The Gospel Truth On Tithing

 

Due to my Bible expository status, I’ve received a lot messages concerning tithing. A lot of Christians are eager to hear my take on this very important topic which has turned out to be a controversial one. 

This topic would not have been this controversial had it not been for the extravagant lifestyles of some pastors in Africa, most especially Nigeria. It is quite shocking to see some pastors who possess 20 exotic cars, sometimes more than, with numerous mansions.

What on this Earth will a single pastor use 20 exotic cars for? 

Can one person even sleep in two bedrooms at the same time?

Of course, it can’t be for the purpose of ministration. If it is, how will the 20 cars be used for it?

These days, cars do not draw much attention from people as much as expensive Jets do. No one will question the use of a private jets being used for ministerial purpose, but everyone is confused, including me, when a pastor owns 3 or more jets in the name of blessings from the Lord.

Considering the amount spent in managing a single jet, a church in possession of three or more jets should never have a single member who is hungry or dying in penury. 

Surprisingly, churches with all the aforementioned luxuries are the ones whose members are living below the poverty level in Africa. Their members live in unimaginable places, some live in houses where they can’t close their two eyes, not for security reasons, but because the Landlord or Landlady will come early the next morning to collect his or her rent in a lousy and unpitiable manner. 

Unfortunately for these members, they see nothing bad in seeing their churches build multi-million halls or auditoriums.

Observing all of those issues by unbelievers get them angry on a daily basis. In fact, so many people find it difficult to surrender and yield their lives completely to God as they read these pastors instead of their Bible.

New Testament Bible On Tithe

Many Christians would have contributed immensely on this controversial topic with lots of biblical references from the early church days. Unfortunately, the new testament Bible is silent on this issue (you will get to know why before the end of this article).

Even our Lord Jesus Christ did not really say much on tithe. Mind you, he was never against it. In fact, he endorsed it in Matthew 23:23…

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.

In correcting the Scribes and Pharisees, he revealed his endorsement for the paying of tithe. So, Jesus never condemn tithe as many Christian and some unbelievers do with unrelated and unfounded biblical references.

If we are to pay tithe, then who are we to pay to?

“Behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tithes in Israel as an inheritance in return for the work which they perform, the work of the tabernacle of meeting.

Numbers 18:21

The scripture above confirmed God gave tithes to the Levites for an important reason. He gave it to them as he didn’t allow them to get any portion out of the inheritance the children of Israel was to share among themselves.

In other words, tithe was their inheritance and a means of compensating them for the work of the Tabernacle.

Mind you, the tithe was not meant for only the children of Aaron; they were also meant for the other 7 families of Levites as they had no inheritance too. Most Christians think the only levites we have in the Bible are the offsprings of Aaron. Take a look at this…

And these are those who were numbered of the Levites according to their families: of Gershon, the family of the Gershonites; of Kohath, the family of the Kohathites; of Merari, the family of the Merarites.

These are the families of the Levites: the family of the Libnites, the family of the Hebronites, the family of the Mahlites, the family of the Mushites, and the family of the Korathites. And Kohath begot Amram.

The name of Amram’s wife was Jochebed the daughter of Levi, who was born to Levi in Egypt; and to Amram she bore Aaron and Moses and their sister Miriam.

Numbers 26:57-59

As you can see above, all the levites families were eight:

1. The Gershonites

2. The Kohathites

3. The Merarites

4. The Libnites

5. The Hebronites

6. The Mahlites

7. The Mushites

8. The Korathites

Aaron’s family was just one out of the eight; they came from the 2nd family known as the Kohathites. 

Intuitively, all of those aforementioned Levites families were entitled to the tithes of the land.

Notably, there are other parts of the Bible that said tithes should be given to some other people — strangers, fatherless and widows — who were not Levites.

Actually, that’s one of the reasons some people are still confused as to who should receive or collect tithe. 

Unfortunately, most churches quote Malachi 3:10, almost all the time, when they are about collecting tithe. Malachi 3:10 was just one of the three different kinds of tithe instituted by God. In other words, there is more than one kind of tithe although churches only mention one type all the time.

