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. [Matthew 23:23]

"Woe unto you...for ye pay tithe..."
What! Woe unto some people, for paying tithe? Peril pronounced upon some souls because they gave unto God? Could that be possible? I thought that God loves everybody and accepts all those that give automatically? I thought God is so particular about your money more than every other thing? I thought that giving your tithe to God automatically equals serving God, and it was the means of attracting Gods bountiful blessings as many pulpits erroneously preach today? I thought God is more concerned about the quantity of money you bring to Him than the quality thereof? Are all these insinuations true?

Is it every type and manner of giving that is acceptable by God? Is it every tithing and offering that God hallows and appreciates? Is tithing bait for buying the generosity and benevolence of God? The Bible verse of our consideration, which is the very words of Jesus Christ Himself, reveals that there are some tithes, offerings, giving, vows and pledges that The Lord does not appreciate. There are tithes and offerings that do not only repel God, they also attract Gods frowns, woes and judgment. God would rather curse than bless such givers.

"...tithe of mint, anise and Cummins..."

Much emphasis was placed on tithing (giving) to the extent that it became the yardstick of judging spirituality. Those who gave much were seen to be godly. Love for God was judged by how much money you could pay to the church, and not by how much of Christs nature and personality you got within you. Financial giving became a public activity. Those who did not give had no face, they were seen as sinners, and the Pharisees demonstrated this their so-called spirituality by making sure they made tithing a regular practice. They paid tithe for every detail of items or money. They were very meticulous in calculating 10% over the minutest income in cash or kind, but were not meticulous to live a grace-filled life. They were strict, to the extent that, you had to calculate a tenth of the number of grains of food crops you had as tithes. You would count the number of leaves harvested in the farm, and the number of groundnut grains given you in order to deduct 10%. They professed that such was a show of great commitment and spirituality.
Much emphasis and brain work was devoted to calculating the tithes to the most accurate decimal places to them such would show seriousness and devotion just as we see being meticulously practiced today, as if such is synonymous to doing God service.

Tithing became an end in itself. It became a means of buying your place into the heart God. Though giving is considered as part of worship, this people made it the essence of worship. Whether clean or dubious money was brought before the altar is not the issue for them, so far you gave, you were covered. It became a religious practice to tithe every day. The poor became ungodly and unspiritual because they had little or nothing to give, and the rich were considered spiritual, not by life, but by donating cash gifts for church use.

They paid tithes of cummins, mints i.e. leaves and plants..., they paid tithes of everything. It was a show of their commitment to religion. They concentrated on the practice of religion, and never cared about the life and the power thereof. They went to church as a duty, an obligation, an activity, but church never entered them.

"Omitted the weightier matters..."

Tithing does not buy you a place in the heart of God. Tithing is NOT the yardstick for judging spirituality. It is not the first thing regarded by heaven in the priorities of kingdom lifestyles and demands. It is a non-issue until some heavier issues have been settled. It is not bait for buying Gods favour, in fact, it is regarded as garbage if the hands that are paying/giving the tithes are soiled with unrighteousness. As far as heaven is concerned, tithing does not carry any weight at all when the spiritual issues that are on a higher pedestal have not been attended to wholeheartedly. Tithing is never the first thing. Until the priorities have been dealt with, tithing remains a hypocritical exercise. To put tithing in a higher place than where it actually belongs, is to be a hypocrite, it is to put the cart before the horse.

I discover that in the days of Christ, many lives were void of the real kingdom priorities, but because they were so meticulous about tithing, they were simply regarded as the spiritual ones. The same is the case today where financial commitments and generous, large givings are erroneously accentuated as spirituality. The one who gave most is the most spiritual. Men today are being spiritually judged by how much they have financially given. Records are kept to show how you are growing in giving, but never on how you are growing in grace what carnality!!!. The pillars in the churches are not those who prayed much, but those who gave much, and the yardstick for judging or calculating how much you gave is in the quantity of money, the purchasing power of money, and NOT on the quality of what is given. The widow who gave 2 mites was considered not to have given anything because "what would 2 mites purchase, it is so ridiculously small that even a beggar would throw it back at you", but heaven recognised it as the greatest of all in Jesus days because of the inner quality of the life of the giver and the gift.

