Slavery or Relationship?
Knowing God’s Acts or His Ways?
I heard a minister say that tithing is not biblical and gave an excellent explanation for this statement from Scripture.I found myself wrestling with this issue, yet again!
I was also aware that the Apostle Paul went to great lengths teaching about being led by the fallen, carnal nature of the flesh which is not redeemed, or being led by the Spirit which is redeemed when we are born again and our mind, will, and emotions, which is the flesh nature comes into line with our spirit as our minds are renewed by the word of God. He also says in Romans 7 that we walk by the spirit yet there is the carnal nature within that is at enmity with our spirit.
Praise God we have the Holy Spirit Who gives us the power to overcome the carnal nature, hallelujah!
As I wrestled with the principle of tithing, I also remembered Apostle Paul saying that since we are purchased by Jesus’ blood at His crucifixion, then I am not my own. Everything I have belongs to Him and everything of me belongs to Him because I have been purchased with a price.
Therefore, what am I giving to Him when it all belongs to Him in the first place?
The tithe was to support the temple, right? Does Apostle Paul not say, “Do you not know that you are temples of the Holy Spirit?”
Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?
1 Corinthians 6:19 (NKJV)
Then if we are to take this literally, then the tithe has to be given to me.
I went before the Lord, I really needed to get this cleared up. Then it came to me, “Do I want to know God’s ways or do I want to know His acts? Am I going to give to the Lord out of duty or am I going to give because I want to give?
Father God wants children, not slaves. Am I giving to Him because I should and I know that it is the right thing to do, or am I giving because of relationship and out of relationship?
At the same time, I am also aware that giving offerings to the Lord was also a way to prevent the people forgetting God when they had abundance in the promised land – “no longer needing God to provide because they have everything.”
Jesus tells John to write this in a letter to the Church in Ephesus
Nevertheless I have this against you, that you left your first love.
Revelation 2:4 (NKJV)
This is what the Strong’s Concordance has to say about “First Love” in Revelation 2:4
Love
Strong’s number in Greek: 26 agapē, ag-ah’-pay; from 25; love, i.e. affection or benevolence; specifically (plural) a love-feast- (feast of) charity, charitable, charitably, dear, love
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance (1990)
First
Strong’s number in Greek 4413 prōtŏs pro’-tos: contr. superfl. of 4253 foremost (in time, place, order or importance):- before, beginning, best, chief, chiefest, first, first of all, former.
Strong’s number in Greek 4253 prŏ, prŏ; a primary prep.; “fore”, i.e. front of, prior (fig. superior) to:-above, ago, before, or ever. In composition it retains the same significations.
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance (1990)
This “First Love” is not an emotional love that I had come to believe it to be. It is actually about what we put first.
Jesus said:
19“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matthew 6:19-21
Whatever we treasure is where our hearts will follow. If I decide to treasure an image, then it will become an idol, because my heart will become attached to it.
How do I relate this to giving offerings to the Lord?
What am I going to treasure? Money or God? Jesus said, “You cannot serve God and mammon”
Putting this altogether, I realised that I want God to be number one in my life. I want Him to be before anything else in my life. I want Him to be the treasure and I want my heart to be attached to Him.
My fallen nature opposes God and I have to discipline my flesh as said by Apostle Paul:
24Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. 25ANd everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. 26Therefore I run this: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. 27But I discipline by body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.
1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (NKJV)
The carnal nature in me, if given half an opportunity, will want to be greedy and latch onto wealth as quickly as possible because it lusts after all that wealth promises the flesh (which is a deception)…
11And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake our of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. 12The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. 13Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. 14But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.
Romans 13:11-14 (NKJV)
…or I can say to the carnal nature, “No, we are putting God first in my life, I am putting God first in the finances, I am putting God first in every area and in everything. This is reminding the flesh that God is first, and because I am putting Him first in everything, He becomes my treasure and my heart will follow and my heart will become attached to Him and I will live my life for Him.
Father does not want us to give out of compulsion. If we are giving because we believe we have to and that is what we should do, then that is compulsion. But if we give because we want Him first and we want Him to be our treasure and remembering that He is first in everything, and make deliberate decisions to put Him first, then this is a cheerful giver, this is giving out of wanting to give without compulsion and in love to Him.
If we do not want to harden our hearts and fall into rebellion, the key is to know God’s ways.
So how do I get to know God’s ways? Yes, there are the commandments, but that tends to be a bunch of rules that we must follow, including in our giving to Him.
I am married, and if I live my married life just obeying the rules of marriage, then that is not a true marriage.
God said that He is looking for those who will worship in spirit and in truth. If we are just doing what is necessary, being obedient, but our hearts are not in line with what we are doing and saying, then something is not right – this is marriage based on rules. If we are doing this with God, then we are not worshiping Him in Spirit and in truth.
How did I get to know my husband? Well… I take note of what He likes and what He doesn’t like and I make sure that if I want a good relationship with my husband and because I care about him, then I will steer clear of doing things that he does not like, and I will find out what he does like and because I love him I will do things for him that he does like.
This is what it is to get to know God’s ways. There are things that are written in Scripture that he clearly states what He hates and what He likes, this is more than just focusing on the 10 commandments. To get to know God’s ways, to get to know Him and to be like Him, then we also need to hate the things that He hates and like the things that He likes. When we get to know what He likes and what He dislikes, then we will be a lot more sensitive to the promptings of Holy Spirit and we will know His ways and by knowing His ways we walk in spirit and in truth and into all that He has promised, and most importantly, we will enter into His promises and into His rest.