10 Reasons Tithing Is Not for Christians - Matt McMillen Ministries

Good morning, or good afternoon, or good evening, depending on where you are at. I appreciate you jumping in on today's brand new Walk Talk. 10 Reasons Tithing Is Not for Christians. It's going to be a good one.

So, before I get into today's Walk Talk, "10 Reasons Tithing Is Not for Christians," uh, let me go ahead and get my introduction out of the way. Just in case you're new here, thanks so much for joining me. My name is Matt McMillan. I'm a Christian author. Be sure to type in the comments where you're checking in from. And I have actually written seven books. They're all available on Amazon in paperback, Kindle, and hardcover. Check them out if you get some time. Maybe something I'm saying is stirring up some new questions. Check out my books. And if you have read any of my books, please do me a quick favor. Quick favor, pause this and go leave me a review. Wherever you purchase the book from, whether it's Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, go back and leave me a review. Those are very encouraging to me.

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All right, so let's get to today's Walk Talk. "10 Reasons Tithing Is Not for Christians." All right, so this is going to be a good one. Um, so I do have another phone in my other hand. So if you're watching on YouTube, you will see me glancing back and forth to my notes. If you're listening on the podcast, make some never mind to you. You can just listen.

Okay. So before I begin, I I want to be perfectly clear. Giving is good. Okay. Christians want to give. We are natural givers at heart. And why is that? Because we have the giver inside of us. "For God so loved the world, he gave." John 3:16, the most popular Bible verse of all time. You want to give? Well, then how can I give and then not? Just give me a moment. Hold on. I know what you're thinking. Not you, but if you are thinking that, give me some time. All right, we just started. All right. Romans 5:5 also says, "He has been poured into us." So you want to give, you have the giver inside of you and he has been poured into you. So giving is good. You know, you will never feel more like yourself than when you give because giving is an expression of love and you are loving Christian. Love is in your supernatural DNA. You can't get away from it. This is why when people hurt you, you still love them. And then you have to learn how to establish healthy boundaries to protect yourself because your love is so great. So I'm not telling you to not give. Let me repeat that. I'm not telling you to not give. I'm telling you that tithing, t-i-t-h-i-n-g, the tithe is not for you. And here it is according to the Bible.

So here's what I'm going to do today in order to prove that tithing is not for Christians. I'm going to give you, of course, 10 reasons here. Here's what the 10 are. I'm going to tell you what the 10 are and then I'm just going to jump right into them. Okay.

Reason number one, in the Bible, tithing was not money but food.

Reason number two, in the Bible. We ain't talking about what daddy said or granddaddy or "we've been doing it like this for so long." None of that. We're talking about the Bible. Okay.

Reason number two why tithing is not for Christians. In the Bible, tithing was for the Levites, widows, orphans, travelers, and Jewish festivals. Nothing else. Okay, I'm going to get into that. So, just going to tell you what the 10 are, then dive deep. So, just give me a moment.

Reason number three of the 10 reasons tithing is not for Christians. Tithing was part of the law of Moses. And Christians aren't under the law, but under grace, right?

Reason number four, we are never commanded to tithe in the epistles. Instead, we are encouraged to give. [Music]

Reason number five, Abraham did not set a tithing principle. Christians don't live by principles, but by a person from within.

All right. Reason number six, Hebrews 7 is not commanding Christians to tithe, but Jesus being shown as greater than the Levites. That's going to be a heavy one. And it's going to blow your mind. [Music]

Reason number seven. Oh, it's on this side of the pile. This side of the cross, McMillan. It's in the epistles. It says to tithe. Hebrews 7. I know. I know what's coming with this, but it doesn't say that.

All right. Reason number. Reason number seven of the 10 reasons tithing is not for Christians. Christians don't test God by tithing our income. The Jews tested God by tithing food. Okay.

Reason number eight. If churches are relying on the tithe to be supported, they are relying on a curse. I'll show you in the proper context.

Reason number nine, Christians were never instructed to tithe. Instead, this began through the error of the early church fathers.

Reason number 10 why tithing is not for Christians. Tithing is not an act of obedience, worship, or heart posture. Okay.

All right. So, let's get right into them. Here we go.

Reason number one of the 10 reasons tithing is not for Christians in the Bible. Tithing was not money but food. You know, even the most taken out of context passage about tithing says food. Let's look at it. Malachi 3:10 or Malachi if you're Italian. All right. So, here we go. Malachi 3:10. "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse." Let's pause right there. What do you put in a storehouse? Keep in mind this is three chapters in the 10th verse. There's tons of surrounding context. Okay. Malachi 3:10. "Bring your whole tithe into the storehouse." You put food in a storehouse. Okay, let's keep going. "That there may be food in my house." Food. And the temple was called the house of God in the Old Testament. Part of that area was the storehouse which stored of food. "Test me in this," says the Lord, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven." That's clouds. What do you think floodgates of heaven are? Clouds. Okay. "Test me in this," says the Lord. "See if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven." That's cloud. "And pour out so much blessing that there will not be enough room to store it." Okay. Clouds give what? Rain. Rain produces crops and waters the cattle. So they wouldn't have enough room to store all their crops or their cattle. So what was happening here in Malachi chapter 3 is that food was being stolen from the storehouse because the Jews thought they wouldn't have enough food to eat. So simple. God was saying, "Stop stealing food from the storehouse, which was meant to store food for those who didn't have any food." And I'll get to who that was in just a moment. And he would send rain to water their crops and their cattle.

