Christ died for the ungodly

Christ died for the ungodly

by Justin Kang

Romans 5:1-11

¹ Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

⁶ You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

⁹ Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! ¹⁰ For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! ¹¹ Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

If you may ask, what is ungodliness? Well, to be ungodly is primarily, to neglect God, withholding from Him all that He rightfully deserves, which is worship, love, adoration, faith, obedience and much more.

In the scriptures at verse 6, the word powerless or without strength means that we are utterly condemned forever in our situation which is sin and that we have no way of escape other than to rely completely for someone capable to save us. And that someone is Jesus.

To be justified is to be made right. Jesus made you right because you were wrong. But even more so you are saved from God’s wrath and reconciled to God. From enemies of God, you become friends of God.

This is THE TRUTH –CHRIST DIED FOR THE UNGODLY

Jesus. Who is He? The Son of The Most High God. Without blemish or spot. Sinless. Perfect. Full of Light. In whom has no sin. He cannot tolerate sin for He is Holy. Destroyer of sin.

All these are just a small glimpse of who Jesus really is, yet He took our cause of ungodliness(sin) , when He Himself had no part in our fall or sins that arise due to our fall(note: Adam and Eve was tempted by Satan, NOT God).

Jesus Christ. ‘Christ’ means ‘Anointed One’. This is a title given by God to Jesus because Jesus was sent by God on a special mission. He was set apart to do God’s work and was qualified for His whole ministry here on earth by the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

Some may ask, ’Why did God have to send Jesus to die for us? I am just fine now. I don’t need help. I do a lot of good works’. Well, my answer to that is God is a holy God and He demands justice. Romans 5:12 - Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man(Adam), and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned— . God’s wrath is destined against all man for all sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:10-12).

God viewed men as ungodly people, far from God, wicked by thoughts and actions, dead in their sins, corrupted, enemies of God. Jesus died for us out of pure pity at our helpless state, which was repulsive and grotesque to Him because He is holy. Why did I state it this way? Why did Jesus pity us? Because how can He love us out of our character, or actions or thoughts when all that we do is wicked and completely opposite of who He is? There is nothing in us that can attract Him, only repel Him. BUT He loved us in spite of us being fallen and miserable creatures, He loved us according to His loving kindness and tender mercies. He viewed us as scum and disgusting and ungodly, yet He still loved us.

Romans 5:8

⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

This shows that when we are saved, we have lost all rights to boast about ourselves or our efforts.

Eph 2:8-9

⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast.

Now, how can we say that ‘Jesus died for the godly’ as some people do? What good is there for Christ to die for a just person? Do just people need reconciliation with God? Can a just person die for another just person? Would a just person need the blood of Jesus and all the pain and suffering that He went through? If being honest was a condition to be saved by Jesus, how would the thief at the cross be saved? If purity, how would the woman that loved much be saved? If courage, how would the disciples be saved when they all except John fled when Jesus was crucified? The gospel of Christ did not come as a prize for being good, but it presents us forgiveness of sins, it didn’t come because we are healthy, it came to be a medicine for the sickness.

For instance, let’s say that there is a perfectly innocent from actual sin and an unblemished man on this earth, without any tendency to sin and. And I told him that Jesus died for his sins, he would have the right to say ‘What use do I have for a Saviour? Can’t I make myself just without Him?’ So it is certain that Jesus died for the ungodly, the just don’t need to be justified and reconciled to God, only sinners.

Now how about us? What are we going to do since we know that Jesus went so far for us even till death for our sins to be upon Him and Him being punished by the whole wrath of God till God was satisfied and our sins put away forever. FOREVER!

In my life at certain points, I was so depressed and down until I felt that life became meaningless and even contemplated that suicide is the only way to end this nightmare. Satan had managed to plant many suggestions into my mind. But this was what I felt in my heart in the dark days, Jesus told me that He came exactly for people like me, scared, fearful, in despair, helpless and without hope. His Word was life giving and life breathing in the darkest time of my life. It still is today. I urge you to read His Word everyday and experience His love to you daily as He leads you on to paths of grace.

Jesus was separated from the Father, scourged, whipped, spat at, mocked, pierced, suffered in the hands of you and I, the very people He came to save. Now that we know that Jesus paid a huge price for us, how can we take sin lightly? We would be appalled by the thought of sinning because it was sin that caused our Saviour to be nailed to the cross. Imagine that your family or close friend was stabbed to death by a knife. Would you play with the knife drenched in your loved one’s blood? Impossible! You would throw it away! Sin is like the knife that pierced the heart of our Redeemer. Flee from sin and rely on His Spirit to teach you to deny all unrighteousness and teach you His ways of life.

Luke 7:36-50

³⁶ When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. ³⁷ A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. ³⁸ As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.

³⁹ When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”

⁴⁰ Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”

“Tell me, teacher,” he said.

⁴¹ “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii,^[a] and the other fifty. ⁴² Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”

⁴³ Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”

“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.

