We are doing a yearlong challenge in our church in 2020. We are challenging you to share the story of Christ’s love with friends, co-workers, and family members who don’t know Christ. When you do, we invite you to drop a ping-pong ball into the container, if you will. Our church hopes to see 5,000 of these by Thanksgiving. You’ll be hearing about this effort all year long. We’ll train you and equip you. Now, there’s a volunteer located outside the worship center this morning. Will you join me in adopting your one person to share the gospel? Will you join me in praying constantly for our church’s effort?
Also, today is a great Sunday to find a Bible Fellowship Group as we have some wonderful people to assist you. Let this be on-ramp for you to get connected with a group or maybe try out a new group. You’ll find this right outside the worship center.
I had a great message planned for this Sunday but the Houston Astros stole it ?.
More seriously, I want you to hear the remarkable and heartwarming story about two police officers separated by 3,000 miles. Michael’s first day in uniform was a day he would always remember. A man walked into his village’s police station and pointed a gun at him. The rookie cop ran behind the desk to grab some pepper spray, the strongest weapon that the officers of his little town in Alaska had at their disposal. There’s three things you should know about the small village called Savoonga (Sa voon ga): 1) it’s situated in the middle the Bearing Sea; 2) the village is located closer to Russia than it is Alaska; 3) and it’s really poor. Michael didn’t draw his gun when confronted with an armed perpetrator because the village cannot afford to arm their officers. This past May, a patrol officer in Davenport, Iowa sat reading about the plight of his brothers in blue 3,000 miles away from Alaska and he was shocked to hear the story of Michael’s first day. He read these words Officer Michael’s about their unique dilemma: “About 92% of this community have high-powered rifles. We don’t even have [bulletproof] vests. We don’t even have Tasers,” Over 3,000 miles away in Savoonga, Michael himself picked up the phone to verify if the story was true: “He just couldn’t believe it. But I said, ‘Yeah, it’s true.’ We don’t have sidearms or vests. The only thing we have is pepper spray, handcuffs and a baton.” That’s when the sixteen year veteran of the Davenport, Iowa police officer got to work raising funds. By the time he was done appealing to the other 170 officers of his police force, as well as the Sheriff’s Department, he raised enough money to purchase fifteen bulletproof vests and donated two stun guns.A local store donated personalized name tags for the officers to wear and had everything shipped up there. Officer Peme has a reputation for just this kind of thing. Listen to what his pastor, said this of his generosity: “[He] is just the kind of person who would read about someone in need all those miles away and still figure out a way to help. He’s a pretty humble guy who puts a lot of effort into helping others.” Let me ask you a pointed question, “Would your pastor say that about you?” Hold that thought for a moment.
Find Malachi 3 if would with me. Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament, if that helps you. If you didn’t bring a Bible, there’s one in front of you and we invite you to pick it up to read along. We are in a series of messages to kick off the new year entitled Margin: Tacking Back My Life.
First week, we talked about finding contentment no matter how much we have.
Second week, we talked about saving money away for a rainy day.
This morning I want to speak to you about the joy of giving. I think all of us are moved by stories like this officer and most of us want to be warm and generous people to those around us. I’m convinced we want to join the ranks of this police officer where our lives and our money make a profound difference to the people around us.
I’m speaking mainly to church members today. If are a guest with us, or if you're not a Christian, we’re not asking you for anything other than your attention. In fact, I invite you to listen carefully for the next few moments. See if you see a discrepancy between the Bible’s instructions on how a Christian is handle their finances and how we actually handle our money. So again, I’m speaking to our church family, but I invite you to look us up and down.
Read the words carefully with me but God is going to throw a challenge down to you this morning. Malachi is a fantastic book for your study. His name means, “My messenger” and Malachi is direct and to the point. He will “pull no punches” on any subject he deals with. Let me show you an example. Malachi will quote God and then the people will reply back with a question. Let me show you in Malachi 1:2: “I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you say, “How have you loved us” (Malachi 1:2)? A few verses later, you see the same thing in verse 6: “priests, who despise my name. But you say, ‘How have we despised your name” (Malachi 1:6b)? This is the style of his book and you’ll see another question in today’s text as well.
Today’s Scripture
“From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ 8 Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. 10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, 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. 11 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. 12 Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the LORD of hosts” (Malachi 3:7-12).