Now, unfortunately, the box church has used this passage for nearly 2,000 years as a way to support a top-down hierarchy system in the eklesia. But here's the thing, there is no hierarchy system in the eklesia. And the word eklesia just simply means church or called out ones. We are all equal body members. And that's according to scripture in 1 Corinthians. If in fact Jesus even said this in Matthew chapter 20, "It will not be like this among you. You will not lord over one another." Unfortunately, the box church has used Malachi chapter 3 to support lording over others. And not only that, Malachi 3 is about food. Food. If there's one thing you remember from today is that Malachi is about food, not money to a church. There were no churches. The temple was not church. The priests were not pastors. And they had money at that time. They had currency. So food was not used as money or currency. The tithe was grain, spices, seeds, produce, and cattle according to the Bible. You know, look, it is good to give. We want to give. But tithing is not what Christians do according to the Bible. There is no number. There is no commandment. And here's another huge thing. A according to the Bible, this is huge. The tithe was 23.3%, not just 10%. By the time you do the math on the Jewish calendar, it's not just 10%.

Reason number two of the 10 reasons why tithing is not for Christians. In the Bible, okay, got to repeat that. In the Bible, we're not talking about man-made tradition. In the Bible, tithing was for the Levites, widows, orphans, travelers, and Jewish festivals. Nothing else.

So, after Moses freed the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt, he began to take on too much work for himself. To delegate that work, he divided the Jews up into 12 tribes. One of those tribes was known as the tribe of Levi, also known as the Levites or the Levitical priesthood. This was the one tribe which was not allowed to have an occupation because they were doing temple work, animal blood sacrifices, Judeaic cleansing rituals according to the old covenant between God and Israel. And here it is. According to the law. So the Levites, they did not receive an inheritance like the other 11 tribes. Therefore, the other tribes were supposed to support the Levites with the tithe. This was literal food. Okay? And it wasn't just for the Levites. It was also for widows, orphans, travelers, Jewish festivals, and it was 10% of their crops and cattle. That's what the word tithe means, 10%. But as I just mentioned, by the time you do the actual math on the Judeaic calendar, it totaled 23.3%, not just 10%. So for those who think they are faithful tithers, "I give 10% faithfully." Unless you're giving 23.3% of your produce, spices, grain, and farm animals to the Levitical priests at the temple, my friend, you are not a faithful tither according to the Bible.

Oh, I got you, McMillan. And pastors represent the new priests. And when you don't give them 10% of your income, you're robbing God. Oh boy. Coming in hot. Listen, pastors are never called priests in the Bible. And pastors are never tithed in the Bible. In fact, we only see the word pastor once in the epistles. And there are zero instructions to tithe them. And as for robbing God, according to the Bible, the only way you could do that is if you are stealing literal food from the Levites at the temple. And you're not doing that. The temple's gone. The Levitical priesthood was replaced with Jesus. And I'll get to that. But again, the tithe wasn't just meant to support the Levites. According to the Bible, it was meant to support the misfortunate, the fatherless, the husbandless, the wifeless, those who are traveling and don't have anything, and of course to celebrate during the Jewish festivals. All of this can be referenced in Deuteronomy 14, Deuteronomy 26, as well as Malachi chapter 3. So, as you can see, it is good to support people who need it. Even back then, but back then it was food, not cash. Christians are never commanded to do any of that in the Bible. That is okay.

Reason number three, tithing was part of the law of Moses. And Christians aren't under the law, but under grace. According to the 613 commandments in the law, there were actually multiple tithing commandments. Multiple, not just one. And here's the thing, each one of those tithing commandments were very specific about what to tithe, when to tithe, to whom to tithe to, and what the tithe was for. These tithing commandments, again, not voluntary, can all be found in Exodus 22, Leviticus 27, Numbers 18, Deuteronomy 14, and Deuteronomy 26. The Hebrews, the Jews, those who agreed to obey everything in the book of the law, they were under the old covenant in that covenant with God. They were required to do this. Required. And this is actually why Jesus pointed out the tithing requirements to the Jews in Matthew 23:23 and Luke 11:42. And we go to these passages and say, "No, Jesus commanded the tithe." No, he's talking to those who were under the tithing commandments because they weren't obeying all of the law, which is required, not just giving 10% of your dill, mint, and cumin. And notice when he said this, it wasn't directed at any Gentile, anyone who wasn't Hebrew. We weren't even allowed to obey the tithing commandments. We were not included in that covenant according to Ephesians 2:12. We were never under the law. And if you are under the law, you need to repent toward trusting Jesus. If you were under law, because you're not anymore. If you're a Hebrew by lineage, the whole book of Hebrews is directed at you. Repent. Trust Christ. The Messiah has come. We're not waiting on another Messiah. And you have no way to be forgiven because the temple's gone. So, you are in your sin right now. You know, quick sidebar here. This is why they want the third temple to be built over there. First temple was built by Solomon. It was destroyed by the Babylonians. Second temple was built and it was destroyed during Jesus's time by the Romans. They have no way to receive forgiveness because they know without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. And they have no way to do that because the temple's gone. Trust in the once-for-all bloodshed of Jesus.

