Welcome to the Further Gospel podcast, where we are all about sound doctrine for everyday people. My name is Kosti Hinn, and on today's episode, we're jumping into the topic of tithing. A lot of people have been asking questions of our team: uh, what is tithing, or do I have to give 10%? Or what if I give more? What if I give less? Am I going to be cursed if I don't give enough money? Uh, what if a pastor says that we have to tithe and that tithing is commanded? How do I make sense of all of this? And I want to answer that question on today's episode and help you get an understanding for what is tithing? Uh, did Jesus say we have to tithe? What does Paul say about New Testament giving? And then also explain tithing in the Old Testament so we can make some applications on this episode and get this right. Because, like you, we believe that generosity is the mark of a Christian. Christians are generous. Uh, the more uh resources we pour into the kingdom of God, if you will, and gospel work, it helps the gospel go forth when we send missionaries to different places. Uh, we see that all over the New Testament. Paul and many others were supported by people. Uh, Paul even supported himself. He was a tent maker, and all of it allowed him to continue to do gospel work. And we love the local church for the gospel. I know many of you love your local church, and so we should be giving. The question is, how? And then do we understand the difference between New Testament generosity and Old Testament tithing? So here's a passage you might hear once in a while by a tithe-pushing preacher. And I'm not saying all these guys are evil and heretics. There's a lot of them who will use this to abuse people, but some of them are well-intentioned, and some people hold this theological position. But preachers will often use Malachi chapter three, verses eight to ten, and they'll say this in sort of a pre-sermon offering message. Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing me, but you say, How have we robbed you? in tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. This is God speaking through Malachi. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and test me now in this, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. Malachi three, eight through ten. This again is the usual passage of choice for a tithe pushing pastor, and whether the offering message lasts ten minutes or thirty minutes, what usually follows is an encouragement to tithe, or in unfortunate cases, a threat that if you do not tithe, God is going to curse you. So I want to look at what a tithe means and then make some easy obligations once we understand the text. First, tithing simply means the tenth part or one tenth. We see the tithe instituted in the Bible and the Old Testament law. And in a few select cases before the law, when someone made vows or one-time offerings, like in Genesis 14 and Genesis 28, uh, the tithe would involve a percentage of one's livestock, seed, or produce. And so when we study the Old Testament law for tithing, we can discover some foundational truths. I want to share some of these with you. And all of them have cross-references, and uh we will have this posted in a blog on our uh social media pages and our website as well. But the total tithes would have conservatively been well over 20%. Some scholars push that even in the 30% range when the multiple tithes are added up from Leviticus 27, uh, Numbers 18, verse 21 and 24. Deuteronomy 14 uh talks a great deal from verses 22 to 29 about different tithes. But basically, um, the idea that it's just 10% and you're good is not really even accurate if we're talking about tithing in the Old Testament sense. So when someone says you have to tithe, or if you don't give 10% of your income, you're gonna be under a curse. Uh, if we really want to be accurate with tithing, we should tell people they need to be giving around 20 to 30 percent, or they'll be cursed. Although I'm certainly not advocating for that, and we're gonna keep digging in. Uh, next, Numbers 1824. What was tithing for? The priesthood wasn't allowed to own land. They weren't allowed to have an inheritance. And so the tithe provided for their living and their needs. Does that sound like modern-day pastors to you? No. We're allowed to own cars, we're allowed to own houses. Uh, and so while we want to give, and certainly we have vocational ministry, and you don't want to, as Paul said, muzzle the ox while he's treading the grain, and elders who rule well, especially in preaching and teaching, are worthy of double honor, Paul says. Uh, there's nothing wrong with monetary compensation in the New Testament church, but the idea that we have to tithe, because our pastors or quote, our priesthood is not allowed to own anything, doesn't translate from the Old Testament to the new. Next, the tithes were sort of a taxation system. They helped provide for the poor, annual festivals and the operation again of the priesthood system. We see that in Deuteronomy 14. We see it in Nehemiah 12, 44. And then also, tithing did not primarily involve money except for certain circumstances. We see that in Deuteronomy 14, 25. So if tithing is mandated today, then