Faithful Tithing

Hello, everyone! Happy Sabbath to you all. I'm going to go ahead and share my screen because I want to share a presentation with you today. And it's going to take a few clicks to get through it, so just bear with me as I get this set up.

There we go. And hopefully that is... that's good. All right. Well, today I'd like to talk about one of our fundamentals of belief, which is the doctrine of tithing. I've talked about tithing about five years ago now in the San Francisco Bay Area. We were in Oakland at the time, probably about 10 years ago when we were at San Jose. And so I think it's time to revisit this. Some of you and I might not have been there, might not have heard this. And I hope that the PowerPoint here kind of helps get across some of the messages here that I'm going to share. By way of introduction, I'd like to tell a story. And like you said, I've mentioned this before, but I want to share this story because it's a story of what I'll call the face of tithing.

And it's a story of someone I'll call Jessica. It's not her real name. She has two children. She had been a drug addict, and she had actually even had to prostitute herself from time to time to just scrape together the money to keep up her habit. And one day, her and her boyfriend were really so high on drugs that when their two-year-old fell on a radiator, they just couldn't even hear her screams. And it was just a really awful, awful situation that she realized that she had gotten herself into, and now was having consequences for her children. And she just realized that it had just gone too far, and that she just felt this need to just really address her life. And sort of as she made more progress, her boyfriend made less progress and just became more abusive towards her as she was trying to work through this. And finally, time came where she heard of the Church of God, and she felt like she had no place to turn. And so she turned to the church, and she basically fled. She fled with just a suitcase and her two kids, and she had no money and no savings, or little money and no savings, and no family to go to. And she took her kids, and every last penny she had, she bought a bus ticket, and she came to California. And she arrived at the church campus at the time in Pasadena, and she just said, I need help. And at first, the local pastor didn't quite know what to make of her. You know, this person just shows up, and of course, I've told you some of the backstory. You know, no one really knew her and everything that had happened. Was she sincere, or was she just another person looking for a handout? And almost immediately, a church family arranged to host her and her two children, and the church helped out by paying for food and some basic necessities for her kids. And eventually, the church provided some financial assistance, and it arranged for her to have an apartment. And over time, sort of, and really over the next two years, through church financial assistance and donations from members of food and clothing, one member even donated a used car, which she used for a little while. This woman was eventually able to get back on her feet, and she was eventually baptized. She got a decent-paying job. She found a carpool so she could get back and forth to work easily. And eventually, she began to pay for her own expenses, and she got an apartment, and she was able to get a budget together, and she basically got back on her feet.

Now, I tell the story of this person I'm calling Jesse, because Jessica's story is about love, and it's about care, and it's about people who are committed to helping people in all sorts of situations in their life. And there's many stories like hers that really, as I say, they kind of put a face to this whole concept of tithing, or more broadly, of giving.

But why do I say it puts a face on tithing? Well, I say that because without the faithful tithes of God's people, it's unclear that Jessica would have ever even heard the word of God preach to start with, even to turn to the church.

I think it tells the story of tithing because these same tithes provided financial assistance for the fatherless and the widows, which she was in this category, this person who had no one to protect or no place to turn to.

I think it tells the story of tithing because it shows an attitude of giving, of generosity, of really just sharing and recognizing that our tithes are here to help, and therefore God to use as He desires.

And she was given festival assistance that first year.

And so there's just the whole story of how someone can be helped in this way, because we know from scriptures that it's not enough to just say, go be warmed and filled. This person had a very serious need.

And there are people who are not part of the Church of God who tithe, and those who do not tithe.

And either way, those people do have compassion, and they react to others who are suffering. The Church of God is not unique in that way.

And that is wonderful, but God gives His people unique instructions through His Word about how to tithe, about what tithing means, and what the significance of tithing is all about.

Today I'd like to talk about tithing, and specifically I want to talk about the number of tithes that are mentioned in the Bible. As I said, I've discussed this subject previously.

But specifically in the sermon, I want to go through three points here, which are that traditional Christian teaching is really in contrast to what we're going to see in Scripture.

And it's very important to understand this, because many Christians will say they tithe, but they'll say they'll tithe for different reasons than we might say we tithe in the Church of God.

