Malachi: A Test That God Cannot Fail

A Test That God Cannot Fail!

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.
9 You are cursed with a curse,
For you have robbed Me,
Even this whole nation.
10 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.
11 “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;
12 And all nations will call you blessed,
For you will be a delightful land,”
Says the Lord of hosts.

The world is full of silly get rich schemes! My personal favourite is the email message- I usually get at least one or two of them per week. They always start like this, “Dearest in the Lord.” And then the message is usually about how this person is a widow or an orphan and they’re being oppressed by their government and they chose me because of my integrity and good character so that they could transfer $300 million into my account. What surprises me is that this scam must work because they’ve been pulling it for so many years. I guess the reason why it works is because it appeals to our greed. I have to be honest, the first time I read it I actually wanted to believe it.
The Bible doesn’t teach people how to get rich quick (in spite of what some people teach). In fact, if anything, the Bible does more to promise suffering for the righteous than it does health and wealth. Nevertheless, God’s Word is concerned about how we use our money. And we are commanded to set some of it aside for God. It’s meant to be a joyful act of worship though, not an onerous imperative. Let’s read what God in the book of Malachi has to say about worshipping the Lord with our money. Read 3:8-12
Background of Text:
First of all, let me introduce our book and its author and then I want to unpack this concept of tithing. Malachi is the capstone of Old Testament prophecy. The final verse of this book, which reads:
Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
And he will turn/ The hearts of the fathers to the children,
And the hearts of the children to their fathers…. (4:5-6)
This is a prophecy foretelling the ministry of John the Baptist. And between them is 400 years of silence from God.
· Malachi means “Messenger of the Lord”- the Greek word is Angelos (Angel).
· Late 5th century- contemporary of Nehemiah, Ezra and Haggai
· Prophesied after the completion of the rebuilding of the second temple.
· Our text is a parenthetical message, God is answering Israel’s question in verse 7 where they ask, “How have we turned from the Law?”
Verse 8 is an example of their disobedience. It’s not just a monetary problem, it’s a matter of faithfulness in worship. They were only depriving themselves when they failed to obey God’s Law.
There is a lot of confusion about the tithe: things like, How much is it; is it a New Testament Concept or did Jesus do away with it etc. Let me address one misconception about the tithe and then I will show two things that the New Testament teaches regarding the tithe:
1. Tithing is not a New Testament Concept:
Some people believe that the New Testament abolishes the tithe because it was a part of the Law and we are no longer under Law, but grace. There is some truth to this. The tithe rules of the Law belong to the ceremonial commands of the Law, which have ceased. According to the Law, The people were commanded to give the first born of their flocks and grain offerings etc. so that the temple priest could offer the sacrifices. And since the sacrificial system has been abolished, so must the command to give livestock.
I agree in part, that we are no longer under the Law. But the part of the Law we are no longer under is the ceremonial law. Nevertheless, the moral law continues (Ten Commandments): thou shalt have no other Gods; thou shalt not covet etc…. Notice that God is appealing, not to the ceremonial law, but to the moral Law in Malachi 3:8? He says that they people are steeling from God by not giving a portion of their earnings.
The New Testament does not do away with the Moral Law, so it is still a matter of robbing God when we withhold our tithe.
Also, the tithe itself is a concept that existed before the Law was given. Abraham offered a tenth of all his plunder to Melchizedek as an offering to God. Jacob also vowed to give a tenth to God. This was four hundred years before the Law. The Law simply made mandatory what true worshippers of God already did freely. Now that we are under grace, how much more should we want to give to the Lord?
In fact, when you add up everything that the ceremonial Law commanded Israelites to give, it added up to about 23%. I don’t believe that Christians are bound to giving 23% according the Law. But the New Testament commands that believers are to make their entire lives an offering (Romans 12:1-2). So 10% or 23% seem pretty small- actually that’s just a good place to start.
2. New Testament giving is mean to be Joyful.
Paul talks about giving quite a bit in his letters. His ministry depended upon the generousity of the churches that he established. Actually, giving in the New Testament is a Charisma:
7 But as you abound in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us—see that you abound in this grace also (2 Cor 8:7)
This is the language of Charisma for Paul. He equates giving with things like faith, speech and knowledge. I once knew a man in a Pentecostal church who was stoic, unemotional, and very rational. He didn’t speak in tongues, and never raised his hands. But he gave generously- over and above the tithe. And his life was consistent and always dedicated to following the Lord. I remember a lady at that same church who was very flamboyant in worship, she spoke in tongues and had all sorts of prophetic words- she always made fun of him and compared her exuberance to his as though she were the ultimate prototype of a true worshipper of God. But meanwhile, she never tithed and her personal life was falling apart morally. It occurred to me that the true charismatic was my stoic friend; the other woman was just a pretender.
For Paul, Jesus is the ultimate example of generous giving, look at v. 9:
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.
Jesus became a sacrifice for us, not grudgingly, but for the joy set before, he endured the cross. Now skip to 9:6:
But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. 8And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.
God loves a cheerful giver because God is not concerned so much with the amount that we give, but the condition of our heart when we do it. A heart that holds back from God and a heart that gives the full amount but out of compulsion are equally unacceptable to God.
3. New Testament giving is meant to be regular.
Look at 1 Cor 16:1:
Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do also: 2On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper….
Notice Paul says on the first day of the week: that’s Sunday. He expects that believers would put money aside on a regular basis, not just when they felt generous. Tithing is an exercise that requires perseverance. The most blessing comes when we feel least like giving. Jesus didn’t commend the widow for giving a mite because it was so little; he commended her for giving it in spite of the fact that she could have used it for something else. It was a lot of money for her, but she gave it out of joyful obedience.
Conclusion:
Malachi 3:9 says that the people were cursed with a curse for robbing God. The word curse means blinded and condemned. Sometimes when we struggle in our finances we are blind to the simple truth that God is not blessing them because we are holding them back from Him. Our fist is closed to God and so He puts nothing in it.
But God says, “test me” in verse 10. Test me by committing to bringing in the full tithe…. Let’s put this in NT terms: bringing the amount that you have purposed in your heart (imply that you must purpose an amount) and be sure that it is not a sparing amount but a bountiful amount and with great cheer.
And here’s what God promises to do if we test Him (God never fails a test): He promises to open the windows of heaven. This is an idiom, it literally means he open the chimney as if to let the smoke out. Picture a chimney with barrows of smoke pouring out of it. But instead, it’s a chimney from heaven and out of it flows the blessings of God. Least of which, is the fact that God will bless your finances (not make you rich- necessarily).
Other benefits include the blessing of being able to participate in supporting the work of the church, serving the poor, sending out missionaries, housing other ethnic churches in this building, supporting your pastor so that I can labour in the word. Galatians 6:6 says, “Let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches.”
Another benefit is that we learn to trust God. Sometimes we must give when we can least afford it. But God will never let you down. Giving teaches us to let go of our possessions and not to cling to things that rust; we store our treasures in heaven where we can enjoy them for eternity. Giving also teaches the fullness of worship. Giving is an act of worship and there is a tremendous blessing in just being able to release to God (with a joyful heart) and know that he is going to use it in so many wonderful ways.