God's Tithing System Reveals God's Love for All Peoples

Very nice. Please be seated. Now the main message, the sermon again, Mr. Randy Gellisander. Brother and I, our Father in Heaven has given us so many blessings that it's almost, where do you begin? The physical blessings we talked about last Sabbath, living in this beautiful country of ours, the blessing you and I have of living in this day and age with so many modern conveniences, and certainly the blessing we have spiritually, that God has opened our hearts, opened our minds, to reveal Himself to us, to allow us to know Him, to be able to live by the beautiful laws that we talked about the last three weeks. And yet there are even more beautiful laws of God for us to discuss, and we're going to discuss one of them today. Today we want to take a look at God's tithing system. Here a few weeks ago we had a meeting over in Ann Arbor. We were discussing the needs for the Ann Arbor congregation, and putting together a budget. We were sharpening our pencil because the income in the church of Ann Arbor has gone down fairly steeply over the last number of years. Especially this last year, I think, perhaps that might be because people are sending more money to the home office and less locally. I don't know if we're experiencing that here in Detroit or not. One of the things that was brought up by those who got together in my home was we were sharpening our pencils and looking to see how we can make do with the money that God gives us locally. It was thought that some people may be kind of rusty on what we teach regarding our tithes. For example, a number of people in the room, and most of the people in the room were either deacons or elders there when we had our meeting, they were saying that a number of people have the impression that the church doesn't teach third tithe anymore.

Now, I don't know. Maybe some in this room don't know we have three tithes, but we'll discuss that today. Does our church teach three tithes? So we're going to take a look at that today. But as I was putting my thoughts together, my mind fell upon 1 John 4 and verse 8. Let's turn there for a moment. Because this really was the springboard for the way I would like to bring this material to you.

1 John 4. Of course, John is known as the Apostle of Love. He writes so eloquently about it as he was inspired by God. And notice what he says here. 1 John 4 and in verse 8. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. God is love. Everything God does is love. It's out of loving concern. Whether he blesses us, whether he gives us challenges in life, everything God does is an aspect of his love. The tithing system that God has ordained is also an aspect of his love. So if you would like to take notes today, you want to write something across the top of your paper. The theme statement for the sermon today is this. God's tithing system reveals God's love for all peoples.

God's tithing system reveals God's love for all peoples. Yes, there are three tithes. Each one distinct. Each one shows a type of love or a manner of love that God is showing to we human beings. It's the beautiful law. All of God's laws are beautiful laws. All of God's laws are for our benefit. And that is certainly true for the God's law of tithing, all three tithes. Allow me to go through and to give you an overview statement. And incidentally, what I use as a resource for this, we've got three study papers on our member's website. Members.ucg.org. Much of what I'm giving today, you can read in those three study papers. We've got one that is expressly about third time. We've got one that talks about tithing on net or gross, how do you figure tithes? We've got the one I'm using here, which is a 25-page document. I'm using it as the main source of my sermon today. We've also got, in addition to that, a booklet on tithing. And that booklet on tithing goes through a lot of Q&A, a lot of questions and answers people have typically about tithing and how we tithe. I'm not going to get into that today. Today I want to paint broad brush, look at the three tithes as an aspect of God's love for mankind. But let's look at an overview statement.

The United Church of God believes and teaches that tithing is the way God has mandated for the work of the church to be financed. We didn't create this out of whole cloth. This is something God has ordained. And we're going to look into the Scriptures and follow God's Word and do exactly what God says to make sure the work is going forward. Now, tithing, on an individual basis, as you and I look at tithing, tithing along with voluntary offerings is one of the means by which we honor God.

If we're not tithing, we're not honoring God in this method. And God would want us to honor Him because that helps us. That is to our benefit. Just as honoring our parents helps us, honoring God also helps us. It puts us in a proper frame of mind as we honor God. We can gratefully and obediently acknowledge Him as the Creator and provider of all good things.

That's what we do when we're tithing. We realize He gives us everything. We realize that even the breath that we're breathing, the lungs we breathe it with, whatever we're able to earn, all of that is directly attributable to God. The Church believes that tithing has been revealed, the revealed financing means for God's work on earth from at least the time of Abraham.

We'll go through a short history of tithing in a little bit. We're not saying that there wasn't any tithing prior to Abraham. It's just that when it comes to the Scriptures, we have the first explicit place where it was written talking about Abraham. The Bible does talk about three distinct tights. In our study paper, and I'll read a little bit of it later on, but in our study paper we show where a lot of secular sources, a number of secular sources, historical sources such as Josephus, will indicate that a three-tide system was in effect in Israel.

