Sabbath and Tithe


This is a though subject for me, because for many years I have struggled in my mind reconciliating the Old and the New Testaments, more specifically in relation to the Sabbath and the Tithes, so where do we begin?

First let me say this, it is very easy to say "God wants us to be happy!, therefore if you think it's right, do it!", but that's not the right approach, otherwise there would be no point on God giving us instruction if He knew we would do the right thing to begin with.

I guess the background of this study is basically the answer to the question of what are churches doing today in regards to the Sabbath and the Tithes?  For many there's no question at all, Sunday is the day of the Lord and it is written that we get together on the first day of the week to give the Tithes; but I see it differently, let's explore.

Let's start with my strongest argument, and please forgive my bluntness, here we go:  How is it that churches frequently mention the Tithes as the weekly responsibility of the Christian, yet direct instruction on the Tithes is not given in the New Testament to Christians, in contrast, churches don't mention the Sabbath, which is in the Ten Commandments; yet Tithes which are not specified in the Ten Commandments are mentioned several times throughout the year.

Before we unpack the above, let me say that I don't have an issue giving to the Church, but aren't we supposed to look at it from a Biblical perspective, from God's Word and not from man's word?  For instance, no where in the Bible it says that Sunday is the Lord's day, of course one can say every day is the Lord's day, which would be correct, but that statement is being used as means to say that Sunday is the day to get together and hear God's Word, which is not the case with the early Church, the Sabbath was the day to get together and hear God's Word and it makes sense because it lines up with the Ten Commandments.

Now should we say that the Ten Commandments are part of the Old Testament and therefore not applicable in this case?
Well, the Tithes is not in the Law, the Tithes is not in the Ten Commandments, the Tithes are not directly part of the new command Jesus gave us, so what's the compelling argument for the Tithes?  The answer is in the Old Testament:

Malachi 3:10 (KJV)  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.

The verse above proceeds out of the Old Testament, I'm not saying God's Word is not applicable today, but part of the exhortation here is what the Lord Jesus said:  "these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone", when He spoke to the Pharisees, referring to the general law, which is composed of 613 commandments if I'm not mistaken, so if we still have to keep the command of the Tithes out of the 613 commands, how come we're not told to keep the other 612 commandments?

James 2:10 (KJV)  For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

Alright, I can understand the Church tangibly thrives on what the Christians bring, and that is well taken, but to use a verse from the Old Testament, namely Malachi 3:10 while never mentioning the importance of the 4th commandment, which also proceeds from the Old Testament and not only that, but is written in the Ten Commandments, seems very contradictory and selfishly convenient to me, perhaps there are other factors, yet we have the responsiblity to dicern the Word of God in light of what is pleasing to Him, and not just convenient to us, whether it be due to fears, needs or even lack of understanding of the covenants, the responsibility remains.

Okay, I hope a clear view of the contrast between the two, the Sabbath and the Tithes was made, nevertheless, we'll explore them now individually.

The Sabbath

Are we to keep or not the Sabbath, some pastors have mentioned that the Sabbath not only is in the Ten Commandments but it is a command given from the beginning of creation, which makes it transcending into the New Testament.

Genesis 2:2 (KJV)  And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

Which makes sense, because not only it was expressed as something that God Himself did, even as an example to us, but also wrote in the Ten Commandments tablets, now we have two questions in regards:

John 5:18 (KJV)  Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

If Jesus broke the Sabbath, why can we?  Wouldn't that mean we're following Him?  Not so fast, although the answer is not on the surface of the verse above, it is there, the reason why they sought to kill Him was because He had broken the Sabbath, but who told them that He had broken the Sabbath?  Did God tell them Jesus broke the Sabbath?
No, it was their understanding of the Old Testament law along with their traditions; I don't believe Jesus broke the Sabbath, I believe He upheld it in such a way that not only gave God the glory, but became a beneficial thing to us at the same time, all within the bonds of His newly given commandment to love one another:

John 13:34 (KJV)  A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

Luke 6:6 (KJV)  And it came to pass also on another sabbath, that he entered into the synagogue and taught: and there was a man whose right hand was withered.

The second verse testifies to the correct use of the Sabbath, while becoming a benefit to us, and at the same time expressing the command, to love one another and in this, giving God the glory.

