Try It You’ll Like It
Malachi 3:7-10
Intro: Two men were marooned on an Island. One man paced back and forth
worried and scared while the other man sat back and was sunning himself.
The first man said to the second man, "aren’t you afraid we are about to
die." "No," said the second man, "I make $100,000 a week
and tithe faithfully to my church every week. My Pastor will find me
. A woman gave her son Johnny 2 quarters. One was for his Sunday School offering. The other was for an ice cream cone on the way home from Sunday School.
Johnny was flipping one quarter in the air and catching it on the way down. This happened 8 times or so when all of a sudden Johnny missed catching it. It rolled down the storm sewer and was gone.
Johnny looked up into the sky and said I’m sorry God but that was your quarter.
. Our scripture this morning is out of the book of Malachi.
. Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament and there will be over 400 years of silence from God before John the Baptist comes on the scene preparing the way for Jesus.
. Malachi was writing to the Jews who had returned from the exile in Babylon.
. They had returned and helped to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and the Temple had been rebuilt.
. While there had been some success in this restoration process the people were not following God and apathy and half hearted worship was the norm.
. In these writings Malachi had assured the people that God did in fact still love them.
. He brought an indictment on a corrupt priesthood
. He called them to faithfulness in chapter two and warned them of coming judgment and then we get to our scripture thus morning where Malachi calls them to repentance of their ways and challenges them to obey God.
. This mornings scripture talks about tithes and offerings to God.
. While Malachi speaks of tithes and offerings, he is really talking about obedience to God.
. Malachi 3:7-10; I am the LORD, and I do not change. That is why you descendants of Jacob are not already destroyed.7Ever since the days of your ancestors, you have scorned my decrees and failed to obey them. Now return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.
“But you ask, ‘How can we return when we have never gone away?’
8“Should people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me!
“But you ask, ‘What do you mean? When did we ever cheat you?’
“You have cheated me of the gtithes and offerings due to me.9You are under a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating me.10Bring all the htithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of iheaven for you. I will pour out a jblessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!
. God says I am the Lord and I do not change.
. I am not asking nor expecting any more or any less from you than I always have.
. If I did change, I would have already let you be destroyed for your disobedience. You are constantly moving away from what I have taught you. The history of your nation is a story of rebellion and repentance.
. God then uses tithes and offerings as an example of how they had grown lackluster and apathetic in their worship of Him.
. First God says that you are not being obedient to me in your tithing.
. God actually uses some very harsh terms here.
. He says that they were cheating Him by not tithing the way they were supposed to.
. This subject is not the most popular subject to preach on but it is necessary.
. Pastors would much rather preach on God’s love and God’s forgiveness and our eternity in Heaven because our hearts are geared toward leading folks to salvation.
. You see, in order to become mature in our walk with Christ, all must come to an understanding as to what God expects from us as followers of Christ.
. Tithing is just one part of the mature Christians spiritual life.
. A small church in Virginia needed to have a new roof in the worst of ways, but there was no money in their account. Most of the congregation was very poor except for the local banker. He was an ornery old cuss, and he would be the first in church so he could always sit in the back pew by the door. That way, he could always get up and leave during prayer right before the offering was collected.
One day, on the way to church, an accident in front of him made him late. When he got there, the only place to sit was on the front pew in front of the pastor.
As the pastor prayed for God to send them money for the roof, a piece broke off and fell down, hitting the banker on the head. He immediately yelled out, "I’ll give $1,000. for the roof!" And one of the men in back yelled out, "Hit him again, Lord!"
. He finally understood the need to tithe didn’t he.
. Some folks need to be hit on the head sometimes to finally understand something.
. Now my theologians out there are thinking, Pastor, this requirement that we tithe is under the old covenant that God made with Abraham and the nation of Israel.
. You are right, but the act of tithing is modeled for us even before the covenant between God and the nation of Israel.
. Over in Genesis chapter 14 we see the story of Abram [ who is to become Abraham] and his nephew Lot.
. Abrams nephew Lot had been kidnapped by by invading kings from other nations who had plundered Sodom and Gomorrah. Abram learnied of this and went after his nephew. He attacked the men who had his nephew during the night and defeated them. He recovered his nephew and came home a hero and some people went out to meet him and this is where we find the first tithe.
. In Ge 14:18-20 we see this: 18And Melchizedek, the king of Salem and a cpriest of God Most High, brought Abram some bread and wine.19Melchizedek blessed Abram with this blessing:
“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
Creator of heaven and earth.
