Announcer: Today on Let
the Bible Speak - Today we answer a question
from a viewer about tithing. Find out what the
Bible says about tithes and whether Christians are
expected to tithe today. From the churches of Christ Let the Bible Speakf Christ Let the Bible Speak with Kevin Presley ♪ Intro Music ♪ It's good to be with you
today to study God's Word. I'm Kevin Presley, and this
is a Bible-study broadcast brought to you by
Churches of Christ. We believe the Scriptures
are inspired of God and that they are to be the
source of our faith and practice and the only authority in
the exercise of our faith. Today we'll address
a series of questions sent to us by a
viewer about tithing. You hear many church
leaders and preachers talk about tithing, most of them
encouraging their flock to tithe to their local church,
but our viewer David asks: "Does the fact that Abraham
and Jacob paid tithes, "not by commandment
but out of their heart, "mean that it's a requirement
for the New-Testament church to also pay tithes?" Number two, "Weren't tithes
produce as opposed to money?" Abraham was wealthy,
but he tithed produce instead of
silver and gold. Were tithes and offerings
different things? And then, number three,
"Does the Bible teach "that preachers should be
given a salary by the church?" David, those are good questions, and yes, they do go together. We'll deal with those questions
in our Bible study today, including the
question: "Is tithing, "as taught in the Old Testament, "for New-Testament Christians?" Our study in just a moment. - If you would like to dig
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Bible Correspondence Course. The questions from our viewer
David have to do with tithes and offerings as we read about
them under the Old Covenant and whether they
apply to us today in the New-Testament
dispensation. Are we required to
give them today, and how are preachers
of the Gospel to be financially
supported today? To begin with, there
was a difference under the Old Testament
between tithes and then other
various offerings. Let's talk about tithing. In Malachi Three and
Verse Eight the Lord said: "Will a man rob God? "Yet ye have robbed Me. "But ye say, 'Wherein
have we robbed Thee?' "'In tithes and
offerings', God said." God went on to issue a
curse upon the people for this crime against Heaven. The word tithe here
simply means a 10th, and it refers to the
practice of people, under the Old Testament, giving a 10th of their
property to God and His work, and it was a very serious thing under the Law not to do that. We actually first read about
people voluntarily tithing before the Law of
Moses was ever given. Fact, the first instance
recorded in Scripture is found in Genesis 14 when
Abram returned from that battle against those kings who were
holding his nephew Lot captive, you may recall. He won the battle, returned
to the spoils of victory, and the Bible says: "He praised
God for winning the battle, "and he gave Him tithes of
all", Genesis 14 and Verse 20. That is, he gave a
10th of the spoils to the King of
Salem, Melchizedek. And then we read of a
similar incident in the life of Abram's grandson Jacob
over in Genesis Chapter 28. You may recall when he
spent the night at Haran, making himself a
pallet out of stones. He had that famous dream
that we call Jacob's Ladder, and he saw a ladder
let down out of Heaven, with angels climbing
up and down the ladder. The Lord spoke from Heaven, and confirmed the Abrahamic
Covenant to Jacob, that he would possess the
land where he was sleeping, and that his
numerous descendants would be favored and
protected by God. When Jacob awoke from
that dream in amazement, the Bible says that he
vowed to be faithful to God, and in Verse 22 he said: "And this stone which
I have set for a pillar "shall be God's house, and of
all that Thou shalt give me "I will surely give
the 10th unto Thee." So, he, too, promised
to give God a tithe, or 10th, of his property in
response to God's blessing him. Now, both of these instances, as far as we can tell from
Scripture, were voluntary. There is no record
of where either man was commanded by God
to tithe, but, rather, this was simply their own
response to God's goodness and provision in their lives. But now, hundreds
of years later, when the Law of Moses was
given to the Israelites, it became a different matter. We don't find any command
in the Bible to tithe under the Patriarchal
Age, but we do when we get to Leviticus Chapter 27 and
when the Law was in effect. In Verses 30 through
32, the Lord there said: "And all the tithe of the
land, whether of the seed "of the land or of the fruit
of the tree, is the Lord's. "It is holy unto the Lord. "And if a man will at all
redeem out of his tithes, "he shall add thereto
the fifth part thereof. "And concerning the tithe
of the herd or the flock, "even whatsoever
passeth under the rod, "the 10th", or tithe, "shall
be holy unto the Lord." Now, under the Law God
required tithes of His people in addition to various offerings that they were commanded
to give at certain times. There're actually
three different tithes imposed upon the Hebrews,
and all three of them consisted of a 10th portion
of their crops and animals. There was, number one,
the Levitical tithe. That tithe was collected