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Colossians 2:16 (KJV)  Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:

Colossians 2:17 (KJV)  Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.

The verses above makes us reason, that we don't have to keep the Sabbath, which brings us perhaps to the contradiction point, Jesus did not keep the Sabbath the way the Pharisees did, but we cannot say He didn't keep the Sabbath, otherwise He would not have fulfilled the Law, and everything would crumble, but we know everything didn't crumble because God raised Him from the death, therefore Jesus kept the Law, which included the Sabbath.

I think where the contention brings us is to the point where we ask ourselves, do we or not, keep the commandments?
And I think the answer is Yes and No, let me explain:

The Law is like a boundary, like a fence, a place of "don'ts", the school teacher, sort of like an electrified wire along the fence, you touch it, you get hurt or die; God was telling us where not to go, and where the safe place was, all that in a very general way, that was the Old Testament, in the New Testament, we're not to focus on the fence, we already know to stay away from the boundary, but we cannot linger in the open field either, God's goal for us is to come to Him, to come to the center of that field if you will, as way of analogy, but this part is not by enforcing the command immediatelly as in the Old Testament, instead we find ourselves living an entire life of Grace, His Grace, the command is in place, the beginning of the Ten Commandments, love the Lord thy God with all your heart, soul and mind and love thy neighbor as thyself:

Matthew 22:37-40 (KJV)  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

So the command stands, but so does His mercy and His grace, so that we may in our lifetime come to Him willingly, out of love; an important aspect of the Sabbath, mentioned in the command is to keep it holy, which in my opinion should be our goal in the light of the New Covenant, to magnify the "setting ourselves apart from the world" this day, and to rest our souls before God, the Lord Jesus went about healing people, but this did not contradict the essence of the command, to keep it Holy and in this, God gets the Glory!

2 Corinthians 6:17 (KJV)  Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,

Much can be said about keeping the Sabbath Holy, but the most important element we cannot miss is to look at how Jesus lived during the Sabbath, He used to teach on the synagogues on the Sabbath, He used to heal many people during the Sabbath, there was no vanity in His doings; today, even though times are different, we ought to dicern on how we ought to keep the Sabbath Holy, and I would submit the following; Number one, exposure.  Many times we expose ourselves to digital material or places where we hear and see things we ought not to be hearing nor seeing, yet those things are hard to put away because sometimes we don't have control over what our eyes see or ears hear, but we have control over making the descision of not exposing ourselves to such digital material as a whole or being in certain places at all.

For those who are saying, what is he talking about?  Well, if you are willing to make straight your crooked walk, you need to make the effort of putting the things that affect you away, put away your cell phone, the computer, the bar, the cigarrette, the places where your heart is pulled in the direction of lust and money and power, and greed and situations where you may get angry and so on, cut it out!

The point here is to be willing to enter into the Lord's rest, now part of this rest comes with the joy of helping people, but this also requires discernment these days, don't say Billy needs help at the casino so that he doesn't loose all his money, that's not helping Billy nor yourself.

I think the point is fairly clear on how we ought to walk in the New Testament, easier said than done, I know, yet there are many supporting verses that tell us that our behaviour should be based on love, love for God and love for our neighbor, and because of this, we'll wrap it up with the issue of the Tithes, I believe Churches need to thrive and Christians need to support them, but how can you support a Church that is not in alignment with the Scriptures?  Well, this is a whole entire subject, but the summary of it is to bring the word of correction as written in the Bible, first with God's Word, then with two withnesses, then brought to the Church, but even this is based on a willing heart, and it is the same with the Tithes, there has to be a willing heart in everything we do, and if that heart is not there, we ought to pray that the Lord with align us with His Word, so that we don't miss out not only on obeying His command, but also on the abudndant life the Lord Jesus spoke above, after all it is more of a blessing to give, than to receive.

2 Corinthians 9:7 (KJV)  Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.

Thank you for reading, I hope you were able to gather much from it, but please keep in mind that the above is in good part my view, and even though I try to align myself with Scripture, I could be wrong on certain points, my hope is for all of us to willingly come to the knowledge of the Truth, which is found in the Bible and our understanding guided by the Holy Ghost; God bless you.