When I was first saved and hearing my first Christian sermons – first at my home church, then while away at University and finally at Bible school – it appeared that my pastors believed that there was only one use for this scripture. They dogmatically declared that our Saviour approved, authorized and glorified TITHING. To those men, this verse teaches that every Christian is commanded by Christ to take 10% of his weekly earnings and give those moneys to the Lord through the local church. My pastors at some point in their monthly sermons on the subject would go to I Corinthians 16:2 – “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.” They would also turn to godly Abraham, showing that he tithed to Melchizadek, long before the Mosaic law, proving that tithing was a moral obligation, not just a Jewish ceremonial duty. I was convinced, and to be honest I am still convinced, that every Christian ought to take a tithe out of the income which God has graciously given to him, and give at least that much back to the Lord. And yes, it should be through the local church. I don’t believe that I have ever heard a sermon from this text, which didn’t have this as its basic theme. But then again, many pastors don’t take time to really understand the Bible and the message of the Lord. Or if they do, they are too busy with other agendas to share it with their congregations.
While this scripture does deal with tithing, once again Jesus is using that subject to illustrate something else. Notice that there isn’t a word here about money. Obviously, while this can be applied to money, the primary them of this text is not financial. And once again it is all about Pharisaical hypocrisy. “These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.” “Yes, you ought to tithe, but don’t use this as a hypocritical screen for your lack of judgment, mercy & faith.”
In order to understand Jesus’ point, let’s go back to an Old Testament scripture which, like Matthew 23:23, is often quoted out of its context.
Numbers 32 describes the days of preparation for Israel’s entrance into their Promised Land.
The nation was about to walk across the Jordan riverbed dry shod to claim their God-given possession. For forty years that nation had been wandering about the desert in judgment for their sins. Then just recently they been attacked by a pair of heathen kings named Sihon and Og. Israel had defeated & subdued the Amorites and the Bashanites on the east side of the Jordan River. That beautiful grassland on the Golan Heights, was perfectly suited for raising sheep, goats and cattle. And the leaders of three of the twelve tribes of Israel saw the potential of that area and asked for it. Reuben, Gad and about half the tribe of Manasseh decided that they didn’t really want to actually enter the land promised by God to Israel.
Poets and preachers have expended a lot of ink allegorizing the Promised Land into things Christian. For example, many of them like to make the crossing of the Jordan into an illustration of death. They like to suggest that the Promised Land is a type of Heaven. But as I have told you before, I don’t like that picture, because the details don’t transpose very well. I think that passing through the water is more like a picture of baptism. For them it was an immersion without getting wet; it was a burial without physically dying. A person could say that the crossing of the Jordan is a baptism, but Peter tells us that actually Israel’s baptism was at the Red Sea. From the Passover and the Red Sea, life both on the east side and then on the west side of the Jordan illustrate the Christian’s struggle against sin and his struggle to serve and glorify the Lord. The Promised Land was never actually a place of rest and prosperity to Israel, and it will never be until Shiloh comes – until the Messiah comes to establish His Millennial Kingdom. But if we take the Red Sea to be baptism, then we have an illustration of the lives of immature, untaught, weak Christians who were more prone to sin than to service. But then, by the grace of God, they eventually came to understand what their baptism represented and they passed over into the Promised Land of service to God.
I bring this up to point out that Reuben, Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh, were not excited about crossing Jordan and dwelling near the Tabernacle and service of God. They coveted a place of semi-spirituality, semi-worldly wealth, where they could enjoy the best two worlds. They were not committed to serve the Lord and assist their brethren in the occupation of God’s promises. Allegorically, they were “saved,” but they refused to become “church members” and fully commit to the on-going work of God.
Moses immediately rejected their request – it was contrary to the stated plan of the Lord. He saw it for what it was – a poorly disguised compromise with the world. And, it was a weakening of the nation as a whole. But the Lord will not force anyone into His service, so He told Moses to grant them their request. However, there was one initial stipulation – until the other nine and half tribes were peacefully settled in their inheritances, those two and a half tribes would have to send soldiers to assist their brethren. Moses then pronounced judgment upon them if they failed to help conquer the Promised land. And o this those people agreed. “Moses said unto them, If ye will do this thing, if ye will go armed before the LORD to war, And will go all of you armed over Jordan before the LORD, until he hath driven out his enemies from before him, And the land be subdued before the LORD: then afterward ye shall return, and be guiltless before the LORD, and before Israel; and this land shall be your possession before the LORD. But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out.”