⁴⁴ Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. ⁴⁵ You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. ⁴⁶ You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. ⁴⁷ Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”

⁴⁸ Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

⁴⁹ The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”

⁵⁰ Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

I encourage you my brothers and sisters, in spite of circumstances and feelings and emotions, always keep in your mind the love of our Saviour and thank Him daily for all He has done for you. For it is the knowledge of how much your sins worth, that was fully paid by Jesus that determines how much you love Jesus. And I want to say, your sins is so big that it required God’s only begotten Son to come to earth to die for you. Look to Him now and live.

Amen.

For non-Believers

If there has been anyone ungodly, not Christian that read this article, it is plain that you are in grave danger. Jesus would not have to go through all the sufferings if there wasn’t an imminent danger. You will be under God’s judgement and wrath of God will be against you. God sent his only begotten Son for you. This shows that the eternal death and hell that will be awaiting you is something God doesn’t want you to go through forever.

Only Jesus can help you escape from this danger. But rejoice for Jesus Christ died for the ungodly. I urge that you do not reject the forgiveness of sins that Christ offers to the people of this world.

If you have decided to believe in Jesus, visit this website to know more http://www.intothelight.org/answers/sinners-prayer.asp

Tithing (not by me)

By Voon-Cheng Tiang

TITHING

Preamble

• This is my first Knol. Thank you for visiting and I welcome your comments for areas that can be improved. This Knol is specifically about Biblical Tithing. As tithing is an ordained privilege of a person who is already a Christian, it gears this Knol to present its message to, primarily, Christians; although, of course, it is also an open and cordial invitation to one and all.
• For Christian readers, I shall assume that you are already familiar with basic concepts of Christianity - hence, one may not find detailed explanations for sin and salvation within these texts.
• For readers in general - I must say that I, myself, am pleasantly surprised at how much can be written on a simple 5-letter word 'tithe' - therefore, please note that there shall be numerous, numerous spiritual truths and tenets that may not seem the most logical according to secular reasoning. We know that GOD's Words can be mysterious to the intellect.
• Most of what is written here, if not all, except for a few vignettes of personal voice, is sourced from The Holy Bible and Pastor Joseph Prince's sermons. (I attend New Creation Church in Singapore, of whom Pastor Prince is the Senior Pastor). However, this Knol is not representative of Pastor Joseph Prince or New Creation Church.
• And, even before I begin - I wish to emphasize that the act of tithing always flow from The Source, which is The Abundance Grace of our ABBA Father, and His neverending Love. The Grace of GOD is a Person. The Love of GOD is also a Person. That Person is The Person of CHRIST JESUS Himself.

Introduction

• A tithe can be defined as the tenth part of, say, a personal income, that is set apart as an offering to GOD. If it is in the form of agricultural produce, it can sometimes be referred to in The Bible as the firstfruits of the harvest.
• In the book of Malachi, chapter 3, verses 8 and 14 (Mal 3:8,14) - GOD exhorts His children (i.e. Christians like you and I) to refrain from being doubtful and cynical about tithing. We can see from the verses that when one becomes doubtful and cynical about tithing, one may not tithe, or stop tithing according to the actual meaning of the word 'tithe' - which is one-tenth of the gross original lot. The reason why GOD is exhorting this can be found in v.9, where He said that there is a curse for robbing Him of His tithe.
• Notice that GOD did not place the curse on them. When Adam sinned, the whole earth became fallen, and the fallen earth carries a curse. When one does not tithe, one removes oneself from GOD's canopy of grace, and thus opens oneself to the curse. Basically, the original curse is that the ground is cursed, there is sorrow and sweat in the consumption of the produce of the hard ground, and then finally, there is death.
• All this may seem dreadful - but take heart. GOD is simply exhorting us not to refrain from tithing, and then He tells us how not to be cursed. He isn't trying to frighten or threaten us. He is throwing His light on the situation in order to save us.
• You may have already noticed that I used the words "the tithe" instead of "my tithe or your tithe". GOD has instituted that the tithe belongs to Him, so it is rightfully "His tithe". We bring (Mal 3:10) to Him the tithe. As the tithe is not ours, it sounds presumptuous to say: "We give our tithe to GOD"; or, "I pay my tithe to Him".
• In the past, there have been church leaders who have abused the usage of GOD's tithe, but the failures of men and women cannot and never will tarnish the sanctity of the tithe.

Consecrating Your Income

• To consecrate is to set apart; to sanctify, to dedicate something as sacred and holy to GOD.
• Rm 11:16 gives the key to consecrate our income. Why would one want to consecrate one's income? - you ask. Remember that our income is tainted by the curse of this fallen world:
  • The food that we eat, as well as the money that we receive, are all directly and indirectly derived from the earth - such as vegetation, plants, and trees.
  • JESUS Himself declared money as "unrighteous mammon" (Lk 16, 9,11).
  • When we consecrate our income, we 'un-taint' it and make it holy unto GOD.
• Rm 11:16 says: For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy. You can see how gracious GOD is. He does not require us to give Him all our income for Him to make it holy. His principle is that we only need to give Him the 'firstfruit' tithe (the one tenth) of our total income, and He is able to bless the rest of the nine tenths as holy.
• Hence, by giving Him only one tenth, our total income (the lump) becomes consecrated to Him. And when our income is set apart unto Him - no curse, no devil or his demons can touch it!
• 90% of consecrated income far, far exceeds 100% of income that is vulnerable to the curse of the earth and the schemes of the evil one.
• Isn't it wonderful to know that by tithing 1/10 of your income, you are 'securing' all your income from the curse of the fallen world and from the clutches of the evil one?

