Testing God’s unchanging faithfulness

Malachi 3:6-15

Good morning, church family!

I want to thank you all for your prayers last week. I got hit with a rough sickness that had me unable to get out of bed for a couple of days. But I am back on my feet again, thank the Lord!

I also want to thank Pastor Mike for coming back to led this congregation again. Was it nice to see him again?

God is so good and I am thankful!

This week, Candace and I are asking for your prayers. We are leading the evening VBS in Columbia Tuesday- Friday. Would you pray for our strength, energy and the right words to say?

Would you pray that many kids would give their lives to Jesus this week?

With the Boys and Girls Club VBS in the mornings, there are over 200 kids coming to hear about God loving messy people. But He doesn’t leave them there!

Many of these kids are unchurched and this is one of the only times that they will hear about Jesus!

So, we need your prayers!

I need you to hear me say something, this morning. The Lord is showing me that we as a church are going to be as strong as our prayer lives.

If we want to be a strong church, a church that grows, a church that leads people to Christ, a church that reached this community with the gospel, a church that disciples people into strong faiths,

we can not do it without prayer. Its simply not going to happen if we aren’t praying.

Our 8pm prayer is 60 seconds a day, asking God for His glory to be revealed to and through this church.

Our Monday night prayer meetings are essential to current health and future plans of this church.

If we want a mediocre, luke-warm church, we won’t pray.

But if we desire to make a dent and take a chunk out of the kingdom of darkness in this city, then we have to be a praying church!

If we crumble as a church, it will be because we aren’t praying.

So, I pray that this reinvigorates your drive to pray at 8pm, do not grow weary!

I pray that this will stir your hearts to join us on Monday night for prayer. We keep it at an hour and it have never regretted being there.

Let’s pray now, for this passage of scripture to speak to our hearts and lives.

Malachi 3:6–7 ESV

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

Vs 6-7 The unchanging God

The truth about God that He does not change is one of the simplest, yet foundational truth that we can lean on.

Our God doesn’t change. He is no loving one day and vengeful the next.

When you pray in the morning, you don’t have to wonder what mood God is in, like a human.

You don’t have to ask, “Is He patient today?”

“I hope He is forgiving this morning.”

“Does He want to talk with me today?”

Our God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow and everything about Him is beautiful, approachable, loving and full of mercy and grace.

God doesn’t have days that He get out of bed on the wrong side.

He is constant and steady. That is a foundational truth about God and it is a solid foundation to build your life and relationship with Him off of.

God if faithful, steadfast, consistant, the same every day.

In this verse, the steadfastness of the Lord, His patience is the only reason that the Hebrews haven’t been destroyed.

His faithfulness to His own word is what stayed the hand of the Lord. He made a covenant to Himself while Abraham took a nap that He would bless the world through this line of people. And to not consume them is solely because of God’s faithfulness, not their faithfulness to Him.

Over and over again through all of their generations have at some point turned away from the statues of the Lord and rebelled against Him.

But even now, even after revealing how hard their hearts were. How they are continuing in the line of their fathers by rebelling against the Lord. God is offering them repentance.

His promise is like the prodigal son’s father, return to me and I will return to you. If I see you coming, I’ll run out to meet you.

Its been said that it doesn’t matter how many steps you take away from the Lord, it only takes one to be back in His presence. One step towards Him.

Repentance is required for the Lord’s presence and for His glory to be revealed.

The difficult, simple truth is, the more we repent and turn to Him, the more He will speak and reveal Himself to you and to us as a church!

Prideful, self-righteous hearts will not open doors for the Lord.

Isaiah 66:1-2 But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.

How do you need to return?

Malachi 3:8 ESV

Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions.

Vs 8 Robbing God

First and foremost, we have to shift our perspective on the blessings and good things in our lives.

James 1:7, “Every good and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”

Pride wants to shout from the rooftops, “Look what I got! Look at what I accomplished! Look at what I achieved! Look at what I worked for!”

A humble Biblical world view says that everything is the Lord’s. Everything in my life is a gift from God. I have no claim in ownership, but I am but a steward of all that I have.

A few weeks back we talked about blind and lame offerings to the Lord. Giving Him the left overs of our time, the leftovers of our efforts, the leftovers of our lives.

