One of the great debates in the 21^st Century American church centers on the question of whether tithing is a "New Testament" concept. In reality, it isn't much of a debate since the vast majority of American Christians long ago voted with their pocket books on the subject. According to Christian researcher George Barna, the percentage of the born again Christian adults who tithe stood at only 6% in 2002, and a significant number lie about their tithing habits. For example, in 2000 Barna determined that 17% of born again Christians claimed to tithe, but only 6% actually did so. In 2000, almost 1/4 of born again Christians (23%) give absolutely nothing to their local church. (See www.barna,org). Although Christians have voted on the subject, that really isn't the end of the question since the King of the Universe does not run a democracy. In fact, if Christianity were a democracy, God's views on many subjects would be voted out. For example, only 1/3 of Christians believe there is such a thing as absolute truth. Born again Christians buy lottery tickets, divorce each other, and view pornography at the same rate as the unsaved.. Half of all born again Christians do not believe that the devil exists and 1/3 believe that Jesus was a sinner. Despite the fact that the vast majority of Christians do not tithe does not end the question of whether they should do so..

     The debate over how much to give has literally raged from the beginning. In Genesis 4 we see the story of Cain and Able. Everyone seems to remember that Cain killed Able, but no one seems to remember why. The Bible tells us that Cain brought "an offering" to God and Able brought the "firstlings" to God. According to Hebrews 11:4, Able brought a "more excellent" offering than Cain. The Greek word translated "more excellent" in Hebrews 11 is the Greek word "pleion" The word means "greater in quantity; greater in quality." The bottom line is that Able brought his best to God, and probably a bunch of it, while Able brought his scraps. The Bible tells us that God respected Able's offering but rejected Cain's. This made Cain very angry.

So the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door, and its desire is for you, but you should rule over it." (Genesis 4).

     Instead of repenting and bringing God a "more excellent" offering as well, Cain went out one day and killed his brother. The first murder in all of history occurred because one brother was a big giver to God and the other was tight and stingy. It is the first visible evidence that the love of money is the root of evil.

     We see a similar situation in the New Testament as well. Mark 14 recounts the story of the woman who came to Jesus and made a "more excellent" offering by sacrificing a container of "very costly" fragrant oil which she poured on Jesus' head. Judas Iscariot became upset at this and insisted that the perfume could have been sold for thousands of dollars and "given to the poor." The scripture tells us Judas did not really care for the poor, but instead was an embezzler of ministry funds. Jesus rebuked him for speaking against the woman's generous offering. It was this event that apparently triggered Judas to betray Jesus and turn him over to be killed (See Mark 14:10).

     A few chapters later in Genesis 12, God made Himself a friend named Abram (whose name would later change to Abraham). Although Abraham lived in the Old Testament, the Bible is abundantly clear that he was a New Testament believer. He is mentioned 70 times in the New Testament. Jesus said that Abraham saw his [Jesus] day and was glad (John 8:56). Romans 4 calls Abraham "our father" and the "father of faith" and Romans 4:16 calls him the "father of us all." Galatians 3 tells us that those who walk by faith are "sons of Abraham" and that Abraham had the gospel preached to him "beforehand" so that those who are in New Testament faith could be "blessed with believing Abraham." Galatians 3:13-14 tells us that the very crucifixion of Jesus occurred so that the "blessing of Abraham might come on the gentiles." Abraham was a friend of God who operated with God by faith just like the New Testament believers are supposed to do. To put it another way, Abraham was the Old Testament picture of what a New Testament believer would look like.

     In Genesis chapter 14 we run into another New Testament believer tucked away in the Old Testament. His name was Melchizedek. The book of Hebrews (Chapters 5-7) makes it abundantly clear that Melchizedek was the Old Testament model of Jesus. Some Bible scholars take the position that Melchizedek was actually Jesus himself, while others believe he was merely a model or "type and shadow" of Jesus. Whether he was Jesus himself, or merely the Old Testament model of who Jesus would be, the scripture is crystal clear that Melchizedek is the Old Testament picture of Jesus. In fact, Melchizedek is called King of Righteousness and King of Peace, just like Jesus.

     In Genesis 14 Melchizedek showed up in the life of Abraham and pronounced a blessing upon him. Abraham's response is quite interesting; he gave Melchizedek 10% of everything he owned - a "tithe of all." This is the first Bible mention of the word "tithe." The word itself merely means a tenth. The first mention of a tithe is therefore in the context of New Testament believer in the Old Testament (Abraham) giving a tithe to an Old Testament representation of Jesus.

