The New Testament Teaches Tithing pt. 4 April 29, 2008
Posted by Kent Brandenburg in : money , 18 comments
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I’m going to write a fourth one in this series and it will be posted here in the future, or over at my blog. It is an important one, but I don’t have time to write it while I’m at a conference.
Envelope Budgeting April 27, 2008
Posted by Jeff Voegtlin in : money , 2 comments Print This Post
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Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds. (Proverbs 27:23
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This proverb tells us how to take care of our money. Of course, paper money is not mentioned here, but the current trading commodities are. In the Bible a man’s wealth was often measured by the number of his flocks. Think of Job right here. So, if we are going to obey this proverb, we will know the state of our money and we will watch where it goes.
There is no better way to obey this Scripture than to use an old-fashioned paper envelope system. I grew up watching my father move money around his envelopes and when I established my own home, I thought that I would not have to do that. I had a mathematical mind and was technologically “savvy.”
I learned the HARD way — my way.
Strength and Money April 25, 2008
Posted by Dave Mallinak in : money , add a comment Print This Post
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A gracious woman retaineth honour: and strong men retain riches. Proverbs 11:16
In the realm of money, a key word is “stewardship.” Stewardship is inescapable. Every person is a steward of his money. He either stewards his money faithfully, or he stewards unfaithfully. A man is either a good steward or a bad one. Retaining riches requires good stewardship, and strength.ÂÂ
The verse above describes two realms of stewardship - stewardship of reputation and stewardship of wealth. And since the two are juxtaposed in the text, we see that there is on some level a connection being made between honor and riches. Essentially, the Proverb teaches that our stewardship extends to every area of labor — to property, to wealth, to spouse and children, to employment, to work ethic, to reputation, to spiritual life and service, even to relationships. All of these areas can be considered wealth, and all can be considered “honor.”ÂÂ
A steward’s work is to maintain these. The steward functions first as a servant. He serves his Lord and Master, Jesus Christ in this way. He serves his family, his church, his employer, his country. He serves by taking good care of all that he has been entrusted with. This should be the character of every believer.
But a steward is more than a mere servant. The steward is the chief servant. He is in charge of the servants. Think of reputation as a servant. Many have, to their own undoing, made reputation a master, but reputation in its rightful place is a servant. And we are stewards of that servant. According to the verse above, only a gracious woman has the power to command reputation and
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The New Testament Teaches Tithing pt. 3 April 23, 2008
Posted by Kent Brandenburg in : money , 39 comments Print This Post
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Not every tithing advocate does the best or even an adequate job in making a Scriptural case. However, I cringe quite a bit at what is said against those who believe Scripture teaches tithing. What do you think of these?
- It is the other side of the story when 97% of the pulpits have pro-tithing sermons and discipline those who try to question them or ask for open discussions.
- You are playing games with statistics. Preachers have been trying to push tithing onto their congregations. . . . When are you going to learn, stop it, and go back to preaching grace-giving. . . . You are teaching by your actions that Law out-gives Grace
- Be sure and ignore my many pages of reasons to refute this argument. . . . Your principle allows YOU to be the judge of what applies and what does not. I contend that NOTHING in God’s Word about tithing from Abraham or Jacob is followed by your church or any other church today.
- Why do you give this story? It has nothing to do with tithing. Do you want to kill everybody who disagrees with you?
- Is that what you teach in your church? Do you teach your members to lay everything they own at your feet and then distribute them to every church member evenly so you can all live in a commune?
- It would work well if we could get the government involved, to make sure everyone gave his/her due. I have been conversing with officials on this matter and they recognize the work I have put into this matter. They have appointed me as a receiver to collect from all the Christians in this area.
The tone you hear is quite common in the anti-tithe people. Since I’ve been a pastor, I have found money and children to be the two most controversial
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Attitude and Money April 17, 2008
Posted by Dave Mallinak in : money , 2 comments Print This Post
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The rich man’s wealth is his strong city: the destruction of the poor is their poverty.        Proverbs 10:15
Money is important. If you don’t think so, try living without it. Jesus Christ once met a very rich young man who, according to him, had kept the law perfectly from his youth. Christ loved the young man, and challenged him to go sell whatever he had, give the money to the poor, take up his cross, and follow Christ.  Judging by the young man’s response, it was easier to observe the entire law than to give up his wealth.ÂÂ
God’s Word has much to say about money, though not necessarily what we might think. For example, ‘conventional’ wisdom says that God blesses the poor and condemns the rich. Class warfare is one of Satan’s favorite tricks. The rich despise the poor, and the poor equally (if not greater) despise the rich. Some rich men think that the poor deserve to be poor, in part because
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The New Testament Teaches Tithing pt. 2 April 16, 2008
Posted by Kent Brandenburg in : money , 65 comments Print This Post
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The anti-tithing contingency argues like tithing is some extra-scriptural innovation to pad church accounts.  Russell Kelly exalts: “Preachers have been trying to push tithing onto their congregations only since the 1870s and only since 1895 in the Southern Baptist Convention and they have failed miserably!” Here’s what Matthew Henry (1662-1714, several years before 1870) wrote in his section on the last part of Leviticus 27:
A law concerning tithes, which were paid for the service of God before the law, as appears by Abraham’s payment of them, (Genesis 14:20
I ask you to notice all the New Testament passages he cross-references. This isn’t new teaching, brethren. These posts are about what the New Testament teaches, but observe what John Gill writes about the “fifth part more” that was paid by someone for the ransom of the tithe there in Leviticus 27:31:
[B]esides giving the value for what part of his tithes he redeemed, he gave a fifth part of that sum over and above; as, supposing the tithe was worth fifty shillings, then he gave that, and ten shillings more, and so in proportion. The use of this redemption, as Jarchi suggests, was, that he might have liberty of eating it in any place: for he understands it of the second tithe, as before observed, and which was to be eaten at Jerusalem.
Gill says that he redeemed his tithe with money. Money was interchangeable
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The New Testament Teaches Tithing pt.1 April 9, 2008
Posted by Kent Brandenburg in : money , 86 comments Print This Post
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Perhaps you have grown up being taught that you should tithe, that is, give the first ten percent of everything you earn to the church. As much as I have ever heard, men say that we’ve been wrong, that the New Testament doesn’t advocate tithing. One man who maintains an entire website against tithing, Russell Earl Kelly, endorsed his position in a comment here at Jackhammer.  He and I exchanged emails and he sent me a pdf of a book he wrote in opposition to the tithe. With eagerness I read it to find out where I might have gone wrong all these years, hoping to have any of my misunderstandings of Scripture exposed. I didn’t want to, as one man has accused, fraudulently fleece my flock.  Kelly’s book didn’t persuade me. By reading it, as is sometimes the case, I became stronger in the position I already believed.
Some state or imply that a pastor might need to recuse himself from a conversation about tithing because of conflicting interests. Russell Kelly advertises his work by saying, “[I'm] bringing you the other side of the story, the side a portion of Christian leaders would rather you did not hear.” Sounds sinister, doesn’t it? Like pastors have been orchestrating this tithing conspiracy
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