28 Aug Tithing or Freewill Offering?
As we begin our new series called ‘Generosity’ I mentioned Sunday (Feb 22, 2015) that we believe the NT teaches free will offering not tithing for new covenant believers.
This series (walking through 2 Corinthians 8 & 9) will not address this directly, so I wanted to make available to you two sermons we did in 2010 addressing this very issue.
One week we looked in some detail at the Old Testament passages teaching tithing. Then the next week we looked at New Testament passages to understand what command or principle the church is under.
The result is very clear – tithing was an old covenant, Old Testament mandate for Israel and actually involved two 10% tithes a year plus a 3rd 10% tithe every 3 years. The tithe was in some ways like our tax as it supported the civil government as well as the temple.
In the new covenant Scripture teaches free will, first-fruits offering. Each Christian should give as they feel led to give. It should be the first part of their income they give (first fruits), and it should be joyfully given (2 Cor. 9) and it should be generous (2 Cor. 8 & 9).
Here are the two sermons from May 2010 walking through the Old and New Testament to learn about offering vs. tithe.
They are called ‘Where is Your Treasure’ Part 1 (OT) & 2 (NT) – click HERE.
Norm
