The 5^th Sunday in Lent

SERMON

In Nomine Jesu!

Text: Malachi 3:8-12

"Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this," says the LORD of hosts, "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.

In Christ Jesus, Who became poor, so that we through His poverty might become rich, dear fellow redeemed:

It was my privilege a few weeks ago to speak by telephone with a former member of Immanuel, who now lives on the other side of our country. I had written her in part to provide her with our church web-site, since a relative had informed me that she had not found a church in her area with a sound biblical confession. In the course of our conversation, she mentioned that one area that bothered her about a goodly number of churches in her area was the area of Christian giving. They insisted upon tithing, that is, the mandatory practice of contributing 10% of your income to the church, which is based upon the tithe laws of the Old Testament. As we discussed that area, we both agreed that Christian giving should not be based upon the law, but rather should be the joyous response of Christian hearts thankful for all of God’s blessings.

Dear friends, Christian giving is often a sensitive topic in churches, but it need not be if approached from a biblical and evangelical perspective. Let us, therefore, consider the topic of Christian giving by going back to the Old Testament book of Malachi and then applying what we learn to our New Testament lives. Yes, let us consider THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITHE! From our text we will learn that the tithe is a law that no longer limits, but that behind that Old Testament tithe law lies a promise that has no limits!

I.

I have a relative who is very blunt about his criticism of his church—"All they ever want is my money!" I believe my relative has a problem in the area of both pronouns. First of all, if his church truly is "they" rather than "we" or "us," then he really needs to get more involved. The church, Paul tells us, has “many members,” but those members make up “one body” (Romans 12:4-5). As a Christian congregation, we have been given a ministry by God, which we are to accomplish together, uniting and using our various talents and resources to the glory of our Savior God and the salvation of many souls. Secondly, the Scriptures tell us very clearly that "my money" is really God’s money entrusted to me to be used in accordance with His will for my life. The Psalmist exclaims, “The earth is the LORD’s and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein” (Psalm 24:1). All that we are, we owe to God who created us, and who sustains us. He has given us our strengths and abilities. He is the One who blesses our endeavors, whatever they may be. Forget the concept of a "self-made man," for there is no such thing. There are only "God-made" men and women. All of our blessings proceed from Him—a trust given to us. Now, that does not mean that we are to sit around as lazy lumps on a log waiting for God to plop down goodies in our laps. No, we are called upon by God “to work with your (our) own hands” (1 Thessalonians 4:11-12), but it is God who gives the increase (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:7).

The picture becomes even clearer when we draw back and consider the gospel teaching of our salvation. Because of sin our stay on this earth is limited. We will die. Our eternal destiny can only be found in one of two places—heaven or hell. Were we to be left alone to resolve the issue of sin, we would be lost forever. God in His love has delivered us through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. In less than two weeks we will be commemorating Jesus’ death on Good Friday. When Jesus suffered and when Jesus died, he did not just suffer and die as many other human beings. No, He suffered the torments of hell for all of us, and through His death He has delivered us from death and by His grace will bestow upon us eternal glory. Consequently, the limited time we have here on this earth is to be lived to God’s glory, serving Him faithfully with everything He has entrusted to us.

It was these simple truths that God’s Old Testament people in Malachi’s day had forgotten, and it is these simple truths that we can so often and easily forget today. What was their exact situation? Malachi lived about four hundred years before Jesus was born. God’s Old Testament people had returned from captivity in Babylon and were in the process of rebuilding their society. God had through Moses stipulated in His Old Testament law, that His people were to tithe—that is give 10% of their income each year to the LORD, as an expression of thanksgiving and also in recognition of their dependence upon Him. That tithe was given in a variety of ways and for a variety of purposes. In time, however, God’s Old Testament people stopped giving the LORD the tithe. We are not told why, but it is not difficult to guess that then as now crops were not always very good, and budgets became stretched, and people began to convince themselves that they simply did not have the resources necessary to fulfill this command of God. In reality, they could not afford not to comply with God’s command, for as our text tells us, the very reason they were facing poor crops was because they were not depending upon God or thanking Him, and He was withholding His blessing—permitting various insects and other blights to destroy their crops.

