CHRISTIAN NEWS MAGAZINE FOR KERALA MALAYALEE CHRISTIANS FROM INDIA AROUND THE WORLD
JANUARY 2008 ARTICLE
VOL:07 ISSUE:01

TITHING
By E.S. JOHN AUSTRALIA

Tithing is the process of giving a tenth of all our wealth or earnings to the Lord is a Divine commandment given to Father Abraham, the Father of FAITH in the Lord of all things for His benevolent and free blessings that keep us alive in good health and cheer of mind, a gift of the Holy Spirit, Gen.14: 20. The sum total of all our worship and righteous lifestyle is a thanksgiving ritual to the Triune God who only can keep the vehicle of man running on the surface of this muddy sod. Our seen body frame and unseen one is a microcosm of a macrocosm, the author of which is the Heavenly King. Just like the motor vehicle, our body requires water, oil, petrol, grease, tuning and adjustment from time to time for its safe mobility. While the motor vehicle is a product of concrete or material components, the two-footed animal is a conglomeration of ethereal and cosmic cosmetics that manufacture a superlative product, which surpasses definitions of any kind that is beyond our grasp and the horizons of imagination.

Humility at the feet of the Lord is the only thing that can send some wavelengths to understand our great nothingness and God’s infinite heights of glory. A righteous man’s sinning at times may make one realize the everlasting mercy and loftiness of a Creator who is perfect in Himself absolves our transgressions. The transgressions of king David sent some divine light into the dark corner of his mind that whispered the eternal truth of the Almighty’s greatness and mercy, finger pointing the futility of our works. “O Lord, open thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise. For thou hast no delight in sacrifice; were I to give a burnt offering, thou wouldst not be pleased. The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God thou will not despise”, Ps.51: 15-17; ps.50: 13-15. The first commandment of offering a sacrifice had ended up in a flop because the elder one butchered the younger one who made a sacrifice from a pure heart. Celebrating a grandiose sacrament of liturgy of modern type on 101 altars by sacrificing the inevitabilities of a virtuous life is like a morning mist that vanishes by the ray of the sun.

The Tithe:
The topic of tithing came all of sudden in a prayer meeting that demanded an answer why the oldest church in the world doesn’t emphasize the blessings of tithing, while all other churches give prominence of this commandment on the basis of the biblical proof that started from the time of Abraham. I gave all the explanations that I knew from the scripture. As it was an impromptu discussion, I feel that I couldn’t give full justice on the topic. Abraham gave tithes to Melchizedek, king of Salem, on his return from his expedition against Chedorlaomer, and the four kings in confederacy with him. He gave him the tithe of all the booty taken from the invaders. Jacob followed it by vowing to the Almighty the tithe of all the wealth that he might harvest in Mesopotamia, Gen.28: 22. It became an ordained law, Lev.27: 30 and 31, 32 later. It includes the tithe of the land that produces seeds, fruits,etc.

There were three sorts of tithes to be paid from the people (besides those from the Levites to the priests), Num.28: 26, etc.

  1. To the Levites for their maintenance, Num.18: 21, 24.

  2. For the Lord’s feasts and sacrifices, to be eaten in the place, which the Lord should choose to put His name, there; to wit, where the Ark should be, the Tabernacle or Temple. This tenth part was either sent to Jerusalem in kind, or, if it was too far, they sent the value in money, which was to be laid out for oxen, sheep, wine or what else they pleased, Deu.14: 28-29.

  3. In addition to these two, there was to be, every third year, a tithe for the poor, to be eaten in their own dwellings, Deu.14: 28-29.

However, There was no emphasis of this commandment either by Jesus or by His apostles.

