Many people have questioned the need for tithing in the church. I have heard arguments ranging from "nowhere in the bible does God speak about tithing" to "the preacher just wants the tithes so that he can pay for his new Benz" to "if they believe God will provide, why do they have to ask for money?" Anyone who has not thoroughly studied the bible or at least made an attempt to uncover some answers to their own questions through the bible could pose any of the sample questions I provided above.
Dictionary.com defines tithe as follows:
–noun
| 1. | Sometimes, tithes. the tenth part of agricultural produce or personal income set apart as an offering to God or for works of mercy, or the same amount regarded as an obligation or tax for the support of the church, priesthood, or the like. |
| 2. | any tax, levy, or the like, esp. of one-tenth. |
| 3. | a tenth part or any indefinitely small part of anything. |
–verb (used with object)
–verb (used without object) | 4. | to give or pay a tithe or tenth of (produce, money, etc.). |
| 5. | to give or pay tithes on (crops, income, etc.). |
| 6. | to exact a tithe from (a person, community, parish, etc.). |
| 7. | to levy a tithe on (crops, income, etc |
| 8. | to give or pay a tithe. |
There are in fact, 18 total times in which tithing is discussed in the Bible. There are a couple of scriptures that deal with those example questions I posed in the previous paragraph.
Leviticus 27:30 (NIV)
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.
The word tithe comes from an old English word meaning tenth. Tithing, then, is giving back to God a tenth of one's increase. Crops and agriculture were and still are considered a form of currency. Other forms of currency include various forms of cash from different places around the world. Some of those currencies include pesos, yen, pounds, dollars, to name a few. Others would say that tithing is not always monetarily valuable. Some venture to say that the giving of time, talent, and resources is part of tithing. What God has blessed you with, he wants to see a return on that gift. He wants NO talents to go wasted or untapped. Whatever the main currency was then and now, God is due the first tenth, and expects us to live off of the other ninety percent. Tithing is basically giving to God a percentage of your increase, or your profit. It's the return God gets for investing in you.
Malachi 3:10-11 (NIV)
10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the LORD Almighty, and 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.
11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit, says the LORD Almighty.
Let's get this clear now. I believe that the church is the people that gather in God's name, not the building. I believe that people can gather anywhere and still be the church. But the building that houses the church folks--wherever it is--cannot run on prayer alone. Like any other building, bills need to be paid, lights need to be kept on, and staff need their paychecks.
God's initial investment in you has yielded a profit, and God wants to see a return on his investment. That return comes in the form of taking care of his storehouse. The food that He speaks of in Malachi 3:10 is both figuratively and literally. By bringing in the tenth/tithe of your profit and giving it to God, you are also providing something that may not have been otherwise available. Without church (people) providing tithes in all its forms, the building in which they gather would sustain damage, decay, and eventual collapse.
Tithes are important in taking care of the church (people). Part of God's storehouse are the people that come to His storehouse. That is why there are both tithes and offerings. Tithes are what is demanded of us, what God deserves as a return in his investment. Offering is what we are willing to give above and beyond what God requires of us. It essentially a contribution, or donation to the storehouse, in addition to our tithes.
Matthew 23:23 (NIV)
23 Woe, to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites? You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law--justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.
Luke 11:42 (NIV)
Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue, and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practice the latter without leaving the former undone.
Both of these verses touch on the same matter. Yes, it is important to tithe, but we have to make sure we are tithing as well as upholding other laws God has set before us. We cannot forget the "more important matters of the law" (Matthew 23:23). We cannot uphold God's laws half-heartedly, nor can we pick and choose what we abide by and what we ignore. I know, this is SO hard to follow, I must admit that I've rationalized being disobedient on past occasions. But now that I'm older, I have recognized that those things I chose to ignore have definitely made an impact on my life and the way things have gone for me when I have been and am disobedient.
If God has blessed us with resources, be them time, talent, money, etc., He expects us to use them. That is tithing. Too many people get tied up in the concept of giving a church/pastor money and not thinking about all the things that need to be taken care of in the church house. Yes, God will provide and we shouldn't worry, but He provides through other's resources, money, time, talent, or otherwise.
There is so much I want to say. This conversation to be continued...
