Welcome to the For the Gospel Podcast, where we provide sound doctrine for everyday people. I'm your host, Kosti Hinn. And whether you're listening to this on your favorite podcast platform or watching on our YouTube channel, I'm thankful that you joined me for this episode. We've got part three of our series on money, and I want to talk to you today about one of the most abused and important Christian teachings when it comes to money. The topic is tithing. And by that I mean tithing 10%. The usual passage of choice for most tithe pushing preachers is Malachi chapter 3, verse 8. And if you grew up like I did or you've been around church circles like this, there's the typical pre-sermon message you might hear on a Sunday morning before the offering is taken. And it could last any number of minutes. If you they're merciful to you, it's just a couple of minutes if uh they're pushing it pretty hard. You might have the 30-minute tithing sermon before the actual sermon. You could probably recite it with me. You've heard it so many times if you grew up in some of these types of churches, whether different denominations, but especially in prosperity gospel or business style churches, really hustling. Uh, even if they try to say it's a holy hustle, it's a hustle. And the sermon starts a little something like this. Now I want to talk to you this morning before we take the tithes and the offerings. Turn in your Bible to Malachi chapter three, and I want you to ask yourself, am I robbing God? Because if you're not tithing 10%, you are robbing God. God cannot bless, which you will not release. You know, all of that kind of stuff. Sorry if you're having uh a little PTSD there. Whether it lasts 10 minutes or 30 minutes, what follows that little introduction is an application of a passage from the Bible of which God speaks through the prophet Malachi to the people of Israel about their spiritual condition at that time. This is before the coming of the Messiah, Jesus, and God is displeased with the people concerning their defiled sacrifices. That's in Malachi 1.7. And then they're profaning his name. They've got corrupted priests, and they're blatantly disobedient. That's all over the book of Malachi, Malachi 1.12, Malachi 2.9, Malachi 3.8 to 15. So it's excellent prophetic literature to preach in a church. And there's so much to learn about Israel, God's character, and the coming of Christ, but it's not a tool that should be used to peddle the tithe in modern-day churches that if you don't give your 10%, you're going to be under the curse of Malachi 3.9, you know, in that you have to bring the tithes into the storehouse, or else, you know, if you're not doing Malachi 3.9 or Malachi 3.10, and by storehouse they mean bring it on in to the pastor's bank account, you are going to be cursed. It's not true. When it comes to tithing, so much is assumed because of ignorance or bad Bible teaching. Some say tithing is a command from the Old Testament that carries over to the New Testament. Others say it's just a useful principle, while others insist on certain eras of church history being our model for tithing. And then finally, there are those who simply believe they must tithe because it's what they've always been told, but they've never actually studied. And so I want to answer some important Bible questions, not assumptions. And perhaps these answers that you find in this episode alleviate a heavy burden that you've been carrying on this topic, or it frees you up to give joyfully and excitedly and generously and liberally, even, but now in a way that's informed. What is a tithe? Let's start there. A tithe simply means a tenth. The word tithe literally means the tenth part. And we see tithe instituted in the Bible, in the Old Testament law, in a few select cases before the law, uh, when some made vows and one-time offerings, but once the law was instilled, you had the tithe. In Genesis 14 20 and Genesis 28, 22, you have these vows, you have one-time offerings, things of that sort. And then the tithe is instituted. It involved a percentage of one's livestock, seed, or produce. When the Old Testament law for the tithe is studied, we discover some foundational truths that cannot be overlooked. We need to understand first what the tithe was. Now, first of all, total tithes would have been conservatively, key word, conservatively. I'm undershooting here on purpose, over 20%. When you add up the multiple tithes in Leviticus 27, 30 to 32, Numbers 18, Numbers 24, Deuteronomy 14, 22 to 27, Deuteronomy 14, 28 and 29, you've got upwards, over, well over 20%. So if we're going to push tithing, stop saying 10%. If that's what you're going to do biblically, you want to be accurate? Why don't you start hustling people for 20%, maybe even 25 to 28? Some scholars say upwards of 30. Let's have that conversation before we start saying that it's a mandated thing that modern