“Deep Pockets”
Malachi 3:7-10
The first job I had I got when I was about 12 or 113 years of age. In the town where I grew up we had a local mission and the helped families in the area with a variety of needs. They gave away food and clothing to needy families and they also provided lawn care to people in the community for a fee. And that’s who I worked for.
Another thing the mission did was to take care of men who were homeless. They gave them a place to stay and gave them 3 good meals a day. The pastor who supervised all of this was named Paul. He was a pretty rough individual but had a great heat, a lot of wisdom and he was the right person for the job. He had several rules he functioned by for the men who stayed there. (1) If you are going to stay there you had to attend church every Sunday. He would preach in a chapel located there and church was mandatory. (2) another rule he had and by the way, his wife was a great cook, was this ..if you didn’t work, you didn’t eat. That’s right out of the scripture of course from the apostle Paul.
So the men who stayed there would go out and do lawn work and other odd jobs and they could have 3 meals and a warm place to sleep. Then at the end of the week he would pay everyone in cash. He also hired a few young teenage boys like myself and he would pay us all at the same time.
Payday was very interesting. I still recall how he would do it. He would gather all of the men and the young guys together; we stood in a large circle and he would call us over to him and he would pay us in cash. And this is the way he paid me….Henderson, how many hours did you work this week…no time cards..I would tell him and this is what he would do. He pulled out this wad of cash and he would say this is what you made, this is for God and this is for you. He would hand me my money and he would stick God’s money in his pocket. Now as a kid I always wondered how God got his money out of his pocket.
But he was a very hard working, honest, man…. he had a big impact on my life and right there in that circle he gave me my first lesson tithing. Now before we move any further I want to define what a tithe is. So let’s go to the dictionary. Webster defines a tithe as a 10th part, paid or given for the support of a church.
Now as a young boy I will admit to you that the first time I tithed I wasn’t sure if I like it or not. Partly I suppose because no one asked me if I wanted to or not. He just chose to give my money away for me. Sort of like the government does. No seriously. You go to work for someone and let’s say that they pay you 10.00 an hour. You work for 40 hours and so you’re expecting a check for 400.00. But that’s not what it is. With S.S. and Federal tax your check will be about 312.00. Over 20% of your check will come out and go to the government. Without anyone asking you by the way.
Now you’re probably like me in that. You don’t like someone telling you to give and you sure don’t like someone making you give and you certainly don’t like someone doing it without even asking you first.
So why as your pastor should I think that I should stand up here and tell you that you need to give if I already know that people don’t like it. Well, first of all, no one is going to make you give to God’s work. No one is going to deduct it from your paycheck…federal tax, social security, tithe! But we do have to understand this truth from the Bible and it is our BIG TRUTH for the day.
Giving is a matter of the heart. True disciples give. Why? Because their hearts have been changed. When we choose to NOT give we are actually robbing God.
I think one of the reasons this passage of scripture intrigues me so much is because it is the only passage in the Bible where we are told to test God. Usually God is the one giving out the exams in life, the tests and we are the ones who have to pass them. But here God says test me in this and see whether I will bless you or not. You see, real disciples, those who are growing deep in the faith, they give. It’s just natural.
There are several things you don’t have to tell a true disciple/follower of Christ to do.
(1) You don’t have to tell a true disciple to love God. The greatest commandment was that we are to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength.
(2) You don’t have to tell a true disciple to love people.
1 John 4:20 (NIV) If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.
(3) You don’t have to tell a true disciple to remain faithful. John 15:8 (NIV) This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
(4) You don’t have to tell a true disciple to obey God. John 14:15 (NIV) "If you love me, you will obey what I command.
(5) You don’t have to tell a true disciple to give. Matthew 10:8 (NIV) Freely you have received, freely give.
So why does our church have a money problem? Well actually we don’t. As one pastor I know said right before the church received the offering…he said we have all the money we need. The problem is we have to figure out how to get it from your pocket. We don’t have a money problem, but we do have a giving problem. And we have a giving problem for a very simple reason—not enough disciples. Because disciples give. So how do we change that?
Malachi gives us the solution. Malachi tells us that the giving problem is not God’s it’s ours. God has never had a giving problem. From the very foundation of the world,
…in the very first chapter in the Bible we learn that God set lights in the heavens for this purpose..so that He could GIVE us light on earth.
…He GAVE us plants and fruit and cattle se we could eat.
...He GAVE the Israelites the Promised Land.
...He GAVE Moses water out of a rock.
…He GAVE David back the joy of His salvation.
…He blessed a few loaves of bread and GAVE it to His disciples and it turned into enough to feed 5000.
I could go on an on because the Bible has nearly 7000 examples of giving.
John 3:16 tells us that God loved the world so much that He GAVE!
God says I am the Lord and I don’t change. And that’s the reason you’re still here and why you haven’t been destroyed. Why would they be destroyed? Same reason we would be…v. 7. They had turned away from His decrees/instructions/laws and have not kept them. So have we.
The answer to that problem we all have is that we must RETURN to Him. If you’re away from God, remember God hasn’t moved. God hasn’t gone anywhere. He is still the same yesterday, today and forever. And that will never change. So the people ask God, how can we RETURN—what they meant was how can we RETURN when we have never gone away? They didn’t get it. God says you left me and now you tell me you’re so far away you don’t even realize it. You’ve gotten so far away that you’ve completely forgotten about me.
Then he tells them how they have done it. Should people rob/cheat God? Yet you have. You’ve done it. God tells them and us to return to Him but we don’t understand how to do it.
God says to them and to us that we have robbed Him (strong wording) but we don’t understand how we do it. So He tells us. And here it is.
v. 8. How do we rob you? In tithes & offerings. Now it’s not one or the other. It’s both. We are to tithe. That’s 10%. Remember what Webster says… Then we give an offering. One is required. One is extra. Disciples do both. But they weren’t doing it and the truth is many of you are not as well.
Then He says you are under a curse—all of you—because you are robbing me. How do we break this curse? Here it is. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse. Bring 10% to God. Now the logical next question is this….why? Is God broke? Nope. Does God need to go to the mall? Nope. Listen. God does not need our money. But we need to give. Because if we don’t we become selfish, self absorbed and totally focused on ourselves.
We need to give and giving does something. It breaks the curse. Look at it. V. 9. You’re under a curse for one reason—you’re robbing God. So what’s the cure? Simple. Stop. Stop robbing God. Listen, let’s say you rob a bank. The judge sends you to prison. You get out. Then you rob another one. The judge sends you to prison again. How do you stop that cycle. Stop robbing banks.
Some of you are in a prison of sorts and you want to know why you’re there? Cause you’re robbing God. You’re not giving Him 10%. The final thing God says here is “test me in this.” Today I’m asking you to test God for the next 4 weeks…starting today. For 30 days. Whatever God has brought into your life this week…..give 10% to Him. True disciples give. Disciples give from Deep pockets. You don’t have to tell a disciple to give. It’s natural. Will you give today?
