Wednesday, October 28, 2009
If I don't Tithe am I under a curse?
In my early days of going to church, I attended a Pentecostal church who taught the principle of tithing. My question is: Does this apply to people who are under grace? Is there a penalty for those who do not give 10 percent of their income to the local church? I say no Tithing is under Old Testament law and is no longer applicable, although the bible does teach about giving offering which is totally different. The Original Law says this: 30 " 'A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD. (Lev: 27:30) (There were actually three tithes prescribed during that time, but for the sake of my argument I’ll keep it general.) Now, those who are for tithing will say this:1) Since Tithing predates Law, it exists after Jesus completed the Law Genesis 14:18-20 18And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) 19And he blessed him and said, "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor[a] of heaven and earth;20and blessed be God Most High,who has delivered your enemies into your hand!" And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.2)God proclaims a blessing for compliance and a curse for disobeyingMalachi 3:8-12 8 “ 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; 12 And all nations will call you blessed, For you will be a delightful land,” Says the LORD of hosts.For those who believe this consider that although tithing predates the law, doesn’t circumcision also predate the law? (Genesis 17:11) that is not a law that we follow today. No man on earth will be justified through circumcision Or Tithing. Lets move to Leviticus. This passage of scripture begs and important question: is someone acceptable to God because of the offering he gives? In other words someone who gives to God because of rule of law is that offering acceptable? No. We have an example of this earlier in the book of Malachi 1:6-10 where Israel is giving the Lord blemished sacrifices, and grieving God so much that he wishes that the temple doors would be shut so that no one could give anymore offerings. But Israel was following the Lord’s commands they were giving offerings weren’t they? They were giving offerings but they were defiled because that was the condition of their hearts. Is that different from today? What is tithing based on? The law! What does that mean? It’s means that if I do this God will then in response bless me. There is a problem with that. If there was a way to merit the blessing of God by our works, the Gospel would lack power. The Gospel is this: There is no way that we can merit God’s favor by what we do, the only reason that we have God’s favor is solely based on the merit and work of Christ. Meaning that the entire system of tithing (along with the rest of Levitical law) has been completed in Christ. Israel’s sacrifice was unacceptable because although they followed the law, their hearts where far from God like the Lord says in Isaiah 29:13 13 The Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.So what does this mean? 1) Because of Christ’s sacrifice God has solved our heart problem2 Corinthians 3:3 - 3 And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.2)Because of Christ the curse of the written code is broken and by extension the reward is no longer neededColossians 2:14 13When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.3)We have been given all spiritual blessings in Christ which is higher than the material.Ephesians 1:3- 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly placesThis means that every blessing that we can think of has been given to us already in Christ. Meaning that Christ is our reward, and because we have been given Christ we have been blessed beyond all patriarchs and kings of the Old Testament. Those of you who believe in Christ, we no longer need to fear the curse because that law was completed in him. Tithing the way that is used today only fuels more idolatry. You will hear phrases such as “If I give to God he will make sure I get that promotion, or He will make sure I get the things I am praying for, or Christians living in fear of the devourer. Christ did not die so that we can live in fear of law any longer, but the joy of his resurrection. There are some churches that do not know truth because they have been indoctrinated themselves (this is a longstanding belief) and there are some who will never tell you this because they are more concerned for their lifestyle then Christ and wish to make merchandise of you.To this some will say, “Dwayne, are you saying to stop giving to the church?” No! God Forbid. What I’m saying is those that have a new heart given to them by the Holy Sprit want to give and do not need to be told. Neither do they need to fear the curse. Just be watchful of churches, If you find your church is more into fanfare, or listing 10 ways to be a better whatever, and not Christ then I wouldn’t give there. Those who do not give but horde money are guilty of idolatry they love money more than God and chances are, are not saved. I do not give because of the curse (Christ cancelled that), I do not give because of the blessing (Christ has already given me that), I do not give because “I’m claiming a blessing from God that God cannot give them unless they give to him” (because I cannot give God anything because I do not own anything even the breath I breathe belongs to him.) But because I love Jesus and want to see his Gospel Proclaimed to all people everywhere.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)

No comments:
Post a Comment