Prosperity in Finances/ Wealth
As you study prosperity, there seems to be more books on financial prosperity. Maybe it is because there will be more people buy these kinds of books. Of course, the only person making the most money will be the one who wrote the book. Everyone would like to win millions of dollar and not have to worry about working again. Many dream of this, but very few see the end of the rainbow. Little do they know that those who have are staying up late worried about loosing it. Then there are those who have, but are not satisfied; they want more. Some have inherited financial prosperity from prior generations. Some became wealthy in their young age through the world system.
There are those who never go to a church building who seems to have all the money. There seems to be those who are stingy and hoard the money to themselves. There are those in power who will take as much as they can, but will not pay a decent wage to those who work for them. They will loan at a high rate of interest just because they hold the power of money. It is said that the rich gets richer and the poor gets poorer. It takes money to make money.
Then there is the seemingly poor Christian who never seems to have enough. You are told that if you pay your tithes then you will prosper. You are told that offerings should be given over and above your tithes. You are told that tithes are to be given on the gross amount. You are told if you give money to their ministry, then you will be healed from your sickness. You are told if you will give into this ministry, then you will prosper. After giving religiously, you are still sick and broke. Since it is not working then you are told that God doesn’t want you to have anything. Some believe that it is wrong to pray for something as carnal as money. Some believe that you can not serve God and have money. You are taught that the rich man went to hell because he was rich, and Lazareth went to heaven because he was poor. You are taught that it is as easy for a camel to go through a needle's eye than it is for a rich man to get to heaven. Then there are the preachers who have a $100.00 line and a $500.00 line and a $1000.00 line to prophesy or pray for you. The poor Christian is waiting for a word from God to speak to them, but the ending is disappointment. It is like going to the casino and inserting all your money in the gambling machines because that one person out of thousands won a big amount of money. This must not be your lucky day, so you keep going back day after day and still no results. One day maybe your ship will come in. Does this ring a bell? All this is religious phooey. Some one said that insanity is when a person keeps doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.
When you are not getting results, you need to get up from where you are, look at where you are going, and get on the right road. If you were driving from Memphis, Tennessee to Little Rock, Arkansas and you have been driving for two days and know that it should have taken two and one half hours, then you should know you must have taken a wrong turn some where on your way. That brings us to the subject of tithing.
Tithing can be bondage and not a blessing. The New Testament talks a lot about giving. Who is the Church? Is it a building where people say they go to worship God, but when you get there they only have a program and go home, feeling as empty as when they came? If you are enjoying where you are gathering with believers, then you need to give to have a place to continue to worship. Even Paul wrote to the church of Corinth:
1 Corinthians 16:1-3Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do also:2 On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come.3 And when I come, whomever you approve by your letters I will send to bear your gift to Jerusalem.
2 Corinthians 8:1-13 Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia:2 that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality.3 For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing,4 imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.5 And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God.6 So we urged Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also complete this grace in you as well.7 But as you abound in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us—see that you abound in this grace also.
8 I speak not by commandment, but I am testing the sincerity of your love by the diligence of others.9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.10 And in this I give advice: It is to your advantage not only to be doing what you began and were desiring to do a year ago;11 but now you also must complete the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to desire it, so there also may be a completion out of what you have.12 For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has, and not according to what he does not have.13 For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened;
I tell everyone it is a good place to start but don't be bound to it.
Here is the Biblical History of the Tithe with Old Testament references. In (Gen.) 14:20 where Abraham gives Melek (King) Melchizedek of Shalem (Shalom)"one tenth of everything"
Genesis 14:20 And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” And he gave him a tithe of all.
Hebrews 7:1-2 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him,2 to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being translated “king of righteousness,” and then also king of Salem, meaning “king of peace,”
Also see where Jacob, after waking from his sleep lying with his head on the stone, and before leaving the renamed city of Beit'El (formerly Luz) pledges to give to the Lord God a tithe of all that He gives him.
Genesis 28:22 “And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”
You may look also in Nehemiah 10:38-40 where The Israelites reaffirm their vows to Yahweh including the vows regarding the various tithes including the first part of their dough, etc.
Nehemiah 10:38 And the priest, the descendant of Aaron, shall be with the Levites when the Levites receive tithes; and the Levites shall bring up a tenth of the tithes to the house of our God, to the rooms of the storehouse.39 For the children of Israel and the children of Levi shall bring the offering of the grain, of the new wine and the oil, to the storerooms where the articles of the sanctuary are, where the priests who minister and the gatekeepers and the singers are; and we will not neglect the house of our God.
In terms of the temple tithes, there are 3 different tithes: Deut 14:22-29 refers specifically to the "second tithe" required by the Lord God which is actually to be consumed by the priests within the temple in thankfulness to His increased bounty to him.
