Category
108 Offering and Tithes
Think about this: Christ loved us so much that he gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering to God.1 He made the ultimate sacrifice for you on the cross, loving you to death and beyond. Even as time marches on, His love stays constant.
It's so important for you to grasp that the biggest sacrifice has already been made. But now, you get to be a pleasing offering to God, too. Let your service, your honor, and your giving be a delight to your Heavenly Father. Know that Jesus has given you everything, and anything you offer pales in comparison to His love.
Giving to God, supporting His work, it's an expression of love. Don't see it as a burden or an obligation, but as a response to God's love and Jesus' sacrifice. It's a way of saying "thank you" for everything Heaven has poured into your life.
1Ephesians 5:2
Then he says this: ‘I will not continue to think about their sins. I will forgive them when they do not obey my laws.’
So that is the way that God forgives our sins. When God has done that, we do not need to have any other sacrifice to take away our sins.
Show that you respect the Lord in the way that you use your money. Offer the first part of the harvest from your farm to him.
Jesus said all these words while he taught in the yard of the temple. He was near the place where they kept the gifts of money. But nobody took hold of him, because it was not the right time for that yet.
Now you must bring the whole tithe that belongs to me. Store it in my temple, so that there will be food in my house. Obey me and then see what I will do.’ That is what the Lord Almighty says. ‘You will see how much I will bless you! You will not have enough room to store all the good things that I will give to you. I will pour blessings out of the sky like rain.
Then Jesus said to the man, ‘Listen. You must not tell anyone about this. Instead, go and show yourself to the priest. Give the offering that Moses taught people to give after this kind of disease. This will show everyone that you are now well again.’
Show that you love other people. Remember how much Christ loved us. He gave himself as a sacrifice on our behalf. He offered himself in a way that pleased God, like a sacrifice with a lovely smell.
The master said to this servant, “You are a good servant and you have done really well. You were careful with a small amount of money. Now I will give you authority over many more things. Come now, and we will be happy together”
The servant who had received 1,000 gold coins then came to his master. The servant said, “Master, I know what you are like. You tell people what they should do all the time. You take food from fields where you did not put any seed in the ground. You get fruit from trees that you did not plant.
Each of you should think carefully and then decide how much you can give. Then you will not be sad to give that money. Nobody has made you give it. God loves someone who is happy to give help to other people.
Many people were giving their gifts for the temple. There was a box for money there. People threw their coins into it. Jesus sat near the box and he watched them. Many rich people put a lot of money into the box.
But then a woman came there. She was a widow and she was very poor. She put two small coins that had only a little value into the box.
Jesus asked his disciples to come to him. He said to them, ‘I tell you this. This poor woman has put a better gift into the box than all the other people have put in there.
All those rich people have plenty of money. They only put a small part of that into the box. But this woman has almost nothing. She put in all the money that she had. That was the money that she needed to live.’
If you do that, you will store more food than you need for yourself. You will have more wine than you can drink.
Show that you respect the Lord in the way that you use your money. Offer the first part of the harvest from your farm to him.
One tenth of all the food that the land provides belongs to the Lord as a holy gift. It may be grain that grows in the fields, or fruit that grows on the trees.
But as for me, I will sing to thank you. I will offer a sacrifice to you. I will do everything that I have promised to do. The Lord is the one who saves people!’
He gave himself as a sacrifice on our behalf. He did that to make us free from every kind of bad thing. As a result, we can be completely good and clean inside ourselves. We can become his own special people, who want to do good things.
God did not even keep his own Son safe. Instead, he gave his Son to die on behalf of all of us. So we know that he will also give us everything else that we need.
Give to the Lord as much as you are able to. Your gifts may be large or small, as much as the Lord has blessed you.
Then you will be thinking a lot about heaven, because that is where you keep your valuable things.
Give to other people and God will give to you. He will give to you even more than you gave. He will fill your pockets until no more will go in. They will be so full that it will come out over the top. Think about how you give to other people. God will give in the same way to you.’
If you really want to give, then God will accept your gift. God does not want you to give more than you are able to give. He will be happy about what you can give.
Take an offering to give to the Lord from the things that you have. Everyone who wants to give something may choose to give these things: gold, silver, bronze;
But I and my people are like nothing. How are we able to give all these gifts to help your work? Everything that we have comes from you. So we are giving back to you things that already belong to you.
My Christian friends, God has been very kind to us. Because of that, I really want you to serve God with your whole life. Offer your bodies to him like a sacrifice that continues to live. Serve him with everything that you have, and that will please him. That is the true way to worship God.
Remember to be kind to other people. Share with them the things that you have. God is happy with sacrifices like that.
