Giving

"Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils. And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham: but he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises. And without contradiction, the less is blessed of the better. And here men that die receive tithes; but there he receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth. And as I may so say, Levi also, who received tithes, paid tithes in Abraham. For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him."

Thus, later on, the law would introduce a commandment for the people of Israel to give a tenth of their increase - a tithe. Here in Hebrews it declares that what happened in Abraham transcends the law. First, it was before the law was given. There was no commandment for Abraham to give tithes. Second, the argument is that the tribe of Levi, the priestly tribe which was to receive the tithe under the law, were, as yet unborn, in Abraham when he gave tithes to Melchizedek. So what was provided in the law for them, was subservient to this greater act that Abraham performed. This transcends the law. Abraham gave tithes of all to Melchizedek and what we see in the New Testament, in Hebrews, is that Melchizedek is a type of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is "made like unto the Son of God." Under the law, men who die (Levi) received tithes, but, here, the one who receives tithes is the one who lives. We have, in Abraham, a picture of the believer, the man of faith, giving tithes to the One who is the King of Righteousness and the King of Peace - our Lord Jesus Christ.

Remember! Abraham was giving a tenth, but he was giving all. I think we will find this in the New Testament, that our giving - what the Lord requires of us - is not just trying to scrape together a tenth for Him. You may have thought that I was going to suggest that it does not matter what you give, that we are not under the law and, therefore, under no obligation to tithe at all. Well we are not under an obligation to give a tenth; we are under an obligation to give everything - all. We are under grace. In other words, we owe Him everything.

Giving All

Abraham's giving was a free act of worship in response to Divine grace. The Scripture reminds us that we are not our own, that we are bought with a price. Then everything we have, belongs to the Lord. If we, like Paul, could say that we are bond slaves of Jesus Christ, then everything we have belongs to Him. All that a bond slave had, if he had anything at all, belonged to his master. We too must give all.

We are, then, stewards of what we do have. We do not actually own it. It is the Lord's, because we are the Lord's, bought with a price. We are stewards and it is required that we be faithful stewards. In 2 Corinthians 8 v 1 and then verse 7, Paul says: "Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia... Therefore, as ye abound in everything, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also." In what grace? It is the grace of giving. He refers to giving as grace. It is the grace of God.

Later in verse 12 he refers to a 'willing mind', that there should first be a 'willing mind' concerning giving. Abraham gave tithes to Melchizedek of his own free will. When we give, first, says Paul, there is to be a willing mind. If we have a heart filled with God's love, if we have a heart that is yielded to Him, we will know the truth of the Scriptures that say, in Philippians 2 v 13, "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure."

So giving, giving a tithe, 10%, a tenth plus what the Bible in the Old Testament calls the free will offering, is an act of grace. It is freely and willingly given. It was before the law; it transcends the law; it is the reality for which the law provides but a shadow. The commandment in the law to give is a shadow of the real experience of tithing. In Galatians, Paul says that the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ because we did not know how to behave or what to do. The law constrained us and forced us, compelled us to go along a certain road. But now, we who are saved, we who are born again of the Spirit of God, we have been born into reality and the Spirit of the Lord has filled our hearts with His law - it is written on our hearts. It is no longer an outward constraint, but is something which is motivated by love from within.

Do not clutch at the shadow. That is what 'evangelicalism' has done. It has clutched at the shadow of tithing and made it a rule. It has become a regulation. Do you know, there are some churches that boast that they will not allow anyone to become a member of their church until they tithe regularly. That is making a law, a regulation, a rule. That is nothing to boast about. That is bringing men and women under a burden and we are not to do that. We are to encourage people to know the love of God working in their hearts so that all they do is a response of grace - a free-will response to the grace of God and to His blessing. Hallelujah! And we will know our giving to be 100%.