FISH Sandwiches

New Covenant Tithing principles:
Before I launch into this area I thought it would be interesting to look at the Hebrew word of tithe. The word is ‘Ma-asar’. Now the word ‘asar’ by itself means wealth. Coincidence or divine inspiration?… that the Hebrew word for wealth is built into the wording of tithe. Now on to the topic…

Is Tithing relevant in the New testament? Hold your breaths,  this may shock some of you………. Yes it is; but why and what is attitude behind the why you tithe is different from the Old to the New Covenant!
Now opponents to tithing always argue, In the New Testament, there is no mention of tithing? So why do we have to tithe? Its not entirely true there is no mention of tithing in the NT. In fact in Hebrews 7 Apostle Paul( I believe he wrote the book) mentioned Abram tithed to Malchizedek(typology/ earthly representation of Jesus) and thus all the Levite priests indirectly tithed to Jesus. Even though Apostle Paul was making a point about a better priesthood in Jesus than that under the old covenant, the fact that he used tithing as an example implies that to people at that time, it wasn’t a big issue they just tithe. It was just so ingrained and accepted that Apostle Paul didn’t have to deal with whether you had to or not.

Now lets look at what he actually had to deal with in regards to the issue of tithing:

Under the New covenant the requirement of the Law to tithe is gone. The principle of you having to give God and then only He will bless you is reversed. Under Grace, God gives you ‘ all sufficiency in all things” so in turn you can give! This “all sufficiency”, the bible talks about, doesn’t just mean barely enough, it means much more that you will ever need. Isn’t that amazing that because of God’s Grace, He has given us and overt abundance in ALL things! For what reason you may ask, well…God blesses you first so you can bless others. God blesses you with abundance so you can have the resources for “every good work” Doesn’t this remind you of Abrahams encounter with King Malchizedek? (See Tithing Part 1)

Looking at V7, God wants a cheerful giver, you cannot out give God. There is no point giving tithes begrudgingly. In fact it is useless to give begrudgingly because you have missed the point of resting on Gods provision for your life.  God doesn’t want you to sit there and calculate to the very cent how much you need to tithe. It just shows that you are giving out of fear that you may miss out in the blessings, or that God may curse you for not giving enough! See the kind of picture that paints of God, it is completely incongruous with the New covenant.
God really wants that personal revelation of His LOVE in your life. He wants you to know that He loves you so much and will take care of you in all your situations. This is the attitude He wants you to have when you give. This is an attitude of no matter what I give I know that my God has given me more and will take care of me despite how much I give.
Please don’t misunderstand me I am not one of those who preach, you must give till it HURTS then God will reward you! Nay! never, what I am saying you must give from your overflow, from you joy, from what you are happy with. But understand something, Jesus redeemed us from the curse of the law (Gal 3:13), He did not redeem us from the blessings. So the Old Testament principles of God releasing blessings more and more abundantly still applies, but that He will not hold back his blessings in your life. You can try and see it as a matter of degrees. God has released all Spiritual blessings to us (Eph 1:3), and that includes abundant  material provision. Now it is up to us to REST in that provision of LOVE, and to see Him good, and not worry or try to do by our own strength. The more you REST in Him, the more you flow in His blessings!
Comprehend that it is not that God is holding back but He has already given all to us, so that the more we see Him good and know in our heart of hearts that He will abundantly provide to us from the riches of His glory; that heart knowledge will free us up to give because we are so thankful that he has given and the more I rest in Him the more I walk in the full measure of blessings  that God has already given!

Look at v11 It says you are ENRICHED IN EVERYTHING not “barely supplied”/ “ just enough to get by”. Thats how our God gives, He gives abundantly!
This next 2 verses also give us the reason why we give: to supply the needs of the saints, thus to extend His Kingdom and also it is part of our thanksgiving and praise to God.  Note the word Thanksgiving implies He has given thus we thank Him. Not we give to receive then thank Him. This reinforces that God gives us liberally first under the new covenant.
In summary, tithing under new covenant:
1)    Still relevant
2)    We still live in a fallen world and giving the 10th to God purifies the whole
3)    We need to give from our overflow, thus cheerfully as if we treat it as a law or requirement it puts us back under a curse
4)    The more we give the more we walk in the full measure of His blessings that He has promised, not because God once more but because we see Him good and we cannot outgive God; but understand this is balanced by point 3. If you start resenting the amount than give a cheerful amount! I believe this will release you to a larger measure of His blessings that will empower you to give more without feeling upset about it.
5)    We are blessed to be a blessing. Gods Kingdom needs resources
6)    When we see more of God’s blessings in our lives the more praise and thanksgiving we will have in our hearts!

I hope this helps to understand tithing, under the new covenant, and most of all take one thing away that God wants a cheerful giver, who gives out of the abundance that He has already supplied to us!

God Bless

Ed