And many Christians will not tithe, even though they'll see these Scriptures that are there, and they'll explain away why that tithing is not required for them.

And then that gets us into the second point, which is how many tithes are there? Are there one? Are there two? Are there three?

And to go through really our understanding, doctrine, of why that is. And then finally, should Christians tithe?

And if so, to whom should they tithe? Which is kind of a question that I get from time to time. Who should actually pay my tithe to? There's not a leave-eyed here that I might see.

And how do I know that? So let's go through these points, and I want to start by sharing the mainstream Protestant teaching on tithing.

Now, there's lots of different views on tithing, but I like to read from Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary.

And for those who might have heard this before, let me stay up front right now. This is what I'm going to read is not the teaching of God's Church.

This is a great example of something that sounds really nice. It's well-written. But in my view, and what the church teaches, it mixes truth and error.

But I want to put it out there because I think it's important we understand what is taught and how to discern sort of what makes sense and doesn't make sense about this.

So let me read from Nelson's illustrated Bible Dictionary here. It says, Tithing is the practice of giving a tenth of one's income or property as an offering to God. The custom of paying a tithe was an ancient practice found among many nations in the ancient world.

In the Old Testament, the purpose of giving a tenth was to meet the material need of the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, the orphan, and the widow, as it says in Deuteronomy 26. The tithe was an expression of gratitude to God by his people. Basic to tithing was the acknowledgement of God's ownership of everything in the earth.

The prophet Malachi indicated that Israel had robbed God in withholding tithes and offerings. Thus, the Israelites were exhorted to bring their tithes into the storehouse in order to enjoy the Lord's blessings. This says in Malachi 3 verse 8. In the New Testament, the word tithe and tithing appear only eight times. And you can see those references on the screen. All of these passages refer to Old Testament usage and to current Jewish practice. Nowhere does the New Testament expressly command Christians to tithe. However, as believers, we are to be generous in sharing our material possessions with the poor and for the support of Christian ministry. Christ himself is our model in giving. Giving is to be voluntary, willing, cheerful, and given in the light of our accountability to God. Giving should be systematic and by no means limited to a tithe of our incomes. We recognize that all we have is from God. We are called to be faithful stewards of all our possessions. So that is the quote on tithing from Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary. And neither of these are, as you can see here, there's some nice sentiment. But what I'm going to go through here is that there's a lot of truth mixed with error in this. And we need to be able to parse out that truth and that error. So let's highlight a few things here and see if we can get into it here. So is tithing an ancient practice and was it just borrowed from the ancients? And this is the implication of where this eventually leads. This was something that these Israelite or Canaanite peoples, they all mixed and the Israelites just picked this up from the ancients. It really wasn't given by God. So let's look at that. Sometimes people will go to Genesis 47 verse 24. Let's turn over there and let's read that. Sometimes people will go to that and they will point out how this was just an ancient practice. Genesis 47 verse 24, it says here, in the context of Joseph implementing something, and you see how God implemented this tribute. It says, it shall come to pass in the harvest that you shall give one fifth to Pharaoh. Four fifths shall be your own as seed for the field and for your food for those of your households and as food for little ones. So this was a tribute. This is a practice of giving a tribute to the king. Now, was Joseph following the practices of the Egyptians at the time? Was he under pressure to do it? Did he do it? And then again, he shared amazingly with the people and basically was able to address a terrible famine, as we see in the next verse. It says, so they said, you have saved our lives. Let us find favor in the sight of my Lord and we will be Pharaoh's servants. And Pharaoh made it a law over the land of Egypt to this day that Pharaoh should have one fifth except for the land of the priests, only which did not become Pharaoh. So this was a practice that he implemented, but it was really a tribute that he was describing. And it's not a tithe. It was 20%. And it's an interesting story of what was behind this. But the particulars of tithing, as mentioned in Scripture, and it's practiced by men of God, are uniquely different than a tribute to a king. Let's go to Leviticus 27 in verse 30. And let's see the specific command here, which is quite different. Leviticus 27 in verse 30. It says here... I skipped around here. Sorry, let me get back to verse 30. And all the tithe of the land, whether the seed of the land or the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's holy to the Lord. And this is a distinction with tithing as opposed to a tribute. A tribute was you gave 20% to Pharaoh because that was Pharaoh's portion.

