Gen 14:20, And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand." And he gave him a tenth of all. 
	This morning, we continue with our consideration of tithing as we trace it throughout scripture. Again, it is with copious prayer asking the Lord to reveal Himself and His plan and His purpose concerning tithing that we take up this principle. It is a matter that we each need to take before the Lord for His guidance in the manner in which we are to please Him in our lives. That is what has brought us to this topic. 
	We ended, last time, with an introduction to the Jewish Law in regard to tithe. Lev 27:30, 'Thus all the tithe of the land, of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's; it is holy to the Lord. This morning, we will delve into more detail with regard to tithe and its purpose as instituted by God. 
	We find it declared by God in Num 18:20+21, Then the Lord said to Aaron, "You shall have no inheritance in their land, nor own any portion among them; I am your portion and your inheritance among the sons of Israel. "And to the sons of Levi, behold, I have given all the tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service which they perform, the service of the tent of meeting. The tithe was for the keeping of the priests and the house of God. Because the priests had no inheritance in the land, they were given the first fruits that were offered to the Lord and all the holy gifts that were given by the Sons of Israel. The entire purpose was for the maintenance of the priestly offices before the Lord for the sake of the people’s instruction and teaching and blessing. As the priests were able to dedicate themselves to God’s service, the people would be receiving of the best of the instruction and the priestly offices. This was God’s manner of providing for the feeding of His flock. This course of God’s provision for His people’s spiritual nourishment and growth severely declined as they turned away from Him, eventually resulting in their capture and enslavement and dispersal.
	After the period of captivity, Hezekiah had to reestablish the tithe with its purpose in the heart of God. Please follow along as we read 2 Chron 31:4-8. Also he commanded the people who lived in Jerusalem to give the portion due to the priests and the Levites, that they might devote themselves to the law of the Lord. And as soon as the order spread, the sons of Israel provided in abundance the first fruits of grain, new wine, oil, honey, and of all the produce of the field; and they brought in abundantly the tithe of all. And the sons of Israel and Judah who lived in the cities of Judah, also brought in the tithe of oxen and sheep, and the tithe of sacred gifts which were consecrated to the Lord their God, and placed them in heaps. In the third month they began to make the heaps, and finished them by the seventh month. And when Hezekiah and the rulers came and saw the heaps, they blessed the Lord and His people Israel. 
	Notice something about the giving of abundance and its results upon those who gave forth the tithe. They were blessed. We emphasized over and over again, last time that the greatest reason to tithe is in order to bless the Lord. We give of all that He gives us in order to honor and to give forth a very concrete expression of the love of our hearts unto Him. By physically giving back to God of all that He provides, we bless Him in a meaningful way that is returned to us in His blessing. 
Please realize that we are not to tithe for the selfish purpose of gaining wealth for ourselves. We must never consider it as an investment that will return great riches to our pockets. It is not a business strategy for amassing wealth and benefits. That is a self-centered motivation that will never find realization in the heart of God.
Tithing must always be from the depths of our beings as completely unto the Lord. It is done because it will please and honor and bless God because it is what He calls us to do. As we bless God with our willing obedience, He will bless us in many ways beyond our understanding. As He is blessed, so are we blessed. Not only do we receive the over and abundant provisions of the Lord in our day to day walk on this earth, but we receive spiritual food and guidance and instruction and service from those so appointed by the Lord unto that task.  
	In view of this, the tithing had ceased during the captivity and the people were starving for spiritual leadership and food. They gave abundantly for the spiritual growth that they desperately craved and which had been so woefully neglected. They willingly and joyfully brought the tithe of all their portions for the return of the priestly services that would give them that connection with God in His House. In so doing, they were blessed and God’s blessing is always beyond measure. 
	The Prophet Nehemiah also notes the blessing of the abundance of the tithes that were freely offered to God for the keeping of the Lord’s House and those who serve Him. Please turn to Neh 10:37-39, We will also bring the first of our dough, our contributions, the fruit of every tree, the new wine and the oil to the priests at the chambers of the house of our God, and the tithe of our ground to the Levites, for the Levites are they who receive the tithes in all the rural towns. And the priest, the son of Aaron, shall be with the Levites when the Levites receive tithes, and the Levites shall bring up the tenth of the tithes to the house of our God, to the chambers of the storehouse. For the sons of Israel and the sons of Levi shall bring the contribution of the grain, the new wine and the oil, to the chambers; there are the utensils of the sanctuary, the priests who are ministering, the gatekeepers, and the singers. Thus we will not neglect the house of our God. 
