I have heard people say that giving tithes isn’t valid because it is no where referenced in the New Testament. As much as I think this is a weak argument, could you please turn with me to the book of Hebrews chapter 7?.
Before I delve into this chapter, I would like to say that in my opinion the book of Hebrews is more or less a summary of God’s great works of salvation and deliverance spanning from the Old Testament through the New Testament. In Hebrews, we see the writer make reference to Moses, Joshua and other priests up until Jesus. We see the writer go through the faith journey of our fathers and mothers of faith from the Old Testament through to the new while admonishing us to press towards such great faith as lived by our fathers and mothers in faith.
These alone points us to the validity and the importance of the Old Testament as well as the New Testament. It emphasizes to us that there is so much we can learn from the lives of men and women whose lives are captured in the old Testament. You know what I find most laughable? – the confession of Psalms 23 or Psalms 91 and other prayers of the Psalmist by perhaps these same group of people. If the old testament isn’t as important, so the chapters and verses of the book of Psalms should not be confessed or referenced in our faith walk then.. *side eye*
LOOL….I come in absolute Peace, I promise. I do not write to you today to start up an argument, my hope is that you may see the light about paying your tithes. That you may be encouraged to keep obeying and serving God with your tithes. 🙂
Now back to Hebrews chapter 7, it opens by introducing us to the priest of the most high known as Melchizedek who was mentioned in the old Testament as the priest who received Abram’s tithe –Genesis 14. Our dear father of faith had gone to war against men of Sodom and Gomorrah who had captured his nephew, Lot. He went with only 318 trained men and God gave him victory over his nephews captors. And as he returned, he came back with plunders from the battle, more or less he returned with more possessions than he had gone. And as commanded by the Lord to give one-tenth of every of our increase to the sons of Levi – Numbers 18:21-26, Deuteronomy 14:22, Abram gave his tithe to king Melchizedek who is a priest that lives forever. This king from Salem blessed Abram therein. These are some of the actions of faith that father Abram did that makes him stand out till date as our dear father of faith. By faith, he absolutely obeyed God with his givings.
In my opinion, if we are comfortable singing, “Abraham’s blessings are mine, Abraham’s blessings are mine. I am blessed in the morning, blessed in the evening…..” then we should be more than ready to do similar things as father Abraham which propelled God’s blessings upon Him. Furthermore, verse 10 of the chapter points us to the fact that even Levites who received tithes also paid tithes through Abraham. Nobody is greater than the law or expectation of the Lord. We all have been called to a life of complete obedience to the Lord’s will. So all the talks about pastors’ stealing tithes hence you won’t pay your tithes should be dead! Our responsibility is basically identify God’s true children, men genuinely called by God with ministries that have been established by the Lord Himself and pay our tithes there. Every man will account for his actions before the Lord at the end of time, so ensure that your end is tight. Ensure that you have been completely obedient to the Lord.
Perhaps the above chapter may not exactly do it for you, it may not convince you well enough. Let us go to the very words of my Jesus Christ to the Pharisees in Matthew 23:23. “Woe to you,Scribes and Pharisees who pay tithes of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: Justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone”. I somewhat perceive that my Jesus was mad at these Pharisees who only paid their tithes out of religion or routine without practicing the core of Christianity. We can see for sure that Jesus Christ for sure didn’t want them to stop giving their tithes but He wanted them to give their tithes as well as be great Christians. This same admonition applies to every single person that identifies as a Christian, it is not enough to do one part and leave the other things undone.
Lastly paying our tithes is a lot more deeper than just obeying “some law” given to us by God. It is more less identifying and acknowledging God as our Lord. When we give our tithes:
We Acknowledge God’s Blessings over Our Lives: All of the blessings and resources that we receive and enjoy comes from our father in heaven and when we give God one-tenth of all the blessings He gives us, it more or less acknowledges God’s hand over our lives. But when you refuse to give your tithe, you more less think or believe that giving God that portion of your money will short-change you for the rest of the month or the year. You more or less believe that all of your increase came from only your hard-work
We Admit Our Faith and Trust in Him: God says to us in Malachi 3:10, “Bring one-tenth of your income into the storehouse so that there may be food in my house. Test me in this way,” says the LORD of Armies. “See if I won’t open the windows of heaven for you and flood you with blessings. I find this scripture extremely powerful!!! God is saying to us to test Him!!!
If it was a friend of mine who spoke to me in this tone, I would scream – “Energy!!!!”. God has given us His word that He would open the windows of heaven over us for as long as we pay our tithes. It is even to our detriment whenever we do not pay our tithes. Therefore, every single time we pay our tithe, we are saying to God that we trust Him to keep to His word in Malachi 3:10
We play our own quota in advancing the kingdom of God: For every house of God that has Jesus Christ as its foundation and Lord, that church definetley uses all of its resources in ways that profits the body of Christ and the kingdom of God at large. Therefore, when we give our tithes in such a church, it means that our tithes are parts of the resources used in propagating the Good news of Jesus Christ. Hence, we are blessings in that way. And to wrap it up just as Hebrews 7:7 says, There is no doubt that the one who blesses is greater than the one who is blessed.