Where to distribute tithes?

Hi folks,

Let me start by saying I am of the opinion that we should tithe.

My question more revolves around where to distribute tithes. I've read in detail most of the biblical verses on tithing, giving, offerings and money and am firmly of the opinion it's not all meant for the church. At least not in NT times.

Our Lord was very concerned with the poor. So, specifically:

Child Sponsorship (through a Christian organisation). Is this cosidered part of tithing or is it an extra offering?
Supporting parents in obedience to the 10 commandaments and Pauls writing. Is this considered part of tithing or is it an extra offering?
Giving to the needs of homeless shelters and those that feed the hungry and homeless. Is this part of tithing or is it an extra offering?

I do think we need to give some to our home churches. Certainly. But do we seek God to see what he puts on our hearts as to where to give the tithe? Or do you have another position?

Answers would be most helpful.

- Mk.12:38-44
- Mk.13:1-5

Jesus teaching in The Temple was
gladly heard by commom people.

His warning was to beware of Scribes.
Who devoured widows houses.
As He sat opposite the Treasury
(Seeing How) people put in money.

He noted a poor widow
who gave all that she had to the treasure.

Then going out of the Temple
to sit on The Mt. opposite The Temple.
One of His disciples questioned Him but to observe
the greatness of The Temple.

And Jesus questioned him to see the greatness
of The Temple which would be torn down.

- Preachers teach this poor widow as an example for us.
As if Jesus had commended the widow
for putting in all of her livelihood.

Jesus did not commend this action of her giving.
Nor did Jesus' afford any blessing to her
for this giving of all she had into The Temple Treasury.

But He warned common people against Scribes
who'd devour what widows had. -

Well to tithe biblically you wouldn't ever use money any tithe given in the Old Testament was a Grain offering or Animal offering.

And to be more specific there were actually Four different kinds of Tithe in the Old Testament. In the quotes is from an author who has studied this very extensively and is basically his life's work. I posted earlier but this guy explains it all so much better.

"(1) The first religious tithe, called the Levitical tithe, had two parts. Again, the whole first tithe was given to the Levites who were only servants to the priests (Num 18:21-24; Neh 10:37b). The Levites, in turn, gave one tenth of the whole tithe to the priests (Num 18:25-28; Neh 10:38). (2) According to Deuteronomy 12 and 14, the second religious tithe, called the feast tithe, was eaten by worshipers in the streets of Jerusalem during the three yearly festivals (Deu 12:1-19; 14:22-26). (3) And, according to Deuteronomy 14 and 26, a third tithe, called the poor tithe, was kept in the towns every third year to feed the poor (Deu 14:28, 29; 26:12, 13). (4) Also, according to First Samuel 8:14-17, the ruler collected the first and best ten per cent for political use. During Jesus’ time Rome collected the first ten per cent (10%) of most food and twenty per cent (20%) of fruit crops as its spoils of war. It is dishonest to single out the one religious tithe and ignore the other two important religious tithes."

Notice this, the priest would never use the tithe for building, the Tent of Meeting was built through free will offerings from the people and the Temple in Jerusalem was built by Highly Taxing the people into rebellion.

We have seen in our day a large distortion of biblical tithing in that many will twist the arms of the congregation in order to get "God's 10% cut" True prosperity and joy comes from a Thankful and Happy heart that graciously and mercifully gives to those that truly need the help. I hope this helps!

God Bless,
Matthew

*Edited Adding some better explanation from www.tithing-russkelly.com *

Another great point to make on Biblical Tithing is that if you as a Levite or Priest accepted tithes you then also forfeit your right to own property or land.

If we wanted to follow tithing as taught in the bible our modern day Pastors would need to do the same exact thing. Not many of them would be willing to do this I would imagine.

I have never forgotten the message of denominational who spoke in my local church approximately thirty years ago. This speaker spoke on:

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse...(Malachi 3:10)

The speaker argued that the storehouse was God's appointed repository for the tithe and that whole tithe ought to go to one place and that one place was the local church.

I can testify that bringing the tithe to one place is an incentive to pray for that one place, the local church.

Other giving to other places is an offering.

