God Calms Our Financial Fears based on Malachi 3:6-10

Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

There’s a legend from India that tells about a mouse who was terrified of cats until he met a magician who agreed to turn him into a cat. That resolved his fear until he met a dog, so the magician changed him into a dog. The mouse-turned-cat-turned-dog was content until he met a tiger. So, once again, the magician changed him into what he feared most; now he was a lean, mean, fighting machine, a tiger! But when the tiger came complaining that he had met a hunter, the magician refused to help. He said, “I will make you into a mouse again, for though you have the body of a tiger, you still have the heart of a mouse.”

Sound familiar? So often we build an impressive outside. We have the body of a tiger, but inside we have the heart of a mouse. And frequently our mouse-like fears overtake us when we think about money. And I speak from personal experience!

On the outside we look so confident. We flash our credit card, make those electronic transfers, talk to those investment specialists; but on the inside we know that when we think about money and savings and bills and retirement and cars, at one time or another we’ve all had the heart of a mouse.

We wonder how the crops will turn out this year. We wonder what the prices for those crops will be. We wonder about having enough money in retirement. We are unsure about the rising cost of living and being able to afford the things we like to buy in life.

How can we live in a financial world and not have financial fears overwhelm us? How can we get rid of our mouse-like hearts and face financial challenges with the heart of a tiger?

Malachi provides answers for us.

FINANCIAL FEARS ARE UNREASONABLE.  “For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.” (Malachi 3:6) The promise God made to provide for Abraham when he was on Mt. Moriah, getting ready to sacrifice his son, Isaac—that promise hasn’t changed. The promise God made to provide for Israel after they left their slavery in Egypt—that promise hasn’t changed. The promise God made to provide for Paul in his missionary journeys—that promise hasn’t changed.

FINANCIAL FEARS ARE UNHELPFUL. “From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them.” (Malachi 3:7) Financial fears tempt us to turn aside from God’s rules, his wisdom, and his will. Then what? We run after financial short cuts and financial dishonesty. In the long run, does that ever help?

FINANCIAL FEARS ARE UNBELIEVING. “Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions.” (Malachi 3:8) Rob God? What? That makes no sense. God doesn’t own my money. I do. Malachi has things all wrong. There’s no way I could ever rob God.” You think? Think again. Psalm 24:1 states, “The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein.” Who owns the earth? God does. Who owns the fulness of the earth? God does. God owns everything and God wants us to manage his money. Do we believe this? Or do our financial fears get the best of us and, when we consider our money, we are no different than an unbeliever?

HOW DO WE OVERCOME FINANCIAL FEARS? WE TITHE OUR INCOME. “Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.” (Malachi 3:10) I know, someone is saying, “Tithing! No way!  That’s in the Old Testament, I’m living in New Testament times!” And you are right. In Christ we are free to give 5%, 10%, 15%. The main thing is not how much we have, the main thing is our attitude about money and possessions.

I remember watching a movie on TV with my mom a number of years ago. In the movie based on a true story, seventy-three-year-old Iowa resident Aldin Straight needed to go see his ailing brother, who lived a little outside of Iowa in Wisconsin. Aldin did not feel as though he could drive himself; he could not read road signs when he drove faster than twenty miles per hour. And there was no one who could drive him to his brother’s house. So Aldin Straight did what he could. He rode his lawn mower 240 miles across the state of Iowa to be with his brother in Wisconsin.

What am I saying?  I’m saying; do what you can. Give a portion of your income in regular offerings. Every time we give to our church we are reminded that money is not our god. We give a portion of our income to remind ourselves that life is greater than money. We give offerings as an act of faith, trusting that our God will take care of us. We refuse to be possessed by our possessions!

TEST THE LORD. “Put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts.” (Malachi 3:10) You might remember the evil one tempting Jesus and Jesus responding, “It is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” (Matthew 4:7) This is the only time in the Bible when God tells people to test him. Now, this is risky!  “What if … What if … What if?”

When the Declaration of Independence was signed by 56 men, they knew that they were putting their lives on the line. They risked everything. They knew that if the revolutionary forces didn’t win, everything they owned was at stake. They pledged their lives, their land, their fortune and their sacred honor.

They didn’t know the outcome of the war. We do! Let me be as clear as possible. The enemies plotted against Jesus. The odds were against Jesus. The nation disowned Jesus. The government arrested Jesus. The soldiers crucified Jesus. The Father turned away from Jesus.

BUT … The grave was no match for him. The enemies could not hold him. The Father vindicated him. The disciples saw him—alive, with a body, a body glorified, but still showing the scars. Jesus Christ died. Jesus Christ is risen. Jesus Christ will come again. He did this all for you, for me, for us.

We know the outcome of that war!

God says, test me with your money. Invest in this church. Be generous. Be faithful. Luther writes in in his commentary on Romans: “Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace, so sure and certain that the believer would stake life itself on it a thousand times.”

TRUST GOD’S CARE. “I will open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.” (Malachi 3:10) That verse reminds me of another narrative account in the Old Testament of the Bible in 2 Kings 7. The king of Syria with his huge army besieged the city of Samaria in Israel during the days of the prophet, Elisha. The people in Samaria eventually became close to starving to death. The king wanted to cut off Elisha’s head. 2 Kings 7:1–2 tells us, “But Elisha said, ‘Hear the word of the Lord: thus says the Lord, Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.’ Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned said to the man of God, ‘If the Lord himself should make windows in heaven, could this thing be?’ But he said, ‘You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it.’” Later, four men with leprosy who were outside the city gates went to look for food. When they came to the place where the Syrian army had been, they found all kinds of food and possessions. The Lord had scared the Syrian army with a threat that another army was coming their way and they ran for their lives leaving everything behind. When the men went back to tell the people of Samaria, the people stampeded out of the city and trampled the captain of the king of Israel who was at the city gate. Elisha’s prophetic words came true.

There is a direct relationship in the Bible between what we do with money and the spiritual depth in our life. That is clear in passage after passage in the Bible. How we use money; how we spend money; how we save money; how we give money—this all directly effects the amount of spiritual blessing that God can trust us with. Jesus put things this way: “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.” (Luke 6:38)

Now, we can refuse to believe God will take care of us and live in fear. Or, we can listen to this wise prophet of yesteryear; TITHE, TEST and TRUST.  That’s Malachi.

Jesus puts it this way in Matthew 6:33, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.” Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.