And your portion was 80% and his was 20%. That might have been a practice of giving a tribute or so forth. But the concept of tithing is that 100% of what we have is God's. We walk by the grace of God. And everything we have really belongs to God. It is God's. And God gives us 90%. And he keeps 10% for himself. And this is this concept of tithing, which is quite different than the tribute. It's a different way of thinking about it. Let's go to Psalm 24 and verse 1. And we'll see this mentioned a couple times in the Psalms. Psalm 24 and verse 1, it says, The earth is the Lord's and all its fullness. The earth and everything that's in it is God's. And he graciously gives us 90% to work with in terms of what he is expecting. And then if we look over to Psalm 50, verse 10 to 12, Psalm 50, verses 10 to 12, it says here, For every beast of the forest is mine and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the mountains and the wild gilder mine. And it goes on to say, If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is mine and all its fullness. So this is the concept and the difference between what might be a tribute or a gift or even a tax versus the concept of tithing, which is God says, I place everything there before you. It is all mine. You walk by my mercy and my grace, and I will allow you to use some portion of that for what you desire.

And so if we think about it in those terms, it is different. Now, if we think about it in terms of just actual sort of historical record, in fact, there's quite a bit of debate on this subject. There is one source here that I've listed. This is from David L. Baker in his book, Tight Fists or Open Hands, Wealth and Poverty in the Old Testament Law. This is taken from page 209. He says, None of the extant laws, that is, in the ancient or near east, deal with tithing. That is, if you look at all of these extra biblical sources, if you look at all the literature that's been uncovered, everything we find, we can find no law of tithing in the ancient world at that time.

Although he says, other documents show it was a widespread practice. So it seemed to be a practice, but there seemed to be no formal law about tithing. So if someone were to say, well, you know, this was just some law that was borrowed. Well, the fact is that there's really no record of that.

It appeared to be some kind of a practice. But again, what we tend to see is more of tributes or gifts or taxes as opposed to this concept of tithing that we see in Scripture.

Let's go over to Genesis 14 verse 18.

Now, let's see the first instance of tithing in Scripture.

And this is the first time it comes out, and we don't have a lot of context to that. There's different speculation about what might have been taught or not taught. I don't have the time to go through that right now. There are extra biblical sources, actually some of them actually quoted by some of the prophets.

In the Old Testament that talked about how Abraham was instructed by Shem in tithing. Again, those are extra biblical. It's hard to know or verify these things. But clearly, Abraham understood the concept of tithing as we see here in Genesis 14 verse 18.

It says, So this is the first time that tithing is mentioned in the Scripture.

And this is important to note because this is well before any sort of Mosaic law. It's well before any sort of command, as it were, from Sinai. This was something that Abraham did. Again, most mainstream Christian authors will say, well, this doesn't say we have to do it. But it clearly shows that Abraham understood the concept of tithing, and he tithed to Melchizedek. And what we're going to see later is that the first mention of tithing in the Bible and the last mention of tithing in the Bible is this story of Abraham or Abram tithing to Melchizedek. And I think this is going to be an important theme as we see tithing bridges well beyond anything that Moses gave to the ancient Israelites. And of course, we see the attitude of humility here in that tithing. So let's go to the second point that I want to go through, which is how many tithes are there? Because this seems to be the big debate within mainstream Christianity. And I want to read to you from Westminster's Bible Dictionary. This is another source on in terms of mainstream tithing. It says, the Israelites took the tithe to the sanctuary, both during the sojourn in the wilderness and after the settlement in the land.

