Malachi 3:6-12
“God’s Designated Storehouse”
By: Kenneth Emerson Sauer,
Pastor of Parkview United Methodist Church, Newport News, VA
Although the Mosaic Law remained in effect for 15 centuries, from the time of Moses to the time of Christ’s death at Calvary, the people often ignored, defied, or buried it.
When their spiritual life was low, their giving fell off, and when they were spiritually revived, their giving rose again.
God sent prophets, such as Malachi, to warn them about their backslidings and invite them to return to Him.
With their return, God promised to meet them in reconciliation.
“But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’
Will man rob God? Yet you rob me.
But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’
In tithes and offerings.”
I want us to ask ourselves this question this morning…and it is only between us and God…
…are we robbing God?
…are we robbing God by failing to bring our tithes and offerings to the designated place at the designated time?…or can we feel confident that we are obeying the Lord?
God has a special place for His children to bring their tithes and offerings.
In the wilderness, the Israelites brought them to the Tabernacle.
Today, the designated place is the local church.
Now, what was once a voluntary custom of contributing tithes and offerings to the Lord, became a requirement under the Mosaic Law.
As Christians today we give our tithes because we are under grace.
And throughout the history of God’s dealing with His people, their willingness to make contributions to His work depended on their relationship with Him.
If they walked in close fellowship with God, they supported His work gladly.
When they rebelled against Him, they withheld their tithes.
What is our relationship like with God?
Charles Swindoll wrote: “We honor God by first giving to Him from our paycheck.
In doing so, we acknowledge His ownership of everything before we enjoy any of it ourselves. Whatever your income, give a portion to the Lord first. He will be honored and glorified by your trust.”
Robert A. Laidlaw, the New Zealand businessman and famous author, started giving money to the church at the age of 18.
His salary was $3 a week.
Later he promised God he would give 10 percent and would continually increase the amount as his income increased.
At 25 years of age, Laidlaw increased his tithing to 50 percent!
That’s right!
He gave 50 percent of all his earnings back to God.
Nearly 50 years later he reflected, “In spiritual communion and in material things, God has blessed me a hunredfold, and has graciously entrusted to me a stewardship far beyond my expectations when, as a lad of 18, I started to give God a definite portion of my wages.”
As Bill Hybels once said, “The tithe is a wonderful goal but a terrible place to stop.”
Sir John Templeton, chairman of the $15 billion Templeton fund is quoted as saying: “I have watched over 100,000 families over my years of investment counseling. I always saw greater prosperity and happiness among those families who tithed than among those who didn’t.”
The act of giving the substance of our life to God goes back to the beginning of Scripture, and from the outset giving money involved itself with the act of salvation and worship.
“Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not.”
My Old Testament Professor used to joke: “Abel brought the Lord Filet Mignot…
…Cain brought the Lord some old broccoli.”
What are we bringing God?
The outstanding characters in the Bible were givers.
They regularly, proportionately, cheerfully and thankfully brought their offerings to God.
The divine standard for stewardship is faithfulness, and God identifies indifference and slothfulness along with wickedness!
Slothfulness is a bad word in Jesus’ vocabulary and it can even control our destinies.
Christian stewardship reaches to our deepest treasures and resources.
It involves our money or net income.
The Gospel is not “inside stuff”; it is something to be shared.
And in order for it to be shared, we must support our local church…
…so that our outreach ministries can continue and grow…
…so that we can do what God has called us to do…
…Make disciples for Jesus Christ!
It is the challenge of New Testament Christians—even in the 21st Century—to pay tithes of our salaries, or wages, or net income to the building and extension of God’s kingdom through our local church.
Actually, the tithe is not a ceiling; it is a floor.
Tithing means that—as believers—we give one-tenth of our income to the Lord.
…and “Storehouse tithing” means that we give our tithe to God through the local church.
This is God’s designated storehouse!
“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”
Are we bringing God our whole tithe?
There is no doubt that we are living in difficult economic times…
…but, but…
…if everyone of us would at least tithe…
…this church would have absolutely no financial problems…
…and just think of how much more effectively we could reach this community with the saving message of Christ!!!
A little boy was chastised by his mother for taking the largest piece of pie at the dinner table.
“Son. Why did you take the largest piece of pie and leave the smaller pieces for our company?” she asked.
“I’m sorry, Mom,” her son replied. “Which piece would you have taken?”
“I would have taken the smallest piece,” she answered.
