Now we get into the meat of tithing and giving in the New Testament. In the first part of the study we saw that tithing was a grace and therefore free willed decision made by Abraham and Jacob following a revelation of God. They received a divine flow, ‘water’ in the form of ideas, favor, and dreams that in turn, watered their businesses and increased them. They built up wealth through diversity, expanding with the knowledge that the blessing of God was upon them. Therefore tithing, which began as a grace before the Old Testament Law of Moses, is valid for today, for grace and free will towards God flow through all covenants with God.

We saw that God relates to us as his children and that Jesus became a curse for us, so that we are not under the curse of the Old Testament Law. God’s blessing is on our lives because of the blood of Jesus, something they didn’t have in the OT.

In this part we will look at the points below and much more, and gain an understanding that the flow begun with Abraham and Jacob, continue to this day. We will see what Paul said about giving and examine the fact that Paul was in perfect agreement with the patriarchs.

Commonly taught topics to be studied in part 2:

* Does the Bible promises a 100 fold return when you give?
* Are we to give out of our need?
* When faced with the choice of taking care of yours or your family’s needs, or tithing, you should tithe and believe God for your needs?

What did Jesus say about tithing?

It’s always important to set the context to understand what is being said. Jesus was speaking as an Old Testament Jew, to Jewish people who knew only the Old Testament writings. So it is within that context that he spoke, and we must understand. While he spoke of future things concerning the church, much of what he taught dealt with setting the OT in light of what the Father originally intended.

In Matthew 23 (the whole chapter) he deals with the hypocrisy of the religious leaders of the time. He spoke about their pride, their politics within the religion, how they put ‘spin’ on the Word for their own benefit, and so on. When he got to the way they viewed tithing and giving he said in vs 23-24:

"Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment (righteousness), mercy, and faith: these things you should have done, and not to leave the other undone."

Notice that he did say that they should pay their tithes, but he set it in the proper priority, way below judgment, mercy and faith. Today, we see the pulpits in America filled with religious leadership who ignore judgment (righteousness), mercy and faith, to preach on how to get rich, how you should give, and so on.

Jesus stated that tithing should be done, but it is not on the same level of importance as the ‘weightier matters’ of judgment (righteousness), mercy and faith. So the first part of our study is to realize that even to the OT Jews of his day, Jesus said the other matters of the Word were of higher importance.

I don’t know about you, but I mourn and am grieved by those Christians who measure their spirituality by the clothes they wear and the car they drive, and look down upon those who aren’t ‘as blessed’. They think ‘something must be wrong with your faith’ or ‘you must have some secret sin’, and so condemn those who hold the matters of righteousness, mercy and quiet faith in higher esteem. Truly, they have their reward.

Again, we will later see that the epistles of Paul agree with the priorities set by Jesus, which were first established by Abraham before the Law.

Am I to pay my tithes to the church first if there are needs in my family?

In Mark 7: 9-13 Jesus dealt directly with this question:

He said to them, "You fully reject the commandment of God that you may keep your own tradition. For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and mother, and, whoever curses his father or mother, let him be put to death.’ But you say, ‘If a man says to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift to God, then he shall be free‘. And you don’t allow him to do good for his father and mother. Thus you make the Word of God of no effect by your tradition which you teach, and many other things like this you do. "

There are 613 laws God gave Moses. Those 613 are summed up by the 10 commandments, and those 10 are then summarized into two: Love the Lord with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself.

The reason they are summed up by 2 commands is the way the 10 commandments are constructed. If we examine the 10 commandments we see that they are divided into 2 groups. The first 4 have to do with honoring God and flow from the very first command: You shall have no other gods. The other 3 are: You shall not make an idol, you shall not take the name of the Lord in vain, and you will keep the seventh day as a day of rest.

The second set begins with ‘honor your father and mother’, and the remaining 5 flow from that command (don‘t murder, don‘t commit adultery, don‘t steal, don‘t lie, don‘t lust/covet). Thus, honoring your father and mother comes right behind honoring God and is the type and summary of how we are to treat all people. (summarized by ’love your neighbor as yourself’)

The Pharisees had made a rule that said if you had a tithe or offering to give to God, whether an animal, grain, or oil, and your parents came to you and said they needed food, you should give your offering to God instead of giving that food to them. They said that the person who did that would be free before God of any obligation to their parents.

