DON'T LEARN TITHING FROM JACOB

On Tithing  (5)

DON'T LEARN TITHING FROM JACOB 
Saturday, August 1, 2015
Chinaemerem Joshua Ibezim

SELECTIVE PERCEPTION/SIGHT

Genesis 28.20-22 "And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God: and this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee."

Selective perception is the tendency not to notice and more quickly forget stimuli that causes emotional discomfort and contradicts our prior beliefs. A lot of people have this problem. You know, the tithe is mostly monetary today, and you know the power of money - so when people read the Bible about tithes, because it's money, they don't notice other important details in the Bible.

Notice this when you read Genesis 28:20-22, Jacob said that the Lord would be His God only if He kept and provided for Him. Jacob was obviously an unbeliever as at the time he made that statement. That statement was made the same time and under the same circumstances as with his vow to tithe. Why don't people notice that? Selective sight!

CONDITIONAL WORSHIP, CONDITIONAL WORSHIP, CONDITIONAL LOVE

Here's the point that we are slow to understand, especially when we use this story of Jacob to teach about tithing: Should serving God be conditional? Should giving to God be conditional? Jacob spent over twenty years with Laban, assuming he eventually fulfilled his vow, it means he paid tithes only once in about twenty years.

You see, we don't decide to serve God or to give to Him because of whatever He gives to us. Because He has actually given us, and done everything for us! By sending Jesus to die for us, God took care of our protection, prosperity, salvation, deliverance, healing, and every other thing, once and for all! Jesus said, "It is finished!"

In 2 Corinthians 8.1-5, Paul said about the Macedonians, "Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia: that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality. For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing, imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God."

Unlike Jacob who was going to serve God and give a tithe to God if God protected and provided for him, the Macedonians gave and were willing to give even more despite the fact that they were paupers. And notice again, that they were not giving just a certain percentage of their earnings, but "according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability".

WHAT GOD CARES ABOUT

I pray you catch this truth! In the New Testament, God is not worried about whether we're giving Him a tenth; instead He's looking at the heart with which we give to Him, according to our abilities. 2 Corinthians 9.7 says, "So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver."

GIVING IN MEASURES

Jesus said, "Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” Luke 6:38

It's both English and mathematics: according to the words of Jesus, if we limit our giving to a tenth, then we'll receive tenfold blessings! Right? Paul said, "But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully." That's true, you'd reap according to the measures you sow.

GIVING WITH A RIGHT ATTITUDE

But despite that, God is not particular about the measures we give, He said, "So let each one give as he purposes in his heart." You choose in the New Testament what you want to give to God, and as long as it's with a right attitude, God will accept it. Give to God knowing that He "is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work."

Hallelujah!

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