Monday, May 30, 2011

Freed from Tithing, Free to Give - Part 1 of 4

About 2 1/2 years ago I wrote a ten-part series of blog posts about tithing, which I've now renamed "Freed from Tithing, Free to Give."  I've now recorded a four-part video/audio series based upon the written series.

Below you'll find the video and the audio for Part 1.  In Part 1, I talk about Abraham's tithe and Jacob's tithe, and I also talk about how, by necessity, scriptures have to be taken out of context in order to teach "tithing" in the church. I obviously hope that through this series, people will be "freed from tithing" and "free to give."

Please stay tuned for the whole series - there's lots more to cover!



Download/Play MP3 (14 Min, 10 MB)
(Click to Play, Right-Click to Download)


Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4

3 comments:

  1. I am fascinated in your teachings. It is meaningful and does make sense. I hope you get the time to read my reactions as I did in listening to all the 4 series.
    What I keep hearing from people who speaks against tithing is that it is an old covenant. Yes, it is. And rightly so someone or I could argue on this premise that all the promises we hold on to in the old testament are equally not for us because we are under a new dispensation. What you have done in my humble opinion is grossly selective as you claim some churches do, in that your argument from the new testament is incomplete without making references to what Jesus said in Matthew 23:23 Luke 11:42.
    Jesus did not ask the people to neglect giving a tenth or told the people not to follow this practice of the Pharisees as he emphatically told the people not to pray like they do. Actually he asked them to continue. My point is, Jesus our faith and Grace did not forbid paying a tenth. in fact the Christ did not come to abolish anything in the old testament or covenant.
    When you say WE HAVE ALL BECOME ROYAL PRIESTHOODS, yes I agree but in the spirit. I am happy I can go right to him offer my self as a living sacrifice without anyone doing on my behalf.

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  2. Thank you for taking the time to listen, Prince Gyimah, and for your comments here. I'll try to address the things you've said here.

    Indeed, we are a royal priesthood, spiritually speaking. That is the reality of who we are. It's our true identity in Christ. The very core of who we are, is that we are a spirit that is joined together with God (1 Cor 6:17), and together our true identity is that of a royal priesthood. We offer ourselves as living sacrifices, not to try to get anything from God, but because we already belong fully to Him. This, of course, doesn't mean that there is any certain percentage or amount of our income that we are to give to the church or to anyone in particular, but rather that since we are joined together with Him, whatever we do or give, and however we serve Him and others, is done from the fullness of who we are in Him.

    As to Matthew 23:23 and Luke 11:42, here are my thoughts. Jesus was not teaching a "Christian" teaching. Rather, the scriptures tell us that He came first to Israel. "God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law" (Gal 4:4-5). This is referring to Israel. Jesus first had a "law" ministry to the Jews. As we find out later in Paul's epistles, the purpose of the law was "the ministry of death" and "the ministry of condemnation" (2 Cor 3:7-9), and Paul also reveals that "whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God" (Rom 3:19).

    These revelations from Paul are important as we look at Matt 23:23 and Luke 11:24, because in these passages (and many others), we find Jesus ministering the true purpose of the law to Israel. Again, the law was the ministry of death and condemnation, and its purpose was to stop mouths and make the world guilty before God.

    Jesus pointed out to the Pharisees, who thought that they were so wonderful at keeping the law, that they really fell very far short. If they were to truly be law-keepers, then they should not only tithe of mint, anise and cumin (which were easily seen by others), but they should also keep the "weightier matters of the law," which they were not doing.

    Jesus wasn't teaching Christians to keep the law. Rather, He was showing self-righteous people that their law-keeping was not nearly as good as they thought it was.

    The purpose then, as Paul also pointed out, was to use the law as a tutor to lead them to Himself. Once faith has come, they would no longer be under a tutor. (Gal 3:24-25). But as long as they thought so highly of their law-keeping efforts, they hadn't come to faith and were still under the law of condemnation and death.

    As you say, Jesus Himself didn't come to abolish the law. Rather, He came to fulfill it. And He did what He came for. He fulfilled it. The law is now fulfilled. No man could ever do that, but Jesus did it. And then having fulfilled it, He bled and died on a Cross, and rose again. With all of this accomplished, the following came true:

    "And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross." (Col 2:13-14)

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  3. In Christ, in this post-cross resurrected life, we are not under the law and we have no relationship to it. In addition to what Paul said in Col 2:13-14, he also said that we died to the law. We had to die to the law in order to be alive to God.

    "For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." (Gal 2:19-20).

    I did mention some of this in Part 3 of this video series, as I talked about Matthew 23:23, Luke 11:42, Luke 18:12 and Hebrews 7. In my written series, this can be found in Part 7.

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