The Trust Test

Welcome Home

Welcome home to Cross Creek Community Church. Whether you’re here in person or watching online we’re glad you chose to join us today. We stream live every Sunday at 10 am on Facebook @crosscreekfl If you miss the live broadcast or just want a review, the videos are always uploaded to our YouTube page @crosscreekflorida by Monday night.

Opening

Our last three messages focesed on how we steward our spiritual gifts. We looked at the motivational gifts from Romans 12, the manifestation gifts from 1 Corinthians 12, and the ministry gifts from Ephesians 4. Today, we are shifting gears to kick off a new series about stewarding our material gifts, titled “True Riches.” God’s grace toward us is multi-faceted. He calls us to steward everything He has given us - both spiritually and physically - to do His will on earth as it is in heaven.

Let me start by asking you a question: When was the last time you had to take a test? With school starting next week, that word probably makes some our students’ stomachs drop! You immediately think of pop quizzes, scantron sheets (do they still use those?), and late-night cram sessions. For the rest of us, we left formal tests behind in high school or college - aside the occasional hearing test or eye exam.

But the reality is, we never really stop taking tests. Life tests us constantly. Your patience will be tested in traffic the moment you drive out of our parking lot today. Your integrity is tested when the cashier at BREW accidentally gives you too much change. Your character is tested when someone posts something negative about your favorite political candidate on Facebook. Life is full of testing.

Jesus addresses a very specific type of test in Luke 16:11–12, I call it the “Steward’s Test,” He says, “if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you? And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?”

Jesus is showing us the immense importance of handling our finances and being good managers of what we’ve been given. He cares deeply about how we handle our earthly resources because it’s a primary indicator of how we will handle His heavenly resources. He’s saying that if we can’t be faithful with money - which is here today and gone tomorrow - how can He trust us with the true riches of His eternal Kingdom?

Money isn’t just an economic tool; it is a spiritual test.

Introduction

It often surprises Christians to discover just how much the Bible talks about money. In fact, Scripture contains more than 2,300 verses on money, wealth and possessions. Jesus spoke about money in roughly 15% of His preaching, and it featured prominently in 11 of his 39 parables. It was His most frequent topic.

Jesus didn’t speak about money because he was obsessed with it, or because He wanted us to accumulate vast wealth. He spoke about it because He knew that money is fundamentally a heart issue. He knew it’s one of the most common reasons someone chooses not to follow Him.

He warns us of this heart issue in Matthew 6:19-21, saying: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Here is the truth: there is a recurring heart test in the Bible that many believers do not even realize they are taking. And you take this test every single time you get paid.

The moment income lands in your hands, or hits your bank account, a spiritual “pop-quiz” begins. This test has just one simple question: “Who do you thank for your income?” The correct answer isn’t multiple choice, or fill in the blank, it isn’t just a spoken phrase like, “Thank God I got paid.” Your true answer is demonstrated by what you do with the very first part of that paycheck.

If we’re honest, our bank statements show who we really trust with our finances. We give our first fruits to Visa, the mortgage company, or FPL. We treat our material creditors as most important while ignoring our spiritual Provider. But remember: Visa cannot bless your future, protect your family, or anchor your soul. Only God can.

So, that’s the test we’re exploring today: the test of trust that God calls the tithe. This test demonstrates to God that you can be trusted with earthly (and therefore eternal) wealth, and it demonstrates your trust in Him by stewarding that first 10% back to the storehouse of His Bride, the Church.

Let’s pray together as we open our hearts to what God wants to teach us today.

Pray

Body

To understand this trust test, we have to look closely at Malachi 3:6–12 (NKJV). The Lord says:

“For I am the Lord, I do not change; therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.” There is a bit of divine humor here. God is essentially saying , ‘I was merciful then, and I am merciful now. It’s a good thing for you that I don’t change, because otherwise, you would have been wiped out long ago!’

He continues in verse 7: “Yet from the days of your fathers you have gone away from My ordinances and have not kept them.”

An ordinance is simply a principle of ordinary behavior. Just like local cities have ordinances to help people live together peacefully, God’s ordinances are designed so that when we follow them, things go well for us. But God is saying, ‘You have abandoned the normal, healthy principles of behavior meant for My children.’

