Principles and patterns

Some say that the giving passages in the Old Testament do not apply today because we are not under the Law – the Old Testament but under grace. Jesus seemed to bend “the Law” according to the strict interpretation of the Pharisees.  However he also said that not one jot or title was removed.

    Romans 6:13-15 (King James Version)
 13Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
 14For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
 15What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

- As born again – new creation we have died to the law, to sin and live by grace

    Matthew 5:18 (King James Version)
 18For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

    Matthew 5:18(The Message) Completing God's Law

 17-18"Don't suppose for a minute that I have come to demolish the Scriptures— either God's Law or the Prophets. I'm not here to demolish but to complete. I am going to put it all together, pull it all together in a vast panorama. God's Law is more real and lasting than the stars in the sky and the ground at your feet. Long after stars burn out and earth wears out, God's Law will be alive and working.

 How do we reconcile these views?  Does the mosaic law of the tithe apply today?

Paul says that it is about grace. The way to interpret the Law and more – all the teachings of the scriptures - are to be interpreted by grace.
We need to understand more about God. Jesus came to help us understand God and continues today through His Holy Sprit.

Firstly that He is the God of Grace. Grace is a principle that means that we are given even when we don’t deserve. (Mercy is when we are not given what we do deserve)

• We add to this that he works according to principles.
• These principles are seen through the patterns of his working in scripture.
• He works in patterns based on principles.

Lets look at the patterns – Old Testament – about giving and tithing.

 The pattern of giving is clear in the Old Testament.
Abraham gave titles to Melchizedek.
Jacob promised tithes to God.

Gen 28: 20And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on,
 21So that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God:
 22And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.

So Tithing was before the Law of Moses – it was a principle. We learn this by the patterns that we find in the scriptures on giving.

In the New Testament times Jesus observed that the Pharisees gave tithes of their herbs but neglected the more important things like justice. (*1) This was against a principle. We learn that giving is not by law which says “you must” or even “you should” or “you ought”, is a principle. That principle is predicated on of how we owe everything to God. When we tithe we give a memorial portion to him to remind us of this fact that God is our source of all our increase.

After Moses this was understood as a tenth of all – crops, profit, live stock, produce etc. In the New Covenant we don’t have an obligation to follow the Jewish Law. The dietary laws, circumcision, Jewish feasts and festivals were not seen as a necessary part of being a disciple of Jesus. Being converted did not mean becoming a Jew who believed that the Messiah (Jesus) had come. Never the less the principle behind giving remains unchanged.

            *1  Mat 23:23Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

So let’s look at some scripture and observe the patterns and principles.

 Malachi 3:6-12 (New King James Version)

      6 “ For I am the LORD, I do not change; ¹
      Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.
       7 Yet from the days of your fathers
      You have gone away from My ordinances   And have not kept them.²
      Return to Me, and I will return to you,”   Says the LORD of hosts. ³
      “ But you said,    ‘ In what way shall we return?’ ⁴

Do Not Rob God

      8 “ Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me!
      But you say, ‘ In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. ⁵
       9 You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me,  Even this whole nation.
       10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,   That there may be food in My house,
       And try Me now in  this,” Says the LORD of hosts, ⁶
      “ If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing
      That there will not be room enough to receive it.
       11 “ And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, So that he will not destroy the fruit of your        round,
      Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,” Says the LORD of hosts;
       12 And all nations will call you blessed, For you will be a delightful land,” Says the LORD of hosts.⁷

 Patterns.

1. God doesn’t change. v6
2. People miss it!
3. God wants his people to return to him v7
4. People don’t understand the principles.
5. Neglecting Tithes AND offerings is robbing God of what belongs to him. vv9,10
6. There is forgiveness and restoration. v10
7. God’s promises and released to the obedient. vv10,12

Principles

So – do we tithe because of Law or because of Grace?

When we tithe and bring our gifts we respond to his grace. The first commandment – Old Testament and New Testament – is love God. If we love him the last thing we would want to do is rob him! The principle of the Tithe is set out as a pattern in the Law. We - under Grace can follow the principle. Our covenant is a better covenant. Under his grace we have the grace of giving, so if follows that our grace of giving is at least at the same level as under the Old Covenant. By grace, giving10 percent is a minimum. We see that all we have belongs to God and “of his own do we give him” (prayer book)

Serving.

Serving is part of stewardship. Jesus taught a pattern in the parable of the talents. What we have is given to us to use and develop - in his service.

The Parable of the Talents Mat 25

14 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a man travelling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. 15 And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. 16 Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. 17 And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. 18 But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money. 19 After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.
20 “So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ 21 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ 22 He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’ 23 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’
24 “Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’
26 “But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. 27 So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents.
29 ‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

 Serving is linked with Faithfulness

 Luke 19:17
And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities.
Luke 6:38
Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

Again principles. What God has given to us is for use. When we use what he has given we receive more.

 There is a testing for faithfulness. Those who pass are possible leaders who can teach others.

2 Timothy 2  And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

Giving of finances, time and talents is all part of  the ministry of the church. It enables God’s work to proceed. It establishes the local church as an effective centre for discipling, encouraging, equipping and reaching out to others. We are called into the body of Christ to fulfil his commission. Each part of the body has a function – all have gifts and abilities. These are released into the kingdom when we know we belong (connected) and are motivated to do our bit. Those who feel that their financial contribution is small may well have time to do things. Remember that the menial tasks are just as important – or even more so- than special-skill based jobs.

 The man who prayed with me when I accepted Jesus was the chaplain at a Cambridge College. He had been to a charismatic community in Houston to serve there – right at the heart of the charismatic revival in the late 60’s and early 70’s. With all his learning, (he was a scholar who went to Patmos to read John’s Epistles in Greek because God told him to) he was surprised when they said that thy really needed him to clean the building and gave him a broom and a loo brush. This he did in humility and was blessed in his place in the grace of serving.

Look at the patterns and find the principles in this passage.

 1 Cor 12:12 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. 14 For in fact the body is not one member but many.
15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? 18 But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. 19 And if they were all one member, where would the body be?
20 But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. 21 And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. 23 And those members of the body which we think to be less honourable, on these we bestow greater honour; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, 24 but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honour to that part which lacks it, 25 that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. 26 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honoured, all the members rejoice with it.
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. 28 And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way.