SUBJECT:
Tithing
QUESTION: What did God mean, “Don’t Rob from God”?
ANSWER:
What comes to mind when you
think of a robber or thief? We might visualize a bank
robber, a house burglar, or even a shop-lifter. But could
you imagine one of your fellow church members, or even
yourself, as a robber? It may seem impossible, yet the
scripture below clearly states that all those who do not pay
their tithes have robbed God.
Malachi
3:8-11
8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye
have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In
tithes and offerings.
9 Ye are cursed with a
curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
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 of hosts, 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.
11 And I will rebuke the
devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits
of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit
before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.
It All
Comes From God
Someone may ask, “How could
I have robbed God by not paying tithes? The money I earn is
mine, and I haven’t stolen anything from God!” As we know,
“robbery” is the act of taking something that does not
belong to you. God specifically used the term “robbery” in
Malachi to show that the tithe (which means a tenth) belongs
to Him. We must understand that God is the owner of this
earth, and everything on it belongs to Him. “The earth is
the Lord's, and all its fullness, The world and those who
dwell therein” (Psalm 24:1).
Elsewhere, the Bible says,
“The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine, says the LORD of
hosts” (Haggai 2:8). Before we become possessive about the
treasures of this world, let us first remember that He
created this planet and everyone on it, and even though
Satan holds a temporary dominion through sin (2 Corinthians
4:4), the earth still belongs to God.
Furthermore, God is
responsible for every means that people have to make a
living (John 3:27, James 1:17). Are you a farmer? You plant
God’s seeds in His earth and rely upon His rain and sunshine
to ripen it to harvest. Are you an auto worker? All the
steel, glass, rubber, plastic, oil and gasoline are products
from God’s earth. Are you a craftsman? Your talent or skill
to work at a trade is given by God. He has given you your
brain, eyes, ears, mouth, hands, fingers, legs, and feet
that you use to earn your living. Even the silver and copper
in our coins, and the wood pulp in our paper currency comes
from God’s earth. It is extremely fair of God to only
require a tenth to be returned to Him, since He owns 100% of
this planet.
Unfortunately, many
Christians misunderstand the idea of tithing. They often
think of it as giving a tenth from “their own” property to
God. However, in reality it is God that has done the giving
to us, and claims the return of only 10% of His own
property. Tithing is not taking a tenth of our own money and
giving it to God, but it is returning a tenth of what was
already His to begin with! The scripture says, “But who am
I, and who are my people, That we should be able to offer so
willingly as this? For all things come from You, And of Your
own we have given You” (1 Chronicles 29:14). God is so
generous to us. He gives us the 90% and retains only 10% of
what is rightfully His.
Stewards
Of God’s Property
Someone once suggested,
“Well, if the tenth already belongs to God, why doesn’t He
just automatically withhold the tithe and then give us the
rest, like the IRS withholds taxes from our wages? That way
God won’t have to depend on us to pay our tithes.”
God has chosen for us to
personally return the tithe so that we can demonstrate our
stewardship of his property. Stewardship is the faithful and
responsible management of something that belongs to someone
else. Obviously, if God observes that we are irresponsible
to return the small percentage that belongs to Him as He has
directed, He knows that we can neither be trusted with any
greater responsibilities or blessings in the Kingdom of God
(Luke 16:10-11).
Tithing is a test of our
stewardship over the property of God, a test of our honesty
to return to God what is rightfully His, a test of our
obedience to do what He told us to do, and a test of our
love and desire to please Him with our lives. Tithing is a
demonstration that we believe in God, and that we
acknowledge that He is the provider of all material
blessings. If you haven’t the faith to believe that the
tithe belongs to the Lord, neither can you have faith in Him
to meet your financial needs. After all, if you don’t
believe that the tenth is His, you must not believe that the
whole earth is His either. Without that confidence in His
supremacy, there could be no confidence in His ability to
provide our needs.
Most of us realize that
robbery is a serious offense in our secular society, and
those convicted of this crime can be sentenced to years in
jail. But what happens to a person who is guilty of robbing
God? The scriptures say that he will be “cursed with a
curse” (Malachi 3:9). What kind of curse is this? From
Malachi we see that God’s blessing to the tither is to open
Heaven’s windows and pour out abundant blessings, and to
rebuke the devourer (Satan) from destroying their increase
and fruitfulness (Malachi 3:10-11). In contrast, the
non-tither is cursed by having no protection to prevent the
devourer from destroying their prosperity, and God cannot
shower them with His abundant Heavenly blessings. God cannot
bless or protect the prosperity of the person who does not
tithe! This indeed is a curse.
Some claim they can’t afford
to pay their tithes. But let me ask, “Can you afford to be
cursed? Can you afford to not have God’s blessings and
protection over your finances? Can you afford to be
considered a thief or robber of God’s property? Or can you
afford to be a person who does not obey the Word of God?”
The fact is, you cannot afford not to pay your tithes,
because this is the principle that God has chosen to bless
you!
Another person once asked,
“Why does God need my tithe?” In answer to this question, He
doesn’t need your money or anyone else’s. Remember, God is
the owner of the whole universe and all its wealth. However,
He has chosen to use your tithes and offerings for the
expenses of maintaining “spiritual meat” in His house
(Malachi 3:10). On the first day of the week you are to
bring your tithes and offerings to the “storehouse” of your
Church where you are spiritually fed (1 Corinthians 16:2).
How important it is that we are faithful in our tithes and
offerings, as this is God’s method of funding the preaching
of His Word and the spreading of the Gospel (1 Corinthians
9:13-14).
The Tithe
Is Your Seed
God is blessed by your tithe
as an expression of your love and obedience to Him, yet
tithing is primarily for your own benefit so that God can
bless you. There is a universal law that God has placed in
both the natural and spiritual realms. This is the law of
sowing and reaping. “...God is not mocked; for whatever a
man sows, that he will also reap” (Galatians 6:7). The tithe
is “seed” that you plant in God that will bring the harvest
of prosperity.
All farmers understand God’s
law of sowing and reaping. After a harvest in Bible times,
before the farmer would use any of the grain as food for his
family or livestock, he would first go through the harvest
grain and pick out a percentage that exhibited the best
qualities of size, weight, color, and set this aside as seed
for the next season’s crop planting. This early form of
genetic selection helped assure that the next generation of
crops would produce higher yields and greater quality.
This illustrates our tithe,
why it cannot be the 10% that is left over after we pay
everything else. The part that God claims and uses as seed
is the first and best 10% of your increase, called the
firstfruits. “Honor the LORD with your possessions, And with
the firstfruits of all your increase; So your barns will be
filled with plenty, And your vats will overflow with new
wine” (Proverbs 3:9-10).
Don’t “eat your seed grain.”
Do not use the Lord’s tithe for anything else! Because if
you don’t sow, you can’t reap.
How We
Receive From God
The tithe is God’s property
that we are required to return to Him, however an “offering”
is that which we give voluntarily out of our own property
after the tithe has been subtracted. As we give our tithes,
and give offerings above our tithe to God, He will continue
to bless us and multiply our return in proportion to our
investment in Him (2 Corinthians 9:6).
I challenge you to become a
tither and a giver to God, and “prove” His promise to bless
you, just as He invites you to do in Malachi 3:10. Give to
God in faith, expecting Him to bless your return (Mark
11:24), and give cheerfully, expressing joy and confidence
in giving to God (2 Corinthians 9:7). The same proportion
that you open your faith to give to Him, He will use that
same proportion as His measurement to bring blessing back to
you!
“Give, and it will be given
to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and
running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same
measure that you use, it will be measured back to you” (Luke
6:38). |