After multiplying your blessings, what next?

Instruction No. 2:   After multiplying your blessings, what next?

²⁵ Give to Caesar what is due to Caesar, and to God what is due to God. LUKE 20 

What is Due to Caesar

Caesar is the imperial title given to the Roman emperor from the time of Gaius Julius Caesar (100-44 bc) to Maximian in 286 ad. In that context Caesar in Luke 20:25 is a general reference to Government.

What is due to Caesar are the taxes and other public impositions. Pay the correct amount and on time.

⁷ Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. ROMANS 13 nkjv

Relative to Luke 20:25 are malpractices in the Philippines that must be resolved:

1.    God excuses no one from paying taxes yet “Christians” cheat on taxes and custom duties and Christian churches do not pay taxes.

2.    Luke 3:13 nlt says, “Collect no more taxes than what the government requires,” yet the taxpayers are overtaxed.

3.    Public revenue is generated so the government can function and deliver public services yet stealing from the public coffer has become a way of life among the government authorities. During a Senate investigation in 2008, witnesses Jun Lozada and Romulo Neri were not really denouncing the overpricing of the NBN-ZTE contract per se. They wanted it moderated.

What is Due to God

What is due to God are the tithes and offerings.

TITHES.  Tithing is the act of giving 10% of our increase to God.

What is meant by increase? Suppose you profit $2,000 from a business or investment; your profit is your increase; ten percent of $2,000 is $200; your tithe should be $200. Suppose your salary is $800; your increase is $800; ten percent of $800 is $80; your tithe should be $80. Suppose $50 is deducted from your salary for taxes and social security, still your tithe should be $80. Suppose you receive a $1,000 pension and a material gift worth $200; your increase is $1,200; ten percent of $1,200 is $120; your tithe should be $120.     

Patriarch Jacob had been practicing tithing long before the Law came. 

²² And of all that You give me I will give You a tenth. GENESIS 28 

His grandfather, Abraham, had set the precedent. He gave a tenth of his war spoils to Melchizedek to honor God (Genesis 14:20). 

¹ This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, ⁴ …the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder! HEBREWS 7

Some churches teach that tithing is Old Testament and only for the Jews to observe; and that the New Testament has stopped the practice. False teaching! The truth is, Y’shua endorsed it, saying that tithing must be practiced with love and faithfulness attached to it.

²³ Woe to you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the Law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. MATTHEW 23

By tithing we acknowledge and thank God as our Master and Partner in life. 

¹⁷ You must never think that you made yourselves wealthy by your own power and strength. ¹⁸ Remember that it is the Lord your God who is giving you the power to be rich. DEUTERONOMY 8 tev

Let us look closely at an enterprise to have a clear example. In farming God provides the four elements—land, water, sun and air—necessary to grow plants. The seeds and seedlings, the farm helpers and work animals, the fertilizers—they too come from Him. The farmer’s breath, body, strength, and vitality—they too come from God. The farmer’s practical sense—that too comes from God (Isaiah 28:26).

Tithing is a demand that is so unbusiness-like. God owns the whole enterprise, the capital risks are all His and yet come harvest time, He asks only for a tenth of the increase, letting the farmer keep the 90%.

God is not a greedy partner, but many of us are. Greedy is an appropriate adjective to describe those who pocket God’s share of the increase in their enterprises. Ingrate and thief are two other appropriate adjectives.

⁸ Will a man rob God? Surely not. And yet you have robbed Me. [You ask,] “What do You mean? When did we ever rob You?” You have robbed Me of the tithes and offerings due Me. ⁹ And so the awesome curse of God is cursing you, for your whole nation is robbing Me. MALACHI 3 tlb

It does not please God when His managers steal from Him. Why? Because their disobedience boomerangs to them and hurts them.

¹⁹ Am I really the one they are hurting? No, they are hurting themselves and bringing shame on themselves. JEREMIAH 7

OFFERINGS. The good news is, there are Christians who are faithful in giving God’s share. God asks for 10% and they give even more.  

Is it acceptable to God if we give Him more? The answer is, Of course! God has left it to our discretion whether to give Him more. It really is a question of the heart: How much of the increase are we willing to share with our Silent Partner? What we give in excess of 10% is called offering. For that is what it is, a special offering.

²³ He who sacrifices thank offerings honors Me. PSALM 50

²⁹ Do not hold back offerings from your granaries or your vats. EXODUS 22

Let us understand the divine encouragement Do not hold back. Offerings are a pleasing aroma to God. That is because giving is elevated into a living sacrifice; the 10% legal barrier is broken for love of God. Giving more means keeping less for ourselves, a visible manifestation of our faith that God is there to take care of our personal and family needs come what may.