![]() ![]() On one occasion after a victory in battle, Abraham tithed the spoils from that battle, but nothing is said regarding his other possessions or his regular income (Gen. If you examine the references to Abraham’s and Jacob’s tithing, you will see that God did not command them to tithe and there is no indication that this was their regular practice. But there are other practices, such as circumcision and sabbath-keeping which pre-date the Law and yet are not binding on us. If the New Testament gave no further guidelines, that might be a valid point. Thus tithing supersedes the law, they argue. Those who argue for tithing point out that Abraham and Jacob both tithed prior to the Mosaic law (Gen. But the church is never commanded to tithe. Those aspects of the Mosaic law that reflect the moral character of God are valid under the New Covenant and are repeated as commands in the New Testament. That does not mean that we are lawless, because we are under the law of Christ (1 Cor. Romans, Galatians, and other New Testament passages make it clear that Christians are not under the law of Moses. Tithing was a part of the law of Moses believers are not under the law. But consider these seven reasons why tithing is not God’s standard for Christians: A. (3) Tithing helps consistency and discipline in giving. (2) Tithing gets some to increase what they give. One pastor in a church near me in California preached that if his people weren’t giving ten percent to that church, they were in sin and needed to go home and repent!īefore I critique this view, let me point out that there are some commendable points regarding tithing: (1) Those who tithe are often acting in obedience to what they believe God has commanded. Many churches promote a concept called “storehouse” tithing, based on Malachi 3:10, where God tells Israel to “bring the whole tithe into the storehouse.” They teach that the local church is the storehouse, the tithe belongs to God, and His blessing is conditioned upon faithfulness in tithing. Tithing is not the New Testament standard for giving. But what does generosity mean? Isn’t giving 10 percent of my income to the Lord’s work being generous? If not 10 percent, how much should I give? 1. The Bible teaches that God, who richly has supplied us with all good things, wants us “to be generous and ready to share” (1 Tim. As God’s people who are to be like Jesus, we are to be generous givers. “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich” (2 Cor. Our God is a generous, giving God who so loved the world that He gave that most precious gift, His only begotten Son. We should not tithe because God wants us to give generously, and tithing is the bare minimum. ![]() Then I made the mistake of preaching on giving! I discovered that God’s Word teaches that. I used to give ten percent and thought I was doing fine. You can fake some things, but you can’t fake giving your money! You may get mad at me, but I’m going to give it to you straight: If you give ten percent or less of your income to the Lord’s work, in most cases it reflects a lukewarm heart toward God. Perhaps more than any other factor, giving reflects the condition of our hearts: “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matt. ![]() The answer is that tithing is not the New Testament standard for giving. It’s probably suicidal for a pastor to preach on why you should not tithe! It’s risky at best, because some may hear the part about not tithing and block out the rest of the message! I would guess that if everyone who came regularly to this church gave ten percent to the church, our income would probably triple, at least! So why am I not preaching instead on why you should tithe? “It’s just one clear-cut statement after another” (Morrie Brickman, Reader’s Digest ). “He’s right, Senator,” chimed in another aide. “It would be political suicide to give that speech,” said an aide to his boss. ![]()
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