Principles for Biblical Giving
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Introduction:
Introduction:
It is the intent of this information to inform the reader of the Biblical form of giving in the Scriptures.
Many times, as believers, we are encumbered with traditional beliefs about many things and giving is one of those issues.
This is not intended to be argumentative, but simply informational as to what the Scriptures teach on the subject.
No doubt there are a large number of believers that have been taught the concept of the tithe and not pay 10% of your income to God is sinful.
I have even heard some say that the only way that you can expect to receive financial help from the Lord is to pay to the Lord your 10% as a minimum.
Therefore, I fear that the Church is filled with people who may pay the 10% but are not doing it out of love of the Lord, but is doing it out of obligation or to make deals with God.
Therefore, I also fear that preachers that teach people this and; therefore, cause the people to give out of compulsion and not love, are no better than the health and wealth preachers on TBN, because of the heart of the giver.
Now, obviously I am not saying that every preacher that teaches tithing is no better than the health and wealth guys.
But what I am saying is that when a preacher teaches that unless you give your 10% to the Church (they spiritualize it by saying “the Lord”), then God will not financially help you, those are the guys that are not much better than the TBN, health and wealth guys.
My thoughts on this subject started many years ago.
I was taking the Church I pastor through the book of 2 Corinthians and as we approached chapter 8, the questions in my mind began to come.
The first of many questions that entered my mind was the fact that in this very obvious passage of the Scriptures praising a Church for the way they gave, tithing is never mentioned.
I thought that very odd, indeed.
If there was ever a place where the Lord could have made tithing an issue of obedience, it could have been here.
Another question that began to rise in my head is this; as I study the New Testament, I have never come to a passage where tithing commanded.
In fact, the word “tithe” or “tithes” is only mentioned 7 times in the New Testament.
And the way that the word “tithe” is used is very interesting.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Of course the next passage is just a parallel passage in one of the Synoptic Gospels.
But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
Those are the only places in the New Testament where tithing is even mentioned and as you can clearly see, those are judgment passages and not passages affirming or praising the fact that someone is tithing.
It certainly is not intended to set a standard of practice for New Testament believers.
The other four references are all in the same chapter of the book Hebrews; 7:5; 7:6; 7:8; and 7:9.
And neither are any of those passages given as a praise or command and certainly not a standard for New Testament practice.
Where, and I would assume all people, get the idea of tithing to the Lord as a command comes from a misunderstanding of Malachi 3:8 and also what the Old Testament has to say about tithing.
Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
Now, let me also say that one of the things that the Lord taught me during my study of 2 Corinthians and has been conformed over and over again is that giving to the Lord is absolutely scriptural.
Many people will misunderstand that when someone says that tithing is not a Biblical requirement, that they are saying that you do not need to give to the Lord.
That is not at all what is being said, not what the Scriptures teach.
Although, we understand that God does not need our money, I believe that:
But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.
Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.
So, it is not giving that is in question here, but it is tithing that is in question.
Does God require cheerful giving or does God lay a percentage on it?
It giving an issue of accounting with God?
Or is it the issue of the heart?
It is many of those things that I want to explore in this study.
Again, I began to ask myself these questions as I was taking my Church through 2 Corinthians and in particular when chapters 8 and 9.
There are a couple of things that I want to say about their giving in just a general way that the text teaches and then move on because tithing is the heart of the issue for this study.
Now, let me say that giving is the actions of a heart that is devoted to God.
And so, again, whether or not we give is not the issue, we are to give, but the issue is does God place percentages, amounts, frequency or formulas on it.
Now there several key things we see about the giving of the Church in Macedonia that we need to consider.
I. Their Giving was Initiated by God’s Grace (vs. 1)
I. Their Giving was Initiated by God’s Grace (vs. 1)
Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia;
Their giving was supernaturally motivated.
Their giving was not motivated by a self serving desire to “be blessed”, but it was motivated by the Spirit and a love for God.
II. Their Giving Transcended Difficult Circumstances (vs. 2)
II. Their Giving Transcended Difficult Circumstances (vs. 2)
How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.
III. Their Giving was with Joy (vs. 2)
III. Their Giving was with Joy (vs. 2)
How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.
IV. Their Giving was not Hindered by Deep Poverty (vs. 2)
IV. Their Giving was not Hindered by Deep Poverty (vs. 2)
How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.
V. Their Giving was Generous (vs. 2)
V. Their Giving was Generous (vs. 2)
How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.
VI. Their Giving was Proportionate (vs. 3)
VI. Their Giving was Proportionate (vs. 3)
For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves;
They have according to their power.
“Power” is “δύναμις” (dunamis) and it is where we get our English word “dynamite” and it speaks about ability.
They have according to their ability.
For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.
It is very important that you realize that God does not expect you to give what you do not have.
God does not want you going out and charging on credit your Church giving.
You are to give according to what you have and not what you do not have.
And keep in mind here that there is no fixed amount, percentage, or figure.
Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.
Giving is as God has prospered you; what you have not what you do not have.
These believers did not give according to a fixed amount or figure.
It was not based on gross or net, that was never in play with New Testament Christian giving.