Jesus put it back in the proper order, the tithe and offerings are not greater than honoring your parents (and by extension, your immediate family). We had seen earlier how he told the Pharisees that things like righteousness, mercy and faith were ‘weightier’ than tithing and giving.

Here Jesus says it again, outright stating that taking care of your family is more important. This stays with the flow of the 10 commandments, placing honoring your parents (and thus, your household) above every subordinate command, including the laws of giving.

How many times I’ve heard of people being under such condemnation to give to the church, while not being able to pay their electric bill or put food on the table! This is just like what the Pharisees had commanded. This tradition of man is preached as the doctrine of God all over America.

One time I had a single mother of a teenager in our church come to me greatly concerned. Her tithe of about $60 turned out to be all she had left for the week, and her refrigerator and pantry were empty. She didn’t know if she should give her tithe or go buy groceries.

I told her to spend time with the Lord. If she had a peace and certain knowledge that the Lord would make a way, then give the tithe (in other words, if she had the grace and peace--like Abraham). But if she was in fear and had it in her heart that it was God’s provision for her for the week, then eat it. (And I told her if that wasn’t enough the church would write her a check for what she needed)

On the following Tuesday she came by the church very excited. She had a peace so she wrote a check on Sunday morning for the full tithe. On Monday the mailed contained an unexpected refund from a utility company for about $59. The Lord had provided!

Is the ‘Law of the Tithe’ valid today?

There is a valid reason that tithing is not mentioned in the epistles. The reason stems from a meeting in Acts 15: 1-21 in which the question came up: Should non-Jewish believers in Jesus be commanded to obey the Law of Moses? (the tithe being part of the Law) Paul and Barnabus had been getting Gentiles born again and they were being taught in the ways of God by them. Some Pharisee believers told Paul and Barnabus that they should be teaching these converts to obey Moses. Paul said no. Thus the council in Acts 15.

The decision of the council was, no, they don’t have to obey the Law of Moses. In fact, the only restraints they placed on non-Jewish believers was to avoid sexual sin, idols, and food strangled or not drained properly (15: 19-21). The food provision was purely for the sake of the Jewish culture that they not offend them. It should be stated that the recognition of local culture extends today...that is why women ministering in Mexico wear dresses or skirts for example, out of respect for the local custom. Such is grace.

They realized that we are under grace. Grace places the responsibility for living for God within the heart of each believer, rather than on external rules. That is why Peter called the Law Acts 15: 10 "a yoke which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear."

The council saw that God was getting them born again, baptized with the Holy Spirit, and doing miracles without any of the law.

This same James who determined in verse 19, to ‘trouble them not’ with the Law, went on to say in James 2:10 that if you break the ‘law in one point, you are guilty of all the law’. We must understand, for a church to preach the ‘Law of the Tithe’, to be consistent they must preach the whole law. For if they enforce one provision of the law they must impose the whole of the law, or be guilty of all. Therefore, to be consistent, they should demand the tithe of the spice rack (remember mint, cumin, anise). They should impose meeting only on Saturdays to keep the Sabbath. They should stone adulterers, etc.

But the traditional church is caught between the grace of the New Testament and their pyramid structure form of government. The pyramid form of church government so handicaps believers, that it removes the burden of hearing and living for God for yourself. They can hear what the hired man has to say, and not study the Word for themselves. Thus, if the pastors preached the tithe as a grace and matter of free will, the people are so weak spiritually and void of such integrity, that their offerings would drop way off.

The fact is that they can’t let the people know the tithe is free will, an act of love and grace on the heart of the believer towards God. There would be a huge lag time between the time teaching of the demand and "law" ends, while grace is preached and people begin giving in love to the Lord out of love and personal responsibility.