Tithing in the Old Testament period:
A zealous God of the OT was very particular of the people giving the tithe, the reason for the eternal Melchizedek to visit the Father of the faith. “He is without father or mother or genealogy, and has neither beginning nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest for ever, Heb.7: 1-14….For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well”. The Aaronite priesthood has changed to the visible priesthood of Jesus of the New Age, there by switching over from the previous priesthood to a new order of changing the tithing to a higher form of tithes. As the old form of blood sacrifice has transformed to a new form of bloodless sacrifice, the changing the law in the spirit of tithing is also automatic and spontaneous. Despite the charismatic groups muddles with the priesthood of the new age that is the real one of a former shadow, stressing that the age of priesthood has terminated with Jesus, they don’t change the law of the archaic tithing because their God is their stomach, for which they need covetable position that bring money and cheap name.

Because tithing is a commandment for which every adult was indebted to pay, the failure of which was equivalent of robbing God, Mal.3: 8, as all our possessions belong to God, declaring the naked fact that man is only a passing shadow on this earth. “Here tithes are received by mortal men; thereby one of whom it is testified that he lives”, Heb.7: 8. Abraham paid a tenth to Melchizedek, the testimonial of the presence of an Eternal God, whereas Jesus the Incarnate perfection of all goodly and godly things, Melchizadek, was a penniless destitute here on earth having no place to hide His face. The melchizadek that Abraham gave a tenth was a warrior who used weapons in defeating His enemies, whereas the weapons of Messiah are patience, endurance, love and forgiveness that armaments don’t need money for winning over the adversary. The weapons that cost money was required to win over the gentiles that fought against Israel, for which tithing implicitly was necessary for the Temple running, apart from the money collected for weaponries, but the NT weapons of love don’t cost money. Tithing therefore is not a commandment in the new age.

If we follow His footprints truly, there is no right for man to own anything in this world. Therefore, giving tithes and spending or wasting nine tenth of our wealth for our extravagances has no moral validity in the new age. “For we have brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world; but if we have food and clothing, with these we shall be content, 1.Tim.6: 7. “For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion for a second”, Heb.8: 7. The shadowy first covenant of the OT has been replaced by a faultless covenant of bloodless sacrifice during the period of the second covenant of giving everything, including one’s own self, is the order of the offspring of the second covenant. As the third type of tithe is meant for charity work that is collected every year, the main emphasis of giving to the church and its running is the real tithing, giving to the needy should be a product of the first one, the true faith. The true rock of faith upon which the church is founded is to be cared and nurtured for. I have seen people stop giving to the parish or church due to internal feuding, but that which is promised to the parish is channeled to charity work and getting heavy punishment from the Lawgiver. It seems that giving to the church or charity is a secondary thing when comparing with the primary duty of to be in harmony with the brethren with whom we are associating in the parish and outside. One has to rise above the party spirit and unholy association is the main issue here. The Pharisees and Sadducees used to give a tenth of everything, but when it comes to faith and righteousness most of them failed miserably, Lk. 18:9-14. Unless we try to weave daily the white garment of incorruption by carrying the crosses in our routine life daily by having the right faith, all our charitable or virtuous lifestyle terminate to futility.

Many people claim that they have abundance of money and resourses because of paying tithes that indicates that they believe in a prosperity religion of superficial spirituality. Paying for getting in return is not the sign of an ideal spiritual way of life. How come then St.Paul to suffer from starvation that compelled him to do carpentry work for his daily bread. Giving the entire self without expecting any return is the way of the higher plane. “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it”, Mt.16: 24-27. The style of losing one’s life for the Lord is the Heavenly culture of conquering the eternal kingdom. It was not Jesus’ charity work we adore and extol; we glorify Him for forsaking His own life on Calvary that culminated into the covetable glory of resurrection and ascension, the litmus test of His glory and power. The Saviour lost a dear disciple on account of His charity work that probably converted Judas for financial swindling which in turn led the betrayer to sell the head of his Master. Money is a ruthless slayer of mankind, when it plays the role of a master, whereas money is a good slave for a benevolent master. When we analyze the culture of parish or church pandemonium that mushroom to more churches, it certainly display the gymnastics of Mammon who make havoc by the wealth of his earthly dominion. Many church empires that collected tithes have collapsed lately in the West by economic embezzlement that land in sexual corruptions and shameful reprieve.

