Blessing in Action; The Tithe

Welcome

Thank you all for coming today, as always it is a blessing to be able to spend time together with each other and the LORD.

To come together to worship, to pray, to learn from the word.

Psalm 119:1–18 NRSVue

1 Happy are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord. 2 Happy are those who keep his decrees, who seek him with their whole heart, 3 who also do no wrong but walk in his ways. 4 You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. 5 O that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes! 6 Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments. 7 I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous ordinances. 8 I will observe your statutes; do not utterly forsake me. 9 How can young people keep their way pure? By guarding it according to your word. 10 With my whole heart I seek you; do not let me stray from your commandments. 11 I treasure your word in my heart, so that I may not sin against you. 12 Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes. 13 With my lips I declare all the ordinances of your mouth. 14 I delight in the way of your decrees as much as in all riches. 15 I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. 16 I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word. 17 Deal bountifully with your servant, so that I may live and observe your word. 18 Open my eyes, so that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.

Worship

Blessing in Action; The Tithe

Introduction/Recap

Today we are going to put what we have been learning into action.

We have been exploring the generosity of our God, we explored how He blesses in abundance not just with material things but with the richness of relationship with Him which is by far the best gift.

We discussed that relationships have expectations and that is a necessary and normal part of all relationships

Today we are going to explore what is often a controversial topic…because it deals with Money…the Tithe.

This is often very misunderstood and therefore I have encountered many people who have a lot of feelings, hurts or otherwise because of this.

So today we are going to have a look at what the Tithe is, how did it work and what wisdom should we take from it.

So let us pray to start

Come Holy Spirit, enlighten us to hear you.

Almighty and most merciful Father,

we have erred and strayed from your ways like lost sheep.

We have followed too much the devices and desires

of our own hearts.

We have offended against your holy laws.

We have left undone those things which we ought to have done,

and we have done those things which we ought not

to have done;

and apart from your grace, there is no health in us.

O Lord, have mercy upon us.

Spare all those who confess their faults.

Restore all those who are penitent, according to your promises

declared to all people in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake,

that we may now live a godly, righteous, and sober life,

to the glory of your holy Name. Amen.

What is the Tithe?

The tithe was and is a vital economic practice for the people of God.

It is not what people have oversimplified to giving 10% of your income to the church. It is much richer and more beautiful than that.

The tithe functions like systematic generosity to meet the needs of the community and beyond.

On the face of this, I would say that most people like the idea, but because we have not seen this in practice it is hard to get our heads around.

What makes it more challenging is that the rules that govern this are not all in one location in the Torah and they are written in a context that is foreign to us, but there is a lot to that we can learn about God and His vision for how His people were to be generous.

The tithe worked very similar to how taxes work today.

The main difference from then and today is that the government and the church were not separate. The government and religious systems were one and the same for the ancient Israelites.

We do not live in that context today, but there are similarities.

Today we have Public Servants, whose job is to serve the public interests and matters of state.

This would be like, Judges, Police, Ambos, council, senate, and government employees. Our taxes today go to paying for them and they in turn ought to serve us.

Now without going down a rabbit hole and having a political discussion that is the overall concept.

It worked the same for the Israelites, but instead of random people, there was a whole tribe dedicated to the task of public servanthood and that was the tribe of the Levites.

Israel was made out of 12 tribes (the ancestors of the 12 sons of Israel), one of them was Levi. His descendants the levites were the public servants.

It was also that the priests and the High Priest were descendants of Levi.

As you can see in this slide, not all levites were priests, but all worked for God in their service of the community.

Important Point: You don’t have to be a priest to work for God.

