Following the Word, Receive Grace to be Freed From Being a Slave to Money (Deut. 14:1-29)
Today we will share the grace of God with Deuteronomy 14:1-29. Deuteronomy was the Word that God gave Moses to conquer the Canaanites, and He is repeating it a second time. Deuteronomy is the Word we must really emphasize a second time in order for the Israleites to not be swayed by the culture and idolatry in the land of Canaan.
Deuteronomy 14:1 says, “You are the children of the LORD your God. Do not cut yourselve or shave the front of your heads for the dead.” The reason He is saying this is, the people in the land of Canaan will worship idols with this kind of culture, but you are a holy people, set apart. God is telling the Israelites not to do the same thing as the idol worshipers in order to show them that their God is the True God.
You can see the way that these people worshiped idols in 1 Kings where there were the 750 false prophets of Baal begging and praying to their god to rain down fire. It says, as they were begging for it to rain fire, it says these prophets were dancing around the altar. Even then, there was no fire that was being rained down so they went as far as to take swords, cut themselves, and spill their own blood. In Leviticus, you can see the people worshiping the god Molech, and they even sacrificed their babies and threw them into the fire to please their god.
So, the characteristic of idol worship is they will sacrifice themselves in order to get some sort of benefit from their god. It’s the same thing for people living a religious life today. All religions and idols have something in common: in exchange for my sacrifice, I’m trying to gain something in my favor. “But you have been set apart as the children of the LORD, and I will fight on your behalf, so do not do things like that.”
From Deut. 14:3-21, it talks about which animals are clean and they can eat, and which are unclean animals they should not eat. For example, if it is a hoofed animal, don’t eat certain hooves, but this is how you can eat it; for aquatic animals, don’t eat anything that doesn’t have fins or scales, and this is all to show them this is the children of God set apart. After this, God talks about tithes.
First of all, God tells us not to do the same thing as the idol worshippers, and then He tells us what animals to eat and don’t eat but Jesus Christ finished all the laws on the cross, meaning we don’t have to follow these different sacrifices and rules. Even in the Old Testament, the people of God were never supposed to sacrifice and hurt themselves to give to God but they sacrificed a flawless animal or a lamb on their behalf for forgiveness of their sins, and that was completed by Jesus Christ on the cross. Even the things we eat, 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, “Whatever you eat or drink, do it for the glory of God.”
Even today, there are people who follow the Old Testament. And even now a lot of Jehovah’s Witnesses, they’re not going to make up words that do not exist, but they’ll use the words of the Old Testament and enforce them. If they come at you with the words of the Bible, but you don’t know the meaning of the cross, then you don’t have an answer for them because they’re going to come at you, saying, “You need to follow the Word of God.” They will say things like, “You must not change a single letter or mark from the Word of God, so you must keep all the laws of the Old Testament.”
Some people may even say, “Christmas does not exist, that was actually from a Pagan religion. And it was ruled into Christianity,” and they will argue Christmas doesn’t exist that was actually from a Pagen religion rolled into Christianity and they will argue about the date and food past the cross. Now, what’s important for us is, no matter what we eat, no matter what we drink, no matter where we go, we are all doing it for Christ. However, if you do anything and it is not for the Christ, that is the person who is not related to God.
Because Jesus Christ has already finished everything for us on the cross, we are now living only for Him, and there’s nothing that is greatest other than Jesus Christ so, believing in Jesus Christ is the greatest good we could ever do, and even that faith was given to us by grace from God, and relaying this Christ is the greatest good. Without Jesus Christ, you have no relationship to God. What are you doing? Where are you? How are you spending your time? If it is not for Christ, no matter what it is, from God’s perspective, it’s evil.
God only sees us as righteous when He looks at us as righteous when he looks at us through faith with the cross of Jesus Christ. If we failed but it is for the name of Christ, it is good, but if you succeeded and it was not for the name of Christ, that is evil. Before God, none of that matters. “Evil” means it is good from the devil’s perspective.
Now we’re talking about the tithe. If Jesus Christ fulfilled the law, doesn’t that mean that we shouldn’t have to follow that, either? There are some pastors who say that, and there are also people who never wanted to pay the tithe to begin with, and when they hear things like that they are relieved and say hallelujah. Then why do you think God talked about the tithe in the Old Testament. Jesus Christ fulfilled everything on the cross, but how should we be led in the New Testament? You have to understand this in order for you to be aligned with the correct financial activities.