You must keep safe a tenth part of all the crops that grow in your fields. You must be careful to do this every year.
Then take your tithe to the place that the Lord your God will choose as his special home. It will be a tenth part of your grain, your new wine, your olive oil and the firstborn animals from your cows, sheep and goats. Eat them there, at the Lord's special home. Then you will learn to respect the Lord your God always.
On the first day of every week, each of you should put some of your money in a safe place. Think about how much God has given you. Then decide how much you can give to other people. If you do that, the gift will be ready when I come to you. We will not need to start doing it after I come.
He blessed Abram. He said, ‘I pray that the Most High God who made heaven and earth will bless Abram.
Praise the Most High God! He has given you power over your enemies.’ After that, Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth part of everything.
People who are kind and lend money to others, and who work in an honest way, will enjoy a good life.
Somebody may share his things with other people, but he still becomes richer. Somebody else may keep the things that he should give to others, but he still becomes poor.
If you help other people with your money, you will do well. If you give water to thirsty people, you will not be thirsty yourself.
It will be very bad for you, teachers of God's Law and Pharisees. You are hypocrites! When you grow spices to cook with food, you give a tenth part of these small things to God. You are right to obey this rule. But you do not obey the more important parts of God's Law. You do not help people in a good way. You are not kind to them. You do not always do what God says is right. You should have done these important things as well as the other small things.
Say “thank you” to me as your offering. Do whatever you have promised to do for me, the Most High God.
Then Jesus looked up and he saw something that was happening in the temple. There was a box for money there. Many rich people were putting their gifts of money into the box.
Then he saw a woman who was coming there. She was a widow and she was very poor. She put two small coins into the box. They had only a little value
Jesus said, ‘Let me tell you this. This poor woman has put a bigger gift into the box than all the other people have put in there.
All those rich people have plenty of money. They only gave a small part of that. But this woman has almost nothing. She put everything that she had into the box. That money was what she needed to live.’
they put in there the gifts, the tithes and the holy things. A Levite called Konaniah had to take care of all these things. His brother Shimei helped him.
In this way I have shown you how you should live. You should work well so that you may help sick or weak people. You should remember what Jesus himself said: “It may make you happy when you receive things. But it makes you more happy when you give things to someone.” ’
Epaphroditus has brought the gifts that you sent to me. I have received those gifts, so that I no longer need anything. You have sent me more than enough. Your gifts are like a sacrifice with a nice smell that you have offered to God. God accepts that kind of sacrifice. It makes him very happy.
When people went to plant seeds in their fields, they were crying. But they will be happy when they bring in the harvest!
People may think that my disciples are unimportant. But God will bless anyone who gives even a drink of cold water to one of them. I tell you, that person will never lose God's help.’
This is the way that I want you to fast: You must remove the chains from prisoners who should not be in prison. You must stop being cruel to the people who work for you. You must let people who are in pain go free. You must break the yoke of work that is too hard for weak people.
Instead, share your food with hungry people. Give a place in your home to poor people who have no home. Give clothes to people who have nothing to wear. If people in your own family need help, do not refuse to help them.
Do not refuse to help those people who need help. If you are able to help them, do it!
If you can give your neighbour the help that he needs, do not say to him, ‘Go away! Come back tomorrow, and then I will help you.’
Everyone who is learning about God's message should share all his good things with his teacher.
Warn those people who are rich with many things that belong to this world. Tell them not to think that they are more important than other people. They must not think that their money will keep them safe. They could easily lose all of it. Instead, they should trust God. He gives us many things, so that we can enjoy all of them.
Tell those rich people to do many good things to help other people. They should be very kind to other people and share their things with them.
In that way they will store valuable things for themselves in heaven. These things will be a strong help for them in the future. As a result, they will have true life with God.
‘Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. Every person who wants to give can make a gift to me. You must receive their gifts.
You will soon go into the land that the Lord your God is giving to you. It will belong to you as your home.
This is what you must do the first time that the land provides food for you: At harvest time, when you bring in your crops, put some in a basket. Take it to the special place that the Lord your God will choose for people to worship him.
Melchizedek was the king of a city called Salem. He was also a priest of God who rules over all. Melchizedek met Abraham when Abraham was returning from a war. Abraham's men had just won a battle against four kings with their armies. At that time, Melchizedek asked God to bless Abraham.
Abraham gave Melchizedek a tenth part of everything that he had won in the fight. The name ‘Melchizedek’ means ‘king of everything that is right’. His other name, ‘king of Salem’, means ‘king of peace’.
They think only about more things that they want for themselves. But righteous people are happy to give their things to other people.
