P
Preacher Boy
Guest
I want to be careful how I come across with my view because I don't want to be taken as someone who thinks you shouldn't give at all!
The infamous passages from Malachi.
Malachi 3:8-10
(8 ) Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
(9) Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
(10) Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
Instead of starting in chapter 3 look at 1:1;
Malachi 1:1 The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi.
So lets say I write a letter to my wife- "Dear Kathy, Meet me at noon at Friendlys and I will buy you lunch, Love Bobby".
Someone else gets my note and meets me at friendlys at noon and expects a free lunch. Everything I wrote was true, but to Kathy not you.
In like manner, I can learn much from Malachi, but I need stop as a member of the "church", (I Cor. 10:32), which is not the Jew(I Cor. 10:32),which is not the Gentiles(I Cor. 10:32) and realize the limit of application in my life. Malachi was writing Israel not me as a born again member of the NT Church.
Malachi 3:9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
When have you seen someone that didn't tithe cursed with a curse from the Lord?
You cant say the bill collectors are after him because he didn't pay his tithe...he didn't pay his bills like he was supposed to.
Thats called reaping what you sow, not a curse from God.
Malachi 3:10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
Storehouse = A building for keeping grain or goods of any kind; a magazine; a repository; a warehouse. As in Josephs case in Egypt.
When was was the last time you heard testimony of someone who tithed that was at their wits end and couldn't handle all the blessings from the Lord?
--- Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
---2 Peter 1:3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
--- I have been given the Holy Ghost, gifts of the Spirit, fruit of the Spirit, Everlasting life...etc all whether I tithe or not.
The blessings for those in Malachi must be earned by tithing.
In conclusion to Malachi a few things are true:
---The Jew was to tithe as a matter of the Law.
---The tithe was brought to one building, the storehouse. Only one, not one in each town.
---The tithe was food to feed the Levites.
---don't tithe and your cursed with a curse, do tithe and you wont be able to handle all the blessings.
Non of these things apply to us as redeemed children of God in the New Testament church!
-------------------------------------------------------------
Leviticus 27:30-31
(30) And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD'S: it is holy unto the LORD.
(31) And if a man will at all redeem ought of his tithes, he shall add thereto the fifth part thereof.
The tithe was to be the fruit of the land and if you wanted to tithe cash instead then you had to give an extra 5th part (20%) on top of the 10 %...you never hear preachers preach tithing as 30%
----------------------------------------------------------------
On and on it goes...
We have a work to do! that work will cost money, and it needs to come through God's people from God himself! So how should it happen?
A preacher condemning you if you don't give 10%?
Bake sale and chicken dinners?
Love gifts from the website viewers?
How about Children of God filled with the Holy Ghost giving more than was required from Jews under a Law!
Matthew 5:20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
We needed a better salvation and we got it through Jesus Christ!
We need to live more for God than Jews were required to by the law!
We have the grace of God ruling in our hearts and need to give so others can be saved by grace through faith in that same Christ we did!
-------------------------------------------------------------
---So how?
2 Corinthians 9:1-15
(1) For as touching the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you:
(2) For I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal hath provoked very many.
(3) Yet have I sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf; that, as I said, ye may be ready:
(4) Lest haply if they of Macedonia come with me, and find you unprepared, we (that we say not, ye) should be ashamed in this same confident boasting.
(5) Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren, that they would go before unto you, and make up beforehand your bounty, whereof ye had notice before, that the same might be ready, as a matter of bounty, and not as of covetousness.
(6) But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.
(7) Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.
(8 ) And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:
(9) (As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever.
(10) Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;)
(11) Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.
(12) For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God;
(13) Whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men;
(14) And by their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you.
(15) Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.
It is my opinion that churches are filled with people who don't love him as they should, So they give according to that love.
Preacher require tithes because they know that the people would give less unless they were required to.
In churches that are actually accomplishing things for God a tithe wont do, there needs to be giving from people who have a purposed heart to love God and spread the Gospel.
-----------------------------
1 Corinthians 16:1-2
(1) Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye.
(2) Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.
--Pay your bills! If you don't you are stealing from those providing goods and services. (Ephesians 4:28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.)
--Take care of your family and lay up for the future! (2 Corinthians 12:14 & 1 Timothy 5:8 )
After you have taken care of what God commanded what you have left is prosperity, will you spend it on self or God?
PS. don't think that if you give God 5 bucks for missions he will give you 10 for your lust (common theology among TV preachers). When you give to God he will give you more so that you can give more to his work!