Oh, I got you again, McMillan. If the old covenant required them to tithe, then we should be given even more according to the new covenant. Well, That would mean that the new covenant is more stringent than the old covenant, the ministry of death and condemnation. That's what Paul calls it. 2 Corinthians chapter 3. So grace is more stringent than that. Jesus said he has come to give you rest. Jesus said his yoke is easy. His burden is light. Wrong again, McMillan. Jesus said, "Give to God what's God's and give to Caesar what's Caesar's." Okay. Yes, he did say that, but he doesn't say tithe. Now, I think he is talking about the tithe, but it doesn't say tithe. And again, that's directed at the Jews under the law. They were trying to trap him and he got them good. Gentiles were not included. So when he said, "Give to God what's God's." That's the tithe. You're not included. And give to Caesar what's Caesar's. Now, let me ask you this. Why aren't you giving to Caesar what belongs to Caesar? [Music] Boom. Head explodes. This does not compute. This does not compute. No disassembled. No. They can't grasp. They don't understand it. They can't get it because of proof texting. Because of man-made tradition. You start talking about these passages in the most authentic context possible, you're going to get super angry or super free. Don't run from his words. Look, Caesar is not in power any longer. The law is not in power any longer. Why not? Jesus. Because of Jesus. Not one time in any New Testament letter are we instructed to tithe. And that's the part of the Bible which is directed at people who've trusted him. Don't you, this is huge. Don't you think that if the eklesia was supposed to follow parts of the law, including the tithing part, we would see it? We would see it littered all throughout the epistles, but it's not there. Instead, here's what we see. "Sin will no longer be your master because you're not under the law. You're under grace." Romans 6:14. Here's what else we see. "If you are led by the spirit," that's the Holy Spirit in context, "you're not under the law." So, you got to pick one. That's Galatians 5:18. Oh, get this one. Galatians 3:12 says, "The law is not of faith." H that means if you're looking to the law, you're not believing God because the law is a shadow pointing to his son who is the substance. 1 Timothy 1:9 says, "The law is not for the righteous." Oh my gosh. The law is not for the righteous. You're righteous. Oh, there's not one righteous McMillan. Well, yeah, if you're following the law. Come on. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says you're righteous. Jesus traded your sin for his righteousness. You have it. And it's not just as if. It's literal. This is why tithing was part of the law. And Christians are not under the law but under grace. That's how we give. Grace, we give gracefully. Paul told the Colossians, "In the same way you were saved, walk in it." How were you saved? He tells the Ephesians, "By grace." Therefore, grace is the source of how you operate. It's not just for the really bad stuff. It is Jesus. It is your life. It is how you walk, how you live, how you move, how you breathe. So why are we going to compartmentalize tithing? Oh, but grace is over there. No, you get rid of the tithe. It's not a faith. And then just give gracefully. [Music]

Okay. Reason number four. We are never commanded to tithe in the epistles. Instead, we're encouraged to give. So many financial errors in the box church could be rectified if they would simply replace the word tithe with give. And there are some churches out there who do that. That's good. But there's still a bunch of other stuff that they're they're stuck in lots of tradition of men with. But they've they've changed the tithe to give. That's good because you have to remember the tithe is not voluntary. It's a commandment. It's multiple commandments. Giving, however, is voluntary. Therefore, it can be and here it is. Therefore, it can be done in faith. Giving can be done in faith. Tithing cannot. In the epistles again, which is where believers in Christ are addressed, where the new covenant has come into place, we see giving, not tithing. Giving. And it also doesn't have to be money. It could be your time, your talents, could be finances, could be food. Generosity is part of the body of Christ expressing itself to the world. We are generous. The tithe is not going to make you generous. I'll get to what the tithe does here in just a moment. You know, when you first start to let others know about this truth, about giving rather than tithing, one of the first accusations you'll get is that you want to be greedy. But we don't. We are naturally giving people. Giving is addressed in the New Testament. Okay? Not tithing, but giving. That's where we have to repent in our mindset as the body of Christ. You got to delete the tithe mindset and then just look to the giving passages. Here's what Paul said about giving. Paul told the Corinthians how to help others out. And here it is. And notice he says nothing about tithing. Okay? Okay. And this is from 2 Corinthians 9:7. "Give freely from the heart, not under pressure and not under compulsion." Now he said give, not tithe. Freely. Freely means there's no requirement. Most Christians don't tithe anyway. And those who think they are are not giving the full air quotes 10%. So nobody is obeying the box church's tithing requirements anyway. That pressure is not working. So why not just give instead and just do it freely like scripture says. And notice Paul also says something huge. He says, "Give from the heart." From the heart. Now, for those box churches that tell you, "You have a sinful, wicked, and deceitful heart." How are you going to give from such a thing? You could probably tithe from that location. But you don't have that. Your old heart has been replaced with a new heart. Did a full Walk Talk on that. Just search, "Do Christians have a deceitful heart?" The next time if your pastor does preach that way that about you having a wicked, sinful, deceitful heart, the next time he preaches a sermon on how bad your heart is and then the plate gets passed at the end, just raise your hand and say, "Pastor, I'm not tithing today because I have a sinful heart. I wouldn't want to give from such a thing." See what he says. You will be shown to the door. How dare you interrupt service? And the reality is, you have a good heart. Your heart's good. You have a new heart. This was prophesied about in Ezekiel 36:26. Romans 6:17 says, "You have become obedient from the heart." It is unbelievers who have a wicked, sinful, deceitful heart, not you. So you can trust your heart and you can give from the heart.