He does whatever he decides to do. He rules the sky and the earth, and the deepest parts of the sea.
The Lord causes clouds to rise up all over the earth. He sends lightning with the storms of rain. He sends out the wind from its place, so that it blows where he chooses.
You must be sure that your light shines well. Then you will give light to other people. They will see all the good things that you do. Then they will praise God, who is your Father in heaven.’
Since God loves you, he is able to give you more than you need. You will always have every good thing that you need for yourselves. And you will have enough to do many good things to help other people.
Instead, you must always remember the Lord your God. He is the one who gives you the strength to get good things. He does that to show that his covenant still has authority today. That is the covenant that he promised to your ancestors.
My God, I know that you look carefully at our thoughts. You are pleased when we want to do things that are right. And I really do want to offer all these things to you. I know that your people who have met together here are happy. I can see that they are pleased to give these things to you.
If you lend money to a wicked person, he will not give it back to you. But righteous people are kind to others and they give things freely.
So sell what you have and give the money to poor people. Then you will have valuable things in heaven. That is like keeping your money in a bag that will never have any holes in it. There, the value of your things will never become less. There, nobody can take them from you. Insects cannot destroy them.
If you store your valuable things in heaven, that is the place that you will be thinking a lot about.’
When you give something to a poor person, do not tell anyone about it. The hypocrites do this in their meeting places. They also do it in the busy streets of the town. They do this so that other people will praise them. I tell you this. They have already received their gift. God will not give them anything more.
So when you give something to a poor person, keep it a secret from other people. Do not tell anyone. Your left hand will not even know what your right hand does!
Nobody else will know about the good thing that you have done. But God sees the things that you do secretly. In return, he will give you good things.’
If you are not honest, your money will not help you. But if you are righteous, it will save you from death.
This special stone that I have put here will be God's house. And from everything that God gives me, I will give him one tenth.’
The Christians in Macedonia and Achaia want to help the poor people among the believers in Jerusalem. So they have some money ready to send to those people.
So Moses sent a message to everyone in the whole camp. He said, ‘No man or woman must offer any more gifts for the work of the tabernacle.’ When the people heard Moses' message, they did not bring any more gifts.
The workers already had more things than they needed to finish all the work.
I choose to offer a sacrifice to thank you. Lord, you are always good, so I want to praise your name.
But good people think of ways that they can be kind to others. They do the good things that they have decided to do.
Think about this: The people who work in the temple get their food from that place. The priests who offer sacrifices on the altar receive part of the offerings for themselves.
The Lord has given the same command about the people who tell his good news to others. They should receive what they need to live from the people who hear the good news from them.
Jesus said to him, ‘If you want to be completely good, then you must do this. You must sell everything that you have. Then give the money to poor people. If you do that, you will have many valuable things in heaven. Then come back and be my disciple.’
One day, it was time for the harvest. Cain brought to the Lord some of his crops as an offering.
But Abel brought to God some of the first lambs that his sheep had given birth to. He brought pieces of fat from the best of his lambs to offer them to God. Abel and his gift pleased the Lord.
But God was not pleased with Cain and his gift. So Cain became very angry. His face looked sad.
You people of other nations, recognize that the Lord is great and powerful.
Agree that the Lord's name is great. Bring an offering to him in his temple.
Say that the Lord's name is great! Worship the Lord for who he is, and remember that he is holy.
People were weeping when they took their bags of seeds to plant. But when they carry their crops back home, they will shout because they are so happy!
Anyone who cheats people to become rich will cause trouble for his family. But anyone who refuses to accept bribes will live safely.
So we should always praise God, because of what Jesus has done for us. We should say clearly that we trust Jesus. That is like our sacrifice which we offer to God all the time.
When you cut the first crops from your fields, bring the best food to the house of the Lord your God. Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk.’
Everyone should respect leaders of the believers who lead the church well. The church should also pay them properly for their work. That is certainly true for leaders who teach God's people and speak God's message to them.
The Bible says: ‘Do not tie shut the mouth of an ox while it walks on your wheat seeds.’ The Bible also says: ‘You must pay a worker what his work is worth.’
Do not let me ever deceive people with lies. Do not let me be too rich or too poor. Give me only as much food as I need each day.
If I have more than enough, I might say that I do not know you. I might say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ But if I am poor, I might rob people. That would insult my God's good name.
Good people are always kind. They lend things to other people. Their children also bring God's blessing.
The king will answer them, “I tell you this. You did all these things to help other people. They were not important people, but they were my friends. When you helped them, then you also helped me.”