The Three Different Kinds Of Tithe

In the Bible, as I mentioned earlier, we have three different kinds of tithe. We have 

1. Sacred tithe

2. Tithe of feast and

3. Tithe for the poor

The sacred tithe was the only tithe meant for God. After all Israelites paid their tithes to the Levites, they, in turn, pay the tenth of the tithes (called tithe of tithes) to the high priest. That’s the tithe you see in Malachi 3:10.

Secondly, the tithe of the feast is the tithe meant for the enjoyment of man and his family which was only taken to Jerusalem as a form of vacation. Notably, all Israelites still practice this second tithe as stated in Deuteronomy 14:22-27.

Thirdly, the tithe for the poor in Deuteronomy 26:12 is the tithe meant for 4 set of people:

1. The strangers in the land

2. The fatherless

3. The widows

4. The Levites, inclusive.

These four people are entitled to this tithe once in every 3 years. 

Hope you read that right?

The tithe of the poor was paid third year from harvest, the tithe of feast was paid second year from harvest while the sacred tithe was paid on the first year of harvest. 

To clarify things, if you are not among the aforementioned people, you are not allowed, biblically, to collect tithe. Truth be told, no gentile — I mean you and I, including all our pastors and churches — was mentioned in the Bible to collect tithe. 

The only people as rightly mentioned entitled to collect tithes are the Levites — including the strangers, fatherless and widows — who in turn pay to the high priest. So, if you are not a levite or priest, you are not allowed to collect it. In addition, if you are not born by a levite, you can NEVER be a levite.

For the people who still argue about being priest, the high priests were there to sacrifice to God. After Jesus died as the last sacrificial lamb, the position and function of high priests became useless. 

Mind you, we are now made priest by the blood of the lamb according to Revelation 1:6.

Being made priests by Jesus, are we then allow to collect tithes since priests received tithes from Levites?

Take note, our priesthood is a the one without an order. Priests assigned to collect the sacred tithes are all priests with order. Consequently, a priest without an order was never allowed to collect tithe in the Bible days. 

For instance, the children of Aaron priesthood was in the order of Aaron and Jesus priesthood was in the order of Melchizedek who collected tithes before the law from Abraham which confirms tithe preceded the law. Meaning our Lord and personal savior too was entitled to collect tithe, but he never did. 

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?

Hebrews 7:11

That confirmed Levites, from the lineage of Aaron, were priests but not all priests were Levites as the other Levites families were not called to priesthood. 

That’s why you will never see any of Jesus disciples talked about tithe in their days as it was no longer relevant after the death of Jesus on the cross.

Of course, that doesn’t call for celebration. Even though the early church did not pay sacred tithe as there was no longer need for a levitical priesthood, they made sacrificial offerings in such a manner that if such is requested from the church nowadays, everyone will run away from church. 

Their sacrificial offerings was too huge to be compared to mere 10% of tithe. 

 

Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common,

and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.

Acts 2:44-45

Did you read that right? I’m quite sure you know or have heard about it before. In the early church days, people sold their properties (we could say they were okay but not rich; if they were rich, there would be no need for them to sell their properties to help other christians) like Ananias and Sapphira did so as to give the money to the apostles who used the money to feed the poor. 

The question is…can you sell your properties because people in your church are hungry? 

If you can complain of mere 10% tithe collection, i’m quite sure you won’t sell your properties to feed the people who are hungry in your church. 

To our dear churches, if people are selling their properties to help the people in need in the church, why will you then be acquiring or building multi-million halls and auditoriums to house these hungry worshippers all in the name of serving God.

Let’s all retrace our steps…God help us all.

Lastly, in order for you to learn more about about tithes and offering, I've listed out 125 Bible Verses on money and greed. You can check them out in the link below NOw...

https://witnessbearer.blogspot.com/2022/10/125-bible-verses-on-money-and-greed.html

Very soon, I will list out lots of Bible verses on Tithes and offering, too.

 STAY BLESSED.