Malachi 3:8

Alachi chapter 3, reading verses 8 to 12, our focus is mainly on verse 8. Will a man rob God, yet ye have robbed me, but ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee in ties and offerings? You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed me even this whole nation. Bringing you all the ties into the storehouse. 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, and there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devirer for your sakes. He shall not destroy the fruits of your ground. Neither shall your vine cast our fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of host. And all nations shall call you blessed. for ye shall be a delightsome land, set the Lord of hosts. God blessed to us, his reading, the reading of His sacred and holy word this evening. Many years ago, we had a neighbor. His name was Deborah. And when my girls were small, she had a young daughter also, and they sort of played together. So Raina, had a lot of contact with this woman named Deborah. And she asked Raina one day, have you ever heard of the tithy? Our pastor has been talking about the tithy. Raina said, you mean the tithe? Yes, our church believes in tithing. Well, Deborah didn’t seem too happy with the idea. I doubt there is a more threat. threatening subject than tithing, you know, whatever touches a person’s wall or pocketbook, our purse, you know, taps into a very sensitive area. I usually don’t speak much about tithing or something of this nature because this church, and we wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for the tithing of the people that are here. But it’s kind of hard to avoid when you run, if you’re going through Malachi and you run across this passage of scripture. And so we must talk about this subject tonight. Now, many people profess to believe the Bible to be a rule of faith and practice except when it comes to giving, evidently. Does God leave you to decide how generous you want to be? Or does he give you a specific statement about how much you should give? God has been telling the difference. people through Malachi that they need to get right with him. He said, I haven’t changed. If anybody’s moved, you’re the ones that have moved away. You’ve moved away from me. And the people of God have gone astray. They need to return. And when the people of God ask, well, how do we need to return? Well, the first thing he talks about, well, your ties and offerings. He talks about giving. He talks about maintaining support for the world. worship of God. God starts with their pocketbooks. Perhaps the church today needs to hear afresh how God would have his church funded. I think God’s method is simple. It’s sensible. It brings glory to him, and it’s just simply called pithing. Let me begin by saying this. As a believer, you owe God a portion of your income. Now, you can be guilty. of robbing God, according to this scripture. He says here, will a man rob God? Boy, that’s a terrible charge to make, isn’t it? Especially if it comes from God himself. You know, we look down upon, we despise the robber and the thief that would take from his neighbor goods or someone doesn’t pay their debts or something of this nature. But how much more serious it would be if you as a child, of God would be charged by your heavenly father with robbing him. You know, we think poorly of Micah in the book of judges who stole his mother’s silver coins, remember? And he ends up confessing, I took them. If these were not the inspired words of scripture, you might resent the charge. You might say, Wherein have we robbed thee? But if you take the word of God seriously, And you stop and think about it, you might say, I wonder if I’ve robbed God. It’s very possible. It’s often common. Now, you may wonder how you can be guilty of robbing God when all creation is his and the cattle on a thousand hills and so forth. But it comes down to stewardship. You are to be a steward of what God has given you. And he says, out of what he has given you, You’re to give back a portion to him. If God demands a portion of what he’s given you, then you’re obligated to give it to him. I read recently of someone who was writing a biography on the Duke of Wellington, and they happened to be able to find some of his old check stops. Remember Wellington was the victor at the Battle of Waterloo over. Napoleon. And the writer of this biography said, when I saw how he spent his money, I knew the man. You know, you get to know what people’s priorities are, what they put their money into. Whether it’s hobbies or personal pleasures or needs, you know, whether they give the charity, whatever the case may be. It’s all there in your checkbook. Do your checkbook? stuff speak of how much you love Christ. So you can be guilty of robbing God. Now, you are expected to give God a tithe and an offering. According to verse 8, he says, when they ask about robbing, he says, well, you robbed me in tithes and offerings. Tithe is 10% of your income, one-tenth. And an offering would