Your ShelfYour Projects

Support of Gospel Workers

5%

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 4, 1909

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 86, No. 5.

Read the full edition

Support of Gospel Workers

By WILLIAM COVERT

WILLIAM COVERT
(Continued)
Invitation and Admonition
Though men have gone far from the Lord, and have in a multitude of ways and instances appropriated for their own use that which belongs to God, they often express great surprise if charges are preferred against them relative to these things. In seeming innocence they inquire, “Wherein have we robbed thee?” The Lord’s answer is prompt and pointed. He says the robbery is in “tithes and offerings,” and declares, “Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.” There is no use trying to deny the charge; it is so, and the books which God has kept will show it. Since the Lord is so positive that the charge is true, and since he has volumes of evidence to prove it, all will do well to follow his advice. He says: “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, . . . and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open to you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts.” Mal. 3:10, 11.
Why do not men cease their transgressions, and return to the Lord? The blessings promised are sure to follow in the footsteps of obedience, but the calamities predicted will just as surely come if the disobedience is continued. Do not the disasters now taking place in all parts of the earth show that the protecting hand of God is being withdrawn from the homes, the lives, and the property of men? Do not the mass of mankind live and talk as if they did not believe in God or in his providential care? But while the words and conduct of the non-professed world are stout against God, should not those who profess to be getting ready for the Saviour’s second coming have all their misdeeds corrected and all accounts settled?
Some may assume that the Lord does not mean all that he says about returning the tithes and offerings to the treasury where they belong. But he does mean it. The Lord of hosts does not prevaricate nor deceive; and if man does not believe God’s word in this matter, then he can not believe him in anything.The tithes and the offerings that have been withheld must be paid. It will be vastly better and easier to do as the Lord commands than not to do it.
How Much Is Delinquent?
With some it may be inherited property that should be tithed. With others it may be property gathered by their own labor, which has never been tithed. With still others it may be both acquired and inherited property that should be tithed. In any case, adjustment should be made where the tithing has been neglected. For the Lord says: “Even from the days of your fathers ye have gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?” The Lord then answers the question of how one may return to him, by saying to the questioner, “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me.” Then follows the advice to bring all the tithe, the whole tithe, into the storehouse.
The Lord knows how the account of each individual stands, and each one can know how his case stands related to this question in the books which God is keeping. Do we possess property that has never been tithed? Then let us tithe it.
Read carefully and ponder the Lord’s words on this question, as given in Mal. 3:1-18, and then heed the advice given. Study the question of offerings, together with the question of tithing, and settle all with the Lord.
The First-Fruits
“Besides the tithe, the Lord demands the first-fruits of all our increase. These he has reserved in order that his work in the earth may be amply sustained. The Lord’s servants are not to be limited to a meager supply. His messengers should not be handicapped in their work of holding forth the word of life. As they teach the truth, they should have means to invest for the advancement of the work which must be done at the right time, in order to have the best and most saving influence. Deeds of mercy must be done, the poor and suffering must be aided. Gifts and offerings should be appropriated for this purpose. . . . If all the professed people of God, both old and young, would do their duty, there would be no dearth in the treasury. If all would pay a faithful tithe, and devote to the Lord the first-fruits of their increase, there would be a full supply of funds for his work.”—“Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. VI, pages 384, 385.
The foregoing testimony relative to the tithe fund being reinforced by the offerings of the first-fruits of our increase is abundantly taught in the Bible. The charges set forth in Mal. 3:8 are claims charged up and carried forward in the books of heaven because both the “tithes and offerings” have been withheld from the Lord’s treasury. These are to be brought in to replenish the reserve fund which has been taken.
When the children of Israel were before Mount Sinai, receiving instruction upon practical things which were to be done in the land whither they were going, this word was given them: “The first of the first-fruits of thy land shalt thou bring into the house of the Lord thy God.” Ex. 23:19. And again he said: “Ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.” Lev. 23:14. In harmony with this requirement, we find Hezekiah, when righting up affairs in the Lord’s cause among the Israelites, commanding “the people that dwelt in Jerusalem to give the portion of the priests and the Levites, that they might be encouraged in the law of the Lord. And as soon as the commandment came abroad, the children of Israel brought in abundance the first-fruits of corn, wine, and oil, and honey, and of all the increase of the field; and the tithe of all things brought they in abundantly.” 2 Chron. 31:4, 5. After the people had been responding to this request for some time, Hezekiah questioned the priests about their supplies; and the chief priest answered: “Since the people began to bring the offerings into the house of the Lord, we have had enough to eat, and have left plenty: for the Lord hath blessed his people, and that which is left is this great store.” Verse 10.
It is an honorable thing for men, when their store of material substance is increased, to acknowledge the favor by giving an offering to the cause of the blessed Giver. Therefore the following admonition is given: “Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the first-fruits of all thine increase: so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.” Prov. 3:9, 10.
The Lord is constantly bestowing favors upon men, and he is endeavoring to draw them to himself by loving-kindness. Every good gift that man enjoys comes from God, therefore let the first-fruits be offered as beautiful expressions of gratitude for the bounties received. We always share our good things with our nearest and dearest friends, and we give to them the first and the best of all that we have to enjoy. And indeed we could not, with any degree of satisfaction, consume heaven’s bounties upon ourselves, while our friends are unsupplied, and in need of the things which we are using. How, then, can we expect to be happy and feel justified while consuming upon ourselves all the bounties which heaven puts into our hands, including tithes and the first-fruits, while the cause that heaven holds most dear on earth is pleading for the share which God says this cause should have?
Chicago, Ill.
(Concluded next week)