Month: September 2018
Tithing is mentioned only 4 times in the New Testament, three times in the gospels and once in the letter to the Hebrews. In the gospels, Jesus acknowledged that the Pharisees were very careful about tithing (Matt.23:23; Lk.11:42; 18:12) to the point of over-emphasizing it. They were so focused on tithing that they lost sight of the great goal of the Law, i.e. love and justice to our fellow-man. Also, they trusted in their tithing to give them merit before God.
Now remember that the Pharisees were under the Law, and by law had to tithe. All people in Israel were under the Law. When Jesus was crucified He ushered in the New Covenant, and the Old was finished. Tithing was established under the Law and has no place in the Church. It is no light thing to choose to adhere to the Law, even with a seemingly small issue as tithing. Every person who chooses to keep any part of the Law of Moses is obligated to keep the whole Law and is therefore exposed to its curse.
This point is made in the solitary reference to tithing in the New Testament epistles, i.e. in Hebrews 7. Heb.7:5 reads “And indeed those who are of the sons of Levi, who receive the priesthood, have a commandment to receive tithes from the people according to the law, that is, from their brethren [Israel]. Note three things from this verse: 1) There was a commandment concerning tithes in the Old Testament; 2) They were to be given to OT priests (not the Church); 3) They were required by the Jews, not Christians.
Hebrews 7:12 notes that when there is a change of the priesthood, there must also be a change of the law. In other words, that commandment that did exist under the Old Covenant has been changed, because the priesthood to which it related has now also been changed under the New Covenant.
Hebrews 7:18 says that this commandment has now been abolished. That priesthood, because of its inability to bring perfection, is now annulled. The Old Covenant is obsolete, and the laws which required tithes to be given to the Levites are obsolete. These Hebrews, i.e. Jewish converts, were mixing the law with grace, and were told in chapter 7 to stop tithing! The Gentiles had no need of this message. The Gentile church was never under the law.
Is God in our debt, or are we in His favour?
In Rom.4:4 and 11:35 Paul makes it clear that if our doing any works, including tithing, meant that God was obligated to us in any way then we would not be in His favour but He would actually be indebted to us. Whenever you hear that you must do something for God in order for Him to bless you, be careful! If you believe this, you will be taken out of Gods grace and brought back into the realm of Law. And the Law will actually become a curse to you, because even if you keep it all in one area, say tithing, but not in another, then you will experience its curse.
If we do not tithe, how will Gods work get done and how will the pastors needs be supplied?
First, let me say that there is a hermeneutical principle that has always been helpful when interpreting the Bible and it is this – Major on majors. Jesus told 38 parables, 16 concern how we should handle money. He spoke more about money than He did about heaven and hell combined. One out of 10 verses in the gospels deal with possessions or money. In the Bible there are approximately 2500 references to money and possessions and only 500 references to prayer and faith. It is a major issue in the Bible. Many of these verses teach us that the way we handle finances reveals much about where we are at spiritually. Where your treasure is there will your heart be also.
The gospels contain more warning on the misuse of money, than any other subject. The first recorded sin amongst Gods people related to giving. Ananias & Sapphira dropped dead giving. So the way we handle our finances is an important issue in the New Testament.
Moses (the Law) said Tithe, but Jesus says, Give. The New Testament teaching was on giving, never on tithing. Giving is a result of the energy of Gods grace in our lives. Giving expresses a quality of living that reflects the nature of God. God so loved that He gave The Father loved to give all things to the Son. Jesus gave His life for the world. In doing so has gained an everlasting kingdom. But He will, one day, give it back to the Father. God desires to have a family that reflects His nature. It is the way of the Cross. It is more blessed to give than to receive. The Cross opens the heart, expands it, causing it to reach out to others.
When we are under law we have to be told to tithe. We reveal our immaturity under legalism by asking childish questions, such as, Should I tithe on my gross income, or my net income? Grace treats us as mature sons by not legislating. Grace takes us into the purposes of Gods heart, family and kingdom and allows us to be involved with Him. But our involvement is not solicited by fear-manipulation or guilt-manipulation, but as a result of the operation of the energy of grace in our hearts. So that which we give we do so freely. God loves a cheerful giver.
It is clear from passages such as 1 Cor.9:7-14 that we have responsibilities to ensure that Gods servants who preach the Word are free to do so unencumbered by secular work. But still there is no legislating this. We approach this matter as responsible sons, not as intimidated servants.