Tensions get high when you combine money and religion. Tensions have always been high. History’s first murder was when one brother killed the other brother over what they “put in the plate” (Genesis 4). Over in the book of Acts, you have a couple who lie about what they give in church and God takes them out right there (Acts 5) – all of God’s people said, “Whoa, God’s serious about this giving thing” that Sunday. Tensions have always been high. For the next few moments, let’s relax and find out what God’s Word says.
This morning, I want you to see that God rewards generosity. God loves when His people are generous because we are never more like our Father when we are generous with others. Again, God rewards generosity.
1. Trust’s God’s Word
Our President likes to speak of fake news. It’s hard to know what’s real anymore, isn’t it? What I hold in my hand is anything but fake news. You and I can trust the word of God for it is reality both for this age and the next.
“From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts” (Malachi 3:7a).
God’s people had “turned aside” from God’s words. The Bible says that God’s people should delight to keep God’s law: “I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word” (Psalm 119:116). God calls to us when He says, “Return to me”! The words of God and the commands of God are really true even in a “fake news” world. If you and I are going to return to the Lord, then we need to carefully study the Word of God.
Trust God’s word when He says…
1.1 God Owns Everything
“The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein…” (Psalm 24:1). “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine” (Psalm 50:9-12). We can trust God’s Word when it says God owns everything.
If Jerry Jones wants to add on to Cowboy Stadium, would you get a second job to loan him the money? Jerry isn’t going to turn to you and me for money. In the much bigger way, God doesn’t come to us when He’s hungry. God owns it all, including everything you have. God owns all of your possessions including you!
You may say, “Oh, I’ve worked very hard to get where I am; I am where I am because I’ve worked decades of hard work in school and on the job.” What if God had decided you were going to be born on a village up in Alaska that I mentioned in the beginning of the message. Twenty-five percent of the town’s people are unemployed. Would you be doing as well you are right now, no matter how hard you worked? You’d like to say in reply, “It’s all a matter of my work.” No, friend, it’s a matter of your circumstances. What if God had placed you back during the feudal system of the Medieval Ages where all your hard work generated next to nothing? It’s a matter of your abilities and opportunities, and God gave those to you: “You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth…” (Deuteronomy 8:18a). If you have more wealth than someone else, ordinarily it’s because you have had more opportunities and abilities and circumstances God has given you.
1.1 God Owns Everything
1.2 You’re the Money Manager
Everything in your house, in your bank, and on your body is yours only for a short period of time. We all will eventually give an account of our lives to God: “So then each of us will give an account of himself to God” (Romans 14:12). One day everyone must answer these questions: 1) Where did it all go? 2) What did I spend it on? and 3) What has been accomplished for eternity through my use of all this wealth?
I invite you to trust God’s word when He says…
1.1 God Owns Everything
1.2 You’re the Money Manager
1. Trust’s God’s Word
2. Tithe God’s Possessions
“you say, ‘How shall we return?’ 8 Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions” (Malachi 3:7b-8).
2.1 What Is A Tithe?
The Bible instructs us to give a tithe (10%) of our “firstfruits” (defined in 21st Century as “gross income”) is recognized as the minimum biblical standard. Tithe means ten percent. It means giving 1/10 of what I receive to the Lord. If I were to say, “I am tithing $100 when I made $10,000,” then you are using the term incorrectly. What you do when you give $100 when you make $10,000 is simply giving. Because tithing off of $10,000 would be $1,000. The word tithe means 10%.
2.1.1 Where Does My Tithe Go?
The Bible tells us the tithe was given to support the temple (equivalent to the NT church, the poor (Leviticus 27:30-33; Deuteronomy 14:22-29), and to support the priests. Again, your tithe should go to support your home church, the poor, and the ministers and missionaries.
2.2 Robbing God
It’s here that the prophet asks a really pointed question: “Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me” (Malachi 3:8b). You can feel his finger being pushed into your chest. He’s all up in your face. I told you that Malachi’s message was direct.
2.2.1 A Rare Word
Hebrew experts have puzzled over God’s choice of words here because the word “rob” here is a very rare word. It’s not at all the normal Hebrew word for robbery, which, of course, would just mean to take something that’s not yours. Instead, the word used here in the middle of verse 8 is a word that means to pillage, plunder and oppress. This word is robbing but it’s robbing with force. It gives a vivid picture, doesn’t it?
