Are Christians Required to Tithe? 2 Corinthians 8:7-9 Explained

Hello and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, good to see everybody back again today, and we're just going to jump right in where we left off in our last program, and that was in II Corinthians chapter 8. And I think we got down as far as verse 6, so we'll pick up in verse 7. And again, for all of you joining us on television, we'd just like to invite you to open your Scriptures and compare Scripture with Scripture. We do not try to twist arms, we are not trying, as I've said so often, to move people from one group to another. But regardless of where you may be functioning, in a church, in a Sunday school, or out of a church, whatever, that you will learn to search the Scriptures and see what the Word of God really says. We don't claim to have all the answers, but we do trust that the Lord has revealed a lot of these things to us that are normally skimmed over, and how we appreciate your letters. My goodness as I've said almost every program, mail time is the highlight of our day, and I can't possibly answer every one, but my how we appreciate your letters so much. Now again we are asked almost daily if we have all this available on video, and yes of course we do. All the past programs from Genesis 1 up to where we are are available on videotape. We have now started producing them on the audiotapes, and of course they are also available in the little booklets, and again we always have to give Jerry Poole the credit for transcribing all of this into the print, and then Keith Decker gets it ready for the printer. So it just takes a lot of people to make all of this really fly. Now again I think we're ready to get right back into the study, because after all that's why we're here. So if you'll jump in with me at II Corinthians chapter 8 verse 7, you'll remember in our last program we introduced the idea of giving from Paul's writings, and the purpose of it. Now as I stress then, and I'll stress again, you want to remember that the little churches that were founded back in the apostolic days were probably meeting in homes. Most of them probably didn't even have full time pastors as such, and yet Paul gives instructions for the gathering of their offerings, and then we pointed out that at that time it was primarily for the poor saints dwelling at Jerusalem. They had been pooling all of their resources since Pentecost, and the common kiddie had run out, and they were now destitute. But since they were destitute because of their obedience to the Word of God, God in turn takes care of them through the offerings of these Gentile believers, and that's what Paul has now been stressing, is that the Jews are worthy of our material gifts because of all of the things we owe them for their spiritual things given to us. Now it's rather amazing I think, that Paul deals with giving for almost 3 chapters, 7, 8 and 9. Now I'm not going to overdo the whole thing, but I'm going to spend this half hour on this whole concept of Grace Age or Church Age giving. We get so many phone calls from people asking, how am I supposed to give my tithes and my offerings and what have you. Well the first thing I always say, and it shocks people, and I know a lot of pastors probably don't like it when I teach this, but we are not duty bound to give a tithe. We are not under Law, we're under Grace. And I just stress this constantly. Read what Paul says all the way from Romans through Hebrews, and you will never see the word tithe one time. He never uses it because it is no longer appropriate. Now that doesn't mean that we don't give. Of course we give, but we are not under any kind of a rule or a mandate to give so much. And it's that theme that we're going to bring out now in these next few moments, beginning in 2 Corinthians chapter 8, verse 7. And again always remember the situation of the letter. Paul is probably somewhere up in northern Greece as he writes this second letter to the Corinthian church, which was a carnal church. It was a very immature group of believers, and the first letter of course he really had to come down on them with a lot of their problems. And now in this letter he is not condemning them so much as to just simply straighten out some of their ideas. Then as we come into verse 7, he says, "...therefore, as ye abound in everything..." Now that's of course the joy of the Christian life, isn't it? Now we may not all be wealthy, and we don't have to be. We may not all enjoy perfect health, and we don't have to, because our blessings are above and beyond the material, although the material certainly enter in because we're human. Now these believers in Greece were no different. He said, "...you are abounding in everything, in faith." Now that's the beginning of it. I had a listener write just yesterday, and he said, "...I'm beginning to wonder, we're hearing so much about experiences, but aren't they taking the place of faith when they talk about experience?" And I had to say, absolutely! We have to begin with doctrine, and doctrine comes by faith. And when you put faith plus doctrine, then you're going to have experience. But too many people are forgetting the doctrine, and they're always talking about nothing but experience. Well it's not going to fly, and God's not pleased with that, because we have to start right here with one of their major gifts, and that was faith. That ability and that power that is God given, that we can believe what God says. Now remember that's the whole basis of studying and understanding the Word of God, is that we believe what He says. Now granted we have to be careful. We're not going to bring into operation things that God told Israel to do back in the Old Testament. In fact again, someone called the other day, and said, "...Doesn't Malachi say, bring your gifts, and your ties, and your offerings into the storehouse?" And I said, yes. "...But doesn't the same Old Testament say, bring me your animal sacrifices, and do this with the priests, and do that with the priests?" Well yeah. So I said, what are you going to do? I said, just because the Bible says, bring me an animal sacrifice, are you going to go out and buy a lamb? Well of course not. We're not under that today, we know better than that. And yet it carries all the way through on everything. Just because the Old Testament told Israel to do something, that doesn't mean that that's still valid for us today, and so we have to shake these things up. Coming back again to the verse in verse 10. Now Paul says, you have all that, now let's put the next thing into practice, which is their giving. Now he says, let's see that you abound in this grace also. What grace is he talking about? The grace of giving. The grace of giving. Verse 8. I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness, or the