Malachi approached his fellow believers in God’s name and asked them to evaluate their giving. He asked, “Will a man rob God?” That almost seems impossible, does it not? How can one possible steal from God? Yet, that is exactly what the people were doing by not bringing to God the tithe that He demanded. Remember that everything we have is God’s. He expects and desires a return on His investment! In the Old Testament He stipulated how much of His entrusted wealth should be returned to Him. Because they failed to do this, Malachi said, they had been “cursed with a curse!” So here was their situation in a nutshell. God commanded them to tithe. They failed to do so, and perhaps even at times refused to do so, with the result that God withheld His blessing from their lives.

Now, how can we apply this situation to our lives today? The Bible very clearly tells us that God’s Old Testament laws applied to His Old Testament people and do not apply to us. For instance, God’s Old Testament people were forbidden to eat pork, but that law does not apply to us. In the same way the Old Testament tithe law does not apply to us. However, the Bible is equally clear that we are God’s stewards, entrusted with His blessings, and that we are to return to Him a portion of the wealth He has entrusted to us. God does not limit us with a tithe law, but rather urges us, as we heard in our Epistle Lesson to give willingly, generously, and cheerfully in view of His indescribable gift of salvation worked by Jesus Christ.

Can we rob God today? Of course we can, but we certainly would not want to do so. Why would we want to fail to show due appreciation for everything God has done for us? Would we want to risk placing ourselves under God’s curse and deprive ourselves of His blessing? Of course not! But how much should we give? How do we know that we are not robbing God? I cannot give you a specific answer, for the proper answer will only be found within your heart, as the Spirit of God leads you to review God’s blessings to you and consider God’s expectations of you.

I can tell you how my wife and I approach this situation. We have always viewed the tithe law of the Old Testament as an example of what was once acceptable and pleasing to God. In our own lives as we have matured as Christians we have tried to move beyond tithing as the Lord enables us, and as we have been moved joyously to place ourselves in God’s hands and to depend upon God. Were we to take the attitude—God no longer demands 10% of the income He gives us, therefore, we will give Him only 1%, we believe we would be robbing Him, and our hearts would convict us of ingratitude. Giving willingly, generously, and cheerfully as the Lord enables us brings us great joy, and we are convinced has brought us great blessing from the Lord’s hands.

II.

Let us move on, however, to consider a promise that has no limits! Malachi urged His fellow Old Testament believers to remove any fears they may have had and to test the LORD’s promise by fulfilling His commandment. What did God promise? He said, “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this…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!” Wow, what a promise! Fulfill God’s will, trusting in His promise, and He will bless you in more ways than you can handle! God went on to point out that He would prevent those insects from devouring their fields, and those blights from destroying their yields.

Dear friends, God’s promise to the people of Malachi’s day is not limited to them. The Bible makes it very, very clear that as we depend upon Him, as we show our love and gratitude towards Him—He will bless us abundantly. Does that mean that God will surely give me $10,000 for every $1,000 I place in the collection plate? Not necessarily, He may, but remember that God’s blessings take many forms and His richest blessings quick frankly cannot be figured in dollars and cents. We can say with confidence, however, even as King David once said, “I have been young, and now I am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread” (Psalm 37:25), and I can assure you, as David does, that if “You delight yourself also in the LORD,…He shall give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4).

So there you have it—THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TITHE! It is an Old Testament law that no longer limits the believer in any way. It can and does serve as a useful example—a measure of sorts that the Spirit can use to guide us. Yet, behind that Old Testament tithe law lies a promise that has no limits! Our God is a great God—a gracious God, and a God that is so good to us. He has given us life in this world and filled our lives with His blessings. He has promised us life after this world, which will last throughout eternity—this the product of His gracious work of redemption in connection with Christ Jesus! As we ponder our individual Christian giving, may we do so motivated by the love of our God and under the guidance of the Spirit willingly, generously, and cheerfully! Amen.

—Pastor Paul D. Nolting