In 2 Corinthians 9:7, Paul also says, "Do not give under pressure." Pressure would be, "Don't you dare rob God. Will a man rob God. You're just setting yourself up for financial ruin." Pressure. You're going to be cursed if you don't tithe. Pressure. But here we see 2 Corinthians 9:7. "Don't give under pressure." Somebody's pressuring you, don't give. According to the Bible, you have to come to the realization that you don't have to give anything. You don't have to. You have to deal with that statement as well. That's freedom. But yet at the same time, you can give everything if you wanted to. If that's between you and God, there's no number. There's no number. Once there's a number, your freedom is gone. And so is pressure-free giving. And lastly, notice that Paul said, "Don't give under compulsion." So, what's compulsion? Here's what compulsion would be, and we've all fallen into this trap, most of us, anyway. Compulsion would be the lights go dim, the screen drops down slowly, and then you see a tithing testimonial about how someone decided to sit down and write that check each week. And now they have financial blessings coming out of their ears. They don't know what to do with all of their blessings. And it's all because they decided to tithe. That's compulsion. Oh, I want that. I'm tithing above the 10% so I can get more than them. You're being honest. You've thought that. And that's what it's supposed to do. Get you to tithe compulsively. You just heard a really good salesman or excuse me, really good pastor and then the tithe drops down. Tithing testimonial drops down. Compulsion. We don't give that way. We do not have to enter the church lotto each week to see what we can get. Oh, I got to get my $5 in there or whatever. Cuz you ain't giving the full tithe anyway, are you? Oh, yes, I do. Are you? I give 10%. Hold on. The tithe is not 10%. It's 23.3%. Oh, that's what I give. Are you giving food? No. Okay, then you're not tithing. Look, God God never meant for your giving to be a way of getting an ROI. Your giving was meant to help the misfortunate. So if you are misfortunate, keep your money. Get back on your feet. Let us help you. And here's another huge thing. This is why tithing harms the poor. Those with a lower income, tithing harms them. For every positive tithing testimonial, there are easily a hundred that are not positive. Why aren't they being put up on the screen? They tithe to the penny, yet they can't hardly feed their kids or their grandkids who they're taking care of as they're working multiple jobs. Yet, they tithe and they're not getting financial blessings galore because that's not what the tithe was for or how God works. What's really sad is then the box church wants to turn this back around on them and say, "Oh, they just got that secret sin and that's why you're tithing ain't working. Secret sin. You need to repent." And on the flip side of that, for those who have plenty of money, tithing doesn't inconvenience them at all. It's a way for them to feel good about themselves and prove that they're living right. And this is biblical. We see this exact same thing happening in the story of the widow with two mites in Mark 12 in Luke 21. Yet the box church uses her as an example of tithing, but she did not tithe. She gave all she had, two mites, which equaled less than a fraction of a penny. So who was tithing? In the story of the widow's mite, the rich religious jerks who were cashing in on obeying the commandments and the law. This is exactly why Jesus said, "You can't serve both God and money." So, how are they doing this? How are they cashing in on following the commandments and law? And here it is. Most people, they just don't understand this because the box won't teach this. They were throwing in large sums of money into the temple treasury. Okay? The money was not the actual tithe. The tithe was food. Okay? So, here's how they got money out of it. According to Deuteronomy chapter 14, if you couldn't carry all of your excess tithe, your grain, spices, seeds, produce, cattle, you could sell it. Once you sold it, you could spend it on whatever you wanted to, including alcohol. Or you could take that cash and you could put it in the temple treasury. That's what was happening in this story. Those wealthy men were bragging on how much extra they had because they followed the commandments. Remember, it was a trade-off system back then with God. If you do this, I will bless you. But they still weren't believing God. They were the lost sheep of Israel. They were neglecting way tier matters of the law. Jesus said the tithe wasn't harming them at all, but it was harming the poor woman and she gave very little compared to them financially, but it was done in faith. So Jesus said, "She gave more." And and get this, this is what's super interesting that most people overlook. The tithe was meant to support her. She's a widow. But here we have these fat cats throwing their extra cash into the temple treasury saying, "Look at me." You know, quick sidebar here. I attended a church one time and pastor, the pastor brought the person up on stage who had just donated $100,000 because they got a million dollar bonus at work or sold something. I don't know, but brought him up on stage and said, "I just want to thank brother Mike or whoever it is for giving $100,000 and being a faithful tither." Still had $900,000 and you got somebody up on stage getting a pat on the back by pastor. Perfect example of the story of the widow's might because there was somebody in that audience who could not even afford to tithe and it was very little yet they still did thinking that it was biblical but it's not. This is exactly why tithing harms the poor. And for some, it is a way for them to justify themselves. That whole system is messed up. And here's why. Because it's not done in faith. Tithing cannot be done in faith because it is a matter of the law. Only giving can be done in faith, not tithing. Because tithing is an actual number. For this reason, we are never commanded to tithe in the epistles, but we are encouraged to give.

Okay. Reason number five why tithing is not for Christians. Abraham did not set a tithing principle. Christians don't live by principles but by a person from within. Christians don't live by principles. We got to talk about the principles issue. Christians don't live by principles. So saying that Abraham established a tithing principle and then saying Christians live by that principle, that is error according to scripture. Any world religion has principles. We have something so much better than principles, someone so much better. We have the spirit of Jesus Christ guiding us from within gracefully. In fact, Paul actually warned against becoming captive to principles in Colossians 2:8. And the reason why is principles can quickly become commandments if you're not careful. And Christians do not live carefully. We live freely. I know this is heavy. This is why he told the Corinthians that we have the ministry of the spirit. And I talked about this in one of my most recent Walk Talks. The ministry of the spirit, not principles, but the spirit. Capital S. And it is the spirit of Jesus Christ. In Romans 8, he calls the Holy Spirit the spirit of Christ. So if you want to know how the spirit interacts with you, just look at the life of Christ. Of course, he's still telling you that, but you can read the scriptures to back up what he's already telling you from the inside. It is from within he guides you. And he never does this with shame, guilt, or condemnation. And why not? Because he absorbed all of your shame, guilt, and condemnation in himself on the cross. So now he uses grace and goodness to guide you moment by moment, constantly convicting you of your righteousness, never convicting you of sin. If you read that scripture, it says the world will be convicted of sin. And if you continue, you will be convicted of your righteousness. You are not of this world. You have been taken out of this world supernaturally and placed into the spirit of Jesus Christ because you've trusted in him. So he is not using principles to teach you a thing but himself because he is written on you.