	Tithing truly is a matter of the heart in not neglecting the house and the work of the Lord. As we mentioned, it is the Lord’s manner of providing for those who care for His people’s spiritual needs. The Prophet Nehemiah had to deal with the neglect that he found with regard to the tithe and the service of the Lord. Neh 13:10-12, I also discovered that the portions of the Levites had not been given them, so that the Levites and the singers who performed the service had gone away, each to his own field. So I reprimanded the officials and said, "Why is the house of God forsaken?" Then I gathered them together and restored them to their posts. All Judah then brought the tithe of the grain, wine, and oil into the storehouses. 
It was a sad situation that needed immediate remedy. Because those who performed the priestly services as unto the Lord were no longer receiving provision, they had to seek out some other means of survival. The people were not honoring the Lord with their tithes. Therefore the priests and singers were left to their own devices in terms of their sustenance. That meant that they could not give themselves wholly to prayer and to worship and to study for the sake of the people. The flock was starving itself without spiritual food and guidance and was becoming anemic to the things of God. Rather than finding blessing and honor and the finest of the Lord’s teaching and spiritual grain, the people were allowing themselves to be cheated out of the rightful provisions from the Lord’s storehouses by not giving Him their tithes and offerings.
As we read in Mal 3:8-10, God declares a very deliberate charge against His People on this account. "Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, 'How have we robbed Thee?' In tithes and offerings. "You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you! "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this," says the Lord  of hosts, "if I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. 
There are those who feel that tithing, as we mentioned, is limited to the Old Testament under the Law and is no longer a provision to be considered by the New Testament Church. However, the reasons for tithing have not ceased. It is to bless God, first and foremost, and then to make provision for the spiritual needs of the flock with all the blessings that it brings forth. 
	The Lord, Himself, regards tithing as right and proper as we read in Luke 11:42, "But woe to you Pharisees! For you pay tithe of mint and rue and every kind of garden herb, and yet disregard justice and the love of God; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. He does not set aside or declare that tithing is no longer required. Rather He is dealing with the attitude of lording the tithing over others as if that serves to make one more spiritual and superior in the Kingdom of God. Christ is dealing with the heart issues and not the lack of need for tithing.
	Notice this same principle of God is a vital part of the preaching of the Gospel. Those who are entrusted with the feeding of the flock are to receive their provision from the flock. Christ so encouraged His 70 disciples as they were sent out 2X2 to declare the Gospel. Luke 10:2-7, And He was saying to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.  "Go your ways; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. "Carry no purse, no bag, no shoes; and greet no one on the way. "And whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace be to this house.' "And if a man of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him; but if not, it will return to you. "And stay in that house, eating and drinking what they give you; for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not keep moving from house to house. They were to rely on the people to whom they ministered to provide for their sustenance as from God in the declaration of the Good News.
Then we have the Apostle Paul in his first letter to the Corinthian Church as he deals with the monetary issues about which he was being accused. Please turn to 1 Cor 9:3-14. My defense to those who examine me is this: Do we not have a right to eat and drink? Do we not have a right to take along a believing wife, even as the rest of the apostles, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas? Or do only Barnabas and I not have a right to refrain from working? Who at any time serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard, and does not eat the fruit of it? Or who tends a flock and does not use the milk of the flock? I am not speaking these things according to human judgment, am I? Or does not the Law also say these things? For it is written in the Law of Moses, "You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing." God is not concerned about oxen, is He? Or is He speaking altogether for our sake? Yes, for our sake it was written, because the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing the crops. If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we should reap material things from you? If others share the right over you, do we not more? Nevertheless, we did not use this right, but we endure all things, that we may cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ. Do you not know that those who perform sacred services eat the food of the temple, and those who attend regularly to the altar have their share with the altar? So also the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel. He was being accused of spreading the gospel just to enrich himself through it. Those who were spreading the gossip with malicious murmurings were trying to discredit Paul and Barnabas and their ministry. This was Paul’s legitimate statement outlining how God provides for His Word to be preached within the New Testament churches.
	In order to be honoring to the Lord in ministry, the minister needs to have proper provisions made for his sustenance. One does not truly enter into the ministry of God’s Word for the purpose of making it a profession. It is a calling in which that minister relies on God to make every necessary arrangement for the minister’s keeping. That is through the tithes and offerings of those who are fed by the Word.
