Today we will be talking about three things: the latest sensation in Christianity, a superhero team and name tags. Let me just start off by saying I respect every faction of the tithe divide, what I do not respect is the divide itself. So you feel you shouldn’t tithe under the new covenant-you have scriptures too, great. Or you know that tithing hasn’t been abolished, fine. None of this condemns anyone to hell or renders them invalid for the blessings of God, only denunciation of faith does that. Capiche? Let’s get into it.
Some Extreme Spirikoko language coming at you in 4, 3, 2
Should you tithe under grace? Yes. You won’t say you don’t need to pray or sing praise and worship under grace would you? Well tithing is no different. Only now it’s not a “do and get” but an “I got so I do” situation. You are responding to the blessings of God, not trying to gain them. God has already blessed us with all blessings (Ephesians 1:3) there is no gaining it. Those who pay tithes as a religious obligation are in my book even worse than those who won’t tithe for selfish reasons as they are performing empty acts void of relationship. They are like the woman at the well, worshiping what they do not know, which is why their neighbor starves while they carry their resources to Pastor, so Pastor can smile. Which brings us to another issue.
Truthfully, the thought pattern that causes those of the faith to take too much of what the Man of God says in trust, is terrifying. Just because you call him Man of God doesn’t mean the Man comes before God. Your Pastor is not the Pope. The Pope is not Jesus. You are paying tithes to Jesus, not Pastor, Papa, Apostle, whatever. I love Pastors oh, don’t get me wrong, but the rate at which we almost equate them with Christ is alarming. Jesus said I was hungry but you didn’t feed me, naked and you didn’t clothe me, thirsty and you didn’t give me drink. It was asked, when did we see you? I mean we gave Pastor a seed for the new church building. We got first in the end of the year highest-tithe payer-championships and we even donated for Pastors helicopter. But Jesus explained that the widows, the beggars, the downtrodden, and those people the religious turn their obnoxious noses upward for, they are Christ. Who is my neighbor one religious fellow asked. The person in need Jesus responded. Now, the Pastor whom I respect and love and cherish for his dedication to the word would say there are ‘overseers’ in the body of Christ, there exists ‘spiritual authority’ and all those other daunting terminologies. And he will be right Act 20:28. However, he will then erroneously link this with Acts 5 vs 1-4 because of the statement “laid it at the apostles’ feet”. He will say this shows tithes are to be paid exclusively to the Pastor. But the verse is not explicitly or even implicitly talking about tithes (Message translation even clarifies that it’s an offering). But let’s just say it is a tithe. The passage shows that you have the power to do with your finances (salary, tithes and offerings) as you wish. It does not at any point stipulate that you must lay your tithe “at the apostle’s feet”. It shows that Ananias acting as a free agent decided to do so, which means acting as a free agent he could have also decided to give it to an orphanage. The instruction that passage offers is not that tithes or offerings must be laid at the apostles’ feet, but that you should not lie to the Holy Spirit. The bible lets us know that love trumps all things yes? That loving your neighbor as yourself is the fulfillment of all laws (even tithing). Now consider this, the Church is an agent for loving people. They go on missions, tend to the building of the Lord and a lot more, so pay your tithes to church because they will use it to love people or pay your tithes to whomever and whatever the compass of love points you to, an orphanage, a neighbor-your Pastor is not the only representative of Christ. Love will never let you selfishly put your tithe in your pocket. Your Pastor is also not the only Melchizidek (That is the Spirikoko way of saying Priest to God). You as a believer, also carry that title.
Think about the thoughts trekking through your head: ‘Who is this one? Can he do the miracles my Pastor has done? I will listen wholeheartedly to my Pastor abeg, leave me and my tithe’. My dear, I am a Teen Titan just like you. If you’re not a comic book nerd you probably don’t know what that is. But Teen Titans are essentially a team made up of the Justice Leagues sidekicks. For instance, Batman’s sidekick, his boy-boy, Robin is the leader of the Teen Titans. So Teen Titans are the Workforce to the Pastorate that is the Justice League. Teen Titans are you and me, we are under the tutelage of our Pastors, but we are heroes with powers just like them. The Teen Titans often fall out with the Justice League because sometimes being on that pulpit obscures Jls perspective. The Teen Titans pounce on threats that the Justice League might overlook, they do not simply follow orders, because while there is a place for obedience, there is also instinct (the guidance of the Holy Spirit). If all the Teen Titans did was jump when the Justice League said jump, the world would have been destroyed 10 times over. So yes, I am a Teen Titan just like you, I may not have the title of Pastor, Reverend, or Bishop like the Justice league. But that does not mean that the Justice League is God. God is God. The word is the word, get into it, and go Teen Titan, go!
As for handling divisions in the body of Christ just look at this post’s heading. Disparate terms brought in harmony by the letter T, which is a lot like the cross. The Cross that connects us as Christians is far greater than any doctrine or interpretation of the word that could ever separate us. I do not fancy the fact that we seem to care more about being right than being brothers. So even as you respond to this post remember that your intention is not to put me down, but to raise me up to what you believe is the higher ground of Grace. Love, and not calling each other babies and heathens and blind and lost-Love is the way. Teen Titans Go!
Wayne Adewale Samuel is a lover and defender of art, an intermedia content creator who leads the new school of believers without borders. An agreeable cacophony of crafts that if allowed to run loose can turn the blandest of ideas to the cream of the crop. He is that he is.
Blog Link: www.dsoupkitchen.com