God is not nearly so concerned with how much we give as he is with our heart and our attitude. God wants the heart first -- and when he has your heart, your pocketbook comes along with it! The foundational decision is to sanctify the Lord in your heart, and to submit to the Lordship of Christ over all your life [as imperfectly as we all do this], and then God will make easy the decision concerning how much to give -- for then our giving will be a reflection of the joy and gratitude and DESIRE to serve him, rather than a legalistic requirement.

Giving is a privilege of grace, not a requirement of law. And ALL giving to God is -- by definition -- voluntary. And what is required is NOT voluntary, and what is voluntary is NOT required. They are mutually exclusive. This is taught all the way through the Bible -- even in the law of Moses. The OT and the NT are entirely consistent with each other in this regard.

2 COR. 9:7: "Let each one of you give as he has determined in his own heart to give, not grudgingly, and not under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver."

Read that verse very carefully, and you will see that that one sentence rules out the compulsion of a required tenth -- or any other percent.

2 COR. 9:7 IS God's will concerning our giving under grace. You decide in your own heart how much to give. If anyone has any fear that grace can motivate generous, sacrificial giving, then you really do not understand grace at all.

The Holy Spirit will show you where to give and you don't have to ask any man. You only have one Shepherd.

Mikey

mguldner wrote:

It is dishonest to single out the one religious tithe and ignore the other two important religious tithes."

~ Jesus said
the poor you have with you always.

Where are the poor?
With you.

Local church that is doing the work of the ministry is one of the best places to give your tithe.

Agreed. The problem is that there are multitudes of evangelical churches that are not doing the work of the ministry with regard to helping the poor. Most of the funds derived from tithing are spent on keeping up the buildings and paying salaries to church staff. Many pastors who preach on tithing do not even mention the poor in their messages on tithing. All they say is, "bring your tithe here and don't worry about how we spend it." Yet in the OT a large part of the tithes were for the poor. In the NT we see a collection was taken, but for the relief of the poor saints in Jerusalem. And nothing is said about a certain percentage being commanded to be given. The NT teaches only free will offerings. Tithing is an OT law that is not required in the NT, along with the Sabbath, the festivals, etc.

That said, I know there are a few evangelical churches that are concerned about the poor, but they are scarce compared to the majority.

True. You cannot paint a broad brush stroke and just say "local church". Many "local churches" show by their actions that they they do not welcome Jesus Christ. They just use him for their own means thinking "gain" is godliness.

Give as the Holy Spirit leads you to give. He knows how to build His Church.

The fellowship that you are with are the people that you are going to know intimately and they will be on your "list" of priority recipients of a Christian's giving -- but the Christian is not REQUIRED to give a
certain percentage to the church -- or anywhere else. I may also add, take care of your family and your extended family. It is sad when you give to an organization out of compulsion but don't have anything left to help a widow or the poor in your family.

Stop depending on an organization to distribute your gifts.

2 Cor. 9:7 --
YOU decide how much to give, and where to give it, based on your relationship with the Holy Spirit.

I truly believe if people would trust God and preach the Word without trying to manipulate it (making up scary stories about what happens to people if they don't "tithe"), God's church will be greatly blessed and its people will give generously. That is GRACE.

The verse says storehouse. If we chose not to ignore the word, storehouse, then we need to figure out what the storehouse is.

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse...(Malachi 3:10)

I can testify that reckoning one's particular local church to be your particular storehouse is an incentive to pray for your particular local church. I don't endorse many everything that I see at my local church but I don't see everything. I can't judge my local church the way that Almighty God can and he inspired "the storehouse" to be included in Malachi 3:10.

Thankyou all for your replies thus far.

I am tired of hearing the Malachi passage being continually taken out of context and used to demand a tenth from believers for the church. I do not accept that position. I believe it is unbiblical.

I have read a very interesting piece recently by Zac Poonen. It may even have been on this site. It was about tithing.

Basically it boils down to, "The Earth is the Lords, and everything in it."

This attitude of 10% is Gods and 90% is mine to do with as I please is nonsense. It's ALL Gods. I am now starting to approach my spending by questioning my purchases each time... "Will this glorify God?" As a result, I believe I am staying faithful to the biblical New Testament teachings. I am finding I minimise my spending, loose the shackles of posessiveness and have more to give.

