My Filing Cabinet

Why is the church important?

Psalms 65:4
Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple.

The key phrase is “goodness of thy house”. A house is not made out of an individual but of a congregation. The temple too, isn’t for a single person. It is in the congregation that we shall be satisfied with his goodness.

Ephesians 1:22-23
22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, 23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

God places all things under Jesus’ feet. Yes, he gave authority to Jesus but the main thing is that by doing that, his body, the church benefit. His fullness fills all.

Pastor Prince said that whatever we do is spiritual. The church is not surrounding the world, it is not peripheral to the world although it may look and seem so. In fact, the world surrounds the church. So we shall do everything for the benefit of the church.

Matthew 18:19-20
19 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

What constitute a church? How many shall there be? The smallest church is made up of 2 people. The fullness of Christ is found in the church. Pray and agree together and it shall be done. Supplies flow when believers gather, and especially so when we talk and think about Jesus.

If God’s eye is on the church, then it make sense that when I serve the church, I amd flowing and in harmony with God and his plans and purposes. When I serve for the benefit of the Lord and the church, my eyes are unto the Lord. Whatever I lose for the sake of the church, He shall restore. For He promised:

Matthew 28:20
Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

See how God supply the needs of the Israelites in the wilderness.

Deuteronomy 8:4
4 Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.

Ezekiel 16:10
10 I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers’skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk.

Their clothes didn’t worn out. Their feet never swell from all the walking. When God built the tabernacle, the people gave from their belongings. Pastor Prince surmised that the Israelites gave their shoes made of badgers’ skins for the outer covering of the Tent of the Tabernacle and God made sure that their feet never hurt. The bronze of the laver which holds the water that worshippers use to cleanse themselves, came from the bronze mirrors of the women. The mirrors are the women’s tools of making themselves attractive. These are items close to their hearts. Yet, without them, their population still increased .

Deuteronomy 2:7
7 For the Lord thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: he knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the LORD thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing.

Finally, God is now here. That’s the answer to our needs. Don’t see the church the way the world sees it. They don’t see the gold and splendor inside the Tabernacle. The 12 loaves on the Table of Showbread was in the presence of the Lord in the Tabernacle for a week. Eaten by the priests and one small piece is sufficient. There is no source of nourishment in the world. Jesus is our true nourishment.

Look at Jesus and Jesus will face off the enemies.

Jesus in the midst of the church is powerful.

This post contains the sermon notes on Benefits of Tithing preached by Pastor Joseph Prince at New Creation Church.

Tithing is an important ritual that Christians do in the church.

In the past, I struggle with it. It was hard for me to offer my money to God.

Pastor Prince gave me the knowledge to tithe with a cheerful and willing heart with the benefits of tithing.

The key passage for tithing is Malachi 3:8-12

In this passage, God was talking to his people. Although this is an Old Testament book, the passage was referring to the present generation. Malachi 3:1 sets the context of this passage when Malachi refers to the 2nd coming of Jesus which is an event closer to the New Testament generations than the Old Testament generations.

8 “Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings.
9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you!
10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,” says the LORD of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.
11 Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes,” says the LORD of hosts.
12 “All the nations will call you blessed, for you shall be a delightful land,” says the LORD of hosts.
13 “Your words have been arrogant against Me,” says the LORD. “Yet you say, ‘What have we spoken against You?’
14 You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we have kept His charge, and that we have walked in mourning before the LORD of hosts?

God says to bring ALL the tithes into THE storehouse. This means that the entire tithe should be given to the local church and not segmented into smaller gifts or offerings for different ministries of missionaries. When I tithe my whole portion to the local church, Abba God will bless me abundantly.

He will protect the fruits of my labours from being devoured. Things that I put my hands to work on will always produce a return and not be in vain. I am a delightful land and people find me a worthy investment.

In Genesis 14:16, the bible records the story of how Abraham tithes to Melchizedek, King of Salem and refused to take anything from the King of Sodom.

Hebrews 7:4 explains that Abraham gave a tenth to Melchizedek and that it was a acknowledgement of how great the receiver was.

The first reason I tithe is to show that Jesus Christ is great. The person I give money to has great stature. In verse 7, it explains that when I tithe to the church, it is as if Jesus received it. My tithe is also a witness that Jesus is alive. If I tithe to a dead person, I would be so foolish. But I believe that my tithe is received by the Almighty who is very much alive and has the power to do big things with little offerings. He is my provider. It also shows that He is alive and active in my life in a practical way.

Hebrews 7:9-10 pointed out that Levi paid tithes to the Lord while he is in Abraham’s loins. This is significant because Levi was Abraham’s great grandson. He wasn’t born yet when Abraham tithed. This can only mean that tithing benefits descendants. Its impact can be felt by generations to come.

If these benefits are not sufficient to convince me that tithing is good, I don’t know what will.

Pastor also addressed some common beliefs about tithing.

1. If you do not tithe, God will curse you

There is a teaching that if you don’t tithe, God will curse you. This is based on Malachi 3:9 where God says “You are cursed with the curse, for you rob me.” This curse didn’t come from God. When Adam sins, the ground was cursed. This is where the curse came from. When Cain killed Abel, God said that the ground cursed Cain. He didn’t say “I curse you” so the curse didn’t come from God.

I need to recognize that there is a curse on the earth and when I receive something such as money from the ground or earth, it is tainted with the curse. The good news is that God can sanctify it by his holy principle mentioned in Romans 11: 16.

For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches.

This is basically the tithe which is a tenth or the first fruits. The giving of the tenth or first fruit is a consistent principle in the bible. If 10% is given to the Lord, the rest of the 90% is made holy by Him. When something is made holy, the Devil cannot touch it, let alone steal it. This is God’s grace towards me. When I give Him 10%, He sanctifies my 90% and it goes a long way.

2. When you tithe, you honour God

My income represents my blood, sweat and tears. I earned it. It is mine. When I give a portion of it to Abba God, I am giving a piece of my life to God. He knows it and He acknowledges it as my act of honouring Him. As Solomon says in Proverbs 3:8-10:

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.

Tithing is a very practical way to express that you honour God. Saying it or shouting or singing that I honour and love God is just talk. Tithing speaks louder than words.

3. Prosperity is not good

Many christians are suspicious of prosperity believing that it will corrupts. That is not true. The love of money is evil, not money itself. It is clear in Malachi that God promises that when his people tithe, he will bless them. Why do God bless with riches? This is prosperity with a purpose.

The Bible says that Christ is the first fruit of all that slept. Doesn’t this mean that Jesus is God’s tithe. When Jesus died on the Cross, He glorifies God. The blood He shed so release God to look me in the face in all his holiness and me in my sinfulness, and still enables Him to bless me.

So, tithing, for me, is a biblical principle to:

1. Sanctify me and my possessions against the curse of the earth
2. Declare that Jesus Christ is alive
3. Honour and give weight to Abba God