Malachi 3:6-12 | "You Are Robbing Me" [ Unchanging ]
[Malachi] Unchanging • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 31 views“Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. Malachi 3:8 (NASB 95) Sunday, November 26, 2023. Malachi 3:6-12 | "You Are Robbing Me." Preached to Heritage Bible Chapel in Princeton, MA. This sermon continues an exposition through the book of Malachi in a series of sermons called: "Unchanging."
Notes
Transcript
I. The Reading
I. The Reading
6 “For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.
7 “From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of hosts. “But you say, ‘How shall we return?’
8 “Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings.
9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you!
10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test 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 a blessing until it overflows.
11 Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes,” says the Lord of hosts.
12 “All the nations will call you blessed, for you shall be a delightful land,” says the Lord of hosts.
A. [ 3:6-7 ]
A. [ 3:6-7 ]
Contrary to what we might think, this text is NOT about tithes and offerings.
Not primarily.
If we hear this text, believing its subject to be tithes and offerings, then we will misunderstand tithes and offerings.
This text is NOT about tithes and offerings, primarily.
This text is about the LORD, our God, primarily.
How do we know this?
Notice the first words of verse 6 —
3.6
3.6
Malachi 3:6 (NASB 95)
6 “For I, the Lord ...
“For I, the LORD … “
Let’s not move on to another word, until we set this context rightly.
The LORD is the subject of this text.
For not only is the LORD speaking, but the LORD is speaking about Himself as the subject of His own revelation.
What is the LORD revealing about Himself in this text?
He says —
Malachi 3:6 (NASB 95)
6 “For I, the Lord, do not change;
The LORD reveals that He does not change.
Is the God of the Old Testament, the same God of the New Testament?
— Yes, He is.
Why?
— “For I, the LORD, do not change.”
God is all that He ever will be, and God is all that He ever was.
This unchangeable quality is known as —
Immutability: The unchangeability of God.
This is a “universal truth” about our God given clearly by God’s own Word in this text. (Ross).
God does not change.
He does not change His nature. He does not change HIs purpose. He does not change His promises.
God does not change His Word.
So when Malachi begins with:
Malachi 1:1–2 (NASB 95)
1 The oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi. 2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord …
— we now understand, because of God’s own self-revelation in Chapter 3, that God’s love for Israel does not change, either.
If God does not change, God’s love does not change.
The story goes that a married couple was having trouble in their marriage. So they agreed to get help.
When the wife was asked “What is wrong in your relationship with your husband?” she said “My husband never tells me he loves me.
To which the husband seemed surprised, and responded: “Why should I tell you again and again that I love you? I told you once when I married you, if I change my mind I’ll let you know!”
God does not change - His Word or His love.
How interesting it is, that we approach a text like this, that talks secondarily about tithes and offerings, and we want to know whether the practice of tithes and offerings applies to us today.
In other words, we want to know: “What has changed?” Has anything changed?
And yet, this is a text in which the LORD sets Himself as the subject from the beginning, and says of Himself — “I…do not change.”
So - Let’s not miss the LORD, who remains the unchanging focus of this text, and indeed, of all the Bible.
Verse 6 again —
Malachi 3:6 (NASB 95)
6 “For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob …
God’s unchanging nature effects the way God acts.
And who is God acting toward?
“You, O sons of Jacob.”
In the preceeding texts the LORD has been speaking to the priests. But now, He speaks again to the people.
In Chapter 1, the people are called “Israel.”
But in Chapter 3, the LORD addresses them in a different way - not as “Israel” but as “you, O sons of Jacob.”
Why the name change?
Allen Ross suggests it is because the people have a long history of disobedience and hesitancy to trust (Ross, MTN).
And that is true of this people...
But the name “O sons of Jacob” may be intentional as a call to remembrance — to remind the people of the covenant promises God made to Jacob, promises that include them, too.
The LORD said to Jacob:
Genesis 28:13 (NASB 95)
13 ... “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants.
14 Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
That was a promise God made to Jacob and Jacob’s descendents.
A promise about land God will give (land being an important theme in our text in Malachi), and a promise about offspring - their number and how in them all the families of the earth will be blessed.
This is a promise that, in Malachi’s day, is yet unfulfilled.
And the LORD has no intention of going back on His promises, although the sons of Jacob have given Him reason to do that.
6 “For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.
The sons of Jacob have given God reason to consume them.
This word “consumed” has the meaning of being “destroyed” or “to be finished” (Ross).
The sons of Jacob should be finished.
