TITHE STILL APPLIES by Mike Peralta (ebook reader for pc .TXT) 📕

Matthew 23:23, "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices – mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law -- justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former [Tithing].” (NIV)

Notice that Jesus did not fault the Pharisees for tithing. In fact, Jesus told them to not neglect tithing. Of course Jesus also emphasized not neglecting justice, mercy, and faithfulness. This is what Jesus was faulting the Pharisees about.

Also notice that when Jesus spoke Mat 23:23 He was not only talking to the Pharisees He was also talking to us. Yes us. In fact the passage from Mat 23 from verse 1 to 34 was specifically addressed to us. Notice that the Biblical passage in Mat 23:23 started with Mat 23:1, which clearly says: “Then Jesus said to the crowds and to His disciples” (Mat 23:1). So if you consider yourself to be a disciple of Jesus then He is telling you to not neglect the tithe.

Notice also what Jesus said in John 12:48-50, “He that rejecteth Me, and receiveth not My words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. 49 For I have not spoken of Myself; but the Father which sent Me, He gave Me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. 50 And I know that His commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto Me, so I speak.”

So, since Jesus told us to not neglect the tithe, and if you are not paying the tithe then you are not receiving the words of Jesus, and Jesus promises that the same word shall judge him in the last day.

It is also important to notice that if tithing were to be “done away with” then this would also mean that justice, mercy, and faithfulness (Mat 23:23) would also have to be “done away with.” As I keep saying you can’t have it both ways. The exact same scripture that declares that we should obey God about the tithe also commands us to obey God about justice, mercy, and faithfulness. And there is no way that justice, mercy, and faithfulness have “been done away with.” So here in Matthew 23:23 we have yet another scripture that says that the tithe has not been “done away with.” To twist the scriptures to mean anything else is false teaching (lying).

A parallel scripture that repeats what Matthew 23:23 teaches us is Luke 11:42. The fact that this is repeated two times in the gospels means that this teaching is very important and not to be rejected or neglected.

Luke 11:42, "Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter [justice, love] without leaving the former [Tithing] undone. (NIV)

In addition to the tithe, this passage (“without leaving the former [Tithing] undone”) emphasizes that we are also to render justice and have the love of God. So what is very significant here is that if the tithe is “done away with” then that would mean the love of God would also be “done away with.” But without the love of God none of us could be saved. Therefore there is no way that the tithe is “done away with.” God gives us these passages and repeats it twice to make sure that we know that He is very serious about the truth about these matters: justice, mercy, faithfulness, love of God, and the tithe.

Please don’t doubt God’s explicit Word, especially when it is repeated twice. And actually three times if you include Heb 7:8 which we will cover next.

Remember how satan deceived Eve. Don’t let yourself be deceived. Only satan wins by making you believe that the tithe has been “done away with.” Think about it. Without the tithe, the church is weakened, fewer people get taught about the Word of God, fewer people get saved, and as a result more people end up going to Hell. Many times churches are not established or maintained because of a lack of funds due to people not tithing and due to being deceived into thinking that the tithe is “done away with.” This lie about the tithe being “done away with” is satan’s attempt to weaken the churches and to drag more people to Hell with him. Don’t let satan fool you. Give God the full tithe, and help get more people saved as a result.

The tithe is the best investment you can make and will have rewards in eternity. Not only due to obedience to God but also because of the practical results of seeing many more people saved as a result of supporting the gospel.

Early in my Christian life I made it my lifetime goal to give God, not just the tithe, but 2/3 of my gross income.

I have not reached that level yet, but someday I truly want to reach that goal.

And why is this? Because I know that the tithe & offering money will be used to further God's kingdom here on earth.

• Because it's the best use of my money on this earth.

• Because it's the best investment I could ever make.

• Because many, many people will get saved and avoid Hell as a result of it.

• Because many, many children will get trained and as a result follow the Lord in their life.

And that's why I will continue to give God His tithes and offerings, and teach others to do likewise.

In 1 Corinthians 9:14 God says: "The Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel."

Yes he has commanded all of us to spread the gospel, but He has also commanded us to support (1 Cor. 9:14) His preachers - namely apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers -- in the church. God mentions these in His Word in Eph 4:11-13. "And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:"

If people in general do not give tithes and offerings how are all these full time positions supposed to be financed?

It is foolish to think that these preachers can be financed adequately without tithes and offerings.

I'll tell you a true story. I once was part of a small church - about 40 members. When I joined this church I gave my full tithe and offerings. Since I am an Engineer my pay is pretty good and so this church started receiving some much needed help in it's financing. (As I was paying my full tithe and a little extra in offerings. Total about 12% of me and my wife's gross salary.)

Now the pastor was also working a full time secular job - like Walmart. Not a high paying job as you can imagine. He was also fulfilling the role of pastor in this church. He had a wife and son that was also going to college. So this pastor's finances were not very high.

While I was going to this church, the church was making it financially - but only barely so. The meeting place for this church was not an expensive building. They rented a small space at a simple shopping center at a corner. Very humble and simple type of meeting place. Now as time went on I started going to another church that I felt God wanted me to go to so that my wife could fully participate more fully. (My wife felt more comfortable at another church.)

Well soon after I left the small church of 30 - 40 members the poor pastor quit because there was not enough money to keep the church going. With 40 members there should have been adequate financing for that little church. In fact if only 10 members were fully paying the tithe – that would have been enough to keep that little church going.

But as most Americans, the vast majority of the congregation were not paying the full tithe. And this resulted in one of God's good pastors to quit the ministry and for less people to receive the gospel through him – a worker that God trained (in a very good Bible school) and provided for our benefit – but one that we didn’t support as we should have. (I knew most of the congregation was not tithing properly because once or twice I helped the church treasurer count the offerings that came in.)

Now who won in this battle? Satan is the one who won. And why did he win? Because so called "Christians" were not obeying God on tithes and offerings.

The only one who wins in promoting the teaching that tithes are no longer commanded is satan. And it's foolish to claim that churches will still be supported adequately when the congregation is taught that they no longer need to pay tithes. Because of all the disobedient "Christians" out there it is even more important for people to pay the full tithe.

And people who teach that the tithe is no longer commanded only cause satan to win more battles and close more churches than he otherwise would. As a result more people don't get saved and end up going to Hell - all because people refuse to pay their tithes. And so churches have to operate in very weakened conditions - many times to the point that the church has to close down. Also even if the church remains open they have little ability to help members and the lost in much needed counseling, preaching, outreaches, etc. (And definitely, not enough to help any widows or orphans - which is part of what the early church did and what the modern church is also supposed to be doing as well.)

And notice the pastor is not the only one ministering. A good functioning church will have street evangelists, and sunday school teachers, and youth leaders, and music leaders, and counselors - all which need adequate funding to buy music equipment, sunday school supplies, gospel tracts, bibles to give to those who do not have them, etc. etc.

It is foolish to believe that a church can function properly (and I'm not talking just about the building) without the people giving tithes to support it.

 Before getting into Hebrews chapter 7 let us first look at how up to 500 witnessed (and testified) that Jesus is alive (after Christ’s resurrection):

1 Corinthians 15:3-8, For I delivered to you as of first importance what I