Do you know? There is a secret buried in the pages of Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Leviticus that could forever change your understanding of the tithe.
Not one, but three different types of tithes commanded by God to Israel. Three distinct systems with different recipients, different frequencies, and purposes that should never have been mixed together.
For decades, you've been taught fragments, never the complete picture.
Today, here, we're going to open the entire Bible and discover what God really commanded and whether you've been fulfilling the correct one. Get ready because what you'll discover won't make you more religious. It will make you more free.
And genuine freedom always produces genuine generosity.
1. The first type of tithe is called the Levitical tithe. It's the only one most mention when they preach about finances.
It's the tithe of Numbers 18, the one that went specifically to the sons of Levi because they had no territorial inheritance in Israel.
It's the closest to the modern system, which is why it's the favorite.
But when you examine it completely, you discover details that change everything.
Numbers 18:21 establishes clearly, "And behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tithes in Israel as an inheritance for their service, because they serve in the ministry of the tabernacle of meeting."
Notice each word, all the tithes, not a part, not what's left over, all. And these went exclusively to the Levites.
Why? When Joshua divided Canaan among the twelve (12) tribes after the conquest, eleven (11) tribes received extensive territories. They inherited valleys, mountains, fertile fields. They could cultivate, raise livestock, build economies.
But Levi received not a single meter of cultivable land. Their inheritance was spiritual, not geographical. Their territory was the service of the tabernacle.
Levi had no fields to sew wheat, no pastures for sheep, no vineyards for wine. Their complete work was to maintain the sanctuary, offer sacrifices, teach the Torah, preserve the sacred scrolls. They were teachers, priests, guardians of divine revelation.
And God established that Israel would sustain them. But here's the first crucial detail.
This tithe was not money. Leviticus 27: verses 30-32. And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's. It is holy to the Lord. And concerning the tithe of the herd or the flock of whatever passes under the rod, the tenth one shall be holy to the Lord. Seed, fruit, cattle, sheep.
Do you see silver? Do you see gold? Do you see coins? They don't exist.
The Levitical tithe was exclusively agricultural because Israel was an agricultural society and because the land belonged to God. The people only administered it. The 10% was tangible recognition of that reality.
And here comes the part that destroys the modern argument. If you were a carpenter in Israel, you didn't tithe. If you were a fisherman, you didn't tithe. If you were an artisan, merchant, blacksmith, you worked with your hands but didn't produce food from the land. The Levitical tithe didn't apply to you.
You had no obligation because your income didn't come from agriculture or livestock. The tithe was not a universal tax on all income. It was a specific system to redistribute the product of the land among those who had no land.
It was divine social justice, not religious fundraising. It was food for those who served the sanctuary, not money for ecclesiastical empires. But there's more.
The Levites also tithed. Numbers 18: verses 26-28. Thus you shall speak to the Levites and say to them, "When you take from the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them as your inheritance, then you shall offer up a heave offering of it to the Lord, a tenth of the tithe, a tithe of the tithe."
The Levites received 10% from the people. And from that 10 they received, they had to give another 10% to the ironic priests, direct descendants of Aaron who ministered at the altar. No one was exempt. Everyone participated in mutual support.
The first tithe worked like this. Each year after the harvest, the faithful Israelite separated 10% of his grain, wine, oil, animals. He brought it to the Levites of his region. The Levites lived from that produce and from what they received they gave 10% to the priests of the altar. It was a perfect system for its time, sustainable, just, ordered by God himself.
But it was specific to a particular context. theocratic nation under Mosaic law with physical temple, with functioning Levitical priesthood, with fundamentally agricultural economy.
And here's the question no one wants to answer. Does that context exist today?
Is there a tribe of Levi serving in the temple in Jerusalem? Is there an ironic priesthood offering animal sacrifices?
Is there a theocratic system where the land belongs to God and the people administrate? The answer is no.
That system ended not because it was bad but because it was fulfilled. The temple was destroyed in the year 70 after Christ.
The Levites were dispersed. The ironic priesthood stopped functioning almost 2,000 years ago.
Christ became our high priest. Not according to the order of Aaron, but according to the order of Melchizedek.
Hebrews 7:12 cuts like a sword. For the priesthood being changed of necessity, there is also a change of the law. If the priesthood changed, the law that sustained that priesthood also changed.
And the Levitical tithe was an integral part of that law. So when someone demands 10% from you citing Numbers 18, you can ask to which Levite do I give it? Where is the temple? Where are the animal sacrifices? Because that tithe was part of a complete package, not an isolated commandment you can extract and apply without its context. This is the first type of tithe.
