A Feast of Releasing

Walter Henegar | Jan 21, 2024

Deuteronomy 14:22-29 (ESV)

22 “You shall tithe all the yield of your seed that comes from the field year by year. 23 And before the Lord your God, in the place that he will choose, to make his name dwell there, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always. 24 And if the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, when the Lord your God blesses you, because the place is too far from you, which the Lord your God chooses, to set his name there, 25 then you shall turn it into money and bind up the money in your hand and go to the place that the Lord your God chooses 26 and spend the money for whatever you desire—oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves. And you shall eat there before the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household. 27 And you shall not neglect the Levite who is within your towns, for he has no portion or inheritance with you.

28 “At the end of every three years you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in the same year and lay it up within your towns. 29 And the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance with you, and the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your towns, shall come and eat and be filled, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do.


Sermon Summary

The Old Testament law of tithing does not carry over neatly into tithing our income today—but it does illustrate that the heart of God is to include us in his generous feast of grace. The more we grasp his heart, the more we give away with more freedom and more joy. God's priorities for our giving start with ministries that support the worship of God's people, especially local churches, and also the poor and marginalized.

Discussion Questions

  1. What stood out or stuck with you from the sermon?
  2. Describe your experience with Christians and giving. What positive models and messages have you heard? What negative models and messages have you heard?
  3. Do you personally tend to spend more or save more? What do you think your tendency might reveal about your heart toward God?
  4. In what practical ways do you enjoy the feast of God as you give?
  5. What practical ways can you find to literally share meals with the poor and marginalized, not just cutting a check?
  6. If you are willing, share with the group how you handle your own giving: How you decide where to direct it, how much, and what habits govern your practice.


Resources Consulted

  • Africa Bible Commentary, ed. Tokunboh Adeyowo
  • The Message of Deuteronomy, Raymond Brown
  • Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone, John Goldingay
  • Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, Ron Sider
  • The God Guarantee, Jack Alexander
  • Ministries of Mercy, Tim Keller
  • Money, Posessions and Eternity, Randy Alcorn

Bonus: Other related passages

Genesis 14:18–20 (ESV): And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) And he blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.


Genesis 28:20–22 (ESV): Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, 21 so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, 22 and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.”

Leviticus 19:9–10 (ESV): “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God. [repeated in Deuteronomy 24:19-22]


Numbers 18:20-21 (ESV): “To the Levites I have given every tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service that they do, their service in the tent of meeting. 20 And the Lord said to Aaron, “You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the people of Israel.


Numbers 18:26–29 (ESV): “Moreover, you shall speak and say to the Levites, ‘When you take from the people of Israel the tithe that I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall present a contribution from it to the Lord, a tithe of the tithe. And your contribution shall be counted to you as though it were the grain of the threshing floor, and as the fullness of the winepress. So you shall also present a contribution to the Lord from all your tithes, which you receive from the people of Israel. And from it you shall give the Lord’s contribution to Aaron the priest. Out of all the gifts to you, you shall present every contribution due to the Lord; from each its best part is to be dedicated.’


1 Samuel 8:15–17 (ESV): He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. 16 He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys, and put them to his work. 17 He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves.


Nehemiah 13:10–12 (ESV): I also found out that the portions of the Levites had not been given to them, so that the Levites and the singers, who did the work, had fled each to his field. So I confronted the officials and said, “Why is the house of God forsaken?” And I gathered them together and set them in their stations. Then all Judah brought the tithe of the grain, wine, and oil into the storehouses.


Malachi 3:8–10 (ESV): Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.


Matthew 23:23–24 (ESV): “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!


Faithfulness may be associated with the worship motive of tithing, and justice and mercy are clearly connected to the provision tithing provides for religious servants and the socially disadvantaged. Thus at the very least we may say that Jesus endorses the “tithe principle,” yet only insofar as it conforms to the principles of justice, mercy, and faithfulness.


Luke 6:37–38 (ESV): "Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38 give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”


Luke 12:16–21 (ESV): And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” ’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”


1 Timothy 6:17–19 (ESV): As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.


1 Corinthians 16:1–2 (ESV): Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come.


2 Corinthians 8:13–15 (ESV): For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness. As it is written, “Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack.”


2 Corinthians 9:6–8 (ESV): The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.


Hebrews 7:5 (ESV): And those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, though these also are descended from Abraham.