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Tithe |
Dear Brethren,
Is God a loving Father to His
children? We know that good parents take good care of their children. They
provide their food, housing, education and protection. Can we expect that God will
provide for our spiritual needs in the same way? The answer is absolutely, "
Yes." "If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will
he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or
if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know
how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father
give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" (Luke 11:11-13)
We can rely on God - the source of our sustenance.
What is the reason we must tithe?
We need to nail down, so to speak, the formal legal basis for the actual requirement for
paying tithes. God commands us to tithe in His law. The principle is that we
tithe on our wages or on our "increase". We have been commanded to tithe! Notice
the simple command establishing what we have called first tithe.
"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 to the Lord." (Leviticus 27:30)
The commands regarding what we have
called second tithe provide for personal Feast expenses.
"You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year.
And you shall eat before the Lord your God, in the place where He chooses to make His name
abide, the tithe of your grain and your new wine and your oil, of the firstborn of your herds
and your flocks, that you may learn to fear [revere and respect] the Lord your God always.
" (Deuteronomy 14:22-23)
The special tithe for the needy, that
falls only in the third and sixth years of a seven year cycle is called third tithe
". At the end of every third year you shall bring out the
tithe of your produce of that year and store it up within your gates. And the Levite, because
he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow
who are within your gates, may come and eat and be satisfied, that the Lord your God may bless
you in all the work of your hand which you do." (Deuteronomy 14:28-29)
We should remember that God is so serious
about obedience to His law of tithing that He considers failure to tithe to be stealing
from Him. "Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, 'In what way have
we robbed You?' In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me,
even this whole nation." (Malachi 3:8-9)
Sadly, some people will never take God
at His word - and prove Him. Year after year, they say to themselves, "If only I could
get caught up - I'd start to tithe." What they'll never learn is that if they trusted
God and started to tithe - they would get caught up. Either that, or God is a liar!
"You bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and
prove me now herewith, says 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." (Malachi 3:10)
We should note that Christ acknowledged
that the people of His day were correct to tithe - even the smallest of seeds, in
spite of their having neglected "the weightier matters of the law"(Matthew 23:23).
Humanly, we are just too prone to look for an excuse to forget or a reason to let down.
Let us remember to keep God's law — all of His commands.
***
| Sermon: |
“Ten Reasons to Tithe - Part 1” |
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| Sermon: |
“Ten Reasons to Tithe - Part 2” |
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Also see "Ten Reasons to Tithe"
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