And there a portion was eaten by the offerer and the Levites in a Eucharist, Eucharistic feast. And the rest was given to the Levites. The law was significantly slightly modified in anticipation of the settlement of Canaan. And then continuing, it says, and the residents of Levites and producers in many cases, far from the sanctuary, every third year they should store the tithe in town where they dwelt, dispense with the Eucharistic meal, place all the tithes at the disposal of the Levites and other dependent persons, and make solemn protestation before the Lord. So what the Westminster Bible Dictionary of the Bible is saying here is that there was really only one tithe, and it was all sort of mixed. So they would take this one tithe, and they travel to a place, and they eat this meal, they spin it on themselves, and then they give the rest of the money to the Levites. And then every third year, they wouldn't travel, and then they would just give the money to the Levites. So let's see if this kind of holds together or not here with what the Bible describes.

Let's look at Leviticus 27. Again, I think we briefly went there. Leviticus 27 verse 30. And let's read the scriptures and what they actually describe in terms of the tithes. Leviticus 27 verse 30 to 33. It says here, all the tithes of the land, whether the seed of the land or the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's.

It is holy to the Lord. As we go through this, I want you to think about the characteristics of the tithe that you see here. So what are the characteristics of this tithe that's described in Leviticus 27 verse 30 to 33? Well, the first one we see is that the tithe is God's tithe, and it's holy to him. That's the first thing we see.

Then it says, if a man wants at all to redeem any of his tithes, he shall add one fifth to it. Okay, here's another characteristic. There are specific rules if the offeror wanted to redeem that. He'd have to pay some additional amount. And concerning the tithe of the herd or the flock or whatever, it passes under the rod, the tenth shall be holy to the Lord.

He shall not inquire whether it is good or bad, nor shall be exchanged. If he exchanges it all, then both it and the one exchanged for it shall be holy, it shall not be redeemed. And so we see that there's an agricultural element and there's a livestock element, which is essentially what they were operating under at the time. So let's go over to Numbers 18, which also describes this tithe. And it really goes into a lot of detail in terms of where that tithe was to go. So Numbers 18 and verse 21, it says here, So I'm going to give you one more characteristic, which is that this tithe is given to the Levites as an inheritance.

Verse 22, So these are the characteristics that we see of this tithe. The tithe is holy. There are specific rules for redeeming it. It's agricultural and livestock, and it's given to the Levites. It's given specifically to the Levites. Now, let's... In fact, I think we can notice in verse 25, we'll just go one more over here. Not only is this tithe given to the Levites, but the Levites themselves, in verse 25, are to tithe of the tithes they were given. Verse 25, So they were to tithe of the tithes that they received.

The purpose of this tithe is very clearly laid out. It's for God, and God has given it to the Levites. It's God's holy tithe, and it's given to the Levites. Now, let's look at another scripture in Deuteronomy 14. Let's look over to Deuteronomy 14 now, verse 22. And by the way, if you're making notes in your Bible, you can...

I'll just go back there. You can mark Leviticus 27, 30, and 33, and Numbers 18, 21 to 24. You can chain reference those. You can write first tithes in your Bible next to that. Hopefully handy to find. I chain reference most of my stuff back to Matthew 23, 23, which we'll get to in a moment. But let's look at Deuteronomy 14, 22. Deuteronomy 14, 22 outlines characteristics of a tithe. And let's look at the characteristics now as we go through of this tithe that we see in Deuteronomy 14, 22.

You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that you feel produces every year. Okay, well, this is a tithe. Is this the same tithe, or is this a different tithe?

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, and the firstlings of your herds, and your flocks, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always. So if we go through this, there seems to be no reference right now to giving this tithe to anyone. What it's describing now is that it's something that the person themselves is going to benefit from.

Verse 24, And it says, While you do this, don't forsake the Levite who is within your gates, for he has no part nor inheritance with you. And this verse sometimes is the verse that Protestants will go to, or those who believe there's only one tithe will go to, and say, Oh, there you go! See, they have to give it to the Levites. But if you think about this, how much are they supposed to give to the Levites? Well, I'm going to buy all this great stuff for me, and yeah, I'll keep a little bit left.

So if you look at this, it's a tithe for the tither to enjoy in the presence of God. And the tither is allowed to exchange this livestock or agriculture, whatever it might be, for money, and then take that money and buy whatever that person desires. And there's a great deal of detail about what's involved with what they might end up buying. Now, the Bible doesn't use a term to distinguish this tithe from the other tithe that we read about.

