A minister took his son with him one night to a small church where he’d been invited to preach. At the entrance of the church building, they passed a little table with a box on it and a sign which read "Alms Box."
Reaching into his pocket, the preacher took out $10 and dropped it in. When the service was over, one of the deacons approached. "Preacher," he said, "we have a custom in this church of paying our evening minister the contents of the alms box." Whereupon he removed the lid, poured the money into the preacher’s hand, and you guessed it! One lone $10 bill.
As they made their way to the car, the boy turned to his father and said, "Hey, dad, I just thought of something. If you’d put more in, you’d have got more out."
APPLY: Malachi chapter 3 is perhaps the most preached Scripture when it comes to the issue of tithing. Preachers have been known to use this text to shame Christians who don’t give a whole lot to God’s cause. And (in many churches) there is reason to do that. The national average of giving (for most congregations) is 3%, with the majority of the support - in any given church - coming from only a handful of people.
ILLUS: In an article in Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazine, reporter Sean O’Neill wrote, “Immediately following WWII people gave proportionately more of their income than they do today.” O’Neill reported that the average evangelical Christian today gives only 3.5% of his income. As a result, the average church is only able to support half the outreach and missions that they’d like to.
Talk show host Dave Ramsey once observed how different America would be if all those who claimed to be Christians tithed. He said, “There would be no more welfare in North America. In 90 days, there would be… no existing church debts. And in the next 90 days, the entire world could be evangelized.”
So, preaching Malachi 3 is almost a no-brainer for most preachers in most congregations. In fact (for preachers that would use this to shame their people into tithing) this passage almost preaches itself because that’s exactly what Malachi was doing to the Israelites. He was shaming them. Malachi was basically telling them, if they would put into their relationship with God, they’d get more out. The Israelites had become lax in their obedience to the law and specifically the part of that law required them to give a regular tithe to God.
(pause) But then, they were under the law – we’re not. They were specifically instructed to give a 1/10 of the income to God – we’re not… at least I don’t think so.
Well, actually, it’s not quite that simple
I. Malachi 3 starts out with a powerful prophecy.
Reread Malachi 3:1-3 and you see a “messenger who will prepare the way before me.” That’s John the Baptist. And Jesus is referred to as “the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple.”
And what’s Jesus going to do when He comes? He’s going to be like a refiner’s fire… a launderer’s soap.
What’s that mean? It means: Jesus would come to clean people up. It means: He would come to bring change to people’s lives.
In the days of Malachi, the Israelites needed a lot of cleaning up. Apparently the Israelites had gotten used to allowing for (vs. 5) sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers. They had become accustomed to looking the other way when others defrauded laborers of their wages, oppressed the widows and the fatherless, and deprived aliens of justice. But who did not fear God. Jesus was going to come like a fire to burn away the evil in their hearts. He was going to come and be like that cake of soap that your mother would use to wash your mouth out when you’d said something you shouldn’t have.
BUT notice what else Jesus was going to do when He came: “He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness” Malachi 3:3.
In other words: Part of what Jesus would accomplish (when He came) would be to bring about a change in attitude towards offerings. Offerings would no longer be viewed (as apparently the Jews had gotten in the habit of doing) as a way of buying God off from dealing with their evil deeds. When Jesus came – his purpose would be to fill God’s kingdom with holy people bringing a holy tithe unto their God.
Having said that, THEN Malachi launches into his sermon on tithing.
II. In this sermon, Malachi makes an intriguing comment. He’s just got done saying Israel was a wicked nation, engaged in abominable practices. And now Malachi is calling the nation back to repentance. But how are they to return to God?
Reread Malachi 3:7-12. Verse 7b “’Return to me, and I will return to you,’ says the LORD Almighty. But you ask, “‘How are we to return?’” In answer to that question, Malachi begins talking about the issue of their tithe.
It appears that Malachi is telling Israel that their path to God begins with their attitude towards their tithes and offerings. Hmmm - how could that be? What could be so valuable about the Israelite attitude towards their tithe that would lead them back to God?
III. The tithe does funny things to us. After we become Christians - when we determine that we want God to be the center piece of our lives - the tithe can become the tool God uses to mold our hearts and... change us.
NOW, bear in mind, we’re not under the law anymore. Giving the Lord a 1/10th of your income is not required of you. If we don’t want to give a 1/10th to God, we are not robbing God… we’re robbing ourselves. (repeat that)
Or as the boy told his father – if you’d put more in – you’d get more out. In other words, tithing can help us receive more from God than we would otherwise.
