RESPECTING GOD'S PATTERN, GIVING

God has always had a pattern for His people related to their worship of Him. This was true beginning with the very first act of worship that we have a record of. In Genesis 4, we find the case of Cain and Abel. We do not know exactly what God told Cain and Abel to do as far as their worship of Him was concerned, but we do know that He gave them instructions that He expected them to follow. In Hebrews 11:4, we read, "By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks."  Friends, "Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ." Whatever Abel did "by faith" in sacrifice to God, he did it according to God's revelation to him, or according to God's pattern.

If we consider Moses and all of the instructions that he received from God related to the people's worship, we can note again a pattern.     Moses received instructions for the construction of the items to be used in the worship of God and for the acts of worship themselves. He received instructions from God concerning those who were to conduct the worship and instructions in all aspects of how God wanted His people to properly pay their homage to Him. Indeed, in Exodus 25:8 & 9, God said to Moses, "And let them construct a sanctuary for Me, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I am going to show you, as the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furniture, just so you shall construct it." In verse 40 of that same chapter, God said, "And see that you make them after the pattern for them, which was shown to you on the mountain. 

When it came time to construct the temple, David gave to Solomon his son, whom God had chosen to actually build the temple, the "pattern" of all that he had by the Spirit of the Lord. In I Chronicles 28:19 & 20, we read, "All this, said David, the Lord made me understand in writing by His hand upon me, all the details of this pattern. Then David said to his son Solomon, Be strong and courageous, and act;... "

In the New Testament, Jesus made the following statement to the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well in John 4:23 & 24. "But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." To worship God "in spirit' is to worship Him from the highest, noblest, and deepest part of ourselves. It is to worship Him with rationality and sincerity. To worship God "in truth” is to worship Him as His word directs. Jesus once prayed to His Father in John 17:17, "Sanctify them in the truth; Thy word is truth.” Consequently, if we are going to worship God "in truth", then it is going to have to be according to that Word. If it is going to be according to that Word, then it is going to be according to the pattern that the Lord has set forth. We must respect the pattern of worship that God has given. He has always demanded such of His people. Changing, altering, or substituting for God's pattern of worship will render our worship vain. Jesus said as much when He quoted Isaiah in Matthew 15:9, "But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men."

    Let us make a practical application of this biblical principle. Many religious organizations that worship Jesus demand that their members tithe in the matter of giving. The legislation concerning tithing given under the Law of Moses is used as their authority for such a demand. There is no question that tithing was part of the pattern under the Law of Moses. The question for all to consider today is this; "Is tithing part of the pattern for worship under the law of faith, the law of Christ, the “perfect law, the law of liberty”? It is my contention that even those who demand tithing today do not tithe as it was legislated under the Old Law. Many, if not most, who speak of the authority for tithing with so much confidence today, don't know what tithing was under the Old Law. I want to look at the practice of tithing and see if it is part of God's pattern for the worship of His people today.

The first thing that needs to be said is that the giving of a 10th part of the products of the land and the spoils of war to priests and kings was a very ancient custom among most nations. It is easy to prove that the Jews also practiced this custom before the giving of the Law of Moses. In Genesis 14, we find Abram paying tithes to Melchizedek, and in Genesis 28:22, we find Jacob vowing to give a 10th of all that God blessed him with back to God.

When the custom became law under the Law of Moses, we find legislation concerning it in three different places. In Leviticus 27:30-33, we find, "Thus all the tithe of the land, of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's; it is holy to the Lord. If, therefore, a man wishes to redeem part of his tithe, he shall add to it one-fifth of it. And for every tenth part of herd or flock whatever passes under the rod, the tenth one shall be holy to the Lord. He is not to be concerned whether it is good or bad, nor shall he exchange it; for if he does exchange it, then both it and its substitute shall become holy. It shall not be redeemed. "

    Close examination of that passage shows us that a tithe, or a tenth, had to be given of the crops and of the fruit of the trees, which would be such things as oil and wine. Also a tithe had to be given of the flocks or herds. As the herds and flocks went out to pasture they were counted and every tenth animal that came out was reckoned to the Lord. The owner was not allowed to search among them to find whether they were good or bad, nor could the owner change any of them. If he did change them, then the one that was chosen and the one for which it was changed were both holy and to be given unto the Lord. The Jews were not permitted to redeem the animals for money, but tithes of crops and fruits could be redeemed for money. If they did that, a fifth part of the value of the tithe had to be added. It is not as simple as most people think, is it?

The second bit of legislation concerning the tithe is found in Numbers 18:21-28. It says, "And to the sons of Levi, behold, I have given all the tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service which they perform, the service of the tent of meeting. And the sons of Israel shall not come near the tent of meeting again, lest they bear sin and die. Only the Levites shall perform the service of the tent of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity; it shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, and among the sons of Israel they shall have no inheritance. For the tithe of the sons of Israel, which they offer as an offering to the Lord, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance; therefore I have said concerning them, They shall have no inheritance among the sons of Israel. Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Moreover, you shall speak to the Levites and say to them, When you take from the sons of Israel the tithe which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall present an offering from it to the lord, a tithe of the tithe. And your offering shall be reckoned to you as the grain from the threshing floor or the full produce from the wine vat. So you shall also present an offering to the Lord from your tithes, which you receive from the sons of Israel; and from it you shall give the Lord's offering to Aaron the priest "

Thus, from this second piece of legislation concerning the tithe, we learn that the tithe of the children of Israel was to be paid to the Levites and the priests were to receive of the Levites a tithe of the tithe.