And so some people can argue, well, this is the same tithe, and they just kind of went to this place, and then they bought stuff for themselves, and they gave other things to the Levite, and it's all kind of mixed in. There is actually some extra-biblical literature that defines this a little bit later, and that extra-biblical literature that we'll talk about actually calls this a second tithe. And so for almost 2,000 years, this has been called a second tithe. The Church of God did not create the term second tithe.

That term existed, as I said, for almost 2,000 years before the Church of God in the modern era began. And so often what's referred to here, this tithe that you spend on yourself, that you can exchange for money, that you take with you to a place, is referred to as a second tithe. Now notice how important this concept is of a place that God chooses, because we see this, that this tithe is to be consumed in a place that God chooses.

Again, we heard nothing about consuming a tithe in that other reference, let alone consuming it in a place where God chooses. So let's look over at Deuteronomy 12, just a couple of verses back. Deuteronomy 12, verse 4-7. It says here, you shall not worship the Lord your God with such things. And he's describing how in the first three verses that what people did was they went up into high places and they made these altars. And you see this all the way through the Old Testament, where in these high places, people would build these altars to Baal or these other gods, and they would go up and that's where they would worship.

That's where people would worship. But God says in verse 4, you shall not worship your Lord your God that way. Verse 5, you shall seek the place where the Lord your God chooses. So God is going to tell them where they're going to go. They're not going to choose to go to a high place or choose on a place.

They're going to go where God is going to tell them to go. So God said to take the tithe and to go to the place that he was going to go to. And there you shall go. There you shall take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, your vowed offerings, your freewall offerings, the firstlings of your herds and your flocks. And there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice all to which you have put your hand, you and your household in which the Lord your God has blessed you.

So God said to take the tithe and to go to the place that he would choose, not to kind of the place of their own choosing. And that's where they would consume their tithe. And if we look in verse 17, same chapter, it says, You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your grain or your new wine or your oil of the firstling of your herd or your flock or any of your offerings which you vow of your freewall offerings or the heave offerings of your hand. And then in verse 18, But you must eat them before the Lord, and the place which the Lord your God chooses, you and your son and your daughter, your maidservant, your manservant, your maidservant, and the Levite who is within your gates, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God and all in which he has put your hands.

So literally, you cannot consume this. So it's not about, you know, again, you've got something that describes giving it to Levites, and then you've got something about going to the place where God would choose. And if we can see this reference to a place that God chooses in Deuteronomy 1616, and directly in reference to the feast, we read this often, but it says, Three times a year all your mail shall appear before the Lord your God in the place which he chooses, at the feast of unleavened bread, at the feast of weeks, and at the feast of tabernacles, and they shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed.

And so, you know, this place where God chooses is, this is the same phraseology we see in Deuteronomy 14 in reference to this tithe, and Deuteronomy 12 in reference to where you're going to take your tithes and so forth. So what we see then is something here that's described that seems to be quite different from what we read in that earlier description of a tithe. Now let's go back to Deuteronomy 14, just one page back, and let's look in verse 28 and 29. And let's see this described here, which seems to be something different. It says, 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. And the Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the stranger of your fatherless widowhood or within your gates, may come and eat and be satisfied that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. So what are the characteristics of this tithe? Well, it's to be stored up in your own town so that the Levites... And it says here, it's an interesting word, it says stranger, but you know, really what we're talking about are minorities. We're talking about people who are not part of the majority. They're people who have come in, they can be from other ethnicities, they're just people who maybe are not sort of as well off because they've come from other places. The fatherless widow, and it's to be consumed by them, be given to them, so that they might have sufficient, and it was given so that the giver might be blessed. Now, some have suggested that this is a substitute for the second tithe that would be done every third or sixth year. But the problem is, of course, that we are not told to go up to festivals. The problem is we're told to go up to the festival every year.

So you have a problem here if you say, well, they were supposed to go up to the Feast of Tabernacles every year, except on the third and sixth year when they didn't go up. And of course, there's really no historical precedent for that at all.

