Monday, August 18, 2008

Tithing


Though the term “tithing” could only be found in the Bible… to date, tithing is still remain sensitive and is the most debated issue in the body of Christ.

If only the truth can be revealed, tithing is actually a privilege granted to a believer and it is closely associated with sowing in the Bible. “Sowing and reaping” is the Kingdom system whereas; the system of “buying and selling” is from the world.

We are able to know the number of seeds in an apple, but we can never know the number of apples in a seed. Unless we sow the seed, a seed will still remain as a seed. When a seed is sown, it will grow to become a tree! So whenever we sow, we are to expect a harvest.


If we are still a non believer, what we are giving is not a gift to God; it is a repayment of debts. It’s a far cry from being considered as tithing because we cannot give to our Creditor, while we still owe the debt that we could not pay. Our Heavenly Father, offered up His begotten Son Jesus Christ, paid not only our debts, but the debts of the whole world. It only took us a belief away to be debt free from sins, sicknesses, curses, poverty… and you name it. As a debt free individual, a believer and sons or daughters of God, we have been placed in the prestigious position to give instead of paying debt!

In the midst of my road to Emmaus, I too, have all sorts of silly Q&A sessions with our Lord. These are those silly questions… (Mind you, a lot of times His threw questions back to me instead of answering my questions…)

Me: “Do I still have to tithe in the New Covenant? Or under the grace dispensation, do I really have to tithe?”
Lord: “I AM not a God under an old or a new covenant. I AM above the Covenants and I am the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. You are tithing to God not to the covenants…”
Me: “???... Ok

Me: “Do I have to give the net or the gross?”
Lord: “Are you not pleased to see that you can tithe more? Have you realized that the more you can tithe means more is your income? You are now tithing out of your income; not tithe to increase your income. If to tithe less is your wish, then I will supply you with less seed so that you can tithe less.”
Me: “The gross, Lord” I did not feel condemn, I laugh instead with a warm sensation in my heart… Praise Him!

Me: “Will I be 10% poorer after I have tithed? I can actually do quit a lot of thing with this 10% You know....”
Lord: “Who have made you focus on the 10% instead of the 90% that you have?”
Me: “???… Ok.”

A truth is always has to be built on Jesus’ finished work. It was only when I have been enlightened by grace that I started to understand God actually had shown us a very powerful example. He gave up His begotten Son, Jesus Christ, the First Fruit and the best from Heaven, to the world. He redeemed all that Adam had lost and now, receiving multitudes of sons and daughters through the death of Jesus on the cross.

With this revelation, I understand sin is already a settled issue to God and I am now totally free from debt. God has put me in the prestigious position of giving instead of paying. I understand that I have already been blessed with every spiritual things in heavenly realm in Christ, so tithing become a worship and a thank giving. It is no more a mean for me to force God to bless me. I am amazed to realize that the figure of my tithe is increasing. Praise Him…

I like an illustration used by Pastor Joseph Prince on tithing. A man asked him, “Do Christian need to tithe?” And he just gave a very cool answer; “Does a husband needs to kiss his wife?” Cool… Sound very much like our Lord; using a question to answer a question…

Tithing is a relationship not a requirement; it is not even a regulation or even a law. We tithe because He is alive…

Hebrews 7:8 ~ Here mortal men receive tithes, but there he receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives.

Definitely we don’t give to the dead right?

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20 comments:

  1. Hey Allan, must admit, dont know if i fully agree with Joseph Prince..take a look at this...what you think?....http://gracerevolution.ning.com/forum/topic/show?id=2136434%3ATopic%3A1835

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  2. Shalom Craig,

    Link noted with thanks. I'm not in the position to give any remark. Look to Jesus. He is our Lord and He is alive. The answer is with Him.

    I cannot say I'm there but I am still asking the Lord to show me more on Paul's revelation.

    Don't ever agree with man or even Joseph Prince if the teaching is not from the Bible. Receive the light, check with your Bible and the anointing you received from Him can teach you about all things.

    Have peace in Him knowing that You are His beloved.