This is not something, you know, the Church did, Mr. Armstrong did once upon a time say, well, okay, we're going to invent a church. Let's have something really weird and outlandish. We'll have three tithes. We'll tell people what they can't eat. We'll tell people when they've got to take time off. God didn't do that. All of these things are biblical, and yet those people who will poo-poo and relish people who poo-poo a tithing system, are people in the world who look into the Scriptures and they see, they see, that there are three tithes. And as historians, they show Israel did practice a three-tide system.

Now, something that I hit on quite a bit over in Ann Arbor, and that is that the Church believes that tithing is a personal matter between you and God. You know, I don't call up the home office and say, okay, here's, you mentioned your name, give me a tithing history on this person. It's none of my business. Now, when I first became pastor in the area, I asked for a general amount. I would give the zip codes for the Detroit area.

I gave the zip codes for the Ann Arbor Church. Then I asked for specific individuals. But I said, as a group, how is our group? Because when I came here, as you're aware, this area was very troubled. And I wanted to see where our hearts were, at least from that point of view. And I was very encouraged with what I saw. The Detroit area, the Ann Arbor area.

Again, not knowing individuals, I didn't want to know that. But as a group, we support the Church of God, the work of God, very strongly. And so, I'm not giving this sermon today because I have doubt about that. I'm giving that because these things need to be covered from time to time. And it's been a long time since I've done this.

And today, I just want to make mention, I'm not going to give some exhaustive list of do's and don'ts. I want to give principles. We're going to talk broad stroke here. We're going to look at the basic biblical understanding. And then that's between you and God. And each of us must answer to God for what we do with the whole of our life. So, let's take a look now to begin with, and this is still kind of introductory material, at God's authority to give us guidance on this point, on the way we use our money.

Let's look at Psalm 24. You might jot down some notes because this might come in, you know, you might have a discussion with people in the future. This is Psalm 24. You know, why do you tithe?

And there's an awful lot of groups out there who don't believe in tithing. A lot of religious folks don't believe in tithing. You know, why do we? What scriptures do we marshal? What are the big guns that we point to?

Psalm 24, verse 1, The earth is the Lord's, and all of its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein. Now, that's an all-encompassing statement, but it shows that God is creator of everything, and because He's creator of everything, He owns everything.

And because He owns everything, He's got the right to tell us how to prioritize our money, how to prioritize our wealth. God's not saying, I'm going to tell you how to spend every penny, because God wants us to use free moral agency. God wants us to give from the heart.

He wants us to have us look into His Word and determine what is there. with the use of His Spirit, and then follow what is there. God's not going to twist anybody's arm and force us to do anything, but God wants us to realize He owns everything.

Because He owns everything, He has a right to 100% of it, but He doesn't ask for 100%. I'm not going to turn there, but in your notes you might want to jot down Deuteronomy 30, verse 19. You know the Scripture, Deuteronomy 30, 19, where God says, I set before you heaven and earth, right and wrong, blessing and cursing. I admonish you to choose life. You know, we've read that verse so many times. I quote that Scripture because, again, tithing is a personal issue between us and God. We have to choose whether we are going to pay our tithes.

And when we talk about tithes, we talk about paying them. We give offerings. We pay our tithe because a tithe is God's. And so there is even importance in terms of the terminology we use. Now, Proverbs chapter 3, I would like you to turn here. Proverbs chapter 3... This Scripture will validate something I said a few minutes ago, or underscore something I said a few minutes ago. Proverbs chapter 3 and in verse 9, Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first-roots of all your increase.

Now, as we're going to see later on by looking at in the book of Deuteronomy, when we tithe, we tithe on increase. So here we see a principle that we honor God by our tithing. We honor God by our tithing. We certainly want to do that. God instructs us to honor Him. Why?

Because God is on an ego trip? No. When we honor God, it is good for us. When we love God, it is good for us. God only asks us to do things that are in our best interest, and tithing is in our best interest. Once again, I'm going to quote a Scripture. I'm going to have you turn there because I'm going to read a different translation, but you might in your notes jot down.

1 Chronicles 29, verses 12-14. 1 Chronicles 29, verses 12-14. I'm going to read this in today's English version. I think it's really interesting. Verse 12, All riches and wealth come from you. You rule everything by your strength and power, and you are able to make anyone great and strong. Verse 13, Now, O our God, we give you thanks, and we praise your glorious name. Verse 14, Yet, my people, I cannot really give you anything, because everything is a gift from you, and we have only given back what is yours already.

Talking to God, you know, everything is God's gift to us. And what we give back to God is what's His to begin with.

