One of the greatest needs in the Church today is God-centered or Christ-centered preaching and teaching. The entire Bible points to Jesus Christ and if we miss Him in whatever we are preaching or teaching we have missed the point. Each chapter and verse of the Bible points in some way either to the person of Christ or to the work of Christ (past, present, or future).
Much of the preaching in the Church today is man-centered. Here is an example of two ways of looking at the same passage, Mark 2. The man-centered message would focus on the great faith of the men carrying the man sick of the palsy. It would focus on their obstacles, their perseverance, and their reward at the end. This certainly is a major theme of Mark 2. The Christ centered message would focus on the authority of Jesus Christ to forgive sins, to heal the sick, and to interpret the Law. This is the main point of the entire chapter (Christ’s authority) but it is rarely the main point of sermons preached on Mark 2.
With the above paragraphs setting the foundation of this post, Christ centered teaching, I want to talk about a topic that is mentioned a lot in the Church but is very rarely linked to the work of Jesus Christ. That topic is tithing. Although there are many who would disagree with me, I believe that tithing (giving our first 10% of our increase back to God) is for the Church and for today. The tithe is linked to the resurrection and is a three in one. I will explain.
There are actually 3 tithes mentioned in the scriptures. The first tithe is of the first fruits whether it be of beasts or produce of the land. The second tithe was for the support of the Levites and priests (see Numbers 18). The Levitical priesthood pointed to the priesthood of believers known as the Church. The third part of the tithe was for the support of the poor (see Deuteronomy 14 and 26).
Now consider how the harvest is a three in one. Any harvest has the first fruits. It is that tomato that is ready about 10 days before anything else is ready to pick. Next is the general harvest. This is when most of the produce is picked. The last part of a harvest in the gleanings. The gleanings is the produce that was left in the field or in the corners of the field for provision for the poor.
God has His own harvest. It is called the resurrection. It has 3 parts. Jesus Christ is the first fruits of the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:23). The rapture or catching up of the Church is the main part of the harvest (1 Thessalonians 4:17). The rapture of the martyred tribulation saints is the gleanings part of the harvest (Revelation 7,14, and 11 and Matthew 24:31).
The are 3 “come up hither”(s) in the Bible, Proverbs 25, Revelation 4, and Revelation 11 to match the 3 parts of the resurrection or harvest. There are 3 “arise”(s) in Isaiah 51 and 52 to match the same 3 parts of the resurrection. Please see my teaching page on the number 17.
The message in the tithe commandments of the Bible is that God has given His first and best witnesses as a sacrifice to redeem believers out of the world. Christ is the very first and very best and He was the once and final propitiation for the sins of the world. He then won victory over death in His resurrection.
The first 300 years of the Church were so marked by the death of believers that the word for witness, martyr, became forever linked to dying for one’s faith. The blood of the martyrs became the seed bed for the Church. God in His sovereign plan gave His first and best of His general harvest in allowing the death of so many of His children for their faith. The dead in Christ will rise first at the rapture (1 Thessalonians 4). The dead will hear Christ call them by name and say, “come up hither.”
The tribulation harvest is described in Revelation 7 (see the word corners in verse 1). The fifth seal of Revelation 6 describes the souls of them who had been slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held. During the tribulation most believers will die for their faith. These dead believers will be resurrected at the last trumpet, the seventh, and will return with Christ and His Church at the second coming.
When we tithe, we are recognizing God’s work (sacrifice) in His plan of victory over death and sin. We are saying that we believe in Christ’s resurrection and our own through Him. When we tithe, we are recognizing that there is a cross before a crown. The tithe points to
God’s work in redemption. I believe it is for the Church and for today. The tithe has most to do with God’s free grace and very little to do with man’s money. It says that God loved us before we ever thought to love Him.