Wednesday, June 24, 2009

First Fruits?

Where does the bible say that we should our "first fruits" back to Lord?

I'm sorry, you won't find it. It's not in any New Testament teaching or doctrine and Jesus never implied it or taught it.

What you will find is an Old Testament Mosaic Law reference found in Ezekiel 44:28-30 which states, "The priests will not have any property or possession of land, for I alone am their special possession. Their food will come from the gifts and sacrifices brought to the Temple by the people—the grain offerings, the sin offerings, and the guilt offerings. Whatever anyone sets apart for the Lord will belong to the priests. The first of the ripe fruits and all the gifts brought to the Lord will go to the priests. The first samples of each grain harvest and the first of your flour must also be given to the priests so the Lord will bless your homes (NLT)"

See that? Priests, food, grain, flour, Temple, offerings? That's Old Testament teaching!

Since we are not under the Mosaic Law, not Hebrew or an Israelite, then this reference was not meant for Gentiles in this age of grace and truth through Christ Jesus. We have a new High Priest, in Christ Jesus!

Hebrews 7:11-12, 18-19 "So if the priesthood of Levi, on which the law was based, could have achieved the perfection God intended, why did God need to establish a different priesthood, with a priest in the order of Melchizedek instead of the order of Levi and Aaron? And if the priesthood is changed, the law must also be changed to permit it." "Yes, the old requirement about the priesthood was set aside because it was weak and useless. For the law never made anything perfect. But now we have confidence in a better hope, through which we draw near to God."

No offense intended, but you are obviously very ignorant of the origin of the tithe. The tithe was instituted for the Israelites in the Mosaic Law and it does not apply to New Testament Christian under faith in Christ.

You, like countless others, have been brainwashed for so many years about tithing that it has become truth to you. Adolph Hitler once stated that, "If you tell a lie loud enough and long enough, the people will begin to believe it."

There are multiple verses in the NT that say that we (Christians in this age of grace and truth, led by the Holy Spirit) should not place ourselves under the Mosaic Law.

*Acts 13:39 "Everyone who believes in him is declared right with God—something the Law of Moses could never do."
*Romans 3:20 "For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are."
*Romans 3:21 "But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago."
*Romans 3:28 "So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law."
*Romans 4:13 "Clearly, God’s promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was based not on his obedience to God’s law, but on a right relationship with God that comes by faith."
*Romans 6:14 "Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace."
*Romans 9:31 "But the people of Israel, who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping the law, never succeeded."
*Romans 9:32 "Why not? Because they were trying to get right with God by keeping the law instead of by trusting in him. They stumbled over the great rock in their path."
*Romans 10:3 "For they don’t understand God’s way of making people right with himself. Refusing to accept God’s way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law."
*Romans 10:4 For Christ has already accomplished the purpose for which the law was given. As a result, all who believe in him are made right with God."
*Romans 13:8 Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law.
*Galatians 2:16 "Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.”
*Galatians 2:21 "I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die."
*Galatians 3:10 "But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse, for the Scriptures say, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God’s Book of the Law.”
*Galatians 3:13 "But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”
*Galatians 3:21 "Is there a conflict, then, between God’s law and God’s promises? Absolutely not! If the law could give us new life, we could be made right with God by obeying it."
*Galatians 3:24 "Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith."
*Galatians 5:4 "For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace."
*Galatians 5:18 "But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the Law of Moses."
*Hebrews 10:1 "The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship."
*Romans 13:8 "Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law."
*Romans 13:10 "Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law."
*Galatians 5:14 "For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

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