Opening illustration: 24 year old Danny Simpson was sentenced to 6 years in jail for robbing a bank. Danny got 6 years in the clink for stealing $6,000. But the gun he used in the robbery ended up in a museum. The .45 caliber Colt semi-automatic turned out to be an antique made in 1918 by the Ross Rifle Company. His pistol was worth up to $100,000 on the collectors market. If Danny Simpson had known what he had in his hands, he would not have ended up in jail.
Many Christians live like this. They spend their lives searching for God’s blessings, power and presence, not realizing it’s already in their hands.
Let us turn to Malachi 3 and get ourselves acquainted with God’s perspective on our giving to Him and the unprecedented power we have by giving to God.
Introduction / Background: The very word "tithe" means "one tenth." Tithing was an ancient and general practice among other religions and cultures besides Jews and Christians, but it has been a practice of the Judeo-Christian tradition for thousands of years. Tithing is found is Scripture in several periods of biblical history, from pre-Mosaic times to the days of the early church.
Malachi urged the people to stop holding back their tithes, to stop keeping from God what He deserved. One of the most remarkable statements in all of Scripture is from God in the book of the prophet Malachi. God is talking to His people and He knows how human nature works. Instead of being open-handed and generous with money, the people were closing their hearts off to the poor, and clutching onto whatever they had.
(i) Affirmed throughout Bible.
• Predates Moses in Old Testament.
a) Abraham gave tithe to Melchizedek. Gen. 14:17-20
b) Jacob promised to tithe at Bethel. Gen. 28:22
• Commanded by Moses. Deut. 14:22
• Assumed by Jesus. Matt. 23:23
(ii) Who received the tithes?
(a) Levites. Num. 18:21ff.
• Made up for their lack of income and inheritance.
• They were to use it to support themselves and Temple.
(c) Priests. Heb. 7:5
• The Levites gave them a tithe of their tithe.
• Priests got offerings of left-over sacrifices.
(d) Poor people. Deut. 14:29
• Shows God’s concern for the down-and-out.
Everything we have is from God, so when we refuse to return to him a part of what He has given, we rob Him. Do you want to selfishly want to keep 100% of what God gives, or are you willing to return at least 10% for helping to advance God’s Kingdom? The people of Malachi’s day ignored God’s command to give a tithe of their income to His temple. They may have feared losing what they had worked so hard to get, but in this they misjudged God. “Give, and it will be given to you.” He says (Luke 6: 38). When we give, we must remember that the blessings God promises are not always material and may not be experienced completely here on earth, but we will certainly receive them in our future life with him.
What will it take for us to faithfully give our tithes and offering?
1. Charges (v 8):
God answers question by question, but thereby drives it home to the sinner’s soul, and appeals to his conscience. The conscience is steeled, and answers again, “In what?” God specifies two things only, obvious, patent, which, as being material things, they could not deny. “In tithes and offerings.”
You can impress other Christians by your extensive Bible knowledge, your fervent prayers, or your many years of service in the church. But God does not look at any of those things to test your faithfulness. Rather, He looks at how you manage the money that He has entrusted to you. Are you greedy or generous? Do you have integrity in money matters? Are your priorities and motives for earning, spending, saving, and giving in line with His Word? So, to evaluate God’s charge that we have robbed Him, we have to examine our stewardship of money. Maybe you’re thinking, “Whew, I’m off the hook, because I give ten percent to the Lord’s work!” Well, maybe, but probably not!
People get nervous when you take away that ten percent figure. Somehow, it’s comfortable and simple to give ten percent. But the problem with tithing is that people get the notion that once they’ve paid God ten percent, they’re free to squander the rest on themselves. But I think that God would charge such people, however sincere they may be, with robbing Him.
Illustration: In Words We Live By, Brian Burrell tells of an armed robber named Dennis Lee Curtis who was arrested in 1992 in Rapid City, South Dakota. Curtis apparently had scruples about his thievery. In his wallet the police found a sheet of paper on which was written the following code:
a) I will not kill anyone unless I have to.
b) I will take cash and food stamps—no checks.
c) I will rob only at night.
d) I will not wear a mask.
e) I will not rob mini-marts or 7-Eleven stores.
f) If I get chased by cops on foot, I will get away. If chased by vehicle, I will not put the lives of innocent civilians on the line.
g) I will rob only seven months out of the year.
h) I will enjoy robbing from the rich to give to the poor.
This thief had a sense of morality, but it was flawed. When he stood before the court, he was not judged by the standards he had set for himself but by the higher law of the state. Likewise when we stand before God, we will not be judged by the code of morality we have written for ourselves but by God’s perfect law.
2. Consequences (v 9):
The curse threatened had come upon them: but, as fore-supposed in Leviticus by the repeated burden, “If you still walk contrary to Me,” they had persevered in evil. God had already shown His displeasure. But they, so far from being amended by it, were the more hardened in their sin. Perhaps as men do, they pleaded their punishment, as a reason why they should not amend. They defrauded God, under false pretenses. Do you see why some of you live in debt and continue to live so … why many have financial problems with your spouse … why you cannot pay off your previous debt and pay for your daily utilities and bills … do you know how many pastors pursue raising funds (because their daily needs are not met) and how much time they spend doing it thus neglecting the work of the Lord. If only people would faithfully tithe!
