The Way of Jacob: Discussions on Tithing and Other Works of Human Effort and Law

By C R Kuhns

Jacob was afraid. He had just seen the God of all creation. The God of all creation, whose Word is holy and trustworthy, had just spoken to him. God had promised to always bless him and never leave him, but could he really trust God? Could he simply believe in the promise of God, or should he try to do something in response?

How was Jacob going to respond? He had heard about his grandfather Abrahams walk down a path in life that was simple and faith-filled. Jacob had watched his brother Esau choose a path that despised the promise of God. Was there a response Jacob could provide that would impress and please God? Possibly if he vowed to tithe, promised God a temple, and promised to make God his Lord, God would be pleased with him. Jacob decided to try this response to God.

If his response is typical of our human nature, will we also walk the same pathway that Jacob chose? Is this path of action what God desires of us and does this path truly honor Him? What does the Bible say about the path we are to choose when presented with the promise of blessing that comes through Jesus Christ?

The Way of Jacob takes a look at the Word of God to see what response He requires of us. In doing so, we will explore what the Word has to say about human performance in areas such as tithing and other religious works.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Nov 30, 2011
• ISBN: 9781449728243

C R Kuhns

C R Kuhns Growing up in a very conservative and somewhat legalistic church led to a strong desire to seek what the Bible really said about freedom in Christ. As an adult, Carl has been married for 35 years, has 4 children and 5 grandchildren. He has served in various ways in his home church over the years. This book was the fulfillment of a deep desire to share with others this yearning desire to see fellow believers walk in the holy freedom that is the result of accepting fully the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Carl Kuhns currently lives in the Omaha, Nebraska area.

Book preview

Chapter 1

The Creation Story and the I truly believe what God says Issue

I n the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Why do we start there? We start there with any discussion about God, because it is important to understand who He is in order to have the correct perspective on any subject. The book of Second Peter tells us it was by God’s Word that the heavens and earth were created. In Genesis it says God spoke and created everything. The spoken Word of God was the instrument God used in creation. God did not use heavenly beings to carry out His creative activities. He simply used His voice - the power of His spoken Word.

Have you ever thought about the awesome power of God’s Word? What kind of being can just speak words and things are instantly created from nothing - just from the power of those words? We often just think of the Holy Scriptures as the only Word of God, but God’s Word also exists outside the written Word. In fact the Scripture came into being through the spoken Word of God. Scripture tells us God spoke to the prophets who wrote down what was said. The Bible also tells us all Scripture is God breathed, so we know God’s mouth has spoken to us through His Scripture: the Bible.

In the Bible, God’s written Word, John tells us in his Gospel that the Word was and is God and that He existed before creation. John tells us the Word was made flesh and dwelled among us in human form. This Word of God was and is the person of Jesus Christ, God Himself, in human form. Scriptures clearly say nothing was created outside of this Word of God. Looking then at the Christ who is the fullness of God’s Word, we not only see God’s character displayed but also hear God’s voice speak to us. Scriptures tell us it is Jesus Christ through whom God chooses to speak to us in these last days. Through this voice of God, Jesus Christ, God’s will has been communicated to us.

As we think about the unlimited power and holiness of the Word of God, our view and understanding of God’s Word is greatly expanded. We begin to realize God’s Word is holy, powerful, and trustworthy beyond anything we can imagine. When we say God’s Word is holy, we are saying it is set apart, special, without fault or blemish, and fully trustworthy. It is without any doubt true and timeless. It is ultimate truth and is ultimately trustworthy. It existed before anything was created and in His Word everything continues to exist and hold together. It will also exist when this world, the universe, and all it contains is rolled up like a scroll.

When this same Word of God that existed in eternity past and created all things comes to mankind and makes a statement or gives a promise, how do we respond? What value or amount of trust do we place in this all powerful and trustworthy spoken and written Word of God? The Word who is Jesus Christ is God Himself, so when Christ through the Scripture says something, how do we as humans respond to God’s Word? More importantly, how should you and I respond? We will talk about this question a lot in the upcoming chapters.

God created all things out of His free will and for His pleasure and all things have the potential and the duty to declare His glory. Jesus made a statement that even the rocks could cry out praise to Him. The Scriptures tell us the heavens declare the handiwork and glory of God. As the Hubble telescope opens its lens to the universe, we can only stand in awe as we take in the size, scope and mystery of His creative power. When we build a more powerful telescope, we simply see more of the universe. We cannot see its end and neither can we fully grasp God and the wonder of His being. We are riding around on this earth that is only a tiny dot rotating around a small sun which is only one of billions of stars that make up the Milky Way galaxy. And, if that is not enough, the Milky Way galaxy is only one galaxy among billions of galaxies.

