Quick growth isn't everyday life

I remember a time when my daughter Noelle was going through a slow time of physical growth. For a long time - it seemed like months and months - she would stand in front of me, and the top of her head was exactly as high as my belly button. We had a lot of fun joking around about that! But then before I knew it, time went by and one day she stood next to me and she was over an inch higher than my belly button! To me, this growth spurt was too sudden. Where'd my little girl go!

I've often talked of the growth process in the Christian life as "slow." Growing into maturity, as well as growing in maturity (the same difference between growing into an adult and growing as an adult) is by no means a fast process - and that's a good thing!

Of course, just as a child goes through various growth spurts on the way to adulthood, Christians also have their own growth spurts on their way to maturity (and again, in maturity as well). Those times are often fun and exciting, full of unexpected but welcomed revelations and sudden fulfillment of things we've been hoping and waiting for, as well as the lifting of the heavy weights of the illusions that we were living under that weren't really reality.

But yet isn't most of our growth slow? When we stand next to God, isn't it often months and months - and even longer much of the time - that we're staring straight into His belly button, wondering when we're ever going to grow that extra inch taller? Yes, we're impatient people! But God's never impatient. As I've grown in grace, I've shed my image of Him as someone who's in a hurry with us. I think we put the pressure of hurried growth on ourselves.

We remember some of the growth spurts that we've been through, with all of the awesome-ness that went along with it, and we wonder why it's not always like that. We think of how great it will be when we "finally" trust Him fully and absolutely with all that's in us, and we feel disappointed that we're not there now. We desperately want to grow into maturity - without realizing it can only come in a series of seasons, not instantaneously. We lack contentment in the Lord's work in us now - because it doesn't fit the illusion we've created!

Don't all little kids play "grown up" at some time or another. And don't all teenagers long for the "freedom" of adulthood. But what kid can truly live life as an adult? And as for teenagers - don't they really want the best of both worlds? They want to be adults but yet they want to remain childish. Again, adulthood - maturity - comes in God's well-planned and executed seasons. He's good with all that. :)

And as for the mature - when they're truly mature, isn't it that they realize that all they needed to be was a child?

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I know you've got loads and loads of time to read my past posts... LOL... but just in case you're interested, here are a few related posts.

Microwave Christianity
Slow-cooking together
Slow cooker or Microwave?
What's the Hurry?
Slow
What's the rush?

I am the Resurrection and the Life...

...He who believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.

Got to admit, this one sends shivers up and down my spine (cheesy "voice of Jesus" aside). :)

Carman - Lazarus

Satan, Bite the Dust

All right, all right... I know this video is somewhat cheesy and not necessarily scripturally solid in all points (at least in my opinion)... but it's nevertheless inspiring to me in a few ways, if for no other reason than the overall picture is the defeat of the devil, our identity in Christ and the victory in Him that we can confidently live by.

Not to mention, this is truly a Christian "classic." :)

Carman - Satan, Bite the Dust

They that wait upon the Lord... ;)

A woman who loved donuts was trying to lose weight, so she stopped going to the donut store every morning. However, she still had to drive by the store on the way to work every day.

One day, the store owner began displaying donuts in the window as a way to try to lure people into his store. The woman drove by and was tempted to go in.

She decided the best thing to do would be to pray. "Lord if it's your will for me to go into the donut store and have a donut, let there be a parking spot open right in front of the store."

Well, sure enough there was a parking spot open right in front of the store. And, bless God, she only had to drive around the parking lot eight times for that to happen!

=)

Hold Fast the Confession of Our Hope

Latest Growing in Grace program is available for download. This week my discussion with Mike is based upon these encouraging words from Hebrews 10:19-24.

Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

We're not talking about the continuous confession of sins here! We're talking about the one confession that we have already made - the confession of Christ (See Rom 10:9-10) through which we have been saved. None of it is based upon anything we've done or not done. It's not based upon our faithfulness our faithlessness. It's all based upon the promise of the One who is faithful.

gigcast.graceroots.org

Fear and Trembling - Not "afraid"

After Adam and Eve were created, they walked in freedom with God. They had no reason to be afraid of God. I imagine that at first they walked in reverential awe and wonder of this God who had created them in His image and was near to them and had given them Life and freedom in paradise. However, immediately after the Fall, they suddenly became afraid of God. God called out to Adam, and Adam replied, "I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself" (Gen 3:10). Again, before that, Adam had never known "fear" (being afraid of God). I doubt that he had ever previously had the slightest inkling of hiding from God.

In Christ, it's made clear that we've been brought near to God by the blood of Jesus (Eph 2:13). He Himself is our peace (Eph 2:14). "Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (see Rom 5:1-5). There is no reason to be afraid of the One with whom you have peace!

And yet I've seen verses such as Philippians 2:12-13 being greatly distorted by those who have preached it. "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure."

For one thing, from what I understand, "your own salvation" is in the plural sense, as in, "you Philippians as a whole, as a body, as a church, this is something you do together." And with the phrase "work out" added in, the phrase becomes even more widely misconstrued in the church today. In the chapter, Paul is talking about the church being of one accord, having the same mind that Christ had - humbling Himself, making Himself of no reputation, etc. As saved people (not by works, but by grace through faith), they were to, as a body, work out (not work "for") what was already in them in the form of loving and serving one another in humility.  In other words, let there be an outward working (an outward showing) of the inward mind of Christ, through humility and love towards one another.

And they were to do it with fear and trembling. Does that mean "being afraid?" They had peace with God, not enmity. No reason to be afraid. They were to be of one accord with one another, not afraid of each other! With awe and reverence, love and humility - towards God and towards each other - they were to live out this salvation that had been freely given to them. And the last part of the verse is so huge as to how this all works out: "for it is God who works in you to will and to do for His good pleasure." The "working out" of our salvation is really God's work in us!

"There is no fear in love [agape]; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment." (1 John 4:18). The "afraid" kind of fear that Adam had is in diametric opposition to the "awe and reverence" kind of fear that we have in our lives in Christ. God loves us; we love Him. Jesus humbled Himself in order to give us His life. He didn't come to punish us, condemn us or torment us, but to give us perfect agape love. Our salvation is lived out, not from a position of being afraid of God, but from a position of humility, honor, awe and respect for the God who loves us and has given us His life in place of our own.

Keep all the rules, still lose

Gal 3:19-25
19 What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. 20 Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one.

21 Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. 22 But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 23 But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. 24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.

Imagine a person was able to keep all the rules - to follow God's laws fully and completely - always, without failing once. A perfect law-keeping record. That's impossible, of course, but even it really did happen this person would still be far, far away from God because there is no Life in the law. In fact, in order to have Life, we had to die to the law. Unless a person dies to the law, he or she cannot be raised to Life with Christ.

Rom 8:2-3
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus [true Life] has made me free from the law of sin and death [God's laws]. 3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin...

"Weak through the flesh" doesn't mean that we were weak because of all our bad deeds. It means that even in the best of the best of our own righteousness (the ability of our flesh), we were still dead. We were weak and fell short of God's glory (and Life).

