Why I Tithe
2-1 Tithe Because in so Doing I Acknowledge God’s Ownership of All.
Many years after the death of Abraham one may read about his grandson, Jacob, fleeing from home frightened and penniless. God appeared to him in the way, and Jacob vowed (pledged): "Of all thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee" (Genesis 28:22) Jacob thus acknowledged God’s ownership of all by promising to give the Lord a tenth of "All that Thou shalt give me." Jacob knew he could tithe only if the Lord first gave something to tithe. He was as a child asking his father for money to buy him a Father’s Day gift. He thus acknowledges his father’s ownership of all.
When Jacob, the penniless fugitive returned to his father’s house God had so blessed him that he "Had much cattle and maidservants, and menservants, and camels and asses" (Genesis 30:43).
Christians too, should tithe to acknowledge God’s ownership of all.
3-1 Tithe Because God Promised Overflowing Blessings to Tithers.
"Bring Ye all the tithes into the storehouse .... and prove me now henceforth, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open to you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it" (Malachi 3:10). Can anything be plainer? If one would argue that this applied only to Israel under the law, and that since Christians are not under the law, they should not tithe, he is reminded that tithing is, and always has been, a righteous principle governing one's stewardship of material possessions. All the Law of Moses was fulfilled at the cross, but the principle of stewardship, as many other principles, though a part of the law, existed before the law was given, and remains in effect after the law has been repealed. Therefore, the believer should prove God with tithes and offerings, and then claim the blessings God has promised.
4-1 Tithe Because Jesus Tithed and Commended Tithing.
If Jesus had not tithed, the chief priests and elders surely would have charged Him with such. They could have proven that He was not law abiding. That no such charges were made seems proof enough that Jesus tithed.
Jesus commended tithing: "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, 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" (Matthew 23:23). Admittedly, there are some things more important then tithing, but the person who will not tithe is not likely to be faithful in the "weightier matters." In a few words, Jesus said: "You do right to tithe, but you do wrong when you leave off judgment, mercy and faith."
5-1 Tithe Because I am so Commanded to Support the Ministry.
In I Corinthians 9:13 Paul reminded Christians that the priests and Levites in Israel lived by the tithes of the people. In the very next verse he said: "Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel." Paul wrote this by Divine Inspiration, and what he literally said is: "As the priests of Israel lived by the tithes of the people, EVEN SO (by the tithes of Christians) God has ordained (appointed) that preachers of the gospel live."
6-1 Tithe Because Jesus Lives and Receives My Tithes.
"And here men that die receive tithes; but there HE RECEIVETH THEM, of whom it is witnessed that HE LIVETH" (Hebrews 7:8). When I tithe to the church, it is received and dispersed by men, but Jesus counts it as paid to Him, personally, for the "HE THAT LIVETH." Elsewhere, Jesus taught that work done in accordance with His command is counted as work done for Him: "inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me" (Matthew 25:40).
Tithing should be voluntary in the same way that a man supports his family. "Freely ye have received, freely give" (Matthew 10:8); and "God loveth a cheerful giver" (I Corinthians 9:7). Unless a person tithes out of love for Christ and lost souls, he will be blessed in the same degree God blesses a man for any good work.