The Baseline of a Blessed Life
Biblical Tithing: What the Bible Really Says About Money
Biblical tithing is the practice of giving the first ten percent of your income to God, rooted in Scripture from Genesis through the New Testament. It is not a fundraising tactic or a bargain you strike with God for blessing. It is a decision about who sits at the center of your life and your finances.
Recording artist and pastor Tauren Wells brought this message to Impact Church, tracing biblical tithing back through the Old and New Testaments to show it was never simply a rule. He pointed to three specific and repeated patterns in Scripture: the principle of the firstborn, the principle of first fruits, and the principle of the tithe itself. Each one answers a different piece of the same question about putting God first financially in a way that actually changes how you live.
This post will walk through what biblical tithing looks like in Scripture, why the first ten percent matters more than the math, and how giving through your local church becomes an act of worship rather than a transaction.
What Does Putting God First Financially Really Mean?
The first principle Tauren Wells unpacked was the principle of the firstborn, found in Exodus chapter 13. God told Moses to dedicate every firstborn, both human and animal, to him. That instruction was never really about livestock; it was God establishing a pattern that the first belongs to him before anything else gets a claim on it.
Putting God first financially starts in that same place. It is easy to build a budget where God gets whatever is left after everything else has already taken its share. Putting God first financially means the first line of your budget, not the last, reflects who you actually trust to provide.
Wells traced this pattern into Exodus 13:13, where a firstborn donkey, considered unclean, could be redeemed through a clean substitute, a lamb. That detail points forward to Jesus, described in Scripture as the lamb slain from before the foundation of the earth, first so that everyone who comes after him could be made clean. Putting God first financially is possible only because he already put you first.
If you want to practice this principle today, try reordering one line item in your budget this week so that giving comes before spending, not after it.
What Is the First Fruits Offering Meaning Found in Scripture?
The second principle in Wells' message was the principle of first fruits, drawn from Genesis chapter 4. Cain and Abel each brought an offering to God, but only Abel's was accepted. Abel offered the first and the best of his flock, while Cain brought only some of his crops.
Understanding the first fruits offering meaning starts right there, in the gap between some and first and best. Abel's offering shows what the first fruits offering meaning actually points to: giving God your best before you know what is left over. Proverbs 3:9 makes the same point directly, instructing believers to honor the Lord with their wealth and the first fruits of their crops.
Wells told the story of watching his own father, a first generation Christian, begin tithing the same week he came to faith. As a kid, Wells did not understand what his father was doing when the first ten percent of his paycheck went into a church envelope every Sunday. Looking back, he could see his father was practicing the first fruits offering meaning of scripture long before Wells himself understood it.
If you have never given a first fruits offering before, try setting aside your gift for God before you pay a single bill this week, even if the amount feels small.
Why Does the Bible Point You to Tithe to Your Local Church?
The third principle was the principle of the tithe itself, the first ten percent, and Wells was specific that Scripture points that gift to what it calls the storehouse. Leviticus 27:30 describes a tenth of what a field produces as already belonging to the Lord and being holy. The instruction to tithe to your local church existed before that law was ever given, and Scripture shows it continuing long after.
Wells pointed to Jesus' own words in Matthew chapter 6, where Jesus said no one can serve two masters, naming money by its old biblical name, mammon. Mammon is not simply cash; it is anything that quietly becomes your source of security instead of God. Choosing to tithe to your local church is one concrete way of telling that spirit no.
The most personal moment in the message came when Wells described being twenty three years old and preparing to ask his future wife's father, a pastor, for her hand in marriage. He had not been tithing, and the thought of that pastor reviewing a tithe report unsettled him. Wells wrote a twenty five dollar check and slipped it under the church office door, not because the money mattered, but because he wanted his own heart to be trustworthy.
If the idea to tithe to your local church has never felt personal before, try writing down one honest reason you have been holding back, and bring that same honesty to God this week.
What Does Malachi 3 Teach About Biblical Tithing?
Malachi chapter 3 contains the clearest single statement on tithing in the entire Bible, and Wells built his message toward this one verse. Malachi 3:10 reads, in part, that the Lord invites his people to bring the whole tithe into the storehouse and test him, promising to throw open the floodgates of heaven in response. That invitation ties together every principle in this message into one pattern worth remembering.
1. The Principle of the Firstborn
Scripture: Exodus 13:1
Meaning: The first belongs to God, before anything else gets a claim on it.
2. The Principle of First Fruits
Scripture: Genesis 4 and Proverbs 3:9
Meaning: God receives your best offering first, not whatever happens to be left over.
3. The Principle of the Tithe
Scripture: Leviticus 27:30 and Malachi 3:10
Meaning: The first ten percent belongs in the storehouse, your local church, as an act of worship.
According to this message, biblical tithing is best understood as:
An act of worship, not a financial transaction
A test you give God, not a test God gives you
A pattern that existed before the law and continued after it
A decision about lordship, not simply a decision about stewardship
Where Is Impact Church, and Who Is This Message For?
If reordering your finances around trust instead of fear feels overwhelming, you are not alone in feeling that tension. That kind of struggle does not belong to any one part of town. Impact Church calls the greater Phoenix Valley home, with campuses in North Scottsdale and a new South Scottsdale location, and we welcome neighbors from Paradise Valley, Tempe, Chandler, Gilbert, Glendale, Peoria, and across Maricopa County to a place where this conversation can happen in person.
What Is God Really Asking of You?
Biblical tithing was never really about the ten percent. It was about the one who asks for it first, the God who already gave everything before he ever asked you for anything. As Wells put it, tithing is not a test God gives you to pass or fail; it is the test you get to give God, one you can only fail by refusing to bring it.
When you are ready to see what putting God first could look like in person, plan your visit here and join us this Sunday.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Description Scripture presents tithing as giving the first ten percent of your income back to God through your local church, a pattern that appears from Genesis through the New Testament. Malachi 3:10 is the clearest single verse, where God invites his people to bring the whole tithe into the storehouse and test his faithfulness in return.text goes here
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In the Bible, tithing is the practice of giving the first tenth of your income or produce to God as an act of worship, not a financial transaction. It shows up as far back as Abram giving a tenth of his goods to Melchizedek in Genesis 14, hundreds of years before the law of Moses was given.
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Tithing as a Christian starts with giving the first ten percent of your income to your local church, ideally as the first line item in your budget rather than whatever is left over. It is less about hitting an exact number right away and more about the posture of putting God first with your resources.
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Tithing as a legal requirement ended with the Old Testament law, but the underlying principle carries forward for believers today. Jesus spoke about money more than almost any other topic, and giving God the first ten percent still reflects who you trust as your provider.
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A tithe refers specifically to the first ten percent of your income given to your local church, while an offering is any additional generosity given beyond that. Wells described tithing as the bare minimum and generosity as what happens when you go beyond it out of gratitude rather than obligation.
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