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    1. Man, thank you for this comment. I believe most questions if NOT ALL are answered in Christ alone, and Him alone.

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  3. Shalom! :)

    Wonderful blog!
    May the Lord receive all the glory.

    http://bestchristianblogoftheweek.blogspot.com/

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  4. "Tithing is a relationship not a requirement; it is not even a regulation or even a law. We tithe because He is alive…"

    I like this attitude you have.

    So far, I still don't really believe in tithing, or maybe I should say I prefer not using the word 'tithe'. This has been a long process for me getting to that point however, tithing had been deeply ingrained in me having grown up in the church. I was actually terrified not to tithe, expecting curse if I failed.

    I do believe that a new covenant believer is free to tithe if he/she wants, I just rather call it giving so it is not connected in my mind to law or obligation. I liked the idea you have that we can now give because we do not owe God anything anymore, the tithe belonged to God under law, it was not giving at all, but a robbery if you failed to bring it back to God.

    We now enjoy a different kind of giving in our lives, a freedom to be lavishly generous because we know how lavish and generous God is with us! We give where we see need, we give where the Holy Spirit inspires us, we give to show that we are joined together in Spirit with other ministries and believers, we give with great joy out of great love. What a blessing to be able to demonstrate God's grace in such a tangible way to those who are struggling to know him and his love or are facing opposition or persecution.

    Blessings!

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    1. I totally agree with you.

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  5. Somehow or rather, we all have been hurt by legalism. You, me and many others from different parts of the world, we were all bully by the forces behind legalism. Down through the history, these Biblical truths and the providence of God had been severely attacked and perverted by the spirit behind legalism.

    Praise God we are now free from legalism; but it's sad to see that there are still multitudes of them under the captivity of legalism; and these are sincere people...

    Keep open up your heart to His love; and live a Spirit led life. You just cannot be stagnant when you are flowing in His river. After all, it is all about His grace... even our tithing.

    2 Corinthians 9:10~11 Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

    Grace and peace be multiplied in your life...

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  6. Hi Alan,

    I am Stanley and have been attending New Creation Church since Oct 2003.

    Pastor Prince has said several times before: do not tithe if you do not have the revelation about tithing.

    Your offerings are what you give above and beyond the tithe. Basically, my revelation about tithing is this:

    1) It is a privilege to tithe, not an obligation. God receives tithes only from His children. Pastor Prince said: It is not that we have to tithe, but rather we get to tithe.

    2) Money itself is unrighteous
    (Luke 16:11 NKJV - Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?)

    3) The tithe makes the money holy
    (Romans 11:16 NKJV - For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches.)

    4) The tithe acknowledges that God is the provider of my wealth
    (Deut 8:16-18 NKJV - 16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do you good in the end— 17 then you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.’
    18 “And you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.)

    5) Deut 8:18 says to remember the Lord - "remember" does not refer to recalling in your mind but rather "remember" is an act, in this case the act of tithing which is the offering of your firstfruit.
    Jesus told his disciples to take the Holy Communion to remember him.
    (1 Cor 11:24-25 NKJV 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat;[a] this is My body which is broken[b] for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”)

    6) Tithing is for our own benefit, not God's
    (Psalm 50:9-11 NKJV - 9 I will not take a bull from your house, Nor goats out of your folds.
    10 For every beast of the forest is Mine, And the cattle on a thousand hills.
    11 I know all the birds of the mountains, And the wild beasts of the field are Mine.)

    Pastor Prince preached several sermons over the years about the tithe - do listen to them for your own revelation (you can purchase them from the online store at josephprince.com).

    1) The Benefits Of Tithing (15/10/2000)
    2) When Your Tithe Reminds God Of Christ (28/4/2002)
    3) Your Tithe Testifies That He's Alive (17/4/2005)
    4) God's Best Kept Secret On Tithing - Can You Take It? (17/2/2008)

    Grace Grace

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  7. Hi Stanley,

    Thanks you for dropping by my bog; you are most welcome indeed. You are blessed to sit under Pastor Prince's ministry. You are indeed blessed, Brother... Well Stanley, I would consider myself and my fellow grace-walkers in SIB Grace blessed as well, as the Lord did not forget us when He lavishes this mystery of Christ which was not made known to men in other generations.

