There are many areas where Christians today are living under the Old Covenant; they don’t realize that the New Covenant was established on the day of Pentecost. It is almost like people in India not knowing that we became independent in 1947. Can you imagine somebody being ignorant of that? It is just as ridiculous for Christians to still live under the Old Covenant.
Most Christians live under the Old Covenant in many areas. In the Old Covenant, you could only have your sins forgiven (Psalm 103); in the New Covenant, Romans 6:14 says that sin will not rule over you. When people have only forgiveness of sins and no victory over the sin, they are living in the Old Covenant. In the Old Covenant, there was a congregation that could not work together as one body. When a church today is like that - when it cannot function together as a body - that proves it is really just an Old Covenant congregation. When tithing is emphasized, that is also Old Covenant.
The emphasis that we see on tithing in Christendom today is completely Old Covenant, therefore we need to understand the principles of New Testament giving. There is no law in the New Testament that says you must pay 10%. The last mention of a tithe being commanded is in the book of Malachi, in the Old Testament. When Jesus referred to it in Matthew 23, He was speaking to people who were still under the Old Covenant -- the Pharisees and the Jewish people. The New Covenant was established on the day of Pentecost, and after that, there is not a single command to Christians to pay the tithe. There is no reference to the tithe at all.
There is a vague reference to Abraham having given 10% to Melchizedek in the book of Hebrews, but that wasn’t a law that Abraham was following. He could have given whatever he liked. It happened to be 10%, but Abraham was not following a law, and he wouldn’t have sinned if he hadn’t done it.
In the New Covenant, the principles of giving are that it should be secret (Matthew 6:1-4), cheerful (2 Corinthians 9:7), and, proportionate to what you have earned (1 Corinthians 16:2). There is no law as to how much you should give. You can give as God has prospered you. If you have much, and you have got plenty to spare, then you can give more; and if you don’t have much, you don’t have to give. That is OK, because God is a billionaire, and He doesn’t want any of His poor children to suffer by giving to Him.
If you don’t understand these principles, a lot of pastors and preachers will exploit you and take advantage of you financially. But keep this in mind, that when we give, we should give secretly. Any church that makes you reveal what you are giving is actually asking you to disobey the word of God in Matthew 6:1-4. As far as possible all our giving should be secret, voluntary, and cheerful.
This is why I personally do not believe that we should put a bag in front of people and force people to give when they may not be giving cheerfully. It is probably not possible for them to give secretly, because their neighbors are watching them give. I believe the way to do it is by keeping a box somewhere in the church where people voluntarily give secretly, cheerfully, and according to their ability. But very few churches practice this because there is a tremendous love for money among most Christian preachers and in most Christian churches.
Remember, that Matthew 5:20 -- "Your righteousness must surpass the righteousness of the Pharisees" -- could be the heading for almost for the rest of the Sermon on the Mount: "the ways in which our righteousness is to exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, in order for us to enter into God’s kingdom."
In the matter of our giving, Jesus says our attitude must be completely different from the Pharisees, hypocrites who wanted people to know what they were giving. He said to beware of practicing your righteousness before men. That’s the fundamental principle. Jesus said not to do it in order to be noticed by people.
We can’t avoid people noticing these things sometimes, and we don’t have to feel guilty if people happen to accidentally to know about them, or if there is no way to avoid it, but we don’t do these things in order to be noticed by men. That’s the point. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in Heaven. According to this verse, there are a number of people who have given for the Lord’s work who are going to get NO reward in Heaven, because they wanted other people to know how much they gave.
If you give secretly, your Father, Who sees in secret, will repay you. That is a wonderful reward that God has promised, that if we obey His command here, then one day, when Christ comes again, there is going to be a great reward for those who have given sacrificially and secretly.