be some type of voluntary giving. over and above that for maybe some kind of a special purpose. I read about Jacob, who promised God remember it Bethel. In Genesis 28, he said, Of all that thou shalt give me, I will surely give the tenth unto thee. I think that’s a good example for all Christians to follow. In the book of Leviticus chapter 27, when it speaks about tithing, it talks about. It is holy unto the Lord. It is to be separated for him from the rest of your income. God wants all the tithes or the whole tithe. I bet I read about a minister who was telling how he taught his, he was taught by his father to tithe. Seems that this man when he was younger, when he was a boy, he went out and began selling weekly newspapers. I think he was 14 at the time. And he would sell the paper for 10 cents at the time, and he would get two cents that he could keep. And so he managed in his first week to sell 25 papers, so he made 50 cents. And he was happy with himself that he could make that much money. And so he was thrilled with earning that money. And one morning he was busy. looking over all his money and counting it out on the dining room table. And as he was, you know, checking out all his coins, his father came over, put his finger on one of the nickels, slid it off to the side. He said, I reached out immediately, grabbed him, pulled it back, and put it with the rest of the money. He said, that’s mine. His father said, no, it is son. No, it isn’t son. That is the Lord’s. You’re supposed to give him a tenth of what he made. That’s his portion. And so you can keep the 45, but you’ve got to give the Lord the nickel. He said, that stuck with him, you know, the rest of his life. Since God demands 10%, it’s not really a hardship. When you think about it, it doesn’t matter whether you’re rich or poor. It’s a proportion. of your income. So if you’re, you know, if you’re making $500 a week, maybe you’re not a rich man, and you give 50. Maybe you make a lot more money. Maybe you make $5,000 a week. Well, then you give $500. But both of them are giving 10%. And so we see this is the, I think, a fair and reasonable arrangement. When you buy something at the store, you buy gas, or you buy groceries. It doesn’t matter whether you’re rich or poor. The price is the same for everybody. But when it comes to the Lord in the tithe, he takes a percentage. So you are expected to give God a tithe and offering. Now, you’re to bring your tithe and offering to the church. In verse 10, he tells us here, bring all your ties into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house. He says. Now, God tells them where to put the money. And, of course, in this case, it was the tabernacle and the temple in the Old Testament. In this case, of course, it was the rebuilt temple. In the Old Testament, the tithe or income would be returned to the Lord mostly in the form of actual grain or fruit or fruit or oxen or sheep or asses or maybe even. money made from the sale of some product or item that you had. And it was in these things that a Jew’s wealth would consist. if you look at Job, who is the wealthiest man in the East and so forth, and he tells you all he had as far as possessions in animals and so forth. And thus there was a storehouse in the temple for the storage of all these kinds of things. the grains and things that they would bring. And this is the idea of meat in mine house, meaning food and support for the priests and the Levites who would take care of the worship of God and the service of God. They had to have something to eat. They were supported by the labors of the teaching, for their teaching and praising and handling of the sacrifices. So the support of the support of the, ministers was not left to the whims of the people or how they felt lad or something of this nature. God says, this is what I want you to bring in and support the work. The support for God’s work was specifically defined. Now, if you read carefully through numbers 18, verses 25, 26, and 28, you’ll notice that when the 10% percent was given to the Levites and the priest there, they had to take, a tie to that and give it too. So they had to tithe also of the tie they received. Now, in the New Testament, the house of God is the church of the living God, 1. Timothy 3.15. Indeed, the church is called the Holy Temple in Ephesians 2.1. And interestingly enough, as we’ll see, Paul actually uses the term storehouse. house from, I think, Malachi in 1st Corinthians 162 when he talks about bringing the gifts into the storehouse there. And we’ll talk about that in a moment. In other words, the tithe, I think, would be entrusted then to the church today, as it was to the tabernacle and temple in the past. People often ask where they should put their tithe. Well, the easiest answer, I think, is where you get fed, where you’re nourished by the word of God. And for the most part, that is going to be your local church. The tithe is the Lord’s money. We don’t give it necessarily to a charitable organization, no matter