ON TITHING BY DEAN (EMER.) T.MYENI (MARCH 2009) 1. ORIGIN OF THE TITHE Tithing was practiced among the ancient nations long before the Mosaic Law was instituted. Seemingly, the heathen nations paid tithes to their gods. Tithing is first mentioned in the Bible in Genesis 14:20, but nothing marks this as the beginning of the custom. It was only after about 400 years that tithing was incorporated into the Law. 2. HISTORY OF THE TITHE: 1. Abraham was the first tither: Abraham, the father of the faith, even before the Law was instituted, tithed, thus setting an example for us who are his sons and daughters through faith. He gave his tithes to Melchizedek, the priest of the Most High God as a thanksgiving to God who had enabled him to conquer his enemies. (Genesis 14:18-20, Hebrews 7:1-2). 2. Jacob, like Abraham, gave tithes to God: He promised to give God a tenth of all that God would give him, if God would protect him on his adventurous journey to Bethel (Genesis 28:20-22). As a grandchild of Abraham, it is possible that Jacob might have inherited this teaching from Abraham himself. In this way, it is clear that tithing existed before the institution of the Mosaic Law. It was a way in which the patriachs expressed their gratitude to God for whatever He did for them as the Most High God. Secondly it s the way in which they supported God s ministry on earth. 3. Moses declared tithing a religious Law for the Israelites: After about 400 years since the practice of tithing had been performed by the patriachs, Moses declared tithing a religious Law for the Israelites. All the tithe of the land or of the trees, is the Lord s, it is holy. (Leviticus 27:30). When the animals are counted, every tenth cow belongs to the Lord. (Lev 27:32b- Good News). Seemingly the main purpose of the tithe was to support God s religious work. 3. DIVISIONS OF THE TITHE The tithe was divided into four categories, namely the Levites tithe the Festival tithe the charity tithe the tithe of a tithe
3.1 The Levites tithe This tithe consisted of one tenth annually, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree or herd of the flock (Lev 27:30,32). This tithe was given for the support or as a salary for the Levitical priesthood. (Num 18: 21,24,31). Just imagine if this tithe would be introduced in our church. The workers salary problem could be easily solved. Today there are pastors who either earn R20-00 per month or resign from full-time ministry to work as self-supporting pastors simply because we have deviated from God s well-thought basic method of supporting the clergy. 3.2 The Celebration or Festival tithe Three times each year the Hebrews were expected to gather at Jerusalem either for the Pass-over, Feast of Tabernacles or the Feast of Weeks. This tithe paid the traveling expenses and expenses of the Hebrews stay at Jerusalem. Tithed produce and meat were taken by the worshiper to Jerusalem and consumed there by him and his family. A Levite had to be invited to this party as well (Deuteronomy 12:5-19, 14:22-27). Though we may not have many categories of tithes but I believe if our church could resort to tithing, many expenses could be easily met. Secondly, I once went to Germany. There I noticed that they usually organize feasts at the church or a braai on the premises of the church house e.g. on the day of Harvest. They come together, chat, have some fun and then eat together. With us esp. blacks in South Africa, the church is a strange and lonely place. But if we can all agree and embark on tithing, expenses for other things can be easily met. 3.3 The Charity tithe The Charity tithe was given every time after three years and kept in the local communities for distribution among the needy (Deut 14:28-29, 26:12-15). There is something which really touches my heart: Many a times, we worship together as a family of God, but when tragedy strikes a member of this family, the church can t help, to such an extent that some members of our church are buried like hoboes. The bereaved have to carry all the expenses by themselves. I do not mean to say that tithing will miraculously solve all our financial problems, NO, but it can contribute a lot towards solving our financial problems- especially in the parishes. 3.4 The tithe of a tithe The Levites were expected to also give a tithe of the tithe they had received. This, they gave to Aaron, the priest or to the Aaronic priesthood (Num 18: 25-28). It is interesting to realize that even God s workers are not immune from giving the tithe. 4. JESUS CHRIST AND THE TITHE In Matthew 23:23 and Luke 11:42 Jesus did not condemn tithing.
