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. 
	We now come to a very vital aspect of our lives on this earth as Children of God. It is the matter of tithing. This is a facet that holds great promise for us, but it is not without controversy. As a minister, supported by the tithes and offerings of the members of the Church, it is a very difficult topic to address without seeming to be asking for alms. It has been with great travail in prayer before the Lord as to whether or not we should even address this matter which has preceded this series of messages. However, I bring it before each of us in terms of how we are to bless God, and not man, with our offering of tithe. On that basis, we will proceed this morning.
	To begin with, tithing is a very personal matter. It is one of those things that can cause tremendous discord and animosity within the hearts of believers. To many, there is no issue at all in tithing. It is something that we do because it has been taught to us from an early age. To others, it becomes a matter of convenience, when it is convenient, we tithe, when it is not convenient, we do not tithe. Then there are those who refuse to tithe because of the following arguments. 
There is some discussion within the New Testament Church as to whether we are even called to tithe unto the Lord. The argument centers on two things. The first is that there is no specific statement in the New Testament as to having to tithe, which is to give back to the Lord 10% of all that we receive. The second argument is that, since we are no longer under the Old Testament Law, we are therefore no longer under obligation to tithe. According to this belief, the same rituals that were set aside in the Law include the necessity to tithe.
	I am not going to maintain that we must tithe. I will, however, be pointing out some very important aspects concerning tithing that have become apparent as I have studied this matter. The overall emphasis, though, is that tithing is something that needs to be dealt with one on one before the Lord. 
What we will endeavor to do is to look at the various passages of scripture and ask the Lord to open them into our hearts with regard to His plan and His purpose. Any and all monetary matters are between each one of us and the Lord and that is where it needs to remain. 
As believers, we are called to honor the Lord with all our heart and mind and being. We are instructed to do so by our Lord Jesus Christ in Matt 22:36+37 in direct response to the question, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" And He said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' 
	In the vast panorama of Christianity, everything, especially tithing, comes down to what we do must be done as pleasing to the Lord in honoring Him in every facet of our lives. We are to bless the Lord with our whole being and with everything associated to us. In that line of understanding, we pick up with this morning’s passage. 
	The first thing to consider is the entire context of the passage concerning Abram and Melchizedek. Gen 14:18-20, And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said, "Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand." And he gave him a tenth of all. That is Abram gave Melchizedek a 10th part of all the spoils.
Three items stand out in this passage regarding tithing. The first is that this entire scene took place far before the Law was given. Abram felt the voluntary need to tithe a tenth of all and to give it to Melchizedek, who was a priest of God Most High. There was no stipulation to do so by the Law of God, which was given much later to Moses on Mount Sinai. It was rather something that Abram was impelled to do from his heart as unto the Lord. It might well be because he recognized that God had given him the victory over the kings in order to save Lot and his people. Or, it might stem from the fact that because he was blessed by God through the greeting of Melchizedek, Abram offered up a portion of all as signifying that blessing of God on his life, including the great victory just accomplished. 
	The second element of this passage is that the tithe was given to Melchizedek, the priest, as unto the Lord. Because he was the priest of God, Abram offered up his tithes to Melchizedek as unto God. Let us read together how the writer to the Hebrews deals with this very tithe as being of utmost implication in Heb 7:1-8. Please follow along as I read. For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham as he was returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also Abraham apportioned a tenth part of all the spoils, was first of all, by the translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then also king of Salem, which is king of peace. Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, he abides a priest perpetually. Now observe how great this man was to whom Abraham, the patriarch, gave a tenth of the choicest spoils. And those indeed of the sons of Levi who receive the priest's office have commandment in the Law to collect a tenth from the people, that is, from their brethren, although these are descended from Abraham. But the one whose genealogy is not traced from them collected a tenth from Abraham, and blessed the one who had the promises. But without any dispute the lesser is blessed by the greater. And in this case mortal men receive tithes, but in that case one receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives on. 
	An absolute key purpose of tithe is in giving as unto the Lord. Abram dealt with this priest of God so as to honor God, not man. In giving a 10th portion of all that he had received, Abram was giving the credit and the tribute and the glory for the victory directly to God, Alone. 
	The third aspect of this passage is that the tithe was in order to bless God. Melchizedek declares that God is to be blessed in verse 20, And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand… It is at this point that Abram offers his tithe. He does it because he knows that his tithe will bless God. This is the major key, I believe, under which we are to return to God a tenth of all that He gives to us. We will be touching on some other important aspects to tithing and its purpose in the dispensation of God’s grace in our lives, but this is the most vital and overriding element of why the members of the Church should freely and wholeheartedly give tithe unto God. 
We gather together to worship Him in praise and in prayer and in the reading of His Word, in a corporate offering of glory unto God. We join our hearts before God as His people, united in the desire to bless Him. However, that desire is not just constituted in our corporate expression of worship and praise and love unto God. We are to express that desire in all that we do and say and think. We are to read His Word individually and as a family unit. We are to honor Him with our personal and family time of prayer and dedication. 
Fully in line with this, we, individually and as a family are to offer up our tithe with the very heart’s desire that God will be blessed in how we look at all that He has given us. Because everything we have belongs to God and comes from God, we signify and acknowledge that truth by our tithe. And, as a vital element of our being part of God’s family, we teach our young ones to offer up their tithes from an early age to teach them how important it is to bless God in every aspect of our lives.  
	This, I believe, was at the very heart of why Abram gave his tithe as recorded in our reading. His heart was so after God that he wanted to bless God in absolute line with the declaration of Melchizedek, And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand. Tithing is a most sincere and deliberate manner of offering to God our heart’s yearning for God to be blessed in the lives that we live before Him. 