And you already see how different it was from what you were taught. It wasn't money. It was agricultural produce. It wasn't for everyone, only for farmers and ranchers.
It wasn't for buildings. It was for specific people. It wasn't universal. It was contextual. And that context no longer exists.
2. The second type of tithe is the one that surprises most because it completely breaks the idea that tithing means giving away. This tithe you didn't give to a priest. It didn't disappear into the temple storehouse. It didn't sustain religious structure. This tithe you consumed yourself, you, your family in Jerusalem before Jehovah during the sacred festivals. It's called the festival tithe, maaser sheni in Hebrew, second tithe.
And it's established with beautiful clarity in Deuteronomy 14: 22- 27. Listen as if it were the first time because they probably never explained it to you.
You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year. And you shall eat before the Lord your God in the place where he chooses to make his name abide, the tithe of your grain and your new wine and your oil of the firstborn of your herds and your flocks. That you may learn to fear the Lord your God always.
Read again slowly. You shall eat before the Lord, your God the tithe. It doesn't say give it away. It doesn't say give it to the priest. It says eat it you before God in the chosen place, Jerusalem. This was a mandatory fund for festivals. God commanded that Israel celebrate three main feasts each year. Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles.
During those feasts, every Israelite male had to present himself in Jerusalem. He couldn't come empty-handed. He had to bring offerings, sacrifices, and this second tithe.
Each year, after separating 10% for the Levites, the faithful Israelite separated another 10%. But this second 10 didn't permanently leave his hands.
It was a family fund to finance three annual trips to Jerusalem to buy special food to celebrate the feasts with joy before God.
Deuteronomy 14: verses 25 and 26 add a fascinating detail. Then you shall exchange it for money. Take the money in your hand and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses. And you shall 9:59 spend that money for whatever your heart desires, for oxen or sheep, for wine or similar drink, for whatever your heart
10:06 desires. You shall eat there before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household.
Notice the freedom within the commandment. You could convert this tithe into money if you lived far away. Imagine a farmer in Galilee 130 km away. It made no sense to carry sacks of grain for days of travel. You sold the produce, kept the money, traveled to Jerusalem, and there bought what was necessary. And you bought what you desired. Cattle for festive sacrifices, sheep, wine for joy, even strong drink. God didn't ask for austerity. He commanded celebration. He wanted his people to experience joy in his presence. He wanted families to eat together, children to see their parents worship with joy, for faith not to be a burden, but a delight.
This second tithe was to teach you to fear Jehovah, but not terror, but reverent fear that was expressed in joyful celebration.
Three times a year, you disconnected from work, traveled to the holy city, united with all Israel before the temple, and remembered that your life wasn't just working the land, but worshiping the God who gave it to you.
But here's the devastating question. Did any pastor teach you this type of tithe? Did they tell you that according to scriptures, part of the tithe was for you to enjoy? Did they explain that the system included 10% annually to finance your own spiritual celebration?
Of course not. Because that tithe doesn't sustain structures. It doesn't pay pastoral salaries. It doesn't finance buildings. It doesn't fill coffers. That tithe was for the joy of the people. Not for organizational growth. And in a system where the tithe is the pillar of the budget, teaching that the second tithe was for family celebration would be inconvenient. So it's ignored. It's omitted. It's overlooked. And they teach you that all 12:18 your tithe must go to the church when the scriptures themselves establish that a significant portion was for your use in joyful worship.
The second tithe reveals something beautiful about God's heart. He is not a financial tyrant demanding tribute. He is a father who commands celebration, who mandates joy, who establishes festivals where his people rest, eat well, drink wine, gather as family, and experience the joy of being in his presence.
This tithe also fulfilled a vital economic function. When all Israel traveled to Jerusalem three times a year bringing festival tithes, the economy was activated. Merchants sold animals. Bakers provided bread. Wine producers found a market. Inns were filled. It was a system that blessed spiritually and economically.
And there was special provision for Levites.
Deuteronomy 14:27. You shall not forsake the Levite who is within your gates, for he has no part nor inheritance with you. When you celebrated with your second tithe, you had to invite Levites from your region. They didn't have their own festival tithes. Part of your celebration included sharing with them.
The second tithe teaches generosity in the context of joy. You don't give from scarcity lamenting. You give from abundance celebrating. And that's a lesson the modern church forgot. We've made giving a somber duty when God designed it as part of a joyful experience. This is the second type.