2.2.2 A Church Robbed
Years ago, some of dear friends of mine described how they church was robbed. Some teenagers and young adults, and even one that attended the church, broke into the doors of the church late in the evening. They robbed the church of the checks and cash from Sunday’s offering. The whole thing was disgusting because I knew some of the people involved. Only a few people would have the audacity to rob the church of its money but God says, “A lot more people do this than you think.”
Characteristic of Malachi’s message, the people ask, “How have we robbed you?” in the middle of verse 8. God comes back to this effect, “I’m talking about your lack of generosity with your money. I’m talking about the fact you hold on to too much of it and you spend too much on yourself and you don’t give enough away.”
Again, God loves when His people are generous because we are never more like our Father when we are generous with others.
2.2.3 Parents at McDonald’s
Every parent has experienced something like what I’m about to tell you. You take your child to McDonald’s because the food and the playground. I can remember doing this kind of thing with all three of our kids. We lived in small towns and it was just good to get out of the house and let me them play. So we ordered our food and you’d look across the table and there’d you see your child’s fries. Now, everyone knows a stolen French fry is the best tasting, right? So reach over to grab a fry when a little hand pushes you back and says, “No, those are mine.” Wait a minute! I was just at cash register and junior didn’t go for his wallet to pay, did he? I paid for those French fries! And now, he’s saying, “Back off! Those are mine.”
“Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions” (Malachi 3:8).
2.2.4 God’s Cash Register
Imagine if you apply for this week to work the cash register at Chick-fila. Instead of paying you near minimum wage, the managers tell there going to pay you 90% of everything you take in that day. Your pay is 90% of everything you make in your shift. Just before you close, you settle up with the manager. The two of you look over everything you have made and he says, “Ok, I’ll keep 10% and here’s your 90%.” You walk out of the restaurant day after day with 90% of everything – WOW! But then one day, you walk out the door and past your manager – you don’t stop. The manager says, “Hang on a minute. I need my 10%.” You say, “No, I need all of it today. I earned it and I’m keeping it.”
2.2.5 David’s Prayer at the Temple
Over in 1 Chronicles 28–29, King David and the children of Israel raise a bunch of money to build a temple in Jerusalem. Then David prays over the offering like a preacher would in church. At one point David prays to God and says something like this, “Everything in heaven and earth is yours, Lord. Wealth and honor come from you. Everything comes from you, and we have only given you what comes from your hand.” David is telling that giving is really returning what God gives us back to God.
2.3 Jesus on Tithing
This is the elephant in the room of a number of experience Christians. It’s the idea that tithing is an Old Testament idea. Someone says, “Wait a minute, Pastor. You’re trying to put me back in the Old Testament. You’re trying to put me under the Old Testament law. Pastor, don’t you understand that tithing is legalistic?”
2.3.1 Does Jesus Expect Me to Tithe?
Jesus never abolished the tithe. Jesus never said, “You have heard, ‘Bring the full tithe into the storehouse’ but I say to you 5% will do.” In fact what you do read is the following: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others” (Matthew 23:23).
2.3.2 It’s Right to Tithe
Jesus says, “The trouble with you Pharisees is sometimes there’s a need in the community … There’s a need out there that needs to be met financially that love or justice demands you meet, but you have this legalistic limitation. You think, ‘As long as I’m giving my 10 percent, all the rest of it is mine…’” “…and you refuse to go beyond the tithe. You’re really just legalists and you’re not being run by love and justice but simply by a legalistic code of conduct.”
The Old Testament commands you not to kill. You are commanded not to commit adultery. Now since that’s Old Testament law, do you think you’re free to kill?
2.4 Give Less Now?
Let’s settle this right here and right now: If God expected me to give 10% of my income to Him in worship in the Old Testament… … and now I know His Son died for me, the Holy Spirit is inside of me, and the gospel is going all over the world in the New Testament … … am I going to settle giving 5% after I know all this?
