ࡱ> uwt` Jbjbjss .zBv.v.v.v.T.d7*:/:/:/:/:/0006666666$?8h:6300336:/:/65553:/:/6536555:/./ i$v.4l566075);l5j);5);5031512G00066500073333'++ Six Verses to Avoid Malachi 3:7-12 So, what do you feel when the offering plate is passed to you? -pressure? guilt? confusion? pride? -how do you feel when you know we are approaching (and now are in) our annual stewardship emphasis? --are you tempted to skip church? sleep in? visit the grandkids? take 4 weekends of vacation? volunteer for the nursery? --do you think, Its about time James challenged all of these other slackers to start giving their fair share. --or are you thinking, Gee, James, Ive been inviting my neighbors to come to church for three years. They show up today and youre preaching about money. -every pastor knows these thoughts are floating around the sanctuary each time he steps up to pulpit to talk about giving And I have it easyyou are a wonderful congregation -some pastors dread preaching about money, but I find it to be among the most significant issues we can address, and it's especially rewarding when the congregation receives the teaching with open hearts and minds --in fact, I believe one of the signs of a healthy, mature church is our ability to talk freely and constructively about it -dysfunctional families can't talk about money without getting defensive or manipulative or emotional --the same can be said about dysfunctional churches; and as a result, their growth is stunted, both spiritually and physically -that's one of the reasons our annual stewardship emphasis is so important in the life of our church (like it or not!) Were going to talk this morning about six verses in Scripture you may want to avoid altogetherespecially if you struggle with giving and receiving -and yes, I said receiving...the truth is, those who are poor receivers are usually the worst givers --poor receivers typically regard any gift as something theyve earned...so they then think what theyve been given is theirs for them to do whatever they wish So whether you handle this whole stewardship thing with grace or you struggle horribly with it...I think everyone familiar whos with Malachi 3 cringes a little when they see it as the sermon text -actually, Ive been out of seminary for 12 years...and today is the first time Ive used Malachi 3 as focal passage for a message --ah, its your lucky day Malachi is the last book in the Old Testament...he was a prophetnot so much a future-predictor, but more of a spokesman for God -Malachi served in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, during a time of spiritual apathy for the nation of Israel --after spending 70 years in exile in Babylon, they had returned to their homeland...theyd rebuilt the Temple and the walls of Jerusalem, regaining some measure of national pride ---spiritually, however, the nation was a shell of its former self -they were home; they were in church, but they were far from God In Malachi 3:7 the Lord says ( Return to me, and I will return to you. -that word "return" means repent, to turn away from the way you've been living and turn toward God and His way of life --if you think about it, this is a gracious invitation on God's part --in spite of generation after generation of hypocrisy and unfaithfulness, Gods still ready and willing to forgive them How are we to return? the people ask, at the end of v. 7 -in other words, "what do you want from us, God?" --now, there are two ways you can interpret that question of theirs ---they may have been cynical, "What do You want from us, God? We've already rebuilt the Temple and the city walls...weve reinstituted the sacrifices." ---or they may have been sincere, "What do You want from us, God? Just tell us, and we'll do it." I really cant say for sure how they meant it, but it would seem to me that we can approach God in one of those same two ways when it comes to giving -we can be defensive, "What more do You want from me, God? Haven't I given enough already?" --we plead our case, outlining our arguments and excuses -or we can be sincere, "What do You want from me, God? Tell me, because I want to be right with you." --we invite God to speak to us about this important issue -what about you? How are you asking the question this morning? "How are we to return?" the people ask -notice how God doesn't answer their question directly --instead He replies with a rhetorical question...and then God answers it Himself ( Will a man rob God? Yet you rob Me. -no matter what spin you put on it, that cant be good --if its one of the 10 Commandments not to steal from another person, how much worse is it to steal from God? "How do we rob you?" the people ask -again, you can hear that being spoken in two different ways --sarcastically...or genuinely -well, whats going on is the people aren't bringing the full tithe to the Lordthe 10 percent that the Law demanded --instead, they were giving less than God had asked for, and often what they did bring was damaged, and undesirable Every so often you hear about thieves who break into churches and steal from the offering, or church staff members who embezzle