Time to Party

I was surprised by a phrase in verse 9 of our text for today - We are in Malachi 3:6-12 .

Malachi 3:9 says:

Malachi 3:9 ESV

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

The whole nation of you are cursed, the Lord says.

That means that those who are followers of Yahweh and those who are not followers of Yahweh.

They all - both groups - are cursed because the followers of Yahweh are ungrateful children.

That’s got to ring up a thought in your head.

What would the United States look like if the Christian Church in America was convinced and grateful knowing that every blessing we have comes straight from God’s hand?

When you drill down a bit, we were almost founded on that principle.

Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Just to be clear - this is not a Christian document - it isn’t inspired scripture.

Referencing a creator is good - but it’s theism, it’s not Christianity.

That means Jefferson and the writers recognized that there is a Creator God who established a natural order and a common grace for all people.

It’s not un-Christian - it’s just not Christian but it is incredibly insightful.

In just a few short words, Jefferson captured the hearts desire of most all people living and dead.

“We have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

It’s what we all want.

Where do these rights come from?

While it feels like our current leader elites want us to believe government grants us our rights, Jefferson and the men who signed the Declaration said our rights are given by our Creator.

Unalienable - they cannot be given away or taken away.

These rights belong to each person, given only by God - and as the wedding vows say, “What God hath joined together, let no man separate.”

But there is a problem here for the Christian.

We do not believe in a generic “Creator” who endowed us with these unalienable rights.

We know this Creator is Yahweh, referred to in Malachi as the Lord of Hosts.

It was not some nameless, generic force - and as yet to be named entity.

It was, is and always will be, Yahweh.

And His purpose and our main point for today is this: The Lord wants to bless His people with life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Malachi 3:6–12 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?’ Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. 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. 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.

We’ve been studying Malachi for a few weeks and if you’ve caught any of the messages you know there is a common refrain - these folks are not on God’s nice list.

They think they are doing all of the right things, but the story of Malachi is a back and forth of “we’re following everything you said,” and God saying, “no, you’re not.”

Verse 6 is a bit humorous to me.

They’ve accused God of not keeping His word - they said He didn’t keep His promise to make them a great nation.

And right here God says, “You’d better we glad I am faithful and I don’t waver, because if I did, you’d be toast.”

The Lord says, “Because I don’t change, I don’t wipe you out - not that you don’t deserve it.”

Have you ever messed up and as the words leave your mouth, you know you messed up?

Everyone has - you might as well admit it.

Now, do you remember that feeling you had when you did it?

That’s the feeling that ought to be here.

The Lord says that as far back as they can see - that’s what “from the days of your fathers” means - they have turned aside from Him.

For as long as I can remember - that’s a good phrase and it explains us perfectly.

We get on fire - we follow the Lord with all of our strength and all of our mind and all of our soul and all of our heart.

But some beautiful bauble gets dangled in front of us and we go follow shiny.

It’s the six hour drive that takes 10.

You’re in a hurry to get there, but there were just so many things to stop and see along the way.

You turn aside from the path.

It’s not really deliberate in the sense you set out to do it - it just happens.

The people started doing right - but then they didn’t - and things didn’t turn out like they expected.

Surprisingly enough, what the Lord says will make them happy is for them to give some of their stuff to Him.

They are kind of incredulous - we barely have enough to get by and you want what?

But the Lord is unwavering - you don’t bring the tenth so you are under the curse.

A tithe is defined as a tenth part of every thing you earn in a given you - and it is God’s expectation.

In fact, He says that 10th belongs to Him and when they don’t give it, they are robbing from Him.

They are taking what is His.

So, verse 9 - they are cursed with a curse - literally they’re cursed with the curse - it refers back to Deuteronomy 28 and the curses God levies on Israel disobeying him.

But it’s not just the unfaithful church people who get cursed - their unfaithfulness - listen - their unfaithfulness causes the entire nation to be cursed.

What does it mean to be cursed?

It means no one gets what God wants to give to them.

It’s not necessarily that He sends affliction, he simply withholds what He wants to give them.

And God doesn’t give it, until they quit doing it their way and they start following the Lord.

But when they do follow, there is an interesting turn of a phrase here that the New International translation picks up best.

“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.”

See the word floodgates - it’s not used much in the Bible - but one place it is used is with Noah and the Ark.

