Today we encountered a question which has a lot of potential to go off the rails. The question was about tithing and whether the whole tithe belongs to the local church or whether donations could go elsewhere and still count as a tithe. I have some problems with the question as it was asked, but I will answer it bluntly. I get to do this better than your pastor because I don’t live on anybody’s tithe. I have no ulterior motive.

I want to establish that the legalistic answer will not do.  This is not about rules but about the spirit needed to be able to hear God properly. Now before you breathe a collective sigh of relief, I also want to point out that when Jesus spoke of freedom from the law to become part of God’s true will and partners with Him in understanding of why He says and does things, He made the burden greater not easier.  Then He also added that He Himself would do the heavy lifting.  Remember the Sermon on the Mount?  Matthew 3-5. The law gave you the least acceptable thing to God.  Jesus added that your heart attitude was the seed of your actions and God looked at the heart. So lust equaled adultery and hatred equaled murder. Nothing of the law has been taken away but an understanding of God’s purposes and principles have been added, with a greater accountability for those who would follow.

Tithing predates the law.  The first time we encounter it in the Bible, Abraham is paying a tithe to Melchizedech, a priest of the most high God. Let’s examine the situation and compare it the practice of the tithe as it is commonly done in our culture.  Abraham wasn’t making a weekly or monthly contribution based on income.  He was assessing all that God had done for him and gave 10% of his net worth. Tithing your paycheck is not the only way to tithe but it is convenient in today’s world.

Is tithing necessary today? Let’s look at the principle. God actually says that a man robs Him when we do not tithe and offer offerings in addition. The principle is that if we belong to God, all we have is His as well. The ten percent surrender of finances to God is just a recognition of who actually owns the stuff we accumulate. Our job is to listen when He asks us to put some of it somewhere and it will almost certainly be more than 10%. The idea that any of it is ours should be a foreign concept to us. He gives us our portion and our daily bread. He gives us the power to get wealth and He makes the point that the Lord loves a cheerful giver, and is less than thrilled with the idea of someone doing so out of obligation. He has also made a principle that he will allow our enemy, the devourer, to take what we should not have held on to in our selfishness.

It is also safe to say that Jesus was not in favor of the way those in charge of running the temple were handling things, actually accusing them of mishandling the tithes. Yet He commended the widow who cast in her mite to the temple treasury and there is evidence that Jesus also tithed in the normal course of His temple worship. So the practice of tithing to the church where you associate with believers is assumed to be correct and not subject to your critical analysis. Remember that you give to God, not people and He will ensure that His purposes are fulfilled.  He is not dependent on the gift. The gift is subject to the giver and it all proceeds from Him.

The temple then took care of welfare for widows and orphans from the proceeds. From the passage in Malachi we see that tithes and offerings were received at the temple at key feasts during the year. In an agricultural society this would be the most convenient to the tither and would provide well for God’s people and priesthood.

For those who think I should not have spent all this time on a question of money, this is for cheerful givers who belong to God. If you’re not in the family, God doesn’t need your money. Keep it if it comforts you. It’s a cold master.