     In Hebrews 7 (of the New Testament), the writer in expressing the relationship of Abraham and Melchizedek, initially points to the fact that Abraham tithed to Melchizedek. Abraham's tithing to Melchizedek was listed as the evidence of the superiority of Melchizedek to Abraham. The scripture states that when Melchizedek blessed Abraham, "the inferior was blessed by the superior" and the evidence of that superiority was Melchizedek's right to receive a tithe from Abraham and his decedents.

     Approximately 400 years after the incident involving Abraham and Melchizedek, one of Abraham's decedents (Moses) appeared on the scene to lead his brethren out of slavery in Egypt. After Moses successfully did so, God gave Moses "the Law" for the people of Israel to follow. In the desert of Sinai, God entered into a covenant with Israel (what we call the Old Covenant) whereby God promised to bless Israel if the people obeyed God's laws that He was giving them that day. Nothing in that law giving process, or that "Old Covenant" had any effect on the relationship God had formed with Abraham 430 years earlier (see Galatians 3). As part of the law giving process, God included a requirement that the physical offspring of Abraham (Israel) must by law give the first tenth of all they produced to God himself, and tithing was instituted as a law of God. As an aside, is it possible that Able (who brought the firstlings) and Abraham (who gave Melchizedek the tithe) were actually the ones who initiated the subsequent law on the subject? In other words, did God look at Able, who brought the firstlings, and Abraham, who gave a tithe, and decide that these two righteous men who functioned before the law, and the Old Covenant, would set the minimum standard of giving for God's people?

     In any event, in Leviticus 27 God stated that a tithe belonged to him and that it was holy and His, but the fact of the matter is that the law only put on paper what the righteous men of God had been doing years before. It was not really Moses who instituted tithing, but Abraham. There is also another interesting point about tithing in that God never called it "law breaking" not to tithe. Instead he calls it "theft." Malachi 3:8. In the Old Covenant, to commit murder was to break God's law. To not honor your father and mother was to break God's law. To covet, lie, make a graven image, profane the Sabbath, etc was to break God's law. Uniquely, failure to tithe to God was considered theft directly from God. He considered that first tenth to be His.

WILL A MAN ROB GOD?

 Malachi 3 asks the question:

"Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, 'In what way have we robbed You?' In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this, says the LORD of hosts, "If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field," says the LORD of hosts.

     All those who take the position that tithing is not a New Testament concept dismiss God's question as merely being part of the Old Covenant which Jesus did away with. In so doing, they ignore the fact that firstling giving and tithing occurred among the "New Testament" believers living in the Old Testament, but they ignore something even more elementary - what is Malachi talking about? What is the context of this section of scripture?

 Malachi chapter 3 opens with:

"Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming," says the LORD of hosts.

     Matthew, Mark and Luke all record Jesus as saying that John the Baptist was the one this scripture was talking about. In fact, after John the Baptist prepares the way of the Lord, "the Lord whom you seek [Jesus] will suddenly come to His temple." Versus 1-7 of Malachi 3 are totally and completely discussing the ministry of John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus, and Jesus appearing in His temple." The setting in Malachi 3 is a New Testament setting based on the appearance of Jesus. In Malachi 3:7 God asks the people to "return to Me [God]" and the people ask the question "how shall we return?" It is in that context that God states that they are robbing Him of His tithes and offerings." It is New Testament scripture written in the Old Testament.

     From Malachi 3:8-18, God discusses what things will be like under the blessings of Messiah (Jesus). In chapter 4 of Malachi God continues talking about Jesus and John the Baptist. Malachi 4:2 tells us the "Sun of Righteousness will arise with healing in His wings" talking about Jesus, and the very last two verses of Malachi 4 again talk of the coming of John the Baptist. To argue that the discussion on tithing captained in Malachi 3 is an "Old Covenant" concept is to prove that the person has not actually read the chapters in which the discussion occurs.

     2000 years ago the Messiah of Israel, the one God had promised Abraham, the one who would set us free from sin and death appeared on the scene. He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. He is the end-all of all discussions. His word is absolute and beyond question. His pronouncements on tithing would therefore seem to be the end of the dispute.

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. - Matthew 23:23

"But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass by justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Luke 11:42

     In both cases, Jesus rebukes the pharisees for only tithing, while neglecting "weightier" New Testament concepts like justice, mercy, love, and faith. He tells them that they should have focused on those important New Testament ideas while not neglecting their tithing. This would seem to be the end of the discussion except for a very fascinating teaching that has swept much of the modern church. Basically this teaching is that Jesus was here under the "Old Covenant", that he taught as a Jew under the Old Covenant and that until his death and resurrection, what he did was all Old Covenant and not applicable to modern Christians. In essence, the Word of God himself, manifested in the flesh, teaching for 3 years, basically said and taught a bunch of stuff that wouldn't apply as soon as he left.