What would we receive by tithing?
1ST, WE’D RECEIVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO TEST OUR FAITH. Now, that’s not quite the way God puts it. He doesn’t say “test your faith,” He says “test me” (vs. 10).
ILLUS: A preacher was new to a town in Florida and had dropped by a dry-cleaning establishment to pick up a suit he’d dropped off earlier.
The woman behind the counter said: "That will be $5.50".
"Oh," replied the preacher. "I only have $5. And I really need to take the suit with me now. Would it be alright if I came back later with the rest?"
"Yes," she replied "I’ll trust for the 50 cents."
Thankfully, the preacher headed for the door. And then a thought struck him and he returned to the counter.
"I’m curious," he said. "You just said you would trust me for 50 cents. What if I had only 50 cents... would you have trusted me for the $5?"
"Oh, no," she replied, "I couldn’t have done that!"
"So, what you are really saying is that you didn’t really trust me but you were willing to take a chance for 50 cents?"
How much we’re willing to trust someone financially, is truly a test of how much we have faith in them. The tithe is the test of how much we’re willing to trust God
SECONDLY, WE RECEIVE THE OPPORTUNITY OF OBTAINING THE BEST OF GOD’S BLESSINGS. God commands His people – test me see if I won’t open up the “windows of heaven.” This the same imagery the Bible uses to describe how the rains came down in the day of Noah’s flood:
Genesis 7:10-11 “And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth… the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.”
Now, if you can picture in your mind, how it must have been to have seen that rain coming down during the flood – you kind of have an idea of what type of blessings God wants to shower down on His people when they tithe.
ILLUS: There’s an old Christian song that goes like this (Showers of Blessing)
Now why would we settle for raindrops, when God has promised to shower us with blessings?
LASTLY, WE RECEIVE THE EXCELLENT OPPORTUNITY TO WITNESS. Look again at verse 12 (“’Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,’ says the LORD Almighty.”) Our tithing witnesses for us. It tells people what we consider to be important.
Illus: The owner of the Wolf Mountain Ranch in Southeastern Oklahoma had all of his cattle branded with an MX3 brand - meaning Malachi 3, verse 10. He wore that symbol on his ties and had it burned into his furniture. Now what do you think is important to that man? When asked, he said that he desired to emphasize not only tithing but also the blessings that God promised to those who practiced it. In other words, he wanted to witness about God’s faithfulness.
And that points to the heart of how tithing can be a witness: Tithing can declare the faithfulness of our God to others. Notice what verse 12 says: “All the nations will call you blessed…” WHY? Because God’s intention is to bless you in order to make a statement to others
God has promised to bless those who commit to tithing. And so, if you don’t tithe, you rob yourself. I’m so convinced that this is true that I’ll make a deal with you. If you commit to tithing and you don’t feel that God has blessed you, this church will give you your money back.
CLOSE: There is an ancient Scottish legend - a shepherd boy tending a small flock of sheep on the side of a mountain. One day as he cared for his sheep he saw at his feet a beautiful flower -- one that was more beautiful than any he had ever seen in his life. He knelt down upon his knees and scooped the flower in his hands and held it close to his eyes. As he held the flower close to his face, suddenly he heard a noise and looked up. There he saw a great stone mountain opening up right before his eyes. And there inside the mountain, he saw the sprinkling of the beautiful gems and precious metals that it contained.
With the flower in his hands, he walked inside. He laid the flower down, & began to gather all the gold and silver and precious gems he could in his arms. Finally with all that his arms could carry, he turned and began to walk out of that great cavern, and suddenly a voice said to him, "Don’t forget the best."
Thinking that perhaps he had overlooked some choice piece of treasure, he turned around – put down a few of the gems - and picked up other pieces of treasure that caught his eye. Then, with his arms literally overflowing with wealth, he turned to walk back out of the great mountainous vault. And again the voice said, "Don’t forget the best."
But by that time his arms were filled and he walked on outside, and all of a sudden he heard a great noise. He looked around in time to see the great stone mountain closing its doors again. A third time he heard the voice, and this time the voice said, "You forgot the best. For the flower was the key to the vault of the Mountain."
When Jesus comes into our lives, - when we decide to give Him all of life - tithing can be His tool to help us to receive the greatest blessings He can give.