What's His to begin with? So that's, you know, again, the people in Detroit and Ann Arbor are giving people. However, you know, should you ever have a conversation with others who, and maybe with other outside groups who are not in our Church of God culture, and they poo-poo the idea of tithing, you'll have some tools and scriptures here to discuss with them as to why this is good for us to do. Now, what does it mean to tithe? What does the word mean? The English word tithe is a translation from the Hebrew, and it simply means a tenth part. A tenth part. We don't have to, you know, wonder, is it tithe five percent? Is it tithe fifteen percent? What is a tithe? The tithe is a ten percent. It's very simple. Now, let's go to Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy chapter 14. There are several benchmark chapters we want to be aware of. This is one of them. Deuteronomy chapter 14. And verse 22. Deuteronomy 14.22. You shall surely tithe all the increase. Notice the word increase. You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year. The word increase, you know, this is talking about tithing. And there's a couple of important points in this verse. Number one, we tithe on increase. We tithe on increase. You know, if you're a businessman and you have a business, and for sake of easy numbers, you know, you quote-unquote have a hundred thousand dollars coming in, but you spent fifty thousand dollars in various activities for your business as costs, well, you didn't make a hundred thousand dollars. You have fifty thousand dollars in increase. So you tithe on the increase. The same thing can be true for the wage earner. You know, you tithe on your increase. There may be things that are not a part of that, such as government taxes. We'll get to that a little bit later. But a second thing here that we see that's very important, especially when we're looking at all three tithes, is the tithe we're speaking of here is to be done year by year. Now, some tithes do not go. One tithe does not go year by year. There's one tithe of the three that we don't do every year. Two of the three tithes we do. First tithe we do year by year. Second tithe we do year by year. Third tithe we don't. We'll get to that, you know, down the road a little bit. So it's on increase. The regular first and second tithes are year by year, and those two things. Increase and year by year. Luke chapter 10 gives us another principle, which is true for both Old and New Testament periods of time. Luke chapter 10. There's a godly principle here about the use of funds, the use of paying for the work that is being done on behalf of the people of God. Luke chapter 10 verse 7. Cutting into a thought here, verse 7. And remain in the house, eating and drinking such things as they give. And this is the key point here. For the laborer is worthy of his wages. The laborer is worthy of his wages. That was true for the priests, the Levites in the Old Testament. It's true for the ministry in the New Testament. The laborer is worthy of his wages.

One last item before we get into some real specifics here, in terms of the use of the three tithes. First tithe is used for the furtherance of the work of the church, proclaiming God's gospel, the gospel of the kingdom of God. Let's use the first tithe. Second tithe is to be used to allow us to go to the feasts, to keep the feasts, to celebrate the feasts, to understand the feasts which represent the plan of God.

The third tithe is a safety net. God believes in having a safety net. God believes that there are those individuals that will always be in our midst who are disadvantaged. By name, the Scriptures talk about widows and orphans. But anybody, the Bible also talks about strangers. They can come into a new country and be disadvantaged. People who are disadvantaged need help. And so we've got third tithe for that. Okay, that all being said, that's kind of some preparatory comment. Let's get into the three tithes themselves.

First tithe demonstrates God's love through the proclamation of the gospel.

First tithe shows God's love through the proclamation of the gospel. That's how God is showing us love. If we're not tithing, then we're not helping... Of course, if you were in a position to tithe, sometimes we're not in a position to tithe because of various issues.

We're out of work. There are some in the room who are on fixed income. If you're on fixed income, you don't have titheable income. That doesn't mean you can't give 10%. I know people on fixed income who do tithe on their fixed income. The church does not require people to do that, but that can be done. The first tithe, God's demonstrating his love through the proclamation of the gospel. At this point, though, I would like to go through a little bit of a brief history about tithing because I think that's important.

I'll spend most of the time in the sermon we'll be spending here. Let's go to Genesis 14. This is not going to be the three portions of equal time and weight. They are equal weighted, I shouldn't put it that way, but not equal time here for the sermon.

Genesis 14, verse 18. Genesis 14, 18. Here's the first reference explicitly to tithing. Again, we're not saying that tithing wasn't done prior to this point. We just don't have a record of it in the Scriptures. That's an important point to make because there are those people who say, well, the Ten Commandments didn't come into existence until Exodus, chapter 20.

And yet, well, how did Cain sin? You've got to have a law to break to sin. Just because something's not written down doesn't mean it wasn't taking place. Just because there was this thing called oral transmission of the law. I'm sure God sat down with Adam and Eve and discussed His law. Why? Because that was to their benefit to know His law. Whether tithing was discussed, we don't know.

I'll just say it that way. But here we have the first explicit example in Genesis, chapter 14, verse 18. Then Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine and was the priest of the Most High God.