for the Tribe of Levi to support the priests. We read about that over
in Numbers Chapter 18, Verses 21 to 24. And then, number two,
there was the festive tithe that was to be
saved back and eaten by the giver of the tithe
along with his household and along with the Levites. And then, number three,
there was a tithe given every three
years for the poor. Now, all of these tithes
consisted of food. Apart from this third tithe, all of the tithes had to be
taken to Jerusalem and offered. And the tithes were stored
there in the Temple. This was not like a
collection of money. They actually brought a 10th
of the fruit of the land and of their herds to Jerusalem, and it was given to the priests. Now, like other
aspects of the law, the people weren't
always consistent to obey the
commandment of tithe, and the spiritual
state of the nation was sometimes reflected
by whether or not they were tithing
like the law required. During the reforms of
Hezekiah that're outlined in 2nd Chronicles Chapter 31, the king ordered the people
to begin tithing again so that the priests and
Levites could devote themselves to the work of the Lord. They were once again
commanded to come to Jerusalem in order to offer their tithe. So tithing was, again,
not a collection that was taken up
in various places; it was given at a specific
time in a specific place in Jerusalem: at the
site of the temple. When the monarchy
was established, the Israelites had
to give another 10th to support their new government, according to 1st Samuel Chapter
Eight, Verses 15 through 17. The Jews were also to
leave their land idle one year out of every seven, and they were to
forgive all their debts every 50 years during what was
called the year of jubilee. They were also to leave
the corners of their fields for the poor to come
and glean from them. And besides all of that,
they regularly offered their livestock for
special sacrifices ordered under the law. So it wasn't just tithing. When you add up what the
Israelites were required to give at various times, you
can figure as much as half of everything that
belonged to a faithful Jew ended up, in one way or
another, being returned to God. So, what does that
mean for us today? Are all of those laws
applicable to the Christian? Specifically, what
about tithing? Surely we can see that
offerings for the purpose of all of the sacrifices
offered under the law, they have no literal
application to us today. We don't offer animal
sacrifices to the Lord. Jesus is our sacrifice. But still yet,
what about tithing? Well, contrary to what
many preachers want you to believe today,
there is no commandment in the New Testament
for Christians to tithe. Tithing before the Law
of Moses was voluntary, and the law that later
commanded tithing was nailed to the cross
and taken outta the way. Colossians Chapter
Two, Verse 14 says: "Blotting out the
handwriting of ordinances "that was against us,
which was contrary to us, "and took it outta the way,
nailing it to His cross." Romans Three and Verse 28: "Therefore we conclude that
a man is justified by faith "without the deeds of the law." Also, if tithing, as commanded
under the Old Testament, is binding upon
Christians today, which of the three
tithes are we to offer? Why wouldn't the
procedures and stipulations of the Levitical
tithe, for example, be required of us, as well? Such as farmers bringing
their produce and livestock to Jerusalem to
offer the priests? But, you see, there is
no temple in Jerusalem, and there are no
Levitical priests. That was all done
away in Christ. Now, there're several objections
that are usually raised, including this one which comes
from Hebrews Chapter Seven. There, the Hebrew
writer makes reference to Abram paying
tithes to Melchizedek when he returned from war. In Verse Four there
the Bible says: "Now, consider how
great this man was, "under whom even the
patriarch Abraham "gave the 10th of the spoils." So it's argued that
Abraham here is presented as a type of the
Christian today, and Melchizedek is a
type of Jesus Christ, our King and our High Priest, and so the Hebrew writer
is showing us, supposedly, that Christians should
give tithes to Jesus today just as Abraham
tithed to Melchizedek. But that's not the point the
writer is making, at all. He wasn't proving
that Christians are
required to tithe, because the tithe that
Abram gave to Melchizedek was voluntary. Then one may say: "But
Abram's tithe was given "before the Law of Moses,
and so that would mean "that tithing transcends
the Mosaic Law "and applies to
believers in every age." Well, again, Abram's tithe
was, first of all, voluntarily, but not only that,
the law of Christ that we have in
the New Testament includes many of the same
principles and commands as were in place in
former dispensations. They're restated by
Christ and His Apostles, and therefore they
become a part of His Law. But, yet, there is no
commandment or example of New-Testament Christians
tithing or being told to tithe to the church or
preachers or anybody else. "Oh", but one may say, "what
about Matthew 23, Verse 23?" That's where Jesus condemned
the scribes and pharisees, and called them hypocrites. He said: "For ye pay tithe
of mint and anise and cumin, "and have omitted the
weightier matters of the law: "judgment, mercy, and faith;
these ought you to have done "and not to leave