     I must confess that I find this position incomprehensible because my first question becomes why did he bother teaching anything at all? Jesus himself however, did not seem to take the position that his words and teaching were only temporary:

"Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. - Luke 21:33

"It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. - John 6:63

"I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness. And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him-- the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak. - John 12:46-50

     In fact, moments before he ascended into heaven, Jesus gave some final instructions to His disciples and directed them to go into all the world and specifically teach all of the things He had taught them (Matthew 28). Jesus seemed to think that the words that he spoke had eternal weight and consequence and that they were not mere temporary teachings to be applied for a few months until he went to the cross. When men begin to split hairs as to which words of Jesus apply today, and which ones are to be roundly ignored, we are already in grave danger. Jesus was training 12 men to take over His ministry when He left. Everything He said was for their (and our) training, and every word He spoke applies to us today, otherwise God would not have recorded it in His eternal Word. We are therefore fools to allow any man to talk us out of a single word spoken by the Master.

    Ironically, having said all of the above, I do not actually believe that tithing as law is a New Testament concept. Of course, I mean this in the same way that I do not think that "thou shalt not murder" or "thou shalt not commit adultery" are New Testament concepts either. Everywhere that Jesus went, he raised the bar far above the standards of the Old Testament. For example:

"You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder,' and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment. But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.

"You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

"Furthermore it has been said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery.

"Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.' "But I say to you, do not swear at all.

"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect. - Matthew 5.

     In the final verse of the chapter, Jesus set the standard at perfection. This is a standard far beyond anything the Old Testament ever imagined. In Matthew 6 Jesus set the pattern for New Testament finances.

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also..... No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and riches. Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? "Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. - Matthew 6:19-33

     The pattern that he sets is one of not accumulating treasure, not serving money, and seeking first the Kingdom of God. Jesus' definition of what seeking first the Kingdom meant was radically different from the bare tithing done before. When the rich young ruler approached Jesus to find out what was missing in his life, Jesus told him to keep the commandments of God. The young man told Jesus that he had done so all of his life. Jesus then told this young man how to "store up treasure in heaven:"

Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, "One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me. - Mark 10:21

     The idea of giving 100%, as opposed to the 10% he had done under the law, was too much for the rich young ruler to bear and he went away sorrowful. Jesus did not follow him and reduce the amount he demanded, but instead stated that it would be hard for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God. Modern Christians balk at giving 10% to the Kingdom of God, yet Jesus apparently felt that a request for 100% was reasonable. Lest the argument be made that the rich young ruler was an isolated request, we must recall that the disciples left all to follow Jesus. In fact, he told those disciples that:

....whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple. - Luke 14:33

     In Luke 21 we have a picture of Jesus watching the people bringing their tithes to God. He observes a poor widow woman putting in everything that she had. Jesus commends her actions:

So He said, "Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had." - Luke 21:3-4

     In Matthew 13 Jesus again comments on the fact that a real passion for the Kingdom of God will result in a willingness and desire to get rid of everything else that one has.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it. - Matthew 13:44-46

     In the book of Acts, and in the Epistles of Paul, we see the early church of Jesus literally fulfilling his holy command to forsake all, and be willing to give all.

Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. - Acts 2:44-47

And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles' feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need. And Joses, who was also named Barnabas by the apostles (which is translated Son of Encouragement), a Levite of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet. - Acts 4:33-37

For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing, imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. - 2 Corinthians 8:3-4

     When Jesus came and gave his life to set us free from sin, he gave all of himself. He gave 100% of who he was. Jesus told us that it is the Father's good pleasure to give us the Kingdom. The real issue of tithing is therefore really not about money, it is about heart disease. Specifically, the risk that a Christian heart will become so cold and calloused to the cause of Christ, to the work of the Kingdom, to the needs of the saints, and to the plight of the poor, that they analyze the question of "how little can I give God and still appease Him?" Although they do not ask the question that way, it is the question that is really being asked.

     The very question of whether tithing is New Testament is based in the question of how little can I get away with giving to God? What is the bare minimum requirement of my giving? It is the heart of Cain, and sin is crouching at the door of that heart to destroy it. The Christian who truly loves the Lord will never ask how much he must give. He will "implore with much urgency" for the opportunity to give. Any Christian who is not gladly and cheerfully giving into the Kingdom of God, might as well keep their money, because money is the least of their problems. A cold heart of unbelief is what they really need to be delivered from. Even those Christians who do tithe can still be pulled into the trap of a cold heart. When we ask questions like: "do I tithe on the gross or the net" or "do I have to tithe on birthday money," they are still analyzing and looking for ways to give as little to God as absolutely necessary. Since the goal is perfection, and Jesus demands 100%, why would we split hairs on a few extra bucks. We must soften our hearts and cheerfully give it into the Kingdom of God.