What we needed was the gift of Life, not law.

The answer is always B - 9/26/08 - "The Gospel and Righteousness"

It's been a while since I've done one of these ever-so-difficult multiple-choice pop quizzes.

What is the correct wording of Romans 1:16-17?

A. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, especially for those who try harder to live right. For in it man's righteousness becomes even better; as it is written, "The just shall live by trying to be just."

B. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."

C. Is Billy Joel Keeping the Faith? ;)

Deep calls to deep

Psalm 42:7-8
Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls;
All Your waves and billows have gone over me.
The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime,
And in the night His song shall be with me —
A prayer to the God of my life.

Margaret Becker - Deep Calling Deep

Screen door on a submarine - about as useful as Law in the life of a Christian

One of Rich Mullins' early songs spoke about faith without works being about as useful as a screen door on a submarine. I see what he was trying to say... "faith without works is dead..." and on the one hand I can easily accept his analogy, but on the other hand I'll just say that I've spent too much time over-analyzing the analogy. :)

However, no matter what the worth of the analogy, I've been ministered to greatly by the life of Rich Mullins and there are many, many of his quotes that I love, and I shared some a year ago on the tenth anniversary of his death. If you've not followed this blog for that long (or even if you have, and have already seen these), I highly recommend checking out these two posts: Rich quotes and More Rich quotes. (Even a year later, I welcome your comments there if you have any).

What I really wanted to get at here was a different use for the phrase "screen door on a submarine." Law in the life of a Christian is about as useful as a screen door on a submarine. I suppose you could spend some time analyzing that statement, and you're free to do so! :)

But if, as Christians, we had to die to the law in order to be married to Another - that is, Christ - and in Him we are now alive with real life (which the law could never produce) and we are now a solid, leak proof "submarine" - because in Him and Him alone we bear fruit to God and we are complete and we have Life, and we are new creations with spirits that are joined together with His, not by works or law, but by grace alone - then why would we try to add anything to this, especially the ministry of death and condemnation that we had to die to in order to be joined to Christ???

It's the ministry and life of the Spirit that brought us to life, saving us from death and condemnation, and it's the ministry of the Spirit that keeps us. The law could do nothing to save us and the law can do nothing to bring us to maturity in Christ. Isn't it all the work of the Spirit?


FWIW: Screen Door On A Submarine - live

Law in the life of a Christian makes about as much sense as...

Law in the life of a Christian makes about as much sense as this poem we used to say when I was a schoolboy in England years ago. It went something like this...

One fine day in the middle of the night
A fire broke out in the ocean
A blind man saw it, a deaf man heard it
And a man with no legs ran to get the fire brigade
Who arrived as fast as a funeral
And ran over two dead cats and nearly killed them.

=)

Peace With God - He Isn't Angry With You

Latest Growing in Grace program is available for download.

gigcast.graceroots.org

Do our "scripts" really work? (There's got to be more to life)

Came across this from Kent at Faithfully Dangerous. Kent quotes from theologian Walter Brueggemann, who is a friend of my dad's from college and seminary (50+ years ago) and is also my brother's godfather. I've only met Brueggemann once, and was too young at the time to appreciate any of his wisdom. ;) However, nowadays I've had some neat revelations as I've read bits and pieces of his work.

In the quote from the above linked-to blog post, Brueggemann says:

"Everybody has a script. People live their lives by a script that is sometimes explicit but often implicit. That script may be one of the great meta-narratives created by Karl Marx or Adam Smith or it may be an unrecognized tribal mantra like, 'My dad always said...' The practice of the script evokes a self, yields a sense of purpose and provides security..."

"...The dominant script of both selves and communities in our society, for both liberals and conservatives, is the script of therapeutic, technological, consumerist militarism that permeates every dimension of our common life" (emphasis mine).

(To see what Brueggemann means by "therapeutic," "technological," "consumerist" and "militarism," please see the entire post. It'll be well worth your time).

Isn't it true that we all essentially have a 'script' that we live by? In various ways, in our minds and hearts, we've all "written" the script as to how we live our lives moment by moment. I want to take a look at one of the angles from which many people seem to write their scripts. I think for many of us (human beings in general, unfortunately including Christians), our script generally involves how to make ourselves happy --- doesn't it? We live a certain way, trying to do all we can to make sure that we're always comfortable and happy. We want the "new and improved" version of a product. We want a huge TV screen so we can watch all our fantasies (TV characters, plots, sports teams, etc.) in larger than life high def. (Don't we even live vicariously through all these things?).

We desire to be wealthy, thinking we'll finally find fulfillment and happiness if we just have all the stuff we 'need.' (In fact, aren't most of us in the western world already wealthy, but since we can't have all we want we consider ourselves poor?). We even think perfect health will finally bring about the end of our pursuit of the best life possible. We try to keep up with the Jones'. We're always wanting more; we're always looking for the next temporary high to satisfy us.* We want our church and friends and family members to be all that we want them to be so that we don't have to be too uncomfortable. We even try to make God out to be what we want Him to be, whether that's on the legalistic, controlling end of the spectrum or on the spectrum that makes Him a God who simply wants us to be comfortable and cozy all the time.

Everybody's script is tweaked a little differently, but the point is, don't we all have our own scripts? And the bigger question... do our scripts really work?

What if we were to let go of our scripts - the way we think things should be, and the way we live to make things to be the way we think they should be - and instead follow Jesus' words to "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." What if life weren't about the pursuit of happiness, but rather, through some other means - a Person - we found true Life and Freedom?

Wouldn't we find true freedom? Real, genuine, God-supplied Life and Freedom?

I don't mean to imply that releasing ourselves from our "scripts" is an overnight process - not by any means! We've worked so hard to write them! ;) But slowly and by God's grace, can we get to know this Person and find Life in Him, and in Him alone? In fact, we already do have Life in Him. We are complete in Him. As we go through the process of being released from our scripts can we also at the same time allow Him to release the person who He's truly created us to be, out into the wild, free, dangerous, abundant life that He's created for us to live? (Not always "comfortable," not always "happy," but always fulfilling and free and filled with love).


*I thought this video went along with this post somewhat.
Stacie Orrico - More To Life

Church authority :)

Saw this over at A Former Leader's Journey. :) (Click pic for better image).

Nothing's missing...

A little bit over a year ago I posted a video of the song "I Want To Know What Love Is," as performed live by two members of Foreigner, Lou Gramm and Mick Jones. Don't we all really want to know what love is? And of course we find the answer fully and completely in the God who loves us and created us and gave Himself fully to us.

The following song gives me a sense of the love of Jesus all over me. Was it originally recorded for that reason? Probably not. :) But that's what I get out of it. Anyway, I know that love is much more than just a sense or a feeling, but that doesn't mean you can't sense it or feel it. And I think part of the essence of God's love comes out in a couple of places in the song where Sammy Hagar sings passionately, "When it's love.... NOTHING'S MISSING..."

Also, I like the chorus:
How do I know when it's love?
I can't tell you but it lasts forever
How do I feel when it's love?
It's just something you feel together

(See all the lyrics here).

