Hebrews 7.3 Part 2
February 9th 2014
Welcome.
Continuing on in our efforts to give legs to our faith, we are going to begin with a prayer by ___________ and then we will have the opportunity to hear a sermonette by ______________.
Afterward, I’ll come back up and we’re going to pause together and remember the Lord.
COMMUNION
Last month I made the decision to stop holding communion in a regular (or regulated basis).
The reason is I think it is by job to do all I can to make sure the people who come to this building are establishing a relationship (one on one) with the Lord.
If we look to the Old Testament we discover that ritual always ended up taking human beings further from their walk with God . . . and not closer.
So we will not allow communion to become a ritual here – but a rite, or a non-standardized memorial that we will do as an outward expression of our inward faith and devotion.
And this afternoon is one of these moments.
So let’s first listen to Jesus seven statements on the cross to sort of help set the tone, and then we will come back from there.
SEVEN STATEMENTS ON THE CROSS HERE
Before us we have unleavened bread and wine (alcoholic and non). These are the elements Jesus told His disciples to eat and drink whenever they gathered together in remembrance of Him.
And He told them they would do this until His return.
Being that we have not experienced our second coming of Christ (or His return in our lives) we now invite any and all who wish to commemorate their love and devotion to Jesus for shedding His blood and giving His life on the cross for them to come forward and partake of these elements.
(COMMUNION – Please play “take eat while the congregates receive the bread and wine)
PRAYER
Alright . . .
MELCHI-TZDEK
We’re in Hebrews chapter 7
And while we approach scripture in a verse by verse manner I think we are going to benefit most by taking a chunk of passages, reading them as a whole, consider the point, and then go back and hit the highlights of the verse by verse.
Last week we were reintroduced to the biblical character Melchizedek.
So let’s re-read some of the writer of Hebrews descriptions of him, and then push out through verse eleven where he makes a point about this High Priest using tithing paid to Him.
This is what the King James has to say:
1 For this Melchizedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him;
2 To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace;
3 Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.
4 Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils.
5 And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham:
6 But he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises.
7 And without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better.
8 And here men that die receive tithes; but there he receiveth them, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth.
9 And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, payed tithes in Abraham.
10 For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him.
11 If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?
We’ve already talked about verse one (and actually verses 2-3) but there is one line (in verse 2) that launches us into this discussion on tithes that Abraham paid to Melchizedek. It says:
2 To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all . . .
This is referring to one tenth of all the spoils which Abraham had taken from the various mauradering Kingd.
When a person pays a tithe to another there is an implied hierarchy present.
I’m not so sure the intent of Abraham in paying this tithe. Certainly it could have been because he recognized how holy and righteous Melchizedek was relative to his own person (which also leads me to believe Abraham knew Melchizedek was a truly holy apparition rather than an actual man) OR Abraham could have paid the tithe to Melchizedek as a symbol of gratitude to God for being delivered (which would mean Melchizedek could have then been a regular old flesh and blood person.
But here is the big point of the act people use today:
Giving a tenth part of income or increase or apparently of booty recollected from robbers (tithe) existed well BEFORE the establishment of the Law (remember, Moses didn’t go to Sinai and receive the Law for another _____ years.
The thinking or argument is then that since giving tithe was established prior to the Law, then it is a practice that ought to be maintained today – because it is NOT part of the Law – it is part of how God works.
Using this argument Pastors feel vindicated of heaping the word tithe on people as a means to bind them to at least pay 10% of their increase to the church.
And let me tell you right now, if you can get 90% of people to cough up ten percent of their income to your church it works out wonderfully when compared to 10% of the people giving 5 or 10 or even 20 percent of theirs.
Since this was prior to the establishment of the law proponents of “the tithe” believe that devoting a tenth part to God is like a universal truth, tied to sacrifice and other pre-law practices.
Obviously, they will say, “some kind of practice or custom caused Abraham to demonstrate this kind of generous giving and obviously, ten percent did NOT just pop up out of nowhere.
So before we go on and learn the point the writer is making let’s examine the idea of tithe, and more particularly, this (pre-law) example of it existing ____ years before the Law.
Are believers – Christians – expected by God to pay ten percent of their annual income in order to be worthy enough to be called among “the people of God?”
Will we, like some pastors suggest, go to heaven if we fail to abide in this practice . . . but will forever ride in the back of the bus, as it were?