Christians better give 10% or God won't bless them. We need to figure this out. Then also number two. So the tithe was purposed to provide for their living and their needs. That's in numbers 1824. Well, nowadays, uh, I don't know about you, but last time I checked, I'm allowed to own a house or I'm allowed to own a farm, or you're uh, if you're in ministry, allowed to own your vehicle. You are allowed to own land. You're also allowed to leave an inheritance for your children. So if you want to live by the tithe, well, you need to die by the tithe. And you need to give up your possessions and stop owning uh a home for some guys. Actually, a lot of these guys, they pedal so much they own, you know, multiple properties, and then they've got a bunch of land, and then they've got a few extra cars. So stop owning real estate. You're not allowed to own businesses, you can own nothing, and you're not going to leave an inheritance. So the tithe actually would provide for your family's needs. Very important. Also, the tithe, number three, acted as a kind of taxation system that helped provide for the poor, annual festivals, and the operation of the governing priesthood system. So you had in like a governmental system here with tithing, in a sense. Deuteronomy 14, verses 22 to 29 and Nehemiah 12, 44 explain that. That God, under his theocratic rule, said, You're gonna give this amount. You've got to give 10% of your livestock, your produce, these things, because this is gonna be a kind of system in which people will get the help. We're gonna help the poor. Number four, tithing did not primarily involve money except for certain circumstances. Deuteronomy 14, 25. There were instances where money was involved, but most of the time the tithe was attached to provision. Number five, I believe, withholding the tithe was viewed as defiant disobedience in God's eyes. So certainly withholding giving what we're supposed to give. Next, tithes, as in produce and other items like that, would have been kept in a literal storehouse for proper distribution. In 1 Chronicles 27, verses 25 to 27, if you read that passage, you'll see actual references to storehouses and what God actually viewed those to be, which then leads to my final point on this that we need to understand. It's God views the storehouse and his house as distinctly separate. Malachi 3.10 is really clear. The storehouse is one thing, God's house is another. So when people peddle this stuff, they're not thinking about how the storehouse and God's house operated and that they're distinct. They just lump it all together and they tell everyone to bring their 10% and giving it to the church is bringing it to the storehouse. It's just a lot of bad exegesis. So, with all of that in mind, let me just draw some biblical conclusions here based on everything I just walked you through. Israel gave of its produce, seed, and livestock. True. The priests were supported by tithes because they were not allowed to own things. True. Tithing far exceeded 10%. True. Tithing was law, much like a taxation system caring for the nation of Israel. True. Storehouses were literal, not spiritual references to the temple. They were literal storehouses to keep the stuff in them to provide for the people. True. So if you just have that as a baseline, it's already going to tear down a lot of the bad teaching that's out there. But I want to ask this how is Old Testament teaching misapplied today on this topic? First of all, anytime someone is misinterpreting the Bible, we need to be careful not to jump to aggressive conclusions. I would say no one is a heretic for getting certain things wrong, but error is serious and it can mislead people. So I want to think through this from the issue of stewardship and the issue of pastors doing the work to study and know why they're teaching certain things or why you might hold to a 10% tithe. You better know what you're talking about and what you're arguing because otherwise you just look silly. And more than that, you're technically lying because you're not delivering truth or arguing from an angle that's founded on truth. Second, we've got to determine what people are teaching and why. Is this just something you're parroting because somebody else told you? Is this a theological position that you've landed on through study and exegesis, and now you're uh teaching it with conviction and you can argue for it? Is it based on some principles historically? Is it based on tradition? I mean, really thinking through why people teach what they teach is important, and we should be thinking through that as we talk about this topic. I want to just give you some common ways that tithing is misapplied today. Some are more dangerous than others, but all are worth noting. Number one, the storehouse in Malachi 310 is taught to be God's house, the church, or in many cases, the pastor's bank account. It's not