Giving: Tithing, Part 2

As we learnt in the last teaching, titled, "Giving: Tithing," we learnt that there are many types of tithing, and started talking about tithing. We talked about Abraham, and how he tithed, and why he did it. We also saw that we are no longer under the law, having been set free from the law. We are children of Abraham, free to enjoy His blessings. 

Today I want us to pick up from this, going to one of the most referred to texts when we talk about tithing, and see how it applies to the New Covenant believer:

Malachi 3:10-12
Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, 'In what way have we robbed You?' In tithes and offerings. ⁹ You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation.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. ¹¹ "And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field," Says the LORD of hosts; ¹² "And all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land," Says the LORD of hosts.

Now that we are here, let us tackle this commonly abused text. We have said that Abraham was blessed by God before he even tithed. He could not be blessed, as the blessing was already upon him. What did Abraham do to be blessed? Nothing, just faith in God (Gal 3:6-9, 14). Abraham did not have any laws to obey, so clearly his blessing was by faith in God, as opposed to works. Of course faith without works is dead (James 2:17), and so works were needed to prove his faith, but it’s not the works that made qualified him to be blessed; it was his faith. On the other hand, the children of Israel were under the law, and could only be blessed IF they obeyed; by virtue of their works that is (Deut. 28:1-14). Their blessedness came from works and obedience, not from faith. In the same way, if they disobeyed, they were cursed. Now if this was the case with Abraham, why wasn’t he cursed when he lied twice about his wife, when he decided to get Ishmael apart from God’s will and so on? Because his blessedness did not come from his works or obedience; it came from His faith in God.

Now for us today, we are not like the children of Israel, as we have been delivered from the law (Rom. 7:6), and are dead to it. We are now under grace. We are now sons of Abraham, by faith, and are blessed with believing Abraham (Gal. 3:9). If we are this way, the only way we can be cursed is if we go back to the law, and cease believing in Christ. This is what the scriptures say:

Gal. 3:13-14
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"), ¹⁴ that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

We have been redeemed from the curse of the law, so not tithing will not make you cursed, because tithing did not make you blessed. You were blessed the moment you believed in Christ, meaning your blessedness is not a result of your works, but your faith. Tithing, a work, is an indication of your faith, and if you do not keep tithing, though you will be blessed, your faith will be in danger as faith without works is dead (James 2:17). As we said, tithing is exercising your faith and trust in God. If you do not tithe, you will be hanging on to whatever you have and your own efforts, and thus your faith in God will start its process of dying. Malachi 3:9 could only apply if we are blessed by virtue of what we do; it does not because we are not under the law, and because Christ took all the curse of the law on Himself. If you would be cursed today because of not tithing, why did Christ become a curse then? Did He become a curse only once, and the next time we break the law we go back under the curse? No, as the Bible says that He died and made a sacrifice for sins once and for all (Heb. 10:10, 12). He redeemed us from the curse of the law that came upon people because of not obeying (Deut. 28:15-68, Mal. 3:9) once and for all.

Tithes were and are supposed to be given to God’s storehouse, that is where God’s people are being fed. In the OT, it was the temple, and the priests were supposed to feed from (Numbers 18:26-32, Deut. 12:17-19, 26:12-13). Before giving, the Levites and priests were supposed to heave the tithe before God, which basically means to raise it up to God, thus consecrating it or making it holy (Num. 18:26-30). After heaving it, they were supposed to eat it (verse 31-32), not alone, but with other children of Israel (Deut. 14:22-29). Tithing was supposed to provide food for God's ministers (Levites and Priests), as well as the poor, orphans, foreigners and whoever was in need. This is why God was angry at the children of Israel in Mal. 3:8, for robbing Him, as basically they were denying the Levites and Priests, as well as other needy people, their food. This is why also Mal 3:10 talks of them bringing their tithes and offerings into God’s storehouse, that there may be food therein. Even today, this principle has not changed; we give to God’s storehouse, which is basically where we are fed. You cannot give a tithe where you are not being fed, as that is not God’s storehouse for you; it may be God’s storehouse for someone else, but it is not for you. Give your tithe where you are fed. Wherever the children of Israel went, God established a place where He said His name was, where they were supposed to worship and give their tithes (Deut. 14:22-29). This giving is supposed to be used not only to feed your pastors and leaders, but also whoever is in need, in your church setup. I’m hoping that it is God who led and confirmed to you where you worship and where your storehouse should be, that is He’s the one who decided where you worship. If you are not sure, go back to your knees and ask Him where your storehouse is, where you should be taking your tithes, and where you will be fed. If you move to a new location far from your storehouse for a while, ask God where you will worship, and start giving your tithe there. I repeat, you only give your tithe where you are being fed, God’s storehouse for you, where your needs are met, so that you can also meet other people's needs. He decides the storehouse. Whatever happens to the tithe is none of your business, your business is to trust God and give, following His leading. However, that does not mean that you know there is corruption or you do not feel okay with giving because of what you know or has been revealed to you about the place, and you still keep giving there; go back to your knees and ask God what to do, then do as He tells you. I do not believe that God can lead you to a storehouse where the giving is not being used properly, such as giving being used to finance self-centered motives and other evil works. For God to do this, He would be encouraging these people to continue in this. It's like those people who say they do not approve of abortion, yet fund organisations they know perform abortions. Putting your money in something means you are supporting something. Giving where you know the money is being used for selfish motives means you are supporting selfishness, and sin in general.