It doesn’t make much sense for us to criticize the LDS position on tithe paying when there are many, many Bible believing Christians (pastors included) who believe things like “ten percent is a minimum for a Christian to give,” or who also use the word “tithing” to describe the giving they either do or demand.
Now we know that the tithe was a requirement of the law in which all Israelites were to give 10 percent of everything they earned (or grew) to the Tabernacle/Temple.
References to the mandatory nature of the tithe are found in Leviticus 27:30; Numbers 18:26; Deuteronomy 14:24; 2 Chronicles 31:5.
As a matter of biblical fact, however, I think we ought to point out that the Old Testament Law required multiple financial devotions from the Children of Israel – three general areas to be exact:
one to support the Levites;
one for the use of the temple and the great feasts;
and one for the poor of the land.
These demands would have actually pushed the grand total percentage to around 23.3 percent, not the 10 percent which is generally considered the tithe (or the tenth part today).
I mention this just to point out that when people today apply the term “tithe” to their giving it is typically far-afield from the actual Old Testament practice commanded by Law.
I want to suggest five main reasons why the word “tithe” and/or manditorily paying “tithing” is not part of Christianity today.
Number 1
“Making a percentage of a Christian’s income part of “mandatory minimal giving” flies completely in the face of the liberty all believers have in Christ.”
Our Lord accomplished all things on the cross. All was fulfilled and completed in Him.
Beneficiaries of His free gift are “freed,” or “released,” or given complete liberty from all aspects of religious demands.
A day of the week for worship? Gone.
Certain rites or rituals for cleaning? Gone.
Specific prayers, holy day observances, clothing styles, forbidden foods?
Gone, baby, gone.
To re-incorporate a “mandatory minimum for giving” flies in the face of what it means to be saved by grace.
I would go so far as to call it, “counter Good News.”
Either He came, as we read in Isaiah 61:1, to:
“preach good tidings unto the meek;”
“to bind up the brokenhearted,”
“to proclaim liberty to the captives,”
and the opening of the prison to them that are bound,” or not.
Was Paul right when he wrote in Romans 8:2:
“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”
Are believers “delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God?” or not?
When we read in 2nd Corinthian 3:17-
“and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty,” is this true in every area except giving financially?
Free means free – responsible to God, subject to Him and His Spirit in everything. To make it otherwise in any area reinstitutes a bondage that Christ came to destroy.
Numero Dos
“Tithing, in terms of it being a demand upon believers to obey, is nowhere mentioned in the new Testament.” (with the exception of this allusion from the writer of Hebrews which people use to extrapolate into a universal never ending law)
The word itself – whether it be “tithe, tithes, or tithing” is found seven times in what we consider the New Testament – once in Matthew, twice in Luke, and then four times in the book of Hebrews.
In Matthew and Luke, the references are of Jesus telling the scribes and Pharisees that they were hypocrites for the way they “tithed” and then the second reference in Luke was a Pharisee, in the midst of professing how good he was, saying:
Luke 18:12 “why, I fast twice in the week and I give tithes of all that I possess.”
The proponents of tithe-paying for believers today suggest that paying it was so matter-of-fact that there naturally wouldn’t be an out-right command for believers to adopt it in scripture.
The four Hebrew references, which are found in consecutive verses here in chapter seven, merely reference the fact that tithes were paid to the Levitical priests. I do not believe the writer is mentioning tithes here to teach that tithes ought to be paid now, but to illustrate a completely different point (which we will get to – maybe next week at this rate).
But again nothing in the New Testament instructs a believer to embrace tithing. If it was so important in the New Testament economy, the apostles from Peter to Paul would have surely mentioned something about it.
What is said, however, was from Paul. In his letter to the church at Corinth this is his instruction:
1st Corinthians 16:1 Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye.
We don’t even have a record of the instructions he gave to the church at Galatia that he references here. But he does tell the church at Corinth to collect offering in the same way that he gave orders in Galatia, which he seems to summarize in the second verse saying:
2 Upon the first day of the week (that would be a Sunday) let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.
It was an instruction to keep order, and it was predicated clearly on freedom in the conscience of the individual believer.
Had ten percent been the minimum the apostle would have clearly said tithe – but He doesn’t.
Now certainly, the New Testament talks about the importance and benefits of freewill giving. But believers are to give as they are lead and as they are able.
Sometimes this might mean the Holy Spirit moves a person to give more than 10 percent; sometimes that may mean giving less or none at all.
It all depends on the ability of the Christian, the needs of the church, but most importantly, how they are lead of God.
