Do I Give To You?

Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, it is a great joy to be back in the pulpit this morning, stewarding this position for the glory of God and the edification of His saints. Thank you to everyone and David Barron from the Central Kentucky Network of Baptist who filled in last week in my absence.

Now, I know not everyone cares about college athletics, but I wanted to bring up something that I think serves as a good introduction to our text this morning. There has recently been a change in college athletics that has made it possible for the athletes to be paid. In the major sports there are now kids being paid seven figures a year, something that was completely inconceivable just a few years ago. But one of the big issues this raises is that the money to pay the athletes has to come from somewhere. While there are a handful of mega-wealthy boosters that give a lot of money, schools have also created groups called collectives for every day regular fans to be a part of. Fans sign up to donate a certain amount of money a month to the collective, then that money is eventually distributed to the players on the team. People sign up with monthly donations ranging from $25 a month to upwards of $500 month. And while there are tiers and various incentives for giving more and more, ultimately, those who participate in the collectives are doing so because they love their team and want to see it succeed. Those who participate in these collectives will virtually never see a real return on their investment in the program.

You might think, that’s fine but who is gonna do that? The answer is probably more than you think! One of these collects at the University of Kentucky has received pledges from thousands of fan totalling more than 1,000,000 dollars for this upcoming basketball season.

Now, my intention this morning is not to promote, nor even necessarily to chastise, anyone’s participation in these collectives. My point is to highlight that people show what is important to them through how and where they spend their money. For millions of college sports fans across the country, their teams chance at successfully signing top athletes is important enough that they would donate hundreds or thousands of dollars a year, without even receiving a ticket to the games in return. But their team means a lot to them so they give.

We’re approaching election season, people all over the country are donating to the candidates they want to see elected.

At the grocery store or at the check out of a fast food restaurant, we are presented with causes that we can donate to, and if we see them as worth our attention we will round up our change and give a little bit of our money to the cause.

I’ve said before and I can say again this morning, show me bank account and I’ll show you what you care about. We are consistently spending or giving money to the things that we value.

Now, for the last six weeks or so, we have been walking through the book of Malachi. The overall emphasis of this book has been God exposing Israel’s deficiencies in worship. They say they love the Lord, but their actions would say otherwise. The entirety of the book is intended to give the downtrodden Israelites hope in the sufficiency of the Lord, and to inspire repentance in the ways they live out their faith. Today God will be addressing Israel’s deficiency in how they give. We will be able to draw parallels from Israel’s struggles with giving to our own today and see how we can better praise God and give Him glory with our lives and our pocketbooks.

With that in mind, if you have not already turn in your Bibles to the book of Malachi. Today we are picking up in the middle of Chapter 3. We’ll begin in verse 6 as it connects what we looked at in the previous section with where we are going today. Let’s begin.

Malachi 3:6 ESV

6 “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.

In the introduction to the sermon, we said that people give to what they value. Whether that be a sports team, a good cause, or even a political candidate, people give to support things that they see as valuable. In a few moments, we are going to see how this verse connects to the passage we looked at a couple of weeks ago and then how it ties in to where we are going this morning. But before we get to either of those two things we need to first simple see the BIG TRUTH in this passage that informs both of those directions.

You see, incapsulated in this verse is a fearful, awe-inspiring, mind-blowing, praise-inducing truth about God that exudes His value as being greater than anything else in existence.

The theological term for what we are going to see this morning is immutability. I don’t want us to get so lost in theological terms that this becomes a mind-numbing lecture, but I do want to give everyone here a word to define what we are talking about this morning. When we talk about immutability, we are talking about the fact that God never changes. He states it plain and clear here in verse 6. “I the Lord DO NOT CHANGE.” A quick reading might make this seem as if its not that big of a deal, but I assure you that the immutability, the unchangingness, of God is VERY big deal. Once you start to wrap your mind around it, it will strengthen your praise of our immutable God.

Why am I suggesting the immutability of God to be so glorious? Well let’s see some of the implications as put together by Answers in Genesis:

“Immutability is one of the amazing things about God’s character that is consistently expressed through the whole of Scripture; God’s character traits interweave without contradiction throughout the Scriptures in a perfect harmony. Take for instance the work of Christ on the cross. In one act, we see God’s perfect character in justice and wrath on sin being poured out at the same time as His mercy, grace, and love. Sin is dealt with through justice, and mercy is delivered through grace. Coupled with the fact that God is the everlasting God, we know and rely on His eternal justice upon sin as much as His everlasting grace and mercy for every believer.”

Our God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He never changes and once we grasp that, we should rejoice! Because God does not change, we can trust His promises! He won’t go back on His Word. What He has declared to be true is true indeed.