tens of thousands of dollars that were supposed to have gone to ministry or to helping the needy -we get really upset about that --stealing is bad enough, but stealing from a church, taking money that was given to the poor, that's the lowest of low -and yet, God says that when we fail to bring what He has asked of us, we are robbing Him Now, that raises the whole question about tithing, which we'll get to in a minute...but don't miss this point: here the people are guilty of the worst kinds of sinsexploiting the poor, marital unfaithfulness, spiritual adultery, etc....Malachi has been addressing those in the first two chapters -but the first thing the Lord asks them to do is to give their tithes and offerings --He doesnt say, "Stop chasing after pagan wives." --He doesn't say, "Do justice and love mercy." He certainly will want them to address all those sins...but the first thing he tells them to do, the thing that will spark spiritual revival, is to take an offering -its because when they and when we give generously and obediently, when we give motivated by love for God and for people, then these other areas of their lives will fall into place. It's the same principle Jesus talks about when he says, "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be, also." -your heart follows your treasure, not the other way around --what we do with our money not only reveals the condition of our hearts, it determines the condition of our hearts Thats why stewardship is such an important issue in the life of our church right now -it's not just about the money, it's about our hearts -it's about our desire to turn toward God --we may not be as far from God as the people of Malachi's day, but don't we want to know his blessing in our lives and our church? "How are we to return?" the people asked. "In tithes and offerings," says the Lord. Let's talk about those two words for a minute, and learn what God is asking from us today The tithe is the fundamental giving unit of the Old Testament -it refers to one-tenth of a person's income that was to be given back to God --Leviticus 27:30 reads, "A tithe [or tenth] of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord . The entire tithe of the herd and flockevery tenth animal that passes under the shepherd's rodwill be holy to the Lord." The tithe was non-negotiable; its part of their covenant commitment -the tithe was to be given first, before anything was kept for oneself. --some scholars point out that there were actually two or three different tithes that were required, but for our purposes, let's stick with 10 percent. What I found interesting as I looked at it again was that the tithes were used to fund the work of the Temple -the tithes covered the living expenses of the entire tribe of Levites, who served the Temple, as well as the priests --in fact, one scholar estimates that about 80 percent of the tithing income went to what we would call personnel! --what was left after that went to furnishing the Temple and maintaining its ministry -in other words, the tithe provided for the general fund, the day-to- day operating expenses of the Temple and its ministry --Dr. Douglas Stuart, who teaches at Gordon-Conwell, puts it this way: "Ten percent of the nation's wealth would be needed for a full worship system to prosper. Nine percent wouldn't do, nor would any other number short of the full tenth. Less than the tithe was unacceptable and represented a kind of starving of the nation's worship." Sometimes people find it hard to get excited about supporting the general fund of the church -they don't want their money to go to "overhead" like light bulbs or curriculum or salaries --its more satisfying to give directly to missions or to the benevolence fund --but that's what the tithe is forto support the worship and ministry of God's people -sometimes people look at a church like First Baptist, with our staff and facilities, and think to themselves, "Oh, that church has plenty of money. I'll give somewhere else." --now dont get me wrong, God has blessed us...and we have so much for which to be thankful to Him --but the simple truth is that today, as in Malachi's day, it takes about a tenth of a congregation's income to support the ministry of a church, no matter what size the church is ---light bulbs and Sunday school material and salaries are as essential to the Kingdom as money given to the poor or sent to missionaries ---when we give less than what is needed, ministry suffers We haven't even talked about the offerings yet Offerings generally referred to those over and above gifts, beyond the 10 percent, that worshippers would bring to meet a special needto support the widows and orphans, or simply to express gratitude and trust in God -the Lord was expecting both tithes and offerings from the people; the tithe to support the ongoing ministry of the Temple, and the offerings to meet special needs --and when they brought less than that, they were robbing God Imagine the person next to you reaching into the offering plate when it comes around, grabbing a handful of bills, and stuffing them in their