You give as you are capable of giving.
VII. Their Giving was Sacrificial (vs. 3)
VII. Their Giving was Sacrificial (vs. 3)
For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves;
Lest you think that there is a contradiction here, we are to giving out of what we have and we are never called to give what we do not have, but there are times that what we give is sacrificial.
We HAVE it, but it is sacrificial.
VIII. Their Giving was Voluntary (vs. 3)
VIII. Their Giving was Voluntary (vs. 3)
For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves;
They gave willingly.
They gave of their own accord, they gave of their own choice.
Many Christians have been taught that the standard for giving is 10%; the tithe, which means “a tenth.”
However, what raised my questions years ago is that in 2 Corinthians 8-9 there is no 10% here, no fixed amount, no standard.
Why do so many Christians today believe they need to give 10% and are sinning if they do not?
Well, as I said before, much of it comes from a misunderstanding of the Old Testament.
Israel was suppose to give 10% snd so many believe that they are suppose to give 10%; even though there is no command in the New Testament that tells us that.
And the argument is further given that Abraham and Jacob, before the law, gave 10%.
So, the idea is that the standard transcends the law, and if it existed before the law it should exist after the law because it transcends the law.
However, there are some major flaws to that way of thinking:
If someone says that whatever existed before the law must exist after the law you have some serious problems.
1. The Observance of the Sabbath Day
1. The Observance of the Sabbath Day
This existed before the law.
But we are not commanded to observe it.
Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
Do not let anyone hold you to a sabbath.
2. The Sacrificial System
2. The Sacrificial System
There was in the Mosaic law a sacrificial system.
However, there was also before the law a sacrificial system.
God made clothes for Adam and Eve after their sin out of animal skins because an animal was sacrificed.
But that system does carry into the New Covenant.
There were two kinds of giving before the law:
1. Required
1. Required
2. Voluntary
2. Voluntary
a. Voluntary
a. Voluntary
What was the voluntary giving BEFORE the law?
Usually advocates of the command to give a certain percent for New Testament believers will point to Abraham and Jacob as the standard, but what must be understood is that neither men gave a tithe because it was REQUIRED.
It always refers to a voluntary offering.
In Genesis 4 we have the first offering given to God.
It was the offering of Cain and Abel.
But if you read that passage you will find that God never told them how much, how often, or what percentage.
The offering of these two men was completely voluntary.
The second offering is in Genesis 8 and the account of Noah.
And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
Again, completely voluntary.
God never commanded that Noah give him an offering, it was completely voluntary.
No amount, no percentage.
Noah gave from the heart.
Then we come to the Abraham.
And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD.
Again, no command, no percentage, and no frequency.
Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the LORD.
Again, no command, percentage, or frequency.
Now, when we come to Genesis 14, we come to the fist time when the word “tithe” is used.
And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.
And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth:
And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.
We must bear in mind here that there were no commands to give tithes.
This was a spontaneous act on the part of Abraham to praise the Lord for the victory that he has just gained over the 5 evil kingdoms that he fought.
God never told Abraham to do this, this was completely voluntary.
Abraham as never told how much this is the only recorded time that Abraham did this.
Also, keep in mind that verse 20 does not teach that Abraham gave 10% of all that he owned.
He gave 10% of what he had taken in the battle.
Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils.
“Spoils” is “ἀκροθίνιον” (akrothinion) and speaks of the best.
Abraham gave the best of the spoils he had taken from the battle.
One time act, and totally voluntary.
Then we come to Jacob in Genesis 28 and this was probably the lowest part of Jacobs life.
And we should probably not use Jacob as an example of anything, except carnality.
And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on,
So that I come again to my father’s house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God:
So, Jacob is is really trying to bribe God.
So this would not even be a proper example of giving in general.
However, no command, no mandate, but a bribe.
God, if you do this then I will do that.
All Pre-Mosaic tithe was voluntary, never prescribed by God, never commanded.
No percentage, no fixed amount, no frequency.
b. Required
b. Required
Tithing was NEVER required, but was there a kind of giving that did require a certain amount?
Yes!
Let Pharaoh proceed to appoint overseers over the land and take one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven plentiful years.
You remember the story of how Jospeh interpreted a dream and began to raise in his position ini Egypt.
He interpreted Pharaohs dream of seven good years followed by seven lean years.
And he laid out a plan of giving during the seven good years.
They appointed “overseers”, the first IRS agents, and the text says that the overseers would tax the people 20% to fund the nation.
And it shall come to pass in the increase, that ye shall give the fifth part unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for your little ones.
1/5 was Egypt’s and 4/5 to you; you had to give 20% tax to Egypt.
The idea is that freewill giving is directed towards the Lord and required giving is directed towards the government.
But there was also two kinds of giving during the time of Moses.
c. Required
c. Required
And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD’S: it is holy unto the LORD.
The tithe during the time of Moses is called “The Lord’s Tithe” or sometimes called “The Levites Tithe.”
And in Numbers 18, this tithe was divided among the Levites.
You gave your 10% by giving it to the Levites, the Priests.
This 10% tax, then, was given to support the Levites.
