Tithe Stewardship & Church Tithing

Here is an audio clip of a clear explanation of Spirit Led giving. A transcript is listed below if you wish to read it instead.

Download: Spirit Led Giving Defined

I believe that we are free from the tithing command, but instead are commanded by the Holy Spirit in regards to giving. The religious system once used rituals that dictated mankind’s sanctification; but with the Spirit in control of our lives, we are free to receive instructions from Him. Our liberty is not a license to overlook the command to obey the Spirit, so we are not at liberty to do what we please. The responsibility to sacrificially give cannot be overlooked.

The New Covenant introduced a relationship with God that was not available in the Old Covenant system. We now have the opportunity to hear from God, and communicate directly with Him. The availability of communication with God is immediate and spontaneous; so we do not need a pre-existing assignment to outline what and when to give. At the moment God speaks to us, we have the ability to hear, and the opportunity and decision to obey. God did not tear the veil to the holy of holies, so that a communal relationship with Him could continue to be administered through non-interactive rituals, such as tithing. New Covenant tithing is a way of restoring the veil that was once used when man had no direct access to God. Tear the veil away and encounter God inside the holy of holies with Spirit led giving.

The dysfunction within tithing is that, anyone can do it without having to worry about encountering God. All across the board this is true with all of God’s laws, because anyone can perform them without even truly knowing God. But one cannot be Spirit led unless they know God. Personal interaction with God is the fundamental difference between the Old Covenant and New Covenant giving.

Do you want a Church that is willing to encounter God? There’s no question that God wants to elicit a sacrificial response from us when we give, but the question is, what type of response is God looking for? Is it the response that is spawned through our personal and intimate relationship with Him, or is it a response that is considered a Xerox from Abraham’s actions? Through our relationship with God, each and every person has a responsibility to pursue when and where our Father is calling us to give. I implore you to study the aspects of Spirit led giving, and consider the spiritual ramifications between instructing people to tithe, or instructing them to be Spirit led.

I was originally going to write this on a blog in response to a poster calling the “tithe” a princple. Instead, i figured i’d write it here, simply because i know that they will read all that i wrote and find one word that has nothing to do with my argument and rip it to shreds.

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What is your definition of a principle? Is it the fact that the word “tithe” is repeated so much in the bible? Is it the fact that Abraham tithed before Moses came along? Is it the fact that God gives this way? A tithe is a standard, not a principle.

Taking my wife out once a week is a standard, not a principle. Reading my bible and praying for 30 minutes every day is a standard, not a principle. Donating 1 hour of time a week to my church is a standard, not a principle. Giving God 10% of my increase is a standard, not a principle.

Loving my wife, communicating with God, serving, and giving are all principles. These are all minimum requirements and principles that you find in scripture. All these minimum requirements are all orchestrated to us by the Holy Spirit. I don’t have the bible to tell me what romantic things that i should do this weekend for my wife. Sure, I am at liberty to follow Esther and Boaz. I don’t have the bible to show me how much i need to pray and read today, but sure, I could follow David’s example. I don’t have the scripture to tell me how often and where i serve, but sure, i could follow Timothy’s example. I don’t have the bible to tell me how much i should give this week, but sure, i could follow Abraham’s example.

The truth is, Church leaders are not afraid to let the Holy Spirit orchestrate people’s lives when it comes to serving, praying, reading, and loving; but when it comes to giving, our leaders’s faith in the Holy Spirit fades. We can trust him to move mountains, or to heal, or to turn a drug addicted- murderous pedophile into a servant of God; but to trust him to orchestrate people to give. That’s where we draw the line.

If i want control over my kids, i’ll just set boundaries for them. The Church’s control is no different. We do not trust the Holy Spirit to orchestrate other’s giving. So tithing is a great control mechanism to predict and balance our budgets. The Church’s that actually practice financial faith only through Spirit-led giving, are few and far between. A church budget that enforces tithing hardly exercises the faith of a church budget that allows people to freely give where God leads.

Our church leaders enforce the OT tithe, and bring financial security to their pockets and the church budgets. In turn, the congregation are the only ones practicing trust in God’s provision for them. Yes, In the OT, the Levities received the tithes also, but exercised faith because they had no part in a land inheritance. The Israelite nation exercised their faith in giving, and trusted God to bring the rains to grow their crops and feed their animals.

Spirit led giving and receiving is a way that we can trust God to provide for us when we give, and a way for us to trust God to provide for us when we receive. A tithe minimum no longer predicts what will pour in. We just have to trust the Holy Spirit to prompt others to give to our needs.

I know this was a rant that stemmed from the definition of “principle”, but what we need to apply today is the principle of faith. Faith starts with our Church leaders, and our church budgets enforcing and accepting Spirit-led giving.

So what do we do? We ask for the Spirit of God to rise up a Pastor. We ask the Spirit of God to equip Sunday school teachers. We ask the Spirit of God to call more missionaries. We ask the Spirit of God to train our children. We ask the Spirit of God to start a new Church. We ask the Spirit of God to help us with our words. We ask the Spirit of God to lead us when we witness. We ask the Spirit of God to heal, intercede, interpret, and perform miracles. We ask the Spirit of God to guide everything, except our pocket books. So What do we do? we just play that safe and leave that up to tithing.

I’m not the type of person to just spit out a bunch of verses and say, “these verses are so clear about what God says”. I like hearing things myself that just kind of thump you on the head. Like the one statement above, “we’ll just play that safe and leave that up to tithing.” What it does is sum up the folly of the tithing mentality into a sarcastic thought. It’s not going to prove anything but it just shows how the tithing logic is so off. Sometimes i get so sick of trying to prove the role of Spirit-led giving. I can write chapters and chapters about that, but who wants to read all that stuff. There’s plenty of authors and theologians out there that repeat the same points as me.

I love the times in life when you say something and it sounds so profound. It’s like, where did that come from? then you feel happy about yourself and you start repeating it over and over in your head so you don’t forget it. I guess that’s kind of what i’m doing now. Are there times when you say something or hear something so profound that no one else seems to be on board with? Hopefully i won’t get any comments like that. If you do want something that is a little more definitive about the tithing argument you can read my tithing rebuttal with supporting verses. That has some of that boring stuff i talked about earlier.

1. The Holy Spirit is our new teacher, not the Mosaic law (Romans 12:8; Galatians 5:18-25)

2. There is no command for the New Covenant Church to tithe (Genesis - Revelation)

3. Tithing was used for the temple storehouse & ceremonial system (Nehemiah 10:37; Deuteronomy 12:17,18)

4. 10% giving is not an eternal principle nor a character trait of God (Romans 8:32)

5. The church is not commanded to follow the ordinances of Abraham and Moses (John 7:21-24)

6. A tithe only consisted of agricultural increase (Leviticus 27:30)

7. Tithing is not the minimum amount mentioned in scripture (Romans 12:1; Matthew 25:24-28)

8. An OT ceremony paralleled the future Church with a freewill offering (Deuteronomy 16:10)

9. We have new commands of giving (1 Corinthians 16:2; 2 Corinthians 9:7; Galatians 5:18-25)

10. I will leave out #10 and see what many of you come up with

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