Introduction⤒🔗

In the previous article we reviewed several sections of the Old Testament and New Testament in which God declared His sovereign will with regard to tithing. We stated in that article that "God has graciously commanded His creatures to tithe." The connection between command and grace at first may not seem so evident. Perhaps it would have been clearer if we had written that "God has lovingly commanded His creatures to tithe." Hopefully, exploring the reasons why God instituted tithing will bring to light this connection between His love, or grace, and His command.

God's fence←⤒🔗

Fallen man has a distorted view of God's holy law. In our darkened understanding we regard the law of God as a "harness," as something which restricts, forces, imposes on us, and hinders our liberty. However, when God's saving light enters into our heart, our understanding of the character of the law changes. At once we begin to recognize that God's law is like a fence which He has built around our lives (see Romans 7:12-13). A fence is meant to protect. This is clear when we think about our little children who play in our yards. As parents we build a fence both to keep them from wandering away into danger and to keep others (enemies) from wandering in. What would we think of such parents who did not provide their young children with a protective fence? We recognize at once that placing such a fence around them is an act of caring love.¹

Why tithing?←⤒🔗

Why does God command us to tithe? One simple reason is that thereby we continually recognize the Creator's right to all we possess. As stated in the previous instalment, God has made us stewards. In order to constantly keep this position as mere steward before our eyes, He has appointed tithing. How soon would we forget (and still do forget) that "the heavens are Thine; the earth also is Thine" (Psalm 89:11).

A second reason is to discover to us our nature. Ever since the fall in Paradise, the crystal brook of pure and holy thoughts, motives, desires, and actions have become a putrid fountain of covetousness, greed, and selfishness.² As God primarily uses the law to discover to us what we have become through sin, so God may use the "law of tithing" to discover one awful aspect of each of us, viz., our greedy and covetous nature. What inward resistance can be felt when one cashes the pay check and needs to set aside at once the ten percent which is "holy unto the LORD" (Leviticus 27:30). As one young person recently acknowledged, it becomes harder and harder to put aside the tithe when one's income increases. The more we have, the more it seems to occupy our heart. So the "law of tithing" may be continually used to discover to us our great sinfulness. It is still possible, however, that in spite of faithful tithing, we have no awareness of our great covetousness, which can lie so hidden from our eyes.³

There is third reason for tithing: it is a test of faith. Most of us know of those times when the amount for the bills which need to be paid exceeds what we have available. The pay check is sometimes spent before it has been cashed or received.⁴ Assuming that the lack in funds is not clearly the result of overspending or living beyond our means, this hardly being able to make ends meet for the day-to-day needs of the family can provide a significant dilemma for conscientious parents. The reasoning often is, "If I pay all my bills and buy the needed groceries, there is nothing left over. I simply cannot afford the tithe." God, however, maintains His will. In this case, obedience to God's command also becomes an act of faith. I believe that God through the command to tithe "according as God has prospered" (1 Corinthians 16:2) is testing our faith in Him. He is testing whether we really believe His promise on faithful tithing, which we will consider momentarily.

Lastly, tithing also has a practical side. In the Old Testament God supplied the Levites and priests through the people's tithe. Likewise in the New Testament, through the tithe the church is supplied with the financial resources to maintain the work of the ministry (including the mission and various schools) and to support the needy.

God's promise on tithing←⤒🔗

Throughout the Scripture the Lord encourages us to seek Him, with the promise that "those that seek Him shall find Him." Likewise God encourages us to obedience to His will in tithing, with the promise that He will supply all our need. Consider what Solomon wrote in Proverbs 3:9-10, "Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase: so (!) shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out new wine." Also, we read in Proverbs 11:24-25, "There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that with holdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty. The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself." The New Testament counterpart may well be Hebrews 6:10, "For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have showed toward His Name, in that ye ministered to the saints, and do minister."