why don't we all just bring our red and green peppers to the church? Or why don't we all just bring our cattle to the parking lot and stick them all in the parking lot and then say, hey, we're good, we just tithed. Because it wasn't even primarily involving money. And so that doesn't translate as well. Uh, another thing, Malachi 3.9, tithing was viewed as mandated. And if you didn't tithe, it was defiant disobedience to God. So there is a principle there with giving and following what God has instructed us to do with our resources, and we'll get to that shortly too. Uh, another thing, 1 Chronicles 27, 25 to 27, this is one of my favorite things to unpack. Uh, tithing, like the produce and all those things, would have been kept in a literal storehouse for proper distribution, not a pastor's bank account, not a modern day church building or a banking institution. These were literal storehouses. And then Malachi 3.10 actually says, uh, bring the whole tithe into the storehouse so that there may be food in my house. And so if we're gonna say the storehouse is the church or God's house, we need to realize that God views the storehouse and his house as distinctly separate. And so, with all of those small points in mind, uh, I think we can draw a big conclusion here. First, Israel gave primarily of its produce, seed, and livestock. The priests were supported by the tithes because they weren't allowed to own things, tithing far exceeded 10%. It was law, it was like a taxation system for caring for the nation of Israel, and storehouses were literal. They were not spiritual, they were not references to the temple in a specific sense, and they were not certainly references to any future church or building in modern days. So that about squashes uh as many misapplied teachings as you might hear. But let me go through a list of some ways that the tithe is misapplied today. Uh, some of these are more dangerous than others, but all of them are worth noting. Again, the storehouse in Malachi 310 is often taught to be God's house, the church, or the pastor's bank account. Uh, people will insist that a 10% tithe is law, but they'll leave out all the other other laws on tithing and offering. And so only give 10%. If it's law and it's mandated for the New Testament church, we need to be giving way more. Um, they'll teach that tithing is taught as a command in the New Testament and threaten people with divine judgment if they do not give first fruits offerings or 10% this and 10% that. Uh, tithing is sometimes accompanied by a special promise of like anointing, or hey, I'm gonna uh ask God to give you this and he will. And so we tell people at times in churches, you're gonna get a job promotion, you're gonna get debt freedom, or even the salvation of loved ones. That would be one of the more dangerous approaches to tithing and promising people things that the Bible does not say. Uh, another thing that people will sometimes do is they'll avoid Paul's instruction on giving and they'll favor teaching from the law on tithing. And sometimes people will conclude that because Jesus didn't denounce it, that we have to still do it. Uh, we see Jesus mention tithing, but only in the concept of scolding the Pharisees, like in Matthew 23, 23, uh, bringing up different uh references like Luke 11, 42 as well. None of it at all is proof that Jesus mandated tithing or even approved it for the church. All of that was pre-cross. This is before Jesus died, this is before Pentecost, this is before the New Testament church is established, and so Jesus is operating in a Jewish system, talking with Pharisees and others as a Jew about these concepts. And when he did bring them up with the Pharisees, he was explaining that they were hypocrites, that they were oppressing people with laws that they didn't even keep themselves, they were showboating with their tithing. And so we can't take an honest interpretive leap into presuming the church has to tithe simply because Jesus was scolding the Pharisees under the system of Jewish law. So can we assume that the church has to tithe and it's mandated to give 10% or else? No. I think there are a lot of interpretive holes in that argument, theologically speaking. I think we need to be very careful to mandate certain numbers on people, like the law. And I think we need to go to the New Testament to see how the New Testament church is to give. And so the question is, how should we be giving today if we're no longer, quote, under the law when it comes to giving? Well, thankfully, the New Testament does teach on giving, and we find a lot of clarity and freedom from Paul. Basically, uh, he says in 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and 2 Corinthians chapter 9, a great deal about giving. I want to go through a list of these things that will free you up to either uh be rid of the mandated burden of giving 10% and breaking your back to give what you don't have. Some people go into debt to give to the church because they have to make the 10% quota. But I also want to free some of you up to give generously. I was talking to a friend recently who was uh explaining to me some of the challenges he has when he's talking to you know different