Our position here is one that could signify complete insignificance if it were not for one thing. That is the fact that one of God’s most prized creations is man. We are created in His image and for His glory. In the climax of creation, God created mankind, beings made in His image with the potential and the need to be in close fellowship with Him. By creating man and woman in His image, he gave us a very special place in all of creation. Is it possible for us to grasp what that means for the question of who we are and who we are meant to be? If we truly are made in His image and can now be in relationship with the Creator God through Jesus Christ, then how should our actions and response to God change? What is the appropriate response of mankind?

After God had finished creating all things and after God had made mankind in His image, God rested and said, It is good. God was pleased with what He had created. A part of creating mankind in His own image was creating us with a free will just like He has. We see God exercised His free will in creation and then gave mankind the ability to exercise our free will. In the exercise of creating, God is without sin. God is love and everything he does is done with pure motive and desire. God is autonomous and answers to no one but Himself. It is impossible for God to sin since it is not within His nature to do so. What would mankind do with our free will?

When man was created, he was put in charge of tending to the earth and he was given a choice. It was to be the true test of ultimate free will. If God had created mankind without the ability to be autonomous and make decisions in life, it would not have been free will at all. Mankind would have simply been spiritual robots. Even though mankind was created with the need to be in relationship with our creator, the free will that was given to us by God gave Adam and Eve the ability to break that relationship and try to find their significance in their human effort and their individuality. It is this trait that is born out of a free will that says, I want to be somebody or do something on my own apart from God that gets us in trouble.

It is the same issue that caused Satan to fall. It was Satan who wanted to be honored and worshiped as God based upon his own beauty, power and works and so God cast him from heaven. Cast from heaven and angry with God, Satan set out to tempt and destroy the creation of God. So early on in the Garden of Eden when mankind still enjoyed a perfect relationship with God, Satan introduced a thought that entered mankind’s mind and it became apparent that mankind had an I truly believe what God says issue.

This I truly believe what God says issue causes us to question the truthfulness of what God says. Remember that God’s Word is all powerful and holy. The same Word of God who created all things tells us something, and yet we question His Word. When God said to Adam and Eve Do not eat of the tree or you will surely die, what was the lie of Satan that mankind believed? It was that God’s Word could not be trusted! God must not have meant that! God does not want you to become all you can be! God must be holding back! You can never fully trust what God says! Adam and Eve chose to not believe God and so they exercised their free will. They desired to try and do something to better themselves. They ate from the very tree that God had forbidden and in their distrust of God and His Word was their downfall and sin.

The I truly believe what God says issue goes much deeper than simply distrust of God. When we question the Word of God and chose to not believe it, we are calling God a liar. We slander His character. We affirm by our actions that we do not believe in His holiness. But when we believe in God’s Word and take it at face value with no other supporting evidence, we acknowledge by our actions both His holiness, His character, and we bring glory to His name. As we discuss this I truly believe what God says issue through the course of this book, keep in mind the end result of the issue is the slander of His holy Word and name.

Since the time mankind chose to not fully believe God’s Word and disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden, the fellowship with the Creator they had enjoyed has been broken, for God cannot look on or relate to sin. The free will they were created with was lost, for all of mankind is now in bondage to sin. This sinful nature is now passed down through human kind from parent to child and we all are infected with its viral effects. The Scriptures tell us that God in His ability to know all things from beginning to end has had a plan to deal with this sin problem even before sin entered the world. This failure by mankind did not surprise God or cause His plan to be deterred. God simply will use the brokenness of mankind, our brokenness, to bring glory to Himself, for that is what all of creation will do at the end, is to bring glory to God the Creator.

In the days after the fall, God kicked Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden. Once outside of the garden, mankind wandered the earth influenced by the sin that now was in our human nature. Adam and Eve had many sons and daughters and the population of the earth was growing rapidly. We don’t know a great amount of detail about most of these people but Scripture does tell us specifics about some of them. We know that some attempted to restore and maintain their relationship with God through the sacrifices of animals. Early after the fall, mankind came to understand that God required blood to be sacrificed for sin. From the very beginning God elected that the shedding of blood would be the requirement for the forgiveness of sin, for the life we have in the body exists in the blood and the sin that Adam and Eve committed happened while they resided in bodies that maintained life by blood flowing through it. In Deuteronomy 12:23, it reaffirms the sacrifice for sin must be the shedding of blood.