zealousness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love. Now always take in this into account, how many times Paul will say, I'm not speaking this by commandment. In other words, the Lord told me, now Paul you tell the people this. But since it's in the written Word, what does it become? Inspired it's the Word of God. So even when Paul says, now I'm not writing this by commandment, in essence who commanded him or who caused him to write that? Well, the Holy Spirit. So take that always into account, that just because Paul says, now this isn't commandment from God, yet it is in reality because it's the Holy Spirit who's prompting him to write what he writes. Now then verse 9. Verse 9. Paul says, You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, all the cattle on a thousand hills, all the gold that's ever been created, and all the diamonds, whether they're in the rough or whether they've already been smoothed and made ready for jewelry, it's all his. That's how rich he is, and yet in spite of all the wealth of the universe that was his, yet for your sakes, for these carnal believers of Corinth, as well as a believer from wherever we may come, yet for your sakes, he became poor, so poor that he could say that foxes have holes, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man hath not a place to lay his head. Now that was a graphic illustration in the material realm. He didn't have some wealthy home that he could go back to. He did not live in an insumptuous environment, but that was only in the material realm. But in the spiritual realm he went far, far deeper into absolute poverty, as we see it in Philippians chapter 2, verses 6 and 7. Now look at this. I mean this is beyond human comprehension, and yet it's what the Word declares. Who, speaking of Christ Jesus in verse 5, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery or something to be equal with God, because he was God. Now verse 7. As the God of creation, the God who owns everything in the universe, yet he made himself of no reputation, and took upon himself the form of a servant. Now too often we read that word servant, and we kind of glide over it without realizing what is the better term for servant. He was a slave. How much material goods did a slave in the Antiquities have? None. His life was worthless. He may be here today and gone tomorrow. The rowers in the ships of those days were slaves down there in the lower, hot areas of the ship, and they rowed until they were dead, and then what? They pitched them overboard. How much of this world's goods did those fellows have? None. Now this is where the Lord Jesus took himself. He took himself to the depths of being a slave, with absolutely nothing of this world's goods to call his own. Unbelievable? Yes it is from the human side, and I can't comprehend it, but it's what the Word declares, that the Almighty God Himself in the person of Christ, became a slave, and was made in the likeness of men. Now imagine from the exalted area of the Godhead, to come down and be nothing more than a human being like the rest of us. How far can you go? And yet that's what He did, Paul says, that He would leave His area of being so rich, and in order to become poor, and was found in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself. It was of His own volition. He didn't have to, but He humbled Himself and became obedient even unto death, and the death of the cross on top of that. Now why is Paul using that in relation to Christian giving? We have to take that same kind of an attitude. If God in the person of Christ was willing to leave that area of absolute control of the universe, and took on Himself the role of a slave for our salvation, then who are we to say, but I can't give anything, I can't give so much, alright let's move on. II Corinthians 8, and herein I give my advice, for this is expedient, it's good for you, who have begun before, not only to do, but also to be zealous a year ago. Now therefore, perform the doing of it, as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a completion, or a performance, also out of that which ye have. What's Paul driving at? Well for the last year he's been encouraging these churches in Greece to get their offerings ready for the day when someone would come along and pick them up and transport that amount of wealth to Jerusalem. Now as I was studying this, I couldn't help but think of something I think the station manager here, Gary, told me a long time ago, that for those who are in this business of television and so forth, have learned that statistically out of 300 people who may be listening to me over the next several weeks, 300 of those people say, well now I'm going to send that man an offering. How many actually get around to doing it? One. Isn't that amazing? But see that's human nature, and Paul was dealing with the same thing. Now he says for a whole year you've been talking about getting these collections ready for the saints in Jerusalem, but they still hadn't done it. And so he says, now let's get busy and complete it, because he wanted it all done before he got there so that they wouldn't give because of his presence. And I understand exactly how he felt. You never like to make someone feel obligated to give just because you happen to be there personally on the scene. And so this is exactly what he's talking about. Now verse 12. Now this is all with regard to Christian giving. Now watch it, there's not a word in here about him naming 10%. He never says a tithe. All he's talking about is the general concept of giving. Verse 12. For if there be first a willing mind, just like in everything else, everything we say or do, where does it have to begin? With a thought. Everything has to start with a thought. Then it's an accepted according that a man hath, and not according that he hath not. Now do you see, does God expect someone who is on a very meager, maybe just nothing more than their little Social Security check, does God expect them to give all that to some ministry or some church? No, no way. More than once I've had to write to people. Now listen, if you are on a meager income, I don't expect a dime. Now that's between them and God, and if they feel that God is still laying it on, that's fine. But I never want someone on a meager income to feel obligated to support this ministry. Maybe others may, but I don't want it on this one. And so God is making it so clear that giving is based on that ability to give. Then he speaks of it in verse 13, "...for I mean not that other men be eased, and you burdened." In other words, Paul says he is not going to make anybody, whether they are wealthy or poor, to feel obligated to give because of his presence. Now he comes all the way down through verses 16-24, speaking of the men who would be coming along to pick up these offerings, and