When God revealed to His people that ten percent of
their increase (the "tithe") was His and must be given to His
servants, along with the offerings, He was not negotiating a position. He was
not trying to strike a deal with His people, asking for ten percent, but really
hoping to finally get five percent from some of His people as a donation. God
was not negotiating for tips from His people.
God’s words are pure and true. He means exactly what
He says, no more and no less. He is so serious about the "tithe" (a
word that means "a tenth part") and the offerings that He considers
any of His children who fail to render their tithes and offerings to Him to be
robbers. Robbers do not just steal; they steal by force.
Prophet Malachi was sent with this holy complaint to
Israel: "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed Me, saith the Lord!"
(Malachi 3:8)
This statement was received with some skepticism by
God’s people, and they responded, "How have we robbed God?"
"In tithes and offerings" came the terse
reply.
If a man would steal from God, there is nothing that
he would not do to any human being. You cannot trust any man who robs from God.
Some Christians do what God hates most. They try to
find some middle ground between obeying God and disobeying God. They don’t have
the love of God or the faith to bring Him the tithes that He has commanded, but
they are ashamed to give Him nothing. They won’t obey God and pay all the tithes
and offerings, but they would rather just give Him enough to silent their
conscience and maintain appearances. But that "middle ground" is the
worst of all choices. It would be better if they simply refused to obey God at
all and gave nothing than for them to give just a part of what He has commanded.
That is like tipping God, as if He were your servant, and as though you are
doing Him a favour. It is like tipping God for His blessings. Some pride
themselves on being big tippers, but if what they bring to God is not their
tithes and offerings, they are still disobeying His commandment and they are
still robbers.
Do not be foolish. If you will not bring God all His
tithes and offerings, please don’t insult Him by "donating" a few
bucks to His work. Jesus doesn’t need your charity or your pity.
Jesus wants us to either be hot or cold. He would
prefer that we either obey God’s commandment and bring Him all our tithes and
offerings, or just admit to ourselves that we are just sinners and go away and
leave Him alone.
It is sinful to give God’s anointed servants a little
tip now and then, just so you can appear to be doing something good. It is sin
to bring God half of your tithe. It is stubbornness and rebellion. It is
thievery. It is unbelief. It is unacceptable with God because He was not
negotiating when He commanded the tenth part of your increase.
Tithing is a commandment, not a suggestion. When one
young man asked Jesus what he must do in order to obtain eternal life, Jesus
told him, " keep the commandments” (Matthew 19:17). If God had never
commanded His people to bring their tithes to His servants, then it would be
acceptable to do something else, but God did issue that commandment, and we are
required to obey it.
One of the Ten Commandments is: "Thou shalt not
steal." (Exodus 20:15) Should we construe that commandment to mean,
"Thou shalt not steal, except from the Lord?"
We should be more afraid to steal from God than from
anyone else. Besides, stealing is stealing, no matter who the victim is. If the
money in your possession is not rightfully yours, then it is stolen money.
Listen to Jesus. "Render therefore unto Caesar the things
which be Caesar's, and unto God the things which be God's." (Luke 20:25).
Taxes rightfully belong to the government (Caesar). Tithes and the offerings belong
to God. We make ourselves thieves if we refuse to give God what belong to Him.
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