Giving/Offerings
1 Timothy 6:6-10
Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with
contentment; 7 for we
brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; 8 but if we have food and
clothing, we will be content with these.
9 But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are
trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and
destruction. 10 For the love
of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some
have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.
17 As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, 19 thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.
1 Now concerning the collection for the saints: you should follow the directions I gave to the churches of Galatia. 2 On the first day of every week, each of you is to put aside and save whatever extra you earn, so that collections need not be taken when I come.
2 Corinthians 9:1-15
1 Now it is not necessary for me to write you about
the ministry to the saints, 2 for I know your eagerness, which is the
subject of my boasting about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia
has been ready since last year; and your zeal has stirred up most of them. 3
But I am sending the brothers in order that our boasting about you may not
prove to have been empty in this case, so that you may be ready, as I said you
would be; 4 otherwise, if some Macedonians come with me and find that
you are not ready, we would be humiliated—to say nothing of you—in this
undertaking. 5 So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on
ahead to you, and arrange in advance for this bountiful gift that you have
promised, so that it may be ready as a voluntary gift and not as an extortion.
6 The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work. 9 As it is written,
“He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor;
his righteousness endures forever.”
10 He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us; 12 for the rendering of this ministry not only supplies the needs of the saints but also overflows with many thanksgivings to God. 13 Through the testing of this ministry you glorify God by your obedience to the confession of the gospel of Christ and by the generosity of your sharing with them and with all others, 14 while they long for you and pray for you because of the surpassing grace of God that he has given you. 15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
28 Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy.
17 How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?
1 “Beware of practicing
your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no
reward from your Father in heaven.
2 “So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet
before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that
they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their
reward. 3 But when you give alms, do not let your left
hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so
that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will
reward you.
Mark 12:41-44
He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. 42 A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. 43 Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. 44 For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”
4 For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, 5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. 6 We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; 7 ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; 8 the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.
7 Ever since the days of your ancestors you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, “How shall we return?”
8 Will anyone rob God? Yet you are robbing me! But you say, “How are we robbing you?” In your tithes and offerings! 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me—the whole nation of you! 10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts; see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing. 11 I will rebuke the locust for you, so that it will not destroy the produce of your soil; and your vine in the field shall not be barren, says the Lord of hosts. 12 Then all nations will count you happy, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.[1]
Tithing
Definition
tithe
tithe (tìth) noun
1. a. A
tenth part of one's annual income contributed voluntarily or due as a tax, especially
for the support of the clergy or church. b. The institution or
obligation of paying tithes.
2. A tax or an assessment of one tenth.
3. a. A
tenth part. b. A very small part.
verb
tithed, tith·ing, tithes verb, transitive
1. To contribute or pay a tenth part of (one's annual income).
2. To levy a tithe on.
verb,
intransitive
To pay
a tithe.
[Middle English, from Old English têotha. See tenth.]
—
tith¹a·ble (tì¹the-bel) adjective
— tith¹er noun [2]
4643 ma`aser { mah-as-ayr’} or ma`asar { mah-as-ar’} and (in pl.) fem. ma`asrah { mah-as-raw’}
AV - tithe 27, tenth part 2, tenth 2, tithing 1; 32
GK - 5130 { rce[}m' }
1) tithe, tenth part
1a) tenth part
1b) tithe, payment of a tenth part [3]
Galatians 3:16-19
Now the promises were
made to Abraham and to his offspring; it does not say, “And to offsprings,” as
of many; but it says, “And to your offspring,” that is, to one person, who is
Christ. 17 My point is this:
the law, which came four hundred thirty years later, does not annul a covenant
previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise. 18 For if the inheritance comes
from the law, it no longer comes from the promise; but God granted it to
Abraham through the promise. 19 Why
then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring would
come to whom the promise had been made; and it was ordained through angels by a
mediator.
Genesis 14:17-20
After his return from
the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom
went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley). 18 And King Melchizedek of Salem
brought out bread and wine; he was priest of God Most High. 19 He blessed him and said,
“Blessed be Abram by God Most High, maker of heaven and earth; 20 and blessed be God Most High,
who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” And Abram gave him one tenth of
everything.
Hebrews 6:19 - 7:11
We have this hope, a
sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters the inner shrine
behind the curtain, 20 where
Jesus, a forerunner on our behalf, has entered, having become a high priest
forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
1 This “King Melchizedek of Salem, priest of the Most High
God, met Abraham as he was returning from defeating the kings and blessed
him”; 2 and to him Abraham
apportioned “one-tenth of everything.” His name, in the first place, means
“king of righteousness”; next he is also king of Salem, that is, “king of
peace.” 3 Without father,
without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of
life, but resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever. 4 See how great he is! Even
Abraham the patriarch gave him a tenth of the spoils. 5 And those descendants of Levi who receive the
priestly office have a commandment in the law to collect tithes from the
people, that is, from their kindred, though these also are descended from
Abraham. 6 But this man, who
does not belong to their ancestry, collected tithes from Abraham and blessed
him who had received the promises. 7
It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior. 8 In the one case, tithes are
received by those who are mortal; in the other, by one of whom it is testified
that he lives. 9 One might
even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through
Abraham, 10 for he was still
in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him. 11 Now if perfection had been
attainable through the levitical priesthood-- for the people received the law
under this priesthood-- what further need would there have been to speak of
another priest arising according to the order of Melchizedek, rather than one
according to the order of Aaron?
Jacob – Genesis 28:22
Levites tithed on the tithes (Numbers 18:25-32)
Hezekiah and Israel tithed (II Chronicles 31:1-21)
Nehemiah and Israel tithed (Nehemiah 10:37-39; 12:44; 13:1-14)
Matthew 23:23
23 “Woe to you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected
the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you
ought to have practiced without neglecting the others.
? But wasn’t tithing a part of the Law which Jesus confirmed
before Calvary, but now after Calvary is no longer applicable?
1 Corinthians 9:1-14
1 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not
seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?2 If I am not an
apostle to others, at least I am to you; for you are the seal of my apostleship
in the Lord.
3 This is my defense to those who would examine me.4 Do we not have the right to our food and drink?5 Do we not have the right to be accompanied by a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?6 Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living?7 Who at any time pays the expenses for doing military service? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not get any of its milk?
8 Do I say this on human authority? Does not the law also say the same?9 For it is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned?10 Or does he not speak entirely for our sake? It was indeed written for our sake, for whoever plows should plow in hope and whoever threshes should thresh in hope of a share in the crop.11 If we have sown spiritual good among you, is it too much if we reap your material benefits?12 If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we still more?
Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ.13 Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in what is sacrificed on the altar?14 In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.
?
Why is tithing, a feature
of the Law, still binding on us who are saved by grace through faith?
Jesus confirms it in Matthew 23
and Jesus & Paul link us to Abraham and his deeds.
John 8:39
39 They answered him, “Abraham is our father.”
Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children,
you would be doing what Abraham did,
Galatians 3:6-9
6
Just as Abraham “believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,”7
so, you see, those who believe are the descendants of Abraham.8 And the
scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, declared
the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the Gentiles shall be blessed in
you.”9 For this reason, those who believe are blessed with Abraham who
believed. [4]
[1] The New Revised Standard Version, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1989.
Color
Code: Red =
Emphasis ; Blue = Actions; Green =
Results
[2]The American Heritage®
Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition copyright © 1992 by Houghton
Mifflin Company. Electronic version licensed from INSO Corporation. All rights
reserved.
[3]Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon, (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos
Research Systems, Inc.) 1995.
[4] The New Revised Standard
Version,
(Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1989.