true. The storehouse in Malachi 3.10 is not the church, and it's not the pastor. So when you say tithe, then bring it on into the storehouse. If you're robbing God, you're not giving to the church, then you're in disobedience. You've conflated that there is a command to give with this passage in Malachi 3.10, and the word storehouse has nothing to do with the church today. Second, insisting that a 10% tithe is law while leaving out all the other laws on tithes and offerings, well, that's just flat out wrong, too. You can't institute a 10% tithe as law and say that's what God's commanded without including all the others. So at least be consistent. Another error, tithing being taught as a command for New Testament churchgoers, and then threatening them with judgment if they don't give 10% gross on all their income. I mean, this is what you hear in a lot of churches. If you don't give, God won't bless you. If you don't give 10%, God won't, and then fill in the blank. I mean, it gets crazy. Protect you, favor you, give you a job promotion, save your children, make you fertile, help you overcome that situation, heal you. I mean, it gets downright abusive. So we want to be careful with the threats of judgment. Also, another error that tithing is accompanied by some special anointing that can unlock special blessings like job promotions, debt freedom, or salvation of loved ones. You cannot teach that if you give, then God will do this, this, and that in relation to things that are, you know, like you rack up a bunch of debt. Oh, well, if you start tithing, money will start showing up to your house. Like those bad, bad Peter Popoff infomercials at 2 a.m. in the morning where he's selling holy water and people are saying, I've been in debt. It's literally consumer debt, bad money decisions, which is why people, those people probably need this series. And then, well, I started tithing to Peter Popoff, and randomly checks just started showing up to my house. These are paid actors, and they're deceived. Also, another error avoiding Paul's instructions on giving in favor of teaching Old Testament law. Like, why would you abandon 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and chapter 9? And the beautiful picture of giving that Paul gives to just pummel people with the law. Lastly, concluding that because Jesus didn't denounce tithing, that we have to still do it. So that begs the question: did Jesus talk about tithing? Well, just because he didn't denounce it doesn't mean that we have to do it. And just because he mentioned it doesn't mean we we have to tithe, and now it's just all the same. Did he talk about tithing? The answer is yes. There's a select few New Testament passages that bring up the tithe. None of them command the church to do it. And some people insist on tithing in the modern church just based on the fact that Jesus didn't denounce it, and because he mentions it, well, just because he mentions it doesn't mean that it applies to the church. In Matthew 23, 23, and then in Luke 11, 42, tithing is brought up. However, what Jesus said in certain situations was like the scolding in Matthew 23, 23 of the Pharisees had more to do with calling them hypocrites than mandating the tithe as a command for the church. The Pharisees would keep one aspect of the law but turn around and break another for their own gain. And so they were oppressing people. Jesus rebuking them and mentioning the fact that they tithe, but they're really just hypocrites, doesn't mean that the church is mandated to give 10%. You've got to make sure you're not jumping to random conclusions or holding a position simply because Jesus mentioned something. Jesus mentioned a lot of things, and there are things that he mentions we should not do. So we want to really be careful. You can't take an honest interpretive leap into presuming the church has to tithe based on Jesus mentioning tithe. Why? Well, it's pre-cross, pre-Pentecost, pre-the covenant of grace. So you got to be very careful to use Jesus' words as an argument for tithing, I believe is a slippery slope when you understand the context. Now, can tithing be assumed for the church? Let's think through that. Some will argue that the New Testament church would have already known about tithing because they were familiar with Jewish law and they assumed it to be a rule of thumb, or that at the very least, it would be a principle that they could apply as an essential practice to obey. Now, aside from numerous interpretive holes in this argument, one glaring oversight is that the church was not comprised of merely Jews, and obedience to the law was not the focus of the church. Christ was. So Paul, you know, is assigned to the Gentiles, and the early church is packed with Gentile converts, and so you can't say, well, it was assumed because it was Jewish practice. Hello, so was circumcision. And what does Paul say about