Numbers 3:5–10 NRSVue

5 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 6 “Bring the tribe of Levi near and set them before Aaron the priest, so that they may assist him. 7 They shall perform duties for him and for the whole congregation in front of the tent of meeting, doing service at the tabernacle; 8 they shall be in charge of all the furnishings of the tent of meeting and attend to the duties for the Israelites as they do service at the tabernacle. 9 You shall give the Levites to Aaron and his descendants; they are unreservedly given to him from among the Israelites. 10 But you shall enroll Aaron and his descendants; it is they who shall attend to the priesthood,…

This is important when it comes to understanding the Tithe.

Remember that the Israelites were agrarian meaning farmers and herders, tangible goods. Their land was allotted to them by God and it was the land that delivered the wealth. The whole system given by God.

What we are going to do is take the example of a field and how that would be divied up.

Let’s just say I am an Israelite Farmer back in the day and it is time to harvest

The first thing I have to decide is how much of an edge do I want to leave.

Leviticus 19:9–10 NRSVue

9 “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10 You shall not strip your vineyard bare or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the alien: I am the Lord your God.

First cab off the rank in the LORD’s priority…is the poor and alien.

Does this surprise you?

It shows us God’s priority right off of the bat, you can not separate God’s provision for you, from meeting the needs of others.

Remember we have been talking about a Generous God, the first thought is how to meet the local needs, the outer edge of the field remains unharvested, there is no prescribed amount here, but think about the story of Ruth or when Jesus is walking around with his disciples and they are picking heads of grain.

It is this practice here, the outer edges of the fields were available to those in need, the poor or alien could come and be provided for no questions asked. but obviously they had to be local because they had to come and get it.

Now remember Harvest time is a specific time of the year and when the harvest would start, you had to decide how much of the first fruits you wanted to give.

What is interesting here is this offering has a performance with it, just like the last offering it teaches us about God.

Deuteronomy 26:1–11 NRSVue

1 “When you have come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess and you possess it and settle in it, 2 you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place that the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name. 3 You shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, ‘Today I declare to the Lord your God that I have come into the land that the Lord swore to our ancestors to give us.’ 4 When the priest takes the basket from your hand and sets it down before the altar of the Lord your God, 5 you shall make this response before the Lord your God: ‘A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous. 6 When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labor on us, 7 we cried to the Lord, the God of our ancestors; the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. 8 The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders; 9 and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 So now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O Lord, have given me.’ You shall set it down before the Lord your God and bow down before the Lord your God. 11 Then you, together with the Levites and the aliens who reside among you, shall celebrate with all the bounty that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house.

God knows we are tactile learners, a lot of the laws and things that God commanded in the laws were there to teach us and to remind us.

This right here is just such an example. It anchors that God is the source of what we have is from the very hand of God.

This is then eaten as a community together during a giant feast that is all about enjoying what the LORD has given us as a community.

In Torah there is nothing that says how much these first two offerings are. The first fruits is to be the best portion of the first bits. So someone could be as generous or as stingy, but remember, it is all public.

After these two offerings happen, this becomes your “Tithable income”

Next is the regular tithe, that goes to support the Levites as they didn’t get land from the LORD.

The Levites would then take 10% of this offering from the whole community and give it to the priests.

Numbers 18:21 NRSVue

21 “To the Levites I have given every tithe in Israel for a possession in return for the service that they perform, the service in the tent of meeting.

The next one might surprise you, it is the second tithe

Deuteronomy 14:22–27 NRSVue

22 “Set apart a tithe of all the yield of your seed that is brought in yearly from the field. 23 In the presence of the Lord your God, in the place that he will choose as a dwelling for his name, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, your wine, and your oil, as well as the firstlings of your herd and flock, so that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always. 24 But if, when the Lord your God has blessed you, the distance is so great that you are unable to transport it, because the place where the Lord your God will choose to set his name is too far away from you, 25 then you may turn it into money. With the money secure in hand, go to the place that the Lord your God will choose; 26 spend the money for whatever you wish: oxen, sheep, wine, strong drink, or whatever you desire. And you shall eat there in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your household rejoicing together. 27 As for the Levites resident in your towns, do not neglect them, because they have no allotment or inheritance with you.

