One main reason we tithe (10%) to God is to teach us to ALWAYS fear the Lord. If God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, why would HE stop something that is to always teach us to have reverence for HIM? Moreover, many Christians think they can tithe wherever they wish. Many think they can tithe to the poor and at the places of their discretion. But scripture says you are to bring the tithe to the place in which HE will cause HIS Name to dwell the tithe....
Here is the NLT version. We are to bring our tithe to the designated place of worship.
Deuteronomy 14:22-23 (NLT) “You must set aside a tithe of your crops—one-tenth of all the crops you harvest each year. 23 Bring this tithe to the designated place of worship—the place the Lord your God chooses for his name to be honored—and eat it there in his presence. This applies to your tithes of grain, new wine, olive oil, and the firstborn males of your flocks and herds. Doing this will teach you always to fear the Lord your God.
If you see a poor person on the street and decide to give part of your tithe to that person, is that place or person a place of worship in which you are to give your tithe? OF COURSE NOT! God will not be mocked. Do not deceive yourselves into making your own decisions of how to tithe what is already God's. If you like to give to the poor, then do so out of your own heart and offering but do not mix it with what is God's first or tenth.
Many Christians today say tithing is no longer because it is part of the "law." In Malachi, God said that withholding tithes and offering is to rob HIM and we would be cursed with a curse for robbing HIM. Is it part of the "law" in which we are no longer under? We must discern this statement for it has been abused and used generically to the advantage of our own flesh rather than HIS Glory.
Matthew 23:23 (AMP) Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, pretenders (hypocrites)! For you give a tenth of your mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected and omitted the weightier (more important) matters of the Law—right and justice and mercy and fidelity. These you ought [particularly] to have done, without neglecting the others.
Jesus rebuked the Pharisees harshly in the above verse for neglecting righteousness, justice, mercy, and fidelity. The Pharisees were giving their tenth but they did not do what was more important, matters of the Law - right and justice, mercy, and fidelity. It says, "MATTERS OF THE LAW." Jesus is saying the tenth or tithe is matters of the Law but so are right, justice, mercy, and fidelity. Are we to say because we are no longer under the law that we do not have to do right, justice, mercy, and fidelity?
Matthew 23:23 (NLT) “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens,[a] but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things
In the NLT version, Jesus states "YOU SHOULD TITHE" but they had neglected the more important things. Jesus grouped all this in one and as the matters of the LAW. We must discern what "laws" we are no longer under and what "Law" we are to uphold. Just because many professing Christians use the term "no longer under the law" does not mean everything including God's commandments.
Romans 3:31 (AMP) Do we then by [this] faith make the Law of no effect, overthrow it or make it a dead letter? Certainly not! On the contrary, we confirm and establish and uphold the Law.
We do not tithe to receive a blessing. The blessing was already spoken by Melchizedek to Abraham and then Abraham gave him a tenth. We tithe to continue in the blessing. We tithe so that it will always teach us to fear in the Lord our God.
Fire of God International Church
Pastor Steve Yong Kim
Umm.. I actually forgot to tithe for one month - which I think God punished me for via sickness but I mistook it for another reason - and I've since repented and decided to transfer that tithe (I keep a note on all my revenue) to the next month. I tithe for each month at the start of the next month - I used to do it at the end of that month but decided to change since I watched one of your sermons on firstfruits offerings.
ReplyDeleteBy revenue, do you mean the total revenue earned? Because I wish to start a business soon but will be sharing the profits earned 50-50 with my mother, so when I tithe do I tithe the total revenue or my portion?
Also, to which church should I tithe? I have a church I go to every sunday but I wish to tithe to the Lord's Church Korea and America because they're the ones who've fed me spiritually. I do give my weekly offerings to my current church though.
Do I go to a church that's spiritually compromised? Because my current one doesn't keep sundays holy and I believe they do not really know Him. Because I read on the Lord's Church official wesite that we should not attend a church without the power of the Holy Spirit? I've also likewise noticed that the sermons preached are wedded with the teachings of the world so I'm a bit worried about being spiritually compromised.