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Thieves and robbers
Edison Macusi Sometimes we often think that God is like a cosmic KJ, that He is really after our money, and so we don’t really give Him the tithes, nor really trust Him in His word to test Him. In spite of the many exhortations that we hear and the testimonies of blessings from many other Christians, there are many rebels who don’t really trust God of their money. They think it as theirs, a product of their hardships and efforts. As Moses had argued before the Israelites, don’t ever think that it was your wits and your power that you got your money. Whether you want to believe this or not, the power to get wealth does not lie in your ability alone but it is through God. Moses clarified this by saying, “You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today. If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed.” Deuteronomy 8:17-19 Wealth and riches belong to God whether these were donated, purchased or inheritance that were given to you, you have the responsibility to acknowledge the kindness of God. Some may say that they have gained all of these by their power and others would say that it is by their hardwork, but ultimately, it is written that, “The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it” (Psalm 24:1). No one really has the right to dictate or violate the laws of God on the premise of this declaration, He owns the earth and everything in it! We don’t have personal rights, only grants! Therefore, we are all His beneficiaries when He declared, “The highest heavens belong to the Lord, but the earth he has given to man” (Psalm 115:16). We are not really owners but simply stewards of the richness of His grace on this beautiful planet. This is also the reason why it is forbidden to murder, commit euthanasia or even to commit abortion because only the real owner of our lives have the complete right to take it away from us or from others. Going further, it can be said also that because He is the real owner, He expects us that we use everything entrusted to us for maximum profits. We see this mandate in the parable of the talent where the owner of the talents gave each of his servants according to their abilities; he then expected them to use their talents until he comes again. Just like the owner of the talents, God expects us to use what we have and to keep multiplying it for profit. In other words, we are accountable with how we use what talents we were given for there will be a day of accounting. Second, since the talent really comes from Him, He expects to be benefited from it just as the servants returned and showed the master what they got. In essence, this raises the assumption that they were co-laborers with the owner of the talent. As a co-laborer, we have rewards of our efforts and freedom how to maximize and use our talents. Again the wisdom to do this comes from the Lord and the more we were given, the more is expected from us. This brings us to our conclusion that essentially, what we have is not our own but only given as a trust! When the prophet Malachi explained to the Israelites why they were suffering from abject poverty, he pointed out how they have become thieves and robbers by not giving the tithes to God’s storehouse. Poverty is really more complicated than it looks, and there are various reasons that researchers put forward why they happen to various people. Some theorize that it’s because of colonialism, others say that it’s because of lack of resources, others because the people lack education and some say it’s because they are simply lazy. However complicated it may look, if we really work hard in our jobs, obey God and do all His statutes which include giving the tithe to His storehouse, we will soon be off from poverty. “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit,” says the Lord Almighty. “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.” Malachi 3:10-12 Just as farmers have their own designated storehouses during days of harvest to bring in their sacks of grains in their towns, the people of God today should be in their own local churches. Each believer should give their tithes to their local congregation where they get social support, spiritual nourishment and counsel. You don’t get to eat at Jolibee and pay your bills at McDonald’s right? In the same way, people who are members of their local congregations should give their tithes there so that there will be continual nourishment of the people of God. If we don’t do this, the priests, the ministers of God’s house have as well to give back their positions in the church and seek other means of local employment to support themselves. You don’t want to see your pastors wearing tattered jeans or dilapidated shoes don’t you? God promises that for those who give faithfully, they will be blessed by the Lord and there will be no pests around their farms, around the jobs, around their families. Yes, there will be no sickness, no bad deals and no job losses. People who point out and use the epistle of Paul (2 Corinthians chapters 8 and 9) to twist its real meaning and say that we are living under the Age of Grace are wrong on two accounts, first, it is the Age of Grace and Truth (John 1:17), second, Jesus did not nullify giving of tithes because He came to fulfil the Law instead of removing it, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished” (Matthew 5:17-18). There is a great deal of difference from fulfilling the law and from removing it. When you remove the Law and the Prophets, it means you destroy the very foundation of Christianity, which can’t happen because everything has to be accomplished as written there first. The law was given and was a means to show our culpability and predilection to sin which leads us to knowing God’s grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (see Galatians 3:19-25). The fulfilment of the law therefore is through the law of love, which is based again on loving God and our neighbour (see Matthew 22:40). How then could those who say that the tithe is nowhere instituted in the New Testament have the grandeur to claim that because we live by grace, we should not tithe? In fact, because Paul and the twelve disciples were all Jewish, they always practiced tithing and pointed the same to their disciples. Paul’s discussion on 2 Corinthians chapters 8 and 9 is on giving generously because God loves a cheerful giver. I believe a cheerful giver means giving beyond the 10% of our gross incomes, if we want that specific. People who don’t give their tithes because it is "no longer instituted in the New Testament" should really consider all the other Scriptures and not based their judgment alone on Paul’s assertions in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. In his epistle to the Hebrews, he discusses about Melchizedek, a priest who received tithes from Abraham and who prefigured Christ in the Old Testament (see Hebrews 5:6-10). Since Jesus Christ is a priest in the order of Melchizedek, He therefore even during our times, continues to receive the tithes that we give to Him just as in the times of Abraham (see Genesis 14:18-20). What choice would you want to be? Leave your tithes in your pocket and get devoured by pests or live in the nourishment of heaven. I think making that choice is easy. |
