Deuteronomy 26:1-10 (New American Standard Bible)

1“Then it shall be, [s]when you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance[/s], and you possess it and live in it,

2 that you shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground which you bring in from your land that the LORD your God gives you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place where the LORD your God chooses to establish His name.

3“You shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, ‘[b]I declare this day to the LORD my God that I have entered the land which the LORD swore to our fathers to give us.’

4“Then the priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down before the altar of the LORD your God.

5“You shall answer and say before the LORD your God, ‘My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down to Egypt and sojourned there, few in number; but there he became a great, mighty and populous nation.

6‘And the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, and imposed hard labor on us.

7‘Then we cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction and our toil and our oppression;

8and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with great terror and with signs and wonders;

9and He has brought us to this place and has given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

10‘Now behold, I have brought the first of the produce of the ground which You, O LORD have given me.’[/b] And you shall set it down before the LORD your God, and worship before the LORD your God;



So this is how the first fruit is done. why are our pastors not saying the truth. If you want to pay your first fruits please follow the above steps.

I think you might the missing the point here. We are Christians (followers of Christs teachings), not 1st century Jews. I think I understand the point you are trying to make though, but at the end of the day, what does Christ teach about giving?

These instructions were for the Arameans who were taken into capitivity in Egypt, and subsequently rescued by God and led to what we know as Israel. These people were not christians, as Jesus Christ had not yet come in their time. Thus, they were under a different covenant to us, hence the way they worshipped God with their wealth would differ from the way we do the same. For example, the way a man in the city would have communicated with his fiancee in the village in 1959 (i.e message, letters) would be different from the way he would do the same thing today - simply because communication has improved since 1959.

I think Luke summarises Jesus' teachings on money quite well -

Luke 16:10“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11 So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?

Let us not put new wine in old wine skins.

Exodus 22:29
29 Thou shalt not delay[ to offer] the first of thy ripe fruits, and of thy liquors: the firstborn of thy sons shalt thou give unto me. 

How come the primitive people that never knew the bible recognise the first born as special.? It is simply bevause there is witness in every person about first fruits. In every nation and culture. The law only help to outline and legalise certain spiritual principles, but that doesn't mean that the principles were limited to the law. They are spiritual principles. That pre existed the law .Such as worship, offerings, tithe,first fruits etc.

Elders will not drink until they have thrown the first drop on the ground as a libation . Because that first one is regarded as sacred. A man gets a job and takes his first salary to parents in the village to recieve prayers why? because there is an inward witness that "the first" is sacred.  I bought something very cheap one day because i couldnt afford the price but the man gave me because i was his first customer . A trader treats the first customer carefully they say "morning market" In some communities they can't eat yam until after the high priest of the community has tasted the first yam in the yam festival. First fruit is written every where all over the world and in our conscience.  

First fruits goes beyond the law of the Jews. The witness is in every persons heart , in every nation that , first thing is speciall.Why? Because it belongs to God. From first born to first salary, to first customer . We treat the first with respect. Even those who We give God first fruits as an indication that he is first and he will always be the first in our lives. He is alpha.every thing first belongs to God.

 Numbers 3:13
13 Because all the firstborn[ are] mine;[ for] on the day that I smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I hallowed unto me all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast: mine shall they be: I[ am] the Lord.
 

Before the law came God called Israel his firstborn, it's a covenant position and relationship.

Exodus 4:22
22 And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel[ is] my son,[ even] my firstborn:

In addition joagbaje,
Abel offered the best sacrifice to God and God accepted it because he recognised God as the first

And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offeringGen 4:4 (KJV)

@Joagbaje
While I am guided only by my conscience as I am neither a Christian nor a traditionalist, and do not believe in or attach any importance to this "first" thing they way you and traders and many around seem to, I recognise the soundness of your write-up above within the context of popular practice.

But going purely by the logic of what you wrote, don't you think a man's first salary on every job, and not first salary of every year, should then go to the church? Don't you think that a church demanding every 12th salary from a member is taking things a bit far?

First fruit is a faith thing, it is based on individual personal conviction and relationship with God. No one need to force another . It based on a mans covenant relationship with God and individual faith. What is first fruit to A may not be To B. For example what will be the first fruit to a taxi driver? It can be the first passenger of January ist, or the entire income of the first day of the new year,or the income for the first week , yet another may decide to give the income of the entire January as first fruit. It is left for an individual. Connviction. There is no rule. No pastor is forcing people to give their salary, churches have a first fruit service and as people are led they give what is laid in their hearts as firstruit, either it's the first salary of a new job, or the first 100 naira of the first passenger . Every man according to his conviction gives what he seems right as firtst fruit and the pastor gives his own too.

But if you're not a Christian as you claim , why bother about such things, you should rather let's discuss the issue of salavation. Why are you not given your heart to christ. What are you waiting for?.

