FIRST QUARTER 2023
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #3
JANUARY 21, 2022
“THE TITHING CONTRACT”

 

When our long-time pastor retired, a conference official met with church leaders to discuss a replacement. Because our church no longer met the minimum requirements for a solo pastor (based on a formula of weighted values for church attendance, church membership, and tithe income), we learned that we would now be sharing a pastor with several other churches. That was several years ago. Now our district consists of four far-flung rural churches. Not everyone is happy about that.

 

And not everyone is returning tithe. In a separate discussion several have openly admitted that they redirect their tithe to projects of their own choosing. As a consequence, tithe is not counted or utilized as tithe at the local church or conference level.

 

An old report from 2002 states that about 30 percent of Adventist Church members worldwide return tithe (a more recent report was not readily accessible). In parts of Africa and South America as few as 10 percent give tithe, compared to 65 percent of regularly-attending church members who returned tithe in the 1970s (see “Less Tithe a ‘Deeply Spiritual Problem’ Say Church leaders,” report by Ansel Oliver/ANN, interamerica.org).

 

Sometimes church members become disgruntled with church politics and church decisions. Redirecting tithe is their way of supporting ministries they care about and withholding from those of which they disapprove. If everyone decided to redirect their tithe, the organized Seventh-day Adventist Church would crumble. It exists because of tithe (and the Lord’s blessing).

 

The Seventh-day Adventist church manual states that “God’s plan for the support of His work on this earth is through the tithe and freewill offerings of His people. The tithe is the main source of funding for the total proclamation of the gospel to all the world by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. This includes a balanced and comprehensive evangelistic outreach to the public and the spiritual nurturing of church members. Because the tithe is reserved for a special purpose, freewill offerings must provide the funding for many functions of the gospel work.

 

“Only conference organizations are authorized to make allocations from tithe funds. The tithe is the Lord’s and should be returned to the storehouse, the conference treasury, through the member’s home church."

 

Furthermore, the manual states, "In order to continue a strong balanced church program around the world, members should not direct the Lord’s tithe to projects of their own choosing” (https://www.adventist.org/guidelines/use-of-tithe/).

 

Tithing is a personal issue and is not required in order to be member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church; returning a faithful tithe is, however, a requirement for holding church office according to the church manual. And in God’s sight it is as much of a duty as is keeping the seventh-day Sabbath.

 

Some justify their redirection or non-payment of tithe because they disagree with church management. But God did not add that caveat into His command to “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it” (Malachi 3:10).

 

Furthermore, Jesus validated the obligation of returning a faithful tithe to the Jewish church of His day: “These ought ye to have done” He said (Luke 11:42). Here Jesus encouraged tithing even though the Jewish leadership was corrupt. Likewise, the faults of church leaders are not legitimate reasons to withhold tithe from God’s church, the storehouse.

 

“Since the tithing system, like the Sabbath, existed before the Jewish dispensation, it also must exist still, unaffected by any changes that have been made. And here also we have the most positive testimony. In Matthew 23:23 we find the following language of Christ: ‘Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.’ He did not rebuke them for paying tithes, for he plainly says that they ought to do so; but he rebuked them for their hypocrisy. They were scrupulous about paying tithes, because that was something that could be seen; they could take care that everybody should know that they performed this duty, and thus they would gain a reputation for piety and devotion to God. But when it came to heart-service, —judgment, mercy, and faith,— they could not make so much of an outside show, and therefore they omitted it. It was for this hypocrisy that the woe was pronounced upon them. They could not atone for the neglect of one duty by the strict performance of another; for both were essential” (E. J. Waggoner, Signs of the Times, August 2, 1883, p. 344).