Everyone is forcefully compelled today to give. Blessings are rained on those who complied, while curses are hurled at defaulters. We now find church people who would rather sit back at home just because they have nothing to give, they count themselves unworthy to face God because of the poverty of their pockets. Money has been so exalted as the true worship in church to the extent that men no longer go to church to seek God. Alas! God is painted as "a man in need" what a great aberration. The verdict of heaven today is "may your money perish with you, since you are still in a gall of bitterness and iniquity..." (Acts 8:20, 23)
There is an evil I see practised today, a carnality I do not see the spiritual sense in, when members of the church are being monitored on how much they have given!!! When records are being taken per head on how faithful you are in monetary giving. When you are being subtlety compelled to give because somebody is doing the mathematics and you do not want to be embarrassed. Giving becomes a status thing and not a service unto God.
People never showed up in church because they had nothing to present into the offering bag. Giving is now to man and no more to God. The spirit of competition has taken men over. Men now labour to edge others out by how much they have given. Pride of riches, deceitfulness of riches become exalted on the altar, and church has suddenly become a club house. The indices for judging how great the church is, is no more that the kingdom of this world may become that of God and of His Christ, but now, by how magnificent the cathedral has grown.
The church that there should be nothing to differentiate the rich from the poor, where riches and poverty should be measured by how much of Christ a man has accumulated and NOT by how much of currency has been amassed in the bank, that church has suddenly dwindled, mammon is being exalted and worshipped, while God watches on in tears.

“...the weightier matters of the law, JUDGMENT, MERCY AND FAITH

There are some weighty matters in spirituality as far as God is concerned, and money cannot smell inclusion in that list. Jesus gave these as
• Judgment,
• Mercy, and
• Faith.

Judgment means Righteousness, it means justice. Jesus is talking about kingdom priorities. If there is a reason at all to call a solemn assembly, it should be because of judgment, mercy and faith, and not because money is depreciating from the offering bag. Tithing should not be the priority of the gospel. Though it is necessary a few times to talk about giving, but it appears to me here that if a man will be grounded in fulfilling all the details of judgment, mercy and faith, that man will not have problem with giving to God. A man who has given his heart and all to God does not need any calculator to measure out certain hypocritical percentages to God. As far as he is concerned, he has nothing left to give, since he has given all. God owns him through and through 100%. Therefore, what the Pharisees made to be an end, is actually what is meant to be the outcome of a good life in Christ.

"...not to leave the other undone."
Jesus is not pronouncing woe because paying tithe was sinful, no, He pronounced woe because men set tithing above righteousness, and made giving an end in itself.
Friend, it is an insult on God to present Him gifts when your life is not the first present. It is the same as serving your President a meal, but with the plate soaked in dung. The Pharisees presented God to the people as if He was more interested in their money than their heart. Are we not making mistakes and attracting Gods woes to the people, when we compel them to give their substance unto God, and rain praises on givers, whereas, we never checked up if they were still holding on to the first thing that God demanded their hearts?

Jesus was dealing with priorities, He did not say tithing was outrightly wrong, but tithing became wrong where judgment was neglected. There was a misplacement of priorities. When a good thing is placed in the wrong order, when it comes with an evil, ulterior motive, then it becomes wrong. God does not accept gifts from those who have not FIRST given Him their hearts. "These ought ye to have done..." by this, Jesus was dealing with “the order…” THIS FIRST, AFTER THEN, THE OTHER.
Whenever the last is put before the first, whenever the order is changed, it becomes an abomination, it attracts divine judgment and woes. Jesus is not interested in the money as much as He is in the life. A life given unto Him becomes wholly given with all the subsets of that life including money.

It behoves men who stand in leadership today to emphasise what God has His interests in. It is a pity today that our cries for men to give unto God is not first because we actually want them to give unto God, it is not first because we want them to be right with God, most of the time, it is because quietly at the back of all such preachings, we want to enrich the church purse so that there can be enough money to cater for some church administrations. But if God is the owner of His church, then, He knows how to care for the administrations if we commit that to His hands.

We must not compel people to give under the disguise that they were giving to God, while actually the goal is to increase finances, settle issues, solve problems..., and alas!!!, judgments and woes are being heaped from heaven upon the innocent givers.