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November, 2021 (Vol.55-No.11) |
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Preached by Dr. Gene Scott on July 19, 1987 Let him that is taught in the word commun- icate unto him that teacheth in all good things. Galatians 6:6 I AM OFTEN ASKED WHY I TEACH that people should not claim a tax deduction for their contribution to the Lord’s work. People like to convince themselves that they would be better stewards by taking contribution credits because, they say, that would enable them to give more. But it is far better to rely on God and His supply, and to give from what He provides, than to rely on the government and what the government provides. God has various ways in which He does His work. Both Ezra and Nehemiah were called by God to rebuild Jerusalem. Nehemiah was serving in the court of a heathen king when he heard that the city of Jerusalem was in disrepair, and he asked the king to send him in order that he might rebuild it. He also asked the king for provisions for the journey and the work. The king not only granted Nehemiah’s requests but also provided him with captains and horsemen to guard him on the dangerous journey. Contrast that with Ezra, who had made a similar journey more than ten years earlier. Ezra specifically refused to ask the king for help, even though Ezra and his band of men were going to carry a great quantity of silver and gold across the wilderness. Ezra said he was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen because he had assured the king that God’s hand would protect them. So Ezra and his men fasted and besought God for help, and they completed their journey in safety. We read in Ezra 8:31, “The hand of our God was upon us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy, and of such as lay in wait by the way.” The lesson is that there is a time and place for all things: there are times when you can ask for help from those in power and pray that God will move them to show you favor, and there are other times when you must go with God alone. It is true that the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. The government wants to be Lord and often tries to emulate His qualities. Therefore, the government also giveth and taketh away; and it taketh away much more than it giveth. You can read the signs of the times. It is Satan’s subtle trap to get the church that Jesus built to be desperate enough to become dependent upon government beneficence for its existence. I am teaching biblical principles of stewardship. Someone who has never been taught to give God’s way might be offended by a preacher’s discouraging them from reporting their giving to the government and taking a tax deduction. They might say, “Well then, if I can’t take a tax deduction, then I’m not going to give anymore!” I would caution that a bad attitude about giving will probably lead you to hell. Jesus taught in Matthew 6 that your giving should be done in secret and not for the eyes of men, lest you have no reward of your Father in heaven. The church has allowed itself to be put on the defensive regarding the giving of money and regarding church leadership. The world and especially the news media want to cripple the church until there can be no strong leadership, and thus no church. Show me a church run by a committee and I will show you a wreck. Moses had no trouble leading the people until he took advice from his foolish father-in-law Jethro and divided up the work. Jethro told Moses, “The work is too much for you. Get some elders to help you.” Moses took his advice and had nothing but trouble with those elders thereafter. Moses should have paused to remember how his wife Zipporah had opposed God’s way of doing things. Then he might have known better than to take advice from her father regarding the things of God. Ephesians 4 says that God gave some apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. They are God’s gifts to the church. If you truly believe that God chose them, developed them, and gave them to the church, then you should trust God to supervise them. They are accountable to God. But what about the imposters and charlatans who have fleeced their flocks? I would first have us note that this is not a recent phenomenon; it is as old as the church. Jesus had twelve disciples, and the one who went bad was the one who carried the money bag! Judas was the first “church treasurer.” God deals most severely with church leaders who have fleeced their flocks. God has ordained many things that would bring great blessing to His church, but Satan finds people he can use to abuse every great and wondrous blessing that God intended for His people. Satan’s goal is to make people become so repulsed by the abuses that they get defensive and ultimately stop practicing what God has clearly ordained. Wrong use ultimately results in no use. Satan knows how to pervert the gifts that God has given to His church and get people to abandon those gifts. For example, the gifts of the Spirit have been periodically abused in the church. It started in the first century with the Corinthian church and continued in the second century with the Montanists. There have been times in the history of the church when the gifts of the Spirit seem to have disappeared. The life of the Spirit, which is essential for victorious living, faded away and was replaced by rules, regulations, and creeds. Another example is divine healing. This is one of the greatest benefits God intended for His people, but it has also been abused and exploited until it sometimes disappears. It reappears periodically, but the surest way