One Tenth for Melchizedek

OT Lesson: Genesis 14:17-20 (NLT)

After Abram returned from his victory over Kedorlaomer and all his allies, the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley).

And Melchizedek, the king of Salem and a priest of God Most High, brought Abram some bread and wine. Melchizedek blessed Abram with this blessing:

“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
Creator of heaven and earth.
And blessed be God Most High,
who has defeated your enemies for you.”

Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of all the goods he had recovered.

NT Lesson: Hebrews 7:1-3 (NRSV)

This ‘King Melchizedek of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham as he was returning from defeating the kings and blessed him’; and to him Abraham apportioned ‘one-tenth of everything’. His name, in the first place, means ‘king of righteousness’; next he is also king of Salem, that is, ‘king of peace’. Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest for ever.

Sermon

Introduction

Good morning. I was on vacation last Sunday. So how have you been? Many retired people told me that they thought they would have tons of free time after retirement, but they got much busier. And I experienced somewhat similar last week. So I was busier than usual. And during my vacation finally Hannah and I were able to visit a dentist, the one on the Whitestown Parkway because we couldn’t get any appointment for more than half year in town. We also visited to an eye doctor, the new one in town near Walmart. Hannah got a pair of eyeglasses after her eye exam. During my eye exam, the doctor showed me many lines with different size of letters. I was not able to read the bottom line. And he told me that I needed to wear glasses. The thing is that I almost fall for it, but Hannah stopped me before I pay. I now just wonder how many people wear eyeglasses simply because they cannot read the bottom line clearly.

By the way, for the next two Sundays—not today, we will eat together. Next Sunday is the regular monthly communal lunch plus Souper Bowl. We will buy fried chickens from Kroger. You may bring some light desserts, if you must. There will be a bowl or a plate in the fellowship hall, and all the money collected will go to a local pantry or food programme to feed our hungry neighbours. It is important to me that it stays local.

The following Sunday, we will have a fabulous party with three things combined: Valentine’s dance party, Shrove Tuesday (now actually Shrove Sunday), and Presbyterian Mardi Gras. It is going to be a pitch-in. So please bring foods to share, and we will have a fun time together.

Mysterious Mechizedek

Next three Sundays, the sermon series will be about the stewardship and generosity. And today, we will talk about the mysterious Mechizedek. Melchizedek was indeed a mysterious figure. He appears only once in Genesis very briefly until his name is mentioned by king David in Psalm 110, which is in turn a very mysterious poem. Even the first line is striking. Well, it is not striking to us because we all have Christian theology and knowledge about it. But imagine you are a Jew several thousand years ago living in Israel, without any knowledge or Christian theology. The first line of this poem says “The Lord says to my lord.” First Lord is in small capitals, which is the Tetragrammaton, that is the four letters for the personal name of God the Father—YHWH. So we all know the first Lord is the God, but the second lord is unclear. Usually a prince or a king is referred as lord (אֲדֹנָי‎). Slaves call their owner lord, not the other way around. Ministers call their king lord, not the other way around. Students call their master lord, not the other way around. The twelve disciples called Jesus Adonai, but Jesus never called them lord. But the problem of this poem is that David was a king, the highest one among humans in the country. The only one above him was God, but God’s name already mentioned earlier so it cannot be God. Of course we all know now that the second lord in the poem refers to God the Son. But in the old days before Jesus, this poem itself was mysterious. And in the v4, the first Lord says to the second lord, “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”1 And this must have given people more headaches. Previously people must have thought Melchizedek as one of many city kings in old days, that is just another human being. But now some kind of mysterious divine figure, namely the second lord, is following Melchizedek. Someone divine cannot be under a human being or follow the human order. So this Melchizedek also has to be divine, higher or at least equal to the second lord. Now Melchizedek cannot be a human, but God.

Who is Melchizedek?

Then, who is this Melchizedek? To solve this, we need some help from the author of the book of Hebrews. Traditionally this book is ascribed to apostle Paul, but many scholars disagree. Anyway, Melchizedek is the king of Salem. Salem is Shalom, and traditionally identified with Jerusalem. So Melchizedek is the king of peace, and the king in Jerusalem. His name Melchizedek is combination of Melek (מלך) and Zadik (צדק‎), that is the king of righteousness. Then who is the king of peace, the king of righteousness, and the king of Jerusalem but Jesus God the Son? Jesus is the high priest forever, and the author of the Hebrews claims that Melchizedek remains a priest forever.2 It is like one person says that Biden is the President, and the other says, ‘No, Joe is the President.’ But we know that Joe and Biden are one and same person. So Melchizedek is the Son of God and God the Son. So is Jesus. With Mechizedek as Jesus, all the mysteries of Psalm 110 are cleared.

Abraham Met Jesus

Jesus said to the people in John 8 that He met Abraham3 which made people upset. But Jesus did not say how many times. I guess at least twice. One is at Genesis 18. The chapter begins by saying, “The Lord appeared to Abraham,” and it continues in the second verse that Abraham saw three men standing. So it is obvious that the Triune God appeared to Abraham in the shape of three men, and of course Jesus was there. And the other time Jesus met Abraham was at today’s OT lesson as Mechizedek, the priest of the most high God.