The first mention of “tithe” was in Genesis 14:20, when Abraham gave one tenth of what he had to Malekzadeh after he won the war in Sodom and Gomorrah. The next mention of “tithe” is Genesis 28:22 where Jacob is going to meet Esau and he says, “If you return me back to this location, I will return 1/10 of what you owe me. Then in the book of Leviticus 27:30-32, Moses actually makes tithes part of the law. He says, “The tenth belongs to God.” At this time, all of the 11 tribes of Israel other than Levites revived an amount of land but the Levites didn’t have land of their own so the other tribes would give one-tenth to the Levites, who were working in the temple, and that’s why it was set apart by God. Then it says in Numbers 18:27 that when the Levites receive a tenth from the other tribes, they must give a tenth of that tenth.
Then it said during the age of Samuel in 1 Samuel 8:17 that you must give one tenth of your flocks to the Lord. Nowadays, this is like tax, because the entire country of Israel was the nation of the LORD.
Then in Malachi 3:8-10 it talks about tithe. You have wronged me of what rightfully belongs to the LORD and if you give proper tithe see that the LORD will not bless you with overflowing blessings. There are some people who say, “Jesus Christ fulfilled everything on the cross, so we don’t have to follow the laws, like tithe. So what is said in the New Testament after Jesus Christ? Matthew 23:23 says, “You give a tenth of your spices, but you have neglected the more important matter of the law, justice, mercy and faithfulness.” This was before the Jewish people gave worship in the temple and before Jesus Christ was crucified. Even Jesus Christ was born under the law. And He was proclaiming the Gospel while he upheld every law. And then Jesus Christ said “You are still giving your tithe, but you have forgotten what is more important – justice, mercy, and faithfulness, so you should do both.”
This is what the Bible tells about tithe even until the moment where Jesus Christ was around. And after that point in the Bible, it doesn’t talk about the tithe. Paul talks about in 2 Corinthians 9:5-8 about offerings. And he says in 2 Cor. 9:5, when you give this generous gift, in other words, your offering, you must prepare it in advance. It means you should’ do this on your own accord, but with joyful hearts. If you must come to church and look at everybody else offering, and you get too embarrassed not to give an offering and you give whatever you have, that’s not offering. You prepare in advance what you give before Go and you give this offering of your hearts.
Then in 2 Corinthians 9:6-7 continues, “remember this whoever does sparingly will also reap sparingly and whoever sows generously will also reap generously” there are some people who really don’t want to give offering, but when they see this first, their eyes get big, “If I give a lot of offering I will get a lot of money,” but don’t do that, yes it’s true that the more you give the more you receive, however you should do it with a joyful heart. Yes, it is true you may be forcing yourself to give an offering, and you give a lot after seeing this person, and you receive this evidence, then you can do it with a more joyful heart.
Deut. 9:7 says, “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for the Lord God loves a cheerful giver.” There must be something you decided in your heart. You should not be giving it reluctantly. Even among your friends, if you don’t like to pay the bill, you’ll get a reputation like that. Don’t do it before God. Don’t force yourself to do it under compulsion either, thinking of it as law. Do it with a joyful heart, and that is the one who God loves. Everything is contained inside of love, God gives you grace. God pours his 5 powers on you, because He loves you. If a person loves you, there’s nothing much that you get from that person, but if God loves you, everything is contained inside that love. So the one who has received grace from God is the One who will give. And the ones who love God are the ones to do this.
Then in Acts 9:8, God works in abundance. God has never done anything in a shaky manner, he’s always abundant, if you receive grace from God you will receive the heart to want to do this for Hod and you’ll have the heart of wanting to give an offering to God with grace. Then even if there’s no such thing as tithe do we have to give it? Yup will not only give one tenth but ten tenths. So there’s no more such a thing as one tenth or tithe but I give five tenths. And maybe it’s because I received a lot of grace from God but you can ask any other pastor who gives five tenths. In reality you have to have enough faith that you can give nine tenths of your offering and live plentifully with one-tenths you have left. In other words, everything belongs to God. When you believe in this, you have freedom.
Does that mean that you can give just the one-tenth and use the nine-tenths however you want? No, why? Because that belongs to GOd and you shouldn’t use it however you want; you need to know it for God, and that’s why it’s possible to even use ten-tenths. Even if i don’t confirm it in the Bible, I can look at the other pastors who argue about giving tithe. I can see that they haven’t starved and haven’t received financial answers. Before I became a pastor, I had nothing, but I was able to see God feed me and provide for me everyday, so this is my experience.