And now you understand why almost no one mentions it. It reveals that the biblical system was much more complex, more generous, more focused on the people than on the institution.
3. The third type of tithe is the one that most confronts modern religious structures because this one didn't go to the temple, didn't go to priests, didn't sustain institutional system. This one went directly to the most vulnerable without intermediaries, without administrators, without controlling structures. It's called the tithe of the poor and it was given every third year.
Deuteronomy 14: verses 28 and 29 establish it with clarity that should make any church that accumulates wealth while ignoring the needy tremble.
At the end of every third year, you shall bring out the tithe of your produce of that year and store it up within your gates. and the Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you. And the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are within your gates may come and eat and be satisfied.
Notice every detail. Every 3 years, not annual like the other two, but trienal. And the recipients were four specific groups. ¹ The Levite, because he had no land, ² the stranger, the immigrant, living in Israel without being an Israelite. ³ The orphan, the child without a protective father, and ⁴ the widow, the woman without a husband to sustain her. These were the most vulnerable, those who had no safety net, those who in an agricultural society without land faced real hunger. And God didn't trust their care to spontaneous goodwill. He made it a commandment.
Every three (3) years, the complete 10% of your production was for them. and note where it was kept; within your gates. Not in the temple of Jerusalem, not in a central storehouse, in your city, in your local community where the needy lived. It was direct immediate redistribution without religious bureaucracy administering it.
Deuteronomy 26 : verses 12 and 13 add more. When you have finished laying aside all the tithe of your increase in the third year, the year of tithing, and have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your gates and be filled, then you shall say before the Lord your God, I have removed the holy tithe from my house, and also have given them to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. There was a declaration you had to make before God.
Public confession that you had fulfilled that you didn't withhold what belonged to the vulnerable. It was spiritual accountability not before a priest but directly before Jehovah.
And here's the mathematical reality that destroys the modern narrative. If a faithful Israelite fulfilled the three tithes, he didn't give 10% of his agricultural production.
He gave approximately 23% on average.
First tithe, 10% each year for Levites.
Second tithe, 10% each year for festivals.
Third tithe, 10% every third year for the poor.
In years 1 and 2, you gave 20%.
In year three, you gave 30%.
Average over 3 years, 23.3%.
So when someone says the biblical tithe is 10%. They're simplifying, ignoring, or deliberately hiding that the complete system was much more demanding. And if you really wanted to apply the complete
Old Testament system today, you shouldn't give 10% of your salary. You should give 23% of your agricultural production.
But here's the uncomfortable question.
If the modern church believed in the complete biblical tithe, why do they only teach the first one? Why don't they preach that you must separate another 10% to celebrate festivals with your family? Why don't they establish that every third year the complete 10% must go directly to widows, orphans, and strangers without passing through institutional coffers?
The answer is obvious. That wouldn't sustain the system if 66% of the total tithe in a three-year cycle went to family celebration and direct help to the poor and only 33% to sustain ministers. The budget of most churches would collapse.
So they take the concept of the first tithe, universalize it as if it were the only one, monetize it though it was agricultural, apply it to everyone, though it was only for farmers, and present it as the complete biblical commandment.
But that's not biblical honesty. It's institutional convenience.
The third tithe reveals God's heart toward the vulnerable.
James 1:27 , Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this to visit orphans and widows in their trouble.
God doesn't want religion that builds cathedrals while widows go hungry. He wants faith that cares for those no one else cares for. And the third tithe system guaranteed that. It wasn't optional charity. It was divine commandment.
Every three (3) years, without exception, the most vulnerable received directly 10% of agricultural production. It was social justice commanded by God himself.
Here are the three types of tithe that almost no pastor explains. First for Levites, second for festivals, third for the poor. Three distinct systems, three different frequencies, three purposes that should never have been merged into simplified doctrine.
Now that you know the three types of tithe, the question arises like a cry in silence. Why didn't anyone teach you this way? Why for years, perhaps decades, did you hear sermons about Malachi 3, but never complete explanation of Deuteronomy 14?
Why do they demand 10% citing the Old Testament but ignore that that testament commanded three distinct tithes? The answer isn't conspiratorial, but it is uncomfortable. Teaching the three complete tithes would fundamentally challenge the financial system upon which most institutional churches are built. And when a system depends on a particular interpretation for survival, that interpretation becomes immovable doctrine. even though it's biblically incomplete.
Imagine a pastor who goes up to the pulpit and preaches, "Brothers, we've been teaching the tithe incorrectly. The Bible commands three distinct tithes.
