Indeed the Lord will always honor whatever we do or give to Him, for He must honor the practice of trust, though He prefers our obedience rather that the works of tithing. Again, this is a high-jakced teaching which the "corporate church" and par-church organizations have turned it into a sacred cow. When I shared my feelings on this subject it was without having even read this or any other article. There have been a few bible teachers who have been honest and subjective enough to declare the truth about tithing, but for most it has become a most convenient source of income.
I went back to my parent's church last weekend, hoping maybe the leadership had matured, but it was the same. They had a guest speaker but the main pastor was down in the front row. I don't want to sound like I'm judging him, but whenever the speaker said something about how God blesses those that are willing to put their money first into the Kingdom of God (church), both he and his wife both jumped out of the seat applauding and laughing, "AMEN!". It was quite over the top. I'm sure the church is hurting and they need the money but I grew up in that church and they probably harped on tithing more than average. I do think tithing is important, but it defitenly has to be of one's own free will, and should go to a theological sound and mature church. :)
Boy Donna - you hit on a BIG pet peeve of mine. I have not found in the New Testament anything on tithing. What I consider Jesus reference to tithing is in Matthew 22:
18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”
21 “Caesar’s,” they replied.
Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
22 When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.
When he said to give what is God's to God, he was talking about our hearts. He gave himself in exchange for our hearts. Our 'tithing' is complete submission of our heart.
The mindset that I like to work on within myself is that ALL I have is a blessing from God. All of my money is his that he put in my care. So giving back to him should be a natural thing - it's his to start with.
I love my pastor but this is one area that I disagree with him on. When he quotes scripture on tithing - every bit of it is Old Testament and he says that it is scriptural that we give a certain percentage. The church needs financial support. As much as we may not like it, the Lord's work costs money. I would MUCH rather hear a pastor get in the pulpit and say 'Hey, these are the things we're trying to support in addition to keeping the lights on here and we need your help.'
I would love for a church to have a lock-box in the back of the sanctuary - and let the congregation give as they will. I can't stand the speech about tithes as well as the offering plate/bag that goes around. Who invented the offering plate? Didn't church begin with a lock-box in the back? The story of Yeshua and the widow with the two mites was her dropping it into the "treasury" of the temple. There was no "offering plate" passed around the rabbis.
Do they have an offering plate at a Catholic mass? I don't even know.
People shouldn't feel bullied/shamed/obligated to give. God wants us to give from the heart, and the only way to do that is for the offering to be graceful. My old church used to have a short word/mini sermon about tithes/offerings. Maybe just 2 to 5 minutes long, but still... Everyone knows you should give to the church. It's not a new idea. I wonder what would happen if a church tried the honor system offering.
Your local church is not going to function without it receiving some kind of income from its congregants on a regular basis. Most churches are probably 501-C3s, so they can use their money without paying taxes---so salaries, church upkeep and running, ministries to the pubic, are not magically being paid. So although the tithe is a part of the law, let's also know that giving unto God supports His church and gets us away from idolizing our money.
requirement to tithe is under the Law again , which Christ already fulfilled for us so that we could just give as we will , cheerfully .
The Word : The Lord loves a cheerful giver !
