By OLUMOFIN Kehinde Benjamin

Good morning to all.

One of our sisters asked me questions on TITHE yesterday. I will like to share some of the answers with you with added explanations where possible.

1. Can I use my tithe to take care of the poor?

2. Can I use my tithe if that is the only money on me and I have an immediate financial need?

3. If my church is not using the tithe correctly what can I do?

4. Can I used my tithe to take care of my church ministers I know are in financial needs?

5. If I have a ministry, at what point can I start paying my tithe to the ministry?

I will based my answers on Malachi 3:10-12 and some applicable Bible verses too.

“Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.  And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.  And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts.

QUESTION 1:

“CAN I USE MY TITHE TO TAKE CARE OF THE POOR?

ANSWER:

The verses of the Bible quoted above says, “Bring the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house” (Temple, church, ministry etc.). In order word, tithes are to be submitted to “mine house” not to anyone else. Whatever happened to the tithes that are brought and how they are distributed (to staff and officiating ministers of “mine house” and maintaining the house or to be given to the poor etc.) is now the prerogative of those in-charge of the house of God. You CAN’T bring your tithe to God and also administer it by giving it to the poor yourself, if you are NOT the lead head of the house at the time. How and to what or to whom tithes are used for, is for the priests and the officiating minister of the house at that time to determine. So my answer to that question is “No…..you are not the pastor. Its your pastor that decides who and what it’s used for. If you are to give to the poor, do it as a willing offering, but tithes should go to ‘mine house’ says the LORD.”

QUESTION 2:

CAN I USE MY TITHE IF THAT IS THE ONLY MONEY ON ME AND I HAVE AN IMMEDIATE FINANCIAL NEED?

ANSWER:

Always pay once you have the money before you start spending to avoid the temptation of taking back your “sacrifice” that is already laid (or meant to be lay) on the altar, just because you still have it with you.

Luke 9:62  “And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Even if you don’t pay tithe, no amount is ever enough to solve all immediate financial needs, the more reason God should be first.

If you have your church/ministry account number you can pay via transfer to avoid the temptation of keeping your tithes more than necessary. Or give any of your children to keep if its cash, till the time you want to pay. That way you are teaching him or her to be financially responsible to God in tithe payment. Even if tithe is not paid, the whole still can’t solve the problems on ground.

QUESTION 3:

IF MY CHURCH IS NOT USING THE TITHE CORRECTLY WHAT CAN I DO?

ANSWERS:

If your church (or ministry) is not using your tithe “correctly” (though that depend on what you considered to be correct or not) what you can do is to call the attention of those in-charge of the church or ministry to it and advice appropriately, if you are in a position to do so, otherwise, yours is to pay, and hold on to the promise of obedience attached to the verses I earlier quoted from Malachi and leave the rest to God and the men He had appointed to manage the funds. Yours is to bring your sacrifice to the altar, you have little or no control on what happened after. We are called to peace, there is no room for rebellion or protest in the house of God. Call attention to things you think are not right and leave the rest to God. If you are consistently left dissatisfied in ways resources are used in your church or ministry, and can’t help bring about a change, it is better to find another church or ministry where you can find happiness and peace than to succumb to rebellion or protest in the house of God. Church is not secular service. No one touch His anointed and remain guiltless. We are called to peace.

Colossians 3:15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.

QUESTION 4:

CAN I USED MY TITHE TO TAKE CARE OF MY CHURCH MINISTERS I KNOW ARE IN FINANCIAL NEEDS?

ANSWER:

No. Just like the previous answers, if you are not the pastor of your church or ministry or group where you are spiritually fed, it is not your responsibility to distribute or administer tithes, yours inclusive.

But you can give a willing personal offering or donations to your church ministers or members and even non-members you think are in need.

Philippians 3:16  “Nevertheless….let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.”

The cause you intend using your tithe for may look good and admirable but you might be going out of your spiritual jurisdiction, like Uzzah in 2 Samuel 6:6-7, when you do a service you are not called to do, like administering and distributing tithes as you “feel led” when you are not the head of your organization. If everyone is allowed to distribute and administer their tithes there will be chaos and anarchy in the house of God, and God is not the author of confusion.

1 Corinthians 14:33  “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.”

And lastly, QUESTION 5

IF I HAVE A MINISTRY, AT WHAT POINT CAN I START PAYING MY TITHE TO THE MINISTRY?