All right, let's get to Abraham. One of the most common rebuttals we get about how the eklesia is to give and not tithe is Abraham tithing Melchizedek in Genesis chapter 14 before the law was given. Therefore, establishing a tithing principle. It is a principle. It was before the law was given. We are to tithe according to the Abrahamic principle. No, it's not. You're just just none of that. You're spouting just jargon. In Genesis 14, it says nothing about a tithing principle. Supposed to do this by the book, right? Don't superimpose your man-made tradition onto Genesis 14 because it says nothing about a tithing principle. Again, we don't live by principles. We can become captive to principles and then those principles will replace the person capital P inside you. Okay, here are some main things to remember about Abraham's tithe to Melchizedek. And I think this will help clear up a lot. First of all, who was Melchizedek or MelchizDC, however you want to pronounce it. People say tomato, I say tomato or I say tomato, they say tomato. I say MelchizDC. Sometimes when I don't want to type out his name, I just say Mel. First of all, who was Melchizedek? Who was Mel? He was a king and a priest without lineage. Let me repeat this. Melchizedek was not only a king, but he was also a priest. And a priest is a representative of a god. Priest means representative of a god. Doesn't even mean Christian. There are pagan priests out there. Okay? So, he was a king and a priest without lineage. So a king he had power. Priest represented God without lineage. Who else did not have any lineage originally? Before Abraham was Jesus said I am. Okay. So he's very mysterious. He was a foreshadowing of Christ in Genesis. Some people even think he is Christ or was Christ is was however you want to say it. Tithing and this is it right here. Tithing back then was a method of honoring the other person or location. There was something very special about Melchizedek to Abraham. So he seen just how special he was. Something about this king and priest. He tithed him. Did Mel have a church? Nope. Was Mel a pastor? Nope. Was this 10% of Abraham's income given to Mel for the week? This is my income for the week. Here you go, Mel. Nope. Supposed to do it by the book. Come on. Go to the Bible. My B. What Bible you got? Oh, that's why. Read it. Don't just listen to what somebody's saying from stage or from your phone. He did not tithe Melchizedek his income. It wasn't to a church. MelchizDC wasn't a pastor. Nothing about a tithing principle. And here it is. You ready for this? Abraham's tithe was spoils of war. He had just gone to war, won. And then from that battle, the bounty, his booty, he took 10% of that and honored Melchizedek by tithing him what he had just taken. Right there, McMillan, I got you. He tithed. That's a principle for tithing before the law. Oh my gosh. Listen, I just talked about this. If you're still If you're still hung up on that because you just ignored everything I just said. If you still want to use Abraham as your tithing principle, you get to tithe once. Abraham only tithed once. Abraham was not a faithful tither setting a principle for the body of Christ. None of that. It's not there. Remove your emotionalism. Remove your pressure. Remove your compulsion. Teach people to give freely from the heart because that's what scripture tells us to do. His tithe was also voluntary. Wasn't a commandment. The tithe is a commandment. Multiple commands. Voluntary. Not a commandment. Once. Not weekly. Not from his income. Not to a person named pastor. Not to a church. There were no churches.

Oh, I got you again, McMillan. It wasn't just Abraham who tithed. Jacob tithes, too. Therefore, establishing another tithing principle. Oh my gosh. Listen, Jim. Okay. Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, he did tithe as well in Genesis chapter 28. Was it to a church? No. Sorry if your name's Jim. Juicy. Brother Jim, brother brother Bob and sister Sue. Okay, just get off and make no one. That's the flavor I experienced growing up. You know, it could be the other end of the spectrum. Oh yes, Abraham established a tithing principle and Jacob established a tithing principle before the law. Genesis 14, Genesis 28. All mood. Sit, stand, sit, stand, sit, stand. But here here's the thing. Here's the thing with Jacob. Jacob tithed whatever he had. Doesn't say what he tithed. And he tithed to honor a symbolic location named Bethel, which means house of God, which was a foreshadowing of where the Jewish temple would be built. The temple however was a shadow of the body of Christ. You and I believer because twice in first Corinthians we are called the temple. Twice in Hebrews we are called the house of God. This is a shadow. And why are you now the temple? Why are you now the house of God? Because the spirit of God now lives in you, Christian. He's watching this with you right now or listening to this with you right now. You are infused with him. 1 Corinthians 6:17 says, "You are one spirit with him." Oh, but I'm sinning, so he leaves. No, he does not. When you sin, you're forgiven. Oh, but I'm sin. I know. That's why the cross had to happen. Your sin would require Jesus to die again. Is he going to? No. So, he stays. So, you're going to have to turn from whatever that sinful struggle is for a much different reason rather than think he will leave you. Because now, because of Jesus, he will never leave you or forsake you. Even when you're faithless, he remains faithful because he cannot deny himself and himself is in you. Before the cross, it wasn't like that. He came and went all the time because the cross had not happened. When the cross happened, he dealt with the sin of the world. And now this ministry of reconciliation is pushed out onto the table to be accepted by grace through faith for anybody who will accept it. You have to accept it. You don't reach out and grab it and take it. You just say, "I believe. Thank you." That causes you to become permanently indwelt by the spirit of God. Jacob was not enjoying that. Abraham was not enjoying that. Nobody before the cross was enjoying that. You are. This is exactly why Paul said in the book of Acts that God does not dwell in temples built by human hands. So no principles are necessary for us and we don't go to the temple. His spirit guides you, leading you moment by moment, nudging you how to give, who to give to, and then he gives you freedom to choose the amount. And when you don't give, he still does not use condemnation on you. He understands how you feel, what you're going through, what you're afraid of. Trust him. He's still not going to work on a trade-off system because you kept it. Doesn't matter. Still going to use grace on you. He'll give you another opportunity later. Don't think he's using shame or guilt cuz he doesn't. The box church does. Man-made traditional error does. He uses freedom. No tithing principle. No requirement, no commandment, just freely from the heart. Not under pressure, not under compulsion.