Van Halen - When It's Love

What can you do, you're in a stew...

And now --- going way into another dimension completely! Here's some... weirdness... from the early 80's! A one hit wonder. (I wonder why?)

Total Coelo - I Eat Cannibals

Short Post-Script to The Tithe series

I just wanted to thank anyone and everyone for taking some time to read any or all of this series, "Freed from Tithing, Free to Give," as well as for the conversations in the comments. As you can tell, it's a topic that interests me greatly.

Over the years, I've been in many conversations with people about tithing, both face-to-face and online, and I simply know for a fact that many people are not "free" in regards to the topic of tithing/giving. Also, after having dug into the scriptures time after time on this issue, I know that the truth about "tithing" is not what is taught in churches today. Much of this is due to what I would quite frankly call careless and irresponsible teachings in the church today, in which the topic of tithing is generally taught out of a common series of scriptures that have been taken grossly out of context.

My aim here has been to dig into all of those scriptures and shine light on them in their contexts. Also, since I know that my conversations with people about tithing are far from over in this life, I've also looked at this as an opportunity for me to get all my thoughts down so that I have a more easily available reference as I discuss this with others in the future!

Thanks again, and go be a grace giver!

Freed from Tithing, Free to Give - Part 10

In Christ we are fully God's. The blood of Jesus has brought us near to Him (Eph 2:13), and we are in Him (1 Cor 1:30), He is in us (Col 1:27) and He is our life (Col 3:4)! The Apostle Paul said, "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else... 'For in Him we live and move and have our being.'" (Acts 17:24-25, 28). We don't give because God needs us to give or compels us to give. We give because God has freely given us all things and because we are wholly His.

When it comes to giving, I like to consider the life of the Apostle Paul, who is easily nominated as one of the hardest gospel workers of all time. He didn't preach that the people should provide for him! At various times people willingly took up collections for him and even gave sacrificially, but it was never because he preached "the principle of giving." It was simply because they wanted to. In 2 Cor 12:14 he was talking about coming to visit them in Corinth and he said, "I will not be a burden to you, because what I want is not your possessions, but you. After all, children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children."

Paul's words to the Philippians were of the same spirit. In Philippians 4 he was commending them for how they had provided for him unlike any other church had done. And here's what he said, "Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account." He was happy about the things they had sent him (it's not bad that they gave to him!), but what he was really happy about was that their gift to him was "a sweet-smelling aroma, and acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God." It was selfless, and not given under compulsion but out of love, from their hearts. Paul adds, "And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Why will God do that? In return for their giving to Paul? NO! It's simply because that's who God is! He makes all grace abound toward people, that they, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.

It seems that almost all of the teachings I've heard in my life in the church have been based on a "duty" or "obligation" to be a generous giver. But true, generous Christian giving is done from a heart of love. You can't force or oblige love to do something. True love does everything freely. The bottom line for me is that we give by grace, just as we live the whole of our lives in Christ by grace! "Tithing" and "grace-giving" are very different things. In Christ, we are grace-givers. He doesn't want our "tithes." Giving by grace, as with the entirety of our lives being lived by grace, involves trusting in a Father who is full of grace and provision, who is never lacking in anything and who cares tremendously for us and loves us with a never-ending love!

Part 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Freed from Tithing, Free to Give - Part 9

Giving is a most wonderful part of the Christian life. It's not meant to be a "teeth pulling" experience, but rather something that is done joyfully and with grace. As the Apostle Paul said, "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" (2 Cor 9:7-9). A person who gives cheerfully from their heart doesn't give so they will get something in return, nor does that person give because some law or some church rule tells them they have to give. Giving should never be done according to a rigidly set method or principle. Giving cheerfully as we decide in our hearts to give - what a freeing way to give!

The church of today seems to put a heavy emphasis on two things in particular: financial giving and giving to a church. And you know what? Giving to a church is fine, as long as all the people who give "to" that church have decided in their hearts that that's what they want to do. However, when the church leaders teach giving as a "must," or worse yet, when they teach "tithing" ten percent of their income to the church, then they've moved completely out of Christ-land and into a doctrine that is not of the New Covenant. (I hope this series has done a sufficient job of establishing that fact!).

Everybody's financial circumstances are different! Some people have careers that provide a 'healthy' living for them and it may be quite easy for them to give liberally and freely. Other people work two or three jobs and barely scrape by, even in the necessities of life. For them, giving even a small amount may mean missing their next meal. Some people have small families with only a few mouths to feed and bodies to clothe, and other people have huge families that cost a lot more money to provide for. The circumstances are wide and varied. There simply can't be a "set amount" that should be expected of anyone. In many cases, instead of a church asking all the people to give money to them, shouldn't the more prosperous people of the church instead be reaching out and giving to those who are in greater need? Again, we're a body, and all the members minister to one another, each according to how God has fitted them within the body.

Often the very best things that we can do in our lives in Christ is to give of ourselves to other people in all kinds of ways that aren't financial. This can be in the context of "a church" or in can be in the context of any of our relationships with other people! The church of today has unfortunately seemingly become a financial institution (!) with everything revolving around how much money people give. That said, I do want to also highlight that there truly are legitimate ministries, church programs, etc, that are dependent upon the generous financial giving of others, and if our hearts lead us to give financially, then let's give as generously as we can!

But the point here is that we can all give of ourselves according to what God has given us individually, whether it be finances, talents, time, service, friendship, food, hugs, mercy, love, or in a million other ways. Think about the ways in which you are able to give to others that have nothing (or little) to do with money and nothing (or little) to do with "a church." ALL of it is legitimate Christian giving! God said that His grace would abound toward us so that we would always have an abundance for every good work. Why do we always interpret that as referring to finances and churches?

One more post to go! I realize this has been a long series, but I sort of wanted to do a "once for all" series on the tithe. While I think I've covered a lot of bases in this series, it's never really complete, but I think for the most part I've touched on some of the more common issues involving tithing and giving.

Part 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Mr. Likes To Make Change In The Offering Plate Guy

With regards, sent to me from Alvin via email. :) This had to fit somewhere this series on the tithe.

Freed from Tithing, Free to Give - Part 8

The New Covenant is not a continuation of the Old Covenant, nor is it related to the Old Covenant in any way. The Old Covenant was weak and unprofitable (Hebrews 7:18) because it could make nothing perfect, and therefore a New Covenant was needed that was completely different than the Old Covenant. The Old Covenant had many high priests who had to offer sacrifices often for their own sins and for the sins of the people, but in the New Covenant we have One High Priest, "who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens" (Hebrews 7:26) and who offered Himself up "once for all" (Hebrews 7:27).

In this series we've talked about the Levite tribe and priests who received the tithes that their fellow Jews from the other eleven tribes brought to support them. The New Covenant is a matter of a completely different Priesthood. There is no such thing as a set-apart "tribe" or group of Christian "priests" who are sanctioned to perform sacrifices or offerings or other duties that are a part of the covenant. In this covenant, ALL of the work has been done by One High Priest, Jesus. Please understand that the duties and functions of the Old Covenant priests were not carried over into the New Covenant in any way, shape or form. Why? Because it was all done away with (annulled - Heb 7:18, made obsolete - Heb 8:13) and the work of the New Covenant was all fulfilled (nothing left undone) in the finished work of Jesus.