Before I go on, let me point out that when the other half of the tribe of Manasseh rejected the compromise proposal of their tribal leadership, it exposed the folly of the whole plan. There were some people who appeared to be more spiritually astute, and who recognized the benefits of receiving all the blessing of God, along with all the responsibilities. It was not the intent of the Lord for 20% of His people to live outside the land of His promises and service. And it’s not the Lord’s intention for His people to shirk their responsibilities or His blessings today in the local church.
Now let’s return to Jesus’ reference to Pharisaical tithing.
“If ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out.” The obvious lesson is that omission is a potential sin which lies very close to the heart of all of us. And so is the hypocrisy of substitution – appearing to be obedient in one area with no intention of being obedient in another. This particular sin is most particularly a Christian sin, because the child of God should understand better than the lost man what his responsibilities and privileges are.
When you find someone who says that he is sinless, you’ve bumped into either an heretic or an hypocrite. Every child of God must strive for perfect holiness in this sinful world. The potential for relative freedom from sin is there by the grace and power of God. But the likelihood that we’ll actually live sin-free for an extended time is minimal. Let me illustrate it this way: There is a very good likelihood that you will not sin in the next second. Did you commit some sort of transgression against the Lord during that last second? No? Excellent! Do you suppose that it might be possible not to sin in the next ten seconds? That too is a possibility. Unfortunately, the longer the time span, the more opportunity there is to sin. Theoretically, potentially, we could go through an entire day without committing any sin. And I hope that is very, very often true in your lives. Is it possible to spend an entire week without the taint of sin? I suppose that it is, but my confidence in you is diminishing almost as fast as my confidence in myself. And most likely that is one of the keys to the problem – confidence in ourselves. “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” – but in myself I’m doomed to fail. When you find someone who says that he’s free from sin you’ve found either a liar or an heretic. The reason that I say that about him, is because he can’t make that statement that without some pride.
This is why the Biblical doctrine of Eternal Security is so lovely – I remain a child of God despite my sin. “I am kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last day.” Only God is “able to keep you falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.” Yes, “He is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” Christians often get into habit of condemning the sins of Satan’s people. But we have our unfair share of sins too. We have sins of action and reaction, and we have sins of inaction as well. But, praise the Lord, those sins don’t somehow negate the Lord’s salvation.
Our Old Testament scripture warns of the sin of avoiding the Lord’s battles – external and internal. “Be sure your sin will find you out.” Reuben, Gad and Manasseh remind us that some have a tendency think, “Praise the Lord, I’m safe!” Well, I agree, if you are under the blood of Christ, indeed, praise the Lord that your soul is secure. Never will Sihon or Og raise their armies to rob you of your position or your possession. No child of God has yet been disowned or forgotten by the Lord; nor can they be! The question is not whether you will remain safe east, west, north or south of the Jordan. The question is whether or not you will properly serve the Lord where you have chosen to pitch your tent. These are not the days to throw off the armor that Christ has given us. There will be a day for that, but it isn’t today.
Too often the church looks like museum, and the Christian looks like a visitor there. Each Sunday the curator takes down the Sword of Spirit, the Word of God. Like the Sword of Goliath, it is kept behind the altar in the Tabernacle. Then the people of God get together, and they talk about that sword. They touch the blade and say, “See how sharp it is; this could divide people asunder.” They see once again that there is some dried blood up by the hilt. Someone says, “I remember how Paul used to hold this handle and wield it against the Romans. There were times that the blade sunk into hearts right up to the very haft.” Another says, “But it was first used by David against Goliath.” Another says, “I recall the days of the great revival in our museum, when dozens of souls were falling under this blade.” How pitiful is such nostalgia, when the battle for Truth and souls is still being fought. One of the Reubenites might have said, “We’ll be praying for you people of Judah and Ephraim.” Prayer is supposed to be like one of the tools of the workers on the wall in Nehemiah’s day. Each man had his trowel, brick, plumb-line and sword, ready for any and all emergencies. Trowel, without the sword wasn’t enough, just a prayer alone is not sufficient service for God. “Be sure your sin will find you out.”
