TITHE

Series: StewardshipLesson #2

In this lesson we shall continue to deal with the basic relationship between you and God, ‘THE TITHE.”

Heb. 7:1 For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him;

Heb. 7:2 To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of Righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace;

Heb. 7:6 But he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises.

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

Mal. 3:9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.

Mal. 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.

Mal. 3:11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts.

I. We Are Talking About The Tithe A Basic Of God’s Relationship With Man.

1. The tithe is God’s and I want to establish some facts about the tithe, because not only are you commanded to tithe, but you are charged by God to see that the church functions faithfully in this matter.

2. The promise of God is that the windows of heaven will be opened on those that will walk on this truth.

3. Tithing is unto God. God commanded the tithes to be brought into His storehouse. Those who do not obey and bring the tithe to God, dismiss it as being a thing of the law. God commanded the tithe, and tithing is not a thing of the law.

II. Tithe Is Not Of The Law.

1. Abraham paid tithe over four hundred years before the law. In the book of Hebrews, God tells us that Abraham paid tithe unto Melchizedek.

2. You notice there is no former instructions here in the book of Hebrews telling Abraham to do this.

3. What this says to me, and ought to say to all of us, is that Abraham was just acting out of what he knew to be the will of God. That will was to pay those tithes. Tithing antedates the law.

4. God gave this principle of the tithe, and as He does in every other principle of the Bible, God first gives the principle, then He gives the promise.

5. The principle is “bring the tithe into the storehouse” (Mal. 3:10a), which is the interest on what God has given us. The promise is, “I will open up the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing you will not be able to contain” (Mal. 3:10b).

6. God says, “…prove Me now herewith…” (Mal. 3:10).

7. This has been God’s financial plan for four hundred years before the law.

a. We know that Abraham existed four hundred years before the law.

8. You cannot excuse yourself from the tithe on the grounds of the law. You can only curse yourself by not doing it, and curse your people by not preaching it.

9. God says to you, “Bring your tithe.” The tithe is ten percent of everything you have, or everything you will get.

a. Ten percent of what you work for.

b. It means ten percent of what you inherit.

c. Ten percent of what you find.

d. Ten percent of your cattle, of everything.

10. If the church doesn’t have a place to keep cattle, then sell one and bring that tithe to the house of God. It is the Lord’s.

III. The Principle Is Inseparable From The Promise.

1. God gave the principle, and said, “If you obey the principle, I will open up the windows heaven and pour you out a blessing that you are not able to contain.”

2. God gave Israel fifteen tons of bread every day, and told them to bake Him twelve loaves once a week, and they quit doing it. Do you wonder why there was so much trouble?

3. God gave the principle, then He gave the promise. We must enter into that promise and obey Him, not only in the giving of the tithe, but also in bringing it where it belongs.

4. Tithing is for ministry.

IV. The Tithe Is For Ministry And Is To Be Brought To The House Of God.

1. In the Old Testament it was to be given to the Levites for ministry. So in Malachi, God commands us to bring the tithe to the storehouse. That is the church. We are not to give it to poor sick folks, not to our kinfolk, not to the TV Evangelist, but to the house of God.

2. We saw this in the scripture we read in the book of Hebrews. Abraham didn’t distribute the tithe out among the poor, he brought it to Melchisedec, the priest of the Most High God. If you give it anywhere else, then you have given it wrong, and God does not reckon that to be the tithe.

3. Many say, “I give it, and what they do with it doesn’t matter.” That is wrong! We are stewards of God, and it is required of a steward that he be found faithful.

4. A steward who does not invest the tithe properly is going to be accountable to God.

a. That is clearly seen in the parable of the talents (Matt. 25:14-30).

b. He gave one man five talents, He gave another man two talents, and another man one talent. The man that had five doubled his talents, the man that had two doubled his talents, the man that had one hid his and he lost everything.

c. God expects an increase on the investment He has made in us; therefore we are responsible to invest it wisely.

5. The tithe is to be brought into the church, and invested in that church. If the church wants to feed the poor out of the tithe, that is ministry. It is to be brought to the church; the individual is not to give it to the poor.

V. The Tithe Is God’s And Is Holy (Lev. 27:30).

1. The tithe is the Lord’s. Two things connect with that.

a. First, if it is God’s, then you don’t give it, you pay it.

b. You have not given anything until you have paid the tithe.

2. Jesus said, “Give and it shall be given unto you; pressed down, and shaken together, and running over…” (Lk. 6:38).

3. If all you have done is pay your tithe, you are also an unprofitable servant, because you have only done that which is required of you.

4. It is when we go beyond the tithe that we begin giving. “The tithe is the Lord’s.” I am simply bringing to Him that which is His.

5. Second, the tithe is holy, and we are not to touch that which is holy. “The tithe is the Lord’s.”

6. We have established that the tithe was before the law. We have also established that the tithe belongs to God, and we have established that it is to brought to the house of God.

Lev. 27:30 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.

7. Jesus said, “…Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s” (Mat. 22:21).

8. Notice in Numbers 18:21. Here we have got to establish another truth concerning the tithe. We run into opposition to this all the time. Men who want to rob God find their excuses for doing so. These are some of the greatest truths.

Num. 18:21 And, behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they serve, even the service of the tabernacle of the congregation.

9. You can’t choose what to do with the tithe. It belongs to God, and it must be put where God tells you to put it, or it is disobedience to God.

10. The tithe is for ministry. It isn’t to give to the poor, not to send to the kinfolk. The tithe is for the support of the gospel. The tithe is holy, and it must be put to holy use according to the record in Leviticus 27:30.

VI. The Thought Of Borrowing The Tithe.

1. Many people decide they will use the tithe and catch up later. This is a common practice among a lot of people. You would be surprised as a pastor how much of that you will run into.

2. To borrow the tithe is not an advisable thing to do. God says bring the tithe to the storehouse. Your obedience is better than sacrifice. To obey God is the road to the blessings of God. To disobey God in any area of life makes you a rebel, and rebellion is the sin of witchcraft (1Sam. 15:23).

3. To borrow the tithe states two things.

a. It is disobedient to God’s command to bring it into the storehouse.

b. Second, it is cheaper, if you are going to borrow money, to borrow from a loan company.

4. God says if you borrow the tithe, then you must add a fifth part to it when you repay it.

Lev. 27:31 And if a man will at all redeem ought of his tithes, he shall add thereto the fifth part thereof.

5. Twenty percent interest is to be paid on borrowed tithes.

6. If you backslide, and don’t bring the tithe in, when you come back to God, then you will have to repent if there is to be reconciliation. Repentance means you will have to catch all that up, and you will have to add twenty percent to that tithe.

7. The man of God must instruct the people, because the devil is going to come and tempt them to borrow the tithe, or to withhold that tithe. They are going to become careless with the tithe and that is dangerous ground.

8. God says you can be cursed. In Malachi 3:8, we see how a man robs God. How did we rob Him? In tithes and offerings. The tithe is demanded by God to be brought in to the house of God. God demands that it be brought in.

VII. The Blessings Of Obedience Is Faith.

1. God promises great blessings for faithfulness in this matter.

2. Faith is an act, based on a belief, and it can only be based on the promise of God and God’s faithfulness to that promise.

3. God’s promise is, “If you will bring the tithe in, He will bless you.” He said, “Bring your tithe into the storehouse, and prove Me herewith.”

4. Faith is an act, based upon a belief. So I act upon that belief. God says bring the tithe in, I bring it in. That is my act. I am believing Him. I can quote it, I can say it, there is nothing to that. But when I bring it in to the church, and lay it there, I am believing. I’m faithing.

5. Faith is an act, based upon a belief, supported by a confidence of continued action, that if God said it, God will do it. God’s promise is, “…prove Me herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that you there shall not be room enough to receive it” (Mal.3:10).

a. So I act. I bring the tithe in to God.

b. I support that act by the continued action of bringing it in. That continued act of faith is, that every Sunday, no matter what it looks like, I bring the tithe into the house of God.

c. God said, “…prove Me and see if I will not open up those windows of heaven.”

When I first became a Christian, I could not quote John 3:16. We grew up outside the church. I was running a drilling rig at the time, and we had to move shortly after we were saved. I went to the pastor (I had only been saved a couple of weeks) and told him that we were moving. He prayed with me, and blessed me. Then he said, “I have got to talk to you.” He said, “I should have told you before now, your tithe belongs to God.” I didn’t know what he was talking about. I said to him, “what do you mean my tithe?” He said, “ten percent of everything you ever get, whether you work for it, find it, inherit it, however it comes, it is God’s, and you are to bring it into the house of God.” He read to me the very same scriptures I am showing you here today.

I went home and told my wife. I believed everything the man of God said. God had saved me from a life of drunkenness, and had blessed my family. He had put us back together, we weren’t separated, but we had financial troubles and now I owe God everything. I believed everything the man of God said. So I told her that we had to give ten percent of everything to God. We were happy it wasn’t forty percent. That first year we brought it in, we struggled. Sometimes it looked like we weren’t going to be able pay our rent. That devil would say to us, “You can’t pay tithes, you’ve got to pay the house rent. You can catch this up later, God will understand.” I learned very early, from the first book of the Bible, that the first time the devil talked to a man, he lied to him. He lied to him by bringing a question mark on the Word of God. I saw that was exactly what he was trying to do to me. He was bringing a question mark on what God promised. “Bring it in and prove Me.” That first year was a struggle. It was sometime brought in at a great sacrifice. But then, those windows opened. Since 1949 we’ve been bringing the tithe in. Now we bring in more like 40-50% of what He gives us. We bring it in to God. The windows are open.

When God called my wife and I to Russia, we resigned the church and moved out there in 1992, thinking that I would have to come back and itinerate to raise money for the school. When we got out there we saw that was not possible. For that school to be what God wanted it to be, I had to be there. So I had to believe Him. I remembered God’s promise, “You bring the tithe in, I will open the windows of heaven.” Those windows have been opened. God poured out a blessing we could not contain. We did not have a lot of money when we went, we don’t have a lot of money now. But I can tell you, the windows are open. The first three years it

took one million dollars to do what we did. In less than two years we planted over 700 churches, put in place 80 video schools, and taught Sunday School teachers. We opened eleven regular Bible schools training men for the ministry, translated and produced tens of thousands of books, gave away thousands of Bibles, and equipped and sent forth fifty evangelistic teams. The windows were open. Money came from everywhere.

6. The blessings of God are promised to those who will bring their tithe in continually. You will be tested, but keep on bringing. Teach your people to keep on bringing it.

VIII.The Curse Of Disobedience.

1. The other side of that is, you will be “cursed with a curse” for disobedience. He said, “cursed with a curse.” If you don’t bring it, you will be cursed.

Jas. 4:17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

Heb. 10:26For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,

2. When I know to bring the tithe in, then I know what to do, and to do it is to do good. If I don’t do it, it is sin. Think about it!

3. That sin of disobedience brings a curse, but my obedience brings the blessings of God.

4. “If we sin willfully,” (Hebrews 10:26 and the present participle is used there denoting continuance in sin), after coming to the knowledge of the truth, that means when I know what to do and then I don’t do it, it becomes willful sin. Soon there is no more sacrifice. I’m cut off from God.

5. I know that it is the will of God for me to bring the tithe into that storehouse. It doesn’t matter what the circumstances are. It doesn’t matter if it is one penny, one dollar, or a thousand dollars. What the amount is doesn’t matter. What matters is that I am obedient to God.

6. God will multiply what I bring in. My obligation is to be faithful in bringing it to where He told me to, that is, the house of God. That is where I receive from Him and where I am taught the ways of God. I bring that tithe in there.

7. If I don’t do it, then it is willful sin that leads to the place where there is no more sacrifice, and the curse of God is upon my life for my disobedience to Him.

IX. Teach The Tithe.

1. When you teach people to give, let them give.

2. I have found, especially where they know nothing about tithing, it is best to allow them to bring the tithe forward. You say that forces the issue. Exactly.

3. You have a box and you minister to them the truth of tithing, as it is the will of God. Every Sunday as you come together, take a few moments, exhort them to be faithful. Let them come down and bring the tithe. Don’t sing, don’t do anything else. You are worshipping God with your giving. You are teaching the people to bring the tithe unto God. The blessings of God for obedience will come upon them.

4. Proverbs 8:17 says, “I love them that love Me…” God commands you, “bring your tithe into the storehouse.” Add to that this word, “if you love Me, you will keep my commandments.” If you love God, He will love you.

5. How do you love Him? By doing what He says.

6. In this business of stewardship and tithing, bring that tithe to the house of God faithfully, all the time, big or small, no matter what, bring it to God. Do it!

7. The promise is, “if you love Me, I will love you.” Your love to Him is doing what He told you. His love to you is, “I will open the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that you will not be able to contain.”

8. Tithing is God’s way of supporting His work.

9. This isn’t something you teach on once a year. You must illustrate this. You must bring this forth in every sermon. In your relationship to God, you must tell them, if you love God, then you will bring that which is His to Him. God will faithfully reward you for your love to Him. He will multiply the seed that you sow.

10. He gave you what you have, now sow it into His kingdom. He will multiply it.

11. We always give them the opportunity to give so that the blessings of God will may rest upon them. This will expand their faith in other areas of their life.

12. The tithe was before the law, it belongs to God, it is holy, it must be brought to the church. He will bless you if you give it, and curse you if you don’t.