"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law--justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former."
Jesus is correcting the teachers and the Pharisees. He highlight the fact that the Pharisees and teachers give their tithes ( spices--mint, dill and cumin) but neglect more important matters. But as you correctly alluded to, both areas needed their attention, but by Jesus's own words tithing was not as important.
But my friend, how can Jesus talk about Himself has being the first fruits, when His death had not taken place at this time? The old testament was still in place. The New Testament was not. Jesus was not the first fruit of mankind!
Jesus and the disciples were living in the old covenant at the time which eventually give way into the new convenant -after Jesus died.
1 Corinthians 15:20
“But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep”.
So living in today's testament, Jesus has become the first fruits for mankind. So the power of this New "Tithe' far exceeds the tithe of the old testament. The New Tithe truly cannot be neglected or it will indeed have serious repercussion on our salvation.
I don't neglect Jesus, the first fruit of those fallen asleep.
Money or good deeds alone will not get us into heaven, rather it's a loving relationship with Jesus that will.
Give with the heart of your First Fruit - Jesus. Think about it. Everything you do, filter your actions and thoughts through Jesus. That is the New Tithing. We must represent Jesus first. If we don't, we are not offering our spiritual tithe.
Give with a cheerful heart.