Does GOD Need Your Tithe?

• GOD created and owns everything in the universe. He is The One who gave you life and He is The One who blessed you with a job and income. Surely The GOD of all the universe does not need your tithe. The reason for the tithe is His 'Esc button' for you to permanently shake loose the grip of the curse on your income, all your life!
• Our tithe is for our gain - great gain, I should say. I am tempted to add here that - in the same principle, when you tithe one day of the week (setting aside Sunday to celebrate and worship Him and to rest from worldly labour) - the entire week is then set apart unto GOD. When you tithe a segment of the day (having quiet moments to be with Him) - your day is consecrated unto GOD. When we tithe a portion of our mind (spending moments to meditate on His Word, to worship Him, to thank and praise Him) - the rest of our mind and brain is sanctified.
• It had been said that when GOD created Adam and Eve (only two of them) and gave them the vastness of the riches of the Garden of Eden - GOD required them to tithe only one thing - only one tree - unto Him: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
• However, GOD's Word about His tithe is about our tangible gained substance. Hence, I shall refrain from going off in a tangent to generalize tithing to other concepts, although I believe it is a scriptural and sound principle.
• Solomon, in Pro 3:9, says that honouring GOD means honouring Him with "our substance" (another version says 'wealth') and with the firstfruits of all our increase. It is clear that the tithe that honours GOD refers to monetary terms.
• I believe that GOD chose our income to concretize tithing because it is one of the things close to our heart and desires; and therefore when one, by volition tithe to Him, it reflects the person's priority to put GOD above this precious thing called 'money'.

Evidence of GOD's Blessing

• Many times I have heard it said, and it includes myself too: GOD has blessed me because I have good health, a happy family and a stable job. Is GOD's blessing evidenced by good health, a happy family and a stable job? Yes, it is. But GOD's blessing on a person is not, in all its entirety, evidenced solely by tangible manifestations. (Please read on and do not get me wrong here)
• I believe that a Christian, in faith, should be able to declare that he or she is blessed solely because of the Altogether-Lovely Person of JESUS abiding in him or her - and - because of The Finished Work of CHRIST JESUS appropriated in his or her life - no matter what state or status the person is in, and no matter what possesions or manifestations he or she has. Although I believe it will not be long before tangible manifestions of blessings swiftly begin to surface.
• Note the word 'appropriated in his or her life'. By that I mean that the Christian is active in believing. It is in contrast to a fatalistic faith that bemoans, "oh, OK, if GOD wants to bless me, He will bless me" - and the person continues to live in poverty, sickness and bondage.
• My friend, our ABBA Father GOD is everlastingly in desire to bless us with good health, prosperity and an abundant life. If something goes awry even though one is a faithful tither, does it justify one to protest, "hey, I tithe faithfully, how is it that this thing happens?"
• GOD is always sovereign over our lives and His grace is ever on us. The evidence of His love for you and I is not that there will not be anything that goes wrong, but that of The Finished Work of CHRIST JESUS at the cross for us already, and forever.

Tithing is Under Grace

Tithing is under Grace - do not turn it into a law.

• It is easy to come to a conclusion that in order to receive GOD's blessing, I'd better tithe.
• No, it doesn't work this way. Instead, we tithe FROM blessing - we do not tithe FOR blessing.
• If we tithe to get GOD's blessing, it is tantamount to twisting GOD's arm and say: Father, I've tithed to You - now, bless me. It would like keeping a law based on our own merits in order to obtain GOD's blessings.
• The truth is that by the Finished Work of CHRIST JESUS at the cross for you and I - GOD has already and will always love and bless us. Our tithe arises from this love and blessing that we already have. This is what tithing under Grace means.
• The Grace of GOD is freely and abundantly given to you and I without conditions of what we ought to do, or what we ought not do. We cannot earn GOD's love and blessings. It is by His Grace, through the Perfect Work of CHRIST JESUS at Calvary for each and every one of us who believes. We are already blessed.
• One of the many promises of GOD that we are already standing on blessed ground is found in Deu 8:18: In CHRIST JESUS He has given us the power to get wealth. It is a blessing already bestowed to us through the death of our LORD JESUS at the cross. You can see that we do not need to tithe to obtain this blessing. We tithe because we already have this blessing in CHRIST JESUS.
• One of GOD's blessings is His prosperity. It is not a vulgar word. Otherwise GOD would't have blessed Abraham, David, Solomon and many, many of His children with His prosperity.