Then He offers an invitation: “Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of hosts. “But you say, ‘In what way shall we return?’

Pay close attention to this next part. This isn’t something a preacher somewhere made up. This is God, the God who does not change speaking in verse 8: “Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation.”

I know that is incredibly strong language, but let’s look at what follows. Verse 10 says: “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 a blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.”

The Old King James Version says prove Me in this, and the English Standard Version says test Me in this. God says to test him and see if He will not “rebuke the devourer for your sake, so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall your vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field.” Notice how many times He repeats “says the Lord of hosts: in this passage - He is constantly reminding us exactly who is making this guarantee.

He finishes by saying, “And all the nations will call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land,” and one more “says the Lord of hosts.” for good measure.

From this scripture, we see that tithing is a baseline ordinance - an ordinary principle of behavior - for God’s children to show active gratitude for their income, their harvest, and their paycheck... however it comes in.

The Test of the Tenth

The word tithe literally means “a tenth part” or “ten percent.” Throughout Scripture, the number ten consistently represents testing. Think about the patterns:

How many plagues did God send to test Pharaoh’s heart? 10.

How many Commandments did He give to test our moral standard? 10.

How many times were Jacob’s wages changed as a test of dedication? 10.

How many days was Daniel tested in fasting and prayer? 10.

How many virgins are tested while waiting for the bridegroom? 10.

How many days of testing are explicitly mentioned in the book of Revelation? 10.

How many disciples did Jesus have? … no there were 12. I was just testing you!

Many Christians struggle with tithing because they realize that if a specific blessing comes from tithing, then a structural consequence or “curse” must come from withholding it.

As believers under the New Covenant, our immediate reaction is: “We can’t possibly be under a curse! Galatians 3:13 says, ‘Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us.’ That is absolutely true. Jesus bore the ultimate curse in our place so we could be completely free to receive God’s blessing.

However, even though we are free from the eternal curse of the law, temporal consequences still affect our lives when we step outside of God’s design. When a Christian voluntarily walks away from God’s principles, they step out from under His umbrella of protection. By denying His sovereignty in some area of our lives, we open the door to the enemy.

Remember, the enemy was defeated at the cross. He only has the power that we actively give him. He has no legal right to your soul, your health or your finances - but he can gain access if we invite him in through disobedience. Willful sin carries natural consequences. You could call those consequences a curse because they will continue to disrupt your life until you align yourself back with God’s grace.

For example, imagine if you leave church today, get stuck in traffic, lose your temper, and fly into a fit of rage - accidentally ramming the car next to you off the road. Your faith in Jesus has saved your eternal soul from the consequence of anger. However, you still have to walk through the real-world consequences of damaging someone else’s property or worse, harming yourself or the other driver.

Even though the enemy had no inherent right to your vehicle, your health, or your freedom, your willful anger gave him a foothold to wreak havoc. Now you’re dealing with a damaged driving record, expensive tickets, and potential legal issues - possibly even jail time that will restrict the freedom you previously enjoyed in your life. Doesn’t that sound like a curse?

If we continue to sin after being redeemed, we still experience consequences. We know that if we steal, cheat on a spouse, lie, or build idols, there are immediate physical and spiritual repercussions. And what is the single biggest idol that people are tempted to envy, lie, cheat and steal for? You guessed it: money!

This is exactly why the Bible talks about it so much - and it’s also why so many churches avoid talking about it altogether!

The tithe is a practical demonstration of our faith in the promises of God. It proves we trust Him as Sovereign Lord over every single area of our lives. The spirit behind tithing is godly generosity; the spirit behind withholding is anxious self-reliance. Giving releases a blessing, while hoarding keeps us bound. This concept of sowing and reaping is a biblical way of life, and it applies to our spiritual assets just as much as our material ones.

Jesus’ mission was not to rigidly enforce outward ordinances, but to fundamentally transform our hearts. He came to move us away from self-love and toward loving God and loving others. In those two ultimate commandments, the entire law is fulfilled. “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” What we do with our money is the truest demonstration of our love. Do we love God as much as we love our wealth?

