It is important to notice that although the Lord required tithes from the people of Israel, we do not have the word ‘tithe’ mentioned in any of the New Testament epistles.  We read in Leviticus 27:32, “And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the LORD.”  Now let’s read Leviticus 27:34, “These are the commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses for the CHILDREN OF ISRAEL in mount Sinai.”  The tithe was actually a tax for the upkeep of the tabernacle and temple and for the support of the High Priests and priests.

Does the New Testament say anything to us about giving of our money to the Lord?  Yes it does.  Let’s start off by looking at a few verses from the epistles concerning giving.

  • 1 Corinthians 16:2 says, “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.”
  • 2 Corinthians 9:6-8 says, “But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.”
  • Hebrews 13:15-16 says, “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.”

From these three verses, we see that our giving to the Lord should be proportionate to the money we make. As the Lord prospers us, we should give back to Him. When the Lord instituted tithing in the Old Testament, He told them how much they were to give, but He did not mention their attitude in giving. It’s just the opposite today. The Lord is more concerned about the attitudes of our hearts than about the amount we give Him. It’s often been said that the Lord doesn’t need our money, and that is true. But the Lord has graciously allowed us to give back to Him a portion of what He has given to us. “He which soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.” Does this mean that we can buy favors from the Lord? Absolutely not, but when our hearts are so cold that we cannot be cheerful in giving to Him, we are not in a position to receive His blessings.

We then see from Hebrews 13:15-16 that we should give sacrificially to the Lord. The word ‘communicate’ in verse 16 literally means ‘to give.’ We should give Him our first portions. When we give the Lord whatever is left over after we have paid our bills and spent on our luxuries, that is not a sacrifice. When we put the Lord first, we will give up luxuries to be able to give to Him. We will resist going into debt so that we might be able to give to Him. Notice that our giving is to the Lord. We don’t give to our local assemblies or churches…we give to the Lord in our weekly gatherings.

On a final note, let’s consider Proverbs 15:8, “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.” There should be no ‘public’ collections which would allow the unsaved to give. The Lord absolutely does not want the unsaved to sacrifice to Him. It is an abomination. Those who have refused the sacrifice of Christ for their sins have no right to expect the Lord to accept the sacrifice of their money to Him. (181.10)