In this New Covenant, ALL Christians are a new breed of priests. We are not a physical priesthood, but rather we are "a spiritual house, a holy priesthood" (1 Peter 2:5). We don't offer up physical sacrifices to God, but rather "spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" (also 1 Peter 2:5). We are "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people..." (1 Peter 2:9).

In the New Covenant there is no "tabernacle" nor "storehouse," nor anything that resembles them. Please don't tell me a church building is a modern day equivalent to the Old Covenant tabernacle! "The church" is not a place. It's not a building nor a location. It's true that local bodies of Christians gather together to meet in buildings, but these buildings are not tabernacles, and they are not storehouses and they are not "the house of God." The "house of God" is the people in whom He dwells. It is a spiritual house, not a physical house (see Eph 2:19-22). Again, we are a royal, spiritual priesthood.

This royal priesthood is one body. This one body of new-creation priests (including you and me!) happens to have many parts (see Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12), and each "part" has specific functions and giftings within the body - but none of the parts are set apart for ministry in any sense like the Levites were. Rather all the parts "are individually members of one another" (Rom 12:5), and each part is to minister to one another for the profit of all, according to the gifts given them by the grace of God (1 Cor 12:7, 1 Peter 4:10, Romans 12:6).

Let's let that sink in a little. One body, many parts. All parts individually members of one another. All parts ministering to one another for the profit of all. Can we see from this that the body of Christ - the spiritual house of God - is nothing like the Levitical system in which one tribe required the support of tithes from all the other tribes. In Christ, the entire body is to support the ministry of the entire body.

Now, Paul does indeed say that God "gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers." Does Paul lift these people up as being higher on the totem pole than other members of the body of Christ? Does Paul say that they are an extra-special type of "priest?" Of course not! The people in today's church seem to lift them higher, but as far as I can see in scripture they are simply playing their part in the body just like all the other parts are doing!

In 1 Timothy 5, Paul talks about "elders who rule well" being counted worthy of double honor, "especially those who labor in the word and doctrine." Now, instead of getting into what all of this means, I'll simply point out what it doesn't mean. None of it has anything to do with bringing a "tithe" of income or of any other physical possession to "a church." Can it mean that other members of the body can give a portion of income, or food, or possessions to support those people? I'm sure it can mean that. But the point is that there is no set amount (such as a "tithe"), and it's most certainly not based upon anything that has to do with the Old Covenant Levite/tithing system!

This has gone long so we'll pick it up in Part 9, where we'll finally begin to wrap up this series with a couple of posts on "true Christian giving."

Part 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Freed from Tithing, Free to Give - Part 7

Matthew 23 and Luke 11
In this part we'll look at the tithes as mentioned in the New Testament. We'll start with these two passages in which we see Jesus harshly rebuking the Pharisees, who, of course, fancied themselves as keepers of the law but were in reality steeped in self-righteousness and hypocrisy. Jesus brought up many different complaints against them, including their faithfulness in tithing while yet ignoring other parts of the law.

Luke 11:42 "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.

Matt 23:23 "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.

Jesus said that as people who were under the law, they most certainly should bring their tithes, as was mandated under the law. And they had actually done that. However, they had "neglected the weightier matters of the law." As Jesus saw it, they were "whitewashed tombs" who appeared clean from outward appearances but were really "full of dead men's bones and uncleanness" on the inside (Matt 23:27). From outward appearance (including the bringing of the tithes that could be seen by everybody), they looked clean. But yet their negligence in other matters proved that they were only self-righteous hypocrites.

Here's my point in all this: If we're to take Jesus' words to the Pharisees about tithing as teachings for Christians to follow, then shouldn't we follow ALL of what Jesus spoke to the Pharisees? Read Matthew 23 and Luke 11 and tell me that you think it should be taught in the Christian church! But of course, Jesus wasn't giving a "Christian" teaching here, was He! He was teaching law to those who were under the law.

Like I've previously mentioned more than once, it seems again to be the case that Christians who teach "the tithe" disregard all of the surrounding words and instructions, and zoom in solely on the tithe. I've tried not to be too strong in my language in this series, but is it not evident that all of this is a gross negligence of context and a vast straying away from the true meaning of all of these scriptures?

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector
In Luke 18, Jesus spoke this parable "to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others" (Luke 18:9). Read the full parable in Luke 18:10-14. Not much is needed to say here in regards to the purpose of this series. It simply shows that the Pharisee, who faithfully tithed, is not the one who was justified.

Hebrews 7
I briefly mentioned this passage in Part 2 when I was talking about Abram's tithe to Melchizedek, and we'll go a little bit more in depth here. We really need to start at the beginning of Hebrews to get the full gist of what the writer is saying. At the very least, go back to chapter 5 where the writer begins to write about Melchizedek or chapter 6 where the writer begins to talk about "perfection." But let's quickly look at Hebrews 7:4-10 so we can see how the writer came to his conclusion after verse 11, that perfection could not come through the Levite priesthood, but only through Jesus. I rarely ever use The Living Bible when trying to explain doctrine, but in this case I think it helps to give a better understanding of this passage.  After you read this, feel free to also read it in another version:

Heb 7:4-10 See then how great this Melchizedek is: Even Abraham, the first and most honored of all God's chosen people, gave Melchizedek a tenth of the spoils he took from the kings he had been fighting. 5 One could understand why Abraham would do this if Melchizedek had been a Jewish priest, for later on God's people were required by law to give gifts to help their priests because the priests were their relatives. 6 But Melchizedek was not a relative, and yet Abraham paid him. Melchizedek placed a blessing upon mighty Abraham, 7 and as everyone knows, a person who has the power to bless is always greater than the person he blesses. 8 The Jewish priests, though mortal, received tithes; but we are told that Melchizedek lives on. 9 One might even say that Levi himself (the ancestor of all Jewish priests, of all who receive tithes), paid tithes to Melchizedek through Abraham. 10 For although Levi wasn't born yet, the seed from which he came was in Abraham when Abraham paid the tithes to Melchizedek. (TLB)

In short, what's being said here is that the Levites, although descended from Abraham (born after him), in a sense paid tithes to the High Priest Melchizedek (who is a 'type' of Jesus) through Abraham. Now, in reality they didn't actually pay tithes to Melchizedek, nor is this passage talking about the actual paying of tithes to Melchizedek (nor to Jesus). This passage is using the example of the one-time tithe of Abraham (the lesser) to show how the priesthood of Melchizedek (the greater, who lives forever) is superior to the Levite priesthood (imperfect priests who died) - thereby showing that perfection could not be gained through the Levite priesthood, but that a NEW priesthood was necessary (that of Jesus, whose priesthood is "of the order of Melchizedek"). That's what this passage is about!

