By George Kulp
Some branches of the Church are today waking up to the fact of Christian stewardship as taught in the Gospels. The Methodist Episcopal Church at the General Conference held in May, 1912, at Minneapolis, placed the following in the Discipline, and the official Christian Advocate gave it a display notice on its first page on Thursday, July 25th, as follows:
1. "God is Giver and absolute Owner of all things.
2. "Under grace man is a Steward, and the steward holds and administers that which he has as a sacred trust.
3. "God's ownership and man's stewardship are best evidenced by the systematic application of a portion of income to the advancement of the Kingdom.
4. "There should be careful, intelligent, personal, and prayerful consideration of the uses to be made of the money thus regularly set aside. This will require study not only of the local situation, but also of the missionary and benevolent work of the Church.
5. "Consistent use of the balance of the income not set aside, the following methods may well be pursued by the individual Christian:
1. "Actual or constructive separation of the proportion of income which complies with the foregoing principles.
2. "A pledge in writing in advance of the amounts to be applied to the regular work of the church, current work, expenses, missions and benevolences.
3. "A weekly payment of the amount so subscribed, deposited as an act of worship at a public service.
4. "Payments from time to time, out of the sums set aside, but not previously pledged, to special causes, as may be desired.
5. "The plan of keeping a separate 'Lord's Treasury' is recommended for those who cannot attend the services of the Church.
6. "Free-will" or thank offerings."
What an impetus will be given to the work when the individual Christian realizes his Christian stewardship, and gives freely and cheerfully of that which God has given.
"I gave My life for thee;
My precious blood I shed,
That thou mightst ransomed be
And quickened from the dead.
I gave, I gave My life for thee.
WHAT HAST THOU GIVEN FOR ME?"
Partnership with God means:
"Take my soul and body's powers,
Take my memory, mind and will,
All my goods and all my hours,
All I know, or think, or feel,
All I speak, and all I do.''
It means specifically one-seventh of one's time devoted to worship and rest, one-tenth of one's income the Lord's. Both must be rendered to Him as an acknowledgment of His right to all of our time and all of our money, for He is the Giver, and at any time He can -- and may -- withhold. Opposition to a Bible observance of the Sabbath means a life not surrendered to God, and opposition to the tithe usually means the person so opposing does not pay to the Church even one-tenth.
The subjects of money and covetousness are mentioned in one out of every six verses in the New Testament. If the law of the tithe had been done away, or if Christians had been expected to pay less, the change certainly would have been mentioned, but it is not. The tithe of money to the Lord continues in the very nature of the relation between man and God. God has not sold out, the world is still His, and the same and greater reasons exist now for this law than when it was given to the Jews, because they were a shut-in, separated body of people, while the Church has a world-wide mission. The Church is yet on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner-stone.
Jesus, in sending forth His Apostles to preach, said, "The laborer is worthy of his hire" (Luke 10:7), and Paul, in raising money for the Church, commands a systematic method: "Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come" (1 Corinthians 16:2).
Again, in reference to support of the ministry, he declares, "So hath the Lord ordained that they which proclaim the Gospel should live of the Gospel. Know ye not that they which minister about sacred things eat of the things of the temple, and they that wait upon the altar have their portion with the altar?" Here is a clear reference to the tithe system, used in temple support. The priests lived of the things of the temple, and even so hath the Lord ordained for the Christian ministry, and there is no room for doubt. The same system was intended for both.
Is it conceivable that a converted Jew could think of the law of the tithe not in force? -with a heart full of love for Christ -- with Christ's words, "I came not to destroy, but to fulfill the law" before him -- with the last prophet of the Old Testament recording the scathing, rebuke of Malachi 3:8-10, for not paying the tithe -- and with the direction of the ninth chapter of First Corinthians before him?
Can we not plainly see the argument in Hebrews for the continuance of tithing? Christ is a high priest after the order, of Melchizedek. He "abideth a priest continually?" -- whereas the Levitical priesthood ended with the Gospel dispensation. This Levitical priesthood was typical of Christ and the Gospel ministry, but Melchizedek was a special type of Christ. Some think he was Christ. He is represented as being eternal, and self-existent -- was prophet, priest, and king. He was like unto the Son of God.
Paul says, "For he (Melchizedek,), of whom these things are said, belonged to another tribe from which no man hath given attendance at the altar. For it is evident our Lord sprang out of Judah." Christ, then, was a priest before the existence of the Levitical Priesthood, then during that period, and now continues a high priest. So the Church today is under a priesthood -- the same priesthood to which Abraham paid tithes, in type at least. Then if our father Abraham, before the Levitical priesthood, honored Christ with the tenth, shall not we do the same after the Levitical priesthood has been done away and Christ has taken its place in His own person?
Let us say Amen, and honor God with our substance, thus blessings His cause, and hastening the time when the Lord shall have the Gospel for witness, the end come, and He shall appear whose right it is to reign.
To people who ask, "Where shall the tithe go?" we say, "If one will read carefully he need not be at a loss to know, nor remain in the dark." "And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is JEHOVAH'S, it is holy unto Jehovah, And all the tithe of the herd or of the flock, whatever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto JEHOVAH." These are the commandments for the children of Israel.
In Numbers 18:20-21, God said unto Aaron, "Thou shalt have no inheritance in their land, neither shalt thou have any portion among them. I am thy portion and thine inheritance among the children of Israel." Of the children of Levi, it was written: "Behold I have given all the tithe of Israel for an inheritance in return for their service which they serve, even the service of the tent of meeting."
S. Earl Taylor, in his pamphlet, "Scriptural Habits of Giving," says: "Certainly the giving of a tenth is not incompatible with Christian stewardship, if in giving a tenth we mean to designate, and segregate a tenth of every man's income as pre-eminently God's tenth, supremely sacred to His service, and symbolical of His inherent and real right to all. It is a deed which declares that God is owner of Heaven and earth, a precept which suggests the principle of other offerings on the same basis as God shall prosper us. The giving of at least a tenth may be regarded as a practical recognition of God's ownership, an ever-present and impressive object lesson upon the ownership of God and stewardship of man. It necessarily teaches the most scrupulous faithfulness, and while the tithe is but a tenth, it is a symbolic tenth -- the tenth that stands for more as we are able to pay it." Jerome said, "Whosoever does not give as far at least as the Jew in practice, defrauds God, and makes himself liable to a curse." Rev. S. S. Hough says, "If the Jews with their restricted opportunities and with the first dawn of spiritual light, gave more than a tenth of the increase for religious purposes, how much ought we believers, who are joint heirs with Jesus Christ, do for Him when the whole world is our parish and our Lord's last command was, 'Make disciples of every nation?''
God fixed the tenth as a certain proportion for the race in its infancy, and surely the additional opportunities and graces afforded the Christians of today would not point toward a lowering of that standard. F. B. Meyer writes: "The patriarch gave a tenth and surely the noon of Christianity should not inspire less benevolence than the twilight."