This passage is making sure that we understand that giving God the honor and reverence due to His name also includes your money…EVERYTHING that we have is a gift from God and He deserves the best of what He has given us!

The priority of our time, the priority of our love and devotion, and the priority of where and how we spend our money!

The issue here with the Jewish people is, remember two weeks, they were looking at the prosperity of the wicked people and they were jealous of what they had and were able to do.

Therefore, they prioritized spending their money on things that they wanted and wanted to do rather than give God a tithe from what He blessed them with! And they gave the Lord the leftovers after satisfying their desires.

It was a “them first mentality” and maybe God gets what’s left. It was reaching in their pockets on Sunday and tossing in a few singles.

We are not much better today.

We too look to those in the world wishing we had what they have and question what we would have to sacrifice in doing the things that we love to give God a tithe.

Tithe

The word tithe literally means tenth. The first instance of tithing the Bible is in Gen 14 when Abram rescued Lot and gave a 10th of his spoils to Melchizedek, who some say was a pre-incarnant Jesus.

The Book of Leviticus (Leviticus 27:30-32) and Deuteronomy outline a system of tithing for the Israelites. This involved giving a tenth of their agricultural produce, livestock, and income to support the Levites, who served as religious leaders and had no land inheritance.

Tithing in the Old Testament was a way to acknowledge God's provision, support the religious system, and care for the needy. 

Jesus in His ministry affirms tithing in Matthew 23:23 (read passage)

Matthew 23:23 ESV

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.

Also, Jesus points to tithing as more than a religious duty or action when He taught about the widows offering. Jesus cares more about the heart of submission and the faith in His promises than the action itself.

Mark 12:43–44 ESV

And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

Tithing was and is something that Lord commands His people to do. But He warns against mindless, heartless, prideful tithing.

Don’t tithe and think that you can neglect other areas of obedience!

Don’t tithe and think that it earns you more credit or worth in the church.

Here in a minute we will talk about God’s promises that are attached to tithing.

But first let me say this, CCMP, I am not preaching this sermon to raise funds or to spur you into giving more tithe.

You all are faithful givers! You consistently tithe and it is a massive blessing! So, from my heart, well done!

If you are not giving tithe, then I would challenge you to see through the rest of this passage, why God tells us to tithe.

God does not need your money. But the Lord asks us to hold our money with open hands before Him because He knows how easily it is for money to become an idol in our lives.

Whether we have a lot or little, the Bible talks a lot about money because our pursuit of it or our love of it can lead to all kinds of evil.

So, the Lord instructs us to be constantly giving it way so that we won't worship at the alter of money and be consumed by the temptation of it.

Contributions

offering, gift, i.e., what is given or set aside as a special, voluntary contribution to a person, deity, or cause in worship, either a whole of something or a part

An offering is a gift given above and beyond the tithe.

The tithe is specifically for the function of the church. An offering is above and beyond that.

Luke 12:33–34 “Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

Hebrews 13:16, “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.”

Generosity is undeniably a staple of what marks a person to be a Christian! Or at least it should be!

We have been talking a lot about offerings and sacrifices to the Lord and He is saying that when you share what you have, when you are generous with what God has given to you, it is a pleasing offering to the Lord.

He is pleased with you.

Giving offerings to others above and beyond tithe, to give sacrificially is one of the greatest acts of love. To put the needs of other above your own is loving other more than yourself!

That is the 2nd greatest command!

But remember what the Lord is saying in this passage, if you aren’t tithing or giving an offering to the Lord or others, God says you are robbing Him. Taking what already belongs to Him and keeping it for yourself.

Malachi 3:9 ESV

You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you.

Vs 9 Blessings means you have what you need, not what you want.

Here the Lord is echoing the same language and promise that He issued in chapter 1 vs 14.

The Lord promises blessings to us for obedience to His will and commands.

The opposite is true if we are disobedient to His will and commands.

The Lord is going to make two things clear over the coming passages.

If you tithe and give generously to others, God promises blessing to you.

If you do not tithe or give generously, God promises the opposite, a curse upon you.

Here is the thing about blessings and curses. God curse is not like a spell He cast. God is basically saying, if you don't trust me, it's not going to work out for you. Things won't go your way.

But listen, just because your give doesn't mean you're going to be overflowing with money!

Blessed means you have what you need. It doesn't mean you get all that you want.