    I was led to share this post based on "tikam tikam" basic so that not only the giraffe can benefit from this but the sheep of different growth as well... Praise God ! It is indeed, heartwarming to see that the Lord has made you grown to that level.

    By the way, we in SIB Grace have all the CD you have mentioned and even the preaching on Grain, Wine and the Olive oil... Gosh, they are good food for our spirits!

    Thank you very much once again for visiting us and indeed you are most welcome to drop by again... of course to encourage us. Amen!

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  8. Jesus said give to Cesar what belong s to Cesar, and give to God what belongs to God. We have to go by what Jesus said...a portion of the income you earn belongs to God. The only thing mentioned belonging to Him is the first fruit, and the tithe. We shouldn't allow ourselves to be overcome by Mammon!!

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  9. I honestly think christians should concider stopping teaching tithing alltogether as a practice, unless it is taught as a shadow in the law for new testament spirit led giving. The reason is that the teaching to the church on tithing is essentially non existing in the bible. It is only used in hebrews as a shadow that teaches us that christ is a greter priest than the aronic system. So we should stay in balance with scripture.
    The grace moevement has proven that the bible has no law about tithing for christians. Great, but the conclusion is very too often: "but we still tithe because it is the right thing to do". This is not good enough.
    Set people free, let the spirit of giving come upon the church and let them give under grace. The giving will be blessed, the churches will be blessed, the crops will be supernatural.
    This is how Moses build his tabernacle, only trough spirit led gifts from the people, not trough tithing or described offerings. And it was so blessed Moses had to stop their giving. He had too much. Thats the biblical standard. Lets not get stuck in a lesser and binding law like tithing. Its not for us.

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    1. I had this debate with a friend. He doesn't believe in tithing because he says we are under grace, so we should give from our hearts. I then asked him how much he had given to the poor in the last year. His reply, nothing. Amazing how those who say don't tithe but give from your heart actually don't give. The devil will use even good things, like grace, to try to deceive us. For all you great Theologians out there, let's not debate scripture and just use some common sense and logic, because we can debate scripture till the cows come home. The satanic world is advancing at frightening pace, because they are very well funded. So if we all stopped tithing and gave "from our hearts" I wonder if TBN or any christian broadcasting network would still survive, certainly not. But then I guess all those who preach against tithing would sell all they have and go on mission trips around the world, yes? I think not. You and I can debate theology forever and still reach no definite conclusion, because there was a time when I also preached against tithing. You see, the only defining factor is experience, a personal experience with God - no amount of theology can beat that. I have had a personal encounter with God regarding tithing, so I am firm in my belief. If we believe God to be a God of Grace, then stop looking at it as us giving 10%, but rather God letting us have 90%, since everything belongs to Him anyway, even the life you use to make that money belongs to Him.


      PS: In the new testament (think it's Ephesians) it says that the new testament church is built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, of which Jesus is the cornerstone. Yet we refuse the prophetic words of Malachai on tithing because it falls a few pages before the new testament. Funny how technical we can get when we want to be stingy...

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  10. I agree with this statement. I believe a lot of Pastors do as well, but fear that the income of the Church will decline and they will be on an island by themselves. I beleive if we teach relationship with God and how to love Him giving will be automatic in most cases beyond 10%.This will encourage believers to give with the right heart and not grudingly. As a minister I taught for years that tithing was mandatory and something in the inside told me those views were out of context with scripture as it pertains to the law and grace. One day I decided to look at this priciple with an open mind because I want to live under God's grace an not the law. I don't frown on tithing I believe its a good statdard and I believe God will bless it when it's given with the right motive and with the grace that the Lord has given us, but I now disagree with putting people in bondage and fear if they don't.

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  11. Wonderful Article Alan.- We don't have to tithe or give offerings-under GRACE but thank God we get to! Glory to God. A person freed from legalism always looks for a loophole in Christian circles when it comes to releasing their money. Many under Grace have become stingy with their money. The heart wants what it wants and for them its money. When the heart is right-giving 10% 0r 100% is not a problem. Tithing/giving is not a legal issue for the new covenant saint-the issue is the HEART. Be careful or you may lose what you're scared of losing... ask JOB.

    Pastor Bruce
    Victory Christian Faith Center

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  12. Pastor Bruce,

    I won't ask JOB for he wished for a mediator but couldn't have one. I will ask Jesus our Lord, for He is the mediator of the New Covenant.

    Blessing.

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  13. You are speaking of giving - something that is very different from today's traditional tithing belief. The mosaic law shows that tithing was done of eating commodities - oxen, grain, oil, wine. Never ever was money a part of tithing. The word "Tithing" is still associated with a "law, commandment or regulation and money" to most peoples minds. Giving is done however and whenever. Its about becoming love and being love to those around you, and offering your life (not just wallet) as a sacrifice - much like Jesus did. Blessings

    http://leemalaulau.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/false-christianity-tithing-pt-2/

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  14. Abram gave 10% to Melchizedek before the law existed. He gave out of faith and in love for God. He believed God and it was credited as righteousness.

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  15. So happy after reading this article and some comments. I used to tithe long ago but after i started hearing that we are not under the law but under grace and that we do not need to tithe, i stoppped tithing. All these argurements come up all the times with scriptures backing them and lamentations as to how men of God are scamming beleivers with the tithe curses. Then i started to ask God to reveal what it is about this issue of tithe. 3weeks ago i started reading my bible and to my greatest suprise i discovered that Abraham tithed to Melchizedek before the law. then same evenning the Holy Spirit directed me to book of Hebrews chapter 7, i was astonished! My conclusion came thesamw like the one in this article "'We tithe because He is alive…

    Hebrews 7:8 ~ Here mortal men receive tithes, but there he receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives."'

    Today i was still google searching to confirm my revelation and Yes, we get to tithe! Thank you brethren.

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  16. Abram tithed 10% to Melchizedek (Jesus) in response to the great victory that had been given to Abram. Abram was enjoying God's grace here 400 years before the law was given,so we see that the concept of tithing comes before the law from someone who had just experienced God's grace. The first time we are introduced to the concept of tithing is in response to grace.Tithing is a grateful/thankful response to gods grace.It doesn't originate in the law so we are incorrect to say that since we are no longer under the law,we shouldn't be tithing. Yes,we are no longer slaves to works because the work was finished by Jesus,but as you can see,tithing was never a work but a giving of thanks.

    How much do we give? It depends on how much we believe we have been given. Abram did not give out of faith he gave because he had been given to. He gave after the battle was won. He gave 10% of the spoils. 2 Cor 8:9 tells us that Jesus became poor so that we might be rich. We have to have faith to believe this to be true,but once we believe that we have been made rich,we give out of our riches in thanks to Jesus making us rich. We give much because we believe we have been given great wealth or we give little or none because we believe we have been given little or none. Either way,we give in response to what we were given.

    Of the many things Jesus won back for us was God's original plan of sewing and reaping. Under the law,they had to give to pay their debt to God. Then they had to give again to pay debt. Their tithes didn't multiply because they were used up to pay debt. It was money owed,not their money. Under grace we are given money,it's our money,we give from this abundance that we have been given because we are thankful,and we receive much more in return from the money that we give,that we didn't earn,that we didn't deserve,because it is thrown into the system of sewing and reaping.

    What An Awesome God! Thank You Father! Thank you Jesus!

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  17. i used to tithe and as i embraced the Gospel of Grace i stopped. I never stopped giving though. However i have been listening to Pastor Prince messages and then i found out that tithing is not at all subjected to the law as it was practiced before the law was given to men. i thank God for this revelation as i listened to the sermons on Secrets of Prosperity in Hebrew Language by Pastor Joseph Prince. It all made sense to me and i dont think i will ever stop tithing ever again. Tithing is like an investment that would benefit generations to come and i am so blessed to have an opportunity of being exposed to such wisdom and grace through Pastor Joseph Prince Ministries. By the way we love him a lot here in South Africa Johannesburg (Hillbrow).

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