Should Christians Still Tithe Today?

The church is in a mission critical situation: There are more unreached people groups than there were ten years ago. The Gospel has not been preached to ends of the earth as Christ commanded.

Why? Lack of funding. Believers aren’t tithing. Bake sales, shiny new offering plates, and special holiday offerings won’t complete the mission. To turn the tide, it’s going to take every believer tithing and giving generously.

We Have a Transfer Problem

Now before you scoff and say, “God doesn’t need money,” consider this first: Translating Bibles, paying for disaster relief materials and plane flights, drilling wells, clothing the homeless and feeding the impoverished—they all cost money.

Luckily, God doesn’t need money because you—a self-proclaimed believer—have money.

An old preacher once said God doesn’t have money problems. We have a transfer problem. Jesus said the same 2,000 years ago: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt. 6:21). He takes it a step further and says it’s not a money issue; it’s a heart issue: Where your money goes shows what you value and what you ultimately worship.

If you think I’m wrong, consider this: Netflix doesn’t ask for money, but you give towards their cause—and you give even more to avoid commercials. Amazon doesn’t ask for money, but you give plenty to them (probably more than you’re tithing right now) to get your packages in super speed. Then in the next breath, you complain about the secular agenda that these corporations are pushing on us. You give to them without blinking an eye—then throw pennies at the church to further the mission of the Gospel.

It’s easy to justify not tithing these days. All you have to do is get on your phone. If you’ve watched ten videos on TikTok or YouTube about why you shouldn’t tithe, be careful that you’re not looking for talking heads telling you exactly what you want to hear.

As believers, we give Christ our life, we offer that up to him, but then keep our finances under lock and key. What we don’t realize is that the only way to be free from the love of money is to give it away.

The Bible on Tithing

Yet so many people today are asking, “Should Christians still tithe today?” Yes! Tithing didn’t end with the Old Testament as some people might tell you. Jesus reinforced tithing in his earthly ministry (Matt. 23:23), the early church practiced sacrificial giving beyond anything seen in the church today (Acts 4:34-35), and Paul’s epistles are full of encouragement toward generosity (1 Tim. 6:17-19, 2 Cor. 8 and 9, Phil. 4:14-19).

Then take the Hebrews 7. It’s about the first tithe ever recorded, Abraham tithing to Melchizedek. For thousands of years, the Jews gave their tithes to the tribe of Levi. But Melchizedek is not from the tribe of Levi. He’s set apart. He came before. In fact, the author of Hebrews even makes the case that Levi, who received tithes, tithed to Melchizedek through his forefather Abraham.

The author of Hebrews makes the case that if you think Melchizedek is great, someone greater than Melchizedek has come. The author is not saying the tithe is out of date or shouldn’t be followed. No, he’s saying we now tithe to our greater and better high priest, to the final priest who gave himself as the final sacrifice for sins. Who’s he talking about? Jesus. When we tithe today, we aren’t tithing to Melchizedek. We are giving to our perfect high priest in Jesus.

Should We Tithe Today?

But a lot of YouTubers are out there saying we shouldn’t tithe because we’re no longer bound to the Old Testament law. Jesus didn’t come to do away with the law because the law was not good. No, he came to fulfill the law perfectly because in our own efforts we could never live up to it.

Thankfully, we’re made righteous by faith in Christ alone. Then we show that we love him through our obedience. This is what a life transformed by the Gospel looks like. This is why moral laws like the Ten Commandments are reinforced in the New Testament along with practices like tithing, generosity, and honoring the Sabbath.

So the next time you come across someone telling you that you don’t have to tithe, open your Bible and read what it says. I challenge you to tithe and give extravagantly toward the spread of the Gospel to the ends of the earth.