Thus, they resort to constant pressure on the people to fund the church, it’s projects, and such. (See more on this structure in the article "The Pyramid vs. God Moving in His Gifts)

So how did ‘the law of the tithe’ become a ‘law’ today if the founding apostles said ‘no‘ to it? It began in the 300s AD when Constantine began converting pagan temples into ‘church’ as we know traditional church today. That meant there was a building to support, thus the tithes became very important. This became so important, that during the 10th and 11th centuries, even beyond 1215AD, the ‘church’ imposed the tithe on Jewish citizens as well! They confiscated 10% of all Jewish agricultural increase.

The tithe is valid as a means of giving back to God, as Abraham and Jacob did, out of a heart of grace and thanksgiving, not out of coercion. God is always about people being empowered to make decisions with him and in him. He has never been for forcing people to obey, he has always wanted man to love and obey from a heart of love. Thus, when you hear the tithe presented as a Law, it’s wrong. As we have seen, the argument that the tithe was ‘before the Old Testament’ is right. And back then it was a grace, a free will offering from a thankful heart.

Giving in the New Testament

Here is the key to understanding giving in the New Testament: The apostles taught not that we give a portion of ourselves to God and each other, but that we give 100% to God and each other.

Consider the level of giving in the church: Acts 2:44-45

"And all that believed were together and had all things common; and sold their possessions and goods and gave to them that had need"

A modern prosperity preacher or pastor preaching on ’the law of the tithe’ would be laughed out of town! They gave 100% of themselves and their belongings to each other.

The apostles preached a lifestyle of giving, laying down your life for your brother or sister in the Lord.

Acts 4:32: "And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and soul: neither did any of them say that anything they owned was their own, they considered all things common."

Can we understand this? This is the model for giving, and house churches today. Why settle for merely tithing (10%), be ready to give your very life for your family in Christ. There is no law that says at 9.99% you are cursed and at 10.001% you pass into the blessing of God! Giving is a grace! It’s an act of love! No wonder it started with Abraham and continues to this day, but 10% is only the start!

What Paul taught

Paul wrote to the Corinthian church about an offering they wanted to give to help other churches, and therein layed out the rules of giving for us in the New Testament. II Cor 8 and 9 is the text, and here are a few quotes, dealt with one by one.

II Cor 8:3-4 "For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints."

Do you see the similarities between this passage and Abraham voluntarily giving to Melchizedek, or even a good OT saint eating and giving his tithe to those less fortunate around him? It’s the same concept and grace. The eagerness of grace is demonstrated here. They ‘urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing’. Grace wants to be involved. There is no pressure from Paul, that is to say, from the authority over the church, the desire to give comes upward through the hearts of the people. This is seen in the following verse: 8:5

"And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord, and then to us in keeping with God’s will".

Here again we see, ‘they gave themselves first to the Lord, and then to us." Grace in the heart first, then outward flowing towards others.

8:7 "But just as you excel in everything-in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us--see that you also excel in this grace of giving".

Paul urged them to excel in giving, but it is in keeping with the grace already in their hearts, and followed by his instructions in how to excel in the grace of giving. He goes on to say in verses 11-12:

"...your eager willingness to do it (give the offering) may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means." For if the willingness is there, the gift is accepted according to what one has, not according to what he does not have."

Paul said they were to give ‘according to their means‘, not according to what they do not have. That is 180 degrees opposite what is preached today. People are told to give that which they don’t have. Whether it be making a donation on your charge card or taking money meant for the grocery store or the electric bill and making a donation instead, people are violating the spirit that Paul said should guide our giving in the NT.

I want you to see the consistency of grace throughout the Old Testament and into the New Testament. In the same way the tithe was given from the increase, in other words, from what they had, Paul urges believers in the same concept. Give out of what you have, your increase. Abraham didn’t give to Melchizedek from his savings account, he gave out of the increase. Paul is urging in the same way.

Paul is so bold to say in verse 12: "For if the willingness is there, the gift is accepted according to what one has, not according to what he does not have." How many times have you wrestled with whether the Lord wants you to give from money you know should go to family needs?

I hope that you’re like the single mom that came to me. If she had peace in her heart that she knew the Lord would provide another way, then give. But if not, don’t give.

Paul goes on to say in verse 13-14:

"Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equlaity. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality..."