The children of Israel always went up to Jerusalem every year. That's very clearly understood. So if you start saying, well, this is a substitute for that, then that doesn't really work. Did all of Israel stay home, for example? Did they not keep the feasts? And again, how did the priests receive their portion that year from the temple? And what about the sacrifices? Basically, if you start mixing these concepts together of what is called first, second, and third tithes, if you start mixing these together, you're really left with just confusion. And given the precision of how these tithing principles were given in Scripture, it's really inconceivable that somebody would have a tithe, and then they would go to a place where God chose, except on the third and sixth year, because that's where they had to keep it in there.

And then they would consume some portion, and then they would give some portion to the Levites. I think God knows human nature very well, but now you're going to create a lot of resentment and a lot of issues, because how much are you supposed to give and how much you're not supposed to give? It's just confusion. And really, we don't even need to sort of guess at this, because what we have is we actually have a reference from the first century in the form of Josephus, which I find really stunning that a lot of mainstream Protestant writers don't actually go to.

I read you from Nelson's illustrated Bible dictionary, I read you from Westminster's dictionary of the Bible, and they don't make reference to Josephus, who is this contemporary first century author who was writing about 30 years after Christ died. And he was describing the Jewish practices of the time, and to think that, you know, the Jews of the time, Jesus would have, this is sort of what he would have expected, you would expect he would be doing.

And I've got it up on the screen, I'm just going to go ahead and read it here. It says, this is Josephus writing, and he wrote that time, Let there be taken out of your fruits a tenth, besides that which you have allotted to the priest and the Levite. So there's an allotment to the priests and the Levites, and then there's also, you take a tenth, and it says, This you may indeed sell in the country, but it is to be used in those feasts and sacrifices that are to be celebrated in the holy city.

So he's describing two tithes here. This is Antiquities of the Jews, Book 4, Chapter 8, Section 8. And then he goes on to say, Besides these two tithes, which I already said you are to pay every year, the one for the Levites, the other for the festivals, you are to bring every third year a third tithe.

And see, this is actually the term third tithe. It's a very old term. To be distributed to those that want, to women also that are widows, and to children that are orphans. So what we have is we have a contemporary first century source describing these three tithes. We have the Scriptures clearly identifying three very different purposes, which are then confirmed by this writer. So this is why the Church of God practices what we practice, and this is why we believe that some of these other writings really are just kind of a hodgepodge of things as we go through.

So this is why we believe there are three tithes with three distinct purposes and why there is not just one tithe. So now let's turn to the question of, okay, so all right, fine. Maybe I'm now convinced that there were actually three tithes and not one. But some might say, well, but there's no command for Christians to tithe.

In fact, I pretty much read that to you. So should Christians tithe? And then, of course, if Christians should tithe, to whom should they tithe? Because there are no Levites that were aware. There's not a temple. There's not a priestly service and so forth. So let's answer that question. Is tithing commanded for Christians today? And I'd like to ask you to turn to Matthew 2323. And as I mentioned, when I do my chain referencing, I always start with Matthew 23, and I do that because it's so easy to remember.

It's a 2323, the first book in the New Testament, and it's a very, very clear command from Jesus Christ to tithe. And it's within a context of really an admonition against the Pharisees for their hypocrisy. And what he says here in Matthew 2323 is, "'Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith.'" So he's telling them, look, you guys are sticklers, right down to just the finest detail of, you know, you can imagine they pulled up this mint.

You know, they were looking at their garden, and they counted out every tenth, and they pulled up the mint. They might even calculated the size of the mint because they wanted to make sure they were giving exactly a tenth of their produce. And so, really straining. But then when it came to the larger issues of the law of justice, mercy, and faith, they were not exercising proper judgment, proper mercy. They weren't exercising faith, and that was the example they were setting.

But then here's how he concludes it, though. Those, excuse me, these you ought to have done without leaving the others undone. Without leaving the others undone. So you need to do both. You've got to keep the weightier matters of the law in mind, and you've got to tithe. It's a very clear command, and about the only way you get out of it is to say, well, Jesus was a Jew, and he was admonishing the Jews.