Deuteronomy 14:22-29 “You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year.23 “And you shall eat before the LORD your God, in the place where He chooses to make His name abide, the tithe of your grain and your new wine and your oil, of the firstborn of your herds and your flocks, that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always.24 “But if the journey is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, or if the place where the LORD your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, when the LORD your God has blessed you,25 “then you shall exchange it for money, take the money in your hand, and go to the place which the LORD your God chooses.26 “And you shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen or sheep, for wine or similar drink, for whatever your heart desires; you shall eat there before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household.27 “You shall not forsake the Levite who is within your gates, for he has no part nor inheritance with you. 28 “At the end of every third year you shall bring out the tithe of your produce of that year and store it up within your gates.29 “And the Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are within your gates, may come and eat and be satisfied, that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.
However, the "first tithe" in the temple is a tenth of all produce (agriculture & livestock) for the temple priests in payment for their services as temple priests (Lev.) 27:30-33;
Leviticus 27:30-33 ‘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 to the LORD.31 ‘If a man wants at all to redeem any of his tithes, he shall add one-fifth to it.32 ‘And concerning the tithe of the herd or the flock, of whatever passes under the rod, the tenth one shall be holy to the LORD.33 ‘He shall not inquire whether it is good or bad, nor shall he exchange it; and if he exchanges it at all, then both it and the one exchanged for it shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.’ ”
In (Num.)18:21. The Temple Priests were not to inherit a land blessing but were to serve in the temple; in return, they were sustained by the Lord God through the "first tithes" of the worshippers.
In addition, there is another tithe that is for the poor and which replaces the "second tithe" in the third and sixth year of the seven year cycle which ends in what is called the year of "sh'mittah" where the land is allowed to go fallow. (Some Rabbis argue whether or not this tithe to the poor actually replaces the second tithe or if it is in addition the third tithe.)
Another tithe is in Deut. 14: “You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year. The tithe described here is in its "pashat" (literal interpretation) first and foremost segregation unto the Lord God of the increase in one's crops and livestock (i.e., agriculture, food, animals). In the agricultural society in which they lived, Israel’s, "increase" was necessarily often measured by how much more agriculture or livestock one had from one period to the next. If the tithe was too much to carry, then they could convert the value of the agriculture or livestock into money first, carry the money to the storehouse instead converting into what you desire to eat merrily before the Lord God.
Deuteronomy 14:23 And you shall eat before the LORD your God, in the place where He chooses to make His name abide, the tithe of your grain and your new wine and your oil, of the firstborn of your herds and your flocks, that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always.
This tithe (increase in the bounty of crops, agriculture, corn, wine, oil, livestock is to be brought by you physically into the "place which He ( the Lord God) shall choose to place His Name"
Deuteronomy 14:25-26 then you shall exchange it for money, take the money in your hand, and go to the place which the LORD your God chooses.26 “And you shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen or sheep, for wine or similar drink, for whatever your heart desires; you shall eat there before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household.
Since the Levite priests do not have a land inheritance among the twelve other tribes, but rather are servants of the temple, they were to share their tithe with them and not forsake them. Also this was only done every 3 years.
Deuteronomy 14:28-29 “At the end of every third year you shall bring out the tithe of your produce of that year and store it up within your gates.29 “And the Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are within your gates, may come and eat and be satisfied, that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.
Again, because the Levitical priesthood does not share in the land inheritance of the Israelites, they and the widow, the stranger/proselyte, shall come to the storehouse with you and share in the tithe (eat and be filled) so that the Lord God may bless. Israel was taught and believed that the reward for fulfilling the commandment of tithing was the blessing of wealth. (The Hebrew word can be read both as "te'asser" which means "tithe" and as "te'asher" which means "become wealthy.") ""Tithe, you shall surely tithe".
They were taught that as one who gives a share of his wealth to charity does not suffer a reduction in his resources but actually enjoys an increase. This was one reason for the year of Jubilee, every 50th year. ( Mascaro pp. 1-5)
A survey of all the writings of the Early Church up to A.D. 600 is silent about tithing in the Church being a necessity. In fact, it was the position of the great Church Father Irenaeus (A.D. 120-202) that tithing as a legal obligation is no longer binding. He explains this in chapter XIII of book IV in "Irenaeus Against Heresies," And for this reason did the Lord, instead of that [commandment], "Thou shalt not commit adultery," forbid even concupiscence; and instead of that which runs thus, "Thou shalt not kill," He prohibited anger; and instead of the law enjoining the giving of tithes, [He told us] to share all our possessions with the poor; And again in chapter XVIII of book IV he again states:
And for this reason they (the Jews) had indeed the tithes of their goods consecrated to Him, but those who have received liberty set aside all their possessions for the Lord's purposes, bestowing joyfully and freely not the less valuable portions of their property, since they have the hope of better things [hereafter]; as that poor widow acted who cast all her living into the treasury of God. (Irenaeus p. 438, 962)
This provides us with ample evidence that Church-age tithing (versus NT giving) is simply a pharisaic type tradition. The great nineteenth century preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, said this about tithing: "In the religion of Christ there is no taxation. Everything is of love." (Spurgeon, Volume 32, p. 213).
To be Continued.......
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