to destroy the manifestation of this gift is to have some crazy person come along and claim that they have special powers to heal or that they have raised someone from the dead. So in an attempt to disassociate from such crazy claims, the church stops teaching on divine healing altogether. Another example is the communion table, which is also called “the Table of the Lord.” There have been more schisms and confusion within the church concerning the nature of the communion table than there have been concerning almost any other doctrinal or liturgical activity of God’s people. Satan attacks the communion because it was designed by God to be a place of great blessing where everyone can go to receive His grace. Many Christians are under bondage to fear because they have been taught that they must be “worthy” to partake of the bread and the wine.” But the truth is that no one is worthy, save Christ. Paul had to admonish the Corinthian Christians because they wouldn’t keep their eyes on Christ when they partook. That is why Paul wrote in 1st Corinthians 11:28-29, “But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eatheth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.” Notice Paul did not say “eateth and drinketh unworthy,” he said “eatheth and drinketh unworthily.” The word “unworthily” is an adverb: it modifies the manner of partaking, not the partaker. Paul then defined what it means to partake unworthily: to eat the bread and drink the wine without discerning the body of Christ. The communion is intended to be a simple act by which we remember Christ and what He accomplished for us by His death on the cross. It is an open door to receiving God’s grace. But Satan has managed to caricature it to the point that many people are afraid to partake. John warned that the “spirit of antichrist” was already at work in the land. Satan has found a few religious charlatans he can use to create a frame of reference in which the false prophet can come to power. This requires that there be no powerful church leaders on this earth except the one who marries the government. We can see this spirit at work whenever we watch most religious television. The thing that bothers me most about television evangelists is their posturing to get the world’s approval. They apologize for taking up offerings and feel they have to explain to the satisfaction of the general public what the money will be used for. There are some rights that you do not apologize for, such as freedom of speech and freedom of press. These are found in the First Amendment of our Constitution, and the church is included in the same amendment. These are rights that make our country unique. The government of this country was not allowed to come into existence at its founding unless it recognized those rights and walked gingerly around them. But there is now a movement that encourages people to walk gingerly around all of those rights except freedom of religion. There is a price attached to certain freedoms. The price of a free press and of free speech is the existence of tabloids and pornography. The price of religious freedom is association with a few crazy people. But there is nothing a religious institution has even done to society that can even come close to the evil that society suffers as the price of free speech and of a free press. The tragedy is that the church world is overpopulated with small-minded cowards who will not stand up for their rights whenever someone puts the church on the defensive about our religious faith. The church of Jesus Christ should not allow itself to be made to feel that it has to prove its legitimacy. It is time for the government and the press to be on the defensive, not the church; it is time that they start apologizing. Your giving should be a testimony to the value of God’s word in your life, and your giving is not subject to the conditional approval of the world. The Bible says that the tithe belongs to the Lord. The word “tithe” simply means a tenth, and the Bible teaches that there is more than one tithe. In Numbers 18:21, God gave the tithe to the Levites. In the New Testament, in 1st Corinthians 9, the principle of tithing is applied to giving to a preacher of the gospel. Paul concluded, “Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.” When God said that He gave the tithe to the Levites, He essentially put Himself between the giver and the recipient; so likewise, the Christian gives to God, but God is the one who gives to the preacher. This is God’s way of making sure that the preacher of the gospel stays independent of the giver. This is counter to the world’s view. The world’s idea is that the giver has some claim on the recipient, as though you, the giver, are the controller of God’s finances and have a right to call the recipient to account. The tithe is the Lord’s, and as long as the tithe remains in your hands, you are merely holding it as a trustee. If you wait even one week to pay it after you have received it, you are robbing God. Biblical terminology needs to be clearly understood. If accountability is needed to enforce the way God’s money is handled, remember that accountability goes both ways. People say, “But preacher, you’re handling the Lord’s money!” It needs to be clearly understood who is actually handling the Lord’s money: you are! You are the Lord’s. The Bible says, “The earth is the LORD’s, and the fullness thereof.” The church should stop listening to the world’s ignorant view of biblical giving. Jesus said that if you were of the world, the world would love its own; but you are not of the world because He has chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. This is a serious issue. I still believe we serve a God who opened up the earth and swallowed up Korah and his criticizing band of rebels. I still believe we serve a God who smote Miriam with leprosy and made the whole camp of God suffer the consequences. The camp could not move forward while they waited for God to show her mercy and heal her. I still believe we worship a God who spoke through an apostle to Sapphira, saying, “The feet of those who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out,” and she dropped dead for lying to God about her giving. It is amazing how we can forget some basic truths because they are painful to the natural man. The Lord doesn’t need our money; He doesn’t even need a bank account. When He wants to make a coin, He can put it in a fish’s mouth. He can speak and make it come forth. God knows where His money is: the tithe is the Lord’s and it belongs to Him even when it is in your possession. Once you receive it, you may hold on to it until the next Lord’s day, when you pay it. Otherwise, you are either borrowing from it or stealing it. The media and the government always want to intrude into the church and demand accountability. Those who tithe are usually not the ones demanding accountability, because they know what they are doing. It is the curious world that always wants to know everything. I am sure that your neighbors would love to have a peephole to see into your house. That is the nature of man, but it is none of their business. On this matter of accountability, I must ask the question, “Accountability to whom?” Jesus clearly instructed His people to give in secret. Announcing to the media or the government how much you are giving is not the giving in secret. The tithe belongs to the Lord: He is the one you must account to because it is His! I truly believe God will deal with those who are bold enough to rob Him. He promised in the book of Malachi to curse you and everything you have if you rob Him. I often say, “If you are going to be a Christian, be one!” I really believe in God, so I don’t take His words lightly. I believe the Lord is with me, He sees everything we do, and He can police His money. I am opposed to the world’s view that the spotlight must always be on the pastor. God’s angels look out for His work, they know where His money is, and they know when you have it! I wish that God would somehow deliver the church from using the words “gift” or “contribution” to describe tithing. Those very words destroy the notion of Christian stewardship. You cannot really “give” anything to God that already belongs to Him. There is a difference between paying a debt and giving a gift. Imagine going into a bank and saying to the teller, “I’m bringing you a gift today of my mortgage payment!” The teller would respond, “Thank you very much for the gift, but I will have to file a notice of default because you obviously haven’t paid your mortgage.” You would quickly say to that teller, “Oh, no, that was just a figure of speech! I want this payment applied to reduce my principal.” Then it isn’t a gift, is it? It is the payment of a debt. People get offended by this kind of teaching and say, “I don’t like your talking that way about my hard-earned money.” Thank God He gave you the health to be able to “hard-earn” it. Your right to live is based upon your not touching what God claims as His own. God has the absolute right to say, “Hands off, friend.” That is one of the meanings of the tree in the Garden. Eternal life and death revolve around the ability to recognize that God has the right to say, “Keep your hands off what I have told you not to touch!” That is how serious this issue is. It is a shame that most preachers know so little about God’s word that they don’t even know these principles. Many preachers have never tithed in their whole lives. The tithe is the Lord’s, and if you borrow from it, you are on dangerous ground; and if you keep it, you are cursed. Many people who come to God love the Bible as long as they can just pick the parts that they like and reject the rest. But the principle of putting God first in all that you do is fundamental to Christianity. The Lord said to bring the tithe into the storehouse, which is the place where you get your spiritual food. When you bring the tithe into the storehouse, you have fulfilled your stewardship, but you have not really “given” anything. The tithe is God’s ten percent and a good steward understands that it is paid when it is due, which is immediately upon receiving it. Some people are confused about where they should tithe. They go to a church, listen to a preacher preach, and learn from the word of God; but then they pay tithe at another church. That is like going out to dinner at a restaurant and not paying the bill, and then paying a different restaurant down the street. You don’t go out to dinner at a fancy restaurant and then pay some little fast food restaurant down the street that you think needs the money more; you pay where you eat. Galatians 6:6 lays out the criteria: “Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.” The Greek word translated “communicate” is a form of koinoneo, which means “to share” or “to jointly participate with.” Galatians 6:6 literally means, “If you have been taught in the word, share materially with the one who taught you.” Paul calls this “sowing to the Spirit” and says, “he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” Galatians 6 makes the pastor a “mailbox” for eternal-life deposits. If you are being taught in God’s word, your ability to release the Holy Spirit to work a harvest of