Every Christian should diligently pray and seek God’s wisdom in the matter of giving and/or how much to give. This is where passages like James 1:5 come into play.
But most importantly, and above all, all tithes and offerings should be given with pure motives and an attitude of worship to God and service to the body of Christ.
Giving is a form of worship, so it ought not to ever be formulaic, but instead, open, free and from the heart.
The term tithe injures such a directive.
One of the few New Testament passages regarding giving is found in 2nd Corinthians 9:7 where it says:
“Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
Number 3 brings us to our text today:
“The fact that Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek cannot somehow mean that Christians ought to do the same.”
The very first time we read the word tithe in the Bible is in the Book of Genesis – the account of Abraham paying tithe to Melchizedek – which (as we’ve said) was well before God incorporated it in the Law given to Moses.
We have to ask, is the story of Abraham paying tithes about giving a tenth or is it more about a freewill offering in which Abraham gave a tenth as a sign of subservience to Melchizedek.
Let me say that again:
The story of Abraham paying tithes to Melchizedek is NOT about Abraham actually paying a tenth, it is about a freewill offering in which Abraham gave a tenth as a sign of the Father of our Faith being subservient . . . to a higher priest than himself.
If you are a Christian who thinks we should still ‘tithe’ because ‘tithing came before the law’, let’s take a look at the examples of tithes being paid prior to the Law.
Just reading the story from Genesis 14 opens us to some things we may not have noticed before.
Verse 12 gives us the reason that Abram went after the four kings. His nephew, Lot, was carried off with all the lawless people of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Lot was not guilty of the sins that the people of those two towns were committing.
According to 2nd Peter 2 Lot was considered a righteous man. So Abram made up his mind to go rescue him.
On his return from victory over the four kings he was first met by the king of Sodom.
It seems like it could have been a three-way meeting which included the strange high priest Melchizedek. Whether the three of them were standing in one place at the same time is not important.
What is important is what was said by each person.
Melchizedek blessed Abram in verse 19 because God, he told Abram, “had delivered your enemies into your hand.”
Abram then, it says, gave Melchizedek a tenth (or a tithe) of everything he got from the 4 kings.
Abram gave him a tenth of everything he plundered back from the 4 kings who had plundered Sodom and Gomorrah and taken all the people (along with Lot) captive.
The tenth or tithe was a portion of what Abram obtained from the invasion. It was not a portion of everything that he (Abraham) owned so it was not a personal tithe from Abraham.
There is no evidence of this tenth-giving as being a normal part of Abram’s giving or that Abraham gave a tenth anywhere before or after.
It was a one-time event and the amount He gave was ten percent which is simply interpreted as the word tithe.
In other words, the word “tithe” was not associated with religious giving – it was just a matter-of-fact percentage Abraham gave Melchizedek of the spoils captured from the Kings.
More importantly, Abram was free to do basically whatever the local traditions would allow Him.
According to the King of Sodom, as written in verse 21 of Genesis 14, it was within Abrams every right to keep all the goods and valuables for himself.
At that point, Abram shared with the king of Sodom about the oath he (Abram) had previously taken (verses 22-24).
You see, Abram had already decided that he personally was not going to accept anything at all from the king of Sodom for his victory.
This means Abram didn’t consider the plunder to be his own from the get go! And it was from what he did not even consider his own that Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth.
The Bible doesn’t tell us where the balance of the plunder went. It seems it went either to the king of Sodom and/or back to the people who were originally plundered.
So in all this we have a few things to consider instead of this out of context reference to tithe giving and taking used by people today:
Abram’s gift to Melchizedek was a free will gift. There was no Law in effect and there is no evidence that God whispered ‘pay a tenth’ in his ear.
In the Genesis 14 account it was merely part of the description of what transpired between Abraham and Melchizedek.
It’s opportunistic to use the recitation as evidence of tithe-giving to be a universal practice that predates even the law.
Also Abram’s gift was clearly a one-time event. Abram and Lot both were already prosperous and did not gain their prosperity from paying tithes. He was prosperous because God said he would bless him in (Gen 12:1-3).
Abram did not have to pay God to get the blessings promised. God told Abram that he would ‘… be a blessing’. And according to Galatians 3:13-14 that same blessing is available to all believers now (not all tithe payers).
Unfortunately the church has believed for too long that we have to somehow pay our way into getting God’s blessings by tithing or by sowing.
We get God’s blessing in our lives by having faith in Jesus Christ and NOT by having faith in our ‘tithing’ or faith by our sowing.