how worthy they may be. The Red Cross or the heart fund or something like that. By rights, it should go to the church, not bypassing the church in order to support maybe a religious broadcast or a TV program or something like this. Let your offering, if you desire, be given to maybe one of these groups, if they are sound. But your tithe, let us take it to the church, the storehouse. So you as a believer, oh God, a priest, a priest. portion of your income. Now, thirdly, let me say this, you as a New Testament Christian are expected to pay the time. Now, you might say, why am I as a New Testament Christian? Why don’t I have to follow Old Testament teaching here? And there are those that say, well, if it’s in the Old Testament, then it doesn’t apply to me. Let me ask you something. Was Jacob and Abraham, were they both saved by faith in Christ, trusting in Christ? for their salvation. Is it not true that Abraham is used again and again as an example for the New Testament Christian? I read that Abraham was a tither, Genesis 1420. He gave ties 430 years before the Mosaic law was even given. The law simply institutionalized what Abraham and Jacob had been doing in the past. and did willingly. Unless the tithe preceded the giving of the law. The gospel of Jesus Christ frees you from sin and self to follow in Abraham’s footsteps. Romans talks about Romans were to follow in Abraham’s footsteps. Yes, by believing what he believed. Trusting in the promised Savior. The seed, Jesus Christ. Well, shouldn’t we follow? this example, too? The New Testament, I think, gives every indication that tithing continues as a means of support. Now, if you would, let’s look at Matthew 23.23. And here, we see Jesus speaking about tithing here. Matthew 23, 23, 23. Wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you pay tithe of mint and a niece in common, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment or justice, we might say, mercy and faith. The ye ought to have done not to leave the other undone. Tithing was very commonly done in Israel when Jesus walked the earth. And here we see Jesus certainly putting his stamp of approval on the subject of tithing. In this verse, Jesus Christ was rebuking the scribes and the Pharisees for their hypocrisy, because while they were giving to the Lord a tithe, and he doesn’t condemn them for giving the tithe, they were very strict about tithing down to the, you know, little tiny seeds and so forth. Every penny they counted and gave God his portion. But on the other hand, he said you’re neglecting the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith. Now, Christ, is saying here that justice and mercy and faith were the weightier matters. These you ought to have done with regard to tithing, but don’t leave the other undone. He doesn’t set aside tithing. He says, yeah, that’s good. But this is important the justice and the mercy and the faith. Now, you who know the grace of God, maybe you have not admitted the justice and mercy and grace, but have you admitted the tithing part. Let’s look at Paul’s teaching on the subject. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 9, if you would. Verse 7 to 14. Paul says here this. Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? Who planteth the vineyard and eateth not of the fruit thereof? Or who feedeth a flock and eateth not of the milk of the flock. Say I these things as a man? Or saith not the law the same also. For it is written, in the law of Moses, thou shalt not muzzle the ox, the mouth of the ox, that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? Or saith he it all together for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt this is written, that he that ploweth should plow in hope, and he that dresheth in hope should be a partaker of his hope. If we have sown unto you spiritual things, if I’ve done some spiritual farming, Is it a great thing if we reap your carnal things? If others be partakers of this power over you are not we rather? Nevertheless, we have not used this power, but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ. Do you not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple, they which wait at the altar are partakers, with the altar. Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel. Now, in this passage, Paul is dealing with the support of ministers. He first points out that those who do the work, whether it’s farming or herding or something of this nature, they get to live off of their work. They eat off the flock or get the milk from the flock or whatever they case may be. And next he shows that even the law of Moses permitted the oxen which tread out the grain to eat while they’re treading out the grain. You know, they don’t muzzle the ox. You let him eat while he’s doing the work. He gets a little reward for that. And then he demonstrates that under the Old Testament, the law or God ordained that the priest make a living off the office and work. In other words, they would be compensated for their labors by the