Again, do not stop giving because you do not see integrity or because you are not comfortable giving where you are being fed; you should always give a tithe, just ask God WHERE to give it, and whatever He tells you to do, do it. Also, make sure you are not where you worship because of family or peer influence or even a sense of responsibility or duty to the pastor or a human being; be where you are because you are sure God wants you to be there, then also ask Him what you are supposed to be doing there. It may sound like a contradiction, me telling you not to give where you see misuse of money, yet again I am telling you not to stop giving. The moment the people you have been giving to start misusing money, or abusing it, I believe God has opened a door for you to give elsewhere, where the money will be used to advanced and further His kingdom, and also take care of His people. Some people see that the giving is being misused, then they stop giving altogether, with this excuse. This is wrong. Just because someone is misusing funds, doesn't mean all of God's ministers are doing so. This is the same problem Elijah had, thinking and saying he was the only prophet of God in Israel (1 Kings 18:22, 19:10,14). Earlier on, he had been told by Obadiah that there were 100 other true prophets of God, who he had hidden (1 Kings 18:13). God also corrected him and told him that He had 7,000 other blameless people of His own (1 Kings 19:18). The devil wants us to lie to ourselves that "All churches are corrupt and misuse money," and "All ministers use givings wrongly," and "There is nowhere to give," and so on. Yet I am sure if you asked God of where to give, where money would be used well to further His kingdom, He would show you more than a thousand placed. Never stop giving,; just always ask God where to give.

Going back to Malachi 3, we see God saying that the giving of the children of Israel would cause Him to open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing for them. Surprisingly, this is also not the case for us. Our works, again, do not cause the blessing to come upon us; it came upon us the moment we believed God (Gal. 3:13-14, Eph. 1:3). Also, since the heavens were opened when Jesus came up from the waters (Matt 3:16), and since then we are not told of when the heavens were closed. When He ascended into heaven, we’re told He was carried up INTO heaven, but we’re not told that it was closed. When later on Stephen looked into heaven, he gazed INTO heaven and saw the glory of God, meaning that heaven was still not closed (Acts 7:55-56). So our giving does not make the heavens open, as they are already open, by virtue of Christ coming to earth. Our giving also does not make God pour out a blessing, as He already did. What tithing does is position us to enjoy open heavens, and enjoy the blessings that have been poured out to us. If you are on Airtel and I send you money via an mPesa line you stopped using, the only way you can access this money is for you  to put that line back on, and walk to an agent and withdraw it. Does it mean that the moment you switch the line back on is the moment I sent you money? No. It means that I sent you money, and you positioned yourself to access and enjoy what I sent. God poured out a blessing and opened heavens for you ages ago, your tithing just positions you to enjoy these blessings, and the floodgates of heaven. Remember, God did not bless you because of anything you did, just by faith. You do not tithe to be blessed, you tithe because you are blessed and want to position yourself to see the manifestation of the blessing in the natural. If you do not tithe, again it is to your disadvantage as even though you will not be cursed, you will not be positioned to receive and enjoy what has already been given to you; an equivalent of you not switching to the mPesa line and going to withdraw at the agent. As you access the blessings in the natural and they are manifested by virtue of you tithing, people will see that you are truly blessed, and call you blessed (Mal. 3:12). You are blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places (Eph. 1:3). That’s why you cannot see the blessings now, as they are in a spiritual form. One of the ways to transfer them to the natural form is to tithe. For the children of Israel, God wanted His storehouse to have food, at the same time wanting to bless the children of Israel, but they had to do something, which is why He placed a law. For us, it’s not so much about the law, as understanding why God wanted them to tithe, and what happens now that we are under grace and do not walk by works, nor by sight, but rather by faith and grace.

