What Do You Owe God?

In a previous post, I examined what God requires of us in comparison to what He required of Israel. The conclusion was that God requires the same things from us that He required from Israel - that we fear God, love God, walk in all God's ways, serve God with all our heart and soul, and keep God's commandments (Deuteronomy 10:12-13). Israel continually fell short on every one of these points because they didn't have the law of God written in their minds and on their hearts, so that even when they tried to please God they could not because they lacked the help of the Holy Spirit. Put another way, God gives us His Spirit so that we can do what Israel couldn't - if we walk by the Spirit, then we walk according to God's law, which is the same law that He gave to Israel.

Today, I'd like to make another comparison between the New Covenant and the Old - let's consider what we owe God in comparison to what Israel owed God under the Old Covenant.

Whose Law is it Anyway?

In the previous article, I wrote about what God requires from us as compared to Israel, concluding that the two were the same, insofar as we should love and fear God and obey His commandments (Deuteronomy 10:12-13). Most people would agree with that statement on the surface, but begin to disagree when I specify that God's commandments are the same for us today as they were for Israel. Today, I want to give an illustrative example of why I hold this view.

What Does God Require of You?

What does God require of you? This is a subject of much contention among those who read the bible. For ancient Israel, God made it extremely clear what He expected from them under the Old Covenant:

Deuteronomy 10:12
And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the LORD and His statutes which I commanded you today for your good?

God gave them an elaborate and detailed list of laws that they were to keep, and many people think that these laws are not what God intends for us under the New Covenant. If God doesn't expect us to keep His law, then what does He require of us?

Arguments Against Tithing Debunked - Part 1 - Introduction to the Issues

A quick Google search for “tithing” brings up a litany of very passionate anti-tithing websites that share many of the same views and arguments. The fact that there is such a large body of literature against tithing and the fact that people are so zealously against it has compelled me to thoroughly analyze and evaluate these arguments in light of what the scriptures actually say.

1 Peter 3:15-16 

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed.

Arguments Against Tithing - Part 5 - Is Tithe Only Required in Israel?

Thus far in this series, I've established the following:

• That the law of God, and tithing in particular, was not abolished in the New Covenant
• That (first) tithe is given to God - tithe has never belonged to the Levites in an exclusive sense, but was given to them for a time in exchange for their service
• That New Covenant believers are not priests yet, although we shall be in the coming Kingdom of God on earth
• That ministers of the Church of God are not priests yet either, but that they do perform a priestly service in the New Covenant Temple of God, which is the Church

I've taken these anti-tithing arguments in an order that makes sense to me: if I were wrong at any step, then all steps thereafter become irrelevant and not worth discussing. In any case, I've now laid enough of a foundation to make the following question relevant: "What should be tithed on?" In particular, the anti-tither argument that I'll be addressing in this and the next article is as follows:

God commanded that the Israelites give tithe on crops grown in the Holy Land and on herds and flocks raised in the Holy Land. The law required the tithe to come from God's increase - not man's; therefore, it is wrong to tithe on any form of income other than crops or livestock that were raised in Israel.