This desire that they give while they are in a time of abundance is all Paul asks. He says he doesn’t want the giving to be a burden to them. This is completely consistent with what we saw in Deuteronomy and the eating and sharing of the tithe with the less fortunate, and what we saw in Acts 2 and 4 when they shared ‘all things common’ and distributed to those in need. Paul and the whole of the Bible are being completly consistent.

Paul goes on to say in chapter 9, verse 5:

"...then it will be ready as a generous gift, not as one grudgingly given".

We will see that Paul remains consistent with giving through the Bible. Gifts, that is, tithes or offerings, are not to be given grudgingly, they are to be given from a free will.

Verse 6: "Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver."

What does it mean to ‘sow generously?’

In Mark 12:41-44 Jesus witnesses a poor widow giving all her money into the collection and says, "They gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything--all she had to live on."

This issue here wasn’t how much she put in, but rather the percentage of overall wealth. Jesus is saying that giving generously is based on the percentage of what you have, not on the amount of the gift.

That means that a person could put $1 in the offering, and if that was all they had to their name, they gave 100% of themselves in that offering. In the same offering another person could put $100 in, but if they had $100,000 sitting in the bank, they only gave one tenth of 1% of what they had. Not nearly as much in God’s eyes.

That’s why Jesus said she gave more, because she gave 100%.

This is consistent with what Jesus said in the oft quoted Luke 6:38. Pay particular attention to the last line, the part everyone always leaves off:

"Give, and it shall be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the same measure you use, it will be measured to you."

The way it’s measured back to you depends on the measuring cup you give with. If you consistently give a high percentage of your money, God uses that same percentage to give back to you. If you use a lesser percentage, he uses less. This is based on ’what you loose on earth is loosed in heaven.’

Jesus also said the same thing concerning the Word of God and the priority we place on it, in Mark 4: 24:

"...with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and even more."

So we can see that what Paul said in II Cor 9:6 that sowing generously is based on percentage, not on dollar amount. That is why he went on to tell them in verse 7 that they give as they purpose in their heart, cheerfully, because God wants the giver to be cheerful in what they give.

The Lord wants the person to be decided on what they give, not out of coercion, but out of love.

But what about the 100 fold return?

This scripture is found in Mark 4: 13-20, in the parable of the sower. Jesus very clearly states in verse 14 that the seed is the Word of God. Therefore, the explanation of the parable revolves around the understanding that the subject is the Word of God. It is the Word that, upon being planted in a person’s heart, brings forth fruit, 30, 60, and 100 fold. It has nothing to do with money, and any effort to say that it is talking about money is poor Bible interpretation. Taking something so plain out of context, and that not consistent with anything else in the Bible on the subject of money, is irresponsible.

Besides the parable itself explaning that the 100 fold return doesn’t have anything to do with money, the culture of the time confirms this. In Jesus’ day, and to a lesser extent in our day, the number 100 was used to signify completion. In other words, we might say of a car that passed us like we were standing still: "Man, he was probably going, 60, 80, or even 100 miles per hour." By saying that, we aren’t trying to pin how fast he was going, we are bringing closure to our statement that he was going really fast.

If we were trying to actually pin him down mathematically we might say, "I was going 60, so he must have been going 80 or 90 miles per hour. In other words, we would have followed the logic of the event.

In the same way, if Jesus were trying to pin a number, he would have said, "...a 30, 60, or 90 fold return on the Word."

By saying "...30, 60, and some 100 fold", Jesus is bringing completion to his thought. He’s capping it off, saying ‘100 fold is the tops, the best return’.

In John Avanzini’s booklet entitled, "What the 100 Fold Means’, he tells the story of a cotton farmer down south. The area had been hit hard by hail and heavy rains, nearly ruining everyone’s cotton crop. He walked into the field with a farmer friend who complained about the situation. The conversation went something like this: "My neighbor can’t make his payments to the bank because his crop is completely gone. All around me friends are going under or not able to make their payments. At least I was able to harvest enough to cover my payments, but there isn’t any extra".