But something and someone stands in the way of their destruction —
It is the LORD and His unchanging nature — His love — that prevents His people from perishing.
Malachi makes clear that the sons of Jacob do not deserve these promises - rather, they deserve to be destroyed.
But God does not fulfill promises based on whether or not people deserve them.
God fulfills His promises because He spoke them.
6 “For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.
God is not finished with His people.
All the nations of the earth are not yet blessed through them.
God still loves His people.
Yet, even though God loves His people and will fulfill His promises to them, that does not mean the sons of Jacob will experience God’s blessings.
Here is an important truth to understand —
While God’s own unchanging character ensures that His covenant promises will be fulfilled, the people’s faithfulness will determine whether or not they will experience God’s blessings in the process.
This presents one of the many tensions in this text: the tension between a covenant relationship and covenant responsibilities.
The sons of Jacob had a covenant relationship with God — based on God’s promise, guaranteed by God’s own faithfulness.
But at the same time, the people had covenant responsibilities - they were to be obedient to the Lord’s Word and the Lord’s Law, and remain faithful themselves to God in order to be blessed by God.
Well — How did the sons of Jacob do with their part in the covenant relationship?
Verse 7 —
3.7
3.7
Malachi 3:7 (NASB 95)
7 “From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My statutes and have not kept them...
The sons of Jacob turned aside from the right way. They disobeyed God’s statues, and they have not turned back yet (Ross).
And so what does God graciously invite them to do?
God, in His unchanging love, does not consume them, but rather He calls them to repent —
To immediately change their ways.
Malachi 3:7 (NASB 95)
7 “From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of hosts. “...
If the sons of Jacob would return, that is repent, they would be renewed, and God would return to them his blessings.
And yet, the sons of Jacob do not believe they need to return.
Where have we been unfaithful?
Malachi 3:7 (NASB 95)
7 “From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of hosts. “But you say, ‘How shall we return?’
This may be a question asked out of ignorance - maybe the sons of Jacob are so deceived and unlearned in God’s ways that they really don’t know where they are sinning.
But may it also be, that they do know, but didn’t think God would notice or care.
May it also be, that they do know, but didn’t think God would notice or care?
There are certain responsibilities of worship that can be easily hidden from other people.
For example, if a worshiper brings a blind sacrifice, or presents lame and sick offerings - other people see what is blind, lame and sick being offered, and take notice of that.
There can be accountability for the more public of sacrifices.
But there are other sacrifices and offerings that are not so public - that are made between a person and God alone.
These are offerings made from the heart that others cannot see, nor hold a person accountable for.
And the temptation is to cheat, and offer less-than to God. For if others won’t know the details of that offering, then maybe God won’t notice or care either…
Well, God notices.
God sees the heart. And it is the heart that God wants more than sacrifices and offerings anyway.
The Psalmist reveals:
16 For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.
And the heart of a people cannot be hidden from God.
If God’s people want to experience God’s blessings, they must show themselves faithful (Ross) — and this faithfulness must come from the heart.
B. [ 3:8-9 ]
B. [ 3:8-9 ]
In verse 8, God presents the charge against the sons of Jacob.
3.8
3.8
Malachi 3:8 (NASB 95)
8 “Will a man rob God? …
This is the second tension presented in this text.
The first is the tension of covenant relationship and covenant responsibility — Where God guarantees something based on God’s own unchanging character, not by people’s merit.
Yet at the same time, the people must obey to receive blessing.
Next is this question of a man robbing God.
Is this possible, for a man to rob God?
We think - NO! That’s impossible.
Even if it were possible, we wouldn’t attempt such a thing, because we wouldn’t get away with it.
But according to this text, it is possible to rob God. And while other people may not see how this robbery is taking place, God sees how this robbery is taking place.
This isn’t bringing blind and lame and sick sacrifices that are easy to see.
This is a heart sin that is easy to cover up, yet God is going to make it known.
The LORD says —
Malachi 3:8 (NASB 95)
8 “Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! ...
This is something that God alone knows and reveals.
This is a crime against God. The charge is not brought by others, but by God - God speaks for Himself here.
This is the LORD’s accusation against the sons of Jacob.
For the LORD knows what belongs to Him, and the LORD knows what is taken (or withheld) from Him.
And this is an ongoing crime “you are robbing Me” (Ross).
8 “Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings.
The word “tithe” literally means “a tenth.”
Abraham gave a tenth of all to Melchizedek king of Salem, priest of God Most High (Gen 14:20).
Jacob promised to give God a tenth of all that God gives to him (Gen 28:22).