 

Speaking of the signs of the last days in 2 Timothy 3, A. T. Jones notes:

 

“‘Men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous.’ Can you tell what it is that will cause a man who professes to belong to the Lord and to love the Lord—what will cause him to hold back from the Lord that which the Lord says definitely belongs to him, the tithe, for instance? Here are means that come into my hands; the Lord says that a tenth of that is his. I profess to love the Lord; I go to meeting every Sabbath; I profess to belong to the Lord myself; I profess to be consecrated, but yet I do not let the Lord have what belongs to him. What is the root of that thing? Self. And what is the first fruit of self? Covetousness. I have not stolen anything from my neighbor or kept anything back from him, but I have held to that which belongs to the Lord. Then I am to turn away from my covetous self” (A. T. Jones, General Conference Daily Bulletin, 1895, p. 163).

 

“It will be noticed that the tithe was a well-known thing in the days of Abraham. He gave tithes to God’s priest as a matter of course. He recognized the fact that the tithe is the Lord’s. That record in Leviticus is not the origin of the tithing system, but is simply a statement of a fact. Even the Levitical order ‘paid tithes in Abraham.’ We are not told when it was first made known to men, but we see that it was well known in the days of Abraham. In the book of Malachi which is specially addressed to those living just before ‘the great and terrible day of the Lord,’ we are told that those who withhold the tithe are robbing God.

 

“The reader will notice that in the seventh of Hebrews we are referred to the case of Abraham and Melchizedek for proof that the paying of tithes is not a Levitical ordinance. Long before Levi was born, Abraham paid tithes. And he paid them, too, to Melchizedek, whose priesthood is the Christian priesthood. Therefore those who are Christ’s and thus children of Abraham, will also give tithes of all” (E. J. Waggoner, Present Truth UK, May 28, 1896, p. 342).

 

“The tithe is not peculiar to the Jewish dispensation. By reading God’s instruction to the Jews, on this subject, we learn some things that we would not otherwise know; but the tithe did not originate with the Jews. God said to the Jews: ‘The tithe of is the Lord’s,’ not ‘shall be the Lord’s.’ The tithe was the Lord’s before the Jews had an existence; the Lord simply refreshed the memory in regard to the fact. Turn to Genesis 14, and you will there find recorded a transaction that took place in the patriarchal age. The facts are these: Lot, Abraham’s nephew, lived in Sodom. Several kings made war against the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah, and, having conquered them, took all their goods. Among the prisoners was Lot. When Abraham heard this, he pursued and attacked the victorious army, and recovered all the booty and captives that they had taken. As he was returning from the slaughter of the kings, he was met by Melchizedek, king of Salem, who brought forth bread and wine. Melchizedek was ‘the priest of the most high God,’ and he blessed Abraham. To him Abraham gave tithes of all that he had gained. See Genesis 14:17-20; Hebrews 7:4. This was four hundred years before the covenant was made with the Jews, and nearly two hundred years before Judah, from whom the Jews received their name, was born. It is true that this is the first instance on record of the payment of tithe, but we are not told that the system of tithing was instituted here; and since the same conditions existed before this time that did afterwards, we must conclude that tithes were paid from the beginning (E. J. Waggoner, Signs of the Times, August 2, 1883, p. 344).

 

“Prayer offered ever so often and ever so earnestly will never be accepted by God in the place of our tithe. Prayer will not pay our debts to God…." (Ellen White, Messages to Young People, p. 248).

 

In Luke 17 is recorded the story of Jesus’ healing of the ten lepers. Only one came back to express his gratitude. That was one out of ten—a tithe.

 

Historically, tithe was paid not in money but out of the harvest. “He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him” (Psalm 126:6).

 

For six thousand years Christ has been sowing precious seed in the earth’s field. On his missionary journeys, the report was spread far and wide that “he healed them all” (Matthew 12:15).

 

Jesus has made ample provision for the salvation of all. None need be lost. But how many appreciate the amazing gift of life that is ours in Christ?

 

Soon another angel will announce with a loud voice, “Thrust in thy sickle, and reap; for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe” (Revelation 14:15).

 

In that day may we be a part of that tithe of the earth’s harvest when the Sower gathers His sheaves and brings them back with rejoicing.

 

~Patti Guthrie