Think about it. Was the writer of Hebrews giving all this doctrine about a better covenant, a better priesthood, and so on and so forth, and then he suddenly decides, "Oh, I guess I'll drop in a little word to Christians about tithing?" That's silly! His bringing up the Levitical priesthood, and Abram's tithe, and Melchizedek, ALL had to do with his pointing out the weakness of the Old Covenant and the need for, and the superiority of, the New Covenant.

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Freed from Tithing, Free to Give - Part 6

To list out all of the rest of the Old Testament tithing scriptures would involve a lot of repetition and echoing of previous scriptures, so as we wrap up our look at them we'll skim by a few and we'll highlight a few others. And we'll finally get to the famous Malachi passage!

Deuteronomy 26:12-13 and 2 Chronicles 31:5-12 list out some tithing instructions, and you will also see the tithes in actual practice in the latter passage. Then we get to Nehemiah, where we see many of the same things, and mention is made of a special tithe that the Levites themselves gave. Out of the tithes they received from the other people, the Levites were to "bring a tenth of the tithes to the house of our God, to the rooms of the storehouse" for the sake of "the priests who minister and the gatekeepers and the singers." We'll get into the issue of "priests" in Part 8, but for now I just wanted to highlight this passage as yet another one that doesn't fit into the format of how "church" is set up today and so it gets ignored.

There is a little more about the tithes and the storehouse in Nehemiah 12:44-45 and 13:4-5. What was the storehouse? It was simply the place where the tithes and offerings were stored before they were eaten! My goodness, how we've taken that way out of context by teaching that a local church is the modern day equivalency to the "storehouse!"

Finally in Nehemiah we have a passage that will lead us into Malachi. First a brief background: To make a long story short, Nehemiah was allowed to go to Jerusalem and act as a governor of Judea. He arrived there and secretly surveyed the city, and he saw that many, many things were out of line (too many things to mention), and he worked to fix it all. One of the wrongs (of many) that he fixed had to do with the tithes:

Neh 13:10-13 I also realized that the portions for the Levites had not been given them; for each of the Levites and the singers who did the work had gone back to his field. 11 So I contended with the rulers, and said, "Why is the house of God forsaken?" And I gathered them together and set them in their place. 12 Then all Judah brought the tithe of the grain and the new wine and the oil to the storehouse.

As we see, among the many ways in which Nehemiah saw that the people were transgressing, they had not been bringing their tithes for the Levites. Well, a contemporary of Nehemiah was the prophet Malachi, and if you read the book of Malachi from start to finish, you will see that he prophesied against many, many ways in which the Jews were transgressing. For some reason the church likes to zero in solely on the following passage - which leads me to ask again, why only this passage? Why not the rest of the book as well?

Mal 3:8-11 "Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me!

But you say, 'In what way have we robbed You?'

In tithes and offerings. 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation. 10 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. 11 "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.

Just as with Nehemiah, Malachi saw a host of things that were wrong, which happened to include the neglect of the tithes and offerings, and he prophesied God's word to the people of Israel.

Do you see why I spent so much time leading up to this? As I said at the beginning of this series, the church seems to start with this scripture, or at least put heavy emphasis on it, and declare that Christians are to bring ten percent - a "tithe" - of their income to the local church. But this passage - along with all the other ones - has absolutely nothing to do with the New Covenant church, nor with "income!" Even Christians who preach that we are no longer under the curse if we don't "tithe" still wrongfully bring up this passage as Christian doctrine! Why do they do that???

In Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, 2 Chronicles, Nehemiah, Amos (a short passage that I haven't mentioned) and Malachi, the tithes that are being spoken of are tithes that were mandated by God for the sake of the Levite tribe that He had set apart for special service under the Old Covenant. There is nothing that is "New Covenant" about the tithes.

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Freed from Tithing, Free to Give - Part 5

This series on "The Tithe" is, from one perspective, fairly long and in-depth, but from another perspective is not nearly in-depth enough to cover every last aspect of the tithe and tithing. On the one hand I could make it a lot shorter - perhaps even boil it down to one blog post - but on the other hand I really did want to take at least a little bit of extra time to peel through some of the layers of scripture to take a closer look at the tithes than you normally see in churches that teach tithing as a Christian principle. My main goal here is to highlight what the tithes actually were and how the tithes were actually put to use. To recap what we've already seen in this series, the tithing system was set up because God had set apart a specific tribe of Israel, the Levites, to perform specific functions that were required under a specific covenant (the Old Covenant), and He specifically provided for them via the tithes from the other eleven tribes.

Deuteronomy 14
A few times we see some odd instructions about the tithes. But it's odd only from the perspective that this stuff is never taught in churches who seem so gung ho on the tithe! Hmmm... why is that? :) This passage from Deuteronomy is one of those interesting ones. Read it, and tell me if this will really preach in churches. In all my life, I had never heard this passage until I saw it for myself.

Deut 14:24-29 "But if the journey is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, or if the place where the Lord your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, when the Lord your God has blessed you, 25 then you shall exchange it for money, take the money in your hand, and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses. 26 And you shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen or sheep, for wine or similar drink, for whatever your heart desires; you shall eat there before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household. 27 You shall not forsake the Levite who is within your gates, for he has no part nor inheritance with you.

28 "At the end of every third year you shall bring out the tithe of your produce of that year and store it up within your gates. 29 And the Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are within your gates, may come and eat and be satisfied, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.

Wow! Where has the church been hiding this one! The people were to take the tithe and eat it! (And drink it). And not only that, but if the place the Lord had set up was too far for them, they were to take the tithe and exchange it for money, and spend the money on whatever their hearts desired! And they were to eat and to rejoice before the Lord. This passage also highlights again the very important fact that the Levites had no inheritance, and so the people were to not forsake them with their tithes, and they were also to store up their tithes every third year for the sake of "the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless and the widow." Again, all of this was directly relational to the Old Covenant system in which they lived.

And what about all the other instructions?
Right along with all of the passages that have to do with tithing instructions are many other instructions for the people of Israel. I think it's very interesting that the people of the Christian church will dig into these Old Covenant scriptures, totally ignoring all the other Old Covenant practices (rightfully so), and yet pulling out "the tithe" as something they teach and practice as a New Covenant principle! Again, all of these tithing passages, along with their surrounding verses and chapters, give many more rules and instructions that were a part of that system.

So if you're going to stick with the Old Covenant practice of tithing (which you'll by necessity have to take out of context if you're going to use it in the church), then please tell me that you keep the other instructions too! There are instructions about cutting and shaving, rules about what animals, birds and water creatures could be eaten and not eaten, and there were even rules about boiling a young goat in its mother's milk! And please tell me you don't eat bacon, ham, lobster or other "unclean" creatures!

Also, what about the instructions to stone people (Deut 13), and the instructions to go into other cities which serve other gods, and kill the people with swords, utterly destroying the city and all its livestock, plundering the city and burning it in the middle of the street? Sounds like a fun "outreach!" What about every seven years, all creditors being required to release the debts of their debtors? The point is... All of these instructions were given to the same people and in the same context as the instructions on tithing, so why do we preach "the tithe," but leave out all the rest?