This idea of giving God a tithe or a tenth pre-dated the law of Moses.
This is what Abraham and Jacob freely gave - a tenth of all.
But in the law of Moses, God required that one-tenth of the produce of the land be set apart as the Lord’s, and the tithe became a statue for the people.
The tithe first and foremost, belonged to God.
30 ‘Thus all the tithe of the land, of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s; it is holy to the Lord.
The tithe also supported the ministry of the priests and Levites for the work that they do.
The priests and Levites did not receive a land inheritance, and so they were dependent on the giving of the people for their income - to eat! Nevertheless, even the Levites were required to tithe from the tithe (REC):
26 “Moreover, you shall speak to the Levites and say to them, ‘When you take from the sons of Israel the tithe which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall present an offering from it to the Lord, a tithe of the tithe.
The tithe would come from ALL the produce of the field, and would facilitate the celebration of the family of God in the presence of God (REC) — The tithe was connected to God’s presence, to learning how to fear Him, it provided for the ministry and also for the poor and needy.
This is what the LORD required:
22 “You shall surely tithe all the produce from what you sow, which comes out of the field every year.
23 You shall eat in the presence of the Lord your God, at the place where He chooses to establish His name, the tithe of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and your flock, so that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always.
24 If the distance is so great for you that you are not able to bring the tithe, since the place where the Lord your God chooses to set His name is too far away from you when the Lord your God blesses you,
25 then you shall exchange it for money, and bind the money in your hand and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses.
26 You may spend the money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen, or sheep, or wine, or strong drink, or whatever your heart desires; and there you shall eat in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household.
27 Also you shall not neglect the Levite who is in your town, for he has no portion or inheritance among you.
28 “At the end of every third year you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in that year, and shall deposit it in your town.
29 The Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance among you, and the alien, the orphan and the widow who are in your town, shall come and eat and be satisfied, in order that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.
Allen Ross, after doing the math of all that is involved in obeying the statues about tithes and offerings, says that if someone today wanted to live under Israel’s laws of tithes and offerings, the amount would exceed 40% a year — not just 10%.
The tithe was important for many practical reasons, but most importantly, because it was holy to the LORD. It belonged to Him.
How would someone know if a person was giving a tithe of all?
They wouldn’t. It’s easy to cheat and get away with it.
But God knew. And God saw through the people’s stewardship, the state of their hearts, the state of the ministry, the state of the poor and needy, and God knew.
The LORD had provided for the people everything that they needed for life in the land and worship.
And if the people would each give as God had required, the needs of life and ministry and the needy would be provided for, and the people would grow in their fear of God.
But the people disobeyed and withheld, and revealed hearts that were ultimately, ungrateful (Ross).
For they were not to give first, as a condition so that God would then give to them.
No — God gave first, and they were asked to give from what God had first given to them.
So they took what God had given to them, and did not give back as God required.
They were ungrateful.
8 “Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings.
3.9
3.9
9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you!
This is a national rebuke, not an individual rebuke.
The principle of a percentage, like a tithe, only works when all are committed to it.
If some people tithe, and others do not, the needs of the whole are lacking. Some go without -
Is it the Levites? Is it the poor and needy?
And God says — NO, it is ME!
“You are robbing Me, the whole nation of you!”
Now understand, God does not need anything.
1 The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains, The world, and those who dwell in it.
God is not lacking in resources where His divinity depends on our supplying Him with what He needs.
God does not change one bit whether his people give or withhold.
But understand what God IS saying —
When the sons of Jacob do not obey the LORD’s statues in tithes and offerings, Yes — others suffer, but God takes it personally.
“You are robbing Me.”
You are not setting aside what is holy — what belongs to Me.
(By the way, the same couple be said of Sabbath rest, could it not?)
As a consequence, the nation is cursed — the whole nation, all of them.
And in response to their unfaithfulness, God does not give blessings, but withholds blessings.
They are cursed.
But they need not remain that way.
Remember that God extends to them an offer to “return.”
Malachi 3:7 (NASB 95)
7 ...Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of hosts. “But you say, ‘How shall we return?’
Here’s how: God challenges his people to be faithful.
C. [ 3:10-12 ]
C. [ 3:10-12 ]
3.10
3.10
10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test 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 a blessing until it overflows.
“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse...”
That phrase “whole tithe” is essential.
Bring the whole tithe, not part of it.
Be faithful to ALL of what God requires.
But more than that, bring your heart with your tithes.
Bring the whole tithe — It was never meant to be brought dispassionately, or with drudgery, but to be brought with gratefulness and love for God.