the other undone." You see, they were paying
tithes in Jesus' day, and Jesus is saying,
you should pay tithes, plus you should attend primarily
to the weightier matters, or first to the weightier
matters of the Law. Yes, they were paying tithes, and Jesus did commend
them paying tithes, but they were also
pharisees making an attempt to keep the Law of Moses, and they were still living
under that dispensation. They were not living
under the New Covenant. That didn't go into
effect until Christ died. But then, what about Matthew
Chapter Five and Verse 20, where Jesus said: "For I
say unto you that except "your righteousness shall
exceed the righteousness "of the scribes and pharisees, "ye shall in no case enter
into the Kingdom of Heaven." So, some argued that
since the pharisees tithed that we're required
to tithe and then some if we want to be saved. But now, that's a
gross misunderstanding and misapplication of
this particular text. Surely, Jesus is not saying that unless we are
more successful at keeping the Law of Moses
than the pharisees were, then we cannot be saved. The Bible teaches that we're
not to keep the Law of Moses. We've been freed from that Law. Because, again, Paul said:
"By the keeping of the Law "no flesh will be justified",
Romans Three and Verse 20. Now, the Pharisees were
trying to justify themselves through their own standard
of so-called righteousness. In Romans Chapter 10 and
Verse Three Paul later spoke of how the Jews, being ignorant
of God's righteousness, and going about to establish
their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. The fact is, the
righteousness of the pharisees was a self-righteousness and their attempt at
self-justification. Jesus, you see, brought
a different system of righteousness into the world, and that's God's
system of justification
through the Gospel, and without that
kind of righteousness no person can enter
into the kingdom. That's really the point
of what Jesus was saying in the sermon on the mount. And then some will say: "But
God blesses those who tithe, "and He curses those who don't, "according to Malachi
the Third Chapter." Well, let's go back to that
text, Verses Eight through 10. If you read those verses, God
says to put Him to the test. And if you bring
tithes to the temple, He will open the
windows of Heaven, and give more than
we have room for. But He says we are cursed
if we rob God of His tithes. Friend, the context clearly
shows that God is dealing with the sins of the
Jews as a nation here. Look at it in Verse Nine. He says: "Ye are
cursed with a curse, "for ye have robbed me,
even this whole nation." What nation? The Jews, Israel. He says in Verse 10:
"Bring ye all the tithes "into the storehouse." That's a reference to the temple and the place built there
to store their tithes of grain and produce
and so forth. The rest of the context
shows the same thing. So, Christians today are
not cursed for not tithing. This particular
warning and admonition given in the Book of Malachi
was written unto wayward Jews, God's people who were failing
to keep the covenant with God. But now, don't get the idea that this lets
Christians off the hook. To say that Christians
are not expected to tithe is not the same thing as saying that Christians are
not expected to give. God does not include
tithing in the New Covenant, but He did, in a similar manner, provide for the work of
His Kingdom to be funded by the generous giving
of members of His church. There is one and only
one requirement outlined in the New Testament
concerning how and when Christians are to give to
the work of the kingdom. In 1st Corinthians Chapter
16, Verses One and Two Paul there wrote: "Now,
concerning the collection "for the saints, as
I have given order "to the churches of
Galatia, even so do ye. "Upon the first day of the
week let every one of you "lay by him in store as
God hath prospered him, "that there be no
gatherings when I come." Now, there were needs that
arose among the churches from time to time, due
to famines and so forth. In this case, the poor
saints in Jerusalem were in great distress, and
Paul orders the churches to come to the aid of these
faithful members at Jerusalem by sending money from their
treasury that they had saved up, sending money from that to them. How was this treasury
built up and maintained? He said, upon the
first day of the week, each one, each Christian,
was to set aside a portion of his income, and
it was to be treasured up by each local church so that
it would be ready and available so that no gatherings
would have to take place at the time of need. He's saying more than just
set aside a little money in yo home and have it ready. He says, you lay by and store,
and you do in such a way that there are no gatherings
when Paul came there. And so, that tells us
that the church kept a treasury of these offerings
that their members brought upon the first day of the week. Just as the churches
used this treasury to aid destitute saints,
they also, as congregations, supported those who dedicated
themselves to the ministry. Paul wrote in Philippians
Chapter Four and Verse 15: "Ye Philippians know also that "in the beginning of the gospel, "when I departed from Macedonia,
no church communicated "with me as concerning giving
and receiving but ye only." Other words, Paul