The first is to sustain ministers. We'll continue receiving that one. But the second you must use to celebrate biblical feasts with your families. And the third every 3 years must go directly to widows, orphans, and immigrants in our community without passing through the church coffers. What would happen?
The budget would be reduced by approximately 60% on average. Construction projects would stop. Pastoral salaries would have to be adjusted. Costly programs would disappear. And the church would be forced to return to a much simpler model, more focused on the essential, more like the primitive church that shared everything. But that would require a level of biblical honesty that few institutions are willing to embrace because many churches aren't built on the New Testament model. They're built on the Old Testament temple model. They have a building that functions as a temple. They have leadership that functions as priesthood. They have a collection system that functions as a storehouse and they need to sustain that system. So they select verses that support the structure and omit verses that would question it.
They preach Malachi chapter 3 without explaining it was specific reproof to corrupt priests in the fifth century before Christ. They cite Numbers chapter 18 without mentioning that the Levitical tithe was exclusively agricultural for a specific tribe that no longer exists. They completely ignore Deuteronomy chapter 14 because those two additional tithes would destabilize the entire argument and they use one word tithe as if it were a singular universal timeless concept when in reality it was a complex system of three distinct components designed for a specific nation under a specific covenant in a specific agricultural context. But here's the liberating truth. Recognizing this reality doesn't make you rebellious. It makes you honest. It doesn't make you stingy. It makes you biblical. Because scriptural integrity doesn't consist of defending human traditions. It consists of aligning your life with what God really said, not with what you were told God said. When you honestly examine the complete three tithe system, several conclusions become inescapable.
First, the Old Testament tithe was much more complex than you were taught. It wasn't simply giving 10% of income to the church. It was a tripartite system that included sustaining ministers, family celebration, and direct help to the vulnerable.
Second conclusion. the complete svstem represented approximately 23% of agricultural production, not 10%. If someone insists you must literally apply the Old Testament tithe today, the literal application would be to give almost a quarter of your income, not a tenth. And of that quarter only a third would go to sustain ministers. Another third to your celebration, another third directly to the poor.
Third conclusion, the tithe was exclusively agricultural, not monetary. Although money existed and circulated in Israel, God never commanded tithing silver or gold. It was always grain, wine, oil, livestock, products of the land. So the modern application of demanding 10% of salary has no direct biblical precedent.
Fourth conclusion, the tithe didn't apply to everyone. If your income came from commerce, from manual trade, from fishing at sea, not from agriculture or livestock, you had no obligation to tithe under the Levitical system. The tithe was specific for those who worked the land that God gave to Israel.
Fifth conclusion, the entire system depended on a context that no longer exists.
There is no temple in Jerusalem. There is no tribe of Levi without inheritance. There is no ironic priesthood. There are no mandatory festivals three times a year in a specific location. There is no theocratic nation where the land belongs to God and the people administrate under specific agricultural laws. So, what does it mean practically?
When someone says you must tithe because it's in the Bible, you can respond, "Which of the three biblical tithes should I fulfill?
The annual Levitical one for ministers, the annual festival one for my celebration, or the trienal one for the poor?
And if I must fulfill all three, then it's not 10% but 23 % on average."
And when that person becomes uncomfortable when they try to simplify saying they were really all one, you can open Deuteronomy and show that no that the scriptures themselves distinguish them clearly with different frequencies, different recipients, different purposes. The discomfort they'Il feel isn't your fault. It's cognitive dissonance from facing that what they've taught was biblically incomplete. And that discomfort, though painful, is necessary because genuine truth always makes uncomfortable before it liberates.
This is a moment to decide. Will you continue accepting simplified interpretations because they're convenient?
Or will you have the courage to study the complete scriptures and live according to what they really say, even though it challenges centuries of tradition? But the story doesn't end with understanding the three types of tithe from the Old Testament.
There is a moment in redemption history where the entire system changes. A moment so definitive it divides history into before and after. A moment where the temple veil is torn, the priesthood changes and with it all the law that sustained that priesthood. That moment is the cross.
And what happens afterward radically transforms how God's people relate to finances, to generosity, to sustaining ministry. Because in Christ, the complete system of Old Testament tithes doesn't transfer to the New Covenant. It's fulfilled and transcended.
Hebrews 7 is the chapter that explains everything. It's the chapter that most tithe preachers avoid because it completely destroys the argument that Christians must tithe according to Levitical order. Listen to these words carefully because they're devastating to traditional doctrine.
Hebrews 7:1. Therefore, if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood, for under it the people received the law, what further need was there that another priest should rise according to the order of Melchizedek and not be called according to the order of Aaron?