Strengthening The Ties

Tithing is not only under Grace, it is before the Law of Moses. To keep the Law of Moses is to say that by one's own merits, one can keep the Law and obtain GOD's blessings. (The Law of Moses was actually given to the people of Israel - who boasted to GOD that they are excellent enough to keep His Laws - to show them that they cannot keep His perfect Laws, and have to depend on His Grace).

The first mention of tithing occurs in Ge 14:20 - and this was about 400 years before GOD gave the Law at Mt Sinai. Melchizedek King of Salem - The Precarnate Manifestation of JESUS - met Abram and offerred Him The Pre-eminence of The Broken Body of CHRIST JESUS - and The Shed Blood of CHRIST JESUS - symbolized by the bread and wine in his hands. These two elements depict The Finished Work of CHRIST JESUS at the cross. Melchizedek proceeded to bless Abram and declare the triumphing power of GOD. Then, Abram tithed to Melchizedek.

What is interesting here is the coming together of 5 divine entities:

• 'JESUS', in Melchizedek,
• His Finished Work at the cross (the bread and the wine),
• His blessing and His declaration of GOD's victory and power,
• The first-time mention of 2 of GOD's Names being invoked: El Elyon (GOD Most High) and El Shaddai (GOD Almighty), and,
• Tithing!
  • Can you see the relationship? - the context of these links?
  • Because of CHRIST JESUS' Finished Work at the cross for you and I - that which brings the blessings and victorious power of GOD Most High and GOD Almighty into our lives - we tithe.
  • Not only this - do you realize that the blessings and victorious power of GOD Most High and GOD Almighty is a perfect mirror image of His awesome protection over our lives?
  • Psalm 91:1 says that in CHRIST JESUS, we dwell in the secret place of The Most High GOD, and we abide under the shadow of The Almighty GOD. Psalm 91 is GOD's declaration of His Might and His Protection for all His children. "El Elyon" and "El Shaddai" are, as you can see, mirror-mentioned in this verse too, like Ge 14:20.
  • It is truly blessed to commit Psalm 91 to memory, to personalization (replacing the beneficiary-pronouns in the psalm with your name), and to meditation (meditation is not simply quiet thinking about the verses, but a prayerful recitation).
  • During the 2003 period of SARS in Singapore, thousands of GOD's children claimed Psalm 91 as GOD's protection canopy over their lives and the lives of their loved ones (v.10 - no evil shall befall me, no plague shall come near my dwelling).
  • Do you think I've finished with this section? There's more to follow.

The Finished Work of CHRIST JESUS

Strengthening another divine link is this: The Finished Work of CHRIST JESUS at the cross for you and I celebrates 2 of GOD's wonderful truth in our lives permanently:

1) The Bread

• The bread signifies The Broken Body of CHRIST JESUS to the cross.
• The full scourge of our past, present and future sicknesses and diseases were emptied on His Divine Body.
• Today, the Broken Body of CHRIST JESUS to the cross had already declared in the highest heavens that - therefore - there is now no more sickenesses and diseases. No more past congenital afflictionss and no more genetic defects and deformities in us. There is no more present deficiencies, disabilities, ill-constituencies and allergies. There is no more future degenerative illnesses. No more future dreaded diseases. No more ageing process! And if you think this is magnificent enough, there is more.
• GOD did something immeasurably more than this - He proceeded to input into us, His glorious, unchanging, unconditional, eternal SPIRIT of His Resurrection Life! His Resurrection Life is full of His divine health, wholeness and soundness of mind. Full of His dunamis vigour, His blessing of being a daughter of beautiful Sarah (for ladies), His youthfulness renewed like the eagle's until we are restored to our teenage years, His rest and peace, His length of days and long life, and His preservation and prosperity for our body.
• Do you know that by the Broken Body of CHRIST JESUS to the cross for you and I - every step that we take - we walk in His Eternal Resurrection Life?

2) And The Wine

• And the wine symbolizes The Shed Blood of CHRIST JESUS at the cross.
• The complete penalty and punishment for our past, present and future sins and wickednesses were exacted on His Life. He shed His Precious Blood and died - as you and I - and for you and I. He gave Himself to be hung as a curse on our behalf in order to totally redeem us from every curse of the law - so that from now and forevermore, no more curses can alight on us!
• And today - The Blood of CHRIST JESUS continues to declare in the highest heavens: Therefore, there is now, no more condemnation, no more accusation, no more shame or guilt, no more penalty and punishment, no more fear or trepidation, no more sin-consciousness, no more judgement-mentality for us. There is also, no more regrets - no more 'kicking of ourselves' for the things that we should not have done, and for the things that we should have done. No more "if-only" I've done that, and no more "if-only" I've not committed that. No more damning of the self for utter failures in the past. No more haunting of our pasts. The Blood of CHRIST JESUS sets us totally free, and we are free indeed. And again - if you think this is awesome enough - there is more!
• GOD did something exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we can ask or imagine: He inputed into us His unconditional, unchanging, everlasting Gift of His Righteousness!
• Do you realize that by The Shed Blood of CHRIST JESUS at the cross for you and I - every breath that we take, we breathe His Everlasting Righteousness?