True Meanings of Tithe

And the interesting thing is that Mechizedek did not come in empty hands. What did He bring? Bread and wine. What are the bread and wine for? Bread and wine by Jesus are the core elements of the communion. In John 6, Jesus declared “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat My flesh and drink My blood have eternal life.”4 In many of His parables, Jesus repeatedly affirmed that Abraham is in heaven. Why is he in heaven? Because he ate the flesh of Jesus and drank the blood of Christ. When Abraham received the eternal life by having true communion with Mechizedek, he gave one tenth to the priest of the most high God. One tenth of everything was the token of his gratitude for the salvation.

Abraham’s grandson, Jacob also has something to do with the one tenth of offering. In Genesis 28, he was running away from his angry twin brother Esau, who was going to kill him. Jacob was fleeing to a foreign land where he knows nobody. There was no guarantee that he would survive in the strange land. There was no guarantee if he would even reach the destination safely, not to mention coming back to home town. During his flight, one night he slept in the middle of a wilderness and saw the angels coming up and down the stairs to heaven, and he also saw God. After he woke up, he named that place Bethel, the house of God, and then he made a deal with God, “If You help me survive and let me come back to my father’s house in peace, I will surely give one-tenth to You.”5 So in this case, the one-tenth of income is not a token of gratitude as in Abraham’s case. It is more like a payment for a ticket to ride. Or because it is not one time thing but repeatedly occurring payment, maybe you can say it is a down payment and then monthly payment for a huge contract, like buying a house. So it is to guarantee the safe return home. Jacob specifically said, ‘my father’s house,’ and Jesus also told us that “there are many mansions in my Father’s house.” In this light, we can paraphrase the deal or the oath of Jacob like this: “If You guarantee me to go into heaven, I will faithfully give one-tenth of my income during my lifetime.” So Abraham’s tithe was a token of gratitude while Jacob’s tithe was a proof of insurance.

The Salvation and Offering

Please don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that you will not go to heaven if you miss a few tithe offerings. That is not how salvation works. Salvation is not something we can buy with money. The point is that the tithe has symbolic meanings. One-tenth was the typical income tax rate in the antique day. So it is like paying tax to God because we are the citizens of heaven. Germans don’t pay tax to US government. US citizens pay tax to US government. When I was in Korea or Canada, I did not pay tax to US government because I was not a citizen. Now I pay tax for eleven years now because I now am a citizen. So paying tax to God is a symbolic meaning that we are the citizens of heaven.

Again, no one can buy salvation with money. The salvation is freely given to us by the grace of God and by the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ. There is no qualification to be loved by God. There is no requirements for salvation. Everyone and Anyone who come to the cross with contrite and repenting heart will be accepted by the loving Father. When we do not refuse God’s love and stay in His grace and mercy, we all the citizens and will surely go to heaven. By the death and resurrection Jesus already guaranteed our salvation. There is no need to worry.

And yet we give God the tithe, not because we are in fear of hell, nor because we worry about the sureness of our salvation. But because we are thankful and grateful and as one of many our tokens of gratitude, and as the symbolic meaning of the oath which Jacob made on behalf all of us: “If You protect and provide us in life and let us go to our heavenly Father’s house, we will give one-tenth to You.”

Tithes of Other Things

But please don’t limit the tithe only in US dollar. It doesn’t have to be in US dollar. When you go to most shops, like Walmart or Kroger, they accept many different types of payment like cash, all kinds of credit card, debit card, gift card, personal cheque, etc. Likewise God accepts many things beside US dollar. For example, you can give one tenth of your talent. You can offer God certain portion of your time daily, like setting aside thirty minutes or ten minutes devoting it for prayers, and meditations. I have to say that the daily meditation is as important as your daily medication.

I have one important rule when it comes to offering. Whatever your offerings might be—monetary offering, time offering, talent offering, whatever—do not offer or donate more than you can offer “comfortably.” This is a very important rule. After breakfast everyday, I give Samuel an apple because it is said that an apple a day keeps doctors away (if you throw it hard enough at them). I slice it to eight pieces and give it to him on a plate. Then I always ask him to give me one slice, and another slice for Mommy. Now, let’s imagine that one day Samuel offer back to me the whole plate for whatever reason. Would I be happy and accept it gladly? Nope. The only reason I ask him for one slice is to teach him sharing. I actually want him to eat the most apple slices. Likewise, when God gives you the money, the time, and the talents, God wants you to use and enjoy them. If God is our true Father, He will never ever ask us to give it all back to Him, maybe except for testing us—but still in the end He will not take it all. And I assure you that God is our true Father and we are all His true children. So please enjoy your money for yourself. Enjoy your time and your talent for yourself. That is not a sin. God wants you to enjoy and be happy because He is our Father. But just spare some portion of your money, time, and talent for God, hopefully one-tenth but doesn’t have to. You decide your own portion.

Conclusion

In Deuteronomy 16, God commanded us not to come empty handed.6 So it is good to bring God something. But the biggest and the most precious thing among all the things we can give back to God is our heart and our love for God. So while we bring God many different kinds of offerings and gifts, let us not forget to give God our true heart with sincere love for Him. Then we will enjoy God’s love in heaven not only as citizens but also as the royal children of God forever and ever. Amen.