Money Laundering
Pt. 2 - Out of Order?
I. Introduction
I don't know about you but one of the most frustrating things in life is to need to use a machine - drink, snack, register, ATM or any other type of machine only to discover a sign on it that says "Out of Order!" It was promising in appearance. It looked like it would provide relief to my thirst, my hunger, my need only to let me down because it was out of order. When something is out of order it doesn't work properly! It doesn't fulfill its purpose and can operate according to design.
If you have attended here more than just a few months, then you have probably mention order on more than one occasion. We have established that God is a God of order. Creation begins the revelation that God operates in steps. He creates sky then bird. Water then fish. Then this propensity towards order continues in patterns of worship. It penetrated how the Children of Israel marched from one place to the next with each tribe in their ordered place. It carries over to church in the New Testament and how services are conducted and positions of authority established. Order matters to God. Therefore, if order mattered to God it ought to grab our attention and make sure we understand and operate in lock step with the order He prescribes because we recognize that if we are out of order we will not see the intended results.
I want to submit to you that what is true of coke machines and cash registers is also true about our money. When it is out of order it doesn't work properly! I think far too often we don't get the order right in our finances and the result is we hope against hope, pray, believe and desire blessings that don't arrive simply because we are operating out of order while foolishly expecting the results that only come from operating in order.
So let's talk about how to get you blessed! I want to see you blessed beyond your wildest dreams. I want to see you have more than enough. I want to get something to you rather than something from you. So, in order for that to happen, we must understand two truths this morning.
Order dictates outcome.
Right order blessed. Wrong order cursed. If you don't believe that then build a house and then draw blueprints or then try to get permits. Go to a car lot and drive a car home then try to go in and work out payment details. Go to a bank and withdraw money then open an account. Go out to a garden and try to get a harvest before you plant the seed. Order dictates outcome. When you do things out of order the results change. We should have learned this truth in grade school. When our parents or our school gave us one of those combination locks. Remember 1 turn to the left, 2 turns to the right, then straight to the last number. It didn't matter if you got the numbers right if you didn't get the sequence of turns right. Order matters!
There is an intended outcome attached to the resources that God places in our hands. The intended outcome is blessed. God wants to bless the resources He has entrusted to us so that they will go further and accomplish more than we ever imagined. However, the order of how we handle them dictates the outcome . . . blessed or cursed. Clean or dirty.
God makes the order clear. Let's look and then talk a little more to make sure we get it and operate in order.
The order is established by Moses. Through the first five books of the Bible, Moses talks about resources a total of
thirteen times and in so doing not only gives instructions he gives revelation about order by what he calls them.
(ESV) - “You shall not delay to offer from the fullness of your harvest and from the outflow of your presses. The firstborn of your sons you shall give to me. (So he begins teaching order by talking about the greatest resource we have . . . our children. It is funny to me that some people willingly give their kids back to God but won't give Him their other resources.)
Exodus 34:26 (ESV) - The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of the Lord your God.
Leviticus 23:10
“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest, and he shall wave the sheaf before the
Lord, so that you may be accepted.
Deuteronomy 18:4 - The firstfruits of your grain, of your wine and of your oil, and the first fleece of your sheep, you shall give him.
2 Chronicles 31:5
As soon as the command was spread abroad, the people of Israel gave in abundance the firstfruits of grain, wine, oil, honey, and of all the produce of the field. And they brought in abundantly the tithe of everything. (Here we see the switch from the term first fruits to tithe)
Solomon continues the command.
Proverbs 3:9-10
Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.
Ezekiel agrees . . .
Ezekiel 44:30
“The first of all first fruits of every kind and every contribution of every kind, from all your contributions, shall be for the priests: you shall also give to the priest the first of your dough to cause a blessing to rest on your house.”
Then Jesus in Matthew 23 is rebuking religious leaders for their lack of justice and mercy but says to them you tithe on everything you make which you should but you should also address these other matters.
The name Moses establishes reveals the promise of the dictated outcome of order. (SLIDE 6-7) The Hebrew word for firstfruit is bikkurim —literally translated to “promise to come.” The Israelites saw these first fruits as an investment into their future. God told them that if they brought their first fruits to Him, He would bless all that came afterword. They understood that there was a promise connected to the order!!!
In other words, what we call the tithe - which means 1/10th 10%, when presented to God would result in the other 90% being blessed. Giving of our first fruits reminds us that God is our ultimate priority. It shows God that we are obedient to Him and we can be trusted with more.
However, this is where some of us miss it. 10% is the amount not the order. Some of us get the amount right but miss the order and the result is we are out of order. God commanded that the tithe be given as first fruits. Why?
Order reveals importance.
By order some of us are saying that we honor our landlord more than God. We think OGE and ONG is more important than God. Simply by the order that we handle our resources reveals what is most important to us.
The blessing is commanded only when it is done in order. First is only first if it is first. Anything other than first means it is second. Out of order. Left overs. You cannot call your tithes "first fruits" if it is the last thing you pay, the third thing you pay, the 6th thing you pay. First means first. The order reveals the importance. But also remember when we get the order right and it will dictate the outcome.
Some of you have given faithfully and you are still wondering why there seems to be a gap between what you are doing and what God says will happen. Could it be order? Some of you have never tried it because it seems like a risk. However, this is God's Guarantee - listen carefully for order and the guarantee . . .
Malachi 3:8-12 (ESV)
Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test (only place God says to test Him is in the area of finances - almost like I dare you), says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts. Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.
Try Him. Follow the instructions. Do exactly as He commands us to do. Follow the exact pattern and test Him and we will find out that order will dictate outcome. Maybe you have the amount right but the order wrong. If you are already giving 10% maybe all you need to do is tweak the order. Shift your giving to the place of importance in which it belongs and you will see Him work.
God guarantees that in order giving results in blessings that can't be contained.
Jar Illustration = What is most important must be done first. The results, which is a full jar, can't be accomplished in done out of order.
God's Guarantee Card
