God Says "put me to the Test"
And he will bless you...
This post is the second in a series on our responsibility to financially support the preaching of the Gospel.
In the first post, we discussed how to give to God. He warns us to be wary about whom we give our money to, for it is very easy to be deceived into supporting those who oppose God, rather than those who love him! (Matt 24:5-24, Mark 13:22, Luke 21:8, Acts 20:29-30, 2Cor 11:13-15, 2 Peter 2:1-3)
Tithing
It’s ironic that while many Christian churches teach that the Old Testament is done away, and rarely quote it, they do actually often cite the following few verses of the book of Malachi when preaching about money!
Throughout the book of Malachi God has a long detailed discussion with Israel. We break into this long discussion, with God saying that they have robbed him:
Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, 'How have we robbed you?' (God replies to them) In your tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby (you can) put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more room to receive it. (Mal 3:8-10)
God tells them to “Bring the full tithe into the storehouse”. To give a tithe is to give a tenth, generally of your income, being your increase over and above what you have spent in obtaining your income.
The first mention of tithing is when Abraham paid to Melchizedek a tithe on the spoils of a war. Melchizedek was the priest of God (Gen 14:18-20, Heb 7:1-5) Jacob also promised to do the same, if God would provide for him. (Gen 28:20-22)
To whom Jacob paid his tenth is not spelt out, but in the land of Israel God commanded that people give tithes, from the increase of their land, to the Priests and Levites who taught the law. (Num 18:21-24, Heb 7:5) This tenth may have been in the form of animals and produce, or money. It was used for the work of upkeeping the temple in the Old Testament, and teaching the people God’s word.
There are also references for a tithe, or a portion of it, to be used for the poor, and another portion of it be kept to use for rejoicing at the festivals. (Deut 12:6-19, 14:22-29, 26:12-14) Unfortunately, it’s not particularly clear in scripture whether these tithes for the poor and festivals were a second or third tithe, on top of the first tithe for the Levites.
However, this post is not about these possible three tithes, but about how you can be tricked into giving money to people who should not get it.
God’s Promised Blessings To Tithe Givers
As we have seen above, in Malachi 3:8-10, God promises to greatly bless the loyal tithe giver. However, it is at this point where most Christian ministers stop reading in Malachi. But, God continues in Malachi to say a lot more on the subject of tithing and their attitude to him in the next few verses:
Your words have been harsh against me, says the Lord. But you say, 'How have we spoken against you?' (God replies) You have said, 'It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts? And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape.' (Mal 3:13-15)
This is a complaint against God, that he did not execute prompt judgement on arrogant evildoers, nor did he bless those who kept his commands, and that even those who fast and mourn before him were not blessed.
These people who faithfully paid their tithes, were expecting to see a difference between the righteous and the wicked during their lifetime. However, the next verse tells us when these blessings will be provided to faithful people:
Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name. "They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him. (Mal 3:16-18)
While God has promised to bless you if you give tithes, the blessing may not be in this life, but in the day when I make up my treasured possession. Which seems to be a reference to the future Kingdom of God on Earth, and the resurrection of the righteous. (Isaiah 62:1-3, Rev 20:12-15)
What therefore are the blessings we can expect today from giving tithes? It could be the agricultural blessing of good crops, but (as we see in this scripture) such blessings may also be upon the arrogant evildoers.
It seems God allows such evil people to be blessed, in order to test those who have faith in God. He wanted to see if “those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name” did not “call the arrogant blessed” nor worry that “evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and escape”.
On the other hand, we see that the righteous spoke with one another, and whatever they spoke about it was so important that the Lord paid attention and heard them!
No doubt they asked God to be present during their meetings, but they were not speaking to God in this context, but to each other, and God listened in, and was very pleased with what he heard them talking about.
What was it that they were talking about? Perhaps it was what was said in the previous few chapters. And this is the important part to understand, for this book of Malachi is not written to the lay people, but to the priests.
God is actually talking to the priests all through the book of Malachi, and telling them that they didn’t have the right attitude toward him. However, the priests answer God back with what seem to be very arrogant words of accusation against God!
Who Is Righteous And Who Is Wicked?
While these unrighteous priests, because of their lack of faith and disloyalty to God, would only be able to see a distinction between the righteous and the wicked at the time of the resurrection, we see that those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name saw this distinction in their lifetime, for they met with and talked with each other- they therefore recognized the difference between the righteous and the wicked.
However, while God expected the tithe to go to him, that is not the major lesson from Malachi. What God really wants is all righteous people to consider what he has to say, and discuss it amongst themselves, and to do so in an attitude of respect for his name.
God doesn’t need your money, what God needs (in order to bless you with eternal life in the resurrection, which is the ultimate blessing from heaven) is the right attitude of awe and love and respect toward him.
If he doesn’t get such an attitude, he won’t give you eternal life- for he would be certain that you couldn’t use it properly.
This passage in Malachi seems to be not so much a challenge to individual members to pay tithes. It is actually the culmination of the entire book of Malachi, which is a book specifically written to the priests to correct them on their wrong attitude toward God.
In order to understand what God is actually saying, we need to get the context and the correct rendering of the text.