• I believe that the twin helix strand in the DNA of every cell in our body is actually made up of The Resurrection Life and The Righteousness of our ABBA Father in CHRIST JESUS. I believe that when Adam sinned, his spirit-man died - so did the divine twin helix strand. When one receives JESUS as Saviour, one's spirit is regenerated by The HOLY SPIRIT. Similarly, when one rightfully discerns that 'The Bread' is for healing, and 'The Wine' is for forgiveness, the then mortal twin helix strand becomes spiritually regenerated by The HOLY SPIRIT.
• All of the above, my friend, is The Finished Work of CHRIST JESUS at the cross for you and I. Nothing less!
• And all of the above is favourably and significantly corelated to tithing!

Tithing Impacts Our Children

• Levi was the great grand-son of Abraham. Heb 7:9,10 illustrated that although Levi, the tribe appointed by GOD to carry our priestly duties, was receiving tithes from his brother-tribes, he was actually already bringing tithes to GOD via Abraham - being in his ancestor's loins. The tithes that we bring to GOD shall impact our children and our children's children.
• Here in Heb 7:4-10, there is a spiritual contrasting of the tithe brought to GOD in law, and the tithe that is brought to GOD in grace. Levi typifies the tithe that is brought to GOD in law - that is, ritualistic tithing in order to achieve merit, or, tithing to prove self sufficiency in fulfilling the law. There is no 'life' in this type of tithing.
• Abraham typifies the tithe brought to GOD under grace - looking to JESUS (Melchizedek) and His Finished Work, not to self works. Verse 6 describes Melchizedek's blessing on Abraham, who had the promises. The promises are GOD's Righteousness and Resurrection Life through The Finished Work of JESUS at the cross - not through the rigid obedience of the law.
• Obeying the law cannot save us. The law is perfect, hence no one, except JESUS, could fulfill it. There are two powerful verses in Ac 13: 38,39 that demonstrate this: "... through JESUS the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through Him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses".
• Do we therefore tithe so that our descendants are blessed? I believe it is the other way round. In believing the Grace of GOD through The Finished Work of CHRIST JESUS at the cross, we know that our descendants are under His favour even as we tithe.

Who Receives The Tithe?

• Before we answer the question, Heb 7:4 says that the tithe shows how great JESUS is in my belief of Him.
• Verse 8 says that although mortal men physically receive the tithe here on earth - it is GOD in heaven who receives it. He sees, He knows, and He receives it "there" in heaven.
• Verse 8 continues to say that the received tithe by JESUS will witness that He lives - that He is alive in your life and in my life. How will people see that JESUS is alive in our lives? Through visible manifestations of His love, His blessings, His prosperity and His abundant life. Yes, tangible manifestations alone should not determine GOD's love and blessings in our lives, but it is a real and eventual outcome.
• Joseph is a Type of JESUS. After he had revealed his identify to his brothers, he sent them back to tell his father Jacob that he is alive, and for them to bring Jacob to live in Goshen, Egypt (Ge 45:21-24). When they had reached home, they told Jacob that Joseph was alive. Jacob was too stunned to believe - until he heard the words of Joseph (through his other sons) and saw the carts filled with all the prosperous gifts that Joseph had sent. The Bible recorded that Jacob's spirit was revived, and he knew that Joseph was alive. Manifested blessings testify that JESUS is alive in our lives for others to see. And then the name of Jacob was changed to Israel, whose 12 sons will be the ancestors of the nation of Israel.
• 1 Co 15:20 says that CHRIST rose from the dead, and became The Firstfruits of those who have passed on. Now, because The Firstfruits live, we live - and so does the tithe!

Try GOD

• GOD invites us to try Him regarding the tithe (Mal 3:10). He says to try His way: Bring all the tithes into the storehouse. Some of us may have more than one source of income. He reminds us, for our good, not to forget all the tithes from all our income. I believe it also means to tithe gross rather than net.
• He mentions "the storehouse" - singular, which is your church and my church. Trying GOD's way means trying not to divide the tithe into various ministries. Tithe it to our home church for it to channel it to the various ministries.
• And GOD promises that He'll open the windows of heaven for the tither - and pour out His exceedingly abundant and overflowing blessings.
• When we try GOD's way - He promises in verse 11, that He Himself will rebuke the evil force that is poised to steal, kill and destroy. And the people around us will see and speak about our blessedness - because it is GOD who will transform us into "a delightful land" (v.12)
• What is a delightful land? Ge 27:27-29 list the blessing of Isaac on Jacob. He described his son as having the fragrance of a LORD-blessed field. And he blessed him with GOD's favour (dew of heaven), the rich provisions of the earth, and with abundant grain and wine. Isaac added that peoples will revere Jacob, and foes who try to curse him will in turn be cursed, while friends who bless him will be blessed.
• Do you think that your income is meagre, and find it a challenge to tithe? In Ge 26:1, Isaac was in a land afflicted with famine. Did it stop him from sowing seeds? No, the Bible recorded that he sowed even though the land was difficult. And he reaped abundantly because GOD's blessing was upon him. So he experienced three increasing levels of GOD's blessings: he began to prosper, then he continued prospering - until he became very prosperous.
• Also, do you think that GOD treats the tithe lightly? In Ge 28:22, Jacob emphatically vowed to GOD "I shall surely give a tenth to You". Later in chapter 31, as he was being instructed by GOD to escape from Laban's bullying ways, GOD declared that He remembered Jacob's vow of the tithe!