The writer says the Levitical priesthood wasn't perfect. It wasn't the final plan. It was temporary, anticipatory, pointing toward something greater. And then comes the verse that changes everything. Verse 12. For the priesthood being changed of necessity, there is also a change of the law.
Read again.
The priesthood being changed of necessity, there is also a change of the law. If the priesthood changed, the law that sustained that priesthood also changed. And what was an integral part of that law? The tithe, the three tithes, the complete system of sustaining the Levitical priesthood through giving agricultural products.
That entire system was inseparably connected to the Aaronic order. And when that order ended, the tithe system also ended. Christ is not a priest according to the order of Aaron. He doesn't descend from Levi. He comes from the tribe of Judah, a tribe of which, as Hebrews 7:14 says, Moses spoke nothing concerning priesthood. Christ is a priest according to the order of Melchizedek, a completely different order, an eternal priesthood that doesn't depend on human lineage.
And this new priesthood requires a new law of sustenance. Not the mandatory tithe of the old covenant, but the voluntary offering of the new covenant.
Not a fixed percentage established by Moses, but generosity moved by the Holy Spirit.
Paul explains it in 2 Corinthians 8,9, two chapters entirely dedicated to the topic of offerings. And what's fascinating is that in those two chapters where Paul had the perfect opportunity to command tithing, he never mentions it, not once. 2 Corinthians 9:7. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity. For God loves a cheerful giver.
Notice each element.
Let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not as they commanded him. Not according to a fixed percentage, as he purposes in his heart. Not grudgingly, not with the heaviness of religious obligation you can't fulfilI. Not with the weight of feeling condemned if you don't reach 10%. Not grudgingly or of necessity. Not because they threatened you with a curse. Not because they told you if you don't tithe you're robbing God. Not because social pressure obliges you or of necessity. For God loves a cheerful giver. The one who gives from love, from gratitude, from genuine generosity that flows from a transformed heart. That's the giver God loves. Not the one who gives 10% with resentment. Not the one who calculates the mandatory minimum. But the one who gives with joy. So the new covenant system is radically different.
It's not less generous, it's more generous. Because under law, the limit was 23% on average. Under grace, there is no limit. You give according to what God puts in your heart. And a truly transformed heart often gives much more than 10%.
The churches of Macedonia are a perfect example.
2 Corinthians 8: verses 2 and 3, that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality for I bear witness that according to their ability yes and beyond their ability they were freely willing. These churches were in deep poverty. They didn't have abundance. They didn't have surpluses. But their joy was so great. Their gratitude for God's grace so overflowing that they gave beyond their ability. No one demanded 10% from them. No one threatened them with a curse. No one calculated their salary. They gave because they had been transformed by grace. And here's the beauty of the new covenant system. When you give under law, you give until you reach the percentage and you stop. When you give under grace, you give until your heart is satisfied. And a heart touched by Christ is never satisfied with the minimum. The first Christians didn't tithe. They did something much more radical.
Acts 2: verses 44 and 45. Now all who believed were together and had all things in common and sold their possessions and goods and divided them among all as anyone had need. That's not 10%. That's 100%. That's radical generosity. And it was voluntary. No one forced them. They simply saw need and responded. When someone needed food, they fed them. When someone needed shelter, they welcomed them. When a widow had no sustenance, they sustained her. Acts 4: verses 34 and 35. Nor was there anyone among them who lacked. For all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles feet, and they distributed to each as anyone had need. No one in need. That was the goal.
Not building impressive buildings, not accumulating institutional wealth, making sure no brother went hungry, no sister was left helpless. And they achieved it through voluntary radical generosity moved by love.
When Ananias and Sapphira lied about the price of their property, Peter made clear in Acts 5:4, "While it remained, was it not your own?" And after it was sold, was it not in your own control?
The money was theirs. They could do with it what they wanted. But they lied, faked generosity they didn't have, and that brought judgment.
The new covenant doesn't demand 10%. It invites you to give everything.
And paradoxically, that invitation without pressure produces more genuine generosity than any mandatory commandment.
So here's the practical question that arises when you understand all this.
If the three Old Testament tithes no longer apply under the New Covenant, how should I give as a believer in Christ?
How much should I give?
To whom should I give?
Is there biblical guidance or do I simply give randomly without principles?
The answer is beautiful in its simplicity but profound in application.
The New Testament doesn't give you a fixed percentage. It gives you principles guided by the Holy Spirit.