Tithing is a structural test of the human heart.

Law vs. Grace

The number one objection Christians bring up today is this: “Malachi 3 is Old Testament law. I’m under grace, so I don’t have to tithe.”

Well I will be the first to tell you - that is absolutely true. You don’t have to tithe. Your salvation is fully secure in Christ if you choose not to, and you’re not a “bad person” if you keep it all. But... I want us to look closely at Scripture to clarify this argument. Even though you are not legally obligated to tithe, here are three compelling reasons you might really want to:

Tithing Predates the Law

Five hundred years before the Law of Moses was ever carved into stone, Abraham gave a tenth of everything to Melchizedek in Genesis 14. The text tells us that Melchizedek, the king of Salem and a priest of God Most High, brought out bread and wine. He blessed Abram saying, “Blessed be Abram of God Most high, Possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” In response, Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

Melchizedek’s name literally means “King of Peace.” He appears in the biblical narrative without a recorded beginning or end - just like Jesus. He serves Abram bread and wine, which is a beautiful foreshadowing of the Communion table. In this way, we think of Melchizedek as a historical type of Christ. This high priest ministered to Abram, blessed him, and Abram willingly gave a tenth of his increase to this high priest.

Hebrews 6:19–20 brings this timeless principle into the New Testament, stating that “Jesus has entered the veil (of heaven) as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” This means that tithing exists before, after and outside of the Law of Moses; isn’t a legalistic rule, it’s a timeless principle of ordinary behavior - a heart-driven act of worship directed straight to our great High Priest.

The second compelling reason you may want to tithe is...

2. Jesus Affirmed It

In Matthew 23:23 Jesus confronts the heart behind religious leaders’ tithe, saying: “...you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.”

Jesus didn’t abolish the tithe, just as He didn’t abolish the law. Instead, He re-centered it on the heart of the giver and the spirit in which it is given. In this spirit, faith overcomes fear, abundance overcomes scarcity, and generosity defeats selfishness every single time.

The third reason you want to tithe is...

3. Grace Raises the Bar

Throughout the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus repeatedly uses the phrase, “You have heard it said… but I say to you...” He consistently takes the external, physical law and applies a higher standard to the human heart. If it was wrong to hold back from God under the rigid law, how much more vital is it to honor Him under grace now that we have been bought by the precious blood of Jesus?

Remember, God doesn’t change. His promises are just as valid today as they were before Christ walked the earth. His ordinances remain His preferred way for His people thrive. We don’t grumble about being told not to coven our neighbor’s spouse, or being commanded to tell the truth, or being forbidden to commit murder. Why do we grumble so much about this one area, especially since we have so much to gain by tithing?

When we chose not to tithe, we voluntarily remove ourselves from the framework God established for our financial protection. Leviticus 27:30 says, “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 word holy means set apart. God has set the first 10% apart as belonging exclusively to Him. If we treat what He calls holy as set apart, we can expect that He will honor it. But if we misappropriate what God calls His, we have to expect both natural and spiritual consequences.

Summary

I want to be incredibly clear: I am not saying that you’re a bad person if you don’t tithe. Many people have simply never been taught this principle, or they assume it has no relevance to them today. This is not an assessment of your value; it’s an issue of your heart.

The true riches of tithing are spiritual treasures in heaven. The tithe as an outward demonstration of an inward shift - moving from an anxious, self-reliant mindset to a peaceful, God-reliant life. It’s an act of worship proving that you’ve overcome the fleshly instinct of self-preservation and truly trust God with your material reality.

When you shift from self-preservation to total reliance on God, the way you handle your treasure shifts from fear to radical generosity. When you take God at His Word, you unlock a new dimension of faith and open a clear channel for His blessing to flow into your entire life - not just your bank account.

The true riches are gained right in the middle of the testing. Remarkably, it’s actually a two-way test! Malachi 3 contains the only moment in all of Scripture where Almighty God explicitly invites His people to test Him. He invites you to step out in faith so He can prove His absolute reliability to you.

(personal story?)