God’s immutability highlights His holiness. To be holy is to be set apart. What could be more set apart from the rest of existence than being unchanging? Think about it, everything other than God in this life changes. Our bodies change as we grow older. The seasons change. Our interests change. The ideals of our country change. Nations rise and nations fall. Trends come and trends go. But the ONE constant above and beyond everything is the UNCHANGING, Immutable God.

The world seems to be shifting around us constantly, with the increase in technology, what we see when look out the window seem irreconcilable with what we saw only a few decades ago. If you find yourself struggle to deal with all the change around you, I hope you find peace in the unchanging character of God. The same God who breathed out creation, the same God who installed and upholds the laws of physics, the same God who brought the Israelites out of Egypt, the same God who lived and died and rose again to pay for the sins of those who believe in Him, the same God who empowered the early church to go forth and make disciples, that is the SAME GOD today, who has been, is, and always will be working out His same plan for redemption and glory. He is the sure foundation and on the Solid Rock we stand!

In our limited time this morning, I can only begin to scratch the surface on the implications of the immutability of God. I highly encourage you to dive into it a bit more in your personal study. But I assure you, it is a glorious truth that our God never changes.

Let’s now see how this glorious truth informs the rest of our text. If you look back to verse 6, you will see that this truth comes after the conjunction, FOR. This means that our truth ties in with what it directly follows. So, if you back to verse 5 you read, Malachi 3:5 “5 “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.” then verse 6, “For I the Lord do not change.”

What does this mean? This means that those who are opposed to the Lord will receive judgment. It means that God is consistent throughout all of time in His application of just, that is correct and inarguably appropriate, justice. It means that we cannot escape from the fact that sin is going to punished. This is a topic that is often avoided, and I have to admit that I don’t get enjoyment in talking about the punishment of sin. It is a fearful, but it is also necessary. The wages of sin is death. That is true yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Our sin is an offense to the Holy nature of God and the just response to sin is death. Sin incurs judgment. That has always has been and will be the case. We know that because God, the Lord, does not change. Even before their was sin, sin was an offense to the Holy God, why do I say that? Because before the Fall in the Garden, God had already laid out the consequences of disobedience to Adam. Before there ever was disobedience, disobedience was already an offense to God, punishable by death.

The practical implication here is that we are to take sin seriously. God certainly does and always will. His immutability makes it so. But let’s look at another side of God’s immutability. look at the last part of verse 6. Malachi 3:6 “6 “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.”

So because God does not change, He will always execute perfect justice, the sorcerers, adulterers, liars, and oppressors will be thrust aside. But also because God does not change, the people of Israel receive mercy. Because God does not change, His people are not consumed.

God has every right to throw out the insolent, hard headed, unfaithful people. He is within His power and rights as the great sovereign to wipe the board clean and start over. But God, being immutably true to His Word is not done with Israel despite their disobedience. God, out of His own love and grace, had made a covenant with the fathers of Israel. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. A promise that would culminate in the coming messiah, Jesus Christ. Even though Israel had broken their side of the covenant time and time again, God would remain immutably faithful. God does not consume Israel and wipe them out, because He is not done with them yet and He has promised to bring great blessing to the nations through them.

So how do we reconcile God’s immutable justice with the mercy He shows to the sins of Israel? How can he thrust aside the evil ones while allowing Israel to go on? We must not forget that our God is unchangeably outside of time. Just because we do not see the implementation of justice does not mean that it will not occur. Israel is not “getting a pass” on their wickedness. The wages of sin is death. Israel will incur discipline for their wandering ways. And ultimately each person will either pay for their sins themselves or the penalty deserved will be placed on Jesus Christ Himself.

That is the point of practical application for all of us this morning. If you know Jesus as Lord, if you see Him for who He truly is, you have been saved and you are not consumed. That is a promise that comes from God Himself, through His Word, and He will be true to that promise. When you come to know Christ, no one can pluck you from the Father’s Hand. In the grand scheme of eternity, you will not be consumed, rather you will be exalted as sons and daughters of God. This is one of the glorious promises of Scripture that God will immutably hold true. Whosoever believeth in Me shall not perish but will inherit eternal life. Praise God for that never-changing truth.

I hope that this point in our sermon this morning, you have been inundated with awe for the glory of God and His immutable character. I intentionally wanted to spend extra time on this verse because it is in being awestruck by the greatness of God that the rest of our text really makes sense. Let’s look to verse 7.

Malachi 3:7 ESV

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?’

In verse 6, we saw how Israel has been a continual recipient of the grace of God. He has not consumed them. God has remained faithful to Israel. Here in verse 7, we are beginning to get more clarity on how Israel has not lived up to their side of the covenant. The Lord says that they have turned aside from His statutes, they have not been keeping His commands. We see at the end of the verse that Israel didn’t recognize that they had drifted from obedience, but before we see how they have specifically drifted, we should all highlight the middle of verse 7. In the midst of the accusation of unfaithfulness, the Lord says this beautiful statement, “Return to me, and I will return to you.”

