"The Windows of Heaven"
Author: Dr. Neal Gray
Passage: Malachi 3:7-18, KJV
Purpose: Trust, honesty, love, giving. Christians should apply all of these words to their personal relationship with God in Christ Jesus. Father God wants to pour out blessings upon us; to those of us who trust, are honest, who love God, and who give to His work here on earth. Let’s learn to give the tithe; it is such a simple thing to do.
INTRODUCTION
Opening
Before we read the entire passage, listen to one of the verses:
"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith," saith the LORD of hosts, "if I will not open you THE WINDOWS OF HEAVEN, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." (Malachi 3:10)
Someone in the congregation could easily be saying, "Oh no, he’s just like other preachers--always preaching about money." And, to some degree I can sympathize with Christians who think like that.
But, this sermon is not about the church trying to take away your hard-earned money. No. This message is ABOUT YOU LEARNING A CRUCIAL TRUTH on how God wants to give you His blessing. You are a child of the heavenly Father. Hold on, you’ll see.
==> And...I’ve never heard a "tither" complain about a sermon on tithing!
Scripture
Our Scripture is from the last book in the Older Testament, Malachi 3:7-18. But let’s read only verses 7 through 15, leaving verses 16 through 18 until the end of the message.
THE LESSON OF MALACHI: GOD LOVES HIS PEOPLE
Introduction
Malachi 3:10 is one of those texts that lends itself to manipulation by people who want to raise money for churches. It could be used that way.
A Contract?
It appeals to a cause-and-effect mentality. It could be used to underscore the mind-set of the ultra-fundamentalist, who sees salvation as a strict contract with the Almighty, namely: you do something good for God, and God will do something good for you. I DON’T GO IN FOR THAT KIND OF THEOLOGY.
But actually, THERE ARE ELEMENTS OF A CONTRACT, of promise, and even hints of cause-and-effect here. God does effectively say:
"If you will do thus and so, you can prove Me now! And I will do thus and so good things for you! I will open the windows of heaven!"
God’s Love for Us!
But to be fair we need to see that the whole book of Malachi REVEALS GOD’S DESIRE TO LOVE HIS PEOPLE AND TO BE LOVED BY HIS PEOPLE. This text (3:10) is a climax of the total lesson of Malachi!
==> The lesson for us to learn is: GOD IS DISAPPOINTED WHEN HIS OWN PEOPLE ARE LESS GODLY, LESS HONEST, LESS GIVING, AND LESS TRUSTING THAN THEY COULD BE.
The reason God’s people do not experience God’s full blessing is plain.
==> THEY HAVE FORGOTTEN THAT REAL LIFE CENTERS AROUND GOD!
SPIRITUAL IGNORANCE ON ISRAEL’S PART
Introduction
So, one message of Malachi is a revelation of the spiritual ignorance of the people of Israel. Let’s look at that now.
God’s People Seen to be Exasperatingly Ignorant
The Book of Malachi reveals that the people who claim to know all about God and religion are, in fact, EXASPERATINGLY IGNORANT ABOUT GOD and religion! A recurrent theme throughout the short book is...
* A statement of fact by God, through His prophet, of THE SPIRITUAL GIFTS GOD GIVES TO HIS PEOPLE; immediately followed by,
* Incredulous statements from His people like: "How can that be?", "Why do you say that?", and "Where is that a fact?"
Examples of Their Ignorance
Look at some examples of the ignorance of God’s people:
* (1:2) God says: "I have loved you." The people said: "How hast Thou loved us?" They are ignorant of God’s LOVE to them.
* (1:6) God says: "Since I am your father, where is My honor from you?" The people said: "How have we despised Thy name?" They are ignorant of their insulting the name of God.
* (2:11-14) God says: "Judah hath profaned the holiness of the Lord...the Lord will cut off the man that doeth this." The people said: "For what reason?" (duh!) They are ignorant of any reason why God should despise their fancy worship, even though they have been idolators against God.