20And blessed be God dMost High,
who has defeated your enemies for you.”
Then Abram gave Melchizedek a etenth of all the goods he had recovered.
.Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth or a tithe of all that he had recovered.
. That is the origin of the tithe. It means a tenth portion of something.
. God has always expected a portion of what He has blessed us with to use for his kingdom.
. The tithe that the children of Israel were to give was used to support the priests and the Levites whose job it was to move and preserve the Tabernacle.
. After the Temple was built, their job was to take care of the Temple. They were given no land of property.
. God has always used the tithe as a common sense way to meet the needs of the church.
. God says to the children of Israel, you are cheating me by not bringing all your tithes into the Temple.
. I’m not delivering this sermon this morning because we are in dire financial straights as a church.
. We as a church are paying our bills.
. God placed this message on my heart because He has plans for us. He has plans for Mountain Creek Baptist Church and our commitment to Him needs to be strong and biblical
. God has always desired and been pleased with our tithes.
. He will use our tithes to expand His kingdom if we will be faithful in our commitment to Him.
. Malachi also writes about offerings.
. Not only were they cheating God by not tithing, they were also cheating God with there offerings.
.vs 8 says that you have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to Me.
. Now offerings were different than tithes.
. Offerings were additional gifts or contributions made to the Lord or His Sanctuary.
. This could mean money or produce or building materials or a myriad of all kinds of things including their time and talents.
. God built His church, His dwelling place, The Tabernacle through offerings form the people.
. Exodus 25:1-9 gives us this example:
. The LORD said to Moses,2“Tell the people of Israel to bring me their sacred offerings. Accept the contributions from all whose hearts are moved to offer them.3Here is a list of sacred offerings you may accept from them:
gold, silver, and bronze;
4blue, purple, and scarlet thread;
fine linen and goat hair for cloth;
5tanned ram skins and fine goatskin leather;
acacia wood;
6olive oil for the lamps;
spices for the anointing oil and the fragrant incense;
7onyx stones, and other gemstones to be set in the ephod and the priest’s chestpiece.
8“Have the people of Israel build me a holy sanctuary so I can live among them.9You must build this bTabernacle and its furnishings exactly according to the pattern I will show you.
. Have the people build my church with there offerings.
. While they offered these materials, they also offered their time and talents to build the Tabernacle of God.
.This was their offering to God.
. I mentioned the Levites a few minutes ago.
. This was the tribe that all the priests and temple workers were from.
. They had no material possessions so what they had to offer was themselves.
. We are all now Levites.
. When the veil was torn in the Temple upon Jesus’ death and we were all given access to God, we became the priests of God.
. The priesthood no longer belongs to just the Levites.
.In 1 Peter2, we see in vs 5 Peter writes that”…you are His holy priests…” and again in vs 9 “… you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation…”
. Our offerings to God should be ourselves.
. I had them play the song “Offering” by Third Day right before the sermon this morning because that’s really what this priesthood is all about.
. Much like the Levites, when it comes right down to it, our offering should be ourselves shouldn’t it?
. Not only to we please God with our tithes, we please Him by offering ourselves to Him.
. To be used for His glory and for the building and growing of Hid kingdom.
. Finally, God says to the people in vs 10,”…try it, put me to the test”
. Try me says God.
. Make the commitment. Commit to tithing and giving me your time and energy and talents and see what I will do with what you have to offer.
. The blessings that you will receive will be abundant
. God will take our tithes and talents and bless this church and use us to bring people into His saving Grace.
. What a wonderful blessing to be used by God to expand His Kingdom.
. We should have no greater joy than seeing people give their heart and their lives to our Savior Jesus Christ.
. You see, tithing isn’t about money, it’s about our commitment to expanding God’s Kingdom.
. Will you commit this day to being obedient to God.
. God says, Try It, You’ll Like It.
Invitation
*** To my Christian brothers and sisters, thank you for taking the time to read this sermon. I ask that you take another second and score this for me. I am always open to feedback so that I can continue to grow in the proclamation of God’s word.
May God bless you as you continue to strive to walk worthy of His calling.
Sources:
The Holy Bible, NLT
ABC’S Of Giving: Jeff Strite
Tithing Is God’s Idea: Scott Hollebrands
Questions About Tithing: Tim Patrick
