Gtcotr/ws020123
1 Corinthians 14:40 Let all things be done decently and in order.
This short verse written by the Apostle Paul reveals a powerful truth which accurately describes God’s own habit and hope for eternity. Before the foundation of the world, God had laid out His plan and ordered the whole universe. From the orbiting of the planets around the sun in our galaxy, to the delicately balanced minutiae of earth’s eco system, order is everything.
God thought of every detail before He started. This is what prompted Him to create dry ground and grass before He created cattle; parents before children; a boat before a flood; and salvation before judgement.
God has always made a way and provided for His children before He sent them on their journeys. Despite the difficulties we encounter along life’s road, we can rest assured God has gone before us and has prepared the way. He never leaves us or forsakes us. He is gentle and He is kind, and He prepares a table for us in the wilderness, even when we are surrounded by our enemies.
Jacob was about 77 years old when his mother Rebecca became afraid her other son, Esau, Jacob’s older twin, was going to kill Jacob. Esau had reason and Rebecca was a part of that reason. Esau had been betrayed by both his brother Jacob and his mother Rebecca. These two had conspired to rob Esau of his birthright and his father’s blessing, and they had succeeded. You can read all about it in Genesis 25 and Genesis 27.
At any rate, Rebecca desperately wanted to get her favorite mama’s boy, Jacob, out of town before Esau made good on his promise to kill him. Rebecca begs her husband, Isaac, to send Jacob to find a wife from her brother’s family in Haran. Isaac agrees and sends Jacob on his 300 mile walk from Beersheba in Israel to Haran in Syria.
About the third day into the journey, 77 year old Jacob stops on a hill north of what is now the city of Jerusalem, on a hilltop he will later call the house of God, Bethel. Let’s begin reading our text in:
Genesis 28 NKJV
10 ¶ Now Jacob went out from
Beersheba and went toward Haran.
11 So he came to a certain
place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of
the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place
to sleep.
12 Then he dreamed, and
behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and
there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
13 And behold, the LORD stood
above it and said: “I am the LORD God of Abraham your father and the God of
Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants.
14 “Also your descendants
shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the
east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families
of the earth shall be blessed.
15 “Behold, I am with you and
will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will
not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.”
16 ¶ Then Jacob awoke from
his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.”
17 And he was afraid and
said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and
this is the gate of heaven!”
18 Then Jacob rose early in
the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a
pillar, and poured oil on top of it.
19 And he called the name of
that place Bethel; but the name of that city had been Luz previously.
20 Then Jacob made a vow,
saying, “If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and
give me bread to eat and clothing to put on,
21 “so that I come back to my
father’s house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God.
22 “And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”
Remember
we are talking about God’s admonition to let all things be done decently and in
order?
·
It
is important first of all to do all things God wants to be done.
·
Next
is that we do these things in a seemingly decent way.
· Paying attention to the order in which God placed them.
Some Churches and many individual Christians consider the practice of tithing to be an Old Testament requirement commanded by the Law of Moses and therefore not valid in the New Testament Church for the Believer in Jesus. However the most elementary reading of the scriptures disproves this thought and firmly establishes that the covenant God offers His children concerning their financial partnership with Him has been forever established on the basis of the first tenth of our increase being dedicated and given to Him.
We
find this confirmed by the order in which the practice of tithing was first
introduced. Allow me to explain in scripture as we recognize the goal of God
and the goal of any loving Pastor is to teach truth so that the children of God
will be blessed and protected from the devil’s destructive powers.
1.
We
know from Adam’s two sons, Cain and Able, that there is an acceptable and an
unacceptable way to present offerings to God.
2.
We
know that Abraham practiced tithing, giving a tenth of his increase to the
Priests of God over 500 years before Moses was even born. It was a part of the
Abrahamic covenant with God.
3.
We
also see that Jacob committed a tenth of all of his increase to be dedicated and
given to God more than 400 years before the Law of God was ever written.
4.
We
know that the covenant of tithing was so important that God commanded it to be
written in the Law by Moses in efforts to keep His children safe from the
devourer and in covenant with Him financially.
5. Paul writes in the New Testament how important it is to understand that:
2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
Paul further tells us that:
Galatians 3 NKJV
13 Christ has redeemed us
from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written,
“Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”),
14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
17 And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect.
We have been saved from the penalties of the Law, not from the blessings of Abraham. The giving of a tenth of our increase in respect to honoring God and the covenant was so powerful through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that it was included as an important part of the Law and continued beyond the Law in respect to God and the covenant of Abraham.
Hebrews 7 NLT
4 Consider then how great
this Melchizedek was. Even Abraham, the great patriarch of Israel, recognized
this by giving him a tenth of what he had taken in battle.
5 Now the law of Moses required that the
priests, who are descendants of Levi, must collect a tithe from the rest of the
people of Israel, who are also descendants of Abraham.
6 But Melchizedek, who was
not a descendant of Levi, collected a tenth from Abraham. And Melchizedek
placed a blessing upon Abraham, the one who had already received the promises
of God.
7 And without question, the person who has the
power to give a blessing is greater than the one who is blessed.
8 The priests who collect tithes are men who
die, so Melchizedek is greater than they are, because we are told that he lives
on.
9 In addition, we might even say that these
Levites — the ones who collect the tithe — paid a tithe to
Melchizedek when their ancestor Abraham paid a tithe to him.
10 For although Levi wasn’t born yet, the seed from which he came was in Abraham’s body when Melchizedek collected the tithe from him.
God does all things in order for a purpose. It behooves us to recognize the order of things God has done.
God never intended that His children live a life of fear and sacrifice but rather of faith and obedience.
God also never intended that we divide the Bible into an Old Testament and a New Testament. Rather He wanted us to see the difference between Law and Grace, between good works and faith, between love and fear, between gifts and wages.
The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ His Son.
There is no commandment you need to follow that requires you give one tenth of your increase to the work of God in honor of what He did for you. However, there is this continuing great offering God has made to become your covenant financial partner and to accept your tithes, rebuke the devourer on your behalf, and open the windows of heaven to pour blessings out upon you in return as you help take the Gospel into all the world as a witness to all nations before the end shall come.
Let all things be done decently and in order.