Now, we believe Melchizedek to be Jesus Christ. There was an order of priesthood here. And he blessed them and said, Blessed be a brown God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth. Notice the thought. Possessor. Ownership. And blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand, has blessed you. And he gave him, Abraham gave him, gave Melchizedek, a tithe of all.

So here, Abraham is tithing to Melchizedek, or the Melchizedek priesthood. So here's the first example. Now, this is 400 years before Moses. 400 years before Moses. So people want to talk about the Old Covenant being done away. This is way prior to the Old Covenant. Excuse me. I was sick most of the week, and my throat is a little weak. So, excuse me, it's a little on the dry side here. So here we've got one example, but as we move forward in a story to Genesis 28, Genesis 28, we see Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel.

He tithed. Genesis 28, verse 20. But Jacob made a vow, saying, if God will be with me and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothes to put on, so that I come back to my Father's house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God.

And this stone which I have, said as a pillar, shall be God's house. And of all that you give me, I surely will give a tenth to you. A tenth, a tithe. Now God had appeared to Jacob in a dream, promising to he and his descendants many wonderful blessings. And Jacob said, I am going to honor this God, I am going to honor the true God, by tithing to the true God.

Leviticus, again moving forward in a story, chapter 27. I think I am going to need more water up here if I want to keep coughing. Leviticus, chapter 27, verse 30. In all the tithes of the land, whether the seed of the land or the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's name. Now notice here at the end of verse 30, Leviticus 27.30, it is holy to the Lord. God's tithe is holy to God. So here we see an example from the Old Testament that, starting with the Father of the faithful, Abraham, going to Jacob, the father of Israel, whose name was Israel, Israel a nation, were tithers.

I am not going to turn there, but you can put in your notes Numbers 18, verse 25-28. Because in Numbers 18, verses 25-28, we see the priests tithing. I have had people come to me and say, well, do you ministers tithe?

And the answer is that, of course. God's laws are for everybody. Nobody is exempt from keeping the laws of God. The Levites were to tithe a tenth of what they got in. So tithing is a law for everybody. I am just giving you a bare-bones thing here. Thanks, Tom. I appreciate that.

Let's move into the New Testament. Let's take a look at the words of Jesus Christ here in Matthew 5. Matthew 5. In my Bible, this is all red letters showing it's all the words of Jesus Christ. Of course, the Bible is all the words of God inspired, whether they be red letter or not. It's just that these words are specifically, explicitly, the words of Jesus Christ. Matthew 5, verse 17.

Do not think I have come to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. Now that includes the Ten Commandments, but it includes the laws of tithing as well. For sure, may I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Wherever therefore breaks one of these least of commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Christ did not come to do away with any laws, period. Whenever there was something that was, quote, done away, unquote, there was sufficient discussion about that in the Scriptures.

In the book of Hebrews, chapters 7 through 10, there's a discussion about, you know, because the Hebrews said, well hey, you know, we've got this new religion. Circumcision isn't as, what, as the one of what it used to be, in terms of, you know, we need to be baptized. So what else has changed? So Paul wrote there to the Hebrews, saying, well, you know, we have a sacrifice now. His name is Jesus Christ. You know the man. Many of you saw him. You've heard him. We don't sacrifice the little goats and sheep anymore. We've got Jesus Christ. Those things have changed. That was clearly brought out.

But brethren, you know, if there was going to be an Acts chapter 15 conference in the New Testament because there was an uproar about, you mean, no more circumcision? Don't you think you would see the same kind of thing in the pages of the New Testament if somebody said, no more Sabbath? No more Holy Days? No more tithing? These things were intrinsically a part of the Old Testament culture, and they brought forward into the New Testament culture. It's not a matter of one fighting the other. It's a nice continuum. And if any of these things were being done away, there would have been a real ewe and cry by the early New Testament church because they were largely Jewish. What? We're not tithing anymore? What? We're not keeping the Sabbath and Holy Days anymore? There's no discussion about that. You know, Paul realized, people always say, well, let's kind of throw up the Gospels because Christ had to do those things because he was Jewish.

But once he died, there's a whole new story. So people, in their wrong thick, say, well, we've got to look at the Apostle Paul. Paul didn't discuss over and over again tithing. Well, Paul didn't need to. He realized that, you know, all the Bible is the Word of God. Paul did write about the Scriptures being the inspired Word of God. You know, Paul didn't need to waste ink telling people what they already knew.

But, having said that, Paul did write about a principle. Let's take a look about this over here in 1 Corinthians 9.

1 Corinthians 9.

Wasn't that Paul didn't discuss tithing or the need to tithe?

1 Corinthians 9, verse 4.

Paul here is talking to the church in Corinth, and he's kind of setting down some thoughts for them to think about, in terms of the need that the ministry has. 1 Corinthians 9, verse 4. Do we have no right to eat and to drink?