Because of this, we must help everyone when we have the chance. Certainly we must do good things to help our friends who believe in Christ, as we do.
We must not become tired as we do things that are good. We must not become so weak that we stop. Then we will receive a good harvest at the proper time.
Also, you Christians in Philippi helped me at the time when I started to tell people God's good news. When I left Macedonia, you were the only group of Christians who helped me. We were able to help one another, as you know.
Even when I was in Thessalonica, you helped me. More than once, you sent gifts to me because I needed things.
The Lord takes care of me, like a shepherd with his sheep. I have everything that I need.
He takes me to green fields where I can rest. He leads me to streams of water where I can drink.
If you give things to poor people, you will still have enough for yourself. But everyone will curse you if you refuse to help poor people.
I want very much to build a beautiful temple for my God. So I have added my own gold and silver to help to build it. I have added that to the other things that I have provided for God's holy temple.
When God's people need anything, share what you have with them. Always be happy to welcome people into your home.
If people are hungry, share your own food with them. Help those people who are in pain. Then your help to them will be like a light that shines in a dark place. You will no longer live in darkness, but you will have light as bright as the sun at noon.
If someone is kind to poor people, God blesses him. When he is in trouble, the Lord rescues him.
The Lord keeps him safe. The Lord saves his life! God causes him to be happy here in the land where he lives. The Lord will not put him under the power of his enemies.
Do not want to have many valuable things here in the world. Insects or water can destroy those kinds of things. Or people may come into your house and they can rob you of those things.
Instead, you should want to have valuable things in heaven. Insects and water cannot destroy anything there. Men cannot rob you of your things there.
Then you will be thinking a lot about heaven, because that is where you keep your valuable things.
Instead, you should certainly lend money to him. Do not feel upset about it. If you are generous, the Lord your God will bless you in everything that you do.
They give their things to help poor people. People will always remember the good things that they have done. They will be powerful and people will respect them.
My Christian friends, let me tell you about the believers in the churches in Macedonia. God has been very kind to them.
They have had bad troubles, but they continued to be very happy. As a result, they gave a lot of money to other people. They themselves are very poor, but they still helped other people a lot.
Let me tell you this. They gave as much money as they were able to give. Then they gave even more than that! They gave it because they wanted to.
They wanted the chance to help God's people. That would make them happy. So they asked us many times to help them to do this.
They did more than we had even hoped for! First, they gave themselves to the Lord. Then they also gave themselves to us. They did that because God wanted them to do it.
Praise the Most High God! He has given you power over your enemies.’ After that, Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth part of everything.
The people were very happy that their leaders gave these things. They were pleased to give to help the Lord's work. King David was also very happy.
If God has helped you to make others feel strong, then you should do that. If God has helped you to share your things with others, do that seriously. If God has helped you to be a leader, do that carefully. If God has helped you to be kind to others, do that happily.
When people ask you for something, you should give it to them. If they ask you to lend them something, then you should not refuse.
He helps poor people to receive justice. He gives food to the hungry. He makes people that are in prison go free.
They only asked us to do this: we should remember to help the poor people among their group. This is something that I myself wanted very much to do.
When I arrive there, you should choose some people from your group. They will take your gift to Jerusalem. I will write some letters that they will take with them. The letters will explain about your gift.
I may also go myself, if that seems the right thing for me to do. Then they can travel with me.
I am happy because together we tell people the good news about Christ. You have always helped me with that work, since the first day that you yourselves heard the good news.
If you are kind to poor people, you are lending money to the Lord. He will pay back the debt to you.
God will make you rich with many good things. As a result, you will always be able to give plenty to other people. Many people will thank God because of your gifts that we take to them.
When you give it to them, they take it. You open your hand to feed them, and they have plenty of good things.
People will do things that are right, so there will be peace. People will always be safe.
You may be bad, but even you know how to give good things to your children. Your Father in heaven knows much better than you do how to give good things to his children. He will give good things to everyone who asks him.
Love each other truly like brothers and sisters. Be happy to give honour to other Christians.
Take your problems to the Lord. He will take care of you. He will never let his own people fall.
Do not deceive yourselves. Nobody can make God seem foolish. Think about a farmer who plants seeds in his field. The same kind of crops will grow as the seeds which he plants. That will be his harvest.
Tell those rich people to do many good things to help other people. They should be very kind to other people and share their things with them.
He lifts poor people out of the dirt. He lifts up weak people from the ashes.
He gives them a seat with princes, the princes who rule his own people.
So think about how great this man, Melchizedek, was! Even Abraham, the ancestor of all Israel's people, gave gifts to Melchizedek. Abraham gave him a tenth part of everything that he had won in the fight.