* (2:17) God says: "You have wearied the Lord with your words." The people said: "How have we wearied Him?" They are ignorant of the fact that God is weary of their empty mouthing of prayers that have no real devotion behind them.
* (3:7) God says: "You are gone away from My ordinances. Return to Me, and I will return to you." The people said: "How shall we return?" They are ignorant both of the need to return to God, and the way in which they might return to God.
No Sense of Personal Feelings for God
There is no sense of the "personal" in their dealings with God. For these people, GOD IS "AN INSTITUTION," NOT A PERSON WITH FEELINGS! How easy to take God for granted! How easy to despise holy things!
In our passage we read this morning we additionally find that...
* (3:8) God says: "Will a man rob God?" The people said: "How have we robbed Thee?" They are ignorant of the fact that when they withhold their tithes from God they are robbing God. THEY HAVE NEVER CONNECTED THEIR ACT OF GIVING WITH LOVING GOD!
* (3:13) God says: "Your words have been arrogant to Me when you say, ’It is vain to serve God.’" The people said: "What have we spoken against Thee?" They have become CASUAL about SEEKING and DOING God’s will! They are ignorant that when they speak for God without being in touch with God they are actually speaking against God.
==> Is it any wonder that the Lord said to them: "I have cut you off!"? THE WINDOWS OF HEAVEN CLOSED; God’s blessings would not come to these people!
But, God Loves Us and Wants Us to Learn Right Living
Even though the windows of heaven were not open, OUR GOD DOESN’T WANT IT TO STAY THAT WAY. The call of the prophet is NOT TO CONDEMN, but to re-establish true faith. In effect, the Lord is saying to the people:
"Start treating Me like your loving heavenly Father that I am, and I will open the windows of heaven to pour out blessings upon you in quantities more than you can imagine!"
THE RE-ESTABLISHING OF TRUST IN GOD
Introduction
The clear way in which God’s people may experience God’s grace is practical in nature. God has no mysterious plan. It is not complicated at all.
No Contract with God
God is NOT bound strictly by a "contract" to us, or we would all be long gone! We are never dealt with as we deserve, we receive His mercy. And we have much more than we deserve, we live because of God’s great grace!
* MERCY is when you don’t get something BAD that you do deserve, and,
* GRACE is when you do get something GOOD that you don’t deserve!
==> God is, however, faithful to His covenant with His people! He is reluctant ever to write off one of His own!
Make the Lord the Center of Your Life
Here is the uncomplicated, practical way to live right: TO LOVE GOD, WE MUST MAKE HIM OUR LIFE’S CENTER. Our love to Him must not be merely a matter of convenience. He is the CENTER!
If Malachi was speaking today he would say, sarcastically, to his hearers:
"Try giving only what is left-over to the IRS! Try paying your utility bills, your home-loan or rent, your car payments with left-overs--with the things you don’t want any more! Does that work? Of course it doesn’t!"
==> Well, then--WHY GIVE YOUR "CONVENIENCE MONEY" TO GOD? Even more, WHY DO YOU THINK GOD WILL BE PLEASED with that sorry attitude of yours?
Learn to Give to God
Hear now the truth about the Lord: GOD ALWAYS WANTS HIS PEOPLE TO BE GIVERS! And in God’s economy--in His own currency--it is the givers who are rich in God’s blessings!
The people to whom Malachi was preaching were consumer-minded! They were TAKERS! They asked "What can God and religion do for me?"
Malachi, (actually God, speaking through Malachi), was seeking to turn around their thinking; to make them covenant-minded!
==> TO HAVE GOD AT THE CENTER, AND TO LOVE GOD, WE ARE TO LEARN TO GIVE!
Here Is How to Give
Keying on the areas where Malachi accused the people of ignorance, here is an outline on how we should give:
1. Our MOTIVE must be love--not profit. Not even should you give so that God will give in return. Your MOTIVE must be love for God.