Verse 5. Do we have no right to take along a believing wife, as also others of the apostles, as the brothers of the Lord and Cephas, or Peter?

Can we ministers, can we live off of the gospel? Can we ministers, can we marry?

Verse 6. Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working?

Verse 7. Whoever goes to war at his own expense, who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock? Do I say these things as a mere man, or does not the law say the same also? So Paul here is referring to the law of God, and he is referring to a financial law.

Verse 9. For it is written in the law of Moses, you shall not muzzle and axe while he treads out the grain. Is it oxen God is concerned about? Or does he say it altogether for our sakes, for human's sakes, for the ministry's sake?

For our sake, no doubt that this is written, that he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope. If we have sown spiritual things for you, it is a great thing if we reap your material things.

So Paul here is saying, look, I am serving you on a spiritual basis, that is what I do, but I, as human being, I've got physical needs, and they need to be attended to. I've got financial needs, I've got bills that I incur.

Verse 12. If others are partakers of this right over you, are we not even more?

Nevertheless, we have not used this right, but endure all things, lest we hinder the gospel of Christ. There are times where Paul didn't make, didn't collect tithes from people, not that they shouldn't have given them. You know, we've got a very narrow window here.

In this particular time, as Paul was working with this church, there were times where he wouldn't collect tithes from them, not that they shouldn't be tithed, and they should.

But perhaps there were new people here, and he thought he was only in it for the money, so there came a point here, and also in the church in Thessalonica, where Paul didn't talk about it much.

He waited for them more to mature.

We also see Paul writing to the church in Philippi, saying, well, you know, these other people right now, they're having a bit of an issue with money, so I'm kind of letting that lay for a time being. But I want you to help me as I do the work.

But Paul here is telling him, look, we certainly have needs. He's not going to walk away from the issue altogether. We certainly have needs.

First of all, the fathers are partaking of this right over you. Are we not even more? Nevertheless, we've not always used the right in verse 12, verse 13.

Do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the temple, and those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar?

Again, a reference to the Old Testament. The priests, the Levites, they were living from the tides of the people, and that was appropriate.

And he's saying, we as ministers in the New Testament should be able to do the same thing.

Verse 14, Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel. Those who preach from the gospel should live from it.

So the first tithe shows God... Now, that's a bit of a history. The first tithe is showing God's love through the proclamation of the gospel. Now, let's look specifically into that point. Over here in Matthew, chapter 24. Matthew, chapter 24, verse 14. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached that all the world is a witness to all nations, and then the end will come. And that is an act of God's love for us to proclaim His gospel of grace to a world who has no hope, to give the world a hope, to allow the world to realize that there is a God, there is a better day coming, there is a wonderful world tomorrow to look forward to. God in His great love wants the people, wants people to realize, even though He may not always accept or accept very little of what God has to say, God still wants people to realize there is hope down the road. There is a kingdom coming. And God does this as an aspect of His love for people to proclaim the good news of the coming Kingdom of God. And your first tithe pays for that. It pays for my salary, it pays for our people at the home office, it pays for us to be able to take care of the work that we're doing, they have the website to produce the literature and all the things that we do. We couldn't do that without the first tithe of God's people.

But let's go pass that. The first tithe is not just for people in the world. Here in Revelation 3, the first tithe benefits us as well.

Revelation 3, verse 21, To him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with me on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my father on his throne.

The first tithe that we give, that we pay to God, allows the church to do its function not just to the world, but internally.

It allows me to be able to be available. If you need something, you can give me a phone call and say, Mr. D, can we get together and talk?

And we get together and we talk.

It allows us to have the very... We were talking earlier about the educational programs the church has had in years gone by and how you want to augment those programs.

Those all need to be funded. And those are funded through God's tithing system.

So first tithe then demonstrates God's love through the proclamation of the Gospel.

Let's take a look now at second tithe.

Where first tithe demonstrates God's love through the proclamation of the Gospel.

Second tithe demonstrates God's love through financing His Holy Days.

Second tithe demonstrates God's love by financing the Holy Days. Here I'll just interject a little bit. I may mention that in our study paper we have a long list of outside reference works that would confirm that there were three tithes that Israel paid.

I'm not going to go through the laundry list here. You can look that up on our website.

If you don't have internet, I'd be happy to print you out a copy of the study paper if you'd like that.

But I want to quote just one source. And it's a source you're very aware of.

It's a man who lived at the same time, around the same time as Jesus Christ. His name was Josephus. Josephus was an historian.

And I want to quote, because we're going to go now into second tithe and third tithe. People say, wow, second and third tithe.

I think there are plenty of people in years going by who came into the church.

