Luke 14:25-35: 25Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, 26“If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. 27Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 28For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? 29Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, 30saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.
34Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? 35It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
The Israelites (eleven tribes) paid tithes to the Levites for their service in keeping the Tabernacle and later the Temple. The Tribe of Levi was not given a large portion of the Promised land like all the other tribes. Instead of a territory they received forty-eight cities scattered throughout Canaan and a small allotment of land surrounding each city for cultivating. Furthermore, their duty was an obligation forbidden to members of all other Hebrew tribes.
Numbers 18:21-24: 21To 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. 22The sons of Israel shall not come near the tent of meeting again, or they will bear sin and die. 23Only the Levites shall perform the service of the tent of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity; it shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, and among the sons of Israel they shall have no inheritance. 24For the tithe of the sons of Israel, which they offer as an offering to the Lord, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance; therefore I have said concerning them, “They shall have no inheritance among the sons of Israel.”
Numbers 18:26-32: 26Moreover, you shall speak to the Levites and say to them, “When you take from the sons of Israel the tithe which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall present an offering from it to the Lord, a tithe of the tithe. 27Your offering shall be reckoned to you as the grain from the threshing floor or the full produce from the wine vat. 28So you shall also present an offering to the Lord from your tithes, which you receive from the sons of Israel; and from it you shall give the Lord’S offering to Aaron the priest. 29Out of all your gifts you shall present every offering due to the Lord, from all the best of them, the sacred part from them.” 30You shall say to them, “When you have offered from it the best of it, then the rest shall be reckoned to the Levites as the product of the threshing floor, and as the product of the wine vat. 31You may eat it anywhere, you and your households, for it is your compensation in return for your service in the tent of meeting. 32You will bear no sin by reason of it when you have offered the best of it. But you shall not profane the sacred gifts of the sons of Israel, or you will die.”
Leviticus 7: 1‘Now this is the law of the guilt offering; it is most holy. 2In the place where they slay the burnt offering they are to slay the guilt offering, and he shall sprinkle its blood around on the altar. 3Then he shall offer from it all its fat: the fat tail and the fat that covers the entrails, 4and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them, which is on the loins, and the lobe on the liver he shall remove with the kidneys. 5The priest shall offer them up in smoke on the altar as an offering by fire to the Lord; it is a guilt offering. 6Every male among the priests may eat of it. It shall be eaten in a holy place; it is most holy. 7The guilt offering is like the sin offering, there is one law for them; the priest who makes atonement with it shall have it. 8Also the priest who presents any man’s burnt offering, that priest shall have for himself the skin of the burnt offering which he has presented. 9Likewise, every grain offering that is baked in the oven and everything prepared in a pan or on a griddle shall belong to the priest who presents it. 10Every grain offering, mixed with oil or dry, shall belong to all the sons of Aaron, to all alike.
11Now this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings which shall be presented to the Lord. 12If he offers it by way of thanksgiving, then along with the sacrifice of thanksgiving he shall offer unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil, and cakes of well stirred fine flour mixed with oil. 13With the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving, he shall present his offering with cakes of leavened bread. 14Of this he shall present one of every offering as a contribution to the Lord; it shall belong to the priest who sprinkles the blood of the peace offerings. 15Now as for the flesh of the sacrifice of his thanksgiving peace offerings, it shall be eaten on the day of his offering; he shall not leave any of it over until morning. 16But if the sacrifice of his offering is a votive or a freewill offering, it shall be eaten on the day that he offers his sacrifice, and on the next day what is left of it may be eaten; 17but what is left over from the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burned with fire. 18So if any of the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings should ever be eaten on the third day, he who offers it will not be accepted, and it will not be reckoned to his benefit. It shall be an offensive thing, and the person who eats of it will bear his own iniquity.
19Also the flesh that touches anything unclean shall not be eaten; it shall be burned with fire. As for other flesh, anyone who is clean may eat such flesh. 20But the person who eats the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings which belong to the Lord, in his uncleanness, that person shall be cut off from his people. 21When anyone touches anything unclean, whether human uncleanness, or an unclean animal, or any unclean detestable thing, and eats of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings which belong to the Lord, that person shall be cut off from his people.’
22Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 23“Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘You shall not eat any fat from an ox, a sheep or a goat. 24Also the fat of an animal which dies and the fat of an animal torn by beasts may be put to any other use, but you must certainly not eat it. 25For whoever eats the fat of the animal from which an offering by fire is offered to the Lord, even the person who eats shall be cut off from his people. 26You are not to eat any blood, either of bird or animal, in any of your dwellings. 27Any person who eats any blood, even that person shall be cut off from his people.’”
28Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 29“Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘He who offers the sacrifice of his peace offerings to the Lord shall bring his offering to the Lord from the sacrifice of his peace offerings. 30His own hands are to bring offerings by fire to the Lord. He shall bring the fat with the breast, that the breast may be presented as a wave offering before the Lord. 31The priest shall offer up the fat in smoke on the altar, but the breast shall belong to Aaron and his sons. 32You shall give the right thigh to the priest as a contribution from the sacrifices of your peace offerings. 33The one among the sons of Aaron who offers the blood of the peace offerings and the fat, the right thigh shall be his as his portion. 34For I have taken the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the contribution from the sons of Israel from the sacrifices of their peace offerings, and have given them to Aaron the priest and to his sons as their due forever from the sons of Israel. 35This is that which is consecrated to Aaron and that which is consecrated to his sons from the offerings by fire to the Lord, in that day when he presented them to serve as priests to the Lord. 36These the Lord had commanded to be given them from the sons of Israel in the day that He anointed them. It is their due forever throughout their generations.’”
37This is the law of the burnt offering, the grain offering and the sin offering and the guilt offering and the ordination offering and the sacrifice of peace offerings, 38which the Lord commanded Moses at Mount Sinai in the day that He commanded the sons of Israel to present their offerings to the Lord in the wilderness of Sinai.
Leviticus, chapters one through seven, provides a fuller understanding of the priests’ functions on a day-in, day-out; basis, an unglamorous job.
Numbers 18:1-7: 1So the Lord said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your father’s household with you shall bear the guilt in connection with the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you shall bear the guilt in connection with your priesthood. 2But bring with you also your brothers, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may be joined with you and serve you, while you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony. 3And they shall thus attend to your obligation and the obligation of all the tent, but they shall not come near to the furnishings of the sanctuary and the altar, or both they and you will die. 4They shall be joined with you and attend to the obligations of the tent of meeting, for all the service of the tent; but an outsider may not come near you. 5So you shall attend to the obligations of the sanctuary and the obligations of the altar, so that there will no longer be wrath on the sons of Israel. 6Behold, I Myself have taken your fellow Levites from among the sons of Israel; they are a gift to you, dedicated to the Lord, to perform the service for the tent of meeting. 7But you and your sons with you shall attend to your priesthood for everything concerning the altar and inside the veil, and you are to perform service. I am giving you the priesthood as a bestowed service, but the outsider who comes near shall be put to death.”
We found this–the single largest description of tithing found in the Bible–particularly interesting.
Deuteronomy 14:22-29: 22You shall surely tithe all the produce from what you sow, which comes out of the field every year. 23You 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 firstborn of your herd and your flock, so that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always. 34If the distance is so great for you that you are not able to bring the tithe, since the place where the Lord your God chooses to set His name is too far away from you when the Lord your God blesses you, 35then you shall exchange it for money, and bind the money in your hand and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses. 26You may spend the money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen, or sheep, or wine, or strong drink, or whatever your heart desires; and there you shall eat in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household. 27Also you shall not neglect the Levite who is in your town, for he has no portion or inheritance among you. 28At 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. 29The 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.
Jesus eliminates the need for a priestly caste by virtue of His atoning death and resurrection. Jesus’ death on the cross, the final sacrifice and offering, renders unnecessary further sacrifice or offering for sin. Additionally, the Levites’ tasks were also eclipsed when the focus of God’s glory-presence moved from the Temple in Jerusalem into the hearts of His saints and the midst of His assembled Church.
Hebrew 7:1-28: 1For 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, 2to 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. 3Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, he remains a priest perpetually.
4Now observe how great this man was to whom Abraham, the patriarch, gave a tenth of the choicest spoils. 5And 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. 6But the one whose genealogy is not traced from them collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed the one who had the promises. 7But without any dispute the lesser is blessed by the greater. 8In this case mortal men receive tithes, but in that case one receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives on. 9And, so to speak, through Abraham even Levi, who received tithes, paid tithes, 10for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him.
11Now if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the people received the Law), what further need was there for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be designated according to the order of Aaron? 12For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law also. 13For the one concerning whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe, from which no one has officiated at the altar. 14For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, a tribe with reference to which Moses spoke nothing concerning priests.
15And this is clearer still, if another priest arises according to the likeness of Melchizedek, 16who has become such not on the basis of a law of physical requirement, but according to the power of an indestructible life. 17For it is attested of Him, “Your are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”
18For, on the one hand, there is a setting aside of a former commandment because of its weakness and uselessness 19(for the Law made nothing perfect), and on the other hand there is a bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.
20And inasmuch as it was not without an oath 21(for they indeed became priests without an oath, but He with an oath through the One who said to Him:
“The Lord has sworn
and will not change his mind,
‘You are a priest forever”’);
23The former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing, 24but Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently. 25Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
26For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; 27who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. 28For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints a Son, made perfect forever.
Hebrews 10:1-39: 1For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. 2Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins? 3But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year. 4For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 5Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says:
“Sacrifice and offering you have not
desired,
but a body you have prepared for me;
6In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin
you have not taken pleasure.
7Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come
(in the Scroll of the Book it is written
of me)
to do your will, O God.’”
11Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; 12but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, 13waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet. 14For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.
15And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us; for after saying,
16“This is the covenant that I will make
with them,
After those days, says the Lord:
I will put My laws upon their heart,
And on their mind I will write them,”
17“And their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”
19Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, 20by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, 21and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; 24and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, 25not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
26For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. 28Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay” And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” 31It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
32But remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings, 33partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated. 34For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one. 35Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 36For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.
37For yet in a very little while,
He who is coming will come, and will
not delay.
38But my righteousness ones shall live
by faith;
And if he shrinks back,
My soul has no pleasure in him.
It’s not as simple as giving a tenth and spending the rest as we please. Instead Jesus calls us to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him through life and beyond. All that we are and all that we can be, offered to Him unconditionally. Everything we own, used as He directs.
Romans 12:1: 1Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
1 Corinthians 6:12-20: 12All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. 13Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both of them. Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. 14Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power. 15Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be! 16Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, “The two shall become one flesh.” 17But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. 18Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. 19Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
Hebrews: 10:1-23: 1For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. 2Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins? 3But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year. 4For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 5Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says:
“Sacrifice and offering you have not
desired,
but a body you have prepared for me;
6In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin
you have not taken pleasure.
7Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come
(in the Scroll of the Book it is written
of me)
to do your will, O God.’”
11Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; 12but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, 13waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet. 14For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.
15And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us; for after saying,
16“This is the covenant that I will make
with them,
After those days, says the Lord:
I will put My laws upon their heart,
And on their mind I will write them,”
17“And their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”
19Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, 20by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, 21and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful;
The most common schemes offer members opportunity to claim documented offerings as deductions on their federal income tax return. Consequently, the church must first incorporate as a non-profit, tax-exempt religious organization, instituting practices that run in opposition to Scriptural teaching.
Two problematic government requirements to obtain non-profit, tax-deductible status include setting a specific salary for the pastor(s) and holding annual meeting to discuss and vote on church business.
The Bible clearly exhorts elders against serving for sordid gain or filthy lucre. Also, Jesus, Head of the Church, delegates the Holy Spirit to move in the hearts of the saints, producing agreement and unity, not majority rule.