Those of you who have been reading this blog for two months and/or have at least read back a few posts may recognize the combination of two previous posts as the title of this one. Occasionally I do work on more than one post at a time, but they have always stood individually in my mind, unless they were part of a series, of course. That was the case with those two posts when they were written. While they were written only four days apart, I did not make the connection between them until just a couple days ago. There are probably a few of you reading this who wonder how that could be since you made the connection right away. Okay, so I am just a little slow sometimes. For those of you who still have not made the connection, please allow me to assist you. The remainder of this post will make more sense if you read back to those two posts.
I had not realized the concept that the tithe belongs to the local church is an ecclesiasticism. Even those who teach and believe that concept know, and will freely confess, the tithe belongs to God and not to any individual or group of individuals, including the local church. Traditionally, tithes have been brought into the local church for the support of the ministries there. Most churches then send a portion of what they receive to other ministries they deem worthy. Any other giving done to The Church, e.g., rescue missions, missionaries, evangelistic ministries, etc., is expected to be above and beyond the tithe. (This makes less and less sense as I write it.) That practice stems from the artificial division of The Church into churches and para-Church ministries.
Perhaps I should clarify what I actually said and meant the first time I waded into this subject in "A Newly Radical Old Challenge." That post was intended to be nothing more nor less than the opening of a dialogue about one area in which we, The Church, have had a traditionally-held belief and practice that we could not back up with scripture. It was supposed to be a starting point for us all to examine those things we believe, either based on tradition or without solid, scriptural backing. Unfortunately, some people ran off with what was written and assumed I was saying tithes need not be brought to the local church, and further that I was somehow setting myself up to receive tithes from someone to support something. Yes, that was actually said to me in almost so many words. (We are going to address that sort of thing in the next post. I only have the title and the main concept so far.)
A friend pointed out to me the verse I used from Nehemiah 13:13 to make my point about the storehouse being the place people came for the provision of their physical needs was really only for the Priests and Levites. He said they were the "brethren" referred to there. Let me give him that point because it does not change mine at all. My point was, and is, the storehouse was the place the tithes were brought for the support of the people who did the work of the ministry. (see Ephesians 4:12) There were not any volunteers teaching Sunday School or cleaning the building or serving in other capacities in the Old Testament economy. Those ministries were reserved for the Priests and Levites who were clearly expected to be able to obtain their support from the storehouse.
Anyone who has had a basic class in hermeneutics (defined in Theology as the science of Bible interpretation) knows there are certain rules that must be followed to ascertain the correct interpretations and understandings of the scripture. I am not aware of any numbering system for the rules of hermeneutics so let me just say one of the rules is that we cannot make doctrine out of Old Testament principles unless they have been validated in the New Testament. The reason for this is simple and should be obvious. Some things change at the cross. Everything is not the same after the death and resurrection of Jesus as it was before. The physical rules of the Old Testament become the spiritual realities of the New Testament. The Old Testament Law gives way to the New Testament love.
Jesus said we should tithe. (Matthew 23:23) The author of Hebrews also validates the principle of the tithe in Hebrews 7:5-9, but nowhere is there a storehouse in the New Testament. In order to make the local church the New Testament storehouse, one has to jump from the Old Testament, through the New Testament to sometime after local churches were established. Bye, bye solid hermeneutics.
As most of you understand, what we call the local church is something of a modern phenomenon. Prior to the official establishment of the Catholic church in the fourth century A.D., The Church existed as a combination of all the house churches in a city or geographical region. The Protestant Reformation (1517-1648) ushered in the model of the local church, replacing the Catholic church as the one and only church. Again, there is no mention of a storehouse to which the tithes were brought in scripture or in history, as nearly as we can tell.
In order to avoid any confusion as to what this writer believes, let me conclude by stating plainly that every Christian should tithe. Incidentally, the word tithe means one-tenth. Tithing is the doorway to God's financial blessings. He promises that when we tithe, the windows of heaven will be open above us (Malachi 3:10) and He will rebuke the devourer so we can keep what He pours through those windows. (Malachi 3:11) As to where one should tithe, that is above my pay-grade, as it were. The tithe belongs to God. He will tell you where it should go. Were The Church fully-functional as the storehouse, were all the ministries God has called forth to be equally and adequately funded from the storehouse, then a case could possibly be made that the local church is the New Testament storehouse. The problem is, there is no storehouse in the New Testament. The principle Jesus taught is that God will provide our daily needs from His abundance, not from something we have stored, but space does not allow us to go into any elaboration on that subject. God bless you as you tithe.