Yet the clearest encouragement is found in Malachi 3:10, "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord, if I will not open you the win­dows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." God, as it were, places Himself on trial! He seeks to persuade them to obedience with His promise. As Matthew Poole stated, "The prophet doth in the name of God offer to put it to a short trial: By doing your duty try whether I will not make good My promise and give you a blessing instead of a curse." Oh, how low does God condescend here! To command this duty would be sufficient, for He is God, and He alone. Instead, to encourage us to obedience, He adds His promise that He will open the windows of heaven.

Only two other times in the Bible does the Holy Spirit use the phrase "windows of heaven." The first occurrence is in Genesis 7:11, in connection with the flood. The other is in 2 Kings 7:2, in connection with the famine in Samaria. In all three cases it refers to wondrous supplies. God promises that He will supply all our needs if we tithe faithfully. Never yet have I found God not keeping His promise. Also in this context it is appropriate to remind ourselves of Jesus' word, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteous­ness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought (margin: anxious thought) for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself."⁵

Miscellaneous questions←⤒🔗

In this concluding section on tithing I will try to answer a few related questions which are often asked. The first is whether we should return our tithe from our gross income or from whatever is left after the taxes are taken out. I believe that the tithe should be given from our gross income. In 1 Samuel 8:10-18 the prophet Samuel tries to dissuade the people of Israel from receiving a king. In his comments he mentions, "And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants … He will take the tenth of your sheep" (verses 15 & 17a). The tenth that the king would impose on his people did by no means cancel or decrease the tenth God imposed on His people, but it would be in addition to God's tenth. In this passage I find grounds to maintain that even if our government imposes large tax burdens, we are not thereby freed from our obligation to God's command. Israel, in the years following, must often have sighed under the results of their foolish choice. God's direct reign was far better than the reign of man. Must we not draw the line back even farther? When we must labor in the sweat of our face and see much of our labor spent in heavy tax burdens, it behoves us to acknowledge, "We reap what we sowed when we chose the service of the king of terrors above the service of the God of heaven and of earth."

In regard to the question whether we should give the tithe to the deaconry or are at liberty to distrib­ute it at our discretion among the needy, I must admit to having no clear light. Personally I tend to lean strongly toward the scriptural practice of returning it to the "storehouse" (Malachi 3:10), or church. Such was God's ordained way in the Old Testament, and I find no direction in the New Testament to make it a matter of our choice. The deacons are given the charge to "diligently collect alms and other contributions of charity, and after mutual counsel, to distribute the same faithfully and diligently to the poor, both to residents and strangers (i.e., outsiders), as their needs may require."⁶

Sins of ignorance←⤒🔗

Perhaps some readers feel alarmed at never having considered tithing as a duty. Your neglect of a duty so evident is not excused by your unintentional ignorance. God cannot excuse sin, not even sins done through ignorance, because our ignorance is also a result of our wilful fall in Paradise. However, God ordained a sacrifice for the sins of ignorance (see Leviticus 4), which the apostle applies in Hebrews 5:2 as follows, "Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity."

There is forgiveness also for the neglect of this duty. However, after having read about God's revealed will in tithing, all neglect of this duty is intentional disobedience and desecration of that "which is holy unto the LORD" (Leviticus 27:30).

Cheerful giver←⤒🔗

Having explored our duty, let us be reminded that "God loveth a cheerful giver" (2 Corinthians 9:7). It is not the hand and its contents, but the heart behind the hand which speaks. May then the love of Christ constrain us to give in love, not only to return obediently what is God's, but also cheerfully to give beyond what is our duty. Lastly, let us also be reminded that "whatsoever is not of faith is sin" (Romans 14:23).

In Preparation←⤒🔗

In subsequent articles we would like to explore God's will in regard to several issues related to the other 90% of our income. Even though God gives that 90% for our use, that does not mean He has not revealed His will for us regarding the wise and responsible uses of that portion. An attempt will be made to provide some biblical guidance in such issues as planning, budgeting, retirements, saving, and speculating.