If we are going to demand to live under the law for the 10% tithe, then we have to accept the WHOLE law and not just pick these ones that suit us. That means we need to start the sacrificial system again, employ the food laws and on and on. I think it's obvious that is not the way.

So thanks for your comments one and all. I now have a peace within regarding my finances.

I believe is it wise to also define the church.

Its not a building, period. The Church is the Universal Body of Believers, IE when you give to a brother in need you are in fact giving to the church. We are the church and we need to take our focus off of the building and recognize the Body of Christ as a Spiritual Body, not a building of wood and Stone. Simple enough give abundantly as the Spirit leads you to give. Problem solved. :)

I came across this short article which I thought breaks it down pretty good:

"Is the Church the storehouse that we are to bring our tithes into today according to Malachi 3:10?"
by Denise Bostic
"....Those that teach that the storehouse is the local church today are lacking in knowledge of the differences between the Old and New Covenants. There is no evidence in the scriptures that the storehouse is the local church today. At the time that God spoke this through the prophet Malachi, the New Testament Church was not yet in existence, but the Temple at Jerusalem was. Under the Old
Covenant, the Temple was where Israel went to worship God and the Levitical priesthood officiated in the temple. Under the Law of Moses, each tribe was given an inheritance from God except the tribe of Levi. God made special provision for this tribe, however. Their portion and inheritance would be the tithe from their brethren. (Numbers 18:20-21, Hebrews 7:5)
The nation of Israel was commanded by God to bring the tithes to the Levitical Priesthood and because Israel was an agricultural society, their tithe was brought in the form of harvested crops and livestock. Of course there had to be storage space for all of these things, such as corn, wine, oil, wheat, fruit and livestock. (Leviticus 27:30-34, II Chronicles 31:5-6, Nehemiah 10:35-39) In scripture sometimes this storage space was called chambers or the storehouse. This was a literal room or building that stored all of the tenth or tithe of Israel for the Levites. This is how they were financially supported so that they could work in the Temple day and night. According to the New Testament though, the priesthood has
been changed because there has been a change in the law. (Hebrews 7:11-12)
The Levitical priesthood is no longer in effect because of its inability to perfect believers in Christ. There is now a new priesthood after the order of Melchisedek with all believers being kings and priests under Jesus Christ,
our High Priest. (Hebrews 7:11-28, I Peter 2:9, Revelation 5:10)
Yes, God has established a new order of priesthood in the New Covenant with Jesus as our High Priest, a Church government made up of Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers and also all believers are now made priests. (Ephesians 4:11-12, I Peter 2:9) The Old Testament Temple was a physical building made of man’s hands, the New Testament Church is a house not made with
man’s hands. (II Corinthians 5:1) The Church is not a physical building, but made up of a body of believers that house the Spirit of God. Many times the tithes that are taken in by Churches today are spent on the physical buildings and the spiritual building (the people) is neglected. You may ask, “If believers do not tithe, how are we to support the local Church and the preaching of the Gospel?” The answer is, the same way the Church
has always supported God’s work-by grace giving. New Testament scriptural examples of giving are by grace only. Money and material provisions given to the Church are to be distributed amongst all of the newly formed priesthood and are usually given to churches (brethren) in need, for the work of the ministers/ministries that preach the Gospel and the poor (widows and orphans) in order to build up the Kingdom of God. (II Corinthians 8 & 9)
We are to obey the New Testament pattern of giving. In the Church today we are no longer commanded to tithe but to give by grace. (II Corinthians chapters 8 & 9) We are free to give liberally or free from condemnation if we do not have anything to give. We are to each give according to our ability.(II Corinthians 8:12-14)
We are to share in all things so that no one has too much or others do not do without. As a matter of fact, when the Church was first birthed, many gave far beyond a mere ten percent; they shared everything they had for the sake of the Church and the Gospel of Christ. I wonder when we in
the Church today will make those same kinds of sacrifices? Bottom line, tithing is an Old Covenant ordinance, not a New Testament one. You are not under law, but grace."