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I believe the tithe goes to storehouse (Mal 3:10). The storehouse is where believers get fed the Word of God, in particular, the teaching of the Word. This may or may not be the local church. Note something interesting. If more & more believers were to tithe to the source of where they were taught the Word, the ministries that taught the Word would prosper & have more resources to teach even more believers. Furthermore, the ministries that did not teach the Word would tend to dry up, or even better, would begin to teach the Word. A pretty simple concept that would move the body of Christ toward a more Biblical order.
ReplyDelete"Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." Ephesians 4:13
ReplyDelete"If you know how to listen to the voice of God, you can hear Him calling throughout the Body of Christ today. He is calling for unity. He is calling us to lay down our disagreements and come together in preparation for Jesus' return.
Just the thought of that scares some believers. "How can I unify with someone from another denomination?" they say. "I'm not going to give up my doctrines and agree with theirs just for unity's sake!" What they don't realize is this Scriptural unity isn't based on doctrine.
Winds of doctrine, according to Ephesians 4:14, are childish. Winds of doctrine don't unify. They divide and blow people in every direction. The Word doesn't say anything about us coming into the unity of our doctrines. It says we'll come into the unity of the Faith. In the past, we've failed to understand that and tried to demand doctrinal unity from each other anyway.
"If you don't agree with me on the issue of tongues," we've said, "or on the timing of the rapture...or on the proper depth for baptismal waters, I won't accept you as a brother in the Lord. I'll break fellowship with you."
But that's not God's way of doing things. He doesn't have a long list of doctrinal demands for us to meet. His requirements are simple. First John 3:23 tells us what they are: to believe on the Name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another.
Once you and I come to a place where we keep those requirements and quit worrying about the rest, we'll be able to forget our denominational squabbles and come together in the unity of faith. We'll grow strong together that the winds of doctrine won't be able to drive us apart.
When that happens, the devil's going to panic because the unity of the faith of God's people is a staggering thing. It's the most unlimited, powerful thing on earth. Right now all over the world, the Spirit is calling the Church of the living God to unite. Hear Him and obey, and you can be part of one of the most magnificent moves of God this world has ever seen.
Kenneth Copeland, March 23 "Faith to Faith"
When seeking and really obeying God, you begin to give of what He has given because you pay attention to the leading of the Spirit – you don’t need a pastor telling you that you should. You learn to hear His voice, and you know He will lead you by His Spirit in how and where to give – and it may not be the local church. But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses…Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another. Galatians 5:18, 25-26. We need to be more concerned about whether or not we are following the Spirit’s leading in our own lives, instead of judging others and whether or not their doctrine matches up with our own. Rather than telling others what they should do with their money – we should be concerned with whether or not they are really seeking God in their lives. Jesus even said, You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things, ie. Justice, mercy, faith. Matthew 23:23. If these things are lacking in someone’s life, then focusing on tithing is a disservice to them because they do not even have a good foundation. As far as tithing is concerned, it was originally set up as part of the Mosaic Law to provide for the Levitical Priests because their job was to minister to the people of Israel. It is how their basic needs were met. Part of the purpose of the tithe to the local church is to pay the salary of the Pastor. If we want to look at the example of the Levitical priests, they used the tithe they were given for their basic necessities. This provision was not intended for anything beyond basic needs, such as the pursuit of their own personal agendas outside of pastoring and ministering specifically to their own church and its members. In reference to the storehouse, God never says anywhere in the new testament that He will provide via the local church and its ministries only. In fact, God provides using totally secular means all of the time because He can use anything for His glory. By focusing on this issue of tithing and the storehouse, we are completely missing the point. We need to get to the crux of the issue – if people are not tithing, we should not be concerned with their lack of tithing – it is just evidence they are not believing what God says He will do. Their lack of belief needs to be addressed, not the fact that they are not tithing. Matthew 7:1 says Do not judge others and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged. Even the mere mention of tithing in a church is something to be questioned. If God wills a church to thrive and grow, then He will most certainly provide for that church by leading people in it to tithe faithfully and through other various methods – not by a pastor prodding the people to tithe. God’s will always come to pass – regardless of human action. Isaiah 55:11 says, So my word that goes forth from my mouth will prove to be. It will not return to me without results. But it will certainly do that in which I have delighted, and it will have certain success in that for which I have sent it. If a church is seeing a lack of financial resources, it’s not a sign to push for more tithes. God will provide to those who seek Him. It should instead be a warning to that church that something needs to change – maybe the received tithes haven’t been dispersed properly, or relationships are failing, or attitudes are jealous and contentious. God promises to always provide, so if He’s not doing so, it’s because something in the church isn’t quite right.
ReplyDeletePastor’s need to prod their sheep to seek their shepherd. If that’s happening, then the tithing will come, and God’s followers won’t need to be asked twice. They will just give. Why fight about where the giving is going, as long as it all ends up in His Kingdom?
Of course, this is just my opinion, I could be wrong.