Malachi 3:10 ESV

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,

Vs 10 “put me to the test”

starts with the command to give the full tithe to church that there may be food in the house.

Now this is not talking about physical food for us but spiritual food. In order for there to be spiritual food offered in this church, there needs to be funds. All of this cost money. In order for your team of leaders to provide you and your kids with spiritual food, there is a physical cost that helps us to do that better and more effectively.

In the middle of vs 10 is an odd statement, that seems to contradict other scripture.

Deuteronomy 6:16 says, “you shall not put the Lord your God to the test,”

Jesus quotes this verse while being tempted by satan in the wilderness.

So, we have one verse that says, do not test the Lord, and another verse that the Lord is saying test me.

What is the difference between the two?

The Hebrew word is Deut, means to do something to try to find the true nature of something.

The Hebrew word in Malachi means to learn the genuiness of an object by examination.

Jesus is brought to the top of the temple’s tower and satan tempts Jesus to jump to prove that God will rescue Him. He is saying intentionally put yourself in harms way to put God on trial to see if He really is who He says He is.

There is a seed and motivation of doubt to try to prove God wrong or a liar. In this instance, Jesus said, you shall not test the Lord your God. Do not test God to try to prove that He is a liar.

Now, here is Malachi, it is the Lord offering a promise for obedience.

He never commanded Jesus or us to jump from high places to see if God will send angels to catch us!

But He is commanding us to give a tithe and offering!

The Lord is saying, “I am faithful, you know that. Now take a step of faith with your money and and trust that I will keep my promises!”

Look, every step of faith, every action in obedience to God commands is in some way trusting or testing the faithfulness of God!

Testing and trusting God to keep His promises with a heart of growing you faith in Him is absolutely something that the Lord wants us to do.

But we are not called to intentionally put ourselves directly in harms way apart from His intruction to, with a heart of doubting God or looking for Him not to come through so that we can point at Him and say, “See! You are not who I thought you were!”

Doubt is testing God hoping that He will fail to prove your doubtful thoughts right about God.

But obedience to His commands that feels risky, is an opportunity to see God keep His promises.

And He says, “put my faithfulness to the test with your obedience to my commands.”

Vs 10 continues with the promise of His faithfulness that He is asking us to step out into.

Malachi 3:10–12 ESV

if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. 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. Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.

Read vs 10-12 Open up the windows of heaven

“Pour down blessings until there is no more need”

For one second can we look past ourselves when we are talking about money. This is not a promise for your needs only. This is a promise for the needs of those around you. The needs of your church and the needs of those God has placed around you!

We are meant to be conduits of blessings and provision.

A conduit is something that allows electricity to flow through it into something else.

If you hear this promise and think, “If i give big this time, God will bless me with more for me! I will be rich!” That is the wrong perspective and God will not bless you.

If you are testing God’s faithfulness for your own blessing, then you are misguided. You are trying to prove God wrong.

However, if you see yourself as a conduit of God’s blessing, a steward of His gifts, you will with confidence step out in faith, knowing that God will be faithful to meet your needs and the needs of those around you!

AND THEN when He is faithful, you have more to share and bless others with, then God will keep these promises!

This is a solid Biblical teaching that continues into the NT.

Luke 6:37–38 give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.””

2 Corinthians 9:6–7 “The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

1 John 3:16–18 “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”

Give to others not with the expectation that God will give you more to horde for yourself, but with the anticipation that the more God gives you, the more your needs and the needs of others around you are met!

However, generosity includes so many things and so many areas!

Some of the most generous people I know are generous with their time! Or they are generous with their work or efforts.

God has gifted people with talents, gifts, skills and abilities that can help others in ways that financial giving can’t or falls short of the intended goal of bring us closer together.

There are a lot of people out there that can write a check. But to give of our most valuable resource, our time, can be much more impactful and meaningful to the kingdom of God.

But we are called to give both! Money and time!

The first question challenge question for you to pray on after this morning is

Challenge Question #1 “Which kingdom do I value the most?”

There is the earthly kingdom of material stuff. And there is the heavenly kingdom of eternal stuff.

We understand the difference between the two.

The question is, is your value system in life build off of earthly things or eternal things?

