“A QUARTER EVERY SUNDAY” Malachi 3:6-10
FBCF – 10/13/24
Jon Daniels
INTRO – Some churches are really serious when it comes to getting their tithes & offerings collected. Business mtg minutes - Baptist Church, March 23, 1907:
“On motion all male members of the church who neglect or refuse to pay anything towards the actual expenses of the church on or before the first day of January following the year in which they are members in good standing, after having been duly notified, shall by such refusal or neglect be considered as excluded from the fellowship of the church without any further action, & the clerk is hereby ordered & directed to erase their names from the roll after a report has been made by the treasurer.” That might be a little overboard!
My parents were serious about teaching my 2 brothers & me about giving our tithes & offerings to the church. Every Sunday morning, put my Sunday “go to meeting” clothes on, walk up the hall w/ my Bible in my hand, stop at this secretary, get MY box of offering envelopes, take out the envelope that was dated for that exact Sunday, Daddy would give me a quarter, which I took to SS w/ me every Sunday.
Then when I got my first job & my first paycheck, Daddy took me to Cleveland State Bank to open my first checking account. Then taught me how to figure up 10% of my first paycheck so I could learn what the tithe truly was & could begin practicing the discipline of giving.
“Life on Loan” – Our entire lives are on loan to us from the Lord. He is the Owner & Master of it all, & we are the managers of all that He has blessed us with - &, man, are we blessed! – our time, our talents, our treasures, our families, our careers – It ALL belongs to Him, & we don’t want to waste any of it! We gotta get it right as best as we can for as long as we can in every way that we can. And we gotta get it right – right NOW!
EXPLANATION – Malachi 3:6-10 (p. 802)
2 men shipwrecked on an island. As soon as they got on island, one started screaming & yelling, “We’re going to die! We’re going to die! No food! No water! We’re going to die!” 2nd man propped up against palm tree acting so calm it drove other man crazy. “Don’t you understand? We’re going to die!” “You don’t understand. I make $100k a week.” “What difference does that make? We’re on a island w/ no food or water. We’re going to die!” “You just don’t get it. I make $100k a week & I tithe 10% on that $100k a week. My pastor will find me!”
Malachi 3 probably most well-known passage in Bible on tithing. Background: God’s people here in Mal. 3 had been set free & restored from captivity. God had been SO good to them! But we see Him saying to them in v. 7 that they were living in disobedience to Him. They were just going through the motions in the externals of their worship to Him, while their hearts had drifted far away from Him.
- Jesus said same thing in Matthew 15:8 – “These people honor me w/ their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”
- Wrote prayer in margin of my Bible: “Father, I don’t want this to be said about me!”
Yet, b/c He’s a God of GRACE, He still gave them the opportunity to return to Him & be restored in their fellowship w/ Him. What an offer! They SHOULD have been consumed by His wrath, but instead, He lovingly said to them, “Return to me & I will return to you.” What an awesome God we serve & worship!
They then asked the Lord, “How shall we return?” And out of all the things He could have said to them, He said for them to return to Him in their tithes & offerings.
Let’s talk about these tithes & offerings today…
APPLICATION – Christ-followers need to be committed to supporting the Kingdom work of the Church through the giving of tithes & offerings.
3 ASPECTS OF GIVING TITHES & OFFERINGS:
THE SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE – We live in a world filled w/ greed & consumerism:
- Most of us have far more material possessions than we need.
- Consumer debt at all-time high in 2024
- Credit card debt in 2024 - $1.142 trillion
- Financial struggles & difficulties are listed as one of the top reasons for conflicts among married couples
With these points in mind, no wonder that God placed over 2000 passages of Scripture in His Word dealing w/ $ & material possessions. Some of the foundational principles that have spiritual significance:
THE TITHE: Word “tithe” means 1/10 of the whole. The giving of 10% of our income to the work of Christ honors an OT principle of how God provided for His ministers & the expenses of their ministry.
- Leviticus 27:30 – “Ten percent of everything you harvest is holy and belongs to me, whether it grows in your fields or on your fruit trees.” (CEV)
- Malachi 3:10a
THE CHURCH: Bible teaches us that the Church should have first priority in our giving.
- Deuteronomy 12:5-6 – “…you must seek the Lord your God at the place of worship He Himself will choose…—the place where His name will be honored. There you will bring your…tithes, your sacred offerings, your offerings…”
THE WORK: Following that biblical model, we see that the tithes were given to God for use by the Levites to do their work in the temple – tithes = undesignated funds.