So whether I find these in the Bible or not, this is the life I have experienced. There’s some people who have no income, but I still tell them to give one-tenth. We eat, and that’s income too. Why do I say things that don’t make much sense? Because I was in the same situation. I had no income, but there are things that I got from God throughout the week. And that’s what I give. Even if I get a free meal from someone else, that’s an income. It’s not mine, I got it from God. And that’s what happened to me. The God I’ve experienced is a God Who works within that faith. If someone is trying to get free handouts from the church, I tell them to work. I say, “Come to church and work. Then give offering to God.” Why are you living a life of poverty? God gives us an abundance of what we need. These are the material blessings I’ve received. I’m not talking about prosperity-based faith, where they say God will give you wealth. When I’m working for the Lord, He will make sure all my needs are met.
Let us look at Proverbs 19:17. In the Bible, they used the tithe for the Levite tribe as well as the poor and vulnerable within the tribe. That’s how the tithe was used and that’s the content we read today, too. It talks about eating together and sharing. This doesn’t mean to just eat and play. Back then their business was different then our business. If you are a farmer then you’ll have those fruits and vegetables, but for the orphans and widows, nowadays they can work but back in those days it was hard for them, that means if you just stay still it means you’re killing them. It’s the same for orphans and people that are disabled and cannot work. So for all of those people this offering was used.
Proverbs 19:17. This means that if you look at someone who is poor or unfortunate and you help them out, then you are actually doing that for the Lord, and He will actually pay you back for that.
Philippians 4:15-19
The church of Philippi was giving offering to Paul as he was doing missions. In the same way, the Antioch church was able to help their brother churches, like the Mark’s Upper Room Church, during the famine. Coming back to Phil. 4:16, Paul says that “Even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid and aid again when I was in need.” Phil. 4:17 says, “Not that I am looking for a gift, but I am looking for what may be accredited to your account.” Isn’t that a little shameless for him to say? If the church of Philippians was giving Paul offering, he should’ve said, “Thank you,” but instead he said, “I’m not looking for a gift from you. This is for your benefit.” He’s saying, “Yes, I am thankful, but this offering is actually for your fruitful benefit.” Phil. 4:18 says, “I have received full payment and even more, I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaproditus, the gifts you have sent, they are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.”
Deuteronomy 4:19, “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus,” if I pay something then that’s a loss to me but that’s not what Paul says, God will fill me with abundance. This must be the point of view you look at material possessions with both as church officers and remnants. If you don’t learn this and you’re not taught this, then you have no choice but to move in the direction of unbelievers using money however you want to and whatever pleases you. If doing that was good in God’s perspective, then it would be fine to do that, however spending money like that actually leads us to spiritual destruction.
You guys know about King David becoming king so let’s look at 1 Chronicles 29:14 during the temple construction. When we are giving an offering, our hearts must be filled with joy. That’s someone who already received grace from God. Someone who knows how much offering leases God as well. I’ve neve since felt as I was giving offering that I was wasting my money, that’s already someone who received grace. When I was a non-believer I was never like that, if anything was not used for my benefit, I felt like it was a waste of money. I didn’t even donate blood thinking “why would I give them my blood?” I thought, “why would I give them my blood? What are they to me that lives on their own? Everyone lives on their own, I’m not going to give help or receive help.” How can someone like that change like this? Don’t you think this is what grace is?
What’s more important is that when you receive the faith that every single thing comes from God, you receive freedom. That’s actually the way to overcome finances. The Bible takes it to the point of saying “Will you worship money or will you worship God?” The church officers must receive this sort of faith for God to work upon you. If this doesn’t come into you, then you’ll always be afflicted because of money. Even if you have a lot of money, it’s going to be a headache. You’re going to wonder what to do with it. You’ll have no freedom.
Later on, 1 Chroncles 29:14 says that “Everything comes from you,” and that is very important. It says, “Everything.” This is not only talking about the offering the Israelites gave to God for temple construction, but every single thing comes from God. We have only given you what comes from your hand, it’s not something to brag about, it was by grace. We just do it because we got God’s grace first. There’s nothing to be oppressed about or to be boastful about, because it was given to you by God to begin with. Whatever your actions of faith are that you do for the gospel, God will reward you in heaven. So we read the bible verses today, and God will bless you in a material way on earth as well.
This is the answer to the question, “Was the law of tithe abolished when Jesus Christ finished everything on the cross? For anyone who tried to go ahead of God and to try to receive an answer from YouTube in advance, this might be an answer for you as well. Even our children are given to us by God. Earlier today I told my family we have to come to church early and my daughter asked me, “Why?” It’s completely understandable from the perspective of a pastor’s daughter, she has to come to church every time there’s a service or an event. And we have our Holy Wind on Oct. 31, and I told her to invite her friends but actually, her friends invited her to something else first. And she said, already agreed to go there. And I said, “Either way you shouldn’t have agreed to that before asking your father, but maybe we can go after Holy Wind.”