And when you live according to those principles, your generosity not only reaches but exceeds what the law could ever demand.
1. First principle, give according to what you purpose in your heart. Not according to what they command from the pulpit. Not according to a percentage they impose.
According to what in prayer, in communion with God, in sensitivitv to the spirit you purpose in your heart to give. This requires spiritual maturity.
It requires that you genuinely seek God and ask, "Lord, how much do you want me to give, not according to human tradition, according to your will for my life at this moment?" And God will answer. Sometimes he'll ask for more than you expected. Sometimes he'll say to first take care of your family, but it will always be specific, personal, guided by love, not by law.
2. Second principle, give with joy, not with sadness.
If you give with resentment, if you give feeling pressured, if you give cursing the fact of having to give, then don't give.
Because God doesn't want your money with that attitude.
He prefers that first your heart be transformed and then you give from that transformation.
2 Corinthians 9:7 says it, "God loves a cheerful giver, not the obligated one, not the resentful one, the cheerful one, the one who gives because his heart overflows with gratitude. The one who sees his offering not as loss but as privilege."
3. Third principle, give according to your means and when God prompts, beyond your means.
2 Corinthians 8:12. For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has and not according to what he does not have.
God doesn't ask you to give what you don't have.
If you're in financial crisis, if you can barely feed your family, if debts suffocate you, God doesn't condemn you for not giving. He sees your situation. And in that moment, perhaps you need not to give, but to receive.
Receive help from the community of faith. Receive without shame.
Because the church isn't a business where only those who pay have rights. It's a family where those who have help, those who don't.
But when you have, when God has prospered you, when basic needs are covered and you have surplus, then the principle changes. Now you give generously proportionally to what you received.
And sometimes like the churches of Macedonia, you give beyond your means because the joy of participating in God's work exceeds rational calculation.
4. Fourth principle, give to supply real needs, not to sustain institutional luxuries.
2 Corinthians 8: verses 13 and 14. For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but by an equality that now at this time your abundance may supply their lack. The objective is not for some to have abundance while others pass through need. The objective is equality, that no one has too much or too little. And this means you must discern how your offering is used.
If your church builds a million-dollar building while widows in the congregation struggle to pay rent, there's something fundamentally wrong.
If leaders live in mansions while members go hungry, that's not God's kingdom. The shepherd lives in the same place with the sheep and lambs.
If resources are invested in impressive technology, in elaborate productions, in luxurious comforts, while the poor in the church are ignored, your offerings don't fulfill biblical purpose.
You have the right more than that the responsibility to ask how funds are used.
First John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits whether they are of God. If a leader is offended because you ask about financial transparency, that offense tells you everything you need to know. Fifth principle, give first for your family, then for the community of faith and also outside the four walls of the church.
1 Timothy 5:8. But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
Your first financial responsibility is your family. Make sure your children have food, that your spouse has what's necessary, that basic needs of your home are covered. And if to achieve that you can't give 10% to the church, it's okay. God doesn't condemn. He commands you to care for your family first.
Afterward, you give to sustain those who dedicate their complete life to the ministry of the word.
1 Corinthians 9:14. Even so, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel.
Faithful ministers deserve to be sustained, but sustenance, not enrichment, provision, not luxury.
And you also give outside the institution. You can directly sustain a widow. You can help a neighbour who lost employment. You can sew into an organization that rescues trafficking victims.
The body of Christ is bigger than your local denomination and your generosity shouldn't be limited by institutional structures.
6. Sixth principle, give in secret when possible. Matthew 6: verses 3 and 4. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will himself reward you openly.
Giving is not to impress others. It's not for your name to appear on a plaque. It's not to receive public recognition.
It's between you and God. And when you give in secret, you protect your heart from pride and ensure your reward comes from God, not from human approval.
These six principles when you genuinely live them produce generosity that exceeds any mandatory percentage because you don't give the required minimum.
You give the maximum your heart can offer with joy.
But there's a question that still persists in the mind of many sincere believers.
A question that arises from fear more than faith, but that needs to be answered with clarity.
If I don't tithe 10%, will I be under a curse?
Does Malachi 3 still apply to me?
This is perhaps the most powerful tool used to keep believers tied to the mandatory tithe system, threat of curse, warning that if you don't deliver 10%, you're robbing God and therefore will fall under divine judgment.
Malachi 3: verses 8 to10 has been preached with grave voice from thousands of pulpits. Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me. But you say, "In what way have we robbed you?" In tithes and offerings, you are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed me, even this whole nation.
This passage is used to generate fear first and then conditional hope.