So many unnecessary questions come up in the Christian church because of how all these scriptures are manipulated! "Do I tithe off of my gross or net income?" "What is meant by "firstfruits?" "What is meant by tithing off of the 'increase?'" The truth is, we need not be concerned with any of that because all of those passages have to do with the children Israel functioning under the Old Covenant. None of it, including the tithes, has anything to do with Christians living in the New Covenant!

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Something to do all day

Taking a short break from posting the "tithe" series.

Here's something you could literally spend the whole day doing!

Sometimes people say they want to make every second count. How about counting every second? :)

Freed from Tithing, Free to Give - Part 4

The Levites
The Old Covenant was a special system, set up for special purposes. The Old Covenant was set up for the people of Israel. Included in the covenant were various laws, ordinances, rituals, etc. The Levites were one of the twelve hereditary tribes of Israel. God set apart this tribe for special service to Him under this covenant (this happened after Israel's exodus from Egypt). In the book of Numbers, we find out about the special office and functions of the Levites. In order to properly understand the tithes (which I think a large majority of the church today doesn't understand), it's important to know about the Levites, because they were the recipients of the tithes! The duties of the Levites varied, and were divided up among all of the Levites. At different times the duties included guarding the sanctuary, moving the tent and carrying the parts from place to place, preparing the bread of the Presence, leading music during worship, slaughtering and skinning the animals for sacrifice, and a whole slew of other important duties. I'm intentionally being very brief here.

Important Information about the Levites
Something that's very important to note - and this is where we see the true purpose for the tithes - is that unlike the eleven other tribes, the Levites were given no territorial possessions or physical inheritance. The Lord Himself was their inheritance (Numbers 18:20). Therefore, the way in which they were supported in return for their service to the Lord was through the receiving of the tithes of the produce and of the flocks and herds of the other tribes, as well as certain portions of the sacrificial offerings. Again we're now getting to the real meaning and purpose of the tithes. The Lord spoke about how the Levites would be taken care of through the various offerings of food, oil, wine, etc, that the people gave, and He speaks of the tithes:

Numbers 18:21, 24 "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... 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..."

Many Christians today, who at least have a little bit of an understanding that the tithes had something to do with the Levites, unfortunately take the liberty of equating the office of the Levites and the tabernacle in which they served with that of the modern day pastor and "church." Somewhere along the line they seem to forget the purpose of the Levites, or perhaps never really had a proper understanding in the first place. Take some time and read through all of Numbers 18 (and other passages that speak of the tithes and the functions of the Levites and the tabernacle). As you read about all of this, ask yourself if the comparison is anything close to being valid!

Deuteronomy 12
In Deuteronomy 12, the Lord was laying down "the statutes and judgments which you shall be careful to observe in the land which the Lord God of your fathers is giving you to possess, all the days that you live on the earth." (Deut 12:1).

Included in this were instructions about many things, including the tithes:

Deut 12:5-7 "But you shall seek the place where the Lord your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for His dwelling place; and there you shall go. 6 There you shall take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, your vowed offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. 7 And there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice in all to which you have put your hand, you and your households, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.

What were they to do with all of this (the burnt offerings, sacrifices, tithes, heave offerings, etc)? Were they to bring it to the "local church" so that God would "open up the windows of heaven and pour out such a blessing that there wouldn't be enough room to receive it?" No! They were to eat it!

You think this is strange (according to what you've previously been taught about tithing)? Wait till we get to Deuteronomy 14!

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Freed from Tithing, Free to Give - Part 3

Let's Make it Clear Again: Tithe, or Tithes?
To repeat a point I made earlier, we're talking about tithes (plural). "The tithe" (ten percent of your income, given to your local church) is what is (wrongfully) taught in churches today. But contrary to what seems to be a common belief, there is more than one tithe in the Bible. There is not simply one "blanket" tithe from which we get our information about tithing. As we look closely, we see that each tithe has its own purposes. Different tithes are put to different uses. And just as a reminder (as I've previously mentioned), the tithes mentioned in Malachi 3 were not original tithing instructions, but rather were brought up because the Lord was rebuking the people for not keeping the tithes they had previously been commanded to keep. The reason I want to put special emphasis on this is simply because Malachi 3 is the predominant passage that the church wrongfully highlights when teaching the tithe - wrongfully in more way than one, as we'll see in this series.

It's also important to mention that the tithes never have anything to do with financial earnings or income, nor the handing over of finances to any individual or entity. Money does come into the picture one time in the tithing instructions, and when we get to that you may just be surprised at how it plays out in that particular tithing law! In the end, my hope here is to show the stark contrast between "the tithe" as it's taught in churches and "the tithes" as they are taught in scripture, and to show how the teaching of "the tithe" in Christian churches is way out of line.

The Mandatory Tithes - Law
Aside from Abram's voluntary tithe to Melchizedek and Jacob's promise to voluntarily tithe all of what God gave him, the rest of the mentions of tithing in scripture have to do with tithes (again, plural) that were mandatory, according to God's laws. You will thank me :) for not copying and pasting all of the scriptures that pertain to tithing into this series of posts (copied from my PC Study Bible), because when pasted onto a Word document it takes up about 6 full pages! My purpose here is not to give an in-depth analysis of all of the tithing instructions but rather to lay out the gist of the tithes for the purpose of showing that tithing was an Old Covenant practice that had specific purposes, having absolutely nothing to do with New Covenant saints giving 10 percent of their income to local churches. And in fact I think we'll find that we really don't want to use these tithes as a "type" of New Covenant giving, because it gets quite complicated due to all the rules, options and variables involved in each tithe!

Leviticus
The next time tithing is mentioned is in Leviticus 27. This particular passage has to do with instructions about "redeeming" people and property dedicated to the Lord. Instead of getting into what all that means (and it does mean something - within the context of the times and purposes of these particular instructions), I want to use this passage to point out the folly of taking scriptures out of context, as is always the case when teaching tithing as a Christian principle.

Lev 27:29-32 No person under the ban, who may become doomed to destruction among men, shall be redeemed, but shall surely be put to death. 30 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 to the Lord. 31 If a man wants at all to redeem any of his tithes, he shall add one-fifth to it. 32 And concerning the tithe of the herd or the flock, of whatever passes under the rod, the tenth one shall be holy to the Lord.

What's this about being put to death? What's this about redeeming tithes, and adding one-fifth to it? What's this about one-tenth of the tithe passing under the rod being holy to the Lord and not being redeemed? My point here is that as with ALL tithes, and ALL Old Covenant laws, ordinances and instructions, we aren't to "Christianize" them. After all, if we're going to grab the "tithe" verses out of passages like this, shouldn't we also add the "put to death" verses as well? And the "redeem his tithes" verses? In the end what we are to do is to understand that these were Old Covenant practices - and we leave them in their Old Covenant contexts!