When the rains started, the Lord opened the “floodgates” and so much water came that the entire world was flooded.

The Lord uses the same word here and the idea is the same.

Now listen - when we follow the Lord, when we convinced and grateful to know that everything we have is a blessing from God and we cheerfully give Him what is His, He will join us in that celebration and will “throw open the floodgates” and bless us so big that we’ll almost have too much.

The actual image is the Lord will give us so much that He will run out of things to give - there won’t be anything left for us to have because we will have it all already.

And, AND, because of God’s lavish blessings, the world will see us and will know that our God is the one true and living God who cares for His people - because they see that - they will have a chance to join Him too and be saved.

That ought to be a bit of a brain bender.

God wants to bless us more than we can ask or think, not only to lavish His love on us, but to lavish His love on all who will come to Him.

The blessing thing becomes the “Give Jesus” part of our mission statement.

Now, with this text, the lavish blessings of God are inextricably tied to His people tithing.

That’s giving a 10th portion of every drop of income to the places the Lord tells them to give them.

Now listen to me - I’m going to throw you a major curve ball.

This text has been used by every preacher alive to tell their congregations that they have a responsibility to tithe - and we do.

I know some will argue that we are in New Testament times so we aren’t under the law so we don’t have to tithe and I’ll grant you that.

But then you must grant me the fact that the New Testament tells us to give generously and take care of every need we see.

And since that’s kind of a nebulous and huge thing, a good place to start is with what Jews and Christians alike have followed for millennia - when we show our conviction and gratitude to God for our blessings, 10% is a great starting place.

Now - here’s the curve ball - every time I’ve heard someone preach tithing, the argument made is because God said you should.

If you don’t, you are robbing from God and you and your nation will live under a curse.

But why?

Why is it so important to the Lord that His people are so convinced and grateful of His blessings that they cheerfully and gratefully tithe 10% to him?

There is an answer.

It’s in black and white and I don’t know I’ve ever heard it preached.

Turn in your Bibles to Deuteronomy 14:22 - we’ll look at verses 22 - 29 right quick.

Deuteronomy 14:22–26 ESV

“You shall tithe all the yield of your seed that comes from the field year by year. And before the Lord your God, in the place that he will choose, to make his name dwell there, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always. And if the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, when the Lord your God blesses you, because the place is too far from you, which the Lord your God chooses, to set his name there, then you shall turn it into money and bind up the money in your hand and go to the place that the Lord your God chooses and spend the money for whatever you desire—oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves. And you shall eat there before the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household.

So, what did this just say - a proper response for us right now is to have our jaws hanging to the floor.

Take 10% of everything you own.

Take it before the Lord - as you bring it know that God is with you.

Take it to the place he says to the place where - listen - he wants to make His name dwell there.

He wants this building, this edifice, the First Baptist Church of Gray, to be a place where people KNOW that His name dwells there.

And when you get there, with your tithe, He wants you to throw the biggest church party that you can think of.

Listen - and freak out.

He tells them - whatever your appetite craves - oxen, sheep, wine - hold tight - strong drink - fried chicken, biscuits and gravy, fried catfish, sweet and oniony hushpuppies, steak, shrimp, lobster - strawberry ice cream on strawberry shortcake - whatever your appetite craves.

And you feast and party - you and your family and the Lord.

Listen - before we do the next verse - when we had our Big Church Party at the end of the last church year, do you realize now why it had this crazy special feel to it?

It’s because the Lord - listen to me - the Lord was taking delight in His children having a party in His honor at the place where He wants people to know His name dwells there.

The Lord was partying with us.

Guys, next week - the Not So Scary Grayberry Spectacular - we are taking a sizable amount of your and my tithe money and we are pouring it out into a giant party for the community.

What should we expect?

I expect it to have a crazy special feel to it because the Lord is going to take delight in His children having a party in His honor at the place where He wants people to know His name dwells and He will be partying with us.

It’s not that the church celebrates us - it’s that the church celebrates US - Jesus said this:

John 17:22–23 ESV

The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

But wait, there’s more: Deuteronomy 14:27

Deuteronomy 14:27 ESV

And you shall not neglect the Levite who is within your towns, for he has no portion or inheritance with you.

I like this part best because the Lord says, make sure you invite the preacher.