The last thing I’d like to tackle about tithing is about the devourer. God said He would rebuke the devourer when the children of Israel tithed, on their behalf. Why? Because giving of tithes consecrated whatever you gave, as we have seen from Numbers 18:26-32, Deut. 12:17-19, 26:12-13. By you giving a tithe, you are declaring that the rest, 90%, is also consecrated to God. This is also what Rom. 11:16 says, that if the first fruit is holy, the lump will also be holy. This is talking about first fruits, which we’ll talk about later, but the same principle applies to tithing. Deut. 26:13 calls the tithe holy. If something is holy, it means that it is consecrated, set apart for the Lord. So your tithing is consecrating what you are giving and what you have left to the Lord, which is why the devil has no right over it. God said that He would rebuke the devourer for their sakes, because back then they did not have any authority over the devil. When Jesus came, He gave us authority to cast out demons (Mark 16:17). He did not leave out a disclaimer, saying we’ll cast out demons, except the devourer. The devourer is a type of a demon, which we now have the authority to cast out. As I said, before, the  children of Israel did not have the authority to cast out demons; today, we do. Not only do we have authority over demons, and all kinds of demons at that, but also authority over principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this age, and spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places (Eph. 6:12-13), and of course their boss the devil (James 4:7), who if we resist he’ll flee from us. If we are told all we have to do to make the devil flee is resist him, what about the devourer? What makes him above the devil? So today, God has given us authority on earth to cast out demons and resist the devil, and will not come to rebuke them for you or cast them out. It is our responsibility. Back then, He had to do it for them, as they had no authority over even the smallest demon. Here comes the big question; if we do not tithe, we are not cursed; can the devourer have access to our money and earnings? Yes. Why? Because even though the devil and his army were defeated, they were not kept away forever. If this were the case, why then do we have to keep resisting the devil, as we have seen in James 4:8, and keep wrestling his forces, principalities and so on? They are under us, but that does not keep them from trying to harm us. That’s why we are told that the devil walks around like a roaring lion, seeking who to devour (1 Pet 5:8), which I believe is people with no knowledge of their authority. He is not a lion, he just walks around imitating the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, roaring like him, which is why we’re told he walks around LIKE A ROARING LION. So even in your finances, he can still access them, especially if you give him an inroad. The inroad we give him is not tithing, as tithing is what makes what we give and what we have left holy. If you want to restrict the devil from what is yours, make what is yours holy, by tithing, and giving first fruits (we’ll talk about this next week). Then, you can rebuke the devourer, and he will flee. Can you refrain from tithing, and since you have authority, just rebuke the devourer? Yes, but it will be like you first allowing thieves into your house and then starting to chase them out. It will be too much work, as you have already given him an inroad to your finances. This is why we are told not to give the enemy a foothold, as he knows how to maximize with just a foothold (Eph. 4:27). Of course this verse is talking about anger, but it can also apply in all other areas of your life. The fact that we have authority does not give us the license to give place to the devil and his demons, as we’ll just cast them out. Ever heard of the story of the person who allowed the devil to sit in the passenger seat, as long as he did not drive? The devil ended up beating him up and taking over the steering wheel, as he was already in the vehicle. I do not know about the truth of this story, but I know that when you give place to the devil, he is wise and since he is seeking for someone to devour, he won’t hesitate. Before you get to casting him out, he’ll have devoured your money and possessions.