John told him, "You got the 100 fold return". The farmer was incredulous. He went on to explain that all around him farmers were going under, but God had given him enough to make his payments. He had gotten the maximum return for the given circumstance.

This is what 100 fold means. God’s grace is enough to make sure you get the most out of a given situation. One time we had an old family car, a 10 year old Chevy Impala. It served us well until the day, coming into town after an hours drive across the plains of Colorado, the engine blew and we drifted to a stop at a gas station. We had gotten the most out of that situation. We made it across the prairie with 3 small children and by God’s grace the car died at the gas station.

Another time I was hired by a company as a manager at a certain salary. Within 90 days they had raised my pay 3 times because they were so pleased. I was getting the 100 fold return---the Word was working to the maximum effect it could in my life in that situation.

This is what ‘making all grace abound to you’ means

Paul said in II Cor 9:8: "And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work."

He makes that statement after telling them how to give in this, and the previous chapter we looked at. Paul is stating that the goal is God’s grace abounding towards us, not that we would treat God like some giant slot machine, putting in $100 and getting back $1000.

I remember early on in our marriage we got ahold of the 100 fold teaching. At the time I worked for a large TV ministry and my pay was $150 per week, take home was $115. (Like I said, it was early in our marriage) We eagerly tithed $15 every week, anxiously awaiting the $1500 that ‘God owed us’. It never came.

The Lord dealt with us about why we gave. We looked into the Word to see some of the principles I’ve shared here and got back to giving because we loved God and God‘s people. Period.

We never got $1500 back for each week we put in $15, but we did get an abundant supply of grace. That December we had determined that we could get all our Christmas shopping done and shipped for $120. We had the $20 and prayed for an extra $100.

We were working the late shift and a man named Paul came through the door. I remember he was from Hagerstown, Maryland and he was driving home. After a brief conversation, that included his observation that the pay wasn’t much in that ministry, he pulled out his wallet and gave me $300 in traveler’s checks. Not being able to cash them I thanked him anyway, and he pulled out a $100 bill and handed it to us. That was our Christmas money! We were thrilled and thankful to the Lord for His supply.

That is ‘all grace abounding towards you’.

Paul went on to say in II Cor 9:10 that God supplies ‘seed to the sower and bread for your food, and will multiply your seed sown.’

Seed is for planting in someone’s life, bread is to be used for your own needs. When discussing giving it should be noted that God supplies seed to be sown and bread for food. The trick is to discern what is seed and what is bread.

Again early in our marriage, we received a check for $300 in the mail from some friends who ‘just wanted to bless us’. Thinking this was seed to be sown, we gave it all to some missionary friends. Four days later I was layed off from work and we had counted on the following paycheck for rent.

The $300 was bread for our food, but we thought it was seed. Since then we’ve learned to wait a bit when extra money comes in, it may be for either seed or bread.

The key in what we’ve seen thus far is that grace abounds in the heart of the giver, and God blesses that heart. That we are to love and give to one another shouldn’t have to be stated. We are God’s kids, and he loves us. As we love him and others we will enter into a lifestyle of giving, which is really what this is all about. Live to give, and when you do, you will find a steady flow moving towards you, and a steady flow out from you. It’s all about love.

Summary

I’ve been told that if I taught this in a traditional church the tithing and giving would drop off and ruin many a church. I don’t believe that however, and I did teach this in a traditional church I pastored. Giving went up significantly. Why? Because people were free to give out of a heart of love and were eager to be responsible to listen for God’s leading in their giving.

This is the difference between the traditional pyramid structure that removes individual responsibility from the Christian, and the house church that allows the individual to walk with God in a responsible way.

When in the pyramid structured church you pay your tithes and offerings and think that relieves you of the responsibility to be on the look out for the needs of those sitting next to you in the pews. Let them go to the church to get some money if they have needs, that’s why you pay the church in tithes and offerings.

But we have seen that NT believing (and indeed, throughout the OT Law as well) is about giving both to the ’church’, and also to each other. When we see giving in the New Testament we see money being given to the apostles, but there was also freedom to give to one another as they saw a need. This is how we are to give today.

By all means pay your tithes and offerings to the local church, but also be free to give amongst yourselves.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 4