The Tithe: A Command With a Special Challenge and Blessing

Let's get to it... the only place God ever told anyone to test Him—in all the verses in all the chapters in all the books in all Bible.  God's challenge is specific, regarding the tithe.

Malachi 3:6-12 (bolding added)

⁶“For I am the Lord, I do not change;
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.
Return to Me, and I will return to you,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
“But you said,
‘In what way shall we return?’

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. 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, “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 ground,
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. 

They robbed God by withholding tithes and offerings.  What's the difference between tithes and offerings?  The tithe was a tenth, and offerings are anything beyond the tenth.  Robbing God is a strange idea, really.  Who can steal from the Almighty?  How can someone pickpocket God? Who can break into God's house and take His things? How will mortal man rob God?  You can, and I can.  God said this was done by not returning to Him what is His in tithes, as well as offerings.

TEST ME.  God says to test Him.  If you or I were to do a word search on testing God, we will find enough to say about not testing, or not trying God.  We would find a lot to say about God testing us. Testing and trying God, though, is generally something pointed out as a bad thing to do.  Generally, I say, because there is this one acception.  Malachi chapter 3, regarding tithes and offerings.  God challenges them (and I believe us) to TEST HIM.  I want to highlight some aspects of that promise, below.

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,
“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. -Malachi 3:10

Notice here that in verse 10, nothing is mentioned about any "offering"; only the tithe is mentioned. "Bring all the tithes to the storehouse." And God promises, if we accept this challenge, for us to watch and see, "If I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour out for you such a blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it."

So How does this promise come to fruition, exactly?  What should that look like when God answers?  I don’t know, exactly, if I have an answer for that.  I do have some suggestions, and perhaps only God can reveal to you what that will look like in your life individually.  Simply stated, God offers a promise that you will experience a return greater than your investment, more than you alone can store. Your cup will overflow.

• One thing I know, is that there is a storehouse in heaven (Matthew 6:19; Mark 10:29-30); certainly this truth of treasure in heaven applies to many circumstances besides the tithe, too.  We should always be looking for ways to store up treasure in heaven, by the things we do and say on Earth.  Perhaps the blessing from God will just be the satisfaction and joy that comes from building up His Kingdom by making financial sacrifice on Earth, knowing you are putting treasure in heaven.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

• We also have churches (the house of God) that stores tithes and offerings for distributing wherever there are needs.  When we give at our churches, that's very much like what we're doing.  We've giving it to the House of God... to the storehouses.  Many people are served because of the contribution made to the storehouses so that there is food (both physical and spiritual) in His house.

• You will overflow in a special way that otherwise you will not.  Really, I don’t know for sure what it will look like.  Maybe that's for each one of us to find out for ourselves as we act in obedience.  Bring it, and He will overflow.  You may simply be happier (blessed) and more satisfied knowing that you have been obedient. I think we can all relate to that, but specifically I speak in regards to the tithe.  Bring your tithe, and test God in this.  It's the only place in all of the history of God's people where God challenges us to do this.  And, there is no other investment in this world that can give you that kind of guarantee.

God can answer in a monetary way on occasion.  Ultimately this will not be for your own luxury, but for His glory.  I believe, in faith, that we have experienced this kind of blessing fairly recently.  We were at a crossroads of sorts, moving between churches.  We had a good amount of money stored up (the tithe), and I was personally trying to decide if maybe I should juts hold onto it.  Or, not give it all away.  Maybe my understanding on the tithe was wrong.  Maybe I don't need to give ALL 10%, legalistically.  Maybe we were wrong.  I'd sure like to hang on to this money.  God really wants me to have it.  Why would God want to take 10%, really?  Doubt came along, and chirped.  Maybe we'll just give up a little bit, as we see fit in our own hearts.  God knows the heart, though... in our heart of hearts we knew too.  We believed God spoke with specificity about the tithe.

All of these things so far mentioned came to mind, and we decided to just give it up, and not rob God.  "Lord, we're just going to honor you with the tithe, because we know what your Word says and what your promise is."  We believed it would ultimately be better for us if we did, so we let it go, and sent it out.  The very next day we received a notice in the mail that a certain amount of capital was coming back to us in a very unexpected turn of events, with something that wasn't even on our minds; the value of which was about 80% the tithe we just released the previous day.  Now, could that have been chance?  Oh, many would say it was.  I do not.  I do believe this was a special circumstance of God answering us in a way that was clear, but is certainly not to always be expected.  I think we all have times in our lives where God has answered us in such a way.  And, as further proof that this is a not a prosperity Gospel I'm trying to convey, let me point out that a negative 20% return would not be a good financial investment :).  Yet, there are other benefits... in obedience.

“And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes,
So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground,
Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,”
Says the Lord of hosts; -Malachi 3:11

God will rebuke the devourer.  That’s a very practical promise that I believe applies to the material world.  Things you own will last longer, go further, and stay functional for a greater period of time than they would have otherwise.  When you tithe, what you plant will yeild a better crop than had you kept back that 10% and put it in the ground.  What do you do with all that extra yeild?  Well, you'll tithe off of that of course and put a little more in the ground than you would have otherwise, next time.  No matter your "crop", it's a never ending cycle, see.  It's just God's Word as I simply see it, and experience it.  Something I'm certain you will experience too if you accept His challenge.  The things God has lent you in this life—things that should be used to bring Him glory anyways—will last longer.

But, how will I know?  Here is the problem.  Really, how will you ever know if God rebuked the devourer?  Everything eventually falls apart.  How will you ever know if your car lasted an extra month?  How will you ever know if you got 20 more uses out of your blender?  How will you even know if God is fulfilling His promise?  How will you know if the yield was more plentiful?  How will you know if your work bears more fruit?  Here is the exciting part--you won’t know!  That is, apart from faith you won't know.  All the speculation in the world and you will never know.  You’ll just have to accept that God did what He said He would do, on faith.  The tithe can be, should be, and always has been an instrument of God that causes us to walk by faith, and not by site.

Not of the law... but before the law... of faith.

As we conclude some final thoughts to some questions that may arise regarding the tithe.

Was the tithe just something Abram purposed in his own heart?  This is a fair question, and I don't believe it was.  Why?  Because if the tithe was merely something Abram purposed in his own heart, why is it mentioned later with a special promise and specificity regarding the tithe (a tenth)? Why does God not, when mentioned later in Malachi chapter 3, just say “Purpose in your own heart as Abram did”? No, the tithe/tenth is mentioned specifically, with a promise.  Why does God later say to tithe, and not, "Do what seems good to you"?

What about the circumcision that predates the law as well?  Another fair question.  The circumcision also predates the law (Gen 17).  To that I would point out things previously mentioned, and things to be mentioned next week, making the tithe different.  The tithe comes with a special blessing as mentioned in this post.  The tithe was given to Melchizedek (the circumcision was not), sharing the same priesthood with Jesus.  The circumcision doesn't have these things alike with the tithe, and we're also told specifically that the circumcision is not necessary in the New Testament.  Whereas the tithe, when mentioned in the New Testament, is not actually spoken against, but on the contrary it is spoken for.  The tithe is actually mentioned with approval, by Jesus Himself.

Not to get ahead of myself, because that’s next week...