The last advantage of tithing I want to talk about (of course there are many, but I felt led to focus on these), is that tithing keeps away the spirit of mammon. This is a spirit that is behind money, and that always competes against God. It is what gives rise to the love of money, which is the root of all evil. This is the spirit that causes people to idolize money, and become greedy. It is also the spirit that Jesus talked about, when He said we cannot serve God and mammon (Matt. 6:24). It is the spirit that causes worry, as after Jesus talked about not serving God and mammon, He went straight to saying, “therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life…” (Matt 6:25). The spirit of mammon will hold you in bondage, and keep you always looking for more money and possessions, which is what Jesus was talking about, seeking “financial security”, which is what Jesus was talking about saying we should not lay up for ourselves treasures on earth (Matt 6:19-21), as where our treasures are, our hearts will be there also. Money is good, but the love of it is what is dangerous and evil. So, since God has blessed us and wants us to have an abundance for every good work (2 Cor. 9:8), how can we have money and not be possessed or controlled by the spirit of money, or not develop the love of money? By giving. IF you were praying for God to give you Kshs. 1,000 for food, what happens when you get it? Do you feel like giving Kshs. 100 of it to God? I don’t know about you, but I usually feel like keeping the whole of it, “just in case” He doesn’t come through next time, and so that I may have enough food in the house. So, how does God keep me from the spirit of mammon, and get me to avoid being slave of money, keeping in mind that whoever we obey we become slaves of (Rom. 6:16)? He asks me to give away 10% of what I got. Here is the picture: money and the spirit of mammon, in collaboration with the world and the devil and my flesh, are telling me to keep 100% of the  money; God is telling me to give 10% to Him and to His work, and keep 90%. I’ll become a slave of whoever I obey. If I obey God, I’ll be serving Him, and become His slave, but if I obey money, I’ll become the slave of the spirit of mammon, again giving place to the devil. Do you now see why Jesus said we cannot serve both God and mammon? God is always telling you to give; the spirit of mammon is always telling you to keep. The only way to overcome the spirit of mammon is to give, and in this case it is to give 10%. If you do not give, the spirit of mammon will automatically cause you to be greedy, and always live in fear and worry, and drive you far from God and trusting Him.

Abraham knew that if he kept all what he got from the battle, he would be missing out on God, miss out on an opportunity to put his faith and trust in God into practice, miss out on the benefits of tithing, and also fall at mercy of feeling like he did it all on his own, and being driven to go out and win more battles, just to accumulate more. For this reason we do not see anywhere where Abraham was worried about provision, as He knew God as His Provider. In fact it is from his interaction with God that we get the name of God “Jehovah Jireh,” after He was tested with sacrificing Isaac and got a ram to sacrifice in the place of his son (Gen. 22:14). Even before he got the ram, when asked by Isaac where the sacrifice is, he said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering.” Gen. 22:8. We also saw that after tithing, God identified Himself to Abraham as His shield and exceedingly great reward (Gen. 15:1). The only way for you to know and have total trust in God as your Provider and exceedingly great reward, and also see Him practically in your life as thus, is if you give, and in this case if you tithe. If you don’t, you will not have faith in Him as your Provider, as tithing is an opportunity for you to exercise your faith and receive that which He’s already released into your life as provision.

In summary, view every opportunity for tithing as an opportunity to:

• Exercise your faith and trust in God
• Consecrate your earnings and property for God, and declare them holy
• Keep the spirit of mammon away from you, and keep you from laying your treasure here on earth.
• Keep away from the worry, fear and anxiety that the spirit of mammon brings
• Give you a right to claim back whatever the devourer takes away, thus exercising your authority  with confidence and boldness. Not tithing will rob you of your confidence.
• Access what God has already released into and for your life; cause the blessing to manifest into the physical and attract material blessings. When others see these blessings come into manifestation, they will desire to serve God instead of money, as the blessings of God make one rich, and do not add sorrow (Prov. 10:22)
• Walk in obedience to God’s word, which will bring you into closer fellowship with Him
• Know God as your Provider shield and exceedingly great reward.

From today henceforth, if you have not been tithing, it is okay, as in the days of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands us to repent (Acts 17:30), and have a change of heart. What is in the past is forgotten, what lies ahead is what is important. Repentance is not just telling God you are sorry and go back to refraining from tithing, but rather having a complete change of heart, mind, attitude, desire and actions, and taking steps of faith towards tithing. It will not be easy, but do not try to do it on your own; express your desire to God, and receive His grace that is sufficient for you (2 Cor. 12:9).

If you’ve been giving out of fear and lack of knowledge, start enjoying tithing, with a heart full of thanksgiving to God for giving you what He has already given you, then also put in mind the points I highlighted above as opportunities for tithing.

Tithing is good for you!!

NB: Next week we'll talk about the other types of giving, namely Firstfruits, Alms and Offerings. 

Blessings.

-- Sam Gitonga. 


(10/08/14 Sunday Service Sermon, Teaching Transformation Ministry.) 

Brother Sam Gitonga is a Youth Leader at Teaching Transformation Ministry. We are located along the Thika-Ruai Flyover Junction (at the Thika Rd./ Bypass intersection), Next to Eastgate Restaurant.