Seedtime and Harvest

• In Ge 8:21, after the flood, Noah built an altar and made a sacrifice to GOD, and He accepted the sweet aroma of the sacrifice - and, He said that seedtime and harvest will be as sure as the seasons, and as the day and night. When one sows, one can expect a harvest. GOD principled it.
• GOD Himself sowed The Seed - JESUS. The Seed died and produced a glorious harvest. 2Co 8:9 revealed that in the grace of GOD, JESUS, though He was rich, became a sacrifice of poverty for us - so that through His poverty, we became rich. This demonstrated that we are already rich in CHRIST JESUS.
• Several verses later, in 2Co 9:6, it shows us the key as to how many folds we want our riches to be. If we sow sparingly, we shall reap sparingly; and when we sow bountfully, we shall reap bountifully. (By the way, v.7 informs us that the climate of this seedtime is a cheerful, willing heart).
• Now, we come to 2Co 9:8 - and it shows that GOD has already promised that in CHRIST JESUS, He has made all His grace to abound toward us, so that we - having all His sufficiency at all times and in all things, have His abundance for all works in grace.
• We do not seed to get His harvest. We seed because we know His harvest is sure already.
• Do we give in order to be given to? Rather, we give, knowing that it has already been given to us: good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over - it has already been put into our bosom (Lk 6:38).
• Do we tithe to get His blessings? Rather, we honour GOD with the tithe - believing that He has already filled our barns with plenty, and overflowed our vats with new wine (Pro 3:9,10).
• Truly, we cannot 'over-tithe' to GOD. Throughout the Bible, GOD richly rewards (no, these people did not do it in order to get His rewards) those who gave to Him:
  • Hebrew midwives who refused to comply with Herod's instructions to kill babies that they have helped delivered (Ex 1:21).
  • The woman who anointed JESUS' head with expensive spikenard (Mk 14:3); and Mary who likewise used costly perfume to wipe JESUS' feet (Jn 12:3).
  • The Israelites who gave generously to the furnishings and fixtures of the Tabernacle of GOD during the exodus - such as, gold, silver, bronze, linen, ram skins, badger skins, etc (Ex 35, 38) - for 40 years - their clothes and their sandals did not wear out, their feet never became swollen from all the walking, and they lacked nothing (Deu 8:4, Deu 29:5, Neh 9:21).
• Do log on to the web-page below to read a Time Magazine article dated Mon, 30 July 1945 - on how Quaker Perry Hayden proved that tithing worked.
• http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,801686,00.html
• Prominent Christians are James L. Kraft, William Colgate, Henry J Heinz, J.D. Rockefeller, F.W. Woolworth, and many others. Pastor Rick Warren, author of the bestseller 'A Purpose-Driven Life', as you may have already known, practices reverse-tithing - i.e. giving a 90% tithe.
• Indeed, glory to GOD who in CHRIST JESUS - did, is doing, and will continue to bless us exceedingly, abundantly, and above all that we - with our earthly logic - can ask or imagine (Eph 3:20,21).

The 'aaser' and the 'maaser'

• In Hebrew, the word for rich is "aaser" and, for tithe is "maaser". You can see that the root word "aaser (rich)" is in the "maaser (tithe)". We tithe (maaser) because we already have His prosperity (aaser) in us.
• Because we are already rich in CHRIST, we tithe.
• GOD's aaser (rich) in us is like a divine bank vault, out of which we tithe. We do not tithe so that GOD can make us rich.
• Many people, like myself included, invest money in the bank or businesses, hoping to get rich.
• GOD's way is that our aaser is in the maaser: Our rich is in the tithe. I'll repeat: We do not tithe so that GOD can make us rich. Rather - our rich is already in the tithe.