eternal life for you is based upon your transferring good material things to the one who taught you. People always worry, “What if the pastor gets rich?” It does not matter if the pastor gets rich. If the pastor teaches you the words of eternal life, it is none of your business what kind of car the pastor drives. It is the teaching that deserves the response, not the vehicle that the teacher drives. People often confuse tithing with charitable giving. The Bible has much to say concerning the subject of charitable giving. Jesus said in Matthew 10:42, “Whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.” As a follower of Christ, it is your mission to give a cup of cold water; it is your mission to give to charities. But the church itself is not a charity. The mission of the church is to teach God’s word. The news media are always demanding that churches justify their right to exist by the charitable work they do. Why doesn’t the news media use their own money to feed the poor instead of trying to lay that responsibility onto the church? Why don’t they pay their debt to society, if that is what it is, for the privilege of a free press by giving 10 percent of their gross income to charity every year? They can deduct it off the top of all their executive salaries! I have had enough of their hypocrisy! People often want to know what is done with the money, or they demand to know what preachers are doing in their personal lives. Most of the people in ancient Israel would have been shocked to learn what the sons of Eli were doing to the women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle. Those rotten sons also took the best of the Lord’s offerings for themselves. The Bible says, “Wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the LORD: for men abhorred the offering of the LORD.” Yet God never told any of the children of Israel to stop tithing during this time. God told Eli, “I have put up with you and your sons long enough. Don’t even try to remind Me of what I had promised you. Those who honor Me, I will honor,” and God pronounced a curse on Eli and his line. Eli’s sons were slain and the ark of the Lord was captured by the Philistines. When Eli learned that the ark of the Lord had been captured, he fell off his seat, broke his neck, and died. In the New Testament, Jesus told the Pharisees concerning the tithe, “This ye ought to have done.” In that day, money brought into the temple treasury went into the “corban” and was devoted to God. This may shock some people, but the thirty pieces of silver that Judas was paid to betray his Lord came from that very treasury! In Mark 12, Jesus commended the widow who gave her last two mites, which was all she had to live on. Jesus never asked her, “Do you know where your money is going and what it will be used for?” Her two mites went into the temple treasury, which was managed by the same evil people who brought about the crucifixion of Christ! Paying tithes is the depositing of God’s money into the place where He says to put it. The tithe is not yours. Some people still feel like they should be able to supervise it. The Holy Spirit went to work for you in heaven, and with His magnificent ability, the Holy Spirit will police it down here. In good time, God will take care of it. Therefore, the preacher is not managing “the Lord’s money.” The only portion the preacher manages is the tithe on what the Lord gives to the preacher. Why don’t people dare to let God’s word operate? The world is trying to destroy biblical giving and respect for God-ordained leadership. Someone will say, “Well, I’m still worried about the preacher. What will happen if he gets out of step?” The same thing will happen to him that will happen to you if you get out of step. We had both better worry about paying the tithe on what we receive, when we receive it, and we had better recognize that it all belongs to the Lord. We should give it with gladness and turn our attention to what God has promised to those who put Him first. If the preachers don’t deserve it, then trust God to deal with them because He is the one who gave it to them; so that is His problem. Those who bring the tithe have no claim on it and no biblical right to question the recipient. Proverbs 18:16 says, “A man’s gift maketh room for him.” And Paul said in Romans 11:29 that God’s gifts and calling are irrevocable. If the minister of the gospel turns on the light of Scripture for you, you are the lucky one. You are lucky because you are like the good soil referred to in the parable of the sower that God destined to receive His word, and out of gratitude you come to church to be taught. The tithe belongs in the place where you are taught God’s word. God knows who is faithful and who is not. He promises to provide for you if you put Him first, and He promises to curse you if you steal from Him. Some people say, “But I can’t afford to tithe.” The truth is you can’t afford not to. It would be better to starve to death tithing than to live under a curse for robbing God. Your last act would be an act of faith as you entered heaven. God blesses those who put Him first, and the tithe is the Lord’s whether He blesses you or not. You are holding the Lord’s money, and if anyone holds back from God, he is defined as a robber. You have the opportunity to exercise faith every day by your response to God’s word. He gives eternal rewards for faithfulness. It is in this very context that Paul said in Galatians 6:9, “Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” All I am saying is “Be faithful,” and God will take care of the rest! 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