Now here’s the short version of a long story.

Everyone in Israel could own property except the Levites - the preachers.

God wanted them to be totally dependent on Him so they could model that dependence to His people.

So for the Levites, if the people did not bring their tithes, they didn’t eat.

But - now think about this - when everyone brought their tithes, there was more than enough for just one giant Big Church Party.

So the excess was given to the temple for the Levites to live on - it was essentially their salary if you want to use those terms.

So make sure you include the preacher in the Big Church Party.

But wait - there’s more.

Deuteronomy 14:28–29 ESV

“At the end of every three years you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in the same year and lay it up within your towns. And the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance with you, and the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your towns, shall come and eat and be filled, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do.

For them, every three years, stay home and put your tenth in your local church.

They had the temple they were supposed to go to.

Then they had their local synagogues.

And at the local synagogues, they were to lay up one year’s tithe to make sure the preacher, all of the people passing through, orphans, widows with no families, all of what we would term the “less fortunate” - well, our tithes would make them fortunate.

And because we came to the Lord convinced and grateful that He has provided for us all that we have and we graciously gave a tenth portion to Him and His heart - listen “the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do.”

Because He is faithful and He has taught us to be faithful - because we are convinced of His faithfulness and we are so very grateful for His lavish provision so we honor Him with a Big Church Party and we make sure the people He hurts for - the less fortunate - have what they need.

Listen, He will open the floodgates of lavish blessings on the nation - all of His people and the blessings will overflow to the rest of the nation.

Because the Church of Jesus Christ is convinced and grateful and they show it by cheerfully giving.

Bet that didn’t see that coming.

You see, The Lord wants to bless His people with life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

One of the reasons - maybe a primary reason - our nation and our state is suffering is because the Church of Jesus Christ has turned aside from following the Lord.

What do we say when a baseball scoots under the glove of a man getting paid millions of dollars to play a game?

He took his eye off the ball.

When you take your eye off the ball in sports, you most always end up making an error.

The Church large - and the church here - we - individually - we’ve taken our eyes off the ball - we’ve turned aside.

And the nation suffers.

Think with me - when you are on a 6 hour trip that has turned into a 10 hour trip and you need to be somewhere at a certain time, what do you do?

You quit taking side trips and you focus on the goal, right?

You no longer turn aside.

You commit to the goal.

Repenting means commit to the goal.

We need to realize that “doing the best we can” to scrape by and we just don’t have any left to give - we are actually robbing God, is how He puts it.

Didn’t you hear - the Lord’s heart is to lavish blessings on us - just like a good parent’s heart is to lavish blessings on their children.

The Lord truly wants each of us to have life, liberty and happiness.

And He wants us to have it in such abundance, that other people will see it and crave it and Find Jesus because of it.

Again, repenting means we turn to the Lord with such trust that we tell Him we don’t care how this thing turns out.

I will trust you Lord to be faithful and full of mercy.

Give me what you will and I will be satisfied.

I will follow you and I will count on you.

Our goal is not to be blessed - our goal is to follow the Lord.

But the Lord will bless us and when we give generously, people will see our generosity of things and heart and His blessings of things and heart and they want they want to be a part of the team.

Who, but the most corrupt people alive would not want to be a part of that?

Who would not want to follow a Lord whose very heart is thrilled to see His children partying with Him.

One last point - the Lord isn’t asking us to do anything He didn’t do first.

The Lord has always understood our plight.

And while our sinfulness stinks in His nose, His heart breaks for us.

I think of a child trapped in addiction who does anything and everything for their next score.

Their sin makes their parents sick to their stomach - but the parent’s heart breaks for their child at the same time - they want their baby saved.

The Lord felt that way about us.

Isaiah 53:10 CSB “Yet the LORD was pleased to crush him severely. When you make him a guilt offering, he will see his seed, he will prolong his days, and by his hand, the LORD's pleasure will be accomplished.”

The Lord gave Jesus first - to live the life we could not live; to die the death we should have died.

The Lord was pleased to do this because He knew.

His pleasure would be accomplished.

You and I could be saved.

He could lavish - He could open the floodgates of His blessings on us.

And we could live forever - one with the Lord and each other - sharing a love, a contentment, a gratitude that is unimaginable.

Who could ask for more?

Let us pray.