Malachi 3:10(NKJV) 10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” Says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.
This week we are continuing in our study of divine prosperity. We have found in Malachi chapter 3 that the Lord gave an unexpected commandment to Israel when it came to their spiritual return to him. He did not ask them to increase or initiate spiritual activities like prayer, worship or fasting. He told them that if they wanted to return to the proper place of relationship with the Lord, they had to get their tithes and offerings right. In particular, he told them in today’s verse to bring the tithe to the storehouse.
There are many types of giving we are asked to do, however the first type is the tithe. It is what opens the door into God’s financial system. Jesus told us in Matthew 6:21 that our heart would be where our treasure is. The tithe is the method that God has given us to be sure we keep our heart in the right place when it comes to our financial life.
There are many questions surrounding the tithe. Many wonder if it is valid for a New Testament believer to tithe. “Isn’t the tithe part of the law?” we might ask. Although the there is the law of the tithe, the tithe predates the law by many years. We find the practice mentioned in Genesis 14. This is long before Moses, the lawgiver, existed.
In this story, Abrams nephew, Lot, was kidnapped. Abram sets out to get him back. He was very successful. He got Lot back as well as much spoil from the battle. On the way home a priest named Melchizedek, called the King of Salam but also considered a priest of God, came to meet them.
Melchizedek is an interesting character. In Hebrews Jesus is called a priest after the order of Melchizedek. This is because Jesus was not a priest by the law. He was not from the right tribe. Jesus is a priest because God said he was. Hebrews tells us Melchizedek was the same kind of priest. He was not a priest according to the law. What Abram does next, therefore, is also not part of the law.
Genesis 14:20 says that Abram gave Melchizedek a tithe of all he had won in the battle. Why did Abram do that? Why did Abram give the priest ten percent of what he had gained? Why not give Melchizedek 5, 15, or 20 percent? I believe it is because the tithe, or 10 percent, was the figure that had always been connected with honoring God. Abram knew this truth, as did Melchizedek.
So what is the tithe? Obviously, it is ten percent of something. That is what the word means. However, what is it ten percent of? Let us ask the scripture.
Deuteronomy 14:22(NKJV) 22“You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year.
In this scripture, we find that a tithe is brought from all our increase. Here it is specifically speaking of grain, but the tithe is the tithe. It always comes from what we have as increase financially. We use another word. That word is income. I believe the tithe is ten percent of all of our income. Let us look at another scripture.
Nehemiah 10:35-36(NKJV) 35And we made ordinances to bring the firstfruits of our ground and the firstfruits of all fruit of all trees, year by year, to the house of the Lord; 36to bring the firstborn of our sons and our cattle, as it is written in the Law, and the firstborn of our herds and our flocks, to the house of our God, to the priests who minister in the house of our God;
In the book of Nehemiah, the tithe is called the first fruits. I believe that the tithe is the first ten percent of our income. It is interesting that Nehemiah is a book that is also about returning to God. In Malachi Israel was returning spiritually to a relationship with God. Here they are returning physically to the Promised Land. In both cases, the Lord addresses the tithe.
I did not grow up paying tithes. My wife’s father taught her that the tithe belonged to God, but my parents did not. My family was catholic and not very religious. When we went to church, I gave a quarter and my parents gave a dollar. They just did not know any better. When we got married and my wife began to talk to me about tithing, I said no. It seemed unreasonable to me. I upped my giving to 20 dollars when possible, but that was more than enough to my mind.
It was not until I went into the ministry that I understood that the tithe was not unreasonable. God gives me the power to obtain wealth. Since it all comes from him, it all belongs to him. It would be unreasonable if he required I give him ninety percent and I was required to live on ten percent. To ask me to give back to him only ten percent of what he gives me is very reasonable. We should not look at the ten percent we give to God; we should thank him for the ninety percent we get to keep. That is a very different perspective.
Therefore, what is the tithe? It is the first ten percent of all of our income. The tithe must be the first fruits because of all we talked about yesterday. Giving that first ten percent of what we produce to God will keep our hearts where they must be in order to have divine prosperity.
Let me add one more thing today. It is not and offering. It is a requirement. You may say, “I thought we were not under the Law?” That is true. It is not a law. It is much deeper than a law. It is part of our covenant relationship with God. That is why Abram automatically gave this amount to Melchizedek. Abram was a covenant man and the tithe was part of his covenant.
As a New Testament believer, we are not bound to this ten percent figure. I do believe it is the right figure. I have known people who have said they were going to give fifteen or twenty percent. Usually they fail. That is because God only asked for ten percent as the required giving. Anything else is a free will offering. We can give it or not give it.
God asks us to give the first ten percent of our income. If we do that, there are certain guarantees we can claim. It is not a law, but I believe it should be a practice. It should be part of our discipline as believers to give God his ten percent. Do you know what the word disciple means? It means to be a disciplined believer. I want to make sure my heart can handle the blessing God wants to pour out on me. I believe the practice of paying tithes to God is one thing that will help me do that.
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