Are You Cursed if You Don’t Tithe?  

Being far from God is not a place we want to be. The story of Israel is the story of a people chosen by God to be his very own, yet they constantly found themselves falling away from God and suffering the consequences. Paul says that the warnings we derive from the people of Israel are applicable to us. Even those of us who are among the people of God through faith in Jesus can find ourselves drifting away from God. As the hymn says, “Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.” It’s a bad place to be and there are always consequences. That’s why we need revival. We need personal revival to get back to where we should be in relationship with God.  

Here’s a powerful promise we find in Scripture: ““Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty.” (Malachi 3:7b) 

God is faithful! This promise is in keeping with a loving God who desires a relationship with you! Returning to God and having him return to us is the essence of revival. We need it! As a nation, as a church, as individuals. God promises to return to us–regardless of what we have done, or how far we have strayed–if we return to him. 

Let’s get practical. How do we return to God? 

We might think, with good reason, that we return by returning to prayer. There is Scripture to back that up. We might also think that we return to God with tears of repentance–and with good reason. But we need to recognize today that sometimes that is not enough! 

We are often all too willing to offer up a few prayers and shed a few tears when we begin to feel something spiritual is happening. We reduce returning to God to an emotional experience. And then it’s all too easy to go on with life as usual and nothing really changes, we are not really any closer to God, and we don’t experience revival. 

Do you know what God says about demonstrating that we are serious about returning to him? He says, “Put your money where your mouth is.” God says we return with tithes and offerings. Why? Because God knows that when he has our finances, he has our hearts. Thus, the question: “Where is your treasure?” Here’s the passage where I got our opening verse: 
 

⁶ “I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. ⁷ Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty. “But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’ ⁸ “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings. ⁹ You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. ¹⁰ Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. ¹¹ I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty. ¹² “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.  Malachi 3:6–12 (NIV) 

 
In the Book of Acts, part of the evidence of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is the radical generosity that characterized the believers. We cannot have revival without its impacting our relationship with money and material things. The scripture in Malachi says “bring the whole tithe into the storehouse.” What is a tithe? By definition, it is ten percent of our income. If you earn $60,000 in a year, your whole tithe would be $6,000.  

Aren’t we free from the law?  

Yes, you are free from tithing as a matter of adhering to the law. The tithe existed before the law (as shown by Abraham and Jacob), it was included in the law, and it is affirmed after the law by none other than Jesus himself.   

²³ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.  Matthew 23:23 (NIV) 

That should be enough to alert us that perhaps God would still be expecting us to tithe. Jesus was not offering the Pharisees a choice between mercy and justice on the one hand, and tithing on the other. Jesus said you should do both. 

Hebrews speaks of tithing to the one who lives–in a context of using the example of Melchizedek as a representative of Jesus. His case is built on the concept of tithing to Jesus! I would think this might be an encouragement for us to tithe to Jesus.  

Some opponents of tithing say it’s legalistic to tithe. The odd thing is, these same people go through both the Old and New Testaments and comb through verses on tithing, looking for every legal loophole they can possibly concoct to get out of tithing! They are the legalists! They find one little difference between our circumstances and the circumstances surrounding the mention of tithing, and use that difference to say that the principle of tithing therefore does not apply.  

Tithing is NOT a matter of being bound by legalism, any more than reading my Bible and praying every day is bound by legalism! It’s not a matter of legalism any more than following the Ten Commandments is legalism. Tithing is part of my love relationship with God and with the people my tithing blesses! Another challenging point from Malachi: 

In verse 8, God says withholding the tithe is robbing him. If it’s not a requirement, is it really robbing God to withhold my tithe? Here’s my question: Setting aside the question of tithing, can you still be guilty of robbing God of anything? Of course! So the issue is really this:  What is God asking of you in terms of your giving? Am I really listening to God, relying on the Bible, relying on the Spirit–or do I have my fingers in my ears while making loud noises with my eyes closed? 

As for withholding a tithe: Is it still robbing God? 

Frankly, I tend to think that it is, but I can’t state that definitively. I have to ask myself this: Why would I want to do something that God definitely considered as robbing him? Even if I’m not bound by the letter of the law, isn’t there something of the spirit of the law that remains relevant for me? Of course there is! 

Is there anything else in the Old Testament that would have been considered a sin against God that you want to do now and think would be perfectly fine with God? Probably not!  

When I was about 7 or 8 years old, I attended a football game with my father. Halfway through the game, someone sitting right in front of me dropped a $5 bill. I waited until they had left, then grabbed it and showed it to my dad. He jumped up, looking around for the people who had just left and couldn’t find them. I got to keep the $5. I felt rich. But, in some respect, I had stolen that money. We are expected to live generous lives. God can ask of us anything he wants. If we hold on to what God has asked us to give away, we are keeping something that isn’t really ours to keep. If I keep what is not mine to keep, I’m as guilty of stealing it as if I had picked someone’s pocket.  

So how much is God really asking from you? Ten percent? More? Less? For those who think we should give less, I wonder: Is New Testament generosity less of a commitment than Old Testament law called for? Especially when Jesus says that our righteousness has to exceed that of the Pharisees?  

So, the question remains: If you are a Christian, are you under a curse if you don’t tithe?  

I think this is one of the main reasons people reject this passage for believers. Every curse is broken through Jesus! So, we shouldn’t be afraid of coming under a curse. But neither should we fool ourselves into thinking that we can experience all the fulness of God’s blessing if money has such a strong hold on us. Instead of worrying about being cursed, let’s focus on God’s blessing! 

Does the promise of blessing still stand? If so, are there any conditions whatsoever? There are plenty of conditions for the blessings of God, Old and New Testament. There are plenty of warnings for living out of alignment with God’s will for our lives, Old and New Testament. We can’t earn God’s blessing. We aren’t able to contractually obligate God by giving any particular amount. But God does have conditions for blessing, and what we do with our finances will make a huge difference.  

I would love to pastor a church in which 100% of the people who attend tithe. But do you know what I would love even more than the financial resources that would bring the church? I would love the supernatural blessing God would pour out when he opened the windows of heaven on every single family and individual here. It would indeed be revival. “Return to me and I will return to you.” That’s revival.  
 

¹⁰ Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. Malachi 3:10 (NIV) 

When I was in my first year of seminary, I received a word from the Lord telling me to give $300 to the church! That felt impossible. I was living on cornbread and beans; I literally could not afford a McDonald’s hamburger! I had to use a P38 can opener from the army because I couldn’t afford 99 cents for a regular can opener. I’m totally serious, that is how poor I was. And God said, “Give $300 dollars.” So, I made the commitment by faith.  

In November or December, after about three months of this kind of poverty, someone in my work study program asked if I’d picked up my paycheck yet. Paycheck? Yes, your paycheck for this month. Where is it? Student aid office. I had thought my pay was going directly to my tuition, for some reason. I didn’t realize that they were giving me a check for my work! No one ever told me.

I went and found about $1000 worth of checks waiting for me. I was rich! Not only did I pay the $300 I had pledged to the church, but I gave another $300 to someone who was doing a mission with the Billy Graham organization over the Christmas break–a classmate named Lisa Carlson, my future wife. We were not dating at that point, and had no romantic interest, as far as I know. But I believe my generosity had something to do with getting a wife! I can’t believe Lisa only cost me $300!  

I want to encourage you to experience revival that brings blessings beyond measure. If God has your finances, chances are that he has your heart, too.  

Hear the rest of this message on the podcast at https://edcrenshaw.com/podcast/