that? He rips the Judaizers and he goes after the Galatians and says, quit mixing your works. So we can't say, well, it was just assumed because it was Jewish practice. If tithing was something for the early church to carry on from Jewish law, then why didn't Paul teach tithing in his letters to the Corinthians, the Galatians, the Colossians? In fact, he rebukes the behavior and the beliefs of the Judaizers and these people mixing the works of the law with the gospel of Jesus Christ. So we can't use that argument. We actually have to say, what does Paul teach about giving? And now we're in trouble in a good way. It's grace-filled, new covenant-focused, gospel-centered, giving, no longer under the compulsory command of the law, even though we want to obey the law, God's laws are not burdensome, but this idea that if I don't, I'm under a curse, or what some pastors will say about having to give 10% or else, rather, you're now free to give more. You give out of your heart. So how should we be giving today? If we base our teaching and our giving on the proper context about what the New Testament actually teaches, you're going to find so much clarity and so much freedom. And I think that many churches are scared to loosen the noose on tithing from their people for fear that no one will give. In other words, they assume that instead of giving bountifully, generously, and liberally as the Spirit leads, because we trust Him in faith to just tell the people, this is what God's called us to, here's the heart that we're to give with. Now obey God as He leads you. Oh no, that's too scary. Because if we don't demand 10% or set numbers to it, well, we can't really then project and have our spreadsheets and we can't manipulate the masses to do whatever we want with. Listen, you got to trust the Lord. I think that's a pretty pessimistic pessimistic view. Thinking low of Christians and their propensity to obey the Bible rather than give them the teaching and they're filled with the Holy Spirit. So let them loose. And also, it neglects to remember that giving generously is still very much part of the Christian life. So we're not worried about fear-mongering for the 10%. We're teaching the word of God, and then people are enacting it. So when properly instructed, I believe true believers want to do what's right. And if we teach the Bible properly, I think giving will increase. One thing I'll say to you, experientially, we've seen this at our church. I have never pushed some 10% tithing as a rule. I have never said on a Sunday morning, I'm gonna need every single one of you to increase your giving by $5, $10, $500. Some of y'all can give a thousand more, some of y'all can give $10,000 more, some of y'all can give $10,000, $20. I never. I've never had to pedal for anything and we're a church plant. And God has blessed the church's socks off, so to speak, because the people of God just give generously out of their heart of love for Him and their desire to see the kingdom advance. I have never had to set that. Do we talk about giving? Yeah, from the Bible when we're in texts that speak to giving. Have we talked about it in our membership classes? Of course. We set what the expectations are, just like serving, fellowshipping, discipling, preserving unity, and attending the gathering of the saints. We teach on giving like we would teach on baptism, to obey God as a believer. But never have we had to peddle. And God has continued to build and strengthen the church. People giving from the heart always beats people giving, having been arm twisted into it. And I want you to think of it this way when it comes to the way Paul describes giving, giving 10% could be undergiving for some and backbreaking for others. But if we give the way the New Testament instructs, uh billionaires might give upwards of 50%, 60%, 70%, 80% and still have a massive surplus. And the impoverished giver could sacrificially lay aside 2%, 3%, 1%, and be stepping out in faith. And God sees the heart and their sacrifice, not the amount. Now, some people want to use 10% as a baseline, just practically. Fine. That's great. If people want to commit to that together, but none of that is mandated tithing. It's simply a commitment to say, look, I can totally live off 90% of my income. I can easily do 10% as a baseline, and then we'll give above and beyond that. Praise God. There's nothing wrong with that. But the pastor should not be standing up saying, you have to give 10% because God's word says you have to. When the Holy Spirit speaks through Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and chapter 9, there are some incredible truths that emerge. Let me just lay these out as we wrap this up. Number one, we are to give as a result of the grace of God. That's 2 Corinthians 8 1. We give because God's been gracious. Number two, we give in tough times and in poverty. 