
