But after his death, we no longer had to do that. And some Protestants will go down that path where they'll say, well, yeah, he kept the Sabbath, and he taught tithing, and he did all this. But the moment he died, the law was nailed to the cross, and now that's a whole other conversation, which I think we've had before, and talking about the New Covenant and so forth. But here it's a very clear example of him teaching the importance of tithing. Now, some have questioned, though, well, okay, fine. So if Christians are supposed to tithe, who do we actually tithe?

Tithe 2. And that can get tricky as well. But I think Hebrews makes it very clear about ultimately where we're supposed to send our tithes. But let me just mention here just one other quick thing. Matthew 23 verse 1, it says that Jesus spoke to the multitude and to his disciples. Some have said that while he was talking about something specific for the Pharisees, but he was actually in front of all of his disciples and clear in terms of what he was supposed to be, in terms of who he was actually preaching to. So let's now go to Hebrews 7, and let's look at Hebrews 7 verse 1, and let's see then the last reference to tithing.

In Scripture, which again goes back to the first reference of who Abram actually tithed to.

So Hebrews 7 verse 1 to 14. Let's read this. I've got a few references on here up on the screen, which we'll look at. For this Melchizedek it says, Now consider how great this man was to whom even the patriarch Abraham gave a tenth of the spoils. And indeed those who are of the sons of Levi who received the priesthood have a commandment to receive tithes from the people according to the law. We read that commandment. That's what they were supposed to do. It's a very clear commandment. It's a first tithe which goes to them. That is from their brethren, though they have come from the wines of Abraham. So it's interesting that you're saying the Levites ultimately came from Abraham, yet Abraham was tithing till Melchizedek. But he whose genealogy is not derived from them received tithes from Abraham, blessed him who had the promises. Now beyond all contradiction, the lesser is blessed by the better. Here mortal men receive tithes, but there he receives them of whom it is witnessed that he lives. Even Levi who receives tithes paid tithes through Abraham, so to speak. That is, what he's going through here is that we shouldn't get hung up on the race issues, on the ethnic issues here. The point was that tithes were to be paid.

For he was still in the wines of his father when Melchizedek met him. Therefore, if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood, for under it the people received the law, what further need was there that another priest should rise according to the order of Melchizedek and not be called according to the order of Aaron?

For the priesthood being changed of necessity, there is also a change of law.

So what he's describing here is that this priesthood, which the Levites previously represented, is now being represented through the order of Melchizedek.

Melchizedek, as we've studied and as we've looked at, is a type of Christ.

So we pay tithes ultimately to that larger purpose. That is, we pay tithes to Christ and the order that comes from Melchizedek to the house of God, to those who minister in his name.

If we look then, if we think, well, why do we tithe as Christians? Well, we see here in the book of Hebrews that we don't tithe so that the Levites can have an inheritance. There's a change in law. There's something else going on here. This is what the author of Hebrews is describing.

Abraham paid his tithes to Melchizedek.

And so we don't pay tithes so that Levites might have an inheritance. It's not for that reason as Christians that we pay tithes. We don't pay tithes so that the priests can serve in the temple.

We tithe for God's greater purpose, which was represented by the priesthood, which was represented by that physical temple.

Those things were just a type. Those sacrifices were just a type of something greater, and that's what's being described here, something greater that would come.

We tithe to Christ via his church so that God's work can be carried forward. The work of Melchizedek, the work of Jesus Christ, the work of his ministry, and the work of God's ministers.

We can see this concept of ministers in the house of God in Nehemiah 10, verse 35, because again, we shouldn't get hung up on the Levite, because what he's describing here in Hebrews is, the bigger picture here was that the first example, the first example, and the great example that we see of Abraham tithing was to Melchizedek.

Now that here in this era there is a change of priesthood, there is now a change of law. So let's go to Nehemiah 10, verse 35, and see this concept of ministers in the house of God described.

Nehemiah 10, verse 35, it says, And to bring the firstborn of our sons and our cattle, as it is written in the law, the firstlings of our herds and the flocks to the house of our God, to the priests who minister in the house of God, to bring the firstfruits of our dough, our offerings, the fruit of all kinds of trees, the new wine and oil, to the priests, to the storerooms of the house of our God, and to bring the tithes of our land to the Levites, for the Levites should receive the tithes, and the first fruits of our dough, and the fruit of our in all of our farming communities.