When it comes to decorating your home it can be a challenge, not only for budget but it also present a challenge with getting inspiration and ideas of how you would like it to look. Going online if you have a computer to hand is always a really great way to find out some ideas and get some colour schemes into your head as to what you want to decorate that room with, maybe you want a chocolate brow couch in that room or maybe you want to paint the walls all different colours like duck egg blue on one wall and then yellow on another. Whatever you choose to go with its always a good idea to keep your mind open and try and focus on a couple of different ideas and targets, especially if you’re looking to decorate that room with wall decoration like canvas prints or posters as they can tend to look really great if you get the colours and picture just right.
Let’s say your decoration your new born baby’s room and its going to be a boy. You could of course paint it blue and you could get some cream stuff in there to like a cream cot which would look lovely. What if you were to decorate the walls with some loving photos of mum and dad for your baby to look at wile it sleeps or while it sit and looks up in the mornings or at night before it goes to sleep. It would be such a wonderful thing for your baby to looking up and see mum and dad in a photo canvas print that was professional made and processional take taken by a talented photographer. That would be such a treat for your baby.
Lets fast forward a few years, once you baby is all grown up then it would be a lovely idea to get that same photographer to take some up to date photos of you and your little family and then you can change your canvas prints that you have hung up previously up in your baby’s room to new canvas prints, that’s a great idea if you’re looking to freshen up a room. You don’t have to go over board and decorate the whole room, simply by changing a few of the wall dcor or little ornaments can always to a room such wonders. You also have the option of printing art or Disney images or things like that on canvas prints for your little Childs room; whatever they are likening at that point in time would be a great idea to lift that room with colour and happiness.
If you’re decorating a room downstairs then there’s so much you can do depending on what style or look you’re going for. There are lots of interior magazines you can look at for ideas and there lots of website online that can help you achieve the looks that you want. Having wall decoration is a stunning way to not only brighten up a room but it also shows of personality and shines off the feeling that you went to a lot of effort to get the look you have.
If you’re in to a certain band or you really like a film star then getting photos of them to decorate your home with is also such a brilliant way to be happy with your home decoration. You could get wall murals of your favourite movie scene or you could simply have some really detailed photography canvas printing made from your favourite holiday destination. If you were to get your favourite holiday destination on a canvas print then it would simply remind you of that lovely holiday you had at that certain place which is just brilliant.
The balanced scorecard was developed in 1992 by Robert Kaplan and David P Norton. Together, they came up with an idea that has been proclaimed to be revolutionary in the business scenario. The balanced scorecard questionnaire is an internal assessment in the improvement of the reporting system. As long as these supply the key indicators to the management, then it means that the scorecards success can actually lead to the entity of the strategic plan.
The balanced scorecard appraisal will just go for the internal assessment of the business. The key to the scorecards success can be linked to the customized and internal process measures that have long been added to the mechanism for the managerial performance over a period of time. The successful implementation of this balanced scorecard questionnaire can turn the strategy into some kind of action which the business needs to improve.
But there is the secret to the success of the scorecard link. As long as the entity comes up with the strategic plan which contains the dimensional and financial performance measures, then it will be easy to just customized the internal processed measures as long as these are added and go to accordance with the mechanism of the material. When these are improved, then the managerial performance may just cover the balanced scorecard questionnaire along with the balanced scorecard appraisal.
The balanced scorecard initiatives may just implement the management system that turn into the action that can go for the performance that combines the financial measures which complement the nonfinancial measures. As long as the following perspectives may just go for the finances and customized processes. The learning and the growth of the business may just go for the balanced scorecard questionnaire that will go into accordance with the nonfinancial measures. The internal business processes may result to the learning of the material and this resort to the balanced scorecard initiatives that have been successfully implemented along with the management system.
The balanced scorecard questionnaire follows a certain conventional pattern which combines the financial measures that are listed in the balanced scorecard initiatives. As long as the businesses go for the financial, customer and internal business processes then the balancing and the financial accounting measures go for the improved performance that can just meet the objectives of the strategic plan.
There is a required monitoring in the most common obligations that rely the balanced scorecard questionnaire that continue to produce the accurate and reliable as well as transparent financial information that the business needs in order to actually improve the financial perspectives of the company. There is a thorough assessment that should be conducted in order to go for the business strategy. Once these have been re-learned and eventually grown, then the opportunities can just continue to facilitate the improvement in order to improve the business strategy as well as the business that go well with it. The learning and the growth of the opportunities will just come in accordance with the balanced scorecard appraisal that is required.