Support of the Gospel
195
A Solemn Obligation
The tithe is sacred, reserved by God for Himself. It is to be brought
into His treasury to be used to sustain the gospel laborers in their work.
For a long time the Lord has been robbed because there are those who
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do not realize that the tithe is God’s reserved portion. Some have
been dissatisfied, and have said, “I will not longer pay my tithe; for I
have no confidence in the way things are managed at the heart of the
work.” But will you rob God because you think the management of
the work is not right? Make your complaint, plainly and openly, in the
right spirit, to the proper ones. Send in your petitions for things to be
adjusted and set in order; but do not withdraw from the work of God,
and prove unfaithful, because others are not doing right.
Read carefully the third chapter of Malachi, and see what God
says about the tithe. If our churches will take their stand upon the
Lord’s word, and be faithful in paying their tithe into His treasury,
more laborers will be encouraged to take up ministerial work. More
men would give themselves to the ministry were they not told of the
depleted treasury. There should be an abundant supply in the Lord’s
treasury, and there would be if selfish hearts and hands had not withheld
the tithes, or made use of them to support other lines of work.
God’s reserved resources are to be used in no such haphazard way.
The tithe is the Lord’s, and those who meddle with it will be punished
with the loss of their heavenly treasure, unless they repent. Let the
work no longer be hedged up because the tithe has been diverted into
various channels other than the one to which the Lord has said it should
go. Provision is to be made for these other lines of work. They are to
be sustained, but not from the tithe. God has not changed; the tithe
is still to be used for the support of the ministry. The opening of new
fields requires more ministerial efficiency than we now have, and there
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must be means in the treasury.
Those who go forth as ministers have a solemn responsibility de-
volving upon them, which is strangely neglected. Some enjoy preach-
ing, but they do not give personal labor to the churches. There is
great need of instruction concerning obligations and duties to God,
especially in regard to paying an honest tithe. Our ministers would
feel sadly aggrieved if they were not promptly paid for their labor; but
will they consider that there must be meat in the treasure-house of God