They brought their tithes to the priests who minister in the house of our God. And at that time, those were the Levites, but the greater point was it was to the priests who minister in the house of God. And at this point, the house of God is God's spiritual temple.

And that's what's describing it. We have a high priest, and these sacrifices were just a picture and a type of ultimately what Christ would do for us. And this temple was really just a physical representation of that ultimate New Jerusalem that would come down from heaven.

And when Christ says that he goes to prepare these rooms for us, it's in John 14, it's to prepare that place that will then descend, and that we will be part of, and that will be God's house. And that is the larger point and purpose of tithing, so that God's work can move forward. So I've attempted to go through in a, hopefully, a fairly detailed way why we believe there's one, two, and three tithes, and why as Christians we tithe, and to whom we tithe, and why that picture of what the book of Hebrews describes in terms of that greater Malchizedek to whom we tithe.

There's a lot that could be said in terms of how we are to tithe, how we are to calculate our tithes, how we think about taxes, how we think about social security, how we think about third tithe, and how third tithe is administered today, how... There's a lot of details here. And when I've given this message before, I've attempted to go into those additional aspects.

But what I found is that it just gets rushed, and it ends up being very, very long. So what I plan to do is do a part two where I go into a lot of those details because I get a lot of questions a lot of times. What am I supposed to tithe on? How do I calculate my tithes, especially if people are self-employed?

And also, I think a lot of times we can, in the sermon on tithing, we can end up getting to third tithe and running out of time. And I think third tithe really deserves a lot of attention and thought because third tithe is a principle. It is a law, and there are principles of how we can fulfill that third tithe law today that we may not be thinking about as much.

So that's going to be in a second part. So I want to wrap up this part right now by saying, you know, we all walk by God's grace. If I go back to my introduction and I think about this woman and the situation she was in, I mean, fundamentally, we're all recipients of God's grace in one way or another.

And some of us have had parents and grandparents who have provided for us and given us opportunities. Some of us have opportunities just by way of kind of where we were born and to what families we were born into. And, you know, that's just a reality. We, you know, a lot of us don't like to necessarily think about that, but a lot of us have opportunities just because of the circumstances of our birth. And not everyone has those opportunities. And so for those who don't, God is there as the father to the fatherless and to help the widows.

And being faithful and tithing reminds us that as much as we may think that we've done it all on our own, it's really by God's mercy that we walk each day. You know, I've got a picture here of my grandson and my son and my wife, and you know, we all want to be sort of, you know, have our hand held as we grow up and not everybody has that chance.

And God is there in His mercy to care for us. And so as we think about tithing, we should think about how God has given us these things and He is going to have mercy on us. And He just says, just honor me with that tenth. And that's different than how people pick and choose charities in terms of what they want to give to. You know, people, and I'm sure each of us have sort of causes that we're interested in. And so we might say, well, I'd like to contribute to that cause or to this other cause. But that's the difference. That's different from tithing.

Tithing is not a gift. It's not a choice. It's not a tax. Tithing is us giving back that tenth. It's a law. It's not our money. And it's not for us to judge how it's spent or how people are treated with it. Just like in God's mercy, we recognize that we walk by His grace. And so we trust in God, and we trust that that money is spent appropriately. Through our tithes, God opens the doors to whom He desires to serve and to give. And whether it's a single mom, as I described, with two kids escaping drugs, an abusive husband, or it's a church hall to meet in, or it's a website that people can go to and begin to discover the truth of God's law from Scripture.

And then that would lead them then to seek fellowship with like-minded believers. Whatever it might be, those tithes allow that to happen. And God could raise up stones, but He gives us an opportunity to participate in His work by giving back that tenth. He doesn't need us, but He allows us that opportunity to participate. Let's remain faithful. Let's remain faithful in our tithes. And let's realize that it's not about picking and choosing. And these tithes open doors. And this is our Father's business, and this is a way that we can be about our Father's business.

I wish you a happy Sabbath. And to conclude our services today, we're going to sing page 143, Be Not Afraid, My People. And after that, we'll be led in the closing prayer by an elder in the San Francisco Bay Area, Mr. James J. Molizia.