This is the Feasting Tithe

What I find most interesting here is this flies in the face that God wants pure sacrifice from us. He says very clearly, set money aside purely to enjoy and learn to fear God. Remember that the tithes are Sacred to the LORD, he is saying, reserve a portion just to enjoy.

It is a vital priority to God for us to dedicate some of what He has given us for enjoyment and learning to fear Him.

So this next one requires some more info.

Remember that land harvesting followed a 7 year sabbath cycle, you only harvested for 6 years, and on the 7th you just left the land alone to rest, you could pick and harvest anything that it produced naturally.

So on years 3 and 6 there was an additional tithe.

Deuteronomy 14:28–29 NRSVue

28 “Every third year you shall bring out the full tithe of your produce for that year and store it within your towns; 29 the Levites, because they have no allotment or inheritance with you, as well as the resident aliens, the orphans, and the widows in your towns, may come and eat their fill so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work that you undertake.

I love how this ends with blessing, that how we treat God’s blessing to us is connected to the continuing of that very blessing.

You may say, but Shawn that doesn’t leave a lot to “live on”, remember that most of these offerings are communal and that you participate in yourself.

This is how the LORD summarised it:

Deuteronomy 15:1–11 NRSVue

1 “Every seventh year you shall grant a remission of debts. 2 And this is the manner of the remission: every creditor shall remit the claim that is held against a neighbor, not exacting it, because the Lord’s remission has been proclaimed. 3 Of a foreigner you may exact it, but you must remit your claim on whatever any member of your community owes you. 4 There will, however, be no one in need among you, because the Lord is sure to bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession to occupy, 5 if only you will obey the Lord your God by diligently observing this entire commandment that I command you today. 6 When the Lord your God has blessed you, as he promised you, you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow; you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you. 7 “If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your community in any of your towns within the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor. 8 You should rather open your hand, willingly lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may be. 9 Be careful that you do not entertain a mean thought, thinking, ‘The seventh year, the year of remission, is near,’ and therefore view your needy neighbor with hostility and give nothing; your neighbor might cry to the Lord against you, and you would incur guilt. 10 Give liberally and be ungrudging when you do so, for on this account the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. 11 Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.’

We have been talking a lot about Generosity and Blessing and the LORD has linked these explicitly together.

Do you see how this works

What does this say about God? What does God care about?

1. God cares about the lost, the sick, and the poor.

The majority of the tithes and offerings are specifically aimed at them. God is uniquely aware about the cries of those in need and He has blessed His people in order to meet those needs.

2. God cares about us remembering that He is the source of blessing and provision.

It is good to have routines and habits that remind us of important truths. In todays day and age it is so easy to get so busy and forget. If we forget this is all from God, we may start believing the lie that He won’t provide or even worse that it is because of our actions that we are in a good place.

3. God cares about providing for those that serve others.

It is necessary for a community to have people solely focused on serving that community, it is vital then that those who are being served provide for that. If they do not the whole system fails. Which is what was happening in Malachi.

Malachi 3:8–12 NRSVue

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.

They were not participating in this system God set up, which meant no one was serving the people before the LORD, the poor the sick and the needy were not being taken care of and in so doing, they cursed themselves because injustice was rampant.

4. God cares about us enjoying Him and learning about Him.

God thinks that we should prioritise our own money to enjoy Him and learn about Him.

Does it now make sense when Jesus said this:

Luke 11:42 NRSVue

42 “But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and herbs of all kinds and neglect justice and the love of God; it is these you ought to have practiced, without neglecting the others.

The heart of the tithe as Jesus puts it is Justice and the Love of God. What is Justice for Jesus, looking after those in need and putting our Money where our mouth is when it comes to Love of God, do we invest money into our relationship with God?

What is the takeaway?

The question we need to wrestle with is this: Do our financial priorities match God’s? If not, what do we need to do to fix that?