The Aaser and The Maaser

• There is a much higher divine parallel to the "aaser" and the "maaser". Our GOD is a GOD of all prosperities. You can say in a way, among one of the many glorious attributes of GOD, that GOD is Aaser (GOD is The Prosperity). He tithed His only beloved Son JESUS for you and I. JESUS is The Maaser (The Tithe).
• Because GOD is The Aaser, He blessed us with The Maaser. When we opened our hearts to receive JESUS as our Savior, we received not only The Maaser - but also The Aaser (because The Aaser is in The Maaser). That is to say, because of JESUS, we have received all the fullness of GOD's riches. And in turn, we tithe because we are rich in Him.
• Now, moving one up on "our rich is already in the tithe" - we can now say: GOD's Rich for me is already in His Tithe.
• When GOD gave His Tithe (JESUS) for us, we crucified Him on the cross, and offered it back to Him. Any earthly father would be furious if this sort of events would have happened. But was GOD angry at us? No. Instead in His grace - He honoured the tithe, and, The Tithe. And He opened the floodgates of heaven to bless us, and exceedingly bless us.

Meta-Analysis

• When we sum up all the above, it shows GOD's awesome desire and power to bless us through the tithe, and through The Tithe:
• GOD gave His Tithe for us. He tithed JESUS to Himself. In His exceedingly great grace and His everlasting love, He tithed JESUS for us, and as us:
  • To completely bear all our sicknesses and diseases;
  • To fully pay for all our sins and wicknesses;
  • To be perfectly afflicted with all our curses;
• It demonstrated how great He is;
• It testified that He is alive;
• It is He who receives it in heaven;
• It honours Him;
• GOD fills our barns with plenty, and overflows our vats with new wine;
• GOD blesses us and declares His victory and power over our lives;
• It invokes His Names: El Elyon (GOD Most High) and El Shaddai (GOD Almighty);
• It brings forth His might and His protection in Psalm 91;
• It celebrates The Finished Work of CHRIST JESUS at the cross for you and I;
• It declares that we are The Righteousness of GOD in CHRIST JESUS by His shed Blood;
• It declares that we are The Resurrection Life of GOD in CHRIST JESUS by His broken Body;
• It blesses His 'descendants', i.e. His children - you and I;
• As The Tithe is sanctified, so is the rest - and we are 'the rest' who are made holy because The Tithe is holy;
• GOD opens for us the floodgates of heaven and pours forth to us so much blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it;
• GOD rebukes the devourer from our lives;
• The devourer will no longer be able to destroy the fruit of our ground;
• The vine in the field will never again fail to bear fruit for us;
• All nations will call us blessed of The LORD;
• We shall be a delightful land;
• GOD blesses us so that our smell is like the smell of a field that He has blessed; and He gives us the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth, with plenty of grain and wine. Peoples will revere us. Our enemies will not be blessed and our friends will be blessed.
• In our lives, seedtime and harvest is a sure phenomenon;
• He has made all His grace to abound toward us, so that we - having all His sufficiency at all times and in all things, have His abundance for all good works in His grace;
• ... and much, much more blessings.
• And all we have to do is simply rest and believe.

What Soil is It?

• In closing, I hope we will let The HOLY SPIRIT prepare our hearts as 'good soil' - to hear and to understand the Parable of the Sower (Mt 13:3-23) - to receive GOD's Word and to produce an abundant crop.
• Prophetically, we live in the times of the Parable of the Lost Coin (Lk 15:8). The woman signifies the church - and we are looking for the revelation of the 1/10 tithe. Only The HOLY SPIRIT can give us the light of understanding. And there will be glorious rejoicing when one finds the revelation - hearing and understanding the unveiling of GOD's awesome power to bless him or her limitlessly via the tithe, and The Tithe.

Thank You

My heartfelt appreciate to you if you've been able to follow this Knol. I commit this Knol to CHRIST JESUS and acknowledge that it is only by His grace that I can pen this. I look forward to your constructive criticisms, advice, and feedback.

Some people may say: With today's inflation and recession, I cannot afford to tithe. I'd like to borrow the phrase: Can you afford not to? However, I do not wish to end with this question, which can sound negative. Rather, I like to borrow another phrase:

Tithing - we don't need to. We get to!

Hallelujah! Praise JESUS and GOD bless you!

References

Joseph Prince, Joseph Prince Resources CDs, Singapore.

www.destined2reign.com

15 Oct 2000 - The Benefits of Tithing

17 Feb 2008 - God's Best-Kept Secret on Tithing - Can You Take It?

13 Apr 2008 - God's Amazing Generosity for Your Harvest

20 Apr 2008 - When God Outgives Us

ebible.com

www.ebible.com

New International Version

New King James Version

edictionary.com

www.edictionary.com

Time.com in collaboration with CNN

www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,801686,00.html

CD: Songs for Communion. Hillsong Church, Sydney, Australia.