What He complained about was the fact that whilst they had been faithful and meticulous in observance of tithing, they were unfaithful in other matters of greater importance such as mercy, justice and faithfulness. These you ought to have done without neglecting the others (Good News version), or Yes, you should tithe but you shouldn t leave the more important things undone. (No Greater love version). I assume that Jesus Christ Himself did keep the tithing laws, for had He not done so, the pharises would have criticized Him as they did when He did not show up to keep the Sabbath. So by the words: These you ought to have done without neglecting the others, it is clear that Jesus Christ encouraged tithing but condemned boasting (Luke 18:12) and negligence of love. Hence we Christians are not legalistically bound to give a tithe but morally bound to do so in response to the gesture of love manifested to us when God gave us His only begotten Son to die in our place so that we might be saved instead. 5. COMMENTS OF THE CHURCH FATHERS ON TITHING The following church Fathers have made some comments on tithing, centuries ago (Early Church Fathers). 5.1. Chrysostom said: It is a shame that we who are Christians, treat so lightly, under grace, that which the Jew took so seriously, under the law. 5.2. Ireneaus (200A.D.) encouraged believers to give offerings, at least tithes, with joy. 5.3. Origen (254 A.D.): It is a bad attitude for those who worship the Almighty God to fail to give their tithes. 5.4. Cyprian (258 A.D.): The believers should support God s holy undertaking with their tithes. 5.5. Martin Luther (30 A.D.) condemned compulsory tithing. In other words he recommended voluntary tithing. During the reformation many voices spoke against compulsory offerings especially tithing. In due course of time the church suffered extreme poverty. Towards the end of the 19 th century and beginning of the 20 th century, great stewardship revivals started in England with much emphasis on tithing. The following organizations were started: The Church-mans Tithe Club (1896) The Tenth Legion (1896) The Twentieth Century Tithers Association (1904) While I was in Germany, Rev Kohn made this comment: It is amazing that we in Germany should continue supporting the church in South Africa with money taken from our tithes while the church there abstains from tithing. Lord Bishop, ladies and gentlemen, I feel it is our obligation to emphatically preach and teach tithing in our Lutheran church. I can assure you, in spite of the violence which is taking place in our country, our church will stand firm.
6. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE TITHE OFFERING 6.1. The significance of giving the tithe is that every time we give the tithe we are reminded of God s ownership of the earth and everything in it, and of our positions as stewards (Psalm 24:1) 6.2 We are reminded as the church of Christ that it is God Almighty who gives us strength to obtain salaries, livestock, crops etc. (Deut 8:18) 6.3 We are taught to say thank you to the Most High God for all His gifts to us. 6.4. Tithing is a most systematic and justified method of proportionate giving whereby one gives in proportion to the blessings that the Lord has given them. (Deut 16:17, Luke 12:48). Many a times our parish councils just decide that each member will give e.g R5-00 membership fee. Among those members you find that some of them are doctors, others are domestic servants, or old age pensioners. Tithing is in agreement with the teaching of Jesus Christ when He said: Everyone to whom much is given, of Him will much be required. (Luke 12:48c). 6.5 Finally, tithing and pledging make the work of the finance committee easier in deciding budgets for the various congregations in the parish- the committee knows how many people tithe R50, R100 etc. in each congregation. 7. THE SIN OF WITHHOLDING THE TITHE There came a time when the Israelites stopped giving their tithes, and God, through Malachi rebuked them bitterly: Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me in your tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. (Malachi 3:8-9). According to this statement, withholding tithes unto God by His people, is tantamount to robbing Him, which is the breach of the 7 th commandment. Our church has gone for a long time committing the crime of stealing but asking like the Israelites of old; How are we robbing Thee? Robbing God among the Israelites led to the following: There was no money to pay both the spiritual leaders as well as the ordinary workers. The same is happening to our church today. Pastors are leaving the ministry because there is no money in the church. There was no food in the temple. Both spiritual and ordinary workers were starving. The same applies to our church. We are in the same predicament, simply because we rob God of that which belongs solely to Him, tithes. I think, brothers and sisters, we better stop this nonsense. Let us go back to the bible and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it and find rest for your (our) souls (Jeremiah 6:16b). Worse of all, God says we are cursed. I think even a little child does notice that our church is serving a sentence of a curse. It is a falling Kingdom- ****what appeared on the Ilanga Newspaper. That was a disgrace.