(i) When we rob God, we come under His curse (3:9)
“You are cursed with a curse … the whole nation of you!” To rob God is to shoot yourself in the foot, and it doesn’t just hurt you. It also hurts all of God’s people. By withholding their tithes and offerings, the people forced the priests and Levites to work for their own support. That meant that they had to neglect the temple, causing worship to suffer. The inadequate worship adversely affected the Jewish families that came there to worship. Not only that, but when the people refused to trust God by giving, God allowed the devourer to attack their crops (3: 11). That may refer to locusts or other insects, or to hail or drought. God, who controls all of His creation, can either block harmful forces from our lives or turn them loose to wreak havoc. God does not delight in sending plagues on His people. But every parent knows that if you do not discipline your children when they disobey, you are not acting in love towards them. As God’s children, we need to learn that sin has negative consequences. Obedience opens the windows of heaven to pour out God’s blessings.
(ii) When we rob God, the nation’s miss God’s blessings (3:12)
When God’s people obey Him with their giving, the nations will see how God blesses His people and they will be drawn to the delightful land. The world isn’t drawn to disobedient Christians who are under God’s discipline. They are drawn to obedient believers who know the joy of God’s delightful blessings. Our generous giving to the cause of world missions directly blesses those who hear the gospel and come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I cannot say whether or not you are robbing God. It is a matter for each of us, (myself included) to examine individually, prayerfully and continually. I find that it’s easy to slip into a worldly mindset with regard to giving. But if you are guilty of robbing God, He gives the remedy here.
3. Challenges (v 10):
God pledges Himself to His creatures, in a way in which they themselves can verify. “If you will obey, I will supply all your needs; if not, I will continue your dearth.” By whatever laws God orders the material creation, He gave them a test, of the completion of which they themselves could judge, of which they themselves must have judged. They had been afflicted with years of want. God promises them years of plenty, on a condition which He names. What would men think now, if anyone had, in God’s name, promised that such or such a disease, which injured our crops or our cattle, should come at once to an end, if any one of God’s laws should be kept? We should have been held as fanatics, and rightly, for we had no commission of God. God authenticates those by whom He speaks; He promises, who alone can perform.
There are three keys which God hath reserved in His own hands, and hath not delivered to any to minister or substitute, the keys of life, of rain, and of the resurrection. In the ordering of the rain they look on His great power, no less than in giving life at first, or afterward raising the dead to it; as Paul said in Acts 14: 17, “God left not Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave rain, from heaven and fruitful seasons.”
I would not have said this. But God said it, so I’ll say it. God is willing to take up the challenge. But let me clear something up. Tithing is not something you try, it is something you trust God by doing. Tithing is a great place to start, but it is a terrible place to stop. In the purest biblical sense, a tither is simply a reformed thief!
Illustration: The First Christian Church in Owasso, Oklahoma, made an offer to its people: “Try tithing for 90 days, and if you are not blessed, the church will refund your money.” That’s bold. But God will prove faithful to His Word. In fact, I’ll give you the same guarantee. If you try tithing for ninety days and you are not blessed . . . contact the First Christian Church of Owasso, Oklahoma, and they will refund your money! Seriously, God is a debtor to no man. The more we give to Him, the more He gives to us.
Have you ever thought about this? The very people who say they can’t tithe maybe can’t tithe because they aren’t tithing. If we pay our debt to God, then God will do amazing things, even things beyond your comprehension, which seem impossible to us. His hand is not shortened.
4. The Blessings of Giving (v 11 – 12):
The promise goes beyond the temporal prosperity of their immediate obedience. Few could know or think much of the restored prolificalness of Judaea; none could know of its antecedents. A people, as well as individuals, may starve, and none know of it. Had the whole population of Judah died out, their Persian masters would not have cared for it, but would have sent fresh colonists to replace them and pay the tribute to the great king. The only interest, which all nations could have in them, was as being the people of God, from whom He should come, “the Desire of all nations, in whom all the families of the earth would be blessed.” Of this, God’s outward favor was the earnest; they should have again the blessings which He had promised to His people.
It was not so much the land as the people; you shall be called. The land stands for the people upon it, in whom its characteristics lay. At times God’s blessings take time. We don’t sow a seed and then reap a bountiful harvest the next day or the next week. It takes several long months for the seed to germinate and grow to maturity. Just because you begin tithing today doesn’t mean you will automatically reap riches tomorrow. God will supply your need, but the bountiful harvest takes time to grow. If every Christian truly believed this every Christian would tithe.
Application:
(i) Relationship with God comes first.
• Don’t tithe to get good with God.
• Accept Jesus, you’ll then want to do it.
(ii) We need a concrete standard.
• Your level of giving shows where your heart lies.
• Compare your own tax form with the receipt
• Is Jesus Christ REALLY a priority in your life?
