Tithes and Offerings (Lesson 32)

In Genesis, we read of the time when the Lord renewed with Jacob the covenant previously made with his grandfather, Abraham.  In response, Jacob “vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go ... then shall the Lord be my God: And … of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee” (Genesis 28:20-22, emphasis added).  Years earlier, Abraham had willingly contributed of his substance to the Lord.  Upon returning “from the slaughter of the kings” (Hebrews 7:1), he met “Melchizedek, king of Salem” (Genesis 14:18), the great high priest, and to “this same Melchizedek ... Abraham paid tithes of one-tenth part of all he possessed” (Alma 13:15, emphasis added).  From these scriptural accounts, we learn that the law of tithing is not new.  It was a commandment practiced during the time of Abraham and was carried down through the Old Testament.  If we believe that God “is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (1 Nephi 10:18), we should not be surprised to find that a law established for His people living in Old Testament times would be renewed with His Saints in the latter-days.

In a revelation to the Church given July 8, 1838, the Lord declared: “And this shall be the beginning of the tithing of my people ... Those who have thus been tithed shall pay one-tenth of all their interest annually; and this shall be a standing law unto them forever” (D&C 119:3-4).  A letter from the First Presidency, dated March 19, 1970, defined a proper tithe in this manner: “The simplest statement we know of is the statement of the Lord himself, namely, that the members of the Church should pay ‘one-tenth of all their interest annually,’ which is understood to mean income.”  Interest means increase; increase is defined as income.  Based on this definition, when we receive income, the Lord has commanded we pay one-tenth of that income to Him through his Church.

Why have we been given the law of tithing?  The Lord answered this question when He declared to the Old Testament prophet Malachi, “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, and prove me now herewith ... if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it” (Malachi 3:8, 10).  We have we been given the law of tithing because our Father in Heaven desires to bless us with such abundance that our cups cannot receive them all.  He cannot do this, however, unless he tests our faithfulness; and one of the greatest ways He accomplishes this is by asking us to return to him a tenth of what we earn.

The blessings referred to are both temporal and spiritual in nature.  “I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes,” God declares through Malachi, “and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground” (Malachi 3:11).  While this promise can definitely be seen as temporal—saving crops from locusts and pests, the “devourer” could also be a name for Satan—the fruits of the ground meaning the spiritual fruits that accompany a desire to follow God and His Son Jesus Christ.  Either way, the Lord promises to protect us from temporal or spiritual devouring.  I have seen many temporal blessings come to me and my family because Jennifer and I made the commitment to be full tithe payers at the beginning of our marriage—anonymous gifts; money received from unexpected sources; repairs that didn’t cost as much as first feared.  To some people, these incidents might be brushed aside as coincidence or luck, but to me, they have been a reaffirmation of the temporal blessings promised by the Lord to those who pay their tithing.

Of even greater significance, however, are the spiritual blessings that come when we pay our tithing.  There are many, but I will focus on one: the opportunity to attend the temple.  Consistent temple attendance allows us to receive, as President Thomas S. Monson declared, “everything the Church has to offer” (Ensign, May 2011, 93).  In order to have this blessing available to us, it is imperative that we follow our Father in Heaven’s commandments; doing so will enable us to receive this amazing blessing.  Three months after the Prophet Joseph Smith was martyred, Brigham Young taught this principle to the Saints when he admonished: “Enter steadily and regularly upon a strict observance of the law of tithing, ... then come up to the House of the Lord, and be taught in his ways, and walk in his paths” (History of the Church, 7:282).

Because each temple is dedicated as “The House of the Lord,” Heavenly Father sets the standards for qualification to enter His house.  One of the requirements to be worthy to enter the temple is that we must be a full tithe payer.  Elder Hales explained: “The strict observance of the law of tithing not only qualifies us to receive the higher, saving ordinances of the temple, it allows us to receive them on behalf of our ancestors. When asked whether members of the Church could be baptized for the dead if they had not paid their tithing, President John Taylor, then of the Quorum of the Twelve, answered: ‘A man who has not paid his tithing is unfit to be baptized for his dead. ... If a man has not faith enough to attend to these little things, he has not faith enough to save himself and his friends’” (Ensign, Nov. 2002, 26-27).

Tithing is a test of our faith.  To give a tenth of our income to the Lord is not always an easy thing to do—in fact it may always be a difficult thing to do, but the blessings we can receive from the Lord in return for our faithfulness far surpasses the sacrifice.  The question might be asked: Why would God require us to pay tithing in order to enter the temple?  Consider these facts: Our Father in Heaven has blessed us with our mortal lives; He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to atone for our sins and break the bands of physical death; the strength we have to work and maintain ourselves and our families is bestowed upon us by Him; He has given us this Church as a way for us to come closer to Him through the mediation of our Savior; He has directed His latter-day prophets to build temples, which enables Him to endow us “with power from on high” (D&C 38:32); He waits for us, with open arms, to return to Him in His kingdom where He will bestow upon us, if we have proven ourselves faithful, “all that [He] hath” (D&C 84:38)!  For all of these things and more, our Father asks us for a tenth of our income.  When you consider what He is asking of us in light of what He already gives us or is promising to give us, can we truly, in our heart, say that He is asking too much of us?

“Tithing is a principle that is fundamental to the personal happiness and well-being of the Church members worldwide, both rich and poor,” taught President James E. Faust. “Tithing is a principle of sacrifice and a key to the opening of the windows of heaven ... Members of the Church who do not tithe do not lose their membership; they only lose blessings” (Ensign, Nov. 1998, 58-59).  When we show our faith and sacrifice to Heavenly Father through the payment of tithes, he truly will “open ... the windows of heaven, and pour ... out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”  I know this is true for I have seen it happen in my own life again and again.