When Malachi says ‘In your tithes and offerings.’ the word ‘your’ is not in the original text. So, as the entire context of the book of Malachi is talking to the priests, it would seem logical that this verse is not talking to individual lay members about their own tithes and offerings, but rather how the priests were using the tithes and offerings given to them.
The next verse says Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. It seems that the priests were actually collecting the tithe, but not bringing it into the Lord’s storehouse for use in the temple, or for distributing to the poor, widows, and orphans, but using it for themselves!
This scripture, used by ministers to ‘motivate’ and intimidate people into paying tithes, is more likely a very stern correction to the ministry, to use the tithes entrusted to them in a righteous and correct manner.
This is a great example why we need to be very careful in not being led down the wrong track by false ministers, who manipulate scripture (such as this one) to their own ends.
What was meant to correct the ministers, they even twist to their own ends and put the blame on the lay members, so as to get money out of gullible people who don’t read the scriptures!
Yet we see that “those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name” did discuss such things amongst themselves, and God was pleased that they did. No doubt they were not deceived by the false leaders of their day. Therefore, in order not to get sucked into simplistic readings of complex scriptures, we today should also talk about God’s word amongst ourselves.
Should Christians Give Tithes And Offerings?
The Bible specifically talks about the tithe, or tenth, that God claims as his own. (Lev 27:30-32, Num 18:21-24) And, as we have seen, those who uses the tithe incorrectly are seen as robbing God. (Malachi 3:8-9)
Many Christian ministers, when talking about giving tithes, combine these scriptures from the Old Testament with Jesus saying that tithes, even on the increase of herbs, should not be neglected. (Matt 23:23, Luke 11:42)
In these examples in both Matthew and Luke, Jesus is confronting the Pharisees, because they loved to lord it over others and live in luxury, at the lay people’s expense.
Please take the time to read Matthew 23:1-36 and Luke 11:37-54 to get the context of the only two times Jesus mentioned tithing.
There is only one other place that tithing is mentioned in the New Covenant, and that is referring to Abraham. (Heb 7:2-4) Given these limited scriptures on tithing, those ministers who say tithing is the way people should calculate their gifts to God have not much to support them. And this is no doubt why they refer to Malachi 3:8-9, even if they normally rarely quote the Old Testament scriptures.
When Jesus mentioned tithing, in Matthew 23:1-36 and Luke 11:37-54, it was in the context of warning us not to follow the Pharisees’ example, as they were hypocrites and fools, full of evil intent. In this context he says:
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith: these (justice, mercy and faith) you ought to have done, and not to leave the other (tithing on mint etc.) undone. You blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. (Matt 23:23-24)
He compares tithing on mint etc. to straining out a gnat. However, when they omitted from the law the essential elements of justice, mercy, and faith, then they were unaware of the fact that they were swallowing a camel!
The point is clear- Pharisees were magnifying insignificant things, while ignoring the basic foundational purpose of the law. Their entire perspective was upside down!
In Luke 11:37-54 the words of Jesus are similar, but the context of this confrontation is even more dramatic. Having been invited by a Pharisee into his own home, for him and his disciples to dine, he then confronts this Pharisee, and other Pharisees also at the meal, with many blunt statements of their foolishness, and hypocrisy! One assumes he was not invited back?!
He was confronting the Pharisees for their complete misdirection of the intent and purpose of the law. They used the law to exalt themselves, whereas its purpose is to help others live righteously and to glorify God.
False Teachers Walking In The Steps Of The Pharisees
It seems ironic, therefore, that Christian preachers use these very scripture to say that tithing is commanded, just because Jesus said and not to leave the other undone. To take the lesson, from these two confrontations in Matthew and Luke, that we are commanded to tithe, is to totally miss the intent of what Christ was saying!
In it’s original context, these scriptures show that tithing is considered totally unimportant- just as if you were to strain out a tiny insect, while blithely eating an entire camel!
Indeed, it’s clear that such blindness and sleight of hand on the part of Christian teachers, is exactly the same approach that the Pharisees had when they misdirected people in the intent of the law!
Both the Pharisees and modern false Christian teachers look for what they want to see, and ignore the rest, no matter how foundational it is- such as justice, mercy and faith.
Even though Jesus did say that tithing was required of the Pharisees, the entire point of what he was saying was that they didn’t have love and justice and mercy and faith toward God and other people.
The obvious lesson from these scriptures is that tithing is utterly insignificant when compared to the requirements of justice, mercy and faith.
We need to take into account more than just one or two scriptures in order to get a full understanding of what God expects us to do with the physical blessings he has given us. The above verses certainly don’t provide any evidence that tithing is required in the New Covenant.
If we search the New Testament, we cannot find any example that tithing is mentioned as a method of supporting the ministry. Even so, we must also admit that tithing is also never actually ruled out as being unnecessary. The New Testament is in fact deafly quiet on the subject of giving tithes to God or not.
So, if you believe that God wants you to pay tithes on your increase, then the really important question is, “what is an increase”? In the next post we will examine the scriptures, to see how to determine if you have had an increase or not, and how to calculate what God expects you to give to him.