Tithes & Offerings

For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what a man has, and not according to what he has not.

2 Corinthians 8:12

"Oh,
Q: must Christ, the Majesty of heaven, the King of glory,
--bear the heavy cross and
--wear the thorny crown and
--drink the bitter cup,
while we recline at ease,
glorify ourselves,
and forget the souls that He died to redeem?
A: No;"
E.G.W.

To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all;

first being by interpretation King of righteousness,

and after that also King of Salem, which is,

King of peace;

Without father,

without mother,

without descent,

having neither beginning of days, nor end of life;

but made like unto the Son of God;

abideth a priest continually.

Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils.

Hebrews 7:2-4

Tithing is Biblical:

MONEY (1/10 to God)

TIME (1/7 to God- the 7th day of the week, called the SABBATH)

Will a man rob God?
Yet ye have robbed Me.
But ye say,
Q: Wherein have we robbed Thee?
A: In tithes and offerings.
Malachi 3:8

"God's plan in the tithing system is beautiful in its simplicity and equality. 

All may take hold of it in faith and courage, for its divine in its origin. 

---In it are combined simplicity and utility, and does not require depth of learning to understand and execute it......

He has given His blood; 

He asks our silver. 

---it is through His poverty that we are made rich: and will we refuse to give back to Him His own gifts?...Systematic benevolence should not be made systematic compulsion. It is freewill offerings that are acceptable to God." 

E.G.W.

No man can serve two masters: 

for either he will hate the one, and love the other;

 or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. 

Ye cannot serve God and mammon. 

Matthew 6:24

"Mammon is such a familiar deity to mankind, because mankind is naturally so worshipful of Mammon. 

And yet it is all idolatry; 

it is all a denial of the true God; 

it is a breaking of the First Commandment, 

which says, "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.” For, says Jesus: "Ye can not,"—not, Ye ought not; not, Ye should not; but,—"Ye can not serve God and Mammon."
Since the true worship of God is to love God with all the heart, and

all the soul, and all the mind, and all the strength; and anything that draw away either the heart, soul, mind, or strength to it, and comes between man and the true worship of God, is another god; 

so the allowing of money, 

---the desire for money, 

---the love of money, 

to come between a man and his true service to God, is the worship of Mammon." 

E.J. Waggoner

THAT OBJECTION.....

"THERE remains yet one objection to the tithing plan, that demands a brief notice: the matter of tithing is not spoken of directly by any of the apostles, nor are any of the churches enjoined by them to pay tithe. 

The New Testament Example 

But the man who thinks to escape the payment of tithes by such a plea as this has overreached himself; for: 

1. Christ taught it, as has been shown in the comment on Matthew

23:23. That alone would be sufficient. 

2. The commandment to pay tithe having been once made by God Himself, it would remain in force, forever, if not countermanded, and the reason for its continuance existed as in the beginning. Therefore if there was no mention made of it in the entire New Testament, it would not affect the case in the least.

3. And, strongest of all, the teaching of the apostles, and of Christ Himself, if strictly followed, would lead to the sacrifice, not merely of a tithe, but of all our possessions! 

Let us read and see. Paul, writing to the Corinthians, says, 

1 Corinthians 6 19,20 ...you are not your own; For you are bought with a price... We are, as a literal translation of Philippians 1:1 would read, “the slaves of Jesus Christ.”

Our servitude, however, is a blessed one, for His yoke is easy, and His burden light. But a slave can not hold property in his own right; all that he may acquire be longs to his master. Therefore since we are Christ’s by purchase, all that we have belongs to Him.

When the young man came to Him inquiring the way to life eternal, Matthew 19:21 Jesus said unto him, If you will be perfect, go and sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in Heaven; and come and follow Me. 

We do not wish to be understood as advising all indiscriminately to sell their property. We are to be guided by sanctified reason, and not by fanaticism. Ecclesiastes 3:1 To everything there is a season;–and if we stand at the counsel of God, we shall know when the time comes for us to part with our possessions." 

E.J. Waggoner