pocket! Imagine one of our ushers walking out the door with the offering plate in his hands! We'd be shocked and pretty angry -but when we give less than what God has asked of us, that's what we're doing. We're robbing God. And that's a scary thought! So what does God ask of us? Does he still expect believers to give at least 10 percent of their income to his work? Yes, I believe he does. -now, some people are quick to point out that the New Testament doesn't specifically teach tithingand that is true --but why not, if it were so important in the Old Testament? Well, a few reasons come to mind -first, as we emphasized last week, its because our giving is to be motivated by love, not law -next, because tithing was already the accepted starting point for giving to God...Jesus and the disciples had been tithing for their whole lives -third, because tithing is too limiting...if people gave 10% under the Old Covenant, when required by law, wouldn't they want to give more under the New Covenant, in response to God's grace? --and in fact, that's exactly what the early Christians do ---in the book of Acts we read that they actually sold their possessions to support one another and the ministry ---when Barnabas sold a piece of property, he brought the full amount, 100 percent of the sale price, to the Lord In 2 Corinthians we read that the Macedonian believers, who were themselves poor, out of their extreme generosity gave as much as they were able, and even beyond what they were able -the New Testament doesn't require tithing because for many people, 10% isn't nearly enough to express their gratitude and commitment to God So it is true that the New Testament doesn't command tithing...but it clearly teaches us to give proportionately, a percentage of our income...I Corinthians 16 ( On the first day of the week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money, in keeping with his income. -then as now, 10% serves as a reasonable and biblical standard for determining that percentage So, let's get practical -stop and think right now about your yearly household income --how much is it? think of the number right now ---take 10 percent of that number...just drop a zero off the end of it...how much more, or less, than that number did you give to the Lord's work last year? ---that's a good standard for evaluating your generosity to the ministry of the church (Is everybody still breathing?) Now remember, tithing is not a law -you may sense that God is asking something else of you --pray about it, if youre married talk it over with your spouse, and commit to an amount that you're going to give regularly -for some, 10% may be too much right now...if you're not able to provide basic necessities for your family, if your spouse is not a believer and doesn't share your conviction, then 10 percent may not be what God is asking of you --the challenging part is to consider carefully what is actually a necessity for your family...premium satellite TV? eating out 5 or 6 times a week? high-speed internet? ---wow...that list could go on and on For other people, 10 percent may be too little...some of us have far more than we need...God has blessed us abundantly, and we want to be as generous with others as God has been to us Personally, Carla and I have always tithed to the church we were attending or serving -when weve made commitments to the building fund, or special offerings for missions or world hunger, those were over and above the tithe -and then we give a small amount to a few other ministries and/or people the Lord has put on our hearts We are convinced the Bible teaches us to give, first and best, a proportion of our income to support the work of our local church -if we don't, we are not only robbing God, we're robbing ourselves of the blessings God wants to send our way. Look at v. 10 ( 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 you will not have enough room for it. This is one of the few times in the Bible God invites us to "test" Him -He's saying, "Just try it. Try tithing, and see if I don't open the windows of heaven and blessing you. Dont even think of this as a sure-thing financial investment and then bank on strictly financial dividends -sure, its possible that God may bless you financially so you can give even more...but God may also bless you spiritually...He may bless you by enabling you to minister in new and fresh ways...He may call you to stretch your faith by giving more than what you think is possible and He will provide for your needs in some amazing ways that causes your faith in Him to grow A one-time gift or special offering is a wonderful thing...but even beyond that, we need to experience widespread changes in our giving habits -if you have been giving, but you sense that it's less than the Lord would desire, ask Him to show you what He would have you give -if you've settled in comfortably at 10 percent when in fact you could give much more than that, we'd ask you to consider moving beyond the tithe and be as generous to others as God has been to you (,Kac   7 B I J } ~  G M g r : A g u { FOhz{|~ *36DRW`ag}hDhDhKