From All Directions
Continuing our series of expanding the bullet points from “Now To Put it On The Stove” the second point read:
“Anyone who is bringing bread to your spiritual journey is worthy of some honor. They are worthy of some thanks. They are worthy of the tithe. This might include your personal pastor, a key teacher that you receive from every week, those who administrate the fellowship that is the garden in which you grow, those who prophecy over you, lead your best worship times, teach your children the ways of God in Sunday School, and on, and on. How you choose to do this is up to you and the means by which you deliver your tithe is not as important as the heart with which you give it.”
This is supposed to encourage couple things:
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Who Is Your Pastor?
In a previous series related to finances in the kingdom I wrapped up with a post called “Now, To Put It All On the Stove” which was my way of creating a kind of wrap up post. After I finished and posted it I realized it was an avalanche of challenges and insights that may have been hard to digest all at one time. So, I have decided to take each bullet point from that post and treat each one over the next many posts. I plan to remain casual in each of these treatments, as I don’t think each one is really that academic. I think this stuff if farmer logic for the most part.
The first bullet point read: “Taking care of your actual pastor is a real joy. Your pastor is someone who watches after your soul, little sheep, and cares about your health and life (this might be different from the person who teaches every Sunday and basically manages the affairs of the fellowship on a broad scale.) When you have a heart to thank them and honor them for their work in your life, then you are already tithing in your heart.”
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Reality and Relevance are in the Kingdom
The Church, as she often is encased in institutional systems and as Christian culture, has become a cul de sac which is able to receive forgiveness, revelation, knowledge, and the Presence of God...but she seems to have no idea to what end. Being saved is less a release from and more a release into something: the kingdom of God. It is time for us as the people of God to rise up and embrace our purpose to proclaim and provide a highway into the kingdom of God.
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The Church is to Pursue the Kingdom
What follows, again, are notes generated from engaging E. Stanley Jones book, The Unshakable Kingdom and the Unchanging Person. It is available at Amazon. These notes again are designed to increase our perspective on the kingdom of God. These notes have particular impact in understanding the differences in and the relationship of the Church and the kingdom of God.
Jesus is the kingdom, and the kingdom is Jesus.
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Now, to Put It On the Stove
I think it is a good idea, now, to take the ingredients from the previous post and put them together, pour in some chicken stock of common sense, and begin to bring it to simmer. These ideas of the tithe, offerings, honor, storehouse, and ministry career work all go together just like Carolyn’s beef stew, but you have to get them all together in the same pot over heat for a while for it all to taste right.
Some of my first thoughts on this particular stew, is that it is very filling and it is very nutritious. (For those of you who have some concern about this food metaphor, be sure that I will not drag it out much longer.) An understanding of how kingdom giving and receiving gives us energy for living, and how it answers so many basic needs in our understanding of God’s provision for all of us, is easily enjoyed if a person will choose to consume this as a basic revelation. I am going to downshift into super-practical thoughts that are so reduced to the daily basics of life that you won’t be able to miss the practical outcomes of understanding the sustaining values in what I have been teaching:
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Tithes Vs. Offerings
First, a simple review: tithes are for people.
“He ordered the people living in Jerusalem to give the portion due the priests and Levites so they could devote themselves to the Law of the LORD. As soon as the order went out, the Israelites generously gave the firstfruits of their grain, new wine, oil and honey and all that the fields produced. They brought a great amount, a tithe of everything.” (2 Chr 31:4-20)
In our previous articles we went into this point in a bit more depth, but in summary, God required a tenth from Israel so that one of the tribes, the Levites, could be asked to serve in ministry works, temple service, worship leading, and all the things that showed the whole nation’s willingness to honor God and follow him. Without a tithe they would have been left to figure out how to buy and sell, engage in commerce in some form, sell lands, etc. in order to make a living, but God new it was a losing proposal to be set apart to do the work of the ministry full time and to not have a special financial provision available for them. This provision is referred to as the tithe in the Old Testament...
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What is the STOREHOUSE?
You have heard it said: “The tithe belongs in the storehouse.” Ok, so where is that from? It is from Malachi 3:10: “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” Usually, we hear that sermon once or twice a year when offerings are low at our fellowship and the leadership, or key leader, feels it necessary to remind everyone to put the money in the bank on behalf of building and staff needs. We don’t want to be cynical, but this predictable sermon has become fodder for cynicism over time and the hardest part is that we are not sure why it makes us feel the way we do. It makes us feel manipulated, but why? It makes the presenter of the argument feel as those he is selling a used car, but why? If the storehouse is equivalent to the bank account of each local fellowship, then why does this sermon make our conscience wrinkle?