Additionally, Abram’s gift to Melchizedek did not come from money or resources that Abram claimed for himself. His personal valuables were safely at home.
Remember that the king of Sodom said that Abram could have all the valuables he wanted but Abram refused to accept anything from the king for himself.
Now, also note that the only thing Melchizedek said to Abram was that “God gave him the victory.”
Could we use this story as an illustration of Abraham and His gratitude to God which was manifested in His giving ten percent “to God” (or His representative) – absolutely.
It is a great example of giving from the heart, out of gratitude. But to use it as the model for mandatory giving of ten percent is not contextual.
Our fourth reason is a preemptive strike against the standard appeals that paying tithe predated the Law and therefore is in place even to this day among believers
This “second incident”is recorded in Genesis 28:20-22. Here Jacob made a vow promising to give God “a tenth” of all he had if God will be with him and watch over him on this journey.
Kind of typical of Old Jacob, eh?
“The fact that Jacob vowed to pay a tenth to the Lord in no way means Christians ought to do the same.”
I would suggest that Jacob was doing what a lot of people do when it comes to giving money to God (or God’s purposes) – they are hoping for a return on their investment.
The New Testament premise is clear – give because you love, because your grateful, because you cheerfully want to give NOT as a means to bargain with God, or out of binding law.
The final argument that can and is used that believers ought to pay tithe comes from the New Testament narrative.
In my opinion the lengths people go to use this story are pretty horrible. It’s the fifth and final point of the day:
Number 5
“The fact that a widow paid her mite (as found in the Gospels) cannot somehow mean that Christians must pay tithing.”
Contrary to popular belief, the widow’s story is NOT an example that believers are to follow.
No widow ought to be paying in her last mite to the church – unless so directed by God.
Let’s read the story.
It’s found in Mark 12:41-44
“And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. 42 And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. 43 And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: 44 For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.”
Now the place to start to really understand what Jesus was saying is to first read what the scriptures taught about widows.
For example in
Exodus 22:22 it plainly says,
“Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child.”
In Deuteronomy 14:28-29 we read:
“At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same year, and shalt lay it up within thy gates: And the Levite, (because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied. “
Throughout scripture, God is always caring for the widows and the Fatherless, not exacting from them.
In God’s heart the disadvantaged deserve special treatment – not compliance to all the same rules.
Understanding this let’s now let read the story of the widows mite contextually.
We’ll do this by starting a few verses earlier, at verse 38 (instead of 41). Ready?
At verse 38 in chapter 12 of Mark, while Jesus taught, He said to His disciples:
38 “Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted in the marketplaces, 39 and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. 40 They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely.”
We know that Jesus is the greatest teacher.
Here He first told the disciples what the teachers of the law were doing – “They devour widows’ houses,” He said.
Then to demonstrate how these teachers were doing it, Jesus goes and observes offerings being made.
And while He is standing there, having said this about them “devouring widows houses,” along comes a poor widow and she puts in everything she had to live on in the coffer.
Why on earth would a poor widow do that? Jesus was demonstrating exactly how the teachers of the law were taking advantage of them by plundering their income.
God didn’t tell that woman to give that offering.
She was only doing what she was taught to do by the church leaders and believing them, she gave her all.
Listen closely –
Rather than being an example of the type of giving that pleases God, it is really an example of the kind of exploitation these religious leaders were doing to the poor widows at that time!
Yes, Jesus did say that the poor widow ‘… put more into the treasury than all the others … but He was not using her as the model for poor people to imitate.
Grateful believers in a position to give from their hearts cheerfully are to give freely so the widows, fatherless, and poor can have FOR their needs.
When we truly understand what God wants us to do in this area, we will notice a couple of things happening to us:
First, we won’t feel guilty about the amount we give or don’t give.
Also we won’t feel like we are more special to God because we can give more nor will we feel less special to God because we can’t give as much.
Additionally we won’t try to make up for not paying a full tithe by ‘tithing’ our time, making knitted socks, singing in the choir, driving the church bus, shoveling snow or anything else.
Often this story of the widow and her mite is used to encourage believers to somehow prove they too, “really love the Lord.”
I would suggest that the story does not illustrate this at all – anymore then the story of Abraham paying a tenth to Melchizdek proves that ten percent is God’s minimum standard.
Jesus brings complete and unencumbered freedom.
Freedom to worship Him as you please, freedom to live, and the absolute total freedom to financially give . . . whether it be nothing, a little, or a lot.
And I suppose we will get to the point of the story . . . next week.