The infamous passages from Malachi.
Malachi 3:8-10
(8 ) Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
(9) Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
(10) Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
Instead of starting in chapter 3 look at 1:1;
Malachi 1:1 The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi.
So lets say I write a letter to my wife- "Dear Kathy, Meet me at noon at Friendlys and I will buy you lunch, Love Bobby".
Someone else gets my note and meets me at friendlys at noon and expects a free lunch. Everything I wrote was true, but to Kathy not you.
In like manner, I can learn much from Malachi, but I need stop as a member of the "church", (I Cor. 10:32), which is not the Jew(I Cor. 10:32),which is not the Gentiles(I Cor. 10:32) and realize the limit of application in my life. Malachi was writing Israel not me as a born again member of the NT Church.
Malachi 3:9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
When have you seen someone that didn't tithe cursed with a curse from the Lord?
You cant say the bill collectors are after him because he didn't pay his tithe...he didn't pay his bills like he was supposed to.
Thats called reaping what you sow, not a curse from God.
Malachi 3:10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
Storehouse = A building for keeping grain or goods of any kind; a magazine; a repository; a warehouse. As in Josephs case in Egypt.
When was was the last time you heard testimony of someone who tithed that was at their wits end and couldn't handle all the blessings from the Lord?
--- Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
---2 Peter 1:3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
--- I have been given the Holy Ghost, gifts of the Spirit, fruit of the Spirit, Everlasting life...etc all whether I tithe or not.
The blessings for those in Malachi must be earned by tithing.
In conclusion to Malachi a few things are true:
---The Jew was to tithe as a matter of the Law.
---The tithe was brought to one building, the storehouse. Only one, not one in each town.
---The tithe was food to feed the Levites.
---don't tithe and your cursed with a curse, do tithe and you wont be able to handle all the blessings.
Non of these things apply to us as redeemed children of God in the New Testament church!
-------------------------------------------------------------
Leviticus 27:30-31
(30) And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD'S: it is holy unto the LORD.
(31) And if a man will at all redeem ought of his tithes, he shall add thereto the fifth part thereof.
The tithe was to be the fruit of the land and if you wanted to tithe cash instead then you had to give an extra 5th part (20%) on top of the 10 %...you never hear preachers preach tithing as 30%
----------------------------------------------------------------
On and on it goes...
We have a work to do! that work will cost money, and it needs to come through God's people from God himself! So how should it happen?
A preacher condemning you if you don't give 10%?
Bake sale and chicken dinners?
Love gifts from the website viewers?
How about Children of God filled with the Holy Ghost giving more than was required from Jews under a Law!
Matthew 5:20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
We needed a better salvation and we got it through Jesus Christ!
We need to live more for God than Jews were required to by the law!
We have the grace of God ruling in our hearts and need to give so others can be saved by grace through faith in that same Christ we did!
-------------------------------------------------------------
---So how?
2 Corinthians 9:1-15
(1) For as touching the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you:
(2) For I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal hath provoked very many.
(3) Yet have I sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf; that, as I said, ye may be ready:
(4) Lest haply if they of Macedonia come with me, and find you unprepared, we (that we say not, ye) should be ashamed in this same confident boasting.
(5) Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren, that they would go before unto you, and make up beforehand your bounty, whereof ye had notice before, that the same might be ready, as a matter of bounty, and not as of covetousness.
(6) But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.
(7) Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.
(8 ) And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:
(9) (As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever.
(10) Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;)
(11) Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.
(12) For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God;
(13) Whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men;
(14) And by their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you.
(15) Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.
It is my opinion that churches are filled with people who don't love him as they should, So they give according to that love.
Preacher require tithes because they know that the people would give less unless they were required to.
In churches that are actually accomplishing things for God a tithe wont do, there needs to be giving from people who have a purposed heart to love God and spread the Gospel.
-----------------------------
1 Corinthians 16:1-2
(1) Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye.
(2) Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.
--Pay your bills! If you don't you are stealing from those providing goods and services. (Ephesians 4:28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.)
--Take care of your family and lay up for the future! (2 Corinthians 12:14 & 1 Timothy 5:8 )
After you have taken care of what God commanded what you have left is prosperity, will you spend it on self or God?
PS. don't think that if you give God 5 bucks for missions he will give you 10 for your lust (common theology among TV preachers). When you give to God he will give you more so that you can give more to his work!
