The video for this
post is available at the URL:
https://youtu.be/mHhhC-n2cGs
Hello, I’m Pastor Amos and this
is the study; Can Wages be Tithes?
Malachi 3:10 is probably the most ill-quoted Bible verse in
modern history.
Although it reads, “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse,
that there may be food…” (and thus identifies God’s tithe as being
food), money lovers emphatically claim that when God said “food” what He
really meant was “money”.
Some money lovers even claim that people didn’t work for money
during biblical times. According to
these pastors, workers were paid with food because wages did not exist when God
said, “that there may be food.”
But look here, we don’t have to go far to learn that wages did
exist when God said, “that there may be food” because wages are mentioned
in Malachi chapter 3. That’s right, the
word wages and the word tithes are both found in Malachi chapter 3.
In verse 5 the Lord speaks of a coming judgment, “against
those who defraud laborers of their wages.”
Note that it does not say those who defraud laborers of their
food, because workers were not paid with food. They earned wages.
By mentioning labor wages on verse 5 and a food tithe on
verse 10, God has made a distinction between labor wages and the food tithe. And in so doing He has separated earned
income from tithes.
There is another chapter in the Bible with a similar verse
structure in which God makes a distinction between money and tithes. In Nehemiah chapter 10; on verse32 God speaks
of money for the service of the Temple, then on verse 37 God speaks about
a tithe from the ground.
There is even a third chapter in the Bible in which God makes
a distinction between their currency (called shekels) and the food tithe. Leviticus chapter 27; on verse 3 God speaks
of vow assessments in shekels; then on verse 30 He speaks of a tithe of seeds
and fruits.
Believe it or not, there are more chapters like these in the
Bible, but for now these will do.
Thus far, we’ve seen a chapter in which God separates wages
from tithe, a chapter in which God separates money from tithes, and a chapter in
which God separates currency from tithes; nevertheless, for the sake of
argument, let’s give money lovers the benefit of the doubt by asking the
following question:
Could an Omniscient God that declares to have numbered the hairs on
our heads have mistaken the words labor wages for the words food tithes—or
the words temple money for the words tithe of the ground—or the
words silver shekels for the words seeds and fruits, each of
these within just a few verses of Scripture?
Well, coming from an Omniscient God, that kind of oversight
would be a contradiction in terms. It would
be the equivalent of saying that our Omniscient God had an Omniscient memory lapse.
The God that said, “the worker is
worth his keep,” would never say that we have robbed Him of what He has
already we are worthy of.
A key component of wages is merit. When the Lord says that “the wages of sin is death,” He means that sin
causes us to deserve death. This same
merit principle is true of the wages we work for. We merit our paycheck. God would never request or demand a percentage
of the wages that we merit. To do
so would open the door for wicked men to merit salvation (or at least 10% of
salvation). And that would be disadvantageous
to our doctrine of Salvation by Grace.
Dear brethren, God said that if you are a worker, then you
deserve the money you earn. It’s yours. I’ve read the Bible from cover to cover many
times over and I have not found a single verse where God requires us to pay tithes
from our income.
If you’re struggling to pay your bills and are being pressured
to pay 10% of your income to the local church, it’s time to let go of that
tithe burden. The cash-tithe idea did
not come from God. That’s why it’s so heavy
for you to carry it.
While money lovers are placing
burdens on you (which they don’t carry themselves), God wants to do the opposite. He’s saying, “Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28.
Do as the Pilgrim’s Progress did. Present yourself before the Lord and in the
name of Jesus, allow Him to set you free of that guilt-burden that you’re
carrying.
It’s like our sister Elvina M. Hall wrote in one of the
greatest hymns ever written, “Jesus paid it all.”
Thank you for listening. Until next time, please keep in mind that God
loves you, not your money. God bless
you.