An example in my life, is there are literal days that I have to remind myself that the work that is done in this church, that the work that is being done on Sunday morning at 9 am connect group, the work being done in the 10:30 service, the work that is being done on Monday night prayer meetings, the work being done in the Tuesday night men’s study, sometimes I have to literally remind myself that there is value in the heavenly kingdom in that work and it is more valuable then the work that I could be doing in the physical world of making a lot of money.

It is an intentional mindset that has to be switched. I have to choose to value God’s kingdom work higher than physical world work.

It takes intentionally switching your value system to force your flesh to see that the work that is being done in spiritual world matters way more in the long run than the temporary happiness that comes from physical pleasures.

Its not an easy switch and I can often drift back into that mindset.

Jesus said, no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.

When you surrender to the Lord and switch your value system from things of this world to things in heaven, if you are constantly looking back at your old life, or the lives of those who have not switched their value system, that is an open door for jealousy, envy, and coveting.

Malachi 3:13–15 ESV

“Your words have been hard against me, says the Lord. But you say, ‘How have we spoken against you?’ You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts? And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape.’ ”

Vs 13-15 What’s in it for me?

Malachi 3:13–15 NLT

“You have said, ‘What’s the use of serving God? What have we gained by obeying his commands or by trying to show the Lord of Heaven’s Armies that we are sorry for our sins? From now on we will call the arrogant blessed. For those who do evil get rich, and those who dare God to punish them suffer no harm.’ ”

These verses show the kind of heart set that is asking the question, what’s in it for me?

Its where is my blessing for me because I gave you what you asked. “It is vain to serve the Lord. What profit…”

“What’s the use of serving God? What have we gained?”

Again, their hearts are revealing that their actions may look okay but their hearts are greedy for physical comforts and pleasures. They valued physical over spiritual.

“walking as in mourning”

“trying to show… that we are sorry for our sins,”

What do I get in return for trying to show you that I’m sorry for my sins?

Even in confession and trying to be broken over their sins, they are looking on the back in and expecting physical rewards or blessings from it.

Is that really repentance?

Is it repentance to turn back to God only in the hopes that He will show you favor in the physical blessings of this world?

Is it truly humility to expect rewards for telling God you’re sorry?

And then in fake humility and selfish repentance look at the lives of those not following God and get mad at God for their prosperity and wealth.

These folks went further than that and looked at all of the fun the lost were having and calling them blessed and prosperous!

Look we can fall into that same mindset.

We can look at those in these world not following Jesus and say, man they look like they are having all the fun!

They have all the great toys, the great vacations, they don’t have rules to follow, they can live life to the fullest and become jealous of their supposed blessings and prosperity and in our hearts ask the same question.

What am I really getting out of this relationship with God?

Look, if you enter into a relationship with God or with anyone asking the question, “what’s in it for me?”, you are starting off on the wrong foot.

The fact that God has created us and saved us is greater than anything we have ever earned or deserved.

Let us not being like these people and look up at God and ask, “God, what have you ever done for me?”

Because if your are in Christ, His answer will be, “Well, I’ve kept you out of hell for eternity, isn’t that enough?”

The Lord is revealing in this passage, that the hardened heart asks these kinds of questions.

But He is not simply revealing our hearts, He sent Jesus to give us a new heart.

We must confess the areas of our hearts that are hard.

We must “return to Him and He will return to you.”

Challenge question #2 “Lord, how do I wish my life was more like the lost?”

Our God is unchanging and that is a sure foundation to base our lives and faith off of.

No matter how far away from the Lord you get, he says return to be and I will return to you.

Our God is trustworthy and faithful to those who give of their time, efforts, talents and finances with a mindset on His kingdom and being conduits of God’s blessing to other around us.

And let us remember that we deserve nothing from the Lord including salvation. But He everything we have is a gift from our Father above. Who is unchanging.

Let us pray.

The question is, what are you going to do about it?

Out of the resources that God has blessed you with are you going to give a tenth as a tithe to the church?

Are you going to go over and above your tithe and give offerings of finances, time, gifts, talents and abilities to others?

Are you going to step out in faith and watch how God blesses you in your giving so that you can give even more?

How is the Lord asking you to give or be generous to others?

Do you have the faith that God is going to keep His promises?

Are you going to let the Lord search your heart to reveal, why are you following Him?

Is it because its what you parents did?

Is it because you want His blessings and provision?

Or is it because you want Him?