She asked me, “Last year, after Holy Wind finished, Chris and Carlos went to do something else for Halloween, can’t I do the same thing?” I said, “That’s pretty difficult because that friend’s house is completely non believers and it would be improper to go without supervision,” and she asked, “Why is that wrong?” I said, “First of all, before you become a fully mature adult, you have to have the proper posture of life. Only once you’ve gotten the correct habits and correct order of a mature adult then you can make your own decisions. Furthermore, especially if you’re a female, if you get into the habit of spending the night at someone’s house, that becomes the habit of your life and that’s not right.” She doesn’t agree with that.
And I said “it doesn’t matter whether you think this way or not, because you are only thirteen years old and I am more than forty years older than you there’s no way you can possibly understand everything I’m thinking and saying, that’s why the Bible tells you to just obey,” If we had to understand everything in God’s Word in order for us to obey, then that means we’re the same level as God, but because we believe in God, we obey even if we don’t understand. The Bible tells you to obey your father and mother, what does that mean? It means God has entrusted you into our family, to your Mom and Dad, and I am giving you the education about God, before God, on God’s behalf.”
And she kept continuing the conversation, and I said, “That’s not right for this conversation. If we have a conversation, we must give and take and try to understand the other person’s perspective.” Then she used hard words that I couldn’t understand, so I said, “I don’t understand those words, so use words I can understand so that we can have a conversation. The reason why you learn the language in school is not to make other people feel like they can’t understand, but to have communication with others. This is the reason why God has entrusted you to this family to receive an education, and that’s it.
“If you have more things you want to say or questions, you can tell it to God. I’m not doing this because of legalism, but God has given me a heart to raise His child like this, so I’m relaying this to you. For me, when my father was wrong, I never told him he was wrong. My father would never apologize for doing wrong things to me, but I apologize when I do wrong things to you. I even apologize to you because I believe in God, so I apologize to you before God. Because I’m not raising you as my own child, but I’m raising you as a Remnant to do world evangelism, first, you must listen to my words.”
This is how we were talking in the car on the way here. I don’t see her, I don’t know where she went, but it is possible that sometimes we may act like a child like this before God. I was shocked when I came to America. Not too long after we started the church, I used the word “obey,” and one of the remnants said it gave them a feeling of a dog being dragged by a leash. After I heard those words, I realized America was in a very severe situation.
From that point on, I began to re-discipline them for the word, “Obey,” because if we just leave them like that, they’re not even going to become proper humans. I’m not talking about obedience in a legalistic way, but because you believe in God, it is a natural reaction of your faith in God to obey, but if you don’t believe in God, there’s no reason for you to obey your parents. If you don’t believe in God, there’s no reason for you to obey the leaders of your church. But if you do believe in and trust in God, then without saying anything, that is the natural posture that will come out. You won’t even talk easily about the president, because the Word of God already tells us how we should regard the leaders of the nation. All the things we heard about in the Bible today are possible only because I trust in God.
If there’s any new believers who have faith and have a mission, I tell the people meeting them to tell them about offering, because if they have a mission, it means God will use them. Without a doubt, God uses the materials of the church people, so you must tell them about offering, but if someone is going to be offended with those then I don’t bring it up with them because these are the words that may kill them, so I don’t think I talk very much about offering, but that’s not a good thing, either, because if the people of the church don’t know about the finances so they become poor, that is the fault of the leader.
Starting from last year, I started to look at the church offering, and I realized that that was the extent of my faith; it was my own unbelief, thinking that if I knew about the offering, then the people of the church would become tested. So I said, “It would be better off if I didn’t know anything about it,” and I had my own sense of stubbornness so I kept going that way until now. But starting last year maybe the year before that I asked to see the offering because I didn’t pay any attention to how everything in the church was moving, and I didn’t know who was giving how much or anything. But from my senior pastors, I hear the word a lot that those who receive grace give offering. I’d always ignored what they said because I’d never experienced that.
Then I look at the offering now and pray about that. On the opposite of what I thought, I’m actually receiving grace because I see how God is working through our church. For most people, if they’re living a prosperity-based faith or they are looking for more benefits from the church it is centered on money or materials. No matter what they talk about, they’re going to turn the conversation to this direction. Instead of just saying “I don’t have money,” they make different excuses, but ultimately, they’re saying, “I don’t have money,” and that’s how big a portion of our lives is occupied by money.