“Well Mom,” the little boy said with a smile that covered his face, “it’s still there!”
Often our lack of faith causes us to take the biggest pieces for ourselves and leave the smallest pieces for God.
A colorful Eastern Ohio preacher once said that God promised He would open the windows of heaven for those who tithe.
“What about 5 percent?” someone asked.
“No!” the preacher replied, “God doesn’t do windows for less than 10 percent!”
Tithing is God’s “commonsense way of growth.”
Everyone gives according to his or her ability, and together, enough money is raised to carry on the ministry of preaching the Gospel.
The first occurrence of tithing came when Abraham met Melchizedek, the first mentioned priest of God.
As Abraham returned from victory after a battle, he was met by Melchizedek, the King of Salem.
In the New Testament Book of Hebrews, Melchizedek is a type of the priesthood of Jesus Christ.
Since the priest had a ministry to individuals, Melchizedek gave Abraham bread and wine. In return for his ministry, Abraham “gave him a tenth of everything.”
Interestingly, when the first priest of God appears in the Bible, tithes are collected to support his ministry.
Also, tithes were paid at a place that later would be connected with tithes.
Melchizedek was a king of “Salem,” a place we no know today as Jerusalem.
The next occurrence of tithing comes when Jacob is at Bethel, also a place later approved for the worship of God.
There, Jacob saw a symbol of salvation, the ladder reaching to heaven.
Jacob, knowing that the presence of God was there, named the place “Bethel,” the house of God.
He vowed that if God would bless him, he would return: “This stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all you give me I will give you a tenth.”
God has given all of us much through the ministry here at Parkview United Methodist Church…
…are we giving Him at least a tenth?
The apostles were tithers.
In 1st Corinthians Chapter 16, Paul directs: “Now about the collection for God’s people. Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income.”
In two New Testament accounts, Christians gave beyond the 10 percent and gave all that they had.
Often, today, the church argues for less than 10 percent…but the early Christians did more!!!
Many of us can do more as well.
Tithing helps the church. As the church, we are commissioned by Jesus Christ to go into all the world and preach the Gospel.
Money is needed to pay for doorhangers, invitation cards, for the upkeep of this building, to basically just keep the lights on and the air conditioning going, to pay employees, to support missionaries, and to carry out countless other expenses associated with ministry.
A tithing church will be able not only to pay its bills but also to expand its outreach.
Yes, tithing makes good sense.
But God also gives a caution to those of us who reject His call for proportionate giving. “Will a man rob God?”
The verb “rob” here literally means “to cover” and thus to defraud and steal.
“Robbing God” means keeping back from God what rightfully belongs to Him.
Wise Christians will faithfully and honestly face this a Scriptural caution against God’s judgment.
We must be aware that our tithe belongs to the Lord.
Tithing is not only a command from God, but it is also one of the opportunities He offers us as His adopted children.
Tithing is good business.
When we tithe, we go into business with God.
He becomes our partner.
Now it isn’t 50-50, or even 90-10…
…because God owns everything, and we are allowed to give 10 percent back to Him.
In return, God promises to pour out a blessing.
The money we give to God is not lost.
We will see it again.
We will see it in lives that are changed, in souls that are saved, in mouths that are fed, in pews that are filled.
The biggest beneficiary of consistent, methodical giving is yourself, myself.
We develop a sense of inner integrity which only God alone can know…
…and that is the deepest satisfaction of all!!!
Money is life.
The dollars in our wallets or purses represent time we invest at our places of employment.
Our paychecks are an exchange for giving ourselves to our jobs.
The money we get represents our lives.
Therefore, we give part of our lives when we place our offering in the offering plate.
Let’s face it, our sense of values has been struck a devastating blow.
We pay athletes millions and keep missionaries at a poverty level.
We spend more for video games than we do for education; more for booze than for all of Christianity at home and around the world.
Many of our churches are as empty on prayer meeting nights as our penitentiaries are running over.
Someone said, “Only in America do banks leave both doors open and then chain the pens to the counter.”
Our value system is in need of some spiritual surgery…
…and we are called to be the one’s who are doing the operating!!!
And this can only be done through the power of the Holy Spirit…working through completely committed Christians!!!
In the coming summer days, weeks and months…let us all re-evaluate our commitments to God.
“Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty.
But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’
Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me.
But you ask, ‘how do we rob you?’
In tithes and offerings.”
