Economy of the Kingdom

 The Short Version:

• God will always provided everything we need to obey his every word.

• We don't give to get blessed, we don't give to get something back, we give out of obedience and love. 

• Depend on God for what you need, not yourself, or others. 

• We are the tithe, lets give all of our self, not just 10% of our money.

• God provides what we need, not always what we want , but sometimes he will give us things we don't need just to bless us! 

The Full Version:

I started to learn about the economy of the Kingdom during my trip to Scotland. I counted all my resources as the Lords and stepped out into obedience and bought a plane ticket and God provided for literally everything else. Lately God has been teaching me to live all of life like this, not just an adventure here and there. Some examples from this last week:

• God told me to buy an iPod for a friend that didn't have one. I hesitated because that would once again drain all my resources. But God reminded me that it wasn't my resources but his. So I agreed and a few days later, the night before I went to get the iPod, a friend walked up to me and told me that God told him to give me some money. He gave me $120! I was able to get the iPod no problem and it really blessed my friend! I was blessed as well to receive and see God's provision and blessed by my friends obedience to the Lord. When we all walk in obedience with open hands, the blessings (not just monetary) just start flowing all around!
•  Jesus told me to drive to Lansing for a friends CD release, then all over Grand Rapids to visit a couple churches and a conference and a Bible study. This takes a toll on gas, and I didn't know how I was going to pay for it, but I felt that I was walking in obedience so I just trusted that there would be a way made to pay for it all or to multiply the gas in the car. At one of the churches a friend handed me $20 and said that God told her to give it to me! 
• This isn't just happening to me it is happening all over! It is starting to become the new normal for Christians who walk by faith in obedience to God's word, and not by sight. One of my friends from Hope College was told by God to by a plane ticket to Zambia. The problem is that he really wanted to go home to visit his family but if he bought the ticket he would not be able to afford the $70 train ticket. He obeyed, even though it seemed crazy, was severely blessed in Zambia by the trip and fellowship he had there. But to top it off, the day after he bought the ticket to Zambia, he got a card from his grandma with $20 in it and another friend walked up and handed him $50 because the he felt the Lord had told him to give the $50. So he had the $70 he needed to go home, the next day! The best part is that the guy who gave the $50 didn't even know my friend needed the $50 to buy the train ticket. He was just obedient. 

These are just a few of the stories! (The more tame ones I might add) 

Now I don't think that everyone or even many are called to sell everything, to give everything away, if so, we would all be poor and no one would be able to help anyone, but we all should be willing to give everything away. If we acknowledge that nothing is ours, and it's all on loan, then we would have no problem putting whatever amount of time, talent, money, etc... wherever God told you to put it.

Tithes: So we don't kill animals for sacrifices or wear pure linen robes to church or do any of the other things that they did in the Law because Christ came to fulfill the Law. So why are we still tithing, and mandating the giving of tithes in churches just like the Law requires. If you are going to live by the Law you have to live by the whole thing, you cannot just pick and choose: "This Law was fulfilled", "This one wasn't". Either all of them were fulfilled in Christ or none of them were. Praise God it is written, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." (Matt. 5:17)

Many churches and Christians live like the tithe wasn't fulfilled, but I believe it was. Col. 2:6-23 talks about Christ being the fulfillment of the Law. Especially verse 17: "These (the laws) are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ." So I started looking for the fulfillment of the tithe. The 'shadow' of the tithe is found in Gen. 14:18-20 where Abraham gives 1/10th of everything that he has to Melchizedek, a priest of God Most High. So I started there and dug into the '1/10th' and 'Melchizedek'.

• Melchizedek - In Hebrews 7 it talks about how Melchizedek was a 'shadow' of Jesus!
• 1/10th is found in Luke 17:10-19 where 10 lepers were healed by Jesus but only one came back to thank him, and he threw himself down at the feet of Jesus and thanked him.

In light of these I saw that the 1/10th was a whole person who bowed with gratitude at Jesus feet, the 'tithe' is for Jesus. But Jesus said things like 'leave your father and mother', 'you lack one thing, go and sell everything that you own', and other extreme things like that. I think the key words in these are 'your' and 'you own'. Nothing is ours, we don't own anything. It is all on loan from the Lord for the advancement of his Kingdom and the glory of his name. Again, I don't think Jesus is telling everyone to sell everything, but he does want us to get rid of the idea that something, anything is ours. IF something is ours then we can do what we want with it, but if it is God's then we only do what he wants with it. NEWSFLASH: Jesus doesn't need our money. And he is certainly worth more than just 10% of your money! The point is he wants us, EVERY PART OF US! As Christian rap artist Lecrae says in his song 'Don't Waste Your Life', "Your money, your singleness, marriage, talent, and time, they were loaned to you to show the world that Christ is divine!" One of the most used verses in the Bible to 'encourage' tithing is Malachi 3:8-12. But verse 7 right before that says, "Return to me, and I will return to you," says the LORD Almighty." God wants you! And when we don't give everything into his hands, we are robbing him, because we are are not our own.


GOD WANTS US! WE ARE THE TITHE!

** Unfortunately many churches have become dependent on people to keep the church financially afloat, rather than God. Thus they need to push tithing to pay bills that they are behind on or to get money for another program. ** 

Let it be known I am not against offerings, in fact when the offerings go by it is a good chance to ask God how much HE would have you put in if any! God is all about giving but since it is his money lets ask him where he wants it. I just don't like the trying to twist peoples arms/ guilt them into giving or tell them they have to give a certain amount to a certain place: Let God decide that.

Conclusion:
 
When we live within the Kingdom of God we have the resources of heaven at our disposal. We acknowledge that everything is from him. We the more we mature in Christ the more we "come up leaning on our beloved" (Song of Sol. 8:5) as we see more and more our dependency on him. The focus isn't getting or giving stuff, the focus is the person of Jesus Christ, and in him we have all resources we need to walk in obedience to his every word.


This was a lot of info so if you are someone who likes one-liners here are the two that sum up this blog:

• God wants the full tithe...and you are the tithe.

• God will always provided everything we need to obey his every word.