If you tithe, God will open the windows of heaven. If you don't tithe, you'll be under a curse.
But here's the truth your church probably never explained.
That curse wasn't for you. It never was.
To understand Malachi chapter 3, you need to know the complete context.
Malachi prophesied approximately in the year 450 before Christ, after the return from Babylonian exile.
The temple has been rebuilt. Sacrifices have been reestablished.
But something is terribly wrong. And God sends the prophet with a cutting message. But to whom is he speaking?
Malachi 1:6. A son honors his father and a servant his master. If then I am the father, where is my honor? And if l am a master, where is my reverence? says the Lord of Hosts, to you priests who despise my name.
The reproof is direct to the priests, not to the people in general, to the religious leaders, to those who should represent God before the people and represent the people before God, to those who had turned the altar into corrupt business.
Malachi 1: verses 7 and 8. You offer defiled bread on my altar, but say, "In what way have we defiled you? by saying, "The table of the Lord is contemptable. And when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, is it not evil?"
The priests were accepting defective animals for sacrifices, violating God's law.
Worse yet, they kept the best portions for themselves and delivered scraps. They were robbing from the altar, enriching themselves while the people suffered.
And then we come to Malachi chapter 3.
When God says, "Will a man rob God?" He's not speaking generically to every believer of every era. He's speaking specifically to those corrupt priests of the fifth century before Christ who retained tithes destined for Levites, widows, orphans.
Verse 10 confirms, "Bring all the tithes into the storehouse that there may be food in my house."
Food, not money.
Because the tithe was part of Israel's social welfare system, designed so no one would go hungry.
The priests were robbing it, and that's why the curse fell on them.
But you are not a corrupt Levitical priest of the fifth century before Christ.
You're not robbing grain from the storehouse.
You're not retaining food destined for the poor.
You're not under that curse specific to that specific context.
And here's the liberating truth that changes everything. In Christ, the curse of the law was nailed to the cross.
Galatians 3:13, "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree."
Every curse of the old covenant, including that of Malachi 3, was carried by Jesus Christ.
He drank the complete cup. He paid the total price. And now you're under a different covenant. Covenant of grace.
Covenant of grace, where you don't give from fear of curse, but from love for Christ.
Romans 8:1. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
None.
Zero.
You're not condemned for not tithing.
You're not cursed for not reaching 10%.
You're not under divine judgment because your financial situation is difficult.
So when someone preaches Malachi 3 as a threat, you can respond with Galatians 3.
When they tell you that if you don't tithe, you'll be under a curse, you can remind them that Christ already carried every curse.
When they try to manipulate you with fear, you can rest in God's grace.
This doesn't make you less generous. It makes you more free.
Because when you give from fear, you're under slavery. When you give from love, you're under grace.
And grace always produces more genuine generosity than fear could ever extract.
The curse of Malachi was never yours. It was for corrupt leaders who robbed the poor.
And Jesus Christ already redeemed you from every curse.
Now you give not to avoid judgment, but to extend the grace you've received.
2 Corinthians 3:17, "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
Liberty from curse, liberty from fear, liberty from religious manipulation, liberty to give from genuine love."
And that liberty doesn't produce stinginess. It produces radical generosity.
Because when you understand how much you've been forgiven, how much Christ gave for you, how much grace you've received without deserving it, your heart cannot but respond with overflowing generosity.
You don't give 10% because they demand it. You give generously because you've been transformed.
You don't give to avoid a curse. You give to bless others with the blessing you've received.
This is the true gospel, not a system of rules and threats.
An invitation to live from grace, to give from love, to be a channel of blessing because you were first blessed.
The curse ended, freedom began. And in that freedom, you discover you can give much more than the law ever demanded.
There's a reality that needs to be confronted directly, though it makes many religious leaders uncomfortable.
A reality that has become the elephant in the room of thousands of churches.
A reality that keeps sincere believers financially bound while sustaining structures that perhaps God never commanded to be built.
The reality is this. Many modern churches aren't built on the New Testament model. They're built on the Old Testament temple model. And that's why they need the Old Testament tithe to survive.
Think carefully. The primitive church described in Acts didn't have special buildings. They met in homes. Acts 2 : 46. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart.
The temple was the Jewish temple they attended as Jews that they were. But their meetings as church happened in homes. They didn't have million-dollar budgets. They didn't have mortgages to pay. They didn't have extensive salaried staff. They didn't have costly programs to maintain. They didn't have sound systems, giant screens, elaborate lights, cinematic level productions.