Bring gratefulness and love as part of the whole tithe.
G.Campbell Morgan says that people can have a “mechanical correctness, devoid of essential love, which God spurns” (GCM, MMFT, 72).
God does not desire that His people give with rigid formalism, devoid of love, but from a true spiritual life and from the heart.
Not because they have to, but because they want to, and because they love God.
Give all with grateful hearts in response to God’s unchanging love.
And there is a purpose for bringing the whole tithe —
Malachi 3:10 (NASB 95)
10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house...
Again, this was a tithe of the produce. It was food for the Levites, the priests, and for the needy.
There was a practical purpose for tithing - it was not just to give as worship to God, but it was also God’s means of provision for worship.
10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test 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 a blessing until it overflows.
The Scriptures warn us not to put God to the test.
But God’s people can test God when God invites them to test Him!
In this case, for the the people to test God, they must themselves act in faith toward God.
God is calling the people to act here with faith, within this covenant relationship, to fulfill their covenant responsibility — by giving the whole tithe (Ross) —
So that they may test, and prove that God is trustworthy when they reap God’s promised blessings in return.
God rewards obedience with blessing.
And that blessing is that God would open “the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.”
This implies that the people were experiencing a drought. They needed rain for their crops, for the land to produce.
And if they would not trust God through giving tithes of those crops (what they had), God would not give them rain so they would not have crops then to give!
Perhaps the sons of Jacob were withholding a portion of the tithe because they were in a season of drought, and crops were not plentiful.
Perhaps it was a lean season, and especially difficult to give.
Does God say - withhold.
Does God say - It is wise to withhold?
Make sure you have food for your house first and withhold? It’s okay?
No — God says bring the whole tithe so that there may be food in my house, and test me in this....
That is, don’t give when it is convenient. Don’t give only when you are able, O sons of Jacob.
Give in obedience with faith in God, even when you don’t see how it is possible, and share in the testimony of —
25 I have been young and now I am old, Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken Or his descendants begging bread.
Give to God as a priority, O sons of Jacob. Make sure there is food in God’s house first. . .
Don’t give God partial, leftovers …
If the people are faithful, it will not only rain, it will pour.
10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test 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 a blessing until it overflows.
The blessing in this case, is the harvest. And it will be a harvest that overflows…abundant...
3.11
3.11
11 Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes,” says the Lord of hosts.
God will protect the people’s crops if they are faithful to him.
The vine in the field will not cast its grapes, that is, it will not lose its fruit too early (Ross).
The people will have what they need, and MORE than what they need . . . They will prosper because God will bless them.
And this blessing will impact not only themselves, but all the nations, and be a means of God fulfilling His covenant promises to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob and his descendents...
3.12
3.12
12 “All the nations will call you blessed, for you shall be a delightful land,” says the Lord of hosts.
TRANSITION
TRANSITION
Well, Does this come to pass?
Are all the nations blessed because the sons of Jacob return, and get right with God, and obey God through bringing in the whole tithe and offerings?
No — Not through the sons of Jacob returning, and not through Israel’s tithes and offerings.
But through God’s faithfulness, through God’s giving, through Jesus Christ and His offering.
This text leads us to the Christ Conclusion — to the Gospel.
The failure of Israel to give tithes and offerings reveals not a giving problem, but a heart problem, a love problem — sin — for which Jesus had to come and save (REC).
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
And in our sin, we deserve to be consumed. We deserve to perish!
But praise God that God does not give us what we deserve.
No one has given to God all that He is due. No one has loved God perfectly - save One, Jesus Christ.
Yet God does not consume Israel because it is through them, Christ the Savior would come.
And Jesus Christ DID come and fulfilled ALL God’s covenant promises and he did more than that —
Jesus becomes the basis of our relationship with God and fulfills our responsibilities under the Law for us through HIs own perfect obedience — ushering in a New Covenant in His blood.
So that we can’t say “I give because I have to” - but rather, in Christ, we say “I give because I want to.” It is a response of the reality that Christ dwells in our hearts through faith.
It was not through the promised land, or through the numerous offspring that all the families of the earth would be blessed on account of Israel, it is through faith in Jesus the Christ who would come from Israel, that all would be blessed - for all who are in Christ, among all the nations, are made one in God’s family and inherit God’s kingdom.
And it is Christ that the nations will see and hear through us, and know the blessing of God.
Jesus says:
16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
This is God’s call for all who hear to act in faith, to repent of sin, to trust in Jesus and His perfect offering through His death, burial and resurrection.