Okay. Reason number six why tithing is not for Christians. This is going to be a really good one here because if you never heard about this one, this is going to blow your mind. So reason number six, Hebrews 7 is not commanding Christians to tithe, but Jesus being shown as greater than the Levites. Another rebuttal you'll get about Abraham's tithe is that there is mention of him tithing Melchizedek in Hebrews 7. We just talked about that. And Hebrews is one of the epistles. Okay, that's true. But there's no part of Hebrews 7 which commands you to tithe. The word tithe is used, but there's no context for you tithing anybody. Instead, the author is explaining to the Hebrews, hence the name of the letter, that Jesus is superior to the Levites because Abraham tithed Melchizedek. And the Levites were in the reproductive organs of Abraham. There's no other way to say that. Where were the Levites when Abraham tithed Melchizedek? [Music] In his scrotum. Okay, that's still pretty PG. So, according to the author of Hebrews, because Abraham honored Melchizedek, remember tithing was a method of honoring because Abraham tithed Melchizedek. Therefore, honoring him by giving him the tithe and because Mel here it is. And because Melchizedek is a foreshadowing of Jesus, a king and a priest who lives forever, Jesus is therefore greater than the Levites. I know that's a lot to absorb. Read all of Hebrews chapter 7. It will make sense. So he's saying therefore Jesus is greater than the than the Levitical system. The the bloody sacrificial system that was happening at the temple. The once-for-all bloody event on the cross is greater than the ongoing blood sacrifices at the temple through the Levitical priests. Because Abraham tied Melchizedek. The Levites were in Abraham at that time. And Melchizedek is a picture of Christ. Think about it. What did the Levites do? Presented animal blood at the temple for ongoing purification, sanctification, cleansing, and forgiveness. All those things are almost exactly the same. But what did Jesus do? Jesus, what did Jesus do compared to them? He presented his own blood in the real temple in heaven for once for all purification, sanctification, cleansing, and forgiveness. Your absolute perfection. We see all this spelled out in Hebrews chapter 9 and 10. Therefore, Jesus is greater than the Levites. Nothing about you commanded being commanded to tithe. Not only that, the Levites were only priests. I'm going to repeat that. The Levites were only priests. They didn't give sermons. They didn't do nothing like what you think a pastor does today or what the man-made position of priest is today. According to Catholicism and other religions, only priests, not a king. The Levites were priests, not kings. Jesus is a king. [Music] And quick sidebar here, and I just mentioned this, the Levitical priests were nothing like Catholic priests. When you see that word priest in the Bible, it is not describing father so and so. It is man-made tradition which makes a person think that because the word priest in the Bible is nothing like what we see in Catholicism. And there are many lovely people who practice Catholicism but it is steeped in egregious error. I've done full Walk Talks on that. Just search Catholicism on my YouTube channel or podcast. But again, Jesus was not only a priest, but he was also a king. And here's another thing. And he will live forever. Therefore, he will never need to offer his own blood again. By one offering he has sanctified you completely. On the other hand, the Levitical priests, they had to offer blood for their own sins before they could offer blood for the people. Jesus didn't have to do that because he never sinned, even though he was tempted in every way. And not only that, Jesus will always remain in office, so to speak, because he will always live. The Levitical priest, they didn't. They had to be replaced in office because all of them eventually died. Just read all of Hebrews chapter 7 for the full context. So the truth is by Abraham tithing Melchizedek, the author is saying that the work Jesus has done is superior to the ongoing bloody temple work of the Levites. Those are now called dead works, which is any works that is not done of faith. According to Hebrews 7, the Jews needed to repent from trusting the priests and their Judeaic system toward the king and priest, the Messiah, the lion from the tribe of Judah, Jesus.

Reason number seven why tithing is not for Christians. Christians don't test God by tithing our income. The Jews tested God by tithing food. Oh, I got you, McMillan. This is the only part of the Bible where God says the testim God and see if he doesn't open up the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessings you can't handle them all. I'm living proof. Are you saying he didn't bless me because I tithed? Oh my gosh. Pump your brakes, Bobby. Sorry if your name's Bobby. All right. So, first of all, notice that's how they come in. They're living proof. I He He tested God. And now he's got a bunch of stuff. Are you saying he didn't get stuff cuz he did tithe? All right. Yeah. First of all, yes, I am saying that God did not bless you for giving 10% of your income to anyone. I am saying that 100% saying that he did not bless you because you did that. His blessings can't be bought. [Music] How do you explain me getting more money? Well, maybe because of the decisions you made, new opportunities, better choices. Look, God can help you with new opportunities. Sure, he can give you wisdom on how to manage finances. Absolutely. He can send new people into your life and remove people as well who are harming you financially, which can drastically improve your situation. But he is not doing that because you think you tithed. Everything he gives to you, he gives because he loves you. He does not work on a trade-off system like he did in the old covenant. Like he did in the old covenant. They were allowed to test God. Do it and God will give you stuff. This is why Paul told the Ephesians, "We have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ." To the Ephesians, on this side of the cross, according to the law, yes, as a Hebrew, you could test God. That was the deal he set up with them and they all failed miserably. So, they were in exile, and slavery. If you do this, I will bless you. I set before you life and death. Choose life. Follow the commandments. I will give you great health and wealth and expand your geographic territory. Doesn't work like that on this side of the cross because of Jesus. We've got something better. We've got grace. The law is not based on grace. The new covenant is. So if the Hebrews would stop stealing food from the storehouse, he would open up the floodgates of heaven clouds to send blessing rain. The rain would take care of their crops, take care of their cattle. [Music] Here's another huge thing. Not only were they not tithing in Malachi, but they were going into So they were withholding the tithe, not giving, but they were going into the storehouse and stealing. Therefore, there was not enough food for the Levites, widows, orphans, and travelers to eat. And if you think that you are blessed financially because you tithe, air quotes, look, if you hear a man tell you every week that if you tithe him that you'll get more money and that you're testing God, when you do get some money, you'll think that's why you got it. But according to the Bible, that's not how you receive anything from God. You did not test God by giving a man money. That man is not God. Will a man rob God? You're not God. He's a man just like me, just like you at the top of a man-made hierarchical system, which is unbiblical. This is why Christians don't test God by tithing money. The Jews did according to the law by tithing food and in return God would send rain. They were worried they wouldn't have enough to eat. And God said, "Test me and I'll open up the clouds and I'll send you plenty of H2O cuz I am God and I can do that." Floodgates of heaven is not you getting a raise at work or a second home in 3A. You didn't get that because you tithed because you didn't tithe. You are involved in a Ponzi scheme with a Christian cap on it. But because of the trade-off system according to the old covenant, the Jews were allowed to test God by tithing food to get more food in return. Test him according to the law. They were allowed to do that. Test God according to the law. Remember, he's going to do the stuff if you do the stuff. Test me. See if I

won't do what I say I'm going to do, according to the law. However, on this side of the cross, in Acts chapter 15, we are instructed to not test God according to the law. In fact, two chapters later, in Acts 17, scripture says that God does not need anything. It is He who gives us life and breath and everything else. He is God.