2. Our ATTITUDE must be reverence for God and His church. When the plates go by, the very fact of placing your hard-earned money on the plate can be an act of stewardship, a statement of submission to God’s will!
3. Our act of giving should be SACRAMENTAL, given in faith. Not cynical, not self-serving. The widow woman COULD have saved her two mites (cf. Mark 12:41ff.), saying "I need it more than those rich Pharisees...." SACRAMENTAL giving in faith will always touch the heart of God.
4. Our AMOUNT of giving is NOT unimportant! Malachi mentions tithing! The first tenth of our income, no matter how large or how small, belongs to Jesus and His Church. And following Scriptural guidelines is important.
Tithing Is Right
Tithing is right and it is Scriptural. I think that I have heard most of the arguments against storehouse tithing, namely...
* Tithing is legalistic
* Storehouse tithing is invented to support institutions
* O.T. Law has been eliminated, and,
* Give-to-get preaching has hurt genuine giving.
==> But the fact is that storehouse tithing is the foundation for you to build a disciplined life of faithfulness, trust, discipleship, and stewardship.
Personally, I do not limit my personal giving to 10% of my income now. I now see that first tenth as my contribution to the great work of salvation and sanctification that Jesus is providing in this sin-sick world. In that work, a great many people not only gain heaven in the future, but they gain peace now.
When Vicki and I tithe, for us it simply is the right thing to do. Money that we give over the 10% is our offering for special helps. Put simply: It is our duty to tithe, it is our privilege to offer more.
==> Listen, God should ask us to give 50% to show our faith! He only asks for 10%. And I will testify that God makes the 90% of our income go much much much further than 100% did before we tithed! Yes. Ask any Christian tithing person, and they will tell you the same thing!
In our church we attended in the early 1990’s, a young couple stood up to testify on a Sunday night. Their testimony was this, "We are so thankful that God has increased our faith. Today God has BROUGHT US UP to tithing!"
Now, there is a Christian couple who understood the biblical message.
CONCLUSION
Dear Lord, "Open the Windows of Heaven"
I want so much, as a child in God’s family, to contribute to His work. Don’t you? The "tithe" is a practical, helpful, Scriptural way to move up alongside of God in what He is trying to accomplish on earth.
"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, and PROVE ME NOW HEREWITH [i.e. test Me now in this]," saith the LORD of hosts, "if I will not open you THE WINDOWS OF HEAVEN, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." (Malachi 3:10)
==> Not only can I contribute to help God--imagine, helping God!--but the promises of blessing are there also.
It’s Always Your Choice
Of course, it is always our choice to obey God, or to not obey. William Shakespeare long ago asked that famous question, "To be, or not to be? That is the question."
Christian man, Christian lady, the question God the Holy Spirit is asking of you is, "To obey, or not to obey?"
When it comes to giving to the work of Jesus’ Church in this age of free grace, three realistic truths jump out at us...
1. It is possible to give and not be a Christian.
2. It is impossible to be a Christian and NOT give something.
3. TITHING MAKES US PARTNERS WITH GOD in His work.
The Windows of Heaven Await Your Decision
The windows of heaven await your decision about your own obedience to God. And the message at the end of this third chapter in Malachi is like a fork in the road. Malachi has spoken the Word of God. Hear it today.
There is the threat of cursing for those who are arrogant, and who choose to remain in ignorance of God’s Law and God’s LOVE.
But there is promise of great blessing as well. Let’s read the remaining verses, 3:16-18):
Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon His name. "And they shall be Mine," saith the LORD of hosts, "in that day when I make up My jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not." (3:16-18)
==> The WINDOWS OF HEAVEN ARE OPENING, and God’s blessing is promised to those who truly seek to love Him, and WHO LET GOD THE FATHER AND CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD LOVE THROUGH THEM. I pray for you and me and for us: may we always have the joy of being GIVERS to the glory of God!
AMEN.
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