Lay up treasures in heaven for you



『For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; 』 (Luke 12: 33-34)

With this title, you may hear some churches say that it is good to make many offerings. But this is not the meaning of "make a lot of offerings." In the Old Testament, "to give something to God" means "to be destroyed before God." "The beast is burned to death."

『beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 』 (Romans 12: 1) To give to God is to be destroyed before God. What is offered to God is distinct. The distinction is to be holy before God.

In the Old Testament, all that was offered to God were not burned and stored in a storehouse called "Annual". To give to God is to burn. It is death, as Jesus Christ died. Tithing also means looking to Jesus Christ. Anything that is offered to God that is not burned is returned to people. These were used for the Levites, including the priests, orphans and widows. The word "offer" ends at the end of the Old Testament. Jesus Christ accomplished all of this. The concept of giving money to God is over because of Jesus Christ

Do not use the words, "Give money to God." In the Old Testament, sinners went to the temple and offered fire to God. In the New Testament, Jesus did all this. If you believe that Jesus Christ has solved everything, it is not right to give money to God. To give to God now is to give me, to enter in Jesus Christ. That is, to give God the Spirit within me. Therefore, paying money is not an act of giving to God, but a donation to the church to be used.

In the Old Testament, God gave the Israel the law (the law of wrath). The people gave gifts to God for 40 years in the wilderness. However, God says through the prophet Amos, "I have never received a gift," because the Israelites worshiped idols and offered gifts to God. If you say that Jesus Christ has done everything today and give it to God, you do not believe what Jesus Christ has accomplished. Those who give money to God have nothing to do with Jesus. Only those who died with Jesus are given to God.

It is I who give to God. That is why he dies with Jesus. Giving is not money; giving is my old man dying on the cross with Jesus. This is spiritual worship. It is therefore not to give money to God, but to donate money for the needs of the church. Is it different from giving to God and giving to the church? Obviously different. Giving to God has the meaning of burning out to be righteous, which Jesus completed. God's will is to testify of Jesus Christ. Do not do things that are burned out to God, because you do not believe in what Jesus has accomplished. We must do a testimony of what Jesus did. However, if people still say "offering to God," it is a result of not believing in what Jesus did.

What is faith in God? We believe in "one whom God has sent."『For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day. 』 (John 6: 38--40). Believing in God is believing in the one whom God has sent, and if you donate money for it, you do it right. This is different from giving to God. However, today, many believers give money to God. Treasures in heaven were mentioned by Jesus in Matthew (19:21).

『Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. 』 Offering money is different in Old Testament and New Testament times. In the Old Testament, people gave gifts to God, which were used for God's temple administrators (Leviticus) and orphans and widows. In the New Testament, donating money.

The Apostle Paul earned his own living when he preached. In the New Testament, however, the church paid "donated money" for the cost of the evangelist's life, or helped the poor and the widow. The word donation also means a lot of gifts. There must be an understanding of the offering Jesus spoke of. In Acts (4: 32-37), all the crowds sold their property and placed it at the apostles' feet. Why did you do that? The land of the Israelites is God's. In the jubilee year, all must be returned, at which time the early church disciples said that Jesus would "come back soon." Thus, when the disciples think that the end of the world is near, it can be assumed that they sold all the land and gave it to the apostles. But Ananias and Sapphira caused trouble. They said they would sell all their property (Hebrew: Gorban), but suddenly Ananias and Sapphira became greedy. So they hid some of the money. "Hidden" is embezzlement from God. Ananias and Sapphira died immediately. It is deceiving God.

 

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