ANSWER:

I will answer this in two categories.

CATEGORY 1:

IF BY GID’S GRACE, YOU ARE THE FOUNDER AND HEAD OF THE MINISTRY.

A ministry is a church (God House) without a wall. As long as 2 or 3 people according to Jesus words are meeting together in His Name, God is there (Matthew 18:20). And any place where people are meeting, either in a hall or online, there bounds to be social responsibilities that are financially incline there, both to members and non-members alike.

So if you are the Head or pastor in-charged, the sooner those responsibility starts coming in, then the need to start paying your own tithe to meet those needs, hopefully others will come along and help as the Lord touches each heart. This is what me and my family do to keep 3pG going and many have been helping as well.

Now do we still pay to our church where we worship? Yes, mostly tithe of tithes on behalf of 3pG. Even when paying a personal tithe, once a while to the church, we still pay to the church in the name of 3pG Christian Ministry but most of our tithes goes to the work of 3pG and are administers accordingly.

You might ask, I’m I on salary, or how do I keep my family floating financially?

Not until recently, August 2022, the 3pG Board of Trustees approved a token for me as salary so I can be financially responsible to my immediate family. For the first 5 years of the Ministry, though I have run with the vision full time and still running with it, I mostly depend on my wife, and few committed members who sends their token of love from time to time. Help me thank my wife for these many years, and 3pG Board of Trustees for their kind hearts for the difference they started making since August 2022 after the 5th Anniversary.

That is my answer for category 1. Your ministry needs money, so your family must take the lead.

CATEGORY 2:

IF YOU HAVE A CHURCH AND YOU STILL BELONG TO ANOTHER MINISTRY WHERE YOU ARE REGULARLY FED AND BLESSED.

It is wrong to be drinking constantly and regularly too from a well and you are doing no part in the keeping and maintaining the freshness of the waters from the well. If others too has abandoned the well just as the manner of some is, would the waters still be kept fresh from environmental elements that sometimes finds their ways inside the well and its environ?

If you have been blessed with spiritual things, it is no out of place for those God is using to also benefit out of your carnal blessings in tithes and offerings.

1 Corinthians 9:11“If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?  9:13 Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar?  9:14 Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.”

God says “bring tithes and offerings to “mine house” is a charged to members of the ‘house’ who have been blessed and have prayers answered by coming to the house…and not to those who have no business with the God and activities that are done in God’s house.

Where you are constantly being blessed is your “God’s house” (it may be a church or a ministry or a group) and it’s spiritually correct and is expected to release whatever is in your hands as gifts, from time to time, as long as you are a member, to keep such places floating.

To whom much is given, much is expected. If everyone is keeping to him or herself as some are doing, soon nothing will be left to tap from. You are in the ministry and or in a church to play your role, get fed and blessed and one of such roles is your financial devotions to God via the place or places He has placed you as long as you are benefiting from them. It is called spiritual financial responsibility and devotion to God via the vessels He had used to bless you and keep you fresh in His love and grace. It is spiritual robbery to keep drinking and feed from a church and or ministry and keep your assistance or help from either of them. If God has blessed you through His servants, He expect you to do the same with your carnal things as quoted from Apostle Paul. Jesus only brought out money once through the mouth of fish, yet for three and half years his disciples did not fast nor lack. He wasn’t feeding and providing for them by magic, He was served and provided for by those who heard Him, though they be well committed to the Temple as well (remember Judas was the treasurer that kept the purse, if there were no donations from within and outside the twelve, there wouldn’t have been the need for a treasurer). “I’m committed financially to my church!” good and fine, but if you also belong to a ministry or a group and are regularly fed and blessed there too, that’s your other church without walls. A church is not just a building, but where 2 or 3 are gathered in His Name. Wherever God has put you and He is blessing you, do your part to keep the blessing flowing, to you and to others. That’s true and balance financial devotion, a sweet smelling sacrifice to God, our Father.

And to those who eschew tithes payment in its entirety, either to church or to ministry, though regularly fed and blessed by both, I have no answer for you, no, not at this time.

Written by OLUMOFIN Kehinde Benjamin, Group Admin, 3pG Christian Ministry and President, Fellowship of the Married and Matured Singles.