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Myth #9: Tithing is the [br]standard for Christian giving.

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And I don't doubt that many of you

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have bought into that myth.

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We get people here that come [br]to the church all the time

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and they're convinced,

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tithing is God's standard for giving.

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It's not.

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Let me just tell you that [br]right up front. It's not.

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Look, many like to appeal to Malachi 3:8.

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"Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me,

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but you say, 'how have we robbed You?'"

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And of course it mentions tithes there.

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So people bring that along [br]into the New Testament

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and they say yes, when Jesus was talking

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to the Pharisees,

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they tithe of their annis

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and their mint and their cumin,

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and Jesus says these things

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ought you to have done.

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What I would have you to remember is this:

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Before that veil was rent in two,

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Jesus also observed the Passover.

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He also told lepers that were healed

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to go show themselves to the priesthood.

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He respected the old covenant system.

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But when you enter into the New Testament,

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you find not a hint of [br]tithing ever mentioned.

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When these apostles went [br]out to the Gentiles

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who did not have the Old Testament,

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they never mentioned tithing.

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Now let me tell you this,

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tithing - in other words 10% -

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was not even the standard [br]in the Old Testament.

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You say, what?

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That's what we've always been taught.

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Yeah, by the shysters

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and by the health-wealth prosperity guys,

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and sometimes by just misguided,

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unbiblical good men.

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But listen, I'm not going to get into

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a full deal with tithing right now,

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but I wanted to read a [br]short little blurb here

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from John MacArthur.

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MacArthur says,

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"You pay 10% to the [br]Levites (that's a tithe)

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to them as they operated on behalf of God

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in the government.

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You pay 10% to take care [br]of the national festivals

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which there were many.

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Then you paid another 10% every third year

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which went to the poor and the widows.

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So if you broke that down,

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you were about 23 and [br]a third percent per year.

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Now, what that was was [br]an income tax system.

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That was a system of taxation to fund

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the government and [br]its religious activities

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and its welfare needs,

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so when people today say

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we want to tithe now

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like they did in the Old Testament,

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they can't stop at 10%.

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They've got to give 23.3% to start with.

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In addition to that, you paid half [br]shekel temple tax ever year.

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In addition to that, if you had a field,

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you had to harvest the field in a circle

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and leave the corners open to the poor.

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It was a profit-sharing plan.

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If you dropped a bale [br]of hay off your wagon

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on the way to the barn,

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you had to leave that for the poor.

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So (he estimates) you actually gave

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under the Old Testament system

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about 25%."

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Now, if you ever came from the circles

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that loved Malachi 3:8 -

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you say, brother, you like to be biblical.

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Why don't you prove all this [br]from the Old Testament?

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Because I don't want to do [br]a big study on tithing right now.

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But just hear me out here.

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Malachi 3:8 does not say:

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Will man rob God by not giving tithes?

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It says, for one, the "tithes" is plural.

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But two, it says tithes and offerings.

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You see, the law demanded [br]that you give so much,

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which according to MacArthur

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was about 25%.

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You didn't even get into [br]the free will offerings.

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That was over and above.

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And God said you robbed Me

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not just with regards to the tithes -

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you robbed Me with regards

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to the tithes and the contributions

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and the offerings.

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Those free will offerings.

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And listen, the Gentiles -

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these guys at Corinth who were Gentiles.

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They didn't have the [br]Old Testament Scriptures.

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When Paul came in there, he said,

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in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9,

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he says I'm going to convince

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these Corinthians to give.

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If he had law to appeal to,

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he would have appealed to it.

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But you notice, dead silence.

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What did he appeal to?

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He appealed to the example [br]of the Macedonians

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who, hearts burning with love,

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you just couldn't keep them from giving.

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Guess what else he appealed to?

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The example of Jesus Christ

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who being rich became poor

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so we who were poor would become rich.

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He used the manna as an example.

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Remember? Nobody had too much

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and nobody had too little?

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He talks about God [br]loving a cheerful giver.

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He talks about this rule of basically

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if you sow plentifully and bountifully,

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you'll reap bountifully,

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but if you sow sparingly... he told that.

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He also said and by your giving

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you supply their need.

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So there's that.

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That can cheer your soul when you give.

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You provide people's needs.

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He also said if you give,

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God is going to be thanked.

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It glorifies Him.

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He also said if you give,

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the people that you give on behalf of

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are going to feel for you

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and they're going to love you

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and they're going to appreciate you

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and they're going to pray for you.

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He appeals to all these things.

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Again and again and again[br]and over and over and over,

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He appeals to anything [br]he can think of to appeal,

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and he does not appeal to tithing.

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Never to the Gentiles is it appealed to.

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So if you've got this mindset that 10% -

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what are you saying? [br]How much should we give?

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I don't know, but the [br]widow gave everything.

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Zacchaeus gave half.

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And the early Christians

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were giving their lands.

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What's the standard?

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Brethren, I'm not going [br]to be your conscience.

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But if you come in and [br]you write out a check:

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$118.23

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Brethren, that's being pretty legalistic.

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That does not seem like a check

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that is love-driven

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or that is a cheerful giver given.

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(incomplete thought)

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Now I understand if you sold something

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and you got exactly that amount

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and you intended to give [br]it and so you give it

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like when the land was sold.

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There were some of those folks there

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that didn't exactly give all of it

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as they promised they would.

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But you understand what I'm saying.

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Brethren, you don't want to have

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your giving be legal - [br]let it be love-driven,

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cheerful given.

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God loves a cheerful giver.

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So I know I've gone long.

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The last one here is this:

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Myth #10: If only God would provide,

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we could get the work done.