Not only that, if this is how God works, why don't the box churches just tithe one another and then keep getting a bunch of money back from one another to where they can't even contain all of it? Okay, so reason number eight why tithing is not for Christians. If churches are relying on the tithe to be supported, they are relying on a curse.

Some, some of the other common attacks you'll get when you begin to understand the truth about the tithe is, "Are you saying we shouldn't support churches? How will they pay their bills? Are you saying we shouldn't pay a pastor? He's got a family, too. You're so greedy." Here we go. Accusations. Accusations. Accusations. Where's that come from again? Christians are not greedy. Natural givers here. We've got the giver within us and we want to give. So when the accusations come flying, just ignore them. You want to give, my friend. You are not greedy. Being generous is infused in everything that you are.

But as far as accusing us of not wanting to support churches, or that the bills won't be paid, or that a pastor won't get a salary, well, none of that can be supported with the tithe biblically. We're supposed to do this by the book. Biblically, there's not a single instruction to support any of that with the tithe. You would have to superimpose man-made tradition onto the scriptures to come up with that. And we are not saying don't help out. That's that's not what we're saying. We are saying there are zero passages about the tithe supporting any part of the body of Christ. So, we want to be very careful about establishing something that is not in the Bible and then attempting to use the Bible to support it.

In fact, if you are relying on the tithe to support something or someone, according to the Bible, you're relying on a curse. Paul told the Galatians in Galatians chapter 3, "All who rely on the law are under a curse." All who rely on the law are under a curse. And of course, you're not under a curse if you're a Christian, but you're living as if you are because tithing is part of the law, part of the 613 commandments in the book of the law. And Paul said, 'If you're going to obey the law, you have to do it all. You break one commandment, you've broken them all.' So, you have to turn toward the spirit. And the spirit will influence you to give gracefully, not with the tithe.

Shaming and pressuring people to give 10% of their income and then saying it's biblical is not working anyway. You know, if this was actually true that if you gave 10% of your income, you were guaranteed money back, our churches would be football stadiums. Everybody would go because it'd be better than going to the boat, gambling. If it's guaranteed, what we need to do is what scripture tells us to do. Let your requests be made known. Let God know. This is what I need. He knows anyway. He just wants you to rely on Him and talk to Him about it. Be grateful for what you already have. Let people know what your needs are if you're in need. Let people know that you can help them out if you want to help them out, or just help them out without even telling them. This is trusting the spirit of Christ to work through you. This is trusting the hands and feet of the eklesia to meet the needs of the body. We don't need to go back into the Judeaic scriptures and say you'll be financially blessed back. That's relying on a curse.

You know, Paul told the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians chapter 16 to put aside money from what they had prospered. And it was in order to help out. And do you see that? If you've got extra, we sure could use your help as we travel to tell people about Jesus and as we helped out the misfortunate along the way. Nothing about tithing. Nothing about getting a financial return on your investment. Just, "Would you help us?" Wrong. McMillan. Paul preached the tithe. He said that he had to rob other churches because of their greed. Well, in 2 Corinthians chapter 11, when he said he had to rob other churches, he said nothing about tithing. That's not there. And remember, Paul is the one who told the Galatians that if they are relying on the law, they're relying on a curse. The context of what he said about robbing other churches in 2 Corinthians 11 is Paul speaking strongly against the Corinthians refusing to help out in his travels. Yet, he still says nothing about tithing.

The other groups of the eklesia in other regions, such as Macedonia, whom he was thankful for their support. He felt like he was robbing them because he had to take even more from them for his journey. Yet these Corinthians weren't helping out. Notice he says nothing about not getting financially blessed by God. He's just saying, "I need help. Help me, please." And we see that referenced in Philippians 4 about the churches who actually did support him. And churches, when I say churches, I'm not talking about a box church, but a group of Christians. Paul didn't preach the gospel for pay. He worked with his hands and he made tents at times, doing whatever he could to not take funds from people because he didn't want that to be a hindrance to the message about Jesus he was bringing to them. This is referenced in Acts chapter 20 and 1 Thessalonians chapter 4.

There were, however, and this is huge, there were Judaizers going behind him, charging people for the message about Jesus and still mixing in Moses. We see this in the exact same letter in 2 Corinthians. Look, supporting people who were traveling to tell others about Jesus, that's good. That's biblical. 1 Corinthians 9 tells us so. It is good to help others. It is good to help the misfortunate. It is good for those who are traveling to tell people about Jesus. But this is not tithing. This is not to anyone named pastor at a church in the Bible. Paul, in the same chapter, said he worked and didn't even use this right because he said he had the right to be supported as he traveled. Notice he didn't say a commandment or a tithe. Yet countless people who have the man-made title of pastor say they have the right to be supported by the tithe. But that's not in the Bible.

And somebody might say, "Well, what about giving your first fruits?" That's biblical, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. Giving your first fruits, that's biblical in the Old Covenant. And it is literal fruit. Remember, tithing was food. Fruit is what they gave. And what's super interesting is on this side of the cross, in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, we see that Christ is our first fruit. Why? Because He gave His life. Oh, this is wrong, McMillan. They use fruit as money back then. It was their currency. No. No, they didn't. They had currency. They had money, and it wasn't fruit. It's about fruit. First fruit. Talking about fruit.