Coming up: The "tithe" instructions get even more interesting (and fun as well)! We'll see how it's so very easy for preachers to simply pluck out Malachi 3 and misapply it in the church today, but yet if those same preachers were to look into the true purposes and applications of the tithes, they'd have to chuck it all aside because it simply wouldn't work in the church! (Which is kind of the point here, anyway).

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Freed from Tithing, Free to Give - Part 2

How Much Should I Tithe?
The word "tithe" means "one-tenth." A common question that I've heard all throughout my Christian life is, "Should Christians tithe off of their gross income or net income?" Please excuse my incredulity, but come on! - The whole basis of the question is misguided, at best. It assumes that "tithing" is for Christians, and that it has to do with money. Let's begin, through the scriptures, to put those ideas to death. I do want to point out as we get into this that I am differentiating between "giving" and "tithing." "Giving" is part of the Christian's new nature, and is done through grace - just like the rest of the Christian life. Unlike the 10% tithe, "giving" has nothing to do with a set amount or a legally prescribed amount, but rather has much more to do with a cheerful heart that truly desires to give. Christian giving is by no means limited to money, but may involve the giving of possessions, time, talents, services and other resources (we'll get into this later on in the series.) Tithing, however, is a completely different story.

More Than One Tithe
It may come as a surprise to many people that Malachi 3 is really only a small portion of the scriptures that talk about tithing. Did you know that? Judging by all the tithing teachings that I've heard in my life, you'd think that Malachi 3 was "IT" when it comes to the teaching of tithing.

Notice the Malachi passage says "bring all the tithes (plural) into the storehouse." What tithes? And what storehouse? It seems the modern church is ignorant about all this (doesn't really have a clue what this really means) - and in fact has, in its ignorance, turned the Malachi passage into something that it is not. However, Israel - the actual people to whom the laws were given - knew exactly what was meant. Under the system of law that they lived in, many instructions had been given regarding various tithes, and each tithe had various purposes. As we go through them, take note as to whether or not any of them had to do with income or paychecks - or money in any way. Also take note as to the frequency of each tithe (weekly? monthly? yearly? every three years? etc). And take note as to where the tithes were taken to, and how they were distributed and used. And finally, take note as to whether the people had a free choice on whether to tithe or not. (In other words, could they decide in their hearts to give cheerfully, or did they have to give).

Abraham's Tithe
The first mention of a "tithe" in the Bible is in Genesis 14. I'll summarize the story, but make sure you read the story for yourself. It's a quick and easy read. In short, a handful of kings had gone to war against another handful of kings. During a battle, Abraham's nephew, Lot, was captured, along with his family and goods. So Abram planned and executed an attack, and was able to bring back Lot and his family, and all of the goods that had been taken. Then Melchizedek king of Salem blessed Abraham, and Abraham "gave him a tithe of all." (Update: Does "all" mean that Abraham gave a tithe of everything he owned?  I wrote this blog post on that subject.)

I don't know how many times I've heard this story used to teach the "principle" of tithing. I've heard it said that it was through "Abraham, the father of our faith," that the principle of tithing was introduced, and so we can follow Abraham's actions as an example of the principle of tithing since we're his children by faith. Well, remember - Abraham's tithe was a one-time tithe. It wasn't something Abraham continued to do, nor did it have anything to do with his salary or employment earnings or wealth. After fighting in a battle and winning back the goods and people that had been taken, he took the spoils of war and offered a tenth of it to Melchizedek. It's that simple.

(Update: Some historians note that it was either a law or custom in that part of the world at that time to give a tithe of the spoils of war to the local king or priest.  That is to say, Abraham's tithe to Melchizedek - "king of Salem, priest of the Most High God" - Heb 7:1 - had nothing to do with him having a generous or a giving heart.  He was following the local law or custom.)

Tithing Not a "Type" for New Covenant Giving
This one-time tithe of Abraham was never meant to be used to promote or teach a principle of tithing or giving in the New Covenant church.  That idea is made up. In fact the writer of Hebrews gleans something out of this story that does have to do with the New Covenant, but it has absolutely nothing to do with Christian giving. You perhaps know that many things in the Old Covenant are "types and shadows" of the "substance" of the New Covenant. It seems that Old Covenant "tithing" and the Old Covenant "storehouse" are reckoned by many as a type and shadow of Christians giving money to a church. But nothing could be further from the truth.

In the book of Hebrews we find Abraham's tithe brought up as part of the writer's explanation of something else... something that has nothing at all to do with tithing. In Chapter 7, Abraham's tithe to Melchizedek is used to show that there was a need for something greater than the Levitical priesthood, which turns out to be the priesthood and sacrifice of Jesus. It says, "Even Levi, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, so to speak, for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him." If you read all of Hebrews 7, you'll see that the whole point of Abraham's tithe being brought up has nothing to do with Christians following some principle of tithing, but it has everything to do with showing how Jesus is superior to the Levitical priesthood. More on this in Part 7.  The point here is that Abraham's tithe is not used in the New Testament as an example of Christian giving.

Abraham's tithe was not given out of sacrifice or obligation. It wasn't given as a gesture of his good heart, or a heart of faith.  It wasn't given as a result of being "convicted" by a sermon on "giving." It wasn't given to a local church or congregation of people of faith. It wasn't given to help a cause. It wasn't given to pay a salary to Melchizedek or his "staff," nor to pay for building costs or church programs. It also had nothing to do with a principle of sowing so that he could reap. Anyone who teaches you any of these things is making it up.  Abraham's tithe to Melchizedek was simply a one-time offering from the spoils of war. Let's please take it for what it was, and not make it into something that it wasn't.

Jacob's Voluntary Tithe
In Genesis 28:22, Jacob said to God, "of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to you." This was a voluntary vow to give God a tenth, and it was a conditional vow, starting with the "if" in Gen 28:20.  Also, Jacob said this of himself.  All of the rest of the people didn't make this same pledge.  I don't know of any other examples of the voluntary giving of a tenth. There could be more but I don't know of any. (If you know of any, please let me know). The thing I want to point out is that there is hardly enough evidence, in my opinion, to conclude - or even to merely suggest - that tithing (giving a tenth) was ever meant to be a normal part of the lives of people of faith. It's conjecture at best, with a stark absence of other examples of voluntary tithing in the lives of the Old Testament saints.

We do see plenty of examples of giving all throughout the Bible! Giving is done by all sorts of people in all sorts of ways and in all sorts of sizes and amounts. Giving is done in corporate ways and in ways that are much more personal. (More on this in Parts 9 and 10).  But to me there seems to be an underwhelming amount of evidence that would support the idea of tithing (giving a tenth) as a principle in the lives of believers.

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Freed from Tithing, Free to Give - Part 1

In the past I've mentioned that I want to do a series of posts on "tithing." Well, here I am, finally doing it! Why am I doing this? It's been my observation that "tithing," as it's taught in various Christian ("New Covenant") churches in various ways, has put people under a lot of unnecessary bondage in their walks with God. Various Old Covenant scriptures are used in the teaching of the tithe in Christian churches, with various assumptions being made as to how these scriptures apply to the New Covenant Church. But are these scriptures being used properly? Are the assumptions proper? I don't think so, and I'm going to show from the scriptures themselves how they are terribly misused in the teaching of "tithing" in the church today.

