INVESTigate - Series 1

by Pastor Wilson

INVESTigate

This series deals with our Talent, time, treasure

is tithing for today?

Big idea:
God wants us to worship Him with our financial giving

1st type of tithe
Levitical tithe
Numbers 18:19-24
“You shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness while she is in her menstrual uncleanness. 20 And you shall not lie sexually with your neighbor's wife and so make yourself unclean with her. 21 You shall not give any of your children to offer them[a] to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord. 22 You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. 23 And you shall not lie with any animal and so make yourself unclean with it, neither shall any woman give herself to an animal to lie with it: it is perversion. 24 “Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean,

Levitical tithe ensure provision for levites and priest. is for levites and priest

2nd type
Festival tithe
Deut 14:22
“You shall tithe all the yield of your seed that comes from the field year by year.

This tithe is a tithe that was brought to Jerusalem during the festival, celebration. Is like a national potluck, also to be given to the levites

3rd type
The welfare tithe or tithe for the poor
Deut 14:28-29
“At the end of every three years you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in the same year and lay it up within your towns. 29 And the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance with you, and the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your towns, shall come and eat and be filled, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do.

Took place every 3 years where a tenth give to needy, foreigners, levites, widows etc

Malachi 3:8-12
Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. 10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. 11 I will rebuke the devourer[a] for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts. 12 Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.

During Nehemiah where ppl return from Exile to Jerusalem. Ppl more concern about themselves than levites and priest. There was no honor for His God so God very upset. Don't test the lord as and when we want base on malachi

This verse It was for the Israelites then.

Paul did not mention tithing as well. Gentiles believers need not obey mosaic laws.

There was no need for levites and priest to run house churches

Are we required to tithe today?
Since gentile Believers in christ are no longer under mosaic laws
Matt 5:17
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

Christ has fulfilled the law which mean...the law was a set of instruction to help Israelites then, to guide them. However the law also point to reality that no one can be righteous b4 God only christ is the only way to God

John 14:6
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

1st theory
Through this act of christ, our sins are forgiven without need to sacrifices anymore, therefore we now do not need the mosaic law

2nd theory
Romans destroy the 2nd temple in jerusalem. Christ came and there is no need for a temple because Believers in christ are the temple of the Holy Spirit

1 Cor 3:16-17
Do you not know that you[a] are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.

Our giving to the Lord is for the livelihood of the full time staff leading and equipping the faith community

1 Corinthians 9:9-11
For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? 10 Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop. 11 If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you?

Our giving to the Lord is for the Great Commission and the celebration of God's people

Our giving to the Lord is for the poor and needy in our community

We don't tithe to the temple but give to the local church to fulfill Christ's commission

Our giving today is not under religious law, but our love and worship to God.

GIVE TO BE FREE FROM THE FEAR OF LACK