They had no possessions, no land (they were not given any land when it was divided).
He had no job, no livelihood, they worked for the people so they had to be supported.
And since Israel was a Theocracy, this 10% was really to support God’s government by giving it directly to the Levitical priests.
In a democracy, we chose our leaders and then pay taxes to support them.
In God’s Theocracy, God chooses the leaders and the people gave 10% to support them.
The first tithes were 10% of the people’s produce and animals.
This was not freewill giving, it was required giving.
If you did not give it you were robbing God.
This is what the Lord said through the prophet Malachi.
Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
This is taxation.
Israel did give 10%, but not just 10%
The first 10% was tithes given for the funding of the government of God; the Levitical system.
The Second Tithe was a tithe that was given once a year.
But when ye go over Jordan, and dwell in the land which the LORD your God giveth you to inherit, and when he giveth you rest from all your enemies round about, so that ye dwell in safety;
Then there shall be a place which the LORD your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there; thither shall ye bring all that I command you; your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which ye vow unto the LORD:
Thou mayest not eat within thy gates the tithe of thy corn, or of thy wine, or of thy oil, or the firstlings of thy herds or of thy flock, nor any of thy vows which thou vowest, nor thy freewill offerings, or heave offering of thine hand:
But thou must eat them before the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD thy God shall choose, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates: and thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God in all that thou puttest thine hands unto.
This was a tithe that was brought once a year to Jerusalem.
Here God is instituting all kinds of feasts and celebrations.
And God said that you have to bring a tenth to support those things; for all the festivals and celebrations.
So, the first required giving of a tithe was to support the government.
The second required giving of a tithe was to support the social life of Israel and fund the festivals and celebrations.
Third required giving was the welfare tax.
And you had to give this every three years.
At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same year, and shalt lay it up within thy gates:
Since it was to be paid once every three years, it works out to be 3 1/3 annually.
And who was it for?
And the Levite, (because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest.
This is the poor tithe.
So, as we see from the Scriptures, Israel, in God’s Theocracy, did not give 10%, it was about 23 1/3%-25%.
This was taxation, not given to the Lord.
The Levitical Tithe - Government
The Festival Tithe - People
The Poor Tithe - Welfare System.
BEFORE Moses the required giving was taxation, AFTER Moses the required giving was taxation.
And this was never to be confused with giving to the Lord.
Israel also had to pay a profit sharing tax.
And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest.
And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God.
Israel had to pay a third of a shekel temple tax to buy materials for the temple offers and constructions; once a year.
Also we made ordinances for us, to charge ourselves yearly with the third part of a shekel for the service of the house of our God;
For the shewbread, and for the continual meat offering, and for the continual burnt offering, of the sabbaths, of the new moons, for the set feasts, and for the holy things, and for the sin offerings to make an atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the house of our God.
And every seven years the land had to rest from all planting and harvest (Exodus 23:10-11).
This is a far cry from 10%, it was 25% plus would have been the requirement under the law.
b. Voluntary
b. Voluntary
All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, the firstfruits of them which they shall offer unto the LORD, them have I given thee.
They were to give their best to the Lord.
No fixed amount, no frequency; it was a freewill offering.
You gave the first fruits, not knowing how the rest of the harvest will go, but by faith, God says I will take care of the rest.
But this is freewill; no amount, no percentage, no frequency.
Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:
So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.
There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering.
God said, give me what you want, but only make sure that it is given from the heart.
And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing, and they brought the LORD’S offering to the work of the tabernacle of the congregation, and for all his service, and for the holy garments.
And they came, both men and women, as many as were willing hearted, and brought bracelets, and earrings, and rings, and tablets, all jewels of gold: and every man that offered offered an offering of gold unto the LORD.
Again, giving of a willing heart.
And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the LORD thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the LORD thy God, according as the LORD thy God hath blessed thee:
Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee.
And as the people were giving for the building of the Tabernacle, as the previous text have said, the only thing that God required is that they give willingly from the heart; no amounts, no percentage, no frequency.
Notice what happened:
And they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work, which the LORD commanded to make.
And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing.
The people gave so much that Moses had to tell them to stop giving.
And when David was preparing for the Temple that his son, Solomon, would erect:
Then the people rejoiced, for that they offered willingly, because with perfect heart they offered willingly to the LORD: and David the king also rejoiced with great joy.
Wherefore David blessed the LORD before all the congregation: and David said, Blessed be thou, LORD God of Israel our father, for ever and ever.
People gave willingly from the heart.
Summary:
Summary:
Tithing was REQUIRED but it was required as tax to support the government:
1. To Pay Salaries
1. To Pay Salaries
2. Social life for Israel
2. Social life for Israel
3. Welfare System
3. Welfare System
The tithe was never money required to be given to God.
When it came to giving to God, there was no amount, no percentage, no frequency; it was willingly from the heart.
It was voluntary and personal.
Basically, pay your taxes and give to God what your heart tells you.
And it is exactly the same in the New Testament; it is a heart issue-give to God whatever you want.
This is why when you come to 2 Corinthians 8, you hear nothing about an amount.