offerings that were given by the people. As we’ve already seen from Malachi, they were to be provided for by ties and offerings. And they ate a portion of the sacrifices as well. Now, verse 14 is important because you notice it says even so. You see how it begins? Even. Even. so. Just as the priest and the Levites were supported in the Old Testament, so, even so, the minister should be supported in the New Testament. That even so indicates to us that while even though the word tithe is not found in this verse, how were they supported in the Old Testament? How should they be supported in the New? in like manner. It’s the same method and means. I think in both cases, the tide. If you look with me at Matthew 10, 9 and 10, we have the teaching Christ about those that are sent out to preach the gospel. Here’s what Christ says here. He says,, provide neither gold nor silver nor brass in your purses. Chapter 10 of Matthew, verse 9, and then verse 10, nor script for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves, for the workmen is worthy of his meat. Notice it interesting, he uses the word meat here. It’s the same word that’s used in Malachi, isn’t it? This is how they are supposed to be supported. And it suggests, once again, the idea of the tithe from Malachi 310. So 1st Corinthians 9, I think, lends us support in this direction. Look at 1st Corinthians 16. tonight. Verses 1 and 2. Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye, upon the first day of the week that every one of you lay by him in store as God has prospered him. And there be no gatherings when I come. Now, you’ll notice the word tithe isn’t actually mentioned in this verse. but why does Paul say here, let every one of you lay by him in store? What does he mean in store? Why does he use the word store there? Why such wording? Does it ring a bell? You think maybe he might be referring to the storehouse from Malachiah chapter 3, which speaks of tithing and offerings? The words as God, God has prospered him, signifies a different portion of the income. It doesn’t say as you feel led, but it does indicate to us there is a proportionate way you should give to God’s work. If my income today is double from that which I gave a year ago, and I have not increased my giving, I’m not giving as the Lord has prospered, am I? on the first day of the week, the Lord’s Day, every believer is to lay aside from his weekly gains and put them into the treasury of the church, the tie. Now you may object and say, I thought this passage was talking about the collection for the poor saints at Jerusalem, which verse one may hint at, of course, this is true. But Paul obviously is drawn from Malachi 3.10. but why in this capacity is a collection for the poor saints? You remember that Malachi 310 says bring all the tithes into the storehouse. All of them. There were actually several types of tithes in the old test, and one was the normal tithe, the 10% tie. But every third year, they took a collection for the poor. The poor tithe, you read about it in Deuteronomy chapter 14. May I suggest to you that 1st Corinthians 16 may imply both tithes, the regular tithe, and now included is the collection for the poor saints, those destitute believers at Jerusalem, and you do it on the first day of the week when the church gathers together. So this is Paul’s teaching. Let’s also look at the example of Abraham and Hebrews chapter 7. I would still classify this as Paul’s teaching as I believe Paul actually wrote this. Hebrews 7, let’s read the first seven verses here. For this Malchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom Abraham gave a tenth part of all. First being by interpretation, king of righteousness, and after that, also King of Salem, which is King of Peace. Without father, without mother, without dissent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the son of God, abideth a priest continually. Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils. Barely, they that are of the sons of Abraham, who received the office of priesthood have a commandment to take ties of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they came out of the loins of Abraham. But he whose descent is not counted from them, meaning Melchizedek, received ties of Abraham and blessed him that had the promises, and without contradicted. all contradiction, the less is blessed of the better. And here men that die receive ties, but there he receiveth them of whom it is witness that he liveth. And as I may say so, or may so say, Levi also, who receiveth ties, paid ties in Abraham. He was yet in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him. This is an interesting passage of scripture. Now, he’s trying to show the superiority of Christ’s priesthood over the Levitical priesthood. And indicating here that even the Levites, because they were in the loins of Abraham, when he gave the tithe, and there was a sense in which they gave the tithe to a priest’s king by the name of Melchizedek. Now, there are two, I think, typical