I've had a number of people tell me, boy, my first Sabbath was really a doozy. I came into church.

The first thing I heard about was tithing.

And of course, now, if the minister's not up there talking about tithing early on, back in the day, some good member would take you aside and say, say, have you heard about all three tithes?

You know, back in the days when most of us came into the church in the sixties, it was all we could do to get by. And then somebody says, hey, we've got three tithes here. Oh, wow!

But let me quote Josephus here. I'll be quoting from Josephus's Antiquity of the Jews, Book 4, Chapter 8, Section 8.

I quote, Let there be taken out of your fruits a tenth, besides, besides that which you have allotted to give to the priests and Levites.

This you may indeed sell in the country, but it's to be used in those feasts and sacrifices that are to be celebrated in the holy city.

For it is fit that you should enjoy those fruits of the earth which God gives you to possess.

So Josephus says, you know, besides the one tithe, here's the second tithe. This one is for the holy sic- this one's for Jerusalem, and what do they do in Jerusalem? This is for the holy days.

So there's one for the priests and Levite, first tithe. And now he says there's a second tithe having to do with the holy days.

While I'm on a subject, let me just quote another passage from Josephus here, about the third tithe.

This is in the Antiquity of the Jews, Book 4, Chapter 8, Section 22.

And I quote, besides these two tithes, besides these two tithes, which I've 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 to be distributed to those that want, to women that are widows and to children that are orphans. So, you know, you will have people in the outside world that say, we don't believe in tithing.

You know, they go to church on Sunday, they pass the plate, people put in a couple of bucks, hey, they've done their thing.

They've given a couple of bucks to the Lord, you know. That's what they think.

And yet we have a number of outside sources who look into the Bible and say, well, we see, you know, these people who write various commentaries and a long list of people, we see where there's three tithes that were practiced in Israel.

You just can't get around that fact. And there's no place in the New Testament that says they're done away.

Okay. Now, let's take a look at the Scriptures dealing with the second or the festival tithe.

We want to go to Deuteronomy 12.

Deuteronomy 12.

Verses 17 and 18.

Deuteronomy 12, verse 17.

And so there in verses 17 and 18, now here's a tithe that they're not to use at home.

They're to use, but they're not to use at home. Okay.

They're to use it year by year, but they're not to consume it at home.

They're to consume it someplace where the Lord places His name, which is language for, you know, God's holy days.

Now, let's move forward over here to chapter 14.

These are chapters we need to know when we're talking about tithing. Deuteronomy 12, Deuteronomy 14.

Deuteronomy 14, verse 22.

Again, notice the increase of your grain. The field produces year by year.

And you shall eat before the Lord your God in a place where He chooses to make His name abide, the tithe of your grain, your new wine and your oil, the first born of your herds, your flocks, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always.

So again, here's second tithe. It's a matter of the increase. You can't use it just any old way.

It's got to be for a very specific use. You can't use it within your gates. You've got to go someplace else where God sets up His name.

Verse 24.

Verse 24.

And that's what we do today.

You know, I don't think there's any farmers here in the Detroit church. We've got a few over in Ann Arbor and then here.

But even if we all were farmers, it would be hard for us to take our cattle, our sheep, you know, all sorts of things and a flatbed pickup or a semi-trailer truck and then go to Wisconsin Dells.

You know, we just don't do that. So we take, we take our, you know, for a farm we take, we sell, we use money.

And we as great wage earners, we simply take our money, we take 10% of that, and we go to the Feast of Tabernacles.

And then God there trains us.

You know, let me say something. Over the years, I've known people who have robbed themselves.

And they rob themselves by not saving a full second tithe.

They'll take three or four paychecks and then they'll go to the Feast.

And they can get by.

But when you do that, you're not learning the lesson that God wants us to learn about the Feast.

What does this Feast represent? The Feast represents the Kingdom of God. It represents the Millennium. It represents a time of great plenty.

If we only take enough to get by, then that's not what God wants. Now again, I'm not, some people don't make much money. I'm not talking about that. But people who just simply don't tithe all year long and then take a couple of checks and go, well, you rob yourself because what God wants us for us to take a full 10% all year long.

He wants us to go someplace, you know, eight days.

We're going to spend 10% of our income there, which means we can stay in a fairly nice place normally.

We can have some very nice meals. We're not going to just throw our money out the windows, but we're going to watch ourselves and be good stewards of what God has given us. But you know, we're going to have an atmosphere where we stay, where we eat, the things we do, things we may not normally be able to do, places we might not normally be able to go, which is going to show a time of plenty for those eight days.

And so that income allows us to picture the feast. That's why God does this.