Theoretically, yes. But in practice I am aware the churches encourage you go give up your January salary. And there are subtle threats and testimony to goad you. One would have expected institutions like the church to preach voluntary donations like they did in the NT, rather than "first fruits". Or do you give your first son to God today like they were asked to do in the OT?

And about "salvation", Why should I "give" my "life to Christ"?

Another common error is to equate the tithe with the “first-fruit” or even the “best.” While the “tithe of the tithe” (1%) which was given to the priests was the “best” of what the Levites received, the tithe which the Levites received was only “one tenth” not necessarily the “best” (Lev. 27:32, 33). Also, while the first-fruit and firstborn of every clean animal was brought directly to the temple, the tithe was brought directly to the Levitical cities (Neh. 10:35-38). According to some historians, the first-fruit was an extremely small offering. Often an entire village’s first-fruit could be carried by one animal.

Question: "What was the firstfruits offering? Should Christians give a firstfruits offering today?"

Answer: Firstfruits was a Jewish feast held in the early spring at the beginning of the grain harvest. It was observed on Nissan 16, which was the third day after Passover and the second day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Firstfruits was a time of thanksgiving for God’s provision.

Leviticus 23:9-14 institutes the firstfruits offering. The people were to bring a sheaf of grain to the priest, who would wave it before the Lord. A burnt offering, a meal offering, and a drink offering were also required at that time. Deuteronomy 26:1-10 gives even more detail on the procedure of firstfruits.

No grain was to be harvested at all until the firstfruits offering was brought to the Lord (Leviticus 23:14). The offering was made in remembrance of Israel’s sojourn in Egypt, the Lord’s deliverance from slavery, and their possession of “a land that floweth with milk and honey.” The day of the firstfruits offering was also used to calculate the proper time of the Feast of Weeks (Leviticus 23:15-16).

In the New Testament, the firstfruits offering is mentioned seven times, always symbolically. Paul calls Epaenetus and the household of Stephanas “the firstfruits of Achaia” (Romans 16:5; 1 Corinthians 16:15). His meaning is that, just as the firstfruits offering was the first portion of a larger harvest, these individuals were the first of many converts in that region. James calls believers “a kind of firstfruits of His creatures” (James 1:18). Just like the sheaf of grain was set apart for the Lord, so are believers set apart for God’s glory.

The firstfruits offering found its fulfillment in Jesus. “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20). Jesus’ resurrection has paved the way for our resurrection. Significantly, if Jesus was killed at Passover, then His resurrection on the third day would have fallen on Nissan 16—the Feast of Firstfruits.

The firstfruits offering is never directly applied to Christian giving in the New Testament. However, Paul taught the Corinthian believers to set aside a collection “on the first day of the week” (1 Corinthians 16:2). And, just as the offering of firstfruits was an occasion of thanksgiving, so the Christian is to give with gladness.

In summary, firstfruits symbolizes God’s harvest of souls, it illustrates giving to God from a grateful heart, and it sets a pattern of giving back to Him the first (and the best) of what He has given us. Not being under the Old Testament Law, the Christian is under no further obligation than to give cheerfully and liberally (2 Corinthians 9:6-7).

Modern "first fruits" teaching = January-salary thiefing/stealing.

QED

We are in another season of the first fruit fraud. #buyersbeware

Pastor Kun: We are in another season of the first fruit fraud. #buyersbeware

Pastor kun is battle ready again this year. I always enjoy ur these arguments, more grease to your elbow.

Joagbaje: First fruit is a faith thing, it is based on individual personal conviction and relationship with God. No one need to force another . It based on a mans covenant relationship with God and individual faith. What is first fruit to A may not be To B. For example what will be the first fruit to a taxi driver? It can be the first passenger of January ist, or the entire income of the first day of the new year,or the income for the first week , yet another may decide to give the income of the entire January as first fruit. It is left for an individual. Connviction. There is no rule. No pastor is forcing people to give their salary, churches have a first fruit service and as people are led they give what is laid in their hearts as firstruit, either it's the first salary of a new job, or the first 100 naira of the first passenger . Every man according to his conviction gives what he seems right as firtst fruit and the pastor gives his own too.

But if you're not a Christian as you claim , why bother about such things, you should rather let's discuss the issue of salavation. Why are you not given your heart to christ. What are you waiting for?.

Bro, happy new year.

Pls remove dt "Faith thing" in ur first fruit as u do in tithe issues too. How do u do dt in faith. And mind u pastors dont hav to force members, they already hav influence over most of them who will act only on wat thr MOG says. We will all giv account for d flock dt we oversee.

God Bless.

Like tithing, like first fruits.

Every bit of them are doctrines of men.

When did the tithe and first fruits become hard core currency when the Old Testament gave them as agric products.

The post by frosbel above answer it all!

Two questions:
Why won't non-Christians let us be with our doctrines and teachings
And
Why will so called Christians not accept scriptures as they are?

Tithes and first fruits should give us joy that we have the privilege to respond to God's love.