One of my least favorite areas of ministry is the business end - the forming of budgets and accounting for funds. I'm just not a numbers guy. I don't do spread sheets. Don't ask me to balance anything. Our pastoral staff is composed of generalists rather than specialists but one thing our church (wisely) never does is put me in charge of administration. (Neither does my wife for that matter...).
The only time I become interested in this area is when it leads to a consideration of the giving patterns of our people. While I never know who gives what, I do know there are people who, while otherwise involved in the life of the church, give very little or even never at all. It's at this point that numbers and figures become a pastoral issue rather than simply one of accounting.
The usual objection to giving by evangelicals is that regular giving or tithing is from the old covenant law, and we, being under the new covenant of grace are free from the regulation to give ten percent. (That Jesus said we must give him everything or we cannot be His disciples [Luke 14:33] never seems to cross their minds...). Besides being over simplified, this view does not account for the overall flow of scripture which presents the principle of tithing as an abiding element of worship.
The first thing we should understand is that tithing is not unique to the old covenant because it did not originate there but predates that covenant by at least 500 years. The first mention of the tithe (the Hebrew and Greek behind this English word means "tenth part") is found in Genesis 14.
Here Abram, victorious after his defeat of the four Babylonian kings, is met back in Canaan by Melchizedek, priest of God Most High in Salem (ancient Jerusalem). On this occasion Melchizedek blesses Abram and Abram pays him homage by giving him a tenth part of the spoils.
(Melchizedek blesses Abraham - how it really looked...)
The significance of this act is not merely that it is a practice outside of and predating the Sinai covenant but also in what (or whom) these individuals represent. The new testament tells us that Abram/Abraham is the "father of all who believe" Romans 4:11, 16; and "the man of faith" Galatians 3:9. In other words, he is the archetype of all believers, the prototype or pattern for us. He lived the life we are exhorted to live - by faith. Indeed, Paul argues that what belonged to Abraham is now ours through faith in Christ (Galatians 3:14).
What about Melchizedek? He was a type (a prophetic foreshadowing) of Christ. In fact, the new testament book of Hebrews (ch.7) argues that Christ's priesthood is in the order of Melchizedek and as such is vastly superior to the Aaronic/Levitical priesthood.
So what we see in Genesis 14 is Abraham, the archetypical believer, paying tribute to Melchizedek, whose priesthood becomes the pattern, not for the priests of the Mosaic covenant, but for the priesthood of Christ - and central to this picture is the tithe.
Therefore, when we come to worship of God under the auspices of the new covenant that believers will tithe is - I believe - assumed. What has disappeared with the old Sinai covenant is the very explicit formulas and outward structures (novel at the time) governing the acts of worship of God's people. We have, in a real sense (according to Paul in Galatians) returned to the simple faith of the patriarchs ("Abraham rejoiced to see my day; he saw it and was glad..."John 8:65). The blessing promised to Abraham is ours through Christ (Gal.3:14).
But to argue that now, under the new covenant - in which the fulfillment of the ages has come - our obligations are less rather than more is absurd. On the contrary, to whom much is given, much is expected (Luke 12:48). Do you worship God by tithing?
