Theft and Tithe: Both start with "T"

Theft and Tithe: both start with "T"

Not all social orders consider theft to be bad. Some cultures actually seem to present successful theft in an honorable light. One of the distinct characteristics of Judeo-Christianity is the concept of personal ownership. Something can be stolen only if it is owned by someone. If no-one owns an item, it is not possible to steal it. Found items -- if the owner is not knowable -- cannot be considered stolen. But the commandment is clear: "Thou shalt not steal." Therefore, things are steal-able. And that means things are own-able.

WE OWN

It is not wrong to own things. In fact, it may be wrong not to own things. What were God’s instructions to Adam and Eve and to Noah and his wife and children?

Genesis 1:26-30

26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

27 So God created man in his own image,

in the image of God he created him;

male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."

29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground — everything that has the breath of life in it — I give every green plant for food." And it was so.

Who owns the earth? Man does. Not nature, Gaia, or Mother Earth. Who owns all the stuff on earth? Man does.

Even when man totally messes everything up and forfeits all rights, man still owns the earth.

Genesis 8:15-9:3 Then God said to Noah, 16 "Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. 17 Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you — the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground — so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number upon it."

18 So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives. 19 All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds — everything that moves on the earth — came out of the ark, one kind after another.

20 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. 21 The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.

22 "As long as the earth endures,

seedtime and harvest,

cold and heat,

summer and winter,

day and night

will never cease."

9:1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. 2 The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands. 3 Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.

I NOW GIVE YOU EVERYTHING -- THAT NEEDS TO BE SHOUTED INTO OUR HEADS -- THE EARTH IS OURS, NOT SATAN’S.

We have been taught that Satan somehow owns the earth. The Bible says God gave it to Adam –and again to Noah and his sons. Satan may be the prince of the power of the air -- he may be the ruler of this age -- but we own the earth and need to act like it. Hell was made for him.

Ephesians 2:1-2 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.

The earth with all its difficulty in growing things was given to us -- not Satan. He has the air. He has some affect in spiritual or "air" things. We own the ground and all that the ground can make. We own what is physical and we can hold in our hands or sense with our five senses. WE OWN IT. Satan can only continually affect the spiritual around us and the physical when we let him. The idea to resist the devil must be understood. Who owns what?

James 4:7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil , and he will flee from you.

All it takes is resistance? Yes, because He does not nor never has owned the earth. He may rule Kingdoms, but the earth is not his. What did he tempt Jesus with? Kingdoms -- political structures of principalities of evil. But the earth is ours. Take possession of what you own. Help your neighbor take possession of what he owns.

Matthew 4:8-11 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."

10 Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'"

11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

Psalms 115:16 The highest heavens belong to the LORD, but the earth he has given to man.

If we did not own or could not own, the commandment to not steal does not make sense. How can something be stolen that can’t be owned?

WE OWE

We own -- God has given the earth to us -- it is ours. God told us to be fruitful and multiply. Do you think he just meant to make babies? We were intended from the beginning to tend the land. Work is not the curse. It is the difficulty in the work -- the lack of an appropriate yield -- that is the curse.

Genesis 2:15-17 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."

Genesis 3:17-19 To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,'

"Cursed is the ground because of you;

through painful toil you will eat of it

all the days of your life.

18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,

and you will eat the plants of the field.

19 By the sweat of your brow

you will eat your food

until you return to the ground,

since from it you were taken;

for dust you are

and to dust you will return."

God gave us the earth-machine to use and work. The curse made the earth-machine more difficult to work, but it still worked. We own it. And it works because God designed it to work. He made trees that yield fruit. Seed is planted and grows. It rains. The sun shines. The Law of Gravity always works.

But owning the machine is like owning a franchise. When a person buys a McDonalds franchise, certain things happen. There is an exchange of money and the owner buys and owns the franchise. The reason to buy a franchise is because it works -- it is a proven money-making machine. The brand is recognizable. The product is consistent. The advertising is out there and effective. And the average McDonald location earns -- PROFITS -- $1,000,000 annually. If you want to earn $2,000,000 a year, buy another McDonalds. With the franchise there are certain responsibilities: Uniforms, hours, prices, product lines, training -- and the franchise fee based upon profits. Even though you own the franchise, you owe McDonalds the Corporation a weekly, monthly, annual fee based upon your profit just for the privilege of using the money-making machine.