Okay, reason number nine why tithing is not for Christians. Christians were never instructed to tithe. Instead, this began through the errors of the early church fathers. So from the beginning of the body of Christ being formed, a group of men we've named church fathers, heavy on the air quotes, because Jesus said, "Call no man father." They began to mess things up pretty badly. And I got to be clear, you can call your earthly father or whoever you see as your dad. But as far as calling a man father as in a spiritual father, Jesus said, "Don't do that. You do not have spiritual fathers." Yeah. What do we do? We do just that. Father so-and-so. But these men were steeped in egregious error. And if they weren't in error, they would have had their letters in the canon of scripture. But they were left out. And why is that? Because they were not preaching the most authentic gospel, the only gospel, the gospel of grace. Old does not equal true. People think because they are church fathers, and really they're not church fathers, they're just people from the first century, that they've got it right. But they didn't. Who had it right? Those who have letters in the canon. You know, it's here's how you know if something's true. It's true if it's based on the gospel. If old equal truth, then Judaism is true. Because Judaism is a lot older than Christianity and a lot older than the church fathers. The church fathers. Oh yes. Judaism says Christ is not the Messiah. Judaism. Judaism is 3,500 years old.

Now, here's the thing in regard to the tithe and the church fathers. One of those men who struggled with tons of error, his his name is, his name was Cyprian. I guess it still is, but he's dead. Cyprian of Carthage. Cyprian of Carthage was a former Greek philosopher, a sophist, who is an orator who gave sermons for pay. He became a Christian, supposedly. Now, whether he was or not, that's not for me to determine, but Cyprian of Carthage, a former Greek philosopher turned into a Christian, or became a Christian, believed, trusted Jesus. So he was an excellent orator, excellent speaker. People who can speak eloquently, just because they're speaking eloquently does not mean they're speaking the truth of the gospel. Without going too deep into all of his errors, one of those errors was going back into the Judeaic scriptures, pulling out the tithing requirements for the Jews, turning that into money, and then saying, "This is how you support the church." Error, error upon error upon error.

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Now, the reason why this spread so quickly is because right after that, the Roman Emperor Constantine became a Christian. And because he was Roman, he was a Greek, he loved listening to philosophers. That's what the Greeks do. They were obsessed with knowledge. So you have Cyprian of Carthage, a former Greek philosopher, also known as a sophist, where we get the word sophisticated. He was teaching error about tithing. Constantine believed it. Constantine is in power. Therefore, tithing became commonplace. Again, Constantine was the most powerful man on the planet. So, this became super popular. And then by the medieval times, in the seventh and eighth century, the tithe actually became an actual tax on your land legally, according to the land. You had to tithe. Then again, as time went on, it was no longer a tax. It was no no longer a law of the land, but instead it became a church law where you would be guilted and pressured and shamed into tithing pastor or tithe in the church. And then as time went on even further, the tithe became a way for you to be blessed. It turned into a business, a return on your investment. That's what we see today.

If you want to go deeper into the error of the early church fathers and a lot of the early church stuff, period, why we see what we see today based on the tradition of men, read the book called "Pagan Christianity" by George Barna and Frank Viola. It's an excellent book. Also check out the book called "A Church Building Every Half Mile" by John Zins.

All right, reason number 10, last one, why tithing is not for Christians. Tithing is not an act of obedience, worship, or heart posture. All of that is man-made church jargon, and it's nowhere to be found in the Bible. But tithing is not an act of obedience. It's not an act of worship. And it's not displaying your heart posture. For us, we don't have acts of obedience. We are not acting. God isn't interested in actors. For us, Paul told the Romans that we have become obedient from the heart. It's natural for you to be obedient to God. And tithing is not an act of obedience. It is an act of following a commandment in the law. And the law is not of faith.

For us also, we don't worship by following any tithing commandments. We do not worship by following tithing commandments. These are not acts of obedience by following tithing commandments. We worship in spirit and truth at all times because the spirit of truth lives in us. Our very lives are worship. Our very lives are obedient because we have committed the obedience of faith. And not only that, worship is not a compartmentalized event. It's not something that you do for 20 minutes on a Sunday or when you're driving home after work as you're listening to the radio. Worship, that that is an expression of worship. But worship is what you walk out moment by moment as you trust God and be yourself. You are a living sacrifice of worship just by being you.

Also for us, we don't have a heart posture as if our heart is changing based on the tithe or based on anything that we do. No, we live from the heart. We give from the heart. And that's biblical. Giving from the heart is biblical. This is also how we express Christ to the world. And this is why we do not tithe, we give. Because we are giving people.

Imagine for a moment if you had a young child, maybe 12, 13, 14, 15 years old, somewhere around that age. They walked up to you and they said, "Can I have $50 to go to the mall with my friends?" Now, imagine if you said to your child, "Sure, but you need to bring me back $5, or else you're not getting dinner. Don't you dare rob me." But you don't just stop there. You continue. "And if you do bring me back $5, you'll be taking a chance on not only getting dinner, but I might take you out for ice cream after dinner. Test me. Bring me back $5." No. You wouldn't say that because you're a good parent and you give because you love your child.

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God is a good parent, too. Everything He gives to you, He's not asking for anything in return. And He'll still give you more because He loves you with such grace that you cannot even fathom it in your human mind. It is exceedingly abundantly above and beyond anything you could ever ask for, think about, or imagine. That very same God lives in you. So when it comes to giving, just be yourself, trust Him, and you can't go wrong.

All right, guys. So, I hope this has encouraged you today. I hope it's brought to light some truth. And you should always tell the truth about yourself. What's the truth? You're righteous. You're holy. You're blameless. You're a new creation. You're a child of God. There's nothing wrong with you. And you are awesome. Always tell the truth about yourself. Always be yourself. Love y'all. Bye.