Bene Riobó, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

I heard this phrase recently…the church is just asking for money.

That comment forms the seed for this post.

It really wearies me to hear people say things like that.  I’m not a church.  So this has nothing to do with me, other than that, as a member of the body of Christ, there is a certain amount of suffering that happens communally to the whole body due to the refusal of certain parts of the body to do their part and carry the individual weight and call that God calls those individual parts of the body to do.

I Corinthians 12:25  (KJV) That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.

26 And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it;

If you stub your toe, the whole body feels it.  The body may still function, but in pain, and it may function  with a bit of suffering until the repercussions of the stubbed toe go away.

Have you ever hurt part of your body…sprained, it broken it?  Other parts of your body carry an extra load of weight while waiting for the part of the body to heal.  The body still functions, but in a limited way, while an extra burden is put on the stronger parts of the body until the weaker part is healed.

The body of Christ does not live as individual entities…”me and Jesus”…but the body of Christ functions as one, and there is a composite health or suffering that goes on.

If there weren’t a carrying of loads for other parts of the body as they grow up in Christ, then scriptures like this would not exist.

Romans 15:15 We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.

 

Galatians 6:6 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.

2 Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

Why restore anyone if it doesn’t matter?

When people hurt themselves and have to go to some kind of therapy, there is generally a cost for paying for the therapy.  The ongoing expense encourages one to make an effort to follow the instructions of the therapist, unless the person receiving the therapy wants to keep paying the cost for lessons forever.

In today’s world, there is a cost for not tithing.  However, people may not realize the cost they are paying for not tithing.  Things happen, and due to modernist, secular interpretation, it happens because “fill in the blank”, or because maybe you  just “perceive” it the wrong way,  but the real reason things happen is due to scriptural principles violated.

Proverbs 26:2 As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come.

3 A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool’s back.

The tithe is the Lord’s.

It is because of the overall refusal to tithe that this nation is in the state that it is in.

You don’t like inflation; the sleazy, corrupt, incapable politicians; the toxic jabs, the things you are going through, you don’t like it?

Did you tithe?   When the good times were rolling, when the economy was strong, did you and your friends who mock the tithe…did they tithe?

Deuteronomy 8:11 Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day:

12 Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein;

13 And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied;

14 Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;

15 Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint;

16 Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end;

17 And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.

18 But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.

19 And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.

20 As the nations which the Lord destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish; because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the Lord your God.

 

The curse that is promised to those who don’t tithe came on this nation.

The mocking of the tithe, the refusal to tithe, has brought the United States to where it is today.

Malachi 3:6 For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

7 Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?

8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.

9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.

10 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.

11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts.

12 And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.

13 Your words have been stout against me, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee?

14 Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts?

Tithing was instituted before the law.  It is not part of the law that was nailed to the cross.  The part of the law that was nailed to the cross was the part having to do with the sacrifices of lambs and animals for sin.  Jesus was the last sacrifice for sin, the last Lamb slain for the salvation of the world.

Abraham tithed.  Abraham was before Moses.  The law, dictated by God, came through Moses.  Moses re-taught about tithes and offerings to God, along with other laws.   But Abraham already tithed, and Abraham came before Moses.

Abel gave an offering.  Abel was one of Adam’s sons.

Tithes and offerings existed from the beginning.

People mock the tithe.  They won’t give to God,  but then they will go buy a big screen TV.  Some even fight over that TV.  That TV will advertise all sorts of things.  People go out and spend money on those things that they see advertised, but they do not tithe.

People do not say when they spend money on “stuff” that all the stores and corporations want is our money.

But when it comes to the church, they say, all the church wants is our money.

Churches are the outposts for the ambassadors of Christ’s message on the earth.

What do they offer?  Well, for one thing, how to escape hell and attain heaven.  They teach how to be born again, how to begin a walk with Jesus.

But then again, maybe that is not worth as much to some people as that big screen TV.  Everyone has what they hold dear to their hearts.

Yes, the church does ask for some money.  But it’s justified in that.  Actually, collecting tithes and offerings from the people was a requirement.