The world works. Things grow. Chemistry works. Physics is consistent. Gravity works. In fact, it all works. The sun comes up and goes down -- we can set our clock according to it. Oh yeah. The clock works because the spring in the clock works. All of this was made by God and given to man. We own His franchise.

If you owned a McDonalds and someone came in and stole all the money in your cash registrar, you might be a bit upset and call the Police. If you were McDonalds the Corporation and a particular franchise refused to pay the annual fee for use of the franchise, what would you do? Cancel the franchise?

Thou shalt not steal.

This commandment, besides having to do with how we treat our fellow franchisers on this earth, has to do with the maker of the working machine called earth that was given to us.

Malachi 3:6-12 "I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you," says the LORD Almighty.

"But you ask, 'How are we to return?'

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. 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. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit," says the LORD Almighty. 12 "Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land," says the LORD Almighty.

The earth was given to us by God. He made it in good working condition for us to work: to make things, be fruitful, and multiply. As we do make things, He simply asks for his franchise fee from the increase. That is all a tithe is. The fee is based upon the increase in sheep, goats, grain, cows, and even children..

Numbers 18:15-16 The first offspring of every womb, both man and animal, that is offered to the LORD is yours. But you must redeem every firstborn son and every firstborn male of unclean animals. 16 When they are a month old, you must redeem them at the redemption price set at five shekels of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs.

Oh yeah number two -- the money thing.

Today, most of us don’t work this earth machine for goats, grain, or grapes. What we do is exchange each heartbeat God has given us, for a certain amount of cash. If our heart was not beating, our lungs were not breathing, we would not be collecting a paycheck -- without substantial fraud as used in some voting precincts. And if the laws of this planet were not working -- gravity, energy, motion, resistance, light, heat, sun, the list goes on -- we would also not be able to exchange our life-minutes for cash. Because of the working earth franchise that God made and gave us, we can be fruitful and multiply.

The church is often criticized for always asking for money. But apparently that is because so many church people forget the basic franchise fees implemented by the Creator of the franchise. They steal from God..If the church tithed as a whole, there would be no need for fund raising.

What is a tithe? 10% of your increase. If you are exchanging your life-time for money, then your increase is that money. You are selling your life that God made for you, for money. He gets 10% of your increase. Think of it as His franchise fee. Would you like Him to remove your franchise so you don’t have to pay it? Do you want your franchise to not work? Is the curse that much fun?

Who should receive the tithe? The Old Testament says the priests in the Temple. The Temple does not exist and neither do the priests, so now who. Paul brought offerings to the Apostles for distribution. That suggests the giving should go to the church. People today don’t like that -- because the church in their mind has too much money -- and they "don’t" personally have enough (remember the curse thing?).

But the church is supposed to be the source of their spiritual increase in equipping, training, comfort and other things. But "tithe" is an Old Testament law thing: legalism. We are free of that kind of legalism. But apparently Paul did not teach that.

1 Corinthians 16:2 On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income , saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.

"In keeping with his income" is a number that you determine. The Jewish tradition is at least 10%. It is an amount that makes sense as a franchise fee would be. In exchange for that fee, you get the right to use the franchise that works. If you choose not to offer that fee, the franchise of the earth will be, for you, under an even greater curse. That is what Malachi 3:9 states. But the person who consistently does not offer gifts in "keeping with his income" thinks the curse is normal: "nothing ever works right."

2 Corinthians 8:12 For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.

2 Corinthians 9:6-12 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9 As it is written:

"He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor;

his righteousness endures forever."

10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

12 This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.

Prov 3:9-10 Honor the LORD with your wealth,
with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.

Haggai 1:3-11 Then the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai: 4 "Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?"

5 Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways. 6 You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it."

7 This is what the LORD Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways. 8 Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored," says the LORD. 9 "You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?" declares the LORD Almighty. "Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house. 10 Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. 11 I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the oil and whatever the ground produces, on men and cattle, and on the labor of your hands."

NOTICE: The contributions were used to build the temple: the house of God. What are tithes used for?

1 Timothy 5:17-18 The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. 18 For the Scripture says, "Do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain," and "The worker deserves his wages ."

Galatians 6:6-9 Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor.

7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

The commandment simply says, Thou shalt not steal. Stealing from God is giving to Satan for his work.

Thou shalt not steal from your neighbor or from God.