Hillsong Music Australia, PO Box 1195, Castle Hill, NSW 1765 Australia. Email:

hillsongs@hillsong.com

Acknowledgments

• My thanks, praise and worship go to my loving ABBA FATHER, my altogether lovely Saviour CHRIST JESUS, His Finished Work at the cross for me, and as me, and THE HOLY SPIRIT of The Life of GOD who dwells in me.
• My gratitude to Pastor Joseph Prince and New Creation Church's Team of Pastors - especially Pastor Mark Ng, Pastor Lawrence Lim, Pastor K.E. Mathews - Leaders and Guest Speakers who unveiled, and are continuing to unveil JESUS to me in all His Grace, Glory, Lovingkindness, Tendermercies, Wisdom, Shalom Peace, Righteousness, Resurrection Life, Joy, Hope and Everlasting Love.
• The love of all my Siblings and their families in the past, present and future: Ros, Pat, Ing, Paul, William, Jack and Jimi.
• The love and company of my sister in grace Prudence and my niece Andrea especially on Sundays; and Prudence's Care Group led by Sis Karine Chew.
• Brothers and sisters in CHRIST whose fellowship, encouragement and prayers I appreciate very much - especially New Creation Church Care Group @ Blk 550 Ang Mo Kio, led by Bro Suresh Joseph, and coordinated by Mrs Kathy Lim.
• Many, many Beloved Friends - too many to name, but GOD bless them all. I have openly thanked some of these friends and sisters in CHRIST in my Blog: http://aredialwistiang.blogspot.com
• A few persons whom I find challenging to relate to - but GOD bless them all the same - because He has shown me that in CHRIST JESUS, I do not wrestle against flesh and blood (Eph 6:12) - but against spiritual dark forces that oppress these persons to behave how they behave. Praise be to JESUS for The Armour of GOD, especially praying in The Spirit.

Postamble

• My above formal writing on Tithing is completed. This postamble - and what follows - is on a personal nature.
• Can I share how I initially felt about posting a Knol for the world to see? I felt really inadequate. And intimidated by the anxiety of potential nasty comments (read some of the comments of some of the Knols - some of them can be sarcastically piercing!), and the fear of self-glory.
• GOD's Word in Rm 1:16,17 delivered me.
• His encouragement to me is, personalized: "In CHRIST JESUS - Voon-Cheng am not ashamed of The Gospel of CHRIST, for It is the power of GOD to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Gentiles. Because in It, The Righteousness of GOD is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written: Voon-Cheng, righteous in GOD's eyes, by faith will live".
• GOD's Word comforts me not to be ashamed of The Good News of CHRIST.
• As I share in the physical realm, His power is at work in the spiritual realm.
• Salvation, "sozo", encompasses the meaning of not just salvation unto eternal life, but also, being saved from a physical threat, protection, preservation, and well-being.
• And it is all about JESUS - The Righteousness of GOD. And always about JESUS - Altogether Lovely and His Finished Work at the cross for you and I.
• Because of CHRIST' righteousness in me, by faith I live.
• Friend, if there is a chance that you are reading this and have not opened your heart to receive JESUS as your Saviour - He wants to let you know that He loves you.
• I saw this beautiful invitation in a CD booklet: Songs for Communion by Hillsong Church.
• It says: Our Prayer for You ... Our prayer is that you would discover The Author of Love ... JESUS. His life and death represent the greatest gift of love the world will ever see ... a gift for you. All you need to do is accept it ... a brand new start to a life lived in relationship with GOD. Meeting GOD is as simple as praying a prayer ... asking JESUS to meet you right where you are. If you are not sure that you know GOD, and that you are going to Heaven, then make this your prayer today ...
• "Dear Lord JESUS, I need You. I need Your grace to forgive me and I need Your love to change me. Thank You for Your amazing love. Thank You for giving me life and eternity. But above all, thank You for dying on the cross for me. I accept You as my Lord and Saviour. Now I'm a Christian, which means You live in me. I belong to You. I will live my life for You and I will love You forever ... Amen."
• (The CD invited persons who have prayed this prayer to contact Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia via email: prayer@hillsong.com.)
• Or you may contact a local church to find out more about growing as a Christian. As I attend New Creation Church in Singapore, I welcome you to attend my church. Please visit the church's website at www.newcreation.org.sg or call 6338-4565 (Tue-Fri, 10am-6pm) for more details.
• It's my heart's desire that this Knol brings glory to GOD and blessings to the Church..
• GOD bless you! :)

Here's to a Great Year ahead!

Hello all, its been like super long i haven't visited this site and i begin to feel nostalgic and reminisce about the past. i realized a lot has change all around us and especially in my life since i last posted here. But I thank God that He is always the same and He is the one that guides us through our lives. He knows the way to the depths of our hearts. i believe since I last posted, God has really poured His abundant blessings upon Touch and upon all my life. I thank God for such a wonderful youth camp we had recently and we had lots of fun and bonding, but most of all, we grew spiritually. I'm so very glad to see that we have now so many new faces in our Youth service and pray with me that it'll only get more. I'm thrilled to see the BM and chinese service youth and English service youths being bonded and being so close friends. Therefore, I'm looking forward to the rest of this year and I can't wait to taste and see what God has in store for all of us in 2011!

So let us all continue to live out loud for Jesus cos He is the only reason we are here in this earth today! always continue to comfort one another and be there for one another cos the bible says everything would mean nothing if we do not love one another.