We do not get freedom from money by ignoring it altogether, but even though we make money and use it for the Lord diligently, if you are free from money that’s someone who has received grace. That’s the principle of finances God has given to us. I’ve actually been wanting to talk about tithe, using the Bible, for a while and today the content just came up, so I’m talking about it. If you’ve experienced the financial answers of the unlimited God by grace and by faith, then I believe you will naturally give offering with a generous and joyful heart.
God does not want you to make money in a dishonest way. God is not someone who works in a shady or dishonest way. Do you think God is so powerless that He is going to work through loopholes or oversights? God is someone Who can work completely well in ordinary and normal ways. If you’re running a business, and you see shortcuts or dishonest methods, or not-honest ways, those are the ways of man, so don’t follow that. That is not a financial activity that is for God. That is a method you are using for yourself.
The Bible tells us that the love of God and the love of man is the fulfillment of the law. You must run your business to save people, whether it’s financial or spiritual. I believe it is God’s will for you to do your financial activities and your walk of faith with boldness, in front of God and your walk of faith with boldness in front of God who works boldly.
Inside the church, Christ is the head and He is leading us forward, and God will fill our needs. We use the word, “Temple Construction,” but honestly, the age of the Temple is over, so it really is Church Building Construction; however, if that is necessary for God, I believe God will work. How much will God work? God will work according to His need. I’m sure there are students who learned economics and finances in school but those are the words of unbelievers. I hope you will believe God moves all finances and use them all for God.
Prayer
If the words we heard today are really hitting your hearts as the covenant, God is bound to give you the answer in advance and fulfill it in His time schedule. Let us pray together.
Our second prayer topic, we’re going to pray for Temple Construction. I just gave this prayer topic, and there are people in the church where these words really hit their best so they went around looking for different church buildings and properties. So, I decided to check out two places they recommended, and one of those locations came into my heart. But even that is only possible if God allows it. Regardless of that, I don’t even have 1% of unbelief because I know the God Who has worked until now in a financial way, so I know he will work according to our needs, and I believe in that.
This is our third church building, and everything has been led by God. Please pray for that. Another thing to pray for is through one of our assistant pastors, there is an NGO that will give us a loan. Of course that is the case, because there are nonprofit organizations that exist just for this. There was someone who came around to look at our broadcasting system, and they said for the seminary schools they give a loan of $1 million dollars so people who’ll be able to learn about broadcasting and implement the systems. These are the seminaries that are also in partnership with the church. It means there are a lot of places in America that have funds like this, and those other places don’t use their systems like we do. There are people who donate to these funds as well.
There’s a lot we don’t know, that’s what I’m saying. So, as we pray, holding onto God’s covenant, we don’t find these things out because we learn them, but God reveals them to us. Please pray for Temple Construction together with us, and I believe that you, too, will receive the answer that will conquer the 70 regions and 70 disciples because otherwise, you’re just going to live a life of eating and surviving. Let us pray for these two things.
Our final prayer topic will be for our missions fields. Especially for the fact that we have young adults of different ethnicities coming to train in our church is something that doesn’t happen in LA. By that, I’m not saying our church is good or bad, I’m saying there is an answer of uniqueness that God is doing through our church, and there is a different work that God is doing through different churches.
There are some churches where God brings a lot of people that are musically-oriented for praise, and that is the pastor’s message. The message God has led me with is not praise; I don’t know music at all, and the reason why I tell you this is because, if you want to understand the church, you must know the pastor, because if you don’t know the pastor, you’re going to say words of not understanding the church like, “Why is this church like this when that church is like that?” So I’m telling you that there is a way that God has guided the pastor to guide the church and that is the message.
I received like them for 10 years, so of course, I have no choice but to pray for them, too. The reason I’m telling you this is, as people who need to receive answers in your church work as well as your professional work, you have to know how God is moving our church and things like this will continue to happen in the future. The mission God has given to our church is to spread the gospel to the 50 regions, the 237 nations that are far away, doing this life movement. God will bring the people who are needed for this movement into our church, and that is the area where you will do your business.
Let us pray for our church as well as the mission fields of our church.
Benediction
Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the unending love of God, and the indwelling, working, guidance, and communion of the Holy Spirit, be upon all the heads of all the people of God, the people of all nations, and the remnants who desire to hold onto the words of the covenant and be led by faith, upon all their businesses, academics, and ministries, be with us from now until forevermore always, amen.