If we only take a few checks and go, then we're shortchanging and robbing ourselves of the beauty that God has for us in terms of the Feast of Tabernacles and all the other holy days. The second time can be used for any of the holy days. It's not just for the feast. Years ago, in our church culture, we used to go to a separate location for the days of Unleavened Bread. I mean, that's many years ago. That's generations ago. That's before my time in the church. I came into the church in the late 60s. But in the early 60s, people would take, and they'd go someplace like we go to a feast, they'd go someplace for the days of Unleavened Bread. Can you imagine doing that twice in a year? Do you think you have a hard time getting off for the feast now? Can you imagine trying to ask off for two of these things? Very difficult, but people did it. People did it. Now, as I may have mentioned, there is no discussion in the New Testament. Christ kept the holy days. He kept Passover. He kept feasts. You can see that in the Scriptures. After Christ's death, His disciples also continued to keep the feast. In the holy days, we see that throughout the pages of the Book of Acts and other places. Paul gave instruction about the days of Unleavened Bread. There is no discussion about taking away the Sabbath, the holy days, or tithing. If there was such a discussion, we don't see it. It's just not there. God would certainly let His people know, well, these things aren't going to be. Well, I'll let you know. But since there is no discussion, as we have in the Old Testament, it carries over to the New. It's as simple as that. It's as simple as that.

So, second tithe shows God's love through financing His holy days, which teaches us about His wonderful and beautiful plan. Okay, we get now to third tithe. A lot of questions on this over the years. Again, people in our Bible thought, well, maybe we don't even teach this anymore. Do we teach third tithe? Well, yes, we do teach third tithe. Third tithe demonstrates God's love to the less fortunate. Third tithe demonstrates God's love to the less fortunate. Christ said, the poor will have always with us. There will always be those who are disadvantaged, those who are not due to their own issues. Life has knocked them down, and so on and so forth. There will always be the poor with us. Another principle in the Scriptures is it's more blessed to give than to receive. Okay? Christ and His apostles taught that we have an obligation as Christians to be big-hearted and to be able to give. Paul, writing to the church in Galatia, said, They desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I was eager to do. Remember the poor. Remember the disadvantaged. Do something about it. The teachings of Jesus Christ and His disciples is a continuation of the commandments found in God's Word in the Old Testament regarding the obligation of those who have been blessed. To whom much is given, much is expected. Now, with that in mind, let's take a look at a number of Scriptures here, because there are some interesting points about the third tithe. We've got to be aware of them. I was a little surprised earlier today when people came to me and said, well, you know, I never really understood that. And these people have been in the church for decades. So we need to make sure we understand God's third tithe law. Let's go back to, if you're not there, go to Deuteronomy chapter 14. Deuteronomy chapter 14 verse 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. Now, here's a difference between first, second tithe, and third tithe. First and second tithe are done every year. But here it says, at the end of your third year, so there's something about a third year. At the end of a third year, it has to deal with this third tithe. We'll keep that in mind. We'll come to a conclusion here just a bit. Go to chapter 26 of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy chapter 26 and verse 12.

When you have finished laying aside all the tithe of your increase in the third year. So here we see that again. Notice it's talking about increase. But this is the third year. The year of tithing. The year of tithing. And they have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the fotless, the widow, so that they may eat within your gates and be filled. So here we see a tithe not for the proclamation of the Gospel, a tithe not to be eaten someplace else for the feast, but here's a tithe for those who are disadvantaged.

And here we add in a couple inclusions. You've got the fotless, the widow, but you also have the stranger. And a stranger could be somebody coming into a new land and they could be disadvantaged. And sometimes there was a need to also give the Levite some extra help. But again, it's to be in the third year.

And that's different than the other tithes. Much different than the other tithes. Now, Amos chapter 4, we've only got a couple more scriptures to go here. Amos chapter 4, you know, the minor prophets, you've got Hosea, Joel, the book of Amos. Amos chapter 4. And verse 4, come to Bethel and transgress at Gilgal multiply transgression, bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days. Now, in my new King James, it says every three days. In my King James, next to the word days is a little number one, which brings you to the center reference. In the center reference, it says years.

If you've got a regular authorized or regular King James, it says, your tithes every three years. And that's a proper translation. So once again, we see where third tithe is to be given every three years. Every three years. Now, this is where some had a question. Because if I would stop there, you would not understand the doctrine properly. And there's one more scripture we need to turn to today to understand what this every three years means. Let's go to Leviticus 25. Leviticus 25, verse 1. And the Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep a Sabbath to the Lord.

Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather its fruit. But in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the Lord. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard. When it grows of its own accord of your harvest, you shall not reap nor gather the grapes of your unintended vine, for it is a year of rest for the land.