people and donors and whatnot. And he was asked a question one time by somebody who is incredibly wealthy. And they said, Hey, so if I give you know 4% to your nonprofit, uh I'm still good to give 6% to my church. I'm good, right? That still counts as 10% if I'm giving to you know your nonprofit and then my church. And my friend had the opportunity to shed some light on the heart of giving. This man he was talking to was a millionaire, and he was nickel and diming how to get to his 10% by giving 4% to my friend's nonprofit and 6% to his local church. And so my friend began to talk to him and say, brother, uh, you can pick 10% as a principal, you can pick it as a baseline if you'd like, but I want you to view us as your above and beyond. I want you to view your church as something you give lavishly and generously to. And then he pushed a little further and to be honest, you know, shared with him the reality that he could probably give even more. And that nickel and diming to get your 10% isn't like checking a box. That would be like reading the Bible, just to check the box off in your daily reading and go, well, I read the Bible, I read the words on the page, but not meditating on scripture, not uh loving God with your heart, your mind, your soul, not worshiping him with all that you are, but treating it like a checklist. And so let's look at some things that shed light on how we are to give in the New Testament. First, 2 Corinthians 8, verse 1 would help us see we give as the result of the grace of God. Uh, Paul is explaining that God has been so generous with his grace and he's poured it out on our lives, and now we're able to give because of his grace. Uh, two, we see that we do still give in tough times and in poverty. 2 Corinthians 8, verse 2, and in the uh the rest of verse 2 and on through the chapter, you see the result of the church. Uh, these poor Christians who are so excited to give, and they're giving out of their poverty. And so that doesn't mean they went into debt to give, it just means that they were excited to give, even though they only had a little bit. It was so fun for them to participate in giving. 2 Corinthians 8, verse 2, and also chapter 9, verse 7 remind us that how are we to give? Uh joyfully and cheerfully, not freaked out because the pastor threatened a curse, not nickel and diming to get to your 10% and be done with it, but joyfully, excitedly, seeing that God is using you and the resources he's given you, by the way, in order to further his work. Uh, fourth, we're to give based on ability. 2 Corinthians 8, verse 3 makes that clear based on what we've given, the been given the ability to give, if you will. So we're not looking at mandated percentages. This frees us up if the Lord has been very gracious in giving us abundance to give abundantly in our ability. And it also frees us up not to feel burdened or shame if we don't have a great ability to give right now, but we're just giving what we can. Uh, 2 Corinthians 8, 3 as well, points to sacrificial giving. Uh, people sometimes will say, you know, give till it hurts or whatever. Uh, I'm not saying that all of those type of cliches are the way we should always give in the sense of, you know, give your kids college tuition away, uh, you know, then it'll really hurt. That sacrifice, no. But I'm saying there are times where we may go without in our lives in order that others may have. And so this will certainly be applied very differently in your home, in mine. The Holy Spirit will lead you in that. But it's important to ask: have I sacrificed lately for someone else? Is my giving a reflection of something that I have given up? And I'm giving it away to someone else. Uh, another way to give, 2 Corinthians 8, verse 3 and chapter 9, verse 7. Again, you're seeing a theme with 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, voluntarily, not by way of manipulation or compulsion. You shouldn't be arm twisted, forced. Uh, we should be talked to about giving if we're not. Somebody might come alongside us and say, hey, you know, I noticed that you're pretty vocal about uh, you know, you're not giving or you don't care. The church just wants to steal money from people, or uh, you know, the church can have your time, but it's not going to get your money. Uh, you know, have you looked at what the Bible says about generosity? And that might be a good conversation, uh, but it's eventually the person's choice voluntarily to give. We don't want to manipulate or push people into compulsion. Uh 2 Corinthians 8, verse 4, we should give with a sense of eager participation and gospel work. So you want to look at where you're giving. What is my money going towards? What is being accomplished? Is this gospel work? Uh verse 5 of 2 Corinthians 8, out of love for the Lord. Lord, I love you. I want to give to your work. Verse 6 of 2 Corinthians 9, generously as the Lord provides. And 2 Corinthians 9, verses 10 and 11, we trust God to replenish what is given so more can be given. You picture it like this: if the Lord puts something in your left hand, you keep your right hand open and you give with that hand. You never close one. It's like an ecosystem. I'm given so I can give. I