Leviticus 27:30 And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s: it is holy unto the Lord.

Can you imagine walking up to Jesus in the flesh, who bled and died for salvation, for your salvation, for my salvation, and saying to him just before the crucifixion…all you want is my money?

Can you imagine walking up to Jesus, at the Last Supper, just before he went to the Garden of Gethsemane, agonizing for what he would suffer for my and your salvation, saying, Jesus, all you want is my money.

Matthew 26:39 And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.

Jesus knew what would happen to him as it was prophesied through the law and the prophets.  He knew how much he would suffer for the sin of mankind, to redeem mankind.  Jesus suffered so much for us.  How crass to complain about giving what belongs to God anyway.

Isaiah 53:1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?

2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Psalm 22:1 My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?

2 O my God, I cry in the day time, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.

3 But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.

4 Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.

5 They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.

6 But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.

7 All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,

8 He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.

9 But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother’s breasts.

10 I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother’s belly.

11 Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.

12 Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.

13 They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.

14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.

15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.

16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.

17 I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.

18 They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.

19 But be not thou far from me, O Lord: O my strength, haste thee to help me.

20 Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.

21 Save me from the lion’s mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.

You will get your reward from what you give to.  Will your big screen TV help you at the time of your death?

If you say, I give to charity, some charities are simply front groups for laundering money at worse, or may divert money into private pockets, some through nepotism.

Find a church or charity that preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ and where it is evident that the money goes where it should.  Good ones have audits and have their finances open to examination.

I understand why some people don’t give to certain churches.  I’ve heard it.

But if you don’t like a church, if you don’t feel it is one worthy of your tithe, and so complain about giving to it, then find one that does help you connect with Jesus.   Don’t use  one certain experience as a reason not to tithe.  The tithe is required of the Lord.  You miss out if you make excuses not to tithe, no matter how legitimate you think those excuses may be.

Genesis 4:6 And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?

7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

Connecting with Jesus is the whole point.  The church is not merely a building or a place where there is a different kind of entertainment or where they don’t tell lewd jokes and have church music instead of other music.

The whole point of the message at church, or should be, if you are connecting to a good church, is to help you find and follow the Lord, and grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.  This is an internal work of the heart, not an outward manifestation of sitting on a chair or pew week after week.

If you are not developing in your relationship with Christ, then maybe that is not the right church for you, and maybe you do need to find one that helps you in your relationship with God.  But when you do find that church, tithe to it.

The relationship with God is not a one-sided relationship where Jesus does everything and we do nothing but eat, drink, and be merry.

Here is food for thought.

Luke 12:16 And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:

17 And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?

18 And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.

19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.

20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?

21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

Matthew 24:48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;

49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;

50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,

51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

There is some preaching the makes it sound like Jesus does everything and that not much is required of us.  Actually, this is not true.

Being born again, is a sovereign work of God, no man (mankind) can birth himself into the kingdom of God.

Following Jesus takes dedication.

Matthew 16:24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.

One of the dedications of following Jesus is tithing.  Actually, the tithe belongs to the Lord.  To not give it makes one a thief.  It really isn’t any special dedication to give to God what already belongs to him.   If you steal from God, why are you surprised if you have problems in your life?  Don’t blame God.

Look at the rewards of tithing.

Modern secularists think they are “enlightened” or “past” tithing and that is “old-fashioned” and that people who weren’t “very smart” in times past did it because they just weren’t that developed and hadn’t “let the elevator go to the top”.

On this earth we are constantly being tried or tested as to “what” we are made of and how we will respond to the grace of God.  If you don’t know that, well, now you do.

Revelation 20:12  And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.

 

I Corinthians 3:11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;

13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.

14 If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.

15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

Tithing is the only place where God says to “prove Him”.

God always proves himself faithful.

If you prove yourself consistent and faithful to do what God says, to give tithes and offerings, then expect God to be faithful to His Word.  God is always faithful to fulfill his promises if we do our part.

Malachi 3:6 For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

7 Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?

8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.

9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.

10 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.

11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts.

12 And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.

13 Your words have been stout against me, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee?

14 Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts?