GOD’S BANKER

How would you like to be the Lord’s Banker here on planet earth, managing His resources? Well... you are! What God gives to us, He wants to push through us to others. How much we keep measures our love for God against our love for Self. You see, there are two books and two covenants: Under the Old Testament Law tithing, which simply means “a tenth part”, is commanded. Under New Testament Grace love is commanded and giving is from the heart: God wants us to demonstrate His agape love through willful sacrificial giving to those in need... for they will know we are Christians by our love.  

Tithing does appear in the Old Testament, so it is scriptural, but it is not “Christian.” Three tithes were commanded from ancient Israel on the produce of the land (e.g., seeds, fruits, livestock, etc.), as their national taxation system: Ten percent was tithed annually to support the Levites, who had no inheritance in Canaan, and support the temple. Ten percent was tithed annually to sponsor the religious festivals in Jerusalem. And Ten percent was tithed every third year to support the local Levitical priests, orphans, sojourners, the poor, strangers, and widows throughout Israel. These three tithes, two at 10% each year and one at 10% every three years, total a yearly tithe of 23.3%.

Tithing was, essentially, Israel’s income tax. Israel supported their national workers (priests), their national holidays and festivals, and their national poor (strangers, widows, orphans) through tithing. Tithing is the model for all modern national tax systems and served the same purpose.  With the “death of the testator”, Christ, The Law and all the ceremonial codes of the Old Testament were nailed to the cross and buried, never to be used to condemn New Testament Christians again. This is why we never see Christians tithing in the New Testament – or the sacrificing of red heifers for that matter -- it’s a New Covenant… “Christ has made us free” from bondage to The Law.  

The deception of Christian tithing is fivefold: First it attempts to justify by works a Law precept made null and void under Grace. Second, giving under Grace is an act of worship, and God is looking for worshipers. Third, it sets the bar artificially low, encouraging us to squander most of God’s wealth on the very things He warned us not to love... the world’s toys.  Fourth, it ignores the really important stuff like “righteousness by faith”, the leadership of God’s Spirit, and “faith working through love.” And Fifth, tithing makes New Testament saints a “debtor to keep the whole Law”, an impossible “yoke of bondage.”

The supposed glitches: Abraham, who lived before The Law, tithed once in his 175 years of life. His tithe was not compulsory or out of the produce of the land, rather he tithed voluntarily out of the spoils of war. And, this “tithe” was not used as required by the Law. Abraham did not “tithe.” In Malachi chapter 3: 5, 8-10 God is scolding Israel for withholding their tithes from Him and by so doing oppressing the widows, the fatherless, and the stranger, the rightful recipients of the tithe under The Law. God commands the tithes to be brought “into the storehouse” which is located in the chambers of the temple and used to store produce of the land (not money). Malachi does not apply to Christians.

The history: Tithing did not become widespread among Christians until the eight century when land leasing with a tithe fee, ten percent, was a common characteristic of the European economy. The church had acquired considerable land holding through the generosity of Roman emperors and patrons, and likewise leased its land charging a tithe as an “ecclesiastical tax.” Over time this tithe was connected with the tithe requirements under The Law and morphed into a mandatory religious practice throughout Christian Europe, applicable to all Christians. So tithing as we know it today has its origin in the secular European states and spread from these secular roots to the church, who misinterpreted and misapplied scripture to validate the practice. Tithing has become an entitlement to the modern church which simply lacks the faith to trust God for its provisions.

Tithing belongs exclusively to Israel under The Law: Financial stewardship for first century and twenty-first century Christians is to give cheerfully according to their ability, and never dutifully out of a command. God’s Bankers are not at all like Wall Street Bankers, they look for opportunities to give, and consider sacrifice a virtue...

“CHRIST HAS MADE US FREE …

(Lev. 27:30-33; Num. 18:21-31; Deut. 12:17-18; Deut. 14: 22-29; Deut. 26:12-13; Gal. 5:1-6; Heb. 9:16-17; Col. 2:14)