This is also God’s call for God’s people to give just as He gave —
With love (God so loved the world that He gave...),
sacrificially (He gave His only begotten Son),
and for His Church (whoever believes).
The salvation God gives through Jesus changes our hearts so that we can’t help but to give willingly, joyfully and sacrificially to Him.
We are no longer robbing God as the sons of Jacob were, because there is nothing we can give to God that Jesus has not already given on our behalf.
The LORD said to the sons of Jacob “Return to Me, and I will return to you.”
But the Gospel does not say “Return to Me” because in Jesus and by His Holy Spirit, God never leaves us, and God keeps us, so that we do not leave Him.
The Gospel says instead, “Draw near.”
8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
APPLICATION
APPLICATION
So what then, do we do with tithes and offerings?
Do we have a responsibility under the New Covenant to give something like tithes and offerings?
Are we invited to test God through our giving, and expect to receive blessings in return?
The answers requires a New Testament Theology of Giving, that cannot be based in Malachi 3.
Nevertheless, I offer a few thoughts to keep in mind from this text:
Just as the LORD reveals that He does not change, Hebrews tells us that Jesus does not change either.
8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
There is something unchanging about giving in obedience and faith, with grateful hearts in response to God’s love - God’s unchanging character — as God’s people.
So it is wrong to say, in light of our unchanging God and Savior, that giving tithes and offerings is no longer appropriate.
Even under the New Covenant, wherein we are not judged by our works but by our faith — we remember that saving faith works… and the tension between Covenant relationship and Covenant obedience still remains.
We should question our faith if our works do not show it to be alive.
The tithe as a tenth, was holy to the LORD.
It is right to prioritize God with an offering that belongs only to Him.
Not leftovers after we have given to others, after we have paid our taxes and bills or even have put food on the table, but an offering prioritized unto the Lord, as holy — Him first.
Like the tithe in the law, this trains our hearts through practice to fear God and trust Him as good stewards of His manifold grace.
33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
As with the sons of Jacob, we shouldn’t say that there are times when we should not give to God because resources are scarce — because we are in a season of drought.
The Scriptures seem to teach the opposite - that in times of drought that is exactly the time to give, for it requires sacrifice and faith in God who provides what we need.
[ … the widow’s mite… ]
Also, There is an element of intentionality and prospering that is carried forward into the NT with giving.
2 On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come.
Giving is proportionate to each one. It should also be prioritized and praiseworthy — (on the first day of the week — the Lord’s day,)
Just as this text in Malachi was a national rebuke and challenge, the application for us is probably best as a corporate application — not for individuals, but for us as a people of faith, together as His Church.
We should give together, to support the ministry and mission of God through the local church.
The tithes were connected to the presence of God, and as such, God is present most visibly with His gathered Church.
Everything should flow through the local church — all ministry, all missions. And there is a good case for ministry and missions to be funded through, and supported by, and submitted under the authority of the local church as God’s design.
The church is also to care for the poor and needy.
Note also that just as “food in my house” implied care for the Levites and priests, the ministers of God, there is a New Testament element of caring for God’s appointed through giving.
11 If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we reap material things from you?
...
14 So also the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel.
The tithe, as 10%, is a good reference for giving.
Remember that Abraham and Jacob gave or promised tithes before the Law was given.
Note that the Law instructed the giving of both tithes (a tenth) and offerings.
Should we as Christians, who are no longer under the Law, offer less than what was given before or even under the Law?
Just as Israel was rebuked for not bringing the whole tithe…we should ask if we are neglecting the “whole” in our giving practice.
Are we giving generously with our whole heart? — With faith?
Or are we mindlessly writing checks without a thought of love and gratefulness for God?
Are we tempted to cheat God — by being frugal with God and not ourselves?
Are we accumulating riches for ourselves at God’s expense? Or are we depriving ourselves, sacrificially, that we might accumulate riches for God’s kingdom?
If we look at our own giving, we should be able to see that we are giving up things that otherwise we would not have…because we give to the Lord.
Because our heart trusts God more than anything else.
21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
ILLUSTRATION: Inheritance requirement on tithing.
When God challenged His people to test Him, He was challenging them to do more than what they could do on their own.
This is a good gospel-principle for giving. For Jesus gave what we could not give, His life, His righteousness — should we not also practice giving beyond what we are able in material things?
Tithing is not a horrible practice. It is a heart practice.
It is not about giving, it is about God!
Listen to these words of Jesus, who said:
38 Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.”
May our standard of measure for giving, be the standard of faith in our unchanging God who loves us with an unfailing, self-giving love.