2.5 Giving in the New Testament
Keep your place in Malachi 3 and flip over to 2 Corinthians 8 with me, will you? There’s no competition between tithing in the Old Testament and giving in the New Testament. We are going to identify five habits of how God’s people handle their money. First, “On the first day of the week each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper” (1 Corinthians 16:2). Second, “they gave according to their means and beyond their means of their own accord.’ (2 Corinthians 8:3) And third, “Each one must do as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7). And finally, “God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that you may always have enough of everything and may provide in abundance for every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8). The New Testament speaks of five habits of how God’s people handle their money: give cheerfully, give regularly, give proportionately, give generously, and lastly, give sacrificially. Again, Christ’s followers give cheerfully, give regularly, give proportionately, give generously, and lastly give sacrificially.
1. Trust’s God’s Word
2. Tithe God’s Possessions
3. Test God’s Provision
God rewards generosity. God loves when His people are generous because we are never more like our Father when we are generous with others.
“…put me to the test, 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” (Malachi 3:10b).
God puts a really interesting proposition in front of us. He says, “Put me to the test” when it comes to your money. “Try it my way,” God says, “and see if my way works.” Again, God rewards generosity. God says, “I’m going to take care of you. You’re my child and I will take care of your needs.” Remember, God Owns Everything and you’re the Money Manager.
3.1 Prove the Tithe Sunday
Let me challenge all the believers here: Sunday, February 2 is Prove the Tithe Sunday. There’s a card in your worship guide and I want you to take this in your hand, if you will. Prayerfully consider what the Lord would have you do know that you hear God’s words on money. What would one Sunday look like if everyone gave 10% of their income. Sunday, February 2 is Tailgate Sunday and it’s going to be a great day. We’ll have former Baylor basketball player, Matt Sayman, will share his story of how the Lord moved his life to direction and purpose after a scandal on the Baylor Men’s team. We’ll tailgate throughout the facility, wear your favorite team’s jersey, and ask the Lord to bring people to faith in Christ. Don’t be afraid to invite your unchurched friends thinking I’m going to make a big deal about the tithe on that Sunday. Sunday, February 2 is going to work like an iceberg where we are going to prepare “underneath the water” and ahead of time. On “Prove the Tithe” Sunday, we will simply take an offering. What would one Sunday look like if everyone gave 10% of their income. Again, we’ll not make a big deal of the offering on Sunday, February 2 but I am asking you to really pause and pray right now.
What is the Lord saying to you about your money in light of Malachi 3? Married people, I invite you to join hands and pray together on this, will you? Use the card as your alter as you have three options: Prove the Tithe card instructions...
1) Try giving 10% for three months.
2) Commit to 10% for 1 year.
3) Commit to above 10% for 1 year.
Take time to pray over this card, will you?
God instructed His people in Exodus: “None shall appear before me empty-handed” (Exodus 23:15).
3.2 I Cannot Afford to Tithe
Someone says, “I’ve crunched the numbers and we simply cannot afford to tithe” Let me ask you, “what if your salary was reduced by 10%?” Wouldn’t you continue to live? And if tithing is God’s will and He promises to provide for those who trust and obey Him, won’t He allow you to get by on 90%?
In fact, God is telling you He will work for you when you do this. In fact, are you not a safer living on less inside God’s will than living on but being outside of His will? Friend, you can NOT afford to tithe.
3.3 Tax Contribution Statement
Imagine if you had all the records of your giving for 2019 in front of you right now. Just this past week, I looked at my contribution statement for my giving to our church this past year. Imagine if your giving record for 2019 was in front of you right now. You have ALL the giving of ALL your charities – everything you’d given to every ministry, every missionary, and every dollar you gave to those in need. Now add it all up for me and let me ask you this question: If I multiplied this number by 10, would you be happy with your 2019 income? Would 2019 been a good year for you if you multiplied everything you gave by the factor of 10? Or, are you someone like our friend at the cash register who wanted all 100% of the proceeds?
Conclusion
On the wall of President Lyndon Johnson’s White House office hung a framed letter written by General Sam Houston to Johnson’s great-grandfather, George W. Baines, more than one hundred years earlier. LBJ’s great-grandfather had led Houston to Christ and the general was a changed man, no longer course and belligerent, but peaceful and content. After General Houston was baptized – an incredible event for those who knew Houston – Houston offered to pay half the local minister’s salary. When someone asked him why, he said, “My pocketbook was baptized too.”
