Proving God s Faithfulness Malachi 3:8-12 Rev. Brian Bill October 26-27, 2013

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1 Proving God s Faithfulness Malachi 3:8-12 Rev. Brian Bill October 26-27, 2013 One day a man called his church and said, Can I speak to the head hog at the trough? The secretary thought she heard right but asked, I m sorry. Who would you like to speak with? The caller repeated, Can I speak to the head hog at the trough? The secretary answered, Well, if you mean the preacher, then you may refer to him as Pastor but I prefer you not call him the head hog at the trough! The man replied, Well, I was planning on giving $100,000 to the building fund To which the secretary quickly responded, Hang on. I think the big fat pig just walked in. I acknowledge that the church has gotten a bad rap for the perception that it is always asking for money. Caricatures of the clergy almost always involve some reference to making people feel guilty about giving. I just want to say that you can call me whatever animal you d like as long as you re ready to write a check for $100,000! Just kidding. I wrestle with speaking about giving because we always have guests here. Perhaps you re visiting and are already looking for the exit doors. Please don t feel like we re after your money because we re not. My focus today is directed to the Christ followers who call Edgewood their church family. You get to listen in. I want you to know that the deacons or trustees have not put me up to this. I am not trying to manipulate you to give to any plan or program of Edgewood. As we ve been going through this last book of the Old Testament verse-by-verse, this just happens to be the next topic. Having said that, I m not apologizing about the subject matter because how we manage money is directly linked to our discipleship. In fact, there are more verses in the Bible regarding our resources than about Heaven and Hell combined. Of the 38 parables Jesus told, 16 of them are about money. How we deal with finances in general, and what we give in particular, is a big deal to God. God reveals His longing for relationship in Malachi 3:7: Return to me and I will return to you, says the Lord of Hosts. Instead of returning wholeheartedly, they deny that they even have a problem: But you said, In what way shall we return? Malachi s message is a call to return and one way to return is to step up our offerings. Features of Grace Giving Turn to Malachi 3:8-12. We re going to learn that we must avoid robbing God of what is rightfully His. 1

2 1. Realize the importance of giving (8-10a). Look at verse 8: Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, In what way have we robbed You? In tithes and offerings. The word rob means to take forcibly. The people didn t like this accusation. How could they be stealing from God? The reason God says that they are robbing Him is that they had begun to take what belonged to Him and kept it for themselves. One pastor puts it like this: It s easy to say in general, I obey God. So the Lord says, Let s get specific: How is your giving going? As a way to recognize God s rightful rule and omnipotent ownership of all things, God s people in the Old Testament were instructed to give tithes and offerings. This word literally means a tenth, or 10%. The people of Israel did not just give one tithe. In fact, the Old Testament Law required multiple tithes that would have pushed the total to around 23 percent. Failure to tithe properly could have included not giving at all, withholding part of it, or not giving at the proper time. Whatever the reason, because they had been robbing God, verse 9 says that the whole nation was under a curse: You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation. When we grovel about giving or withhold what is His, we are robbing God of His right to use the resources that are His anyway. Look at the first part of verse 10: Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house The storehouse was the chamber in the Temple where the tithes and offerings were kept. Incidentally, I ve not seen a storehouse here at Edgewood yet (though Sheila s Sunday School closet is close). Here s the principle: Let s give first to the ministry of the local church before we give anywhere else. Beth and I always tithed to the church we re serving and then we give over and above to missionaries and other projects. In Malachi s day they were neglecting to bring all the tithes or the whole tithe into the storehouse. Here are three summary statements about the application of tithing for today. While we are no longer under the Law, tithing is a good benchmark for believers. In other words, it s a good place to start, sort of like a minimum guide for giving. J. Vernon McGee refers to it as a yardstick by which we can measure ourselves. It s easy to tithe and yet miss out on what s really important. Jesus took the Pharisees to task not because they didn t tithe, but because they had become so legalistic that they no longer loved God or their neighbor. Luke 11:42: But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass by justice and the love of God. God looks at the heart, not the hand. He focuses on the giver, not the gift because the attitude is more important than the amount. Let s make sure we re giving out of love, not legalism. 2