again he's showing the need for integrity in handling the affairs of God. And he's telling the Corinthians that the men that are coming, probably headed up by Titus, are men of integrity, and they don't have to worry about turning over their offering to them, because they will get every penny of it to Jerusalem where it's supposed to go. Now I want to come quickly over to chapter 9, verse 1, "...for as touching the ministering to the saints," now I pointed out in our last program, what ministering was he talking about? The poor saints in Jerusalem who had been left destitute because of their offerings into the common kiddie back there beginning with Acts chapter 2. So now he says, "...as touching that, it superfluous, or it goes beyond saying, for me to write to you. For I know the forwardness," or I think a better word is the zealousness, "...of your mind, for which I boast of you to them in Macedonia." In other words, what was Paul actually doing on behalf of the Corinthian believers? He was boasting to his other congregations of what a good job they were doing in making these collections. Verse 3, "...yet have I sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf, that as I said, ye may be ready." Now of course I think Paul is using a little psychology, isn't he? He is building them up, and he says, now look Corinthians, Titus and the gentlemen that are already making collections up here in the poorest part of mountainous Greece, when they come into a cultural and a commercial center like Corinth, that's the reason there's going to be more wealth available than there would be up there in the mountains. And so Paul I think is sort of setting them up that, now look Corinthians, these men are going to be expecting something from you, because you have so much more to offer than these poor churches up in northern Greece. Reading on, verse 5, "...therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren that they would go before unto you, and make up beforehand your bounty, whereof you had noticed before that the same might be ready." Now do you see this constant drumming at the fact? Now have this done when these fellows get there. Don't put it off, don't procrastinate, have these offerings collected and ready so they can pick it up and take it on to where it has to go there in Jerusalem. Now verse 6, "...but this I say, he who soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly." Now you want to remember the vast majority of people in this day and time were agriculturally connected, and so he's talking about sowing a crop of grain. And any farmer knows that if you sow half of the amount of required seed, you're not even going to get half a crop. Now you don't put on more than is necessary, but you put on the stipulated amount to get a full crop of grain. But it's brought into the Christian experience on the same way. If you're going to be tight with your giving, if you're going to hold back when you have the ability to give, God's going to be kind of holding back on His blessings. That's exactly what He's teaching. Now I am not a name it and claim it type. I do not claim that if you give $1,000 a year, God's going to pour you out $3,000. No way does this Bible teach that. But I think we all realize that our God is so great that if we do it with the right attitude we do it by faith, no we cannot out give God. Now here again one of my favorite clich�s is that there is a fine line between faith and fantasy. By faith I can do certain things and realize that God is going to respond, but I can't be foolish. Fantasy would say, well I'm just going to give that ministry $500 because I just feel that God's going to turn back and give me $50,000. That's what a lot of people think. It's not going to work that way. That's fantasy. But we know God is able. But now I think I have to qualify. A lot of times we think that our giving should immediately have something return in kind. It doesn't have to work that way. Have you ever stopped to think of all of the potential expenses God can spare you because you were liberal in your giving? In other words that old car may go another 50,000 miles, but otherwise it may break down. You may end up as fortunate as Iris and I have been over the years with practically no money spent for medical expenses. You know what I call that? That's the payback. It could have just as well cost us thousands of dollars. So you have to look at this whole thing on the big picture, not just in if I give $100 will I get $500 back. That's not the way to look at it. But you have to look at the whole concept of how God is going to respond. Now verse 7, here is the foundation for our giving. "...every man according as he purposeth in his heart, not grudgingly, or of necessity, "...legalism. I can remember years ago a gentleman up in Iowa was so upset that his particular pastor came out and looked at the things that he had available, and looked at the size of his home, and the car, and the pickup, and the garage, and he turned around. Of course this was years and years ago. And he said, it looks to me like you should be able to give $600 a month. Well how do you suppose the guy felt? He was totally turned off. He said, nobody is going to tell me how much I'm supposed to give. And I agreed with him. I said, no one has the right to do that. That is strictly between the individual Christian and his Lord. Let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity, because somebody has laid it on you. For God loveth a cheerful giver, and if you have a margin the word cheerful in the original Greek really meant hilarious. How many people go to church on Sunday morning and lay that offering on the plate with a hilarious attitude? Not many. They do it out of a sense of duty. They do because they think somebody is laying a burden on their shoulder that they have to give. No, you don't. If you don't want to give, and if you can't give hilariously, God in so many words says, I don't need it, I don't want it. But for a believer to give as God has prospered, and do it joyfully, and give it to a place where the Word is honored, where the Gospel is proclaimed, then God will give you the unction, God will give you the direction, and God will show you how much to give and where. But no where. See my time is gone. I wanted to go back to Malachi, I wanted to go back to Leviticus, I wanted to go back to Exodus, and I'm not going to have time. But see those were all stipulated to the nation of Israel, and all I ask people to do is go back and read Malachi chapter 1, verse 1, where it says the Lord says to the nation of Israel. That's Route 1, Box 716, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer supported, and your gift is appreciated. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time, for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.