Jesus often taught about money. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me, said Jesus to a rich man (Luke 18:22). He said the same thing to his disciples (12:33). He praised a widow who put two coins into the temple treasury, because she gave all she had (21:4). In the new covenant, God gave all that He had, if we do not do likewise, we do not understand New Testament, neither have we received it, nor are we under it. The prodigal son received so much and spent it all for His pleasure, what did He profit Him? He ended up with the pigs. The older son was waiting for His father to reward Him for faithful service, what did it profit Him? He did not know that all things His father had were freely His to use. He missed it. The prodigal one probably knew, but did not know the purpose of his father's wealth. He missed it too. Neither was walking in their father's love. The older son is the faithful tither, the younger son is the non-giver. Neither understood the heart of the father. Neither was a love-giver. (Luke 15:11-32).
Until the New Covenant is understood in the context of God's love, all we have is new wine poured into old wine skins.(Luke 5:37) Strife and divisions and burdens of all kinds. For God so loved the world that he gave(John 3:16)...that is where it begins, and how it works. You can give and not love(1Cor 13:3), but you cannot love and not give. It is impossible. Love is the basis for giving in the New Covenant. Love is the principle in the New Covenant. God wants us to be givers. The highest motivation for giving is love. He wants love to be at the back of our giving, not giving so that we may receive, but giving because we have received. Freely have we received, we freely give. If we give because we are asked to, because it is an obligation: today, in Christ- it profits nothing. It does not bring a blessing, Christ has brought that, and it does not remove any curse, Christ has done that. It does this: absolutely nothing. This is how the church thrived in Acts of the Apostles.
We find it difficult to impossible to cater to the needs in our churches, but the early church did not (Acts 4:34&35). Freewill giving will do far more for the course of the gospel, if we understand that this is what we do in the New Testament out of love from our hearts, than tithe will ever do for the work of the ministry. And this is what God wants us to do in the New Covenant. We cannot give by obligation and by freewill at the same time. I think one reason why there are so many needy people in Church today is because we tithe first and give second. A lot of people feel they have fulfilled their obligation to give after their tithes have been paid, and will sit with and fellowship with those in dire need within the same church without a care. Tithing will always come in the way of giving. A few will do more than tithe, many of us more or less stop there. It is our main giving, and offerings consists of really small amounts. And the needy? We mostly pretend everyone is fine, at best we give very little for this purpose. "I've paid my tithes, I am free of obligation".
That is the way of the law. The thing about the law is that it specifies the least one should do just so that one will be blessed (thou shalt), and so that one will not be cursed (thou shall not). The law is the minimum placed on men who are unregenerated so that there will be order in the world, and God can bless it (Gal 3:19). A very good example is revenge (Matt 5:38). When a person hurts another, vengeance is usually not fair. If someone insults one, one is likely to insult them until one is satisfied, irrespective of what they said. So God says 'an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth!' Think about that for a moment, how do you take a tooth back? Folks who lose a tooth after being punched in the mouth do not carefully retaliate to make sure only a tooth of the assailant is lost! They hit back until the other fellow loses all their teeth, so God is saying 'Hey, only one eye was hurt, i know if i told you not to bother, id take care of it, you wouldnt listen, but don't over do it- an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, stripe for stripe, burning for burning!'(Exod 21:24&25) That was the law, it gave the minimum to an unregenerate man in order to keep God from destroying him before the blessing came in Christ.
When Christ came and changed our hearts, we knew within ourselves what God wants, we didn't need the minimum- we could now go the extra mile. We didn't need the 600 instructions trying to balance out each other in explaining to us what God wants- we cut through to the chase and fulfilled the law in Christ, or rather, He does so in us. So the law requires us to write a bill of divorcement, we know that in Christ it will never be necessary. It is not a boast, if we stay in Christ, it will never come to that. Marriage is wholly renewed and redefined to what it was in the beginning. Lustful looking is adultery, but man cannot help it- so God says in the law do not commit it, and says nothing about looking. Christ gives heart to the law. A man will not commit adultery if he will not even look lustfully at a woman. That is Christ.
Therefore we Christians ought to provide for our families, give to the work of ministry and the ministers of the gospel and to those in need and to the poor, to those that ask as long as we are able, and as far as God has prospered us. This is what the word of God says. Giving to the poor is one thing, and giving to ministers of the word and the work of ministry is quite another. Both ought to be done. A woman used very expensive oil to anoint the Lord. Some began to murmur and analyse the offering as waste. They said the oil could have been sold and given to the poor.(Mark 14:3-9). First Jesus rebuked them and showed us the difference between giving to the Lord directly and giving to the poor. He said wherever the gospel is preached, what she did would be mentioned. Second, the critic's motive was corrupt (John 12:6), and I dare say that is largely the case today. Many who speak against giving in the church do so with a bitter and angry spirit. A wrong spirit is a wrong spirit. It is full of bitterness and anger, it feels wronged. Such spirit cannot be trusted. A right spirit acts and speaks in love, seeks to build up, not to pull down, is genuinely concerned with error, and never insults. The Scriptures affirm that the THE LORD HAS ORDAINED that those who preach the gospel should live of the gospel (1 Cor 9:14). There is nothing further.
Finally, one might ask "Why not tithe and give?" What will the essence of that be? What does tithing do that giving will not? Why do we seek to be under obligation? Tithing is not required in the New Covenant, none of the churches practiced the same. Abraham and Melchizedek are a shadow, Christ is the Substance. We do not become justified by old testamentary patterns, rather believing in Christ gives meaning to what things they did hitherto. However, one doubts that this will change the common notion about tithing, nor does one intend for it to. As it is written-No man having drunk the old wine straightway desireth the new: for he saith, 'the old is better'(Luke 5:39). Yet still, people who entrust their lives to Jesus Christ do not worry about whether tithing is commanded or not in the New Testament. They want to give as much as possible to support the gospel and to support the poor. They want to give regularly, willingly, sacrificially, cheerfully, and generously or bountifully as a result of their relationship with God, not a way to earn it. And if it is an ordinance in the churches, by all means tithe and give. So tithing is lawful, but giving is expedient. Tithing is lawful, but giving will edify the body. Tithing is lawful, but do not be brought under its power. (1Cor 6:12; 10:23).
Agape.
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