Transformed By Grace

For years, the church at Phillipi was the only assembly that had faithfully supported Paul and his pioneering efforts in bringing the gospel to Europe and establishing it. In this episode, we see the apostle expressing his heartfelt gratitude to the Philippian believers. To them he writes that their latest gift brought him much joy in the Lord, not only because of the personal benefit for him, but also for the spiritual gain it would bring them when it came to eternal reward.

In this episode, we learn that Paul continued to instruct and encourage the Corinthians about the collection for the poor saints in Jerusalem, after the Corinthians’ original zeal for giving, which spurred the Macedonian believers to give so sacrificially, had faded. Using the “reaping and sowing” farming analogy to explain grace giving, Paul explains how others are blessed by the “cheerful giver,” whose generosity has eternal value and brings the glory, praise and thanksgiving back to God.

2 Corinthians, chapters 8 and 9, are two of the most important chapters on biblical giving for this current age of grace. Grace giving is not mandatory but voluntary; it stems from the heart. This episode chronicles the taking up of a special collection for the poor saints in Jerusalem, as the Apostle Paul makes an appeal to the Corinthian believers to follow the example of sacrificial giving by the Macedonian churches, while also reminding them of what Christ has sacrificially done for us.

In Malachi chapter 3, we learn of the consequences when the nation of Israel did not adhere to God’s commandments concerning tithes. As this episode reminds us, God’s relationship with His favored nation under the law was conditional—obey and be blessed, disobey and be chastened and cursed. But in this age of grace, God’s dealings with mankind have changed. Nowhere in the writings of the Apostle Paul is the church instructed to tithe under grace. We give out of gratitude for our freedom in Christ.

Here in Deuteronomy, God’s law concerning the tithe was clarified and explained. In addition to the initial tithe that went to the Levites, we also learn of two additional tithes: a festival tithe to support all Jews on the three yearly feast days, and a third tithe collected every three years for the poor and needy. This episode describes the two additional tithes, which, as the first, were directed specifically at the nation of Israel under the law, involved food and not money, and never were intended for the grace age Body of Christ today.