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Introduction

Tithing is a very controversial issue, and most Preachers sometimes would not dare to teach and preach it to their congregation for fear that people may not come back again. They reason out that you have to wait for a while and let those new Christians grow first and mature before tithing can be taught. For me it’s better to teach tithing while they are young in their faith for it teaches them to be responsible, God fearing, obedient children of God.

  1. I Tithe Because God      Blessed the First Tither.

Abraham paid tithe to “Melchizedek king of Salem…the priest of the most high God.” (Genesis 14:18)  Melchizedek was a type of Jesus Christ, the believer’s King-Priest (Hebrews 5:5-10)  This act of Abraham surely was the result of God having taught him to tithe his increase.  He did not simply pay tithes of all the spoils of war.  “He gave tithes of ALL.” (Genesis 14:20)

I do not say the Lord made Abraham rich because he tithed, but surely none will deny that God blessed him because he was obedient.  Since God blessed Abraham for obediently paying tithes, will He not likewise bless Christians who tithe in obedience to the teachings of the Scriptures?

 

  1. I Tithe Because in so      Doing I Acknowledge God’s Ownership of All.

Many years after the death of Abraham one may read about his grandson, Jacob, fleeing from home frightened and penniless.  God appeared to him in the way, and Jacob vowed (pledged): “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 tenth unto thee.” (Genesis 28:22)  Jacob thus acknowledged God’s ownership of all by promising to give to the Lord a tenth “…of ALL that THOU shalt give me.”

 

Jacob knew he could tithe only if the Lord first gave him something to tithe.  He was as a child asking his father fro money to buy him a Father’s Day gift.  He thus acknowledged his father’s ownership of all.

When Jacob, the penniless fugitive, returned to his father’s house, God had so blessed him that he “…had much cattle, and maidservants, and menservants, and camels, and asses.” (Genesis 30:43)

We Christians, too, should tithe to acknowledge God’s ownership of all.

  1. I Tithe Because God      Promised Overflowing Blessings to Tithers.

“Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” (Malachi 3:10)

Can anything be simplier?  If one would argue that this applied only to Israel under the law, and that since Christians are not under the Law, they should not tithe, he is reminded that tithing is, and always has been, a righteous principle governing one’s stewardship of material possessions.  All the Law of Moses was fulfilled at the cross, but the principle of stewardship, as many other principles, though a part of the Law, existed before the Law was given, and remains in effect after the Law has been repealed.  Therefore, the believer should prove God with tithes and offerings, and then claim the blessing God has promised.

 

  1. I Tithe Because Jesus      Tithed and Commended Tithing.

If Jesus had not tithed, the chief priests and elders surely would have charged Him with such.  They could have proven that He was not law-abiding.  That no such charges were made seems proof enough that Jesus tithed.

Jesus commended tithing: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.” (Matthew 23:23)  Admittedly, there are some things more important than tithing, but the person who will not tithe is not likely to be faithful in the “weightier matters.”  In a few words, Jesus said, “You do right to tithe, you do wrong when you leave off judgment, mercy and faith.”

 

  1. I Tithe Because I am      so Commanded to Support the Ministry.

In 1 Corinthians 9:13, Paul reminded Christians that the priests and Levites in Israel lived by the tithes of the people.  In the very next verse, he said, “Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.” (1 Corinthians 9:14)  Paul wrote this by Divine Inspiration, and what he literally said is…“As the priests of Israel lived by the tithes of the people, EVEN SO (by the tithes of Christians) God has ordained (appointed) that preachers of the Gospel live.”

 

  1. I Tithe Because Jesus      Lives and Receives My Tithes.

“And here men that die receive tithes; but there HE RECEIVETH THEM, of whom it is witnessed that HE LIVETH.” (Hebrews 7:8)  When I tithe to the church, it is received and dispersed by men, but Jesus counts it as paid to Him, personally, for the “HE RECEIVETH THEM” is the same as the “HE LIVETH.”  Elsewhere, Jesus taught that work done in accordance with His command is counted as work done for Him, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”  (Matthew 25:40)

Tithing should be voluntary in the same way that a man  supports his family.  “Freely ye have received, freely give.” (Matthew 10:8)  “God loveth a cheerful giver.” (2 Corinthians 9:7)  Unless a person tithes because he loves Christ, he will not be blessed for it, but if he tithes out of love for Christ and lost souls, he will be blessed in the same degree God blesses a man for any good work.

Preached 21 July 2013

July 21 is our fifth year Church Anniversary. Due to the injury on my right hand,  failing health, and pressure on my secular job,  we just prayed to the Lord our God fervently for the furtherance of the Lord’s ministry and for the salvation of lost souls.

 

 

 

 

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