characters here. One, Malkisadec, who is a type of Christ, or verse 17, we read, for he testifies, thou art a priest speaking of Christ, forever after the order of Malkisadec. And the second is Abraham, who is the father of the faithful, and therefore a type of the believer, here, being a believer in himself. They which are of faith are the children of Abraham, Galatians 3.7. He had. acknowledged the priesthood of Mount Kizadek. He gave a tenth of all the spoils that he had taken. And the Lord enabled him, you remember, recover everything from Sodom and Gomoror and all the enemy kings that had conquered them and took all the possessions, and he got it all. The fact that Abraham paid ties to the Malkisadek indicates that as the father the faithful, he left an example for his children to follow. Now, the… argument here is this. We should render ties to our high priest who comes after the order of Melchizedek, the Lord Jesus Christ, which 9 and 10, I think, would indicate to us of this text. Versus 9 and 10. The beautiful thing here is in a sense in which the last time the tithe is mentioned, it’s connected with our high priest the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And therefore, it gives us an indication for the New Testament believer about tithing. So you as a New Testament Christian, I think, are expected to pay the tithe, just like Christ indicates, Paul indicates, and Abraham did. Now let me close with a few thoughts. Why tied? What is this all about? Well, one, we’re recognizing God’s sovereignty over all things. That God is the one who has given you the benefits, the goods, the money, the job, the food on your table, the daily bread that you pray for each day. He’s provided it. And you’re recognizing that when you give back to the Lord a portion of that which he is blessed us with. Secondly, it is an antidote. to being covetous. The problem we have as human beings is we’re prone to be covetous, to hoard it all for ourselves, it’s mine. Like the little young kid that had the newspaper. No, that’s mine. It’s all 50 cents is mine. Jesus talked about beware of covetousness. Tithing, I think, is a way for us to realize it’s better to give than receive. to learn not to covet, the hoard everything, but to learn to give back. It teaches you to give and to share. That’s not a grievous commandant. Tithing also is a test of your faith. There’s a sense in which you have to trust God when you tithe. You might say, I don’t know if I can’t afford to tithe. Well, God’s going to talk about that, and hopefully we’ll look at that next week. He says, test me. see if I won’t repay you. See if I won’t make it up to you. You give and I’ll take care of you. So there’s a sense in which our faith is tested. No, we seem to indicate that we’re believing in the Lord with regard to eternal life. We’re trusting in Christ to have eternal life. Can’t you trust in the Lord to provide for you if you give a tithe to him? So I think This is a saying, okay, this is a way your faith can be exercised. You give to me, and I’ll return it back to you. And you’ll find you can never out give God. It’s also a means to support the church. You know, you look at a lot of churches, and they have financial difficulties. They have fun drives. And they have bazaars and garage sales and bake sales and fish fries and there’s a sense in which they’re asking support from the heathen to help support the work. There’s this extensive pleading to gain support. Isn’t the problem that is that man substituting an idea for what God has said? God says, do it this way. Man says, well, we’re going to try this. We want to do this. God says, this is this is. This is this is. This is all you need. Man always thinks he has a better way. You know, when Israel practiced tithing, then they could support the priests and Levites that were taking care of the temple. In Nehemi, when they stopped doing that, the priests and Levites went off elsewhere because there was nobody to support them. If God’s people practiced tithing today, we wouldn’t have a problem with financial straits crippling the church. Because all you need really, when you think about it, is 10 families. If 10 families tithe, you can support the minister. Because he should be able to live off the mean income of all the families, an average doubt. So the church needs, I think, to return to God by returning to tithing. I think it would be the best approach because it’s God’s God’s approach. Otherwise, aren’t we robbing God? I think this is what God would have the church do today. And that’s the message I have for you. And again, I don’t want to be one who’s laboring on this because I know that you people tither, we wouldn’t be here, as I said earlier. So it shouldn’t make us unhappy to tithe. We should cheerfully give to the Lord and realize, hey, he’s taking care of me. I’m going to reward, you know, give him this as a return, I should say, not as a reward as a return for what he’s blessed me with. Well, let us close with the word of prayer.