Should Believers Pay Tithes?

"Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings." (Mal.3:8)

"But this I say, He that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly, or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver." (2Cor.9:6-7)

The tithe is the tenth of one's income, which the righteous have always devoted to the Lord. Some teach that tithing belonged only to the time of the Law of Moses, therefore, does not apply to the body of Christ. Yet, long before the Law was ever given, we read that Abraham - the Biblical "type" of the believer - paid tithes to Melchizedek, the type of Christ (Ps.110). "If Abraham were your father, ye would do the works of Abraham" , said Jesus in John 8:39. One of the most notable works of Abraham was to pay tithes to Melchizedek, the Priest-King of Salem (Gen.14:17-20). Every one who has a "like-faith" with Abraham, will pay tithes to the "Mechizedek" of the body of Christ, Jesus Christ, by bringing tithes to those God sends to preach His gospel.

It must be stated plainly, that a believer should NOT pay tithes to just anyone . . . but only to those whom "God hath sent". And those whom God sends, "speak the words of God" (John 3:34). If you are paying tithes to those who are not "speaking the words of God", those tithes do not count with God, because God did not send that man. This includes every minister in Christianity, because God has not "sent" any of them, which we will discuss in a moment.

The refusal to bring tithes and offerings to the Lord's ministers is sin. Often, it is the sin of covetousness which prevents one from rendering his tithes and gifts to the Lord. The love of money hinders many from being able to express gratitude to God for all His benefits. Friend, how much are the blessings of God worth? How much is your eyesight worth? Your hearing? Your limbs? Your home, clothing, and food? Think about this the next time you receive your paycheck.

A second common reason for failure to obey God in tithes and offerings is a "government despising" spirit. When one brings tithes, he is acknowledging a higher authority. He is confessing his submission to the authority which Christ has established in the body of Christ, in the person of the man who receives them from his hand. By acknowledging the "greater one", he places himself in a position to be blessed by God, as Abraham was blessed by Melchizedek when he had rendered tithes to him. If one patiently observes those who refuse to bring their tithes to the Lord, he will in time discover the real motivation for their ungodly behavior.

It helps to understand the truth on tithes if we keep in mind that paying tithes is not giving anything. It is only "rendering" to God what belongs to Him. One does not "give" tithes . . . he pays, or renders them. For instance, if one were to steal ten dollars from me, and then were to give me a dollar in an offering, I would have to consider the dollar a gift, but, at the same time, I would have to consider the giver a thief. Similarly, if your tithe is ten dollars, and you only give a dollar, then you are robbing God of His tenth, and, through pity or because someone asked, you are returning part of it. You are giving, but you are also a thief. It has been said that "the tithe is the basket in which the Lord sends us the nine-tenths, and if we do not return His one-tenth, we steal the basket."

If the Law is to be ignored, and if tithes are not to be practiced in the body of Christ, then God's congregation is without a system of financial support. And we know that to be contrary to all that the apostles practiced and taught. God has given order and government to His people, and a system to carry out His command to the saints. Taxes are for the support of the state. Tithes are for the support of the body of Christ. We must obey Jesus, and "Render therefore unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things which are God's." Paul revealed truth to the early congregation (which was no longer under the "Old Testament") when he taught: "Do you not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? And they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar? Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel" (1Cor.9:13-14).

Back to a subject we mentioned in the early part of this article: A believer is under no obligation to give to every "begging preacher" that comes along. This statement is not said with ill-will in heart . . . but a man asking for money who is not sent by Jesus Christ with the "gospel which comes with power from heaven", is just that. Men who have not been sent by God, and do not have the words of God for you, must not receive your tithes. This includes every Christian minister, because God's Spirit-anointed men are not in Christianity. God's ministers do not tell people to "repeat this prayer, and now you are saved". Those whom Jesus sent do not tell people they can be born again without, or prior to receiving the baptism of the holy Ghost (with the evidence of speaking in other tongues). God's man does not call his "building" a "church"; he does not baptize people in water; he does not pass out bread and grape juice for communion; he does not practice any ceremony that is not "worship in Spirit and in truth" as commanded by your Lord. The man whom God has ordained to receive your tithes speaks the words of life, and those words cannot, today, be found in what men call "Christianity". . . the truly ordained minister has "come out" of the religions of men.

When believers finally tithe to the true ministers sent by Jesus, the body of Christ will have government. The body of Christ will be one. Tithing is an important thing, and will accomplish the will of God when His people are obedient.

After tithing, we find that God also has ordained "offerings". An offering is what we give after we have rendered our tithes. The offering comes from the other nine- tenths, since the first tenth is the Lord's. Offerings, bring blessings: "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give unto your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal shall it be measured unto you." These are the words of Jesus Christ. He was explaining that this is God's way of giving to us, and He asks us to do nothing more than what He Himself freely does for us. Oh the depths of His love and mercy! Shall we not return to Him offerings worthy of His grace, showing our thankfulness for the life He has given to us through Christ Jesus? If we obey God "willingly and cheerfully", we may be at rest with the promises of the one who first loved us: "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open to you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it" (Mal.3:10)

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