THE OBLIGATORY NATURE OF TITHES AND OFFERINGS

By Overseer I. A. OGUNLADE

Every Christian is obliged to pay tithes and offerings.

This matter has been contentious among some Christians and surprisingly some denominations have told their members that this injunction is not obligatory and out-rightly preach against it, claiming that Jesus Christ did not pay tithes and did not preach it. Nothing can be farther from the truth as we shall see from the scriptural text in this text.

The truth is that Jesus recognized the payment of tithes when he rebuked the Pharisees in the Book of Matthew 23 verse 23 on their hypocritical attitude toward tithes paying , and for using their religion as a veneer of holiness to conceal unholy character.

The origin of Tithing

In Genesis 14 we have a first reference to tithing and this pre-dates the Mosaic Law. In Gen 11: 17-20, when Abram (later Abraham) returned from conquest of his enemies with a lot  of spoils, and he paid TITHES OF ALL to Melchizedek the priest of the Most High God. An that is exactly what the New Testament says in Hebrews 7:4: “Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave tenth of the spoils.”

In Moses’s time, God eventually commanded the Isrealites to pay 10% of all yields of the land and regard same as holy unto him as contained in Leviticus 27 verses 30-32. There is a further injunction to those who converted the tithes by not bringing it forth when it falls due and that is the penalty of one-fifth of the amount due as addition when the tithe is to be redeemed.

Those who fail to pay tithes and offerings or pay a part thereof are unwittingly blocking the path to their blessings as Abraham got bountiful blessings for obeying the voice of God by paying the tithes of ALL the spoils he brought from his conquest.

Nowadays, a tithe is likened to 10% of what you earned or made as profit of your sales.

The importance of the payment of tithes to God is of paramount significance as He blesses us with his provision and grace and He only requires us to return 10% to Him while we retain the balance of 90% for our use.  This is why Tithes & Offerings became obligatory to all believers and followers of Christ. The emphasis is in Malachi 3 verse 8, where none payers of tithes & offerings are called ‘robbers’. The question there is ‘will a man rob God?’ The word of God directs in verse 10 of the same book that ALL TITHES MUST BE BROUGHT INTO THE STOREHOUSE, THAT THERE MAY BE MEAT IN MINE HOUSE…….

This verse 10 and verse 11 of Malachi chapter 3, comes with four promises which should gladden the heart of every Christian who obeys and these are:

Ø    God will open the windows of heaven and pour out blessings;

Ø     The blessings will be overflowing such that there would not be

Ø      enough room to contain them;

Ø      He shall rebuke the devourer from destroying our yields;

Ø       Our vine shall not cast her fruits before due time!

No wonder this obligatory nature of payment of Tithes & Offerings is included in the Doctrine of The Apostolic Church as Tenet No.11 and all members are obliged to obey it in order to guarantee sure answers to  our prayers and supplications to God.

The utilization of the Tithes & Offerings ensure that modern-day Levites, who were separated for the fulltime Ministry and the work of evangelism are well taken care of Hebrews 7 verse 5.

Let us all realize from the above that we must fulfil this obligation as part of our contribution to the advancement of God’s work as well as the surest way to access our blessings and grace to do further exploits in our various endeavors.