	So, as a review and a manner of great emphasis, this passage regards tithing in three tremendous ways. First, the fact that Abram tithed without the stipulation of the Law making him do so. Second, his tithe was given to the priest, Melchizedek, as unto the Lord. And third, and foremost, it was given to fully and absolutely bless God. 
	While blessing God is the key focal point of tithing, there are several other essential facets about tithing that merit consideration. One is that it shows that we are absolutely reliant upon God to supply our every need. We find this expressed in Gen 28:20-22, where Jacob recognizes that if he is to survive, it will be by the grace of God. In the course of that recognition, he makes a covenant with God concerning tithing. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me and will keep me on this journey that I take, and will give me food to eat and garments to wear, and I return to my father's house in safety, then the Lord will be my God. And this stone, which I have set up as a pillar, will be God's house; and of all that Thou dost give me I will surely give a tenth to Thee." 
	Please note that this course of tithing, as well, was established before the Law was given. Jacob makes this covenant with God that as God supplied all Jacob’s needs he would tithe accordingly. This shows that Jacob freely acknowledged that all that he had would come from the Hand of God. In the course of that truth, there would be a continual offering of tithe in gratitude and honor and respect to God’s every provision. 
This is no trivial action on Jacob’s part. He is making covenant with the Lord God Almighty and he deems that God will provide his every need. The course of that belief is the very core of the relationship which we all have with God. We believe that He will meet our every need and that He will provide everything that is necessary for our eternal salvation in Jesus Christ. This will be for all of eternity as well as for every day of every year of our lives on this earth. 
Thus, as we tithe unto the Lord, we are entering into this same covenant. All that we receive is from God and returns to God in the manner in which our lives are kept by and unto Him. This is a heavenly principle that works to God’s glory in His every provision of the needs of His people on this earth. We must ever consider it in the expression of the glory of God’s life in us. All that we have comes from Him. Our tithe honors that recognition of our hearts understanding of the abounding grace of God toward us. 
  This then brings us to the tithe as laid out in the Law through Moses. While we are no longer under the Law, but under grace in Jesus Christ, we do still honor the spiritual principles that God has laid forth unto us. We do not take unto ourselves the letter of the Law as prescribed by the Hebrew hierarchy, but rather we understand God’s intent in the giving of His Law for the very sake of safeguarding His People from all the terrors and ills of this realm.  
In this light, as we read of the tithes that were required, we hold to the reasons behind them and the honor that God received as a result of them. Initially we have the very basis stipulated in Lev 27:30-32. '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. 'If, therefore, a man wishes to redeem part of his tithe, he shall add to it one-fifth of it. 'And for every tenth part of herd or flock, whatever passes under the rod, the tenth one shall be holy to the Lord. 
God was given the very best of the produce of the hand of man. He received the first fruits of man’s labor with the inherent knowledge that it was all from God and holy unto God. It was God’s to claim as His portion from all that He provided. This included everything that the People of God received as from His Hand. 
The Israelites actually had three separate tithes that they offered to God, each consisting of 10% of what they had. The first tithe was unto the House of God for the provision of the Lord’s Priests. 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 second tithe was for the festivals that the people shared amongst themselves in the goodness of the Lord. Deut 14:22+23, "You shall surely tithe all the produce from what you sow, which comes out of the field every year. And you shall eat in the presence of the Lord your God, at the place where He chooses to establish His name, the tithe of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the first-born of your herd and your flock, in order that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always. All the people gathered together and ate together of the bounty of the Lord’s provisions to all. Everyone contributed of that which they had and all participated with joy and feasting and celebration. And please note that the purpose was to … learn to fear the Lord your God always. This was to continually remind and reinforce the knowledge that God was Jehovah Jireh, their Provider.  
	The third tithe was given every third year for the poor, the widows, and the orphans, those who had nothing and no other means of survival. Deut 14:28+29, "At the end of every third year you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in that year, and shall deposit it in your town. And the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance among you, and the alien, the orphan and the widow who are in your town, shall come and eat and be satisfied, in order that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do. The poor were encouraged to glean in the fields and they were, as well, recipients of this special tri-annual tithe of the people for their care and provision. As God blessed each family, so each family shared of that blessing with those in need.    
With regard to this third year tithe, all the people were to pray in earnestness as recorded in Deut 26:12-15. "When you have finished paying all the tithe of your increase in the third year, the year of tithing, then you shall give it to the Levite, to the stranger, to the orphan and to the widow, that they may eat in your towns, and be satisfied. And you shall say before the Lord your God, 'I have removed the sacred portion from my house, and also have given it to the Levite and the alien, the orphan and the widow, according to all Thy commandments which Thou hast commanded me; I have not transgressed or forgotten any of Thy commandments. 'I have not eaten of it while mourning, nor have I removed any of it while I was unclean, nor offered any of it to the dead. I have listened to the voice of the Lord my God; I have done according to all that Thou hast commanded me. 'Look down from Thy holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Thy people Israel, and the ground which Thou hast given us, a land flowing with milk and honey, as Thou didst swear to our fathers.' In blessing God with this tithe for the care and feeding of those in need, the nation received a blessing from God upon themselves and their land.
We will continue with our consideration of tithe as described in the Word of God next time. Again, please take all of this to the Lord for The Holy Spirit to guide and to direct in the course that we each are to take in our personal lives as honoring before Him. We are looking at the heavenly principles of God’s provision in our lives and the manner in which He is to be blessed by His people. That is a personal and deeply intimate heart to heart dealing that we each must ask the Lord to undertake in us. To His glory Alone, 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 Zeph 3:14+15. Shout for joy, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! The Lord has taken away His judgments against you, He has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; You will fear disaster no more. Amen.