- Numbers 18:21 - “I give to the Levites all the tithes in Israel as their inheritance in return for the work they do while serving at the tent of meeting.” (NIV)
- Matthew 23:23 – Jesus emphasized the importance of tithing in addition to the more important matters - “Yes, woe upon you, Pharisees, and you other religious leaders—hypocrites! For you tithe down to the last mint leaf in your garden but ignore the important things—justice and mercy and faith. Yes, you should tithe, but you shouldn’t leave the more important things undone.” (TLB)
- In NT, Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:14 – “In the same way, the Lord ordered that those who preach the Good News should be supported by those who benefit from it.” (NLT)
- For the Church today, same should be true. Our tithe, the first 10%, should be undesignated, given to the church to use to meet the ongoing ministry & mission of the church. After that, then gifts beyond the tithe can be designated.
THE PRACTICAL PRINCIPLES
GIVE TO GOD FIRST
- Proverbs 3:9-10 – “Honor the Lord with your wealth & w/ the firstfruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, & your vats will be bursting with wine.”
- Practical: Make it first thing you do when you get paid. As soon as paycheck hits bank account, Vanco app & do my tithe. If you still write checks, let it be first check you write after you get paid.
GIVE TO GOD REGULARLY
- 1 Corinthians 16:2 - Every Sunday each of you must put aside some money, in proportion to what you have earned…” (GNT)…in other words, giving is a part of our weekly day of worship, as much as singing, praying, &* Bible study.
- A “hit & miss” pattern of giving usually indicates a “hit & miss” relationship w/ Jesus.
GIVE TO GOD CHEERFULLY
- 2 Corinthians 9:7 – “God loves a cheerful [hilarious] giver.”
- Like 3 boys in schoolyard bragging about dads. 1st: “My dad scribbles a few words on piece of paper, calls it a poem, & they give him $50.” 2nd: “So what. My dad scribbles few words on piece of paper, calls it a song, & they give him $100.” 3rd: “Got both of you beat. My dad scribbles few words on piece of paper, calls it a sermon, & it takes 8 men to collect all the money!”
- Reason we can be so cheerful & hilarious in our giving is b/c there’s no way we can out-give or out-bless God! Christian businessman: “I shovel out & God shovels in – but God’s shovel is always bigger!”…which leads to next principle:
GIVE TO GOD EXPECTANTLY
- Malachi 3:10 – Only place in Bible where God says for us to put Him to the test.
- TV commercial back in 70’s: William Conrad – battery on shoulder – “I dare you to knock it off.”
- God says, “I dare you to tithe & see if I won’t blow your mind w/ the blessings that will come to you.”
- We can give to God expectantly b/c He promises to bless those who are committed tithers. Not a “get rich quick” scheme, but a simple promise from the Lord, that if we will trust Him & give to Him, He will bless us & take care of us. SO many testimonies of this truth from so many Christ-followers!
GIVE TO GOD ETERNALLY – Need a new perspective in our giving. The tithes & offerings that are given to this church are used:
- Not just to keep lights on & pay the bill, though important…
- Not just to pay staff salaries, though important.
- Not just to buy music for choir or to help kids & youth go to camp & have activities, though important.
The money given to this church is used to change people’s lives for all eternity! 4.5 billion lost in world!
- Part stays right here to help us take the Gospel into our community where there are so many who are still lost in their sin.
- Part goes to our state convention to help take the Gospel to thousands of people in MS who are lost w/out Christ – Gospel booth at state fair right now – over 200 people have given lives to Christ w/ 2 more days left.
- Part goes to SBC to help fund our 6 SB seminaries – to help disaster relief efforts – to plant churches all over US – to support nearly 3600 missionaries around world
We give b/c we are part of the eternal Body of Christ. We are in the Kingdom business!
THE CONTINUING COMMITMENT – God doesn’t need our money – Psalm 24:1 – “The earth is the Lord’s & everything in it…” But He does give us the privilege of participating w/ Him in His work by giving. And I’m calling on every Christ-follower to make or renew a commitment to tithing 10% of your income. I can tell you that some of the happiest, most joyful, most fulfilled, most purposeful, & most enthusiastic Christ-followers I know are those who are committed tithers & givers to the Lord’s work through His Church.
- They love Jesus!
- They love the Gospel message & love the fact that their lives have been forever changed!
- They love the Church & love being a part of God’s eternal work through His Church!
- They love seeing people’s lives changed – get pumped when they hear of someone being saved in a worship service, at kids’ camp or VBS, at youth camp or DNow, at Mission Flora, on a mission trip.
- They love seeing real needs being met in real people’s lives in a real way every week through LGs, in worship gatherings on Sunday AM & Wed PM REFRESH, in our music ministry, in age-group ministries, in our mission work.
- They love that their commitment to cheerful, consistent tithing & giving helps all of these things happen. They don’t do it for show or a pat on the back. They do it b/c they LOVE! Pure & simple – they are people who love God & love others, & they understand that a commitment to giving is a tangible way to express that love for God & others.
CONCLUSION – So, what about it? Are you going to trust God & test God in this area of your life? Malachi 3:10 in The Message: “Test me in this & see if I don’t open up heaven itself to you & pour out blessings beyond your wildest dreams!”
