FROM PASTOR TIM
Thank you for the feedback from Sunday. Yes, tithing is a challenging topic. One of the key eye-openers is that the concept of tithing was introduced long before the Law prescribed it.
Just as with the Sabbath, the Law formalized something that God had already put into practice before the Law existed. God knows we value our time and possessions more than anything. As a result He has called us to be willing to give Him a portion of each so that we will always be reminded that we depend on Him for time (life) and income (provision).
Taking a sabbath, and tithing from what God has first given us is good for our spiritual growth. We depend on God more than ourselves and that is always good because it keeps us humble.
Thus, when Abram tithed to Melchizedek he put on display the kind of humility that marks one who is actively seeking to follow the Lord and be conformed by the Lord for His glory.
As I always say, “I don’t want your money, I desire God’s money.” God’s money flows through cheerful hearts that know and love Him for what Christ did on the cross, and God’s money will always go further toward expanding His kingdom than any amount we begrudgingly offer Him.
When you tithe to a church that is faithfully seeking to follow the Lord by preaching the Gospel, teaching the Bible, making disciples and reaching out to a lost world, you are not giving “to the church” as much as you are tithing to God. You are investing in kingdom work.
If you are stuck on this issue, please come see me. Or, read a little book called “The Treasure Principle”. We have some in the cafe bookstore. Feel free to take a copy and look it over. It’s the best book I know of that addresses the question of tithing to the Lord through the local Church.
May God Almighty “open up the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need” (Malachi 3:10),
Rescued by Christ,
Pastor Tim