The real estate and corporate churches of modern times have jettisoned the chaste spirituality with that of the mimicry of Mammon and Eros. Every church of today survives only by fund -raising gimmicks that evict the real spiritual ethos to the land of darkness. There are even churches that gospelise for the earthly prosperity and invade the apostolic churches for adding members to their prosperity churches. If money has been the vital part of evangelization, Jesus would have handled the finance, instead of giving the portfolio to the betrayer. Yes, money betrays God because it is the currency of the devil to lure the proud, vulnerable and the marginalized ones to be ensnared into the devil’s manifesto. The inscription on the money coin is Caesar’s, not God’s, the reason for Jesus asking the coin to be returned to Caesar, not to God because His inscription is not there. The wealth of God is the rock of faith upon which the church is founded, not on economic imperialism. While the imperial churches flourish materially for grabbing the flock of other folds, the real Bride struggles to breathe physically by enhancing inner palpitations. While heretical churches of the apocalyptic times flourish by heresy and financial prosperity, the true church is mutilated by internal squabbling and intrigues that caused by financial ambitions and self -conceits, the reason for not finding faith on earth at Jesus’ second coming, Lk.18: 8. The money culture that throttled the churches and families that by earning more wages cut the root of our existence here, on account of the material extravagances and consumerism that caused climate change which devastated this planetary system.

Jesus’ Manifesto:
Sermon on the Mount is the main manifesto that clarifies that charity or love is the lifeblood of our life here, buttressed by sacramental nutrients. The same God who promised earthly gains also is saying to the young lawyer who approached Jesus to sell everything and give it to the poor and follow Him, Mt.19: 21. By giving to the poor it involves two things, firstly it liberate the owner from the clutches of earthly cravings, secondly it helps the have-nots. Possession of any wealth is like the man who plough looks back, like that of Lot’s wife. “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure for the last days”, Jas.5: 1-4. “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God”, Mt.19: 24. Give who asks you is the language of the other plane. Giving the thing that we like more is to be parted with for the other is the one step ahead of our primary charity work. John the Baptist also preached the same philosophy of giving one shirt to the other if one has two because there is reward even for giving a cup of water to the thirsty.

It also thrust the point that our life on earth next moment is a mercy that is left to the Creator. Unless we accomplish the role of stewardship faithfully and honestly, our life in this planet next moment is a decision from above. The tug of war between attachment and detachment or affiliation and denunciation is the crucial test of our salvation. To be a faithful and magnanimous stewardship is an essential qualification for the entry into the quality of afterlife. The superlative qualification of Jesus was that His attachment was only to the cross that its footing only was on this earth. His only victory of robbing a robber was fulfilled only when He was having no contact with this sordid planet that hatch intrigues, back-biting and betrayals. Voluntary detachment is only for the wise and dedicated; the fool that concoct treachery and wickedness throw away his possessions voluntarily at the time when his possessions pain and start stinking and betray him. The hard-earned price of Jesus’ head was thrown away voluntarily and Judas also ended up in between the earth and heavens, but not gaining any soul to go with him, other than his ruthless masters of the land of the dead. Alas, he bartered his own soul to the abysmal one on the altar of a sinister dark life.