3 Tithing is a good reminder of who s in charge of my life. When I give at least 10%, I m reminded that God owns everything that I have. God wants what my money represents - me. When giving to God, we re just taking our hands off what belongs to Him in the first place. Joe Stowell writes, It s not so much what you have but, rather, what has you that makes all the difference. We don t have time to paint a full picture of what the Bible teaches about giving but let s quickly draw out three more principles from just one verse in the New Testament. 1 Corinthians 16:2: On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come. Giving should be punctual. The Bible says that believers are to give on a regular basis: On the first day of the week. Giving should be personal. Giving is something that is inherently individualistic. It s between you and God. By the way, none of your pastors know what you give. At the same time, the Bible makes it clear that every believer is to give: each one of you. Giving should be proportional. We are to give according to how God has blessed us. The believer is to set aside, storing up as he may prosper. The more God blesses us, the more we re able to give. According to Malachi, the more you give, the more you are blessed. First Corinthians teaches that the more you re blessed, the more you can give. The emphasis is on liberality, not limitation. Someone put it this way: Give according to your income, lest God make your income according to your giving. The emphasis is on liberality, not limitation. Ultimately, when we give we re saying that we trust God to take care of our needs. That leads to the next feature of giving from the middle section of verse 10: And try Me now in this, says the LORD of hosts. Some versions use this phrase: test me in this. 2. Relinquish control by trusting God (10b). When we give at least 10% of our income to God, we re saying that we trust Him to enable us to live on the other 90%. Jesus put it this way in Matthew 6:33: But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Researcher Sylvia Ronsvalle, after studying giving patterns among Christians, concluded by saying, If you want to know what we learned in 25 words or less, giving is down because we don t love God as much as we love a lot of other stuff. Malachi 3:10 is the only place in the Bible where God tells us to test Him. To try or test means to investigate or prove something as true. We re warned about not putting God to the test throughout the Bible and yet when it comes to giving, God invites us to test Him. That s because the real issue is not money, but trust. When we decide to give a percentage of our income to the Lord, we then have the opportunity to trust His faithfulness to meet all of our needs. Actually, when we first give ourselves to the Lord, all other giving is easy. 3

4 God is saying, I dare you! Try it! Let me prove it to you! He didn t have to make this promise. He could have simply told us to give 10% because He demands it. But He wanted us to get to know Him in a much deeper way. Does He love me? Will He keep His promises? One of the best ways to find out is to start tithing. 3. Rejoice in God s blessings (10c-12). Look at the last part of verse 10 through verse 12: If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field, says the LORD of hosts; and all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land, says the LORD of hosts. Earlier this week I made a post on the Edgewood Facebook page asking people for a oneword response to the word tithing. Here are some of the answers: First (2x). Blessed. First fruits. Joyful. Gift (2x). Obedience (2x). Faithful. Worship. Trust. Blessings. (4x). It makes me feel sad for those who don t use the tithe as a yardstick for giving. They don t know what they re missing! God says that He will open wide the windows of heaven and will blow us away with His blessings. The phrase, so much blessing means that God will give us more than enough. The world says the more you take the more you have. God says, the more you give, the more you are. Corrie Ten Boom put it this way: The measure of a life is not its duration, but its donation. Did you know that the finances of Christians who tithe are generally healthier than the finances of those who do not? According to the annual State of the Plate survey, researchers compared tithers to non-tithers using nine financial health indicators, and found that tithers were better off in every category. The phrase, pour out in Malachi 3:10 means to to make empty. When we trust God with our giving, He will empty His bucket of blessings on us and we ll barely be able to contain it! Proverbs 11:24: One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another man withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. God is saying, I dare you to try and exhaust me with your giving. When I give, I put myself in a position to trust God to meet all my needs. In addition, God declares in verse 12 that His plan for global evangelization will be fulfilled: And all nations will call you blessed. Because of your faithful giving we re able to partner with some 90 missionaries. And, with our over and above offerings, we re able to come alongside our African brothers and sisters through our Next Door Nations project. We re almost halfway to our goal of $50,000! By the way, we re making this our end-of-the year project so you can give now or before the end of the year. We also have the opportunity to participate in Operation Christmas Child again this year by filling up shoeboxes that will be sent to children around the world. 4