Mere mortals here at church might collect the offering envelopes or process the transactions, but in the spiritual realm, Jesus Christ receives your worship. Hebrews 7:8 (yes, New Testament) reminds us that: “Here mortal men receive tithes, but there He (that is Jesus) receives them of whom it is testified that He lives.”

Closing

When we choose to obey God individually, it changes our personal lives - but it also radically shifts our community corporately. God told Malachi to bring the tithe into the storehouse (that is the church) “so that there may be food in My house.”

Now, hear me clearly: I am not sharing this because our church is in a financial crisis, or because we expect you to pay admission. This church is doing remarkably well, entirely due to your ongoing generosity and those who do believe in tithing. I am not preaching this message from a place of lack. Far from it! I’m preaching this because I don’t want a single one of you to miss out on the spiritual breakthrough that comes with this blessing!

Look at what happened in 2 Chronicles 31:5–10 when King Hezekiah challenged the nation to return to the tithe during a time off economic recession. The text says:

“As soon as the order spread, the sons of Israel provided in abundance the first fruits… and they brought in abundantly the tithe of all… and placed them in heaps... Azariah the chief priest... said, ‘Since the contributions began to be brought into the house of the Lord, we have had enough to eat with plenty left over, for the Lord has blessed His people, and this great quantity is left over.”

When the people did it God’s way, abundance broke out. It started small at first, but then it began to pile up in massive heaps! The piles were so huge, the King worried the people hadn’t kept enough for themselves. But the priest assured him, ‘Don’t worry, King! If you think this 10% storehouse pile is impressive, you should see the 90% God left them with at home!’

In my years of ministry, I have only ever heard two distinct testimonies regarding money. From those who tithe, I hear: “We have been so blessed. Ever since we started putting God first, everything changed, and He has been so faithful to us.” But from those who don’t tithe, I consistently hear: “We just can’t afford to tithe right now. Maybe when things settle down and we can get ahead.”

I feel deeply for people caught in that cycle, because I can see the devourer constantly draining their resources. Every single time they get a little bit ahead, something else breaks down or an unexpected expense hits. But listen closely: you will never feel like you can afford to tithe until you simply start tithing! Once you’re saved by grace, tithing is the practical next step of faith that shifts your life from anxious self-reliance to divine provision. It closes the door on the enemy’s access to your finances and invites the Lord of Hosts, who never changes to rebuke the devourer on your behalf.

His promise in Malachi 3 remains: He will “open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing” so great you won’t have room enough to receive it. He will “rebuke the devourer for your sake,” so your hard work won’t be wasted.

God does not change! He is the Lord of Hosts who keeps His promises. He still honors the test of the tithe. It’s not a tax to fill a church budget; it’s a trust test designed to free our hearts. I know one thing for certain: God will pass when you test Him in this. The only question left is, will you?

My challenge to you this week is simply to take God at His Word. Stop giving Him your financial leftovers. Give Him the first 10% of your very next paycheck, trust Him completely with the remaining 90%, and watch how He opens the windows of heaven over your life.

Please stand as we pray.

Pray (Stand)

Lord, we thank you for your unwavering faithfulness. You are the Lord of Hosts, the God who does not change, and the ultimate Possessor of Heaven and Earth. You provide everything we have, every breath we take, every talent we possess, and every dollar we earn comes directly from Your hand.

Father, we confess where we have allowed fear, anxiety and the pressures of this world cause us to hold tightly to what you have given us. Forgive us for the times we have relied on our own strength instead of trusting in Your sovereignty.

Today, we choose to step out in faith. We choose to honor You with the first fruits of our increase. As we bring our tithes and offerings into Your storehouse today, we do it not out of obligation, but out of deep, overflowing gratitude for Your grace.

We pray over these resources right now. We ask that You take these tithes and offerings and multiply them for the work of Your Kingdom. Let there be abundant food in Your house so that Your Bride, the Church, can continue to be a beacon of hope to this community.

We hold fast to your promises and ask that you open the windows of heaven over every home represented here. Pour out your blessing, rebuke the devourer, protect our families and guard our finances as we anchor our souls in Your everlasting peace.

In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

Benediction

May your lives, your families, and your resources bring glory to the Name of Jesus this week!