am, quote, blessed to be a blessing. That is a statement that should never be far from our lives. The only reason we've been given anything is to give. We've been given resources. We've been given spiritual gifts, we've been given time, we've been given opportunity. All of these things are for the glory of God. And so we do have to look at our money not as something that is mine or yours. It's ours. We need to look at our money as something that God has given us as a manager. The Bible teaches that He owns a cattle on a thousand hills. He reprimands Israel in the book of Deuteronomy, saying, It is I, or it is God, who has given you the ability to earn wealth. So even if you're wealthy, it is God who has given you that ability, and you get the privilege and honor of giving generously. Uh, last illustration I want to give on this that could help us apply. Think of it this way: giving 10% could be undergiving for a millionaire, but back breaking for somebody in poverty. But if both were to give the way the New Testament instructs, yeah, a millionaire or billionaire could give upwards of 80% and still have a massive surplus, while the impoverished and sacrificial giver may give two to three percent and be completely stepping out in faith. God sees the heart, God sees the sacrifice, God sees the intent, not the amount. When we make it all about amounts, we've gone down a slippery slope. God is interested in your heart. He wants my heart. That is why giving is worship. And so we don't need to worry about the numbers so much as we need to focus on our worship. Uh some people may desire to use 10% as a baseline, or I've heard of this before, a group of leaders committing to giving a certain amount together to support the church. That's great, but none of this is mandated, quote, tithing. It's simply a commitment. So when I talk to Christians who say, hey, by way of principle, uh I start my baseline with giving at 10%, and we've seen the Lord continue to increase and to bless us to be a blessing to others. There's nothing wrong with that. Uh conversely, we should not be teaching people that, hey, if you give 10%, exactly, just watch. God is gonna flood your life with more money and more this and more that. We should give like the Macedonians in 2 Corinthians 8 and 2 Corinthians 9. Uh, see that Paul is writing under the mandated guidance of the Holy Spirit Himself. And so we just need to trust the God who wrote the Bible, and we simply need to give the way he instructs. When we do that, it is refreshingly different than so many of the burdensome and Pharisaic mandates that people throw at us, just like the New Testament Pharisees were, when Jesus reprimanded them and said, Stop putting burdens on people that you yourself don't even keep. The Macedonians were poor. They gave like they were rich. There's a pretty popular passage, 2 Corinthians 8, verse 9, and it says, He became poor that we might become rich. Prosperity gospel preachers will often use this passage to say, Hey, look, Jesus gave up everything so you could have everything. He became poor so you could be rich. That is about the worst hermeneutics you could ever employ to interpret such a simple passage. He became poor, so we become rich means he gave his life. He become he became broke, if you will. He gave up the glory of heaven. He left the right hand of the Father so you could become rich with grace. He's talking about the generosity of grace. Jesus gave up everything for us. So let us give in the same heart and spirit as he gave his life generously. It's not about getting rich, it's about what we can give. Jesus was the perfect picture of generosity. And so when you think about giving, I don't want you thinking about mandated tithes and threats from God, and you're gonna be cursed if you don't give 10%. I simply want you to be an immense blessing to your local church and think about the grace of God poured out on your life. Pray and ask God to lead you in your giving and then give generously and sacrificially. And if the Lord has provided you with a great deal more, then by all means, Christian, give more and trust God with the results. Thank you for listening to this episode and digging in. I know that was some heavy material on tithing, but I hope that it blesses you. This article is in our blog queue as well, so you can check it out by clicking on categories and either clicking on money or tithing. And if you have an American gospel subscription, there's a full video episode that I did for the Freedom series, and you can watch that as well and share that teaching with somebody who needs it. Thank you so much for your support. Thank you to those who have been so generous with us above and beyond your local church commitment. We are grateful and we are committed to continuing to put out gospel resources to serve you well. For more, go to furthegospel.org. If this podcast continues to bless you, be sure to leave a written review that helps us with search engine visibility. Otherwise, we'll see you on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, and the like. Keep on living and hey, keep on giving for the gospel and the glory of God. We'll see you next week with another episode.