They had genuine communion, God's word, prayer, breaking of bread, and radical love. And with that simple model, they turned the Roman world upside down without impressive buildings, without massive budgets, with voluntary generosity focused on real needs, not on institutional structures.
Now observe the average modern church. It has a building that cost millions with a mortgage of decades. It has salaried pastoral staff. It has programs that require constant financing. It has enormous operational costs and to sustain all that it needs predictable, constant, guaranteed income.
So what does it do? It implements mandatory tithing. Not because it's New Testament doctrine, but because it's the only way to ensure the cash flow necessary to keep the structure functioning.
And to justify it biblically, it takes the Old Testament system, simplifies it, universalizes it, monetizes it, and presents it as "immutable divine commandment". So called . But that's not biblical honesty.
It's institutional necessity disguised as doctrine. Jesus never commanded building buildings. Jesus never established budgets. Jesus never created complex organizational structures.
He called disciples.
He called 12 men, trained them, sent them, and that model replicated organically from 12 to 70,
from 70 to 120, from 120 to 3,000 at Pentecost, from 3,000 to all Jerusalem, and without a single building, without a single formal budget, without a single mandatory tithe system.
Apostle Paul planted churches in homes.
Romans 16:5, "Greet also the church that is in their house."
1 Corinthians 16:1 19, "Aquila and Priscilla greet you heartily in the Lord with the church that is in their house."
Colossians 4:15, "Greet the brethren who are in Laodicea and Nympha and the church that is in his house." Give my greetings to the brothers and sisters at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house.
Churches met in homes and when a home filled up they multiplied to another. It was simple, reproducible, focused on genuine relationships, not on elaborate presentations.
So what happened?
How did we go from the house church of Acts to mega structures of today?
When did Christianity stop being a movement of disciples and become a religious institution?
It happened gradually through centuries.
In year 313, Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity. Suddenly being a Christian no longer meant persecution. It meant imperial favor. And with that favor came money, power, buildings.
Christianity became institutionalized.
And with institutionalization came the need for constant financing.
Buildings required maintenance. Leaders needed salaries. The system grew and with it the need for resources. So the institutional church adopted the Old Testament temple model.
Sacred building, 54:32 professional priesthood, tithe system to sustain it all. But that wasn't Jesus model. That wasn't the apostles model.
That was the old covenant model transplanted to the new functioning but fundamentally different from what Christ established.
And here's the uncomfortable question every believer must ask themselves.
Am I sustaining God's work or am I sustaining a religious structure that perhaps God never commanded to be built?
Is my generosity feeding the poor or paying building mortgages?
Is it sustaining widows or financing elaborate productions? Because Jesus was clear about his priorities.
Matthew 25: verses 35 and 36. For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you took me in. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me.
Jesus didn't say build impressive temples. He said feed the hungry.
He didn't say create cinematic productions. He said visit the sick.
He didn't say establish million dollars budgets. He said welcome the stranger.
And when your offerings go primarily to sustain structures instead of serving people, something is fundamentally inverted.
This doesn't mean buildings are inherently bad. They can be useful to gather more people.
This doesn't mean pastors shouldn't receive sustenance.
First Timothy 5:18, the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labour in the word and doctrine.
But it means you need to discern if your church is built on Christ's model or building on the temple model.
If it's focused on making disciples or on growing an institution, if your offerings are financing God's kingdom or a human structures kingdom and that's a decision only you can make. No one can make it for you.
But make it with open eyes with scriptures in hand with the Holy Spirit as guide. Because in the end, you won't answer before a human leader about how you used the resources God entrusted to you.
You'll answer before Christ himself and he will ask, "Did you feed my sheep?
Did you clothe the naked?
Did you visit the prisoners?
Or did you build monuments to your own religiosity?"
That question should guide every financial decision you make.
The three types of tithe from the Old Testament fulfilled their purpose.
They sustained Levites. They financed festivals. They provided for the poor. But that system ended. Christ fulfilled it. And now you live under a better covenant with better promises with generosity that isn't measured in percentages but in transformed hearts.
You are free.
Free from the obligation of 10%.
Free from the threat of curse.
Free from religious manipulation.
But that freedom doesn't make you stingy. It makes you truly generous.
Because when you give from love instead of from law, you give much more than law could ever demand.
Write in the comments one word that summarizes what God spoke to you today. And may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you.
Because where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
THE SIN OF THE TITHE?
JESUS CLARIFIES IT
Why Did Jesus NEVER Ask for the 10% TITHE?
( Continue here ....click here )
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