Is tithing still relevant?

Is tithing still relevant?

Religion & Beliefs Nov 7, 2010 By Sam AWEDA
IN the New Dispensation, our giving is not restricted to any percentage of our earnings but according to the individual’s measure or level of faith (Rom.12:6-8).
Our giving is related to how much we can entrust back into God’s hands, what He (God) had blessed us with (I Chronicles 28:11-14), which in return will yield back proportionately. A giver of 10 per cent gets in return, a reward, proportionate of a tenth. So also a giver of nine-tenth, receives in return a reward proportionate of nine-tenth. “A farmer who plants just a few seeds will get only a small crop, but if he plants much, he will reap much” (II Corinthians 9:6).
But the reward being talked about does not necessarily have to be received here on earth but stocked or banked for us in heaven. In fact, our savings in heaven is what Papa is more concerned about and that is why He asked us to lay our treasure there (Matt. 6:19-21; Matt. 19:21; Luke 12:15; Mark 8:36; Luke 6:38). Doing this faithfully, will lead anyone to Biblical and true prosperity and not the amount of wealth we accumulate on earth.
Under the new system, each Christian is to decide how much of his earnings he wants to give to God’s work (I Cor. 16:1-2), depending on his level of faith without any curse on him, unlike what it was, under the law, when the defaulter of the tithe by commission or omission brought a curse upon himself (Malachi 3:8-9).
In the early Church, members who had proper-ties sold them and brought the proceeds in full (Acts 4:34-37). Ananias kept behind some but claimed it was the whole money. Peter told Ananias: “The property was yours to sell or not, as you wished. And after selling it, it was yours to decide how much to give” (Acts 5:4). This is a perfect summary of what is obtainable about giving under the new system. Ananias did not die because he didn’t turn in, to the Church, the total proceeds, or 10 per cent of the sales, but by claiming he gave all, when in reality he had kept some away.
The one-tenth, which Abraham paid to Melchizedek was not dictated to him by anyone. The percentage was not by any mandate. It was ‘as purposed’ in harmony with what applies under the New Testament (II Cor. 9:7). Remember that God had made His plan of Salvation through Abra-ham, which was “By Faith” (Rom.3:20-23,27-28;4:1-3,16-17; Gal.3). So, really, Abraham, is the father of the New Testament. The father of faith (Gal. 3:7).
In the same manner in which a grandson of Abraham, Jacob, vowed to give a tenth of whatever he possesses, if God would bring him back from his sojourn, to his father’s home (Gen. 28:20-22), so also can an individual, (and I suppose), a group, a church, a denomination, on a consensus decide to pay 10, 20 or 50 per cent or whatever of their earnings to the church’s coffer. But there is no backing either from the Master, or from any of the apostles that 10 per cent (tithe), or any percentage of our earnings is still relevant as a ‘must’ under the New Dispensation.
Even then, there is no record that neither Abraham nor Jacob made the 10 per cent a recurrent issue. At other times they might have paid more or less.
Of course, there will be those (and, in fact, many, they are), whose faith will carry them to pay beyond the legalistic tenth, which was required under the strict law system of the Old Testament (Lev. 27:30-34; Numb. 18:20-24; Deut. 12:17-23; 14:22-27; 26:12-15) because the death of Christ has freed us from all the rules of worship. So, therefore, we can’t any longer restrict anyone’s blessings to that of a tenth-giver since God does not.
Someone has suggested that tithe is a covenant. I searched through the whole Bible and I could not find such a statement, neither could the one who made the suggestion. Even circum-cision, which was ordained by covenant (Gen. 17:6-14), became irrelevant with the death of Christ (Gal. 5:6). It is the lack of understanding of the background to Malachi 3:8-10 that makes anyone to argue in favour of tithing under the New Dispensation. References of the offering, which Malachi reminded the people of, are found in Numb. 18:8-24; Ex. 28,29; Num. 3&4, which are animal sacrifices for sins and which the Saviour paid, with His life after-wards. It should, therefore, not be misinterpreted as money put into the offeratory plates.
With Christ making Himself a one time perfect offering, the institution of Levitical Priesthood was dismantled. Thus, offer-ings (sacrifices) and tithes that supported it became irrelevant.
The Lord, as recorded in Matt. 23:23, same, which was also recorded in Luke 11:42 did not as of then outrightly condemn tithing because its purpose was yet to be achieved. And even then, the way He talked about it can best be described as ‘passive’, attaching no significance to it, as opposed to the rigidity and the great importance attached to it under the Law System. And it was not only tithing that was observed when Christ was here, but all the other rules for worship. He observed all the cere-monial worships that took place (Luke 2:40-52; John 7:1-10; Luke 22:7-20 etc) to make true His words that “Every law in the Book will continue, until its purpose is achieved” (till all be fulfilled) (Matt.5:18). The purpose was achieved by His death. “Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, said: “It is finished” (John 19:28-30) and the “thick veil hanging in the temple split apart”(Luke 23:45), bringing an end to all the ceremonial and legalistic rules of worship, which had been in place for 1,400 years
“and henceforth Christ became ‘the end of the law’” (Rom. 10:4).
Jesus knowing what changes the end result of His death was going to bring, had said earlier to the Samaritan woman by the well side “Woman,…the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father,…God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him, must worhip Him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:21-24). And this is the reason why no where in the New Testament is found a verse that demands for tithe after Jesus had resurrect-ed. “Let no man, therefore, judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days”; (or what proportion of your income you should worship God with, tying you down to the blessings of a tenth giver). “For these were only temporary rules that ended when Christ came. They were only shadows of the real thing—of Christ Himself.” (Col. 2:16-17). *Aweda is the president/senior pastor, Jesus for the World Revival Mission.