Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
Select a thought to read by choosing a collection, the month, and then the day:
In this New Covenant, God's system of tithes and offerings as a means of providing for His servants' earthly needs is still in force. This is what Paul was referring to when he said, "They that preach the gospel should live of the gospel." Some argue that rendering tithes and offerings was an element of the Old Testament that is no longer in effect, but it is precisely because God's system of tithes and offerings is still in effect that Christianity came to exist. Satan is after the glory that belongs only to the true God, and his ministers are after the wealth that belongs only to God's true servants.
Paul wrote to one assembly of saints, "We beseech you in Christ's stead". If a man is really speaking "in Christ's stead", it can only be because Christ has sent him to do so. And if Jesus sends a man to speak "in his stead", then that man is safe for God's children to follow. And if he is safe for them to follow, then it is safe for them to render to him God's tithes and offerings, for he will be receiving them "in Christ's stead".
Jesus bluntly called men hired as pastors, "thieves and robbers" (Jn. 10:1, 8-13). This is a hard saying, but Jesus said it, and it is true. Such ministers are, as the Lord of heaven and earth said, "thieves and robbers" because what draws them into a religious career is not the call of God, but the call of money. Since Jesus came, Satan has had to "transform himself into an angel of light" in order to deceive the children of God (2Cor. 11:14), and men who have the same spirit of envy against God that Satan has followed his lead and "transformed themselves into ministers of righteousness" (2Cor. 11:15).
It's for the money.
We are told in the Bible that God made Jesus a priest just as He made a man called Melchizedek a priest (Heb. 6:20). A thousand years before Jesus came, the Bible foretold that he would be that kind of priest (Ps. 110:4). But what do we know about Melchizedek, and what great deeds did he do, so that Jesus would be like him? First of all, throughout the history recorded in the Bible, Melchizedek appears only in four verses, so we know almost nothing about his background and life. One way, however, in which Jesus became a high priest like Melchizedek is that neither Jesus nor Melchizedek were from the tribe of Levi. Neither of them came from Israel's family of priests. Both were simply chosen and anointed by God to be who they were and to do what they did.
The only two deeds that Melchizedek performed in the four verses of Genesis where he appears were (1) he received tithes from Abraham and (2) he blessed that great man of God. That's all he ever did, as far as the Biblical record is concerned. This is the Melchizedek who was the kind of priest that Jesus became, according to the Bible.
Now, if Jesus is a high priest "like unto Melchizedek", doesn't it seem reasonable that, at the very least, Jesus should (1) receive tithes from righteous people as Melchizedek did and (2) bless righteous people as Melchizedek did. That is what Melchizedek did. Wouldn't it seem strange if Jesus, a high priest like Melchizedek, did not do the only two things in the Bible that Melchizedek ever did?
Melchizedek was ordained by God to receive Abraham's tithes because Melchizedek was ordained by God. God's anointing on the man Melchizedek meant that whenever Melchizedek, a mortal man, received tithes on earth, those tithes were received in heaven by God who anointed him. The same is true in this New Testament. "Here men that die receive tithes," and if those men are men of God, then "there [i.e. in heaven] he [Jesus] receiveth them, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth" (Heb. 7:8).
This is the reason I stress so much that we should make certain that the hand into which we place God's money is the hand of a man whom God has ordained to receive it. Otherwise, we are merely subsidizing the lifestyle of "a thief and a robber" and financing our own confusion. Bringing God's tithes and offerings to the wrong man not only hurts us, it hurts that man. It encourages him to believe that he is what he is not. It enables him to continue functioning in a position for which God has not equipped him, which means that it enables him to continue to mislead people who trust him. It can bring upon that man a curse for putting his hands upon holy things that do not belong to him. When God's tithes and offerings are given to a man whom God has not sent, that money is used to the hurt of everybody. It can even be used by Satan to poison the hearts of men with false doctrines against the tenderest truths of Christ. There just isn't an error that God's people can make that has more potential for harm than to give God's money to the wrong man.
Please do not think that simply because you have been tithing, God is pleased. He may, in fact, be broken-hearted. Our heavenly Father loves us so much that He can only be pleased with our tithes and offerings when we have brought them to a place that is safe for us to bring them; that is, to men whom He has anointed to care for the flock of God, men whom God has ordained to receive tithes and His offerings "in Christ's stead". If a man has not heard from God, if he has no power with God, if God has not sent him to do what he is doing and to say what he is saying, why would we even want to give him God's money? On what basis does it belong to him? By virtue of his holding a title given to him by other men?
To whom have you been giving God's tithes and offerings? If to an organization called a "church", then it is promoting division among the saints. If to a man not ordained by God, then it is puffing up a mere human against the right ways of God. In either case, you should cease immediately and wait for the Spirit to guide you in this matter. God's money belongs to God. It is to be brought only to where His Spirit has sanctified an earthly vessel to receive it in His name. That way, it is also received in heaven.