took wages from them. He took financial
assistance from them in his work in the Gospel. He took wages from various
churches to support him while he was working among
the church at Corinth, according to 2nd Corinthians
Chapter 11 and Verse Eight, where he said: "I
robbed other churches, "taking wages of them
to do you service." He said over in 1st
Corinthians the Ninth Chapter, down beginning in Verse 13: "Do ye not know that they which
minister about holy things "live the things of the temple?" There he's referring
to the system that God had under
the Old Covenant. He said: "And they which
weighed at the altar "are partakers with the altar. "Even so hath the
Lord ordained." Now, there's a difference. He said: "Even so hath
the Lord ordained, "that they which
preach the Gospel "should live of the Gospel." In other words, as the tithe
supported the Levitical priests so the offering that
Christians give on Sunday, that's used to support
those who preach the Gospel; but now, the latter is not
the same as the former, and you'll find the
difference in 2nd Corinthians Chapter Nine, beginning
in the Sixth Verse. Here Paul says: "But this I say, "he which soweth sparingly
shall reap also sparingly, "and he which sowith bountifully "shall reap also bountifully." Verse Seven: "Every man
according as he hath purposed "in his heart, so let him give, "not grudgingly or of necessity, "for God loveth a
cheerful giver." In other words, this offering
is to be given by Christians, and it's not a compulsory
amount like the tithe; it is as the believer
purposes in his heart. He is to give liberally and
cheerfully, not by compulsion. While I don't believe
tithing is in any way a part of the
New-Testament church, giving every first day
of the week certainly is. And it's hard for me to
imagine that if the Jew, who lived under law, gave
up to half of his income in compulsory tithes and
offerings, that a Christian, benefited by the grace of
God shown in Jesus Christ, can just throw a few
dollars in the plate that require no sacrifice
and no real forethought and planning, and say
that he has offered God and shown proper zeal and
concern for the Kingdom of God. We need to be generous with
what God has blessed us with. We need to sow
things of the spirit as opposed to
things of the flesh, Galatians Chapter
Six and Verse Eight, if we wanna reap accordingly. Can you imagine how the
Kingdom of God could advance if every member of every local
church gave the first portion of his or her income
back to God's service? Now, with that said, I
want to point this out. In over 20 years of
preaching on television, I have never appealed to a
single viewer of this broadcast to give one dime to
me, to the broadcast, or to the church I
represent, and I never will. We are not interested in
your money, dear friend; we're interested in your soul. If you are a Christian, a
member of Christ's church, where you need to be giving, it's not the television
ministries, quote, unquote, you need to be giving
to your local church every first day of the week
because that is the Lord's way for providing for the
needs of His work. This broadcast is paid for
in full by the local church and not our viewers because
that's the Scriptural way of funding the Lord's work. We don't hold rummage sales,
bake sales, cake walks, and all manner of
other fundraisers because that's not what
the Lord told us to do. We support the work
of each local church by each church taking
a collection on Sunday from its own members
to be used in the work that God has prescribed for
the local church to carry out. That's the Lord's simple plan. Upon the first day of
the week lay by in store, and do so as each one
purposes in his heart. Do it liberally;
do it cheerfully. That's God's plan for
giving in this age of time. Saying in first Thessalonians
two in verse five that he didn't use flattering words
nor a cloak of covetousness. But yet, preachers
week after week come into our living
rooms with their hand out. We don't expect you
to fund our ministry, or to pay to hear the gospel. Therefore Let the Bible
Speak is different. This program is brought to
you by a local congregation of the Church of Christ
in your community who simply wanna
reach out and spread the truth of New
Testament Christianity. We thank you for watching
Let the Bible Speak, and we hope that you'll
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Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Thanks for those good
questions, David, and I hope that our answers
from the Word of God have given you some
insight into the subject. If you have a question
you would like for us to answer here on
Let the Bible Speak, we'll be happy to
try to get to that. Just email me at
Kevin@LetTheBibleSpeak.TV, and we will try to, again, get to that in a
future broadcast. If you would like a transcript
of what we studied today, simple get in touch with
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website: LetTheBibleSpeak.TV. Appreciate you joining me today. I hope you'll make plans, if
the Lord wills, to join me back here next time for
another study of God's Word. In the meantime, I
hope you'll visit a congregation of the
Church of Christ near you. Plan to see me back next
time for another study. Until then, may
the Lord bless you.