2 Corinthians 8, verse 2, and really clear throughout kind of that passage, but it starts there that these impoverished Christians in Macedonia were so eager to give out of their poverty. And so if they could give as poor people, we can give when we're going through challenging times, because it's not about how big the gift is, it's about the sacrifice and the heart, like the widows might. Number three, we give joyfully and cheerfully. 2 Corinthians 8, verse 2, they were so eager, these poor Christians, but also in chapter 9, verse 7, God loves a cheerful giver to be excited about it. You might feel it, but deep down you're saying, you know, this is what's right. Number four, it's based on ability and not mandated percentages. 2 Corinthians 8, verse 3 says we give out of what we've been given. It's based on ability. It's not a mandated percentage. Again, when you mandate a percentage, you're shortchanging a lot of folks that could give way more, and they're, oh, I can give 10 and be done, and now I'm gonna be blessed. Awesome. I've obeyed, see ya. Meanwhile, for someone else, it's just back breaking. But if the body of Christ is an ecosystem and some are saying, I I can, I'm able to give so much, and so I'm going to, and others say, I can't give a Oh, what a beautiful picture emerges. Number five, sacrificially. You look at 2 Corinthians 8, verse 3, and you see a sacrifice, a heart that says, I want to give and I want to feel it. I want to know that I've done something that gives up for me to advance what belongs to God. Number six, voluntarily, not by way of manipulation or compulsion. This is Paul's command that you are to give not under compulsion. No arm twisting, no guilt tripping, just because you love God and want to see his kingdom advance. Number seven, with a sense of eager participation in gospel work. That's 2 Corinthians chapter 8, verse 4. You want to partner with gospel work and see the beautiful and glorious gospel of Jesus Christ advance. Number eight, out of love for the Lord. That's 2 Corinthians 8, verse 5. There's this joy and love for God. Number nine, generously as the Lord provides. As the Lord increases increases you, according to 2 Corinthians 9, 6, you want to give more. You want to sow bountifully because he's given you more. That's a wonderful way to live. Not because you're mandated under this controlling percentage, but because you say, as I increase, Lord, and you bless me with more, oh, I want to be giving more. And number 10, we give, trusting God to replenish what has been given so more can be given. We don't have this poverty mentality like God can't give more. Second Corinthians 9 verses 10 and 11, we're trusting him to give back, not so we can say, Oh, I gave a hundredfold and he or I gave I gave a tenth and he gave me a hundredfold, and I'm this and I'm this start saying a bunch of weird stuff. No. But that God would replenish what's been given. And so you give abundantly, and if he blesses you abundantly, if you give sparingly and he still blesses you with some, we're just excited that we get to keep giving and participating in what God is doing. It's a refreshing take, hopefully for some of you. It's a liberating position for others, and for some, maybe this challenges you and even frustrates you because you think, well, Cossi, if you say this stuff, come on. Now people are just gonna think they don't have to give. I disagree with you completely because I believe that if you teach the Bible properly, people full of the Spirit are gonna walk in obedience to the Spirit of God to bring honor to Christ. Trust the Word of God, and then trust God's people to unleash God's resources for the advancement of God's kingdom. When properly understood in context and faithfully taught with conviction, the Old Testament scriptures, the New Testament scriptures, what Jesus said, what the apostles have taught, and what the church is to do, all of it is clear and we could be biblically balanced, generous, eager, sacrificial givers. And so I hope that helps some of you who have been used, abused, or misled by the mandated 10% will a man rob God. And now you go on with joy. And if you want to use that as a principle and a baseline, God bless you. But know this it's about the heart. And so it starts there. Thanks for listening. Thanks for watching, thanks for sharing, and thanks for supporting for the gospel. Don't forget, we're in the middle of this series still. I've got more episodes to come on wise investing and saving and planning for the future, and then of course, answering your questions. So keep on sending those in. We've already got a number of them. You can DM them to the FTG account or to mine. Uh, shoot us a message. We'd love to answer your questions, and I'll be walking you through all of those answers to finish out this series in the weeks ahead. I'll be back next Monday with another episode. Keep on living for the gospel.