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What is the TITHE?
Words really do mean something. The way we use them and the way we understand them when they are being used has great impact all around us. When someone tries to soften a disagreement by saying, “Oh, we are just using different words for the same thing,” it is a terrible excuse for a real conversation, and it leads to the diminishment of our ability to communicate about anything. If we use different words we most likely do mean different things, and if we use the same word we should learn to mean the same thing. This is called language. I propose that it is worth it, then, to know exactly what we mean when we use a word and decide if that meaning is legitimate for everyone we plan to communicate with. I also propose that it is the fundamental job of any teacher to make sure their students understand how to use a word properly, and to avoid any suggestion that word usages are subjective unless, of course, when they speak they don’t mean anything at all.
The word tithe is an important word. I want to define it so that we can use it. I want to take the time to define it clearly because so many people have been using it incorrectly and it has led to some terrible conclusions. Simultaneously, I will define the word tax. These are two different words which mean different things. Why don’t we start with tax.
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The Kingdom is the Center
Recently, I read a great book on the kingdom of God: The Unshakable Kingdom and the Unchanging Person, by E. Stanley Jones, first published in 1972. It is worth buying. It stirred many thoughts as I read and I took notes on what was three dimensional to me. Some of these words might be Jones, so I must give credit where credit is due, but most are probably my reflections and summaries of thoughts that were generated as I read.
This introduction is a broad stroke intro for our imaginations about the Kingdom.
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Introduction to Financing the Ministry
My last post on finances and God’s provision was a simple encouragement to be on the lookout for any and all ways that the Father might want to provide for you. Overcoming prejudice in the area of provision, that is, breaking judgments against any form of provision, seems an important first step for all of us. Now, I would like to dive right into finance for the work of the ministry...
Many mistakes are made, by well intending people, around the issues of money and ministry because of the traditions of men leaking into our understanding. We will try to touch some of the most common deviations from Scriptural thought in this series of posts, but first, let's just underline out commitment to try and find our answers in Scripture. Where the Old Testament lays foundation ideas, the New Testament may unveil the higher purpose for each one. I do not ascribe to the idea, even in the midst of all the paradigm changing, modern Church-rethink, that we are released from the Scriptural directives for understanding the basic principle on which we are to build. Notice this passage from Hebrews 8:5-9
5 They [Hebrew priests] serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: "See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain."
6 But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises.
7 For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another.
This phrase: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain," really sticks out to me. We must due our work to discover the patterns. I think these patterns can be seen in the arena of finances and stewardship. Of course, we should look to the Holy Spirit to teach us in these things, and we should reflect on the previous Covenant for the basic pattern that he will certainly have something to teach us from. In other words, we shouldn't expect the “Old” instruction to be forgotten or discarded; as Jesus said, “I have not come to abolish them [Law and Prophets], but to fulfill them.” Sometimes we refer to these earliest foundational ideas as a “copy” or “shadow”--just like in the Hebrews passage--because it helps us understand that what we are really looking for is the kingdom.
When we pray "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is heaven," we are praying, "Father, show us how you have already established giving, receiving, sowing, reaping, tithing and honor in the kingdom eternal so that we can apply that truth right here on the earth around us." Let's work together to uncover and illuminate the patterns he has established in the kingdom so we can enjoy the adventure of receiving our provision and walking with the authority of sons in our finances!
Here is a list of questions I would like to cover with you over the next season of posts here at www.benpasley.com:
- What is “Ministry”?
- What is the “Church”?
- What is God building?
- What is my “Calling”?
- How is my calling related to what God is building?
- What is the “Tithe”?
- Who is the “Tithe” for?
- How is the Church built on Christ?
- How is the Church built also on the Apostles and Prophets?
- What does the leadership of the family of God look like?
- How do we “Honor” our leaders?
- How do we finance the work of the ministry at home?
- How do we finance the work of the ministry to new places?
- What is the “Storehouse”?
- What ministry roles did the “Levites” fulfill?
- Who are modern-day Levites?
- What is the Apostolic ministry?
- What is the “Five-Fold” ministry and how do they connect? How do we know them?
Get your notepads and Bibles out and get ready for some new engagement on this absolutely foundational topic.
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