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The Abrahamic Christian Tithing: A Study Book for the Church

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Contents

This book is dedicated to.........................................................................................................viiiForewords.........................................................................................................................ixPreface...........................................................................................................................xvIntroduction......................................................................................................................xxiChapter One The Originating Work of God in Abraham to Tithe (The Development of Abraham's Faith).................................1Chapter Two The Originating Work of God in Abraham to Tithe (The Foreshadowing of Christ's Priestly Service).....................18Chapter Three Abraham's Response to God's Work in Him (The Faith Response of Abraham)............................................45Chapter Four Abraham's Response to God's Work in Him (The Moral Response of Abraham).............................................61Chapter Five The Ultimate Aim in Abraham's Tithing...............................................................................71Chapter Six The Fundamental Benefits of Christian Tithing........................................................................78Chapter Seven The Importance of the Abrahamic Christian Tithing to the Church of Christ..........................................90Chapter Eight Abraham's Tithing and Christianity.................................................................................99Chapter Nine What is Christian Tithing?..........................................................................................103Final Thoughts The Christian Tithing Creed Christian Tithing Hymnal..............................................................106

Chapter One

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"Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed be the Most High God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand," And he gave him tithes of all." (Genesis 14:19–20)

We start our studies by showing you the origination of God's work in Abraham that brought him to tithe. You will discover that Abraham's tithing was a gift that God gave him. It was a gift from God to Abraham for the two to begin a journey to build a strong personal relationship. You will learn about the importance of Abraham's use of this wonderful gift from God to tithe. You will see its importance on two levels.

On one level, you will see how it helped Abraham as a starting point for his spiritual growth in his personal relationship with God. You will see how God worked to activate Abraham's use of His gift of tithing by the principle of knowing and relating to Him personally. Please underline or highlight that whole sentence. You will soon discover that it is a principle that defines for us an aspect of what our Christian tithing is essentially about.

On another level, you will learn that Abraham's use of his God's gift of tithing was also important to God. It indicated to God that Abraham had come not only to know and to reckon Him as personal, but was also empowered to relate to him personally. You will learn in a later chapter that it was faith produced in Abraham that manifested itself in his knowing and reckoning God as personal. Abraham relating to God personally by his tithing was because of the faith produced in him. With this, you will also come to see that God was establishing with Abraham another principle of our Christian tithing, which is the working principle of faith—knowing and reckoning God as personal.

The good news is that the church was in the mind of God when He ordered Himself to begin this journey with Abraham to a strong personal relationship of faith through his tithing. It is remarkably true. You will learn how God was actually preparing the grounds with Abraham for our entrance into that strong personal relationship of faith with Him through our practice of Christian tithing.

We will now begin working with the Holy Spirit to discover the treasures contained in this wonderful gift of tithing that God gave to Abraham. It was not only meant for Abraham's exclusive use, but it was also meant for the church as well. Today we refer to this wonderful gift of God as Christian tithing. Please keep in mind that the treasures contained in this wonderful gift of Christian tithing that God gave to Abraham are equally yours and mine. We will begin our study with a brief narrative of the circumstances leading to the tithing of Abraham.

Abraham's Tithing-The Narrative

Abraham's tithing occurred when Melchizedek, the priest of the Most High God, met him on his return from a battle he had won in regards to Lot his nephew (Genesis 14:1–24). The story tells us that Chedorlaomer, the king of Elam and his allies went to battle against the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah and their allies. The latter were defeated, and Chedorlaomer took all their goods and victuals. Lot was among the people whom he took as captives with him.

When Abraham heard of the nephew's bad situation, we are told that he armed his trained servants, three hundred and eighteen of them, and went after the enemies. Abraham and his trained servants defeated them, and they recovered all the goods and the people they had taken captive, including Lot. He was met on his return from the battle by the king of Sodom, and then Melchizedek, the priest of the Most High God, who brought forth bread and wine and blessed him, saying, "Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed be the Most High God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand," (Genesis 14:19–20); and Abraham gave him tithes of all (Hebrew 7:4).

Key Question: Why Did Abraham Tithe?

You will notice in the text that Abraham's tithing was a direct response to the declaration of Melchizedek. It certainly does not come across that Abraham had tithed for no obvious reason, which would portray his tithing as a thoughtless behavior. It appears an inherent cause in Melchizedek's declaration had cued Abraham to tithe. Our initial task here is to find out what caused Abraham to tithe when he heard Melchizedek's declaration.

To address faithfully our key question, we will briefly look at the nature of the circumstances that prompted Abraham to tithe. You will see in Melchizedek's declaration that he was indicating to Abraham the personal influence of God in the victory he had just won against his enemies. Thus, we will first address the question of why Abraham tithed by first exploring two things:

• The theological foundation to the work of God in Abraham's life to tithe

• The objective/s of God's work in Abraham's life to tithe

In undertaking this initial task, we will draw from our fundamental Christian view regarding the work of God in His creation (the plan of God and His directive work to fulfill His purpose in humanity) and our fundamental Christian view pertaining to the nature of God (the matter of God's impersonal and personal nature).

God's Work in Abraham's Life to Tithe

Part of our Christian fundamental knowledge about God is that all the details of our lives on earth are well within the...