First Things First
In almost all "tithe" teachings in the Christian church, one scripture in particular is used predominantly, and one assumption in particular about that scripture is predominantly made. You probably know the scripture well. Malachi 3:8-11. The words in this passage that most people are familiar with are "bring all the tithes into the storehouse." The assumption that is made is that "the local church" is the storehouse.

We'll get into that a little later, but we really need to put first things first. See, while many Christians start with Malachi 3 in their teaching of the tithe (or at least highlight it in their justification of teaching Christians to "tithe"), Malachi 3 was actually the last thing said in Old Covenant scripture about tithing. Malachi was not giving instructions about tithing. Rather God, through this prophet, was reprimanding His people for not keeping the tithing laws He had already given them. If we start with Malachi 3, we're destined to get it all wrong right from the start.

If we want to see what tithing is really all about, then we need to look back to the scriptures that show the original tithing instructions. As we do this, my hope is that we'll begin to dispel some of the false assumptions that the New Covenant church has made in regards to tithing. Is the New Covenant church to be a people who give? Surely! I think we find that idea supported all throughout the New Covenant scriptures. But how about New Covenant people "tithing" ten percent of their income to a local church? Do we find that idea supported anywhere in the scriptures? I think the truth about all this will unfold as we start with first things first, and move on from there.

Part 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Near Him, in Him, complete in Him, know Him

As I said in my "Even Keel" post the other day, my general disposition in life, ever since beginning to have my heart established in grace in the mid 90's has truly been "even keel." Of course that doesn't mean I've never gone through times of doubt, anxiety, lack of understanding, etc. I've not always walked 100%, all the time, in the freedom for which Christ has set me free. In my heart I've not always lived as the beloved child of God that I really am.

However, back then when I began to understand that in Christ I am already complete, and that God isn't angry with me, and that I really am His beloved, and that my "strengths" and "failings" have absolutely nothing to do with where I stand with Him, the weights were lifted off of me and the up and down rollercoaster ride ended. I began to live from a state of being complete in Christ, rather than trying to attain a state of completion (see The Starting Point). I began to live from the life of Christ that is already in me, which is now my life, rather than trying to look to Him to give me "more of Him." I stopped trying to "enter in" to His presence through worship services and through "toiling" in prayer, and realized that I am in His presence 100% of the time!

Again, it's not that I've always lived all of this out perfectly, but the point is that ever since I began looking at things according to the truth of what the Bible says about who I already am in Christ, and indeed not just knowing about the truth, but knowing the Truth - a Person, Jesus Christ Himself - I've been walking much more of an "even" life, even in the midst of all of the good and bad circumstances in life.

When you're always trying to attain something from God through what you do or through your own strength and determination, or through trying to "break through" into His presence (a big theme from my Pentecostal past), you're always going to fall short! You may think you've had a victory or two here and there, but yet you always end up stretching and striving and seeking for "more," and you never get there!

It's hard to become intimately acquainted with someone when you're never really sure where you stand with them, or when you think you have to always go through some special process in order to get through to them or to get their attention. In Christ we can be assured of where we stand with God. He has wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us and has taken away our sin - and He has given us His very life and come to dwell in us!

James says, "draw near to God and He will draw near to you." Is this a legalistic statement that disregards the fact that in Christ we have already been brought near to God by the blood of Jesus (Eph 2:13)? Is it meant to get Christians to try to come up with methods, steps, principles, worship songs, prayers, etc, through which we'll hopefully find a way into God's presence? What if we simply walk in the understanding that Christ is in us and we are in Him at all times, and use James' words as encouragement to have loving fellowship with our God and Father, not through struggling and striving, but through love and faith!

Even keel

I remember the days when I couldn't wait for the Sunday morning and Sunday evening services because it was during those services that I "felt" God more. In fact it seemed like it was pretty much only during those services that I "felt" God, and I didn't really "feel" Him during the rest of my week as I went about my daily living "outside of church." There was something about the atmosphere - the music leader, the singers, and especially the music itself - that made me "feel" closer to God.

Sometimes there were special times of prayer, in which some or many of us would go up front near "the altar" and cry out to God, presenting our requests to Him, often praying in tongues. Often during these times I would "feel" the presence of God and I would "feel" as if all my worries were gone and my problems were done away with. I might then "feel" good all day on Sunday. But by the time Monday came around and reality set in, I had lost the "feeling," and I was left looking sooooo forward to the next Sunday so I could go and meet with God again and "feel" His presence.

The key words above, if you couldn't tell, are "feel" and "felt." Now I don't want to diminish the idea of feeling close to God. It's a great thing to feel close to Him! But so many of those experiences from my past were really nothing more than emotional releases that I got from being around other like-minded people, and also, like I said, the emotions came from the atmosphere that was created by the musicians and stage settings. When I was away from those services, I could no longer "feel" God. I "felt" so far away from Him. As I look back, it's easy for me to now see that it wasn't really the presence of God that I was feeling. It was the atmosphere of the service that I was feeling, and I was mistaking that for the presence of God. "Rollercoaster ride" is probably the best term that described my life in Christ at that time. Up and down, up and down - but mostly down.

In the mid 90's, when I finally began to understand the grace and faithfulness of God, and His continuous, never-ending presence in my life that wasn't dependent upon me going to some church meeting, or reaching some high level of prayer or praise or thanksgiving or anything else, or trying to find some way to "break through" to His presence, I was finally able to begin to describe my life with a much different term. "Even keel" was how I felt and was how I described my life, and it's pretty much remained that way! I don't mean to say that I don't have changing emotions or that the circumstances of life are always "even keel." Storms do indeed come and go, and my emotions do waver from time to time. But in my relating to God, I've come to understand and know that I am one with Him, and He is steadfast and He is an anchor. He has never left me nor forsaken me. I can't ask Him to please come and be in the presence of me and my fellow saints, because that would be asking Him to do something that He's already presently doing! In fact, not only is He "with" me, He is my life. Sunday morning, Sunday evening, Tuesday afternoon, 4am on Friday, church service, no church service, whenever, wherever, He is in me and I am in Him, and He is my very life. When I finally realized that the pressure wasn't upon ME to maintain God's presence, but that His presence and His grace was a gift that always remained with me, my life finally became much more even keeled.

By the way, I don't mean to say that it's a bad thing for the saints to gather together and "be" in God's presence together. It's great to be together as a family, relating to God and to each other in various ways. But "worship" is really a lifestyle of relating to God and to each other, not just in church meetings, and not really having anything to do with atmosphere, emotions, or the performance of a praise band. Aida gets into a lot of this in What is true worship?

What I'm really trying to say here is that I think we miss God in the everyday things because we're waiting to "meet with Him" in the big meeting(s). In reality, He is our life at all times!

Is this type of thinking/understanding important to you? Has your life 'changed' in any way like mine (or in your own unique way) through coming to understand and appropriate God's 24/7 presence in your life?