Many people, who oppose the idea of the flock maintaining the preacher of the Word through tithes and offerings, use the fact that Paul was a tentmaker as the argument for their stand. However, while Paul was a tentmaker by trade, there came that time when he quit making tents and dedicated himself wholly to the preaching of the Word. As we find in Acts 18:2-5 concerning Paul, And he found a certain Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, having recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. He came to them, and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and they were working; for by trade they were tent-makers. And he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks. But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. Paul set aside his tent-making and from this point on dedicated himself wholly to the Word in study and prayer and preaching. 
Ministry is always to be reckoned as a calling and not a profession. It should never be entered into with any idea of using it as a means of amassing wealth. It is a service to be rendered wholeheartedly and faithfully unto the Lord and unto those Whom the Lord feeds with His Word.
As such, it is the responsibility of the people so served to respond to the Lord’s guidance in support of that ministry of God’s Word. If they truly desire the best that God has to give in guidance and instruction, they will bring forth their tithes and offerings in support of His Word. If, however, there is no hunger after the Word and no desire to be fed, as evidenced in their lack of tithing, God will remove that instrument of feeding.
	Sadly, it was not very long ago that a local church had to close its doors because there was no longer support for the minister and his family’s sustenance. He had to seek financial provisions elsewhere. The church was not bringing in the tithes and offerings that would make that spiritual food available to them. It was much like the Prophet Nehemiah saw in the priests leaving their spiritual duties for the sake of food and shelter. It is a very sad situation which occurs when an Assembly of God’s people starve themselves from the goodness and the richness of the finest of wheat and oil by starving those who have been given charge over them.   
	Please be assured that I am not bringing forth these messages with any intent to tug on the purse strings of this fellowship. I am not declaring that we are in the above situation by any measure or in desperation. 
	Lord willing, I have, within my heart, approached this entire topic with the attitude of what it is that will bring blessing to the Lord and to His flock. What is it that the Lord wants for His people to hear in the Word that we study together? It is with great trembling that I even broached the subject of personal monetary accountability before God, since that is the individual heart of each listener in subjection to God’s Holy Spirit. 
	However, it is of such great importance for the understanding of each believer to know what is pleasing to the heart of God, and that is the hopeful course of our time together in this regard. It is the duty of each minister to give instruction as the Lord so leads in order that the flock is properly fed and fully taught of all God’s graciousness and mercy. As the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Tim 4:1+2, I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. 
As well, it is also the responsibility that is laid upon each parent and grandparent to instruct each succeeding generation as to what is honoring to the Lord. One of the most disheartening elements of reading the Old Testament is how quickly the generations following those so blessed of God forgot about Him and turned away to the idols of the land. The Lord blessed mightily and delivered from all the foes, and yet, over and over again, the second and third generations from that blessing forgot about God and His ways and His call upon them. There continually needed to be a revival unto the Lord. 
As our beloved children and grandchildren grow up, we want them to know the full blessing of the Lord upon them. It is incumbent that we instruct them over and over again in these matters of life that will bless the Lord and thereby bring His blessing upon their lives. Yes, we do so in our verbal instructions to them. We talk with them individually. We pray and worship with them and, hopefully, read the Bible together with them and answer their questions. We bring them to Bible Studies where they are being taught directly from the Word. We bring them to these Sunday gatherings of the Lord’s People in corporate worship and to receive the Word as we so receive it. 
But, the greatest measure of our instruction is not in the words that we preach or teach or proclaim. It is in the manner in which we live our lives. Our children are taught and instructed most effectively by our actions. As they witness how we respond to the Word of God, they will respond. As they see us honoring the Lord, they will learn how to honor Him. As we bring the first fruits of all our increase unto the Lord, so will they learn the value of pleasing the Lord in blessing Him with tithes and offerings.  
It is on that basis that I close this morning. We will continue with this topic again next week, Lord willing. The challenge I lay before each one of us concerning this matter of tithing and every manner of instruction that we receive from God’s Word is how is it affecting our lives in a living witness unto God? Please take the following question to the Lord in all humbleness and in unwavering earnestness. Do every one of our loved ones and acquaintances see that God’s Word is alive in our hearts in the manner in which we are serving Him, in every measure, on this earth? So be it!
And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand." And he gave him a tenth of all. Amen. 

	
This morning’s benediction is 1 Kings 8:57-60. May the Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers; may He not leave us or forsake us, that He may incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His ordinances, which He commanded our fathers. And may these words of mine, with which I have made supplication before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, that He may maintain the cause of His servant and the cause of His people Israel, as each day requires, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God; there is no one else. Amen.