5 Can you imagine what would happen with missions if every believer would give at least 10% to kingdom purposes? In a recent article, Relevant Magazine concluded that there would be an additional $165 billion to utilize for world evangelization and global church planting. Action Steps Friends, let s avoid robbing God of what is rightfully His. I close with two action steps. 1. Audit your giving. Take some time to determine how much you ve been giving to the Lord. One sermon I came across had a great title: Cirrhosis of the Giver. Did you know that during the Great Depression, Americans gave about 3.3% of their income to the local church? That has now decreased to just 2.4%. According to the most recent State of the Plate study, Tithers make up between just five and 20 percent of the givers in a typical congregation, but they donate 50 to 80 percent of the money. By the way, we have to do a better job equipping the millennial generation to manage the money that God has given them. Senior saints carry most of the giving load in evangelical churches today. If you look ahead 10 to 20 years it s alarming to think of what may happen if the younger generation doesn t learn the joy of generous giving. Mark Brooks, in an article entitled, What Happens if You Fail to Preach on Money, makes this stunning statement: Each succeeding generation of Christians appears to be less committed to giving than the last Christianity is always one generation away from extinction. 2. Take the tithing challenge. Why not determine to tithe between now and the end of the year? For the months of November and December, trust God and give at least 10%. It may help you to not cave to the consumerism of Christmas. Ask God to prove Himself. Let me remind you to respond out of love not law giving is something we get to do rather than something we have to do. I like how Steven Cole captures what God is saying, You begin to give to Me first, and I ll pour out the blessings in response. Uh, listen, Lord, how about if You bless me first, and then I ll give as You want me to give? No, it doesn t work that way God could have said, Test Me now in this: Serve Me by teaching Sunday School. Teaching Sunday School is a vital ministry, but for most of us there s not a lot of risk in doing it But when God says, Test Me now in this: Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that s risky! You can t fake it with giving. It really is the bottom line! God knows that our hearts follow our treasure. God says, Try me now in this... Don t wait until you re out of college and have a comfortable income. Don t delay until you have a better job. Don t put it off until the kids are out of the nest and you are financially secure. Don t coast until you get through 5

6 the current crunch. God says: Try me now! As a way to make it easier we have some offering envelopes available on the counter right outside the center doors. Friends, let s avoid robbing God of what is rightfully His. A minister was worried about how he was going to ask the congregation for more money to repair the church building. When he came to church on Sunday he was frustrated to find out that the regular organist was sick and a substitute had been brought in at the last minute. Here s a copy of the service, he said impatiently. But you ll have to think of something to play after I make the giving announcement. The minister got up, cleared his throat and said, Brothers and sisters, we are in great difficulty; the roof repairs cost twice as much as we expected, and we need an additional $4,000. If you can pledge $100 or more, please stand up. At that moment, the substitute organist played The National Anthem and the entire congregation rose to their feet. And that is how the substitute became the regular organist. Edgewood, thank you for standing with our African brothers and sisters through our Next Door Nations project! To show our commitment to them, let s stand together. As their choir comes to sing let s remember that there will be people from every tribe and nation and tongue praising our great God and Savior in heaven. God cares for America and understands English. But He also has a heart for all the nations and understands all languages and He is especially compassionate toward refugees. Their music and the way they worship may be different than what we re used to but we get to taste what heaven will be like! As they sing in Swahili, let s praise God together as one international church. Calvary International Revival Church Choir 6