Family Care:
The family is a mission center where we start cultivating the art of giving and sharing. As the genesis of the parish is in the family, the give and take habit that moulds a person in this life is a God-given art. The family is the most important unit, therefore. The children are to be a product of the harmonious blend of various virtues, thereby depositing our wealth of wisdom and other resources in the family for their conducive bringing up. No ordinary person will neglect his growing up family at the mercy of Nature and squander the wealth for no reason. But sharing it with others is a primary necessity and a quality of mind. We can’t wait giving to others only after finishing all our household things perfectly well. All the mine- booming and Nature -plundering technologies that accumulated money has only multiplied the human problems, whereas in a natural economy that used primitive methods had only problems multiplied in the arithmetic order, but the high-tech economy has thrown man into a turmoil of humanitarian crises that uproot villages and societies and gathering people as vagabond tribes in a geometrical progression. Today’s animal magnetism that prey upon the marginalized and vulnerable ones have proved that only a half-starving economy can curtail the animality of man to a hold. Self- sufficiency is a deadly mix of volatile cocktail. Anything excess is bad because the flesh that is weak become a carnal agent of spiritual cannibalism. A man who doesn’t know how to share with others become a pest of the society because he doesn’t know that we are the heirs of the same father who expect that his children to care and nurture one another. “Charity begins at home”. It is the duty of the parents to care and nurture the family. Hand out anything excess to the suffering multitude after using for our bare necessities. Fasting or starving teaches us that “belly teaches all art”.

Two silver coins of the widow:
The vast stretching of oblivious land that lie beyond the grave is not even able to accept the 2 silver coins of the widow who put them into the church treasury at her own will, so also the widow of Sarafat who parted away her remnant of food to prophet Elijah who gave provisions of food to the widow for the remaining period of the drought that ravaged Israel. This is how the wise and the obedient buy the property in the land of timelessness. Giving all our possessions and our own body and mind for others is the religion of the New Age. The apostolic time that began this true religion with a vociferous but silent Spirit was smothered as time passed; even there was an Anannias and saphira among them to hide a share of their wealth at the dawn of the early Christianity. Parting away everything for God and His creatures is the lifeblood of this new religion that witnessed the shedding of the innocent blood for others and living a life of a recluse who didn’t have a place to hide His head, hence rested at last on the cross on Golgotha. This is not a joke; this is the true spirit of evangelism that we have divorced for the sake of our lust. This is the outcome of the Spirit of the advent of Pentecost.

Silver and gold:
“ I have no silver and gold, but I give you what I have in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth”, Said st.Peter to the lame, Acts.3: 6. Offering material help is a secondary thing, but making way in showering the Spirit of God upon the forsaken one is the real spirit of tithe in the NT period. To share the mental afflictions of the rich and poor is the ultimate aim of Christian charity or tithing. Abraham gave bread and wine to Melchizadek, not bread and blood of the OT order, the precursor of the bloodless sacrifice of the Incarnate Melchizadek. The benevolent tithe of the mercy period is to provide the thirsty one with the Holy bread and Blood of the Saviour. The spadework of offering this liturgical food is to convert the sinners and bring them to the fold of Heavenly brood. The true evangelization at the expense of our own life is the spirit of tithe of this age. In order to bring the sinners to the fold one must become an Elect of the Spirit who instill the fruits and the gifts of the Triune God. Parting away with money or food or helping at certain points of time is not the sign of real tithing, paving the way to the land of the living is the real Christian spirit, for which one has to throw away his own life and possessions is real record of giving a tenth. Freely you have received, freely you give”, not only material things, but also what we have received from Above, that is our body and mind for others. The Body and Blood of Emmanuel is our wealth, making way to offer this spiritual food for all the sinners of the world. “Drink of it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins”, mt.26: 28. Santa Clause is our messiah of the age that brings gifts to hide under the Christmas tree, whereas the Lamb’s gifts given openly is the shedding of His blood for quenching the thirst of the blood- drenched world.

The reason for not collecting tithes in the main stream Christianity is that that the Christian mission of evangelization doesn’t holt mere by tithes. Is it a tenth an insurance premium given for our salvation? We don’t have any claim in this ephemeral plane or thereafter even ransoming us by shedding His blood that bought us with a high price. Where have you invested your nine tenths of your income or earning? Is it at the belly of the earth where the rich man hid it from Lazarus?

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