The principle of the first has become one of my favorite topics to teach on, mostly because of the real-life experiences that I have of putting it into practice in my life and seeing God follow through with His promises.
Last week we started our discussion of the principle of the first by stating that is a continuous principle in the bible from Genesis through Revelation.
What an incredible confidence that we can have as believers knowing that if God is first in our lives then everything will come into order. No, the promise is not that everything would be perfect. In fact, Jesus told us that we would have tribulation in our life, so when it comes, would you rather go through tribulation with order or have everything out of order?
Old Testament scriptures are sometimes hard to understand, but God continues the foundations of teaching the principle of first in the following scriptures.
Exodus 13 –
Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Consecrate to Me all the firstborn, whatever opens the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and beast; it is Mine.”
The original Hebrew scriptures actually translates this very emphatically. To translate this into modern understanding would be as if we were texting someone in ‘ALL CAPS.’
God is saying, “It is mine”; “I am the owner”; “It belongs to me!”
12 that you shall set apart to the Lord all that open the womb, that is, every firstborn that comes from an animal which you have; the males shall be the Lord’s. 13 But every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb; and if you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. And all the firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem.
Here is the first take away from this scripture.
** THE FIRSTBORN MUST BE SACRIFICED OR REDEEMED **
For some, the whole sacrifice or redeemed conversation can be somewhat unclear.
But it is made clear that one of them MUST happen - so how do you know which to do?
God gives us the example with two animals: first, a donkey which represents unclean animals. Then, He gives a second example of a lamb that represents clean animals. So how do you know which to do?
If it’s a clean animal, and it’s the firstborn, then it must be sacrificed. If it’s an unclean animal, then it must be redeemed… with the sacrifice of a clean animal.
Like many other places in the Old Testament, you’re probably thinking about now –
“HOW IN THE WORLD DOES THIS RELATE TO US TODAY?”
Think of it this way. When we were born, in the natural, were we born clean or unclean, spiritually speaking? We were unclean! The bible says in Romans that we are all born in sin!
For example, most parents know that when you have children, you don’t have to teach your children to be bad. That tends to come naturally to them? It did for us all. Parents have to be intentional about teaching children to be good.
Because we’re all born with a sin nature (the Bible says so.)
Now, when Jesus was born, was He born unclean or clean? Of course, He was clean!
Pay attention to this: The CLEAN (Jesus), had to be sacrificed, so that the UNCLEAN (you and me), could be redeemed!
That’s what we just read in the previous scriptures! That’s how important this principle is!
We going to see that this principle refers to tithing, but I want you to see something that maybe you’ve never thought of before: JESUS is God’s tithe.
The first fruit principle teaches us to give the tithe first. You don’t pay your bills and then see if you have enough left over to tithe. Or at least you shouldn’t. You give your tithe first – it’s the FIRST 10%. Not just 10% - it’s the FIRST 10%
… because it takes FAITH to give the first.
God said when your sheep has a lamb, give me the first one. The reason is because it takes faith to give the first one before you have anymore. You don’t know if the sheep is going to produce anymore after that one, so that takes Faith to give it first!
God didn’t say to wait until you have 10, and then give me one, and it’s okay if you give me the one with only three legs and one eye! NO – He said you give me the first one before you have any others.
Too many of us get so hung up in the legalism of the topic of 10 percent – it’s not the 10 percent that enacts the blessing. It’s the FAITH that enacts the blessing.
And the reason I say that Jesus is God’s tithe, is because He gave Jesus First! He didn’t wait to see if we would clean up our act and straighten up our lives. God gave Jesus even when we were crucifying him and nailing Him to a cross. Romans says that while we were yet sinners… Christ died for us!
Roman’s also says that God gave Jesus in Hope – the root of that word is faith – He gave His first and only Son in faith.
So therefore, we give our first 10% in Faith. The first portion is the redemptive portion
Don’t miss out on this - when you give the first to God, the rest are redeemed. Don’t give the first portion to the mortgage company because the mortgage company does not have the power to bless your finances.
But God does! The first portion – the first 10% goes to God. Just as God declared the firstborn of the Israelite’s flocks to be His, and the first of the ripening harvest to be His, He also declares the tithe to be His as well.
The tithe is how you put God first in your finances. And the Biblical principal is to give a tithe of your “increase”.
Proverbs 3:
9 Honor the Lord with your possessions, And with the firstfruits of all your increase; 10 So your barns will be filled with plenty, And your vats will overflow with new wine.
Why would a God who owns everything ask you for 10 percent of your money?
The truthful answer is that God really isn’t interested in your money. He’s interested in your heart. The things of God always come down to the status and motivations of your heart.
God wants to help you keep your heart set and focused on Him because that’s the only way you can experience all the goodness in this life that He wants you to experience and, more importantly, make the largest eternal impact for His kingdom.
I’m excited to hear some of your testimonies of abundant blessings when you apply this principle of firstfruits to your finances.
Blessings on you and your families,
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