Is Tithing An Old Covenant Law?

Beloved...

Is tithing for New Covenant Christians? Or is it something only relevant to the Old Covenant? Isn't tithing done away along with the Old Covenant when Jesus established the New Covenant? As New Covenant Christians, doesn't everything we have belongs to God? So do we still have to give a calculated 10%?

I used to feel that way too as members of the New Covenant. However back in 2002 I was moved by the Spirit to search and learn more about tithing. And these are some of my findings. It has not changed the way I feel about the New Covenant, but it has certainly helped me see the tithe (literally means "a tenth") in its proper perspective and how relevant it is to me as a New Covenant Christian.

1. Tithing was not created with the Law of Moses. It existed long before the God gave the Law through Moses. So the tithe was NOT established as part of the Old Covenant.
   
• Cain and Able brought their firstfruits to God
• Abraham brought 10% to Melchizedek, 400+ years before the Law of Moses
• Jesus is now our High Priest. If Abraham gives a tithe to Melchizedek, how much more should we as Jesus is of the order of Melchizedek? (Heb 7:17)


2. The Tithe belongs to the LORD
   
• Mal 3:8 "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me."
• How can God consider man stealing from Him if it does not belong to Him in the first place?
• Mal 3:10 "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse..."
• We "bring" our tithes to God, not GIVE.


3. Tithing is an act of worship to the LORD
   
• Tithing is an acknowledgement of the worthiness of our Lord
• Heb 7:4 "Just think how great he was: Even the patriach Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder!"
• Heb 7:7 "without doubt the lesser person is blessed by the greater"
• that is why we bring the firstfruits, the BEST of our increase to honor the LORD. We don't bring what is left over at the end of the month, that is dishonoring Him.
• Some of us ask do we calculate the tithe based on Gross (ie Total) pay or Nett take home pay? Should we include Employer's CPF contribution? What about bank interests and dividends?
• The question really should be "Who do we honor FIRST with our wealth?" Do we pay the taxman, the mortgage, the car loan or CPF before God?
• No! We should honor God first before all else!
• Pro 3:9 "Honor the LORD with your possessions, And with the firstfruits of all your increase;"
  


4. There is a difference between Tithe (the first tenth) and Offerings
   
• Mal 3:8 "...in tithes and offerings..."
  
• the Tithe is the first tenth (firstfruits) of all our increase, an offering is anything beyond that. That is why God wants us to GIVE offerings cheerfully, or as my pastor would translate it "hilarously", as in 2 Cor 9:7. Here Paul was talking about the offerings given to his mission ministry, not about the tithe brought to the local church.


5. Tithing comes with a promise
   
• Mal 3:10 "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse... see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it"
• Pr 3:9-10 "Honor the LORD with your possessions, And with the firstfruits of all your increase; So your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine." (NKJV)
• If you read Mal 3:9-11, that 10% is all God asks to have the legal right to "rebuke the devourer" (NKJV), ie the curse that the devil will enforce that will cause you financial ruin. This curse was put on the earth when man fell (Gen 3:17). Everything we have comes from the ground: food, raw materials for making cars, buildings, clothes, medicine, even semiconductors etc. Even the paper money is printed on comes from the tree that grows from the ground.
  
• "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; " Mal 3:11 (NKJV)


6. Offering (ie giving) also comes with a promise
• 2 Cor 9:6 "whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously"


7. The best part is that God promises to provide for our Offering!!
   
• 2 Cor 9:8,10,11 "And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed;... Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness; you will be enriched in everything for all liberality, which through us is producing thanksgiving to God." (NASB)
  
  
8. God chose to gave the Tithe to the priesthood not man
   
• Num 18:21 "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."
• As far as we are concerned, we bring the tithe to God, NOT to the priesthood for services rendered.
• Likewise we do not tithe to the church, even though the church has a budget to meet.
• If we think that way, we totally misunderstand the purpose of the tithe and cheapen it. I think that may be why so little Christians tithe.
• It was God who chose to provide for the priesthood with the tithe in the Old Covenant days as the tribe of Levi does not have an inheritance of land in Israel.
• But don't get distracted from the main purpose of the tithe... it is NOT to feed the pastor :-) It is to honor the Lord and to allow Him to bless us to be a blessing to the nations.
  

Don't get hung up on the "ritual" of giving 10%. Just do it for all the above reasons. Those of you who feel that as children of God under the New Covenant, ALL of our wealth belongs to Jesus, GREAT, so do I! So do you give it all away? Not necessarily. It is just not practical is it? And God knows that too. That is why God wants us to be cheerful givers... hard to be cheerful when you have no money to buy milk for your baby when you have given away your last dollar right? :-) He wants us to give purposefully, not grudgingly. If we can determine in our hearts who and how to give, through the leading of the Holy Spirit, we can truly give with a cheerful heart for we can see the joy it brings to the receiver or the fruits the giving produces.

But we are talking about tithing here, not offerings. Offerings is another topic which I will share about in another message. If we honestly think about it, what we do with the 90% is really about how we live out the Christian life isn't it?

For His Glory!