Tithing / A tenth

What did Jesus mean

Give from your heart, not from your wallet.

Where did Jesus say this

Matthew 23:23 — “Woe be to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, which tithe mint, anise, and cummin, and leave the weightier matters of the law undone: judgment, mercy, and faith.”

Words Behind the Words

The Greek word for tithing is dekatē and the Hebrew word for tithe is ma’aser. They both translate to “a tenth.” So when someone says “tithe,” it literally translates to a “tenth” of whatever they’re referring to.

A historical sidenote

Jesus never commanded you to give a tithe (tenth) of anything to anyone or any structure. God, however, did command it. But not in the context we think of it now.

Numbers 18:21, 24 — “And behold, I have given the children of Levi the tenth in Israel to inherit, for the service which they serve in the tabernacle of witness… For the tithes of the children of Israel, which they heave unto the Lord, I have given the Levites to inherit.”

The Levites could not farm or build wealth on their own. They were given no land and no earthly inheritance. They were required to help God and the community full-time (true public servants). In exchange, God commanded a tenth of whatever was “earned” in the current yield be given to the Levites (for their service).

How did this break down? Let’s say you owned 10 lambs last year. This year, your flock birthed 10 new lambs. You don’t give two this year; you give one. It doesn’t compound year over year.

In essence, it was a welfare system set up to help those who devoted their entire lives to God and their community.

What Jesus did not mean

Again, Jesus never commanded you to give up a tenth of what you have. However, he did reference “tithing” a few times.

Twice, Jesus calls out Pharisees (religious authority figures) who nitpick and line-item every single thing, down to the tiniest herb and spice — and in doing so, fail to see the most important things: judgment, mercy, and faith (Matthew 23:23).

In Luke 11:42, Jesus expands this to include the love of God.

And in Luke 18:12, Jesus uses a parable to sarcastically describe a Pharisee: “I fast twice in the week. I give tithe of all that I possess.”

So what did Jesus not mean by these three quotes:

Don’t think you’re good and justified in God’s eyes (or his eyes) simply because you counted your spices and set aside a tenth of it “per God’s commandment.”

It’s a performance.

Performed like clockwork.

Performed with no feeling attached to it.

Performed for other men.

Where to start

To know where to start, you need to understand what God actually desired when he originally commanded a tithe be sent to the Levites (which, let’s be real, can be confusing because we don’t exactly have Levites running around anymore).

So what does Jesus expect from you, and how do you follow this “commandment” in the modern world? Take it from Moses.

Deuteronomy 14:28–29 — “At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithes of thine increase the same year, and lay it up within thine own city, and the Levite shall come, because he hath neither part nor inheritance with thee, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy city, and shall eat and fill themselves; that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the works of thine hand which thou doest.”

Think of your “tithe” as community service.

Your community can look like anything: family, friends, coworkers, the homeless, the addicted, children… the list can go on. It is anyone who needs help, attention, time, or resources. This does not always boil down to money.

You help in the way you can help.

As long as you aren’t helping someone for external validation, and as long as you aren’t avoiding the help altogether, you are doing “tithing” correctly.

And last but not least…

To Jesus, a “tithe” does not have to be given to a church to “count.” It simply has to come from the heart.

Benefits

When you stop counting your help in dollars and start valuing your help by resources (what you have, what you know, what you can physically do, what you can teach), then you’ll start to see your influence differently.

Money isn’t always the answer.

Splitting your help by a tenth isn’t always the solution.

Once you understand that, you should feel more empowered. And with that power, your ability to help becomes immeasurable.