The third legislation concerning the tithe under the Law of Moses is found in Deuteronomy 12, in several verses, and this is a very interesting part of the Law. In verses 5-7, we read, "But you shall seek the Lord at the place which the Lord your God shall choose from all your tribes, to establish His name there for His dwelling, and there you shall come. And there shall you bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the contribution of your hand, your votive offerings, your freewill offerings, and the first-born of your herd and of your flock. There also you and your households shall eat before the Lord your God, and rejoice in all your undertakings in which the Lord your God has blessed you."   Here the Law taught that the tithe was to be brought to "the place which the Lord your God shall choose from all your tribes, to establish His name there for His dwelling". This would come to be Jerusalem, and there it was to be used by the one doing the offering and his household.

In Deuteronomy 14, it is taught that if the way was too long to carry the tithe to Jerusalem, it could be exchanged for money and the money taken to Jerusalem instead. Once there, it was to be spent in anything the owner chose, and whatever was bought was to be eaten by him and his household and the Levites at Jerusalem. In the third year the tithe was to be reserved and eaten at home by the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow.

    The Jews harmonized all of this legislation with a First Tithe, a Second Tithe, and a Third (or Poor) Tithe. I bring all of this up just to demonstrate that those who use the Old Testament to authorize the demand for tithing today don't even abide by the pattern that was set forth for that practice in the Old Law. Tithing is not part of the pattern for giving in worship set forth in the New Testament for Christians, and we must respect that pattern.

THE PATTERN FOR GIVING IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

In I Corinthians 16:1 & 2, Paul wrote, "Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also. On the first day of every week let each one of you put aside and save, as he may prosper, that no collections be made when I come. " The word translated as "collection" in verse 1, was a word in common use in Paul's day. It was used chiefly of religious collections for a god or a temple, which is the way that Paul is using it here. In other words, Paul was not telling the brethren in Corinth to start a savings in a jar at home. He was telling the congregation to take a formal collection on the first day of every week.

Paul did not teach one thing concerning giving in one congregation and something entirely different elsewhere. In I Corinthians 4:17, Paul said, "For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church."  Paul was telling the Corinthians the same thing that he had told the Galatians. As a matter of fact, Paul would present the Galatians as an example to the Corinthians, and the Corinthians as an example to the Macedonians, and the Corinthians and Macedonians as an example to the Romans. (Romans 15:26) There was uniformity in organization, worship, and work among the churches. They were all functioning according to the divinely revealed pattern that was being taught "everywhere in every church ".

Again, part of this pattern for worship that was being taught "everywhere in every church ", was to take a formal collection on the first day of every week, Through this collection, and only through this collection, the local congregation was enabled to do the work that the Lord had given it. It is not taught, nor should it be taught, that I Corinthians 16 presents all the scriptural usages of the first-day-of-the-week collection. Actually, it is the only passage in the New Testament that shows how churches were authorized to raise funds. Other passages in the New Testament must be studied to understand all the things for which that common treasury can be legitimately spent.

In I Corinthians 16:1 & 2, Paul emphasized the personal responsibility of every Christian to give of his means to the Lord. That is the biblical pattern. To violate it is to fall short. It is to sin. The scriptural basis for determining how much to give is "as he may prosper". In other words, a person is to give in proportion to how much he has prospered. The one who makes a large sum is expected by God to give more, monetarily, than he who makes little. Thankfully, the Lord has given us additional information that helps us to determine the amount that we will purpose to give.

    Giving is not just a matter of a local congregation being enabled to carry out its work by those funds, although that is how the funds are to be gathered. But it is also a matter of our individual stewardship. How are we going to manage the goods that God has entrusted to us?

In 2 Corinthians 8, Paul wrote of the liberality of the Macedonian churches in their giving. He wrote of them giving even out of their own "deep poverty". In verse 5, Paul explained how they did it. He wrote, "And this, not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God. " That is the key. No one will truly give "as he may prosper", until they have first given themselves completely to the Lord. That involves the realization that everything we have is God's and that we must make the best use of it in fulfilling all of our God-given responsibilities. Those responsibilities include many things in addition to being a member of a local congregation of the Lord's church; responsibilities as a citizen, a family provider, and so many more--and they are all God-given responsibilities. But God has always demanded that we put Him first.

Moving on down to verse 8 in 2 Corinthians 8, we find, "I am not speaking this as a command, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity of your love also."  Paul was simply making the point that one proof of love is how much one is willing to give and that just makes sense. It truly is an indication of one's priorities. Remember the words of Jesus from Matthew 6:19-21? Jesus said, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. "

Once again from the book of 2 Corinthians, we move to chapter 9:6 & 7, where Paul gave the following help in making the determination of how much to give. He wrote, "Now this I say, he who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly; and he who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully. Let each one do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver. "

This passage reminds me of Ecclesiastes 11:1, where we find, "Cast your bread on the surface of the waters, for you will find it after many days." God sees and is aware of all that we do and all will be rewarded. I do not believe for one minute that Paul is teaching that if you give a dollar, you will receive more dollars in return. I truly believe that to be a gross perversion of this beautiful teaching. The treasures that are laid up are treasures in heaven. That is not to say that there will not be benefit here. Of course there will. A needy brother or sister will be helped. Someone will be taught the gospel and who knows how far that might travel. But faithful stewardship of temporal goods by the child of God on earth, and that includes giving cheerfully as we have been prospered every first day of the week into the common treasury will be rewarded. In the parable of the Talents, found in Matthew 25, Jesus said that the faithful will hear, "Well done, good and faithful slave; you were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things, enter into the joy of your master. " 

Greg Litmer
Northern Ky church of Christ
Florence, Kentucky