As Walter Kaiser says "The message of all the previous prophets could be summarized in the single word “return” (Zech. 1:3–4), [this is] the Old Testament word for repentance. The word invites the listeners to turn 180 degrees, reversing their direction. Instead of heading off toward sin, self, and contemporary idols, Israel is urged to turn around and look in faith to the Man of Promise.”

On one level this is heartbreaking, Israel would not have to return to God if they had not left Him. And how dense must they have been to have left the glorious immutable God who delivered them from Egypt?!?

But on the other hand, in this verse is a glorious presentation of the grace of God. And that is in that returning, or repentance is possible! Throughout this whole series we have been looking at a variety of ways Israel has fallen short of glorifying God, we have seen major deficiencies in their worship. We have also been drawing connections to the way we function as a part of God’s church and exposing the inadequacies in our own worship. The encouraging truth in this verse is that by the grace of God, we are enabled to repent! We can return to God! As God’s people, we should be an ever-repenting people! Daily turning from the flesh to the God of our salvation. Understanding the greatness of God, as we have partially done so in considering His immutability, ought to fuel our repentance by inspiring us to serve well our great God who is worthy to be served. Start today!

Let’s look at the particular issue in Israel explained in the next two verses: Malachi 3:8-9

Malachi 3:8–9 ESV

8 Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you.

Israel is charged with robbing God through their tithes and contributions.

A very important principle is laid out in the onset of verse 8. God says, will a man rob God? This is a rhetorical question. In the most literal sense of the phrase, it is impossible to rob God. That is because everything on the earth belongs to God and cannot be taken from Him. Psalm 24:1–2 “1 The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, 2 for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.”

The fullness of the earth belongs to God. Anything that we own is really only subleased from God. He is the owner. He is the one who gives and takes away. He is the one who makes it rain and shine on the just and unjust alike. Everything in life belongs to God. This reality influences ought to influence our giving to the causes of God in two ways. First, when you give to God, you ought to be reminded that He is not the needy beggar whom you look upon with pity as you smugly toss a few coins in the offering plate. The earth is His and the fullness thereof, He is not a beggar. And Secondly, giving to God is not you giving part of your possession away to Him. It’s giving back to God what is already His!

But the Israelites in our text this morning, did not see God this way. They viewed Him less as a Lord and more of an after thought. They were only giving their spare change the unchanging God! The Israelites should have been well aware that they were commanded to give a tithe to the temple of God. Yet, they were unconcerned.

We don’t talk much about the word tithe nowadays. In the simplest of terms, a tithe refers to a tenth of earned income. The Israelites were to bring a tenth of their annual increase to be used for the service of God by the priesthood.

There was a functional purpose for the tithe, in that it provided for the wellbeing of the priests who served in the temple and did not have other means to care for themselves, but ultimately the purpose of the tithe was an act of worship. It was a continual reminder to the Israelite increase that everything that they have is from the Lord. It is a tangible reminder of the truth of Deuteronomy 8:17–18 “17 Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ 18 You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.” Remember God who does not change does not NEED the spare change of the people. Instead, the tithe was to be worship in Israel. It was to be a joy to give a tenth of their increase to God.

But the downtrodden Israelites had lost their joy and spoiled their worship. Instead of being excited to present their first and bests to the Lord they gave the leftovers.

Their lack of giving exposed their lack of faith in God.

They aren’t robbing God in a materialistic sense, but they are robbing Him of His glory, diminishing His greatness, and disrespecting His name.

In a moment I want to talk about how all of this applies to the church today, but first I want to go ahead and show what God says will happen if His people will repent and give in accordance with His command. Read verses 10-12 with me.

Malachi 3:10–12 ESV

10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. 11 I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts. 12 Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.

So far in our section of Scripture we have seen the Greatness of God in His immutability. We have seen how that greatness shows His great worth. We have seen that Israel was not giving God the worth He was due in that they were not tithing as they were commanded to do so. We have seen that repentance is possible. And here we have just read what will happen for Israel should they repent and give to the Lord as He has commanded.

God says to Israel, bring the full 10% of your increase to the the storehouse of the temple, so that the priest and poor may have sustenance. He then says test me on this, and I see the blessings that come to the people of Israel. As a nation, there will be prosperity in the land when as a nation you take the worship of Me seriously, says the Lord.

There is great blessing promised for obedience to God. Now, I do want to note here before we get into the application of tithing and the church today, that this blessing given in our section of Scripture this morning is national. By that I mean there is not a promise to every particular individual that if they gave their ten percent that they would certainly be blessed beyond measure with personal gold. Service to God is never about temporal personal promotion. Nor should it depend on it.