This desire of the three tribes was an expression of the potential sin of SELFISHNESS. “I don’t care if you receive your inheritance or not, I have mine, and that’s all that’s important. Every man for himself, I always say.” What stinking ingratitude. How did you become a Christian? Wasn’t it because someone told you about sin and the Saviour? For some of you it was a parent who taught you the Truth, but for most of us it was someone else. Someone drew out the Sword of the Spirit and start hacking away at our hearts. Or they dragged you kicking and screaming into a battlefield where an evangelist was wielding that sword. God is the Father of every newly born saint, but He intended the church to be the mother – that is US. Every Christian should cross Jordan to aid their neighbors.
The two and half tribes were on the sinful verge of BROKEN PROMISES. After the Lord had spoken to him, Moses was anticipating the agreement of those three tribes to do as they were ordered. But he knew that the lure of their families back across the Jordan on the eastern side would be strong. There likely would be some, who might think that if they went AWOL no one know. But be sure your absence without leave will find you out. When we join the Lord’s church – as all of God’s saints should do – we agree to certain responsibilities. We agree to pray for the ministry of that church, and we agree to participate and encourage one another. We agree to attend regularly, and we agree to support it financially. No one in this church is deliberately keeping score, but you can be sure that the Lord does. It is a dangerous thing to make a vow unto Lord, and then not keep it. “Be sure your sin will find you out.”
Those few tribes endangered INJURY TO THEMSELVES and to OTHERS. How many of the people of Israel were commanded to march around Jericho? With exception of the wives and children of the two and a half tribes, every single Israelite was to spend time walking around that city once and again for six days and then seven times on the seventh day. The Lord seemed to say that if someone was too lazy to spend a couple hours on that walk, then the walls of the city wouldn’t fall. So then if one of the Reubenite men thought that the idea was stupid, then he could have been putting the entire campaign in jeopardy. When a member of any church withholds his tithe and offerings, he weakens the entire church. When he ignores the plea to join in prayer for the lives or souls of others, who can measure the harm that he is inflicting? When he looks the other way when the Lord opens the door to witness, he might as well be over there on the world’s side of the river.
Notice that the one offended most by this sin is the Lord.
David taught us the theology of sin: “Against thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight.” We all too often fly over that doctrine faster than the Space Shuttle. Subconsciously, we think of the people around us and think that our hypocrisy has them deceived. And yes, my sin hurts him or her, but they have hurt me enough to be well-deserving of my little offense. But that is not true, and is a terrible excuse for our own sins. And the greater truth is that our sins of neglect, like all sins, are against the Saviour, who gave His life for us. Put that in your MP3 player and replay it a few times. The Lord has said, “If you love me keep my commandments.” Do you remember Peter’s conversation with the Lord after Jesus’ resurrection and as they were standing around the campfire roasting fish? If Peter really loves Christ, then he’s got sheep to feed and land to be won from the enemy.
Be sure your sin will find you out.
It will bear fruit in your family – children and grandchildren. Some of you already know what I am talking about. You sowed your wild oats, and you are now eating bread that’s bitter and moldy. Those who are vulgar and blasphemous shouldn’t be surprised when their family follows that lead. Those who laugh at the just laws of their state may see their grand kids laugh at the just laws of God. Those who won’t tithe or support the Lord’s work may one day not have a church to attend. “Be sure your sin will find you out.”
I guarantee that if Reuben, Gad and the half tribe hadn’t crossed Jordan, then the rest of Israel would have considered them as a part of the enemy. And ultimately they would have had no joy in the things of God generally. How would they have felt later visiting temple at Jerusalem, if 30,000 of Judah had died taking that city? How would they have felt if just 1,000 of Gad had been committed to the battle, the enemy would have surrendered without a fight, but those 1,000 were not there? “Oh, but we were praying for the Lord’s blessing on the battle.” Bah.
Be sure your sin will find you out, especially at the judgment seat of Christ. “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the things done.” At the Bema judgment of Christ, our lives may very well be spread out for all to see. “Be sure your sin will find you out.”
There is a battle being fought in this city and valley; Satan is fighting hard. He even has the cooperation of some of the people who claim to be children of God. “Be sure your sin will find you out.”
Christ Jesus was speaking to lost hypocrites, but the principle applies to redeemed hypocrites as well. No one can successfully substitute one act of obedience for another. No one can cover one sin by putting his spotlight on another. “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.”