14. We are children with an inheritance, not servants earning wages

Another area in which tithing contradicts New Covenant principles is in the truth that we are Sons of God with an inheritance, not servants earning wages.


The inheritance was originally given to Abraham in a promise, independent of any works, because of the covenant that God had made with him (Gal 3:15-18). This promise came by faith so that it might be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s children (Rom 4:16).


Abraham was blessed simply because God had promised to bless him. And Abraham’s blessing originally promised in Genesis 12:2-3 certainly included material blessings. His son Isaac and grandson Jacob were in that same line and couldn’t fail to be blessed! – not because of anything they did to earn or deserve it, but because of God’s promise to Abraham (Gen 26:1-5, 24). It is the same for us today - God blesses us solely because through faith we are in that same line of inheritance. In Christ, we are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise (Gal 3:9, 29).


We are heirs simply because we are sons (Gal 4:7, Rom 8:17) – because of the relationship we have entered into with God our Father through faith in Christ, not because of anything we have done or will do (Gal 3:14). As long as we have Christ, we have everything (Rom 8:32) - HE is our righteousness as well as our great reward (Gen 15:1)!


The Church seems to be making the same mistake as the Prodigal son’s elder brother, who did not seem to realise that everything his father had was his, and that he could access it at any moment he chose to (Luke 15:31). The world and all that is in it already belongs to us (1 Cor 3:22) - Jesus has given us access to it through his death on the cross - and we don’t have to earn or pay for our inheritance any more than a flesh-and-blood child has to pay for their natural inheritance. No matter how much money we put in an offering bag, he can’t give us any more than we already have – the whole of creation!


As children of God our Father, our needs are met by His grace ... simply because of the finished work of Jesus Christ which opened the door for us to become adopted into the family of God. We can expect to be clothed, housed and fed simply because we are sons and heirs of God. This is the principle that Jesus was teaching in Matthew chapter six when He said: Matt 6:25-26 “Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?”

(Gary Carpenter - Distinguishing Provision from Stewardship http://www.garycarpenter.org/KST2.html )


Conversely, if we really believed that we had the rights to all things, then we wouldn’t be afraid to give any amount, either. Abraham is also our example in this. People focus on his giving 10%, but in fact he didn’t just give 10% - he gave 100% (Gen 14:21-24). Even though he was living in Old Testament times, he completely trusted God to be Jehovah Jireh, his provider (Gen 22:14).


The problem with tithing is not the percentage; it’s the spiritual perspective that causes people to think, to believe, and to act inconsistently with the truth of what God has done through Christ and their relationship to him as a son.

(Matthew Narramore – Tithing: Low-Realm, Obsolete and Defunct p 70)


Few of us really trust God the same way our sons and daughters trust us as parents … Why do we even believe that we have to "sow" for ourselves personally? That thought never crosses my little boys’ mind. He never thinks about that … We get bound up in "works" trying to earn the blessings of God, and the work of the cross goes right out the window. When we get to the point of trying to "do" so that God will respond or bless us, we are already defeated. We just don’t know it. … Remember, we are members of the Family. Not "a family", but "The Family" … Grab hold on the fact that it is God who supplies all of our needs according to His riches (not according to your giving) in glory by Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:19) …


Do your children ever come and try to "give" you something so that you will let them eat at your supper table? No? Why not? Because they belong to your family. Simple. But, how would you feel if little Johnny came up to you and said, "Mommy, here’s a quarter, can I have a glass of milk, my stomach’s hungry?" Probably break your heart huh? We do that to God everyday, and it breaks His heart. Why not just accept His love, and accept His grace, and accept the work of the cross by faith?

(Russ Gressett - A New Look at Sowing, Reaping, Giving and Receiving http://www.garycarpenter.org/Russ2.html )


God has a sabbath-rest available for every believer (Hebrews 4:1-11, cf Matthew 11:28-30). As God’s physical work in creating the world was finished and he rested on the 7th day, so his spiritual work in redeeming us and bringing our rightful inheritance back to us was finished at the cross. We need to enter this Sabbath-rest for every area of our lives, including the financial area. We can now rest in that knowledge (Heb 4:10) and cease from our striving to ‘earn’ any part of our own inheritance by our own works.


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© Julie Groves (2010), P O Box 1626, Shek Wu Hui, Hong Kong