8. THE BLESSING OF TITHING The good news is that in giving the tithe we do not lose but we gain. The money, crops and livestock we give to God are like seed sown for our own good (11 Cor 9: 6,10-11). The seed sown is multiplied back to us in the form of a harvest to supply or meet our needs (Phil 4:19). That is why God said to the backsliding Israelites of old: Bring the full tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of Heaven for you and pour for you an overflowing blessing. I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruit of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts. Then all the nations shall call you blessed, for you will be a land (church) of delight. (Mal 3:10-12). The idea here is not that we should give the tithe and offerings in order to get the blessings, that would be bargaining with God. We should give in obedience to the word of God because obedience is better than sacrifice. Like Abraham, the Father of faith, we should give believing that God is not man that He should lie, what He says in His word he will fulfill in due time. Many people who give the tithe have been abundantly blessed. Let me quote the Acts magazine: Many who have practiced tithing faithfully over the years have been richly blessed both spiritually and financially. In America many important men in the fields of business and finance have been tithers some have given much more than 10%. God has honoured their faith, love and devotion to His kingdom. Many were very poor when they started to tithe, but were greatly blessed by putting God first in their lives and in their businesses. Their blessings however, were based on their faith in God s word and their obedience to the Holy Spirit. (Grace of giving- P 13). Mr A. A. Hyde began tithing when he was about R100,000-00 in debt. His friends tried to advise him to pay his debt first but in vain. He ended up being a mentholatum factory millionaire. Our late Rev Ezrom Mthethwa once wrote through Isithunywa magazine and said: All the people who have started tithing have experienced wonderful blessings. He continued and said: Pastors, let us teach our people tithing thus leading them to green pastures. (Isithunywa March 1958, pg 1). Just imagine, in Malachi 3:10 God promised to open the windows of heaven and bless us abundantly if we give Him our tithes. Secondly, He promises to rebuke anything that devours our crop. What devours our crop today? The devil and his demonic spirits steal our money in many ways e.g. sicknesses. The devil destroys our crop (our children) through drugs, liquor, sex and AIDS and violence. We need somebody to command the devil to leave our children alone. As the church we need to adhere to such promises because the Bible says: THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.
9. WHEN MUST WE START TITHING? We must start today because procrastination is the thief of time. Our God is the God of the now. (Mat 6:34. Lutheran Hymn 372:1, 186:3). 10. HOW TO IMPLEMENT TITHING AND PLEDGING First there must be a Stewardship committee from the congregational level to the Diocesan level. On the congregational level, the Stewardship committee must: Motivate the congregation to give their tithes and pledges. They must visit each and every member of the congregation, share the message, pray and thereafter talk to them about tithing just like insurance people do. If they support God s work either by tithes or pledges, then give them the tither s/ pledger s form to fill in. They must make a follow-up and keep on encouraging the tithers to keep up. They must also organize some cottage meetings in their sections because if a cow does not fodder it soon runs short of milk. After the congregation has been motivated to give, the finance committee must then receive the money, record it in the relevant book and then make a report to the Stewardship committee and the congregation on the progress of giving as follows. Stewardship committee Congregation Finance committee By Dean T.Myeni March 2009