This is a huge question that every ministry must answer for
themselves. I know Pastors who have
chosen to never even mention the Tithe and stop taking offerings, only setting
up boxes around the facilities to collect funds. I know others who not only continue to pass
the bags around via ushers, but they do a mini-teaching about giving literally
every Sunday. I think that neither of
those approaches are biblically wrong but that it would depend on where the
church is and on what type of environment they need to establish to reach their
targeted audience.
I have been on a journey with this. For many years now, I never mentioned the
word “tithe” and only encouraged giving.
This, until recently when God literally spoke to me one afternoon when I
was praying to Him about some financial concerns. He said, “you are giving too much alms.” Now alms is not a term that I would normally use,
but it is a term that I am familiar with and I know exactly what it means. It means money given to the needy or poor.
I had been giving quite a bit of money to people in need to
the point that I had not been giving much in the actual collection at
church. I had in my mind, figured that
as long as I’m giving, as long as I’m being led by the Spirit in it (assuming I
really was being led), that all giving was lumped into one big category. And I justified this with the argument that
tithing isn’t even mentioned in the New Testament and more. Now I was giving well over 30% of my income,
but almost all of it in alms.
So why was I so loose in my interpretation of giving and why
had I not been teaching tithing in the Church?
It is because I was intentionally being careful not to cause people to
give reluctantly or under compulsion so that they would give what they have
decided in their heart to give because God loves it when we give
cheerfully. That is New Testament. Read about it in 2 Corinthians 9.
I also have this firm belief that if people are led by the Holy Spirit, that they don’t even need to worry about details because the Holy Spirit will take care of those things for you. I still believe that. The letter of the law kills, but the Spirit brings life. That’s scripture too!
However, I have come to realize that very few people
including myself are nearly as Spirit led as often as we would like to
think. And so the law is there for us to
check ourselves to see if we are actually being led by the Spirit. Jesus said this:
Matthew 5:18 - "I can guarantee this truth: Until the earth and the heavens disappear; neither a period nor a comma will disappear from the Scriptures before everything has come true."
Jesus was saying, and I invite to you read the full scripture in Matthew 5, that He did not come to replace the Old Testament Law, but to fulfill it. He additionally said that we need to be even more righteous than the Pharisees. The Holy Spirit helps us, but that does not do away with the details of the law.
Here’s an example. Last Sunday, the offering bag passed me before I had a chance to get my money out. The Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, “Quick! Go put 1k pesos in!” So I ran up 2 rows and quickly threw 1k pesos in. Later, I calculated and realized that 600 pesos of it had been tithe and the additional 400 pesos was seed offering. The Holy Spirit led me to give the tithe and the offering. When the Spirit leads you and then you check if it was according to the Word, then you know you were truly led by the Spirit and not by your own idea, agenda, or suggestion of some strange origin (like YouTube teachings).
In my research, I discovered that there are four primary
ways that we can give. The Tithe, First
Fruits, Alms and Seed Offerings. Tithe
is the one that is dealt with in Malachi and other places that shows us that if
we will give God back the first 10% of what He has entrusted to us, which
belongs to Him, that He will rebuke the devourer for us. Since it is His to begin with, it is not
seed. First Fruits work the same way
Tithe does but applies more to income that is not regular like a bonus or a
deal or an inheritance. Alms are given
to the poor and the interesting thing about the Alms is that the Word of God
shows us that there is a very low “rate of return” on it. You will get back what you gave, dollar for
dollar, peso for peso. There is no
increase or multiplication on alms to the poor.
(Proverbs 19:17) Should you give
alms? Yes! Of course!
And you will be repaid. But
should you give alms in place of Tithes?
Absolutely not! That would be a
huge mistake! A mistake that I was
making. It would mean that the devourer
has access to your finances! The seed
giving has to do with planting the Word of God.
(Matthew 13 shows us this principle)
When you give to the Work of the Lord…
things that actually bring about an evangelistic harvest (giving to the Red Cross wouldn’t apply
because they don’t share the Gospel), then there is a multiplication that
happens. This is why people who give in
every way end up being so blessed! They
have multiplication! The Tithe and the
First Fruits protects, the Alms get re-paid and cause us to be more Christ-like
and the Seed spreads the Gospel and multiplies!
So I had to change. I
had to realize that unless I was teaching this, that the people in the Church I
pastor were not really being led by the Spirit in this and they were falling
prey to the devourer. In the past
several weeks, I have been teaching the Tithe and the ways of giving. I have encouraged people to become
intentional in their giving. Of course,
I still make sure to teach in a way where they are not feeling pressured, only
invited by the truth of what God’s Word teaches.
The results have been amazing! People are experiencing blessing!
So for me, I have gone from a person who never even
mentioned the Tithe, to a person who happily encourages it. I have changed! J
Just a caution for those Pastors who will read this. Some people will not like it and they will
leave. Let them leave. These are the ones that will find any way
they can to make excuses not to follow God’s Word and this is just the tip of
the ice berg of their problems. If they
will submit to God’s Word on this, then they will on other issues as well. If they won’t on this, they will remain
stubborn and un-changing in other areas of their lives too. It’s a big deal. Don’t be afraid to stand firm with God’s
Word.
