Home Church is a new path for us, and the questions are many, as we feel our way along in this vast new territory. Still it is a wonderful adventure, and provides the kind of relational Christian fellowship, freedom and flexibility we have always longed for. One of the nagging questions for me as a 'Home Churcher' is the subject of the 'collection'. There are clues in the New Testament about giving, such as the glimpses of the early Church provided by Acts 2:42-47 and Acts 4:32-37 where everything was shared, every need was met, and there were no needy persons among them. There is also the picture in Acts 6 where the Apostles devoted themselves to the Word, and chose 7 men to oversee the daily distribution of food among the believers.

Clearly, the giving ('collective wealth') of the early Church was shared by all, in as much as the people obviously discussed their needs so that they could help each other meet those needs, and feed each other on a daily basis. Other scriptures support this conclusion, such as 'carry each other's burdens' (Galatians 6:2), 'love by actions' (1 John 3:18), etc. The early Church was a close-knit family who really 'walked the talk'.

The picture of the Church that emerges from these scriptures differs RADICALLY from the Old Testament. In the OT, the Levite priests were the recipients of the tithe, and the 12 tribes of Israel were responsible to bring the tithe to the priests. The reason for that was simple, the Levites did not receive any land as an inheritance to raise flocks and herds or grow fruit and grain. They worked in the temple day and night, so someone had to feed them and their families.

Now we turn the page to the New Testament, and suddenly EVERY BELIVER is benefiting from the offerings of the Church, not just a select few.

The reason for that became clear when the Lord showed me 1 Peter 2:5 and 9, and Revelation 1:6, in which the Word says we are ALL PRIESTS. The Word of God also makes it clear that as believers in Jesus Christ, we are SONS of God (1 John 3:1, Galatians 3:26), and Jesus said in Matthew 17:25-26 that the SONS ARE FREE (exempt from the temple tax). It is also very important to note that Stephen and Paul stated clearly in Acts 7:48 and Acts 17:24 (respectively) that God does NOT live in houses made by human hands. Rather, God now lives in US - we are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16).

If we believe the Word of God about who we are (Priests, Sons, the Temple of the Holy Spirit), we can clearly see another of the fatal flaws of trying to re-implement the OT "tithe" in the NT church. The Biblical pattern for the OT tithe is that it was the NON-priest tribes (the 12 tribes of Jacob) who brought the tithe to the temple. The priest tribe (Levi) received the tithe. In fact, the priests (Levi) could NOT tithe because they didn't grow food! Far more important than that though, is that God was the inheritance of the Levites, and as such the Levites were WHOLLY consecrated/devoted to serving God. In other words, instead of getting off with giving just 10% of their food-stuffs to God as did the other tribes, the Levites had to give 100% of themselves to God!

The Levite priesthood is the picture (a fore-shadow) of New Testament believers, who have also received God as their inheritance by giving themselves WHOLLY (100%) to Jesus Christ (Matthew 16:24-25).

That all believers are IN Jesus Christ who is our High Priest forever and as such all believers are priests, sons, and the temple of the Holy Spirit, is the basis and reason for every believer sharing in the gifts ('collective wealth') of the Church.

Following the train of thought that ALL Priests are to share in what is given, and backing it up with the words of Jesus in Matthew 25:40 wherein He makes it clear that giving to His "brothers" (all believers) is the same as giving to Christ directly, we need to assess who is really being robbed when ministers quote Malachi 3:8-9 to their congregations of believers.

8."Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, `How do we rob you?' "In tithes and offerings. 9.You are under a curse--the whole nation of you--because you are robbing me.

Please take a look at Malachi 3:5 with me:

5."So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me," says the LORD Almighty.

Notice that one of the things God is angry about is that laborers are defrauded of their wages. Owing that Malachi and Nehemiah were written at about the same time, I believe the fraud (robbery) spoken of in Malachi 3, is described in detail in Nehemiah 13:4-13. In this text we see how that robbery was taking place. What I gather from the scripture, is that it was NOT that the Israelite's were withholding the tithe from God, but rather Eliashib the priest opened the temple store rooms to Tobia and the portions of food assigned to the Levites were not given to them. (Tobia was an Ammonite who worshipped the pagan-god Molech according to Ezra 2:59-60 and Nehemiah 2:10). In fact, Nehemiah 13:12 says ALL JUDAH brought the tithe to the storerooms, and once TRUSTWORTHY priests were put in charge of the storerooms, the Levite priests once again received their portion (verse 13).

The 'robbing of God' wasn't taking place with the 'bringing' of the tithe, it was taking place with the 'distribution' of the tithe to the priests. The wicked priest Eliashib and Tobias the Ammonite (pagan) were apparently raiding the storerooms of the temple for themselves. What God considered robbery (fraud) was withholding the tithe from His priests, who abandoned their service to God when they weren't fed.

And there in Nehemiah 13:4-13 you have THE VERY picture of what is happening in the Church today: the priesthood of believers is being robbed by those who are in charge of the 'temple store room'.

Brethren, EVERY BELIEVER IS A PRIEST and as a priest YOU are entitled to share in the gifts (collective wealth) of the Church to meet YOUR needs (Acts 2:42-47 and Acts 4:32-37), for food and drink (Acts 6:1 and Matthew 25:35), for shelter, clothes and medical expenses (Matthew 25:35-36).

Brethren, you aren't the ones robbing God. The ones robbing God are the very ones who are accusing you!

Flip-side of the Tithe

One recurring thought I've had about articles which expose the false teaching of the tithe, is that the FLIP SIDE of the tithe is seldom discussed. Here's what I mean:

Act 2:44 All the Lord's followers often met together, and they shared everything they had. Act 2:45 They would sell their property and possessions and give the money to whoever needed it. Act 2:46 Day after day they met together in the temple. They broke bread together in different homes and shared their food happily and freely, Act 2:47 while praising God. Everyone liked them, and each day the Lord added to their group others who were being saved.

Act 4:32 The group of followers all felt the same way about everything. None of them claimed that their possessions were their own, and they shared everything they had with each other. Act 4:33 In a powerful way the apostles told everyone that the Lord Jesus was now alive. God greatly blessed his followers, Act 4:34 and no one went in need of anything. Everyone who owned land or houses would sell them and bring the money Act 4:35 to the apostles. Then they would give the money to anyone who needed it. Act 4:36 Joseph was one of the followers who had sold a piece of property and brought the money to the apostles. He was a Levite from Cyprus, and the apostles called him Barnabas, which means "one who encourages others."

Notice all those scriptures that imply they freely sold their land and possessions, and then shared ALL the proceeds with the community of believers? Also, Acts 2:46 indicates that they practiced HOSPITALITY on a regular basis.

The early Church was so committed to the Lord and each other that they shared EVERYTHING and sold their possessions and shared ALL the proceeds - which is 100%. Faced with giving ALL / 100%, perhaps that is why the tithe is so attractive to your average run-of-the-mill church goer. The 'tithe' lets people get by with just 10%, whereas the examples in scripture require 100%.

I find some relief in Acts 2:46 that believers at least retained their homes.

What concerns me is that people, myself included, are glad to see the lie of the tithe exposed, but we resist embracing the truth that ALL / 100% of what we have belongs to the Lord. Since all that we have and are belongs to the Lord, we are expected to share what we have with our brothers and sisters who are also in the Lord. Our mindset that by abolishing the 10% tithe means we can now give as little as 0% is headed in the wrong direction .... we now give 100%.