And the Sabbath produce of your land shall be food for you, for you, for your male, for your female servants, your hired man, the stranger who dwells among you. For your livestock, for the beast of your land, all the produce shall be for food. Drop down to verse 18. So you shall observe my statutes and keep my judgments and perform them, and you will dwell in the land safely.

Then the land shall yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and dwell in safety. And you will say, What shall we eat in the seventh year, since we are not sowing or gathering in our produce? Verse 21. Then I will command my blessing on you in the sixth year, and I will bring forth produce enough for three years. You shall sow in the eighth year, and eat old produce until the ninth year. Until if produce comes in, you shall eat of the old harvest.

So here we see something, and we need to now put the picture together. When the Bible talks about how we need to tie third type every third year, it's every third year in a seven-year cycle. You don't just go every three years, because if you're going every three years, you go year number three, year number six, and year number nine.

No, you don't do it that way. You go year number three, year number six, and year number seven is a year of release. It's the Sabbath year. So you don't do anything with that year. Then you start another seven years. You go year number one, you don't do anything for third type. Year number two, and then that third year, you would tie it again. So in essence, if you were to take two seven-year periods back to back, it's not every third year, but year three, year six, and then year ten. It's four-year gap there. So we have to understand, when we put all the Scriptures together, when we're doing third tithe, it's year three, year six, every seven-year cycle.

Okay? Now, here's where people sometimes feel, well, we don't teach that doctrine any longer. It's not that we don't teach the doctrine, but what do we do when we have a situation, as most countries have anymore? This started years and years ago in Scandinavia, where the brethren there, back when? Back in, you know, when Mr.

Armstrong was a relatively young man, and in Scandinavia, the brethren there were paying 50% in terms of their taxes to the state. How could they pay 50% to the government and then pay three tithes? How can you give away 80% of your income and make due on 20%? They simply could not do that. And so rulings were made for people in Scandinavia. Eventually, it applied also to this nation here about, you know, our tax laws.

Let me just read you from our church doctrinal paper. In modern times, some national governments have instituted mandatory taxes for social welfare and care for the poor, leading to a dilemma. To those who are obedient to God, those who pay the special tithe two of every seven years for the care and maintenance of the poor are disabled, have to keep it twice. Do we pay God his third tithe and then pay Uncle Sam a tithe or more?

If the government taxes a person's income through social security and similar welfare taxes already and uses those funds for the care and maintenance of the poor, is a Christian obliged to pay a special tithe in addition? In addressing the question that the Council of Elders of the United Church of God and International Association has examined the matter and has confirmed the church's teaching, that Christians should obey the scriptural instructions regarding providing the needs for the poor.

When forced to pay social welfare taxes, though, a relief from double payment is provided as an administrative matter that the Council has issued the following statement. And basically, this is a statement that Herbert Armstrong released generations ago. Generations ago. And it's still true today. Quote, And since the clear example in Scripture is that of the church care for its members in need, the church then would provide for those members in need through a church assistance fund. And so that's where we're at. The church teaches that we have three tithes.

If you have such an income, and we have some people in the church who have such an income, where they can pay three tithes in addition to what they give Uncle Sam, and they're not going to literally be in need of giving assistance.

And those people, we've got a number, I don't know about here, but over at Ann Arbor, there are several families who pay third time because they have an income where they can do that. I don't know who their names are. I know one family they've told me, but off of that, I don't know. But a number of families I'm told who pay three tithes, that's fine. God will bless a person or a family for doing that. On the other hand, and this is an easy way of remembering, if by giving your third tithe you need assistance, you know, third tithe is to the needy, not from the needy.

We're not here to break anybody's bank. Although, of any of the tithes, we need to scriptlessly watch our income. I mean, that's one of the things that for all of us, we've got to make sure we're watching our incomes so we can tithe first and second tithes. But if third tithe, you just simply can't manage it, then you can't manage it.

Because, you know, Uncle Sam's taking basically a third tithe from you every year, not years three and six and seven years cycle. Uncle Sam's doing it every year. Now, this is where it's a personal issue between you and God. I'm not going to come to you and say, well, you know, you make a sufficient income, you should be doing nothing. That's none of my business.

It's your business. It's a decision between you and God, whether you can do this or not do this. So I'll just leave it there. But again, if you've got questions on this, and several people did have questions about tithing in general, they saw me after services at Ann Arbor. If you've got questions, feel free to come up and talk. But we do have the study paper I've used extensively for this sermon on our member website, members.ucg.org.

You can go over there and download. It's 25 pages. It covers everything I covered here today. And we've got a booklet on the subject, and there's, you know, you could ask me questions as well. Hopefully this was, I know we covered a lot today, but hopefully it was helpful, and it answered most of your questions.