Genesis records the story of Adam and Eve’s two sons and their attempt to please God with their sacrifices. We see the sacrifices of Abel were accepted by God, but his brother’s sacrifice was not correctly prepared and was not accepted. It is apparent Cain had an I truly believe what God says issue. Cain did not want to sacrifice only in the way God had said, but wanted to give something for a sacrifice that was in line with his own choosing. Cain followed in the footsteps of his father and mother in attempting to interpret God’s instructions and supply his own interpretation as a better way.

The result of Cain’s sin was the rejection of his sacrifice by God. This caused his bitterness and anger to rise up against his brother Abel and he murdered his brother. Cain envied his brother for his brother had something he did not. His brother had faith and trust in God and in what God had said. Cain did not and so in his anger, he struck out against what was right in order to destroy it. We see that Cain’s sin and the resulting anger led to the death of an innocent one. We will see that the sins of mankind and the resulting anger also led to the death of an innocent one, Jesus Christ.

From the moment Adam and Eve sinned by not believing what God said, death entered the world. Scriptures tell us the wages of sin is death and so began the greatest object lesson of all time. This lesson is for all of mankind and also for heavenly beings, angels both fallen and un-fallen. This is a lesson about God’s unending mercy, justice, power, and love and is currently being revealed through His Word and through His Son Jesus Christ. This lesson will become clear and the objective will be fully accomplished at the end of time when Jesus Christ is fully revealed and all creatures in heaven and on earth will bow to worship Jesus, the King of Glory. Jesus Christ will be raised supreme above all others and He will sit in the place of authority over all things. Until the time that all things are fully revealed, we must study carefully the Word of God and in doing so we can see His plan unfold before us.

In the years after the fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden, there were some men like Abel and Enoch who walked with God in fellowship with Him but the majority of mankind fled from His presence in shame because that is what sin does to us. It brings us shame and we live in shame, in defeat, separated from a relationship with our Creator God. The longer we live in shame and guilt and the longer we are out of fellowship with God, the more independent we become. We also begin to feel we can do without God. It became so bad on the earth in the days of Noah that only he and his family were left who truly believed and worshiped the Creator of all things. So God decided to wipe the ungodly off of the face of the earth in a massive flood that would cover the earth and all that walked upon it.

Noah did not have an I truly believe what God says issue as evidenced by his building of the ark when God told him to. This was in the face of ridicule and every other evidence that placed doubt on what God said about the coming massive flood. Noah had no reason to believe God other than simply taking God at His Word. Noah responded to God’s Word with obedience and faith and so he started a building project that ended with a large boat that he built to God’s exact specifications. Every one else continually did evil, doubted God’s Word and lived Godless lives.

I am sure from a certain vantage point; it must have looked like God the Creator had failed. This creation He had created to bring glory to Himself was in disarray. Mankind whom He had created in His image had failed Him, or so it seemed. But there was this one man Noah and his family and yes, Noah believed God’s Word and was saved from the flood. God considered Noah as righteous because of his faith and belief in God’s Word.

As stated before, God the Creator had a plan. In God’s foreknowledge, He knew what was about to occur with mankind’s failure. God had a lot of groundwork to do before the message He wanted to send and the work He wanted to accomplish could be fulfilled. Mankind was and still is in denial about our sin problem and the I truly believe what God says issue. Most people then and even today think: I really don’t believe what God says about my condition. I am really not too bad. I am a pretty good person. I try to do the right things. I hope I get to Heaven. If I don’t, then God must not have been fair because I have really tried. Or God is not merciful. God is not just. God is not good. God does not love. God is a bad man who is looking to punish me. God is deceitful. Or one may say I am so bad that God could never love me. Well, the object lesson of history that was given to teach us about our human nature and our relationship with God the Creator has been played out in a people God chose for this very purpose. We shall read about these people, the sons of Jacob, a great deal in the coming chapters.

God has chosen to record the history of mankind for us not to read as entertainment, but for us to discover who God is and what His nature is like. Through the study of God’s Word we also discover who we are and what our nature is like. In the Bible, God clearly lays out His plan for mankind and reveals to us His attributes. His desire for a relationship with us, His creation, created in His own