     Other "giving to God" avoidance schemes include: buying tapes or CD's from a ministry and then claiming that "they make money on them, so it is a gift," or donating old and used items to a ministry and then fooling ourselves that we gave anything at all. As David said in II Samuel 24, "I will never give an offering to God that costs me nothing." If you were planning on getting rid of the item anyway, you gave nothing to the Kingdom of God - you just brought your trash. (See Malachi 1:6-9).

But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. As it is written: "He has dispersed abroad, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever." - 2 Corinthians 9:6-9

     God does not need our money. He can finance His work even if 0% of His people put a dime in the offering. The bottom line for the church however is far different. Our hearts will become cold and distant from God. We will think we have become rich and have need of nothing (See Revelation 3). We will fool ourselves that our earthly possessions and prosperity prove that God's blessings are in our lives. Many Christians who do not tithe have big houses and nice cars, and foolishly assume that those are blessings from God. Physical prosperity can come to the wicked (who actually have more of it), or the righteous. Physical "stuff" is not an evidence of anything. As a bumper sticker once proclaimed: "He who dies with the most stuff is still dead." (See Luke 12:20).

     Sadly, we will never understand why the peace of God, the fruit of the Spirit, the healing power of God, a solid marriage, blessed children, real miracles etc., are not working in our lives. We will buy more 7 step books that teach us how to receive, and will never understand that the true barrier to a real relationship with God is our hearts which are serving money and not God. Hearts that are far from God because they love the things of this world more than they love the Kingdom of God. Jesus said where your treasure is, your heart will be also. We deceive ourselves if we think that our hearts serve God when we are not putting significant treasure into His Kingdom. In fact, II Corinthians 9 indicates that the true Christian will have "all sufficiency in all things" but that his/her abundance shall be for every good work. So long as the abundance is going to bigger houses, faster cars, sleeker boats, longer vacations, and shinier rings, our hearts are so far from God that we will never have a life of any value or significance in the eyes of God and His Kingdom.

     We cannot close this paper without a discussion of where our tithes and offerings should go. The answer is actually quite simple - to Jesus. Unfortunately, none of us has the P.O. Box number where He currently resides, and we are unable to send it to him directly. We must therefore seek His face and trust Him to distribute the resources. If the entire Body of Christ was giving tithes and offerings, the issue would probably be mute as there would be an abundance of resource for every good work. Sadly, the church as a whole loves the world and cannot bring itself to give significant funds to the work of God. This has produced the result that thousands of ministries are "competing" for finances and are turning to gimmicks, cons, and schemes to extract money from the people. Christianity in the 21^st Century has become a business seeking to pull money out of the pockets of people who are extremely reluctant to give it.

     In the New Testament, there was only one kind of Ministry - a local church. There were no ministerial associations, no 501(c)(3) corporations, no charitable foundations, and no independent ministries. In fact, there was one church per city. All finances were brought to the leaders of that local church and then distributed back out as the Lord directed. In the Jerusalem church it was brought to the local leadership (Acts 4). In II Corinthians 8 it is the church at Corinth that collected money for a relief effort to others. In Philippians 4 the church at Philippi collected funds to help support the Apostle Paul. In I Corinthians 9, Paul wrote the church at Corinth about support for his ministry. In fact, all Bible based ministry flowed out of the local church to which a person belonged.

     As Christians began to divide and separate in direct violation of the Word of God, the number of churches and ministries skyrocketed. Nonetheless, a real Christian will be a member of a local fellowship of believers. He/she will be a member of a church. A church in its truest sense is a family. A family has expenses. It is the duty of those family members to provide for the family.

But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. - 1 Timothy 5:8

     It is therefore imperative that the members of a local fellowship engage in adequate giving to meet the needs and provide for the outreach efforts of that fellowship. Since a true believer will be giving generously into the Kingdom of God, he will have an abundance unto every good work to provide for other ministries, and outreach activities as well.

     Finally, many Christians point to Malachi 3 which states bring tithes and offerings to the "storehouse." A large number of Christians then define the "storehouse" as being the place "where they get fed." This is a final symptom of the "me-first", man-centered perversion of the Kingdom of God. The "storehouse" was not where the people bringing the tithes and offerings were fed, it was where God's ministers were fed. Nehemiah chapter 10 makes this clear (as would a study of all the places tithes were brought in the Bible).

     Where you put the money of the Kingdom of God just isn't that complicated. Put large sums into your local church, and then put large sums into other places as the Lord directs. These will be works that build the Kingdom of God, bless the saints, evangelize, and meet the needs of the poor. It is only a problem when a person is trying to give as little as possible, and for people who do not want to help take care of their local family of believers.

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