Sermon Tone Analysis

Thesis: God has requirements and will bless us if we follow his steps.

Anti-Thesis: We try to cut corners and do things our way and end up with a mess.

Synthesis: God doesn’t change therefore he gives us another change to get it right.

Introduction

— Cooking and not following the process

— Coding and noting following the process

— Building and not following the process

— Getting your hair done and not following the process

Listen this is an important principle for us to get.

Listen brothers and sisters, God what’s your heart.

In.

Gen. when God created Adam and Eve he gave them the free will to chose Him with their hearts, that why He’d allow there to be a “forbidden” tree.

You can’t say you love God with your whole heart if you’ve not had to choose it.

God wants your heart.

God does not ask us to give because God is hurting and in desperate need.

It’s because our heart is so closely tied to our treasure and is after your heart.

This is why the Bible talks about faith about 500xs

Prayer about 500xs

Money over 2000xs

It’s not because God is broke but it’s because God is trying to get your heart to be in the right place.

So tithing is reflective of where your heart is.

And if we are honest this morning some of us love wifi more than we love God....

Our text this morning is tailored to teach us that God blesses us because of our display of love towards Him.

Background

Malachi ministered in the fifth century b.c., about 100 years after Cyrus had issued the decree in 538 b.c. which permitted Jews to return from exile to Judah.The temple has been rebuilt for some time and the worship has become half-hearted.

Most hearts were indifferent or resentful toward God.

Both the priests and the people were violating the stipulations of the Mosaic Law regarding sacrifices, tithes, and offerings.

The people’s hope in God’s covenant promises had started to fade.

I. Stewardship Process

Stewardship is all management and not ownership.

A steward is someone who manages another person’s property, finances, and household.

The steward owns nothing, but is in a position of authority as if he or she is the owner of it.

We are simply stewards or managers of what God has placed in our trust.

Stewardship is a call of God for His people to assist in managing the affairs of the earth with Him.

That has always been His plan from the beginning of creation and it has never changed.

Adam… name the animals

Cain and Able…

We are God’s stewards and we are responsible for managing His property in a way that will please Him.

Everything already belongs to God.

Everything that we have is on loan from God. Don’t believe me.. mess around and die.

We come into the world with nothing and leave with nothing.

The most important principle to keep firmly in mind is to understand whose money we are talking about.

It's not ours.

Everything belongs to God.

God's ownership of everything is a foreign concept to most of us.

We like to think of our money and our possessions.

When we become successful at work or in business, it is because God has allowed us to be successful.

The money we make is actually His and we have to be careful how we spend His money.

Most of you have a distorted view of money.

You feel like the money you have is yours and that God’s money is the portion that you give to the church.

God has a different view.

He owns everything and that includes the money that you claim as your own.

Here’s the stewardship process:

The concept of first fruits is rooted in biblical times when people lived in an agrarian society.

Harvest time was significant because that was when the hard work the farmers had poured into their crops all year began to pay off.

They were literally reaping what they sowed.

God called his people to bring the first yield—the first fruits—from their harvest to him as an offering.

This was to demonstrate the Israelites’ obedience and reverence for God.

It also showed that they trusted God to provide enough crops to feed their family.

Back then, there were plenty of rules associated with making first fruit sacrifices.

They had to be brought to the temple priests.

No other crops could be harvested until after the first fruits were presented.

It was a complex process.

The Hebrew word for first fruit is bikkurim—literally translated to “promise to come.”

The Israelites saw these first fruits as an investment into their future.

God told them that if they brought their first fruits to him, he would bless all that came afterword.

Throughout the OT we will see the highs and lows of God’s chosen people Israel.

God made a covenant.. and agreement to bless them and cause them to be a blessing as long as they followed his process.

God wanted to bless Israel did bless them as long as they kept their part of the convent.

They were suppose to love the Lord with all of their heart.

They were supposed to keep God first in their lives and God blessed them.

But when they stopped following the process… they were concered, and exciled into captivity.

Malachi is writing to people who had been allowed to leave captivity and to rebuild thier city but then they started getting beside themselves and Malichi had to remind them of the stewardship process.

Oh listen my brothers and sisters maybe you are in financial captivity because you stopped following the process.

You didn’t put God first you put everybody and everything before God.

And how you handle what God places in your hand is showing God what kind of steward you are.

And could it be that your failure to follow the stewardship process has resulted in the struggle you have?

II.

Stewardship Problem

Many of us fail to be good stewards because we’ve treated what God has blessed us with as if we own it.

We begin to negotiate with God over what we may or may not give him.

III.

Stewardship Promise

When we are good stewards, God says that He will intrust us with more so much so that the blessings will overflow.

Reflection Question:

Does your treasure show that your heart is to God?

How will you approach stewardship differently after this sermon?

How will your respond when God fulfills His promise towards you?