With that in mind, as we wrap this out this morning, let’s consider how the principles of tithing apply to us in the church today.

Robert Morgan once told a joke, he said A $100 bill, a $20 bill, and a $1 bill met up with each other at the shredder at the end of their natural lives. The $100 said, “Well, I’ve had a good life. I’ve seen the whole world. I’ve been on cruises in Caribbean, safaris in Africa, and vacations in Europe.”

The $20 said, “Well, I’ve not done quite as well, but I have been to Atlantic City, Disneyland, and Starbucks.”

They both turned to $1 bill and asked, “How about you?” He said, “Oh, I’ve seen the whole nation from coast to coast. I’ve been from church to church to church… ”

The $100 bill asked, “What’s a church?”

Throughout the sermon we have talked about the greatness of God, particularly in His immutability, and how understanding His greatness informs our obedience. So now we have to ask the question, are Christians, like the Israelites, commanded to tithe. Are we commanded to give a tenth of our increase to the church and thus receive a blessing from the windows of heaven pouring down on us?

In short, my answer to you is no with an asterisk, that is a caveat.

Let me be clear on a few things. Biblically speaking, the giving of a tenth, a tithe so-to-speak predates the giving the of the Law. Abram gives a tenth in Genesis 14:20, Jacob gives a tenth in Genesis 28:22. Further, through the New Testament, Jesus does not condemn the tithing practices of the scribes and Pharisees, but rather says that they SHOULD tithe without neglecting justice.

However, Abram and Jacob’s giving of the tenth are special occasions in the book of Genesis, not the norm. When you closely read through the Law of Moses, there are several tithes with a variety of purposes that would have amounted to roughly 25% of someones income, and they were functioning often as more of a national tax, than a personal offering. Then in the New Testament, in the letters to the early churches defining how they ought to function, there isn’t any mention of the a specific percentage to be given by each individual believer. This “seems strange that Paul did not mention this when he wrote to predominately Gentile churches, which would not be familiar with the Law of Moses.”

We see teaching that God loves a cheerful giver, we see that it is a good thing for church members to combine resources and provide an income for the one who is preaching and teaching the Word, we see a that it is good to combine resources to take care of the needs within the household of faith and to support missionaries abroad. But in the New Testament letters we never see a clearly defined 10% of net or gross income to be delivered to the church on a biweekly basis verse. It’s just not there.

So if we aren’t given a clear and explicit percentage, but we are called to be generous and give to God, how can we ensure that we are not robbing God?

Pastor Steven Cole highlighted and answered this problem well. He said,

People get nervous when you take away that ten percent figure. Somehow, it’s comfortable and simple to give ten percent. But the problem with tithing is that people get the notion that once they’ve paid God ten percent, they’re free to squander the rest on themselves. But I think that God would charge such people, however sincere they may be, with robbing Him.

You may wonder, “If I don’t tithe, then how do I determine how much I’m supposed to give?” The New Testament principle is that God owns it all. We just manage it for Him. The New Testament standard is, give generously and cheerfully “as God has prospered you,” out of gratitude for His indescribable gift of salvation (1 Cor. 16:2; 2 Cor. 8 & 9; Acts 11:29). For those who are very poor, ten percent may represent generous, sacrificial giving. For those who have ample salaries, ten percent may be robbing God.

… Christians ought to live with a wartime mentality, gladly making personal sacrifices in order to advance Christ’s cause. If we expect missionaries to live sacrificially for the sake of the gospel, shouldn’t we hold ourselves to the same standard? If we live in relative luxury while people perish because there aren’t enough funds to get the gospel to them, are we not guilty of robbing God?

Our view on giving to God and His purposes through the service of the local church, ought not to be seeking to find the right number that gives us a the internal freedom to serve our selves with the rest of our bank accounts. We must remember the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof. It’s all His! When we think about giving we ought to do so because we know that God has called us together to serve Him and uses financial means to accomplish His will in the World.

You can never give “enough” to make yourself a “good Christian.”

You can never give enough to buy away the guilt of your sins.

Only Christ can give us His goodness, making us good enough to stand before the immutably Holy God.

Only Christ could pay the cost that our sins owe.

We give to God’s causes because we recognize He is worthy to be served and all that He has given us is ultimately His. I can’t Scripturally give you an exact number. I can say that 10% may be a great place to start, but ultimately I want us all to examine what our intentions are in giving. Is it begrudging obligation, or a gracious response to the grace you have received?

Giving will never be gracious until you have understood what Christ has given for you. If you have questions about what Christ did for sinners, today is the day! Come ask me in this hymn of response. Understand that Christ gave His life for you and that makes anything we give pale in comparison to Him Immutable glory.

Let’s pray.