What Did He Have To Go And Say That For?

He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has the Life of the Ages, and I will raise him up on the last day. (John 6.54 WEYMTH)

He was only speaking the truth.  There was no reason for a reaction like that.  He even tried to explain to them what He meant.  But, no!  They had a real problem with this teaching.  It wasn’t like the other things He said.  This one just didn’t sit right.  After all, they needed to be careful of false teaching.

This is hard to accept. Who can listen to such teaching? (John 6.60 WEYMTH)

There He was!  The one that was hidden throughout the Old Testament in types and shadows. He was standing right in front of them.  He looked them all in the eyes and testified that those types and shadows were speaking of Him.  For some reason they just couldn’t accept what He was saying was true.

Thereupon many of His disciples left Him and went away, and no longer associated with Him. (John 6.66 WEYMTH)

They didn’t ask Him any more questions or ask Him to rephrase what He was saying.  They didn’t even debate amongst themselves whether what He was saying had any merit.  They stumbled over His words and decided to disassociate themselves from Him because of it.

In a recent post (Mal. 3.10 – Subverting The Faith) I determined to shine a spotlight on Jesus.  I explained that when tithing is taught under the New Covenant it subverts faith in Christ’s finished work.  Needless to say, that didn’t go over to well with some folks based on some of the comments and emails I received.  What’s interesting is that no one stated what specific point of mine they disagreed with.  Some assumed I was discouraging people from giving even though I never said that.  I never said you shouldn’t give ten percent, less than ten percent, or anything else.  My only purpose was to illustrate why imposing Malachi 3.10 upon believers undermines the extent of what Jesus paid for on their behalf.

Tithing has been so ingrained into the thinking of believers that the idea of not tithing is unthinkable.  The guy who asks, “why do you adhere to a tithing system that Paul said you are dead to?” (Rom. 7.4), is somehow the one that’s off his rocker.  Shouldn’t there be a better reason for holding onto the tithing system of giving than, “I’ve been tithing all these years and I believe that I’m blessed because of it?” Besides, that kind of thinking is exactly why tithing according to Mal. 3.10 undermines the heart of the gospel.

Walking in the blessing has absolutely nothing to do with tithing.  A guy decides to speak out about it, and then . . . hey . . . where’d everyone go?

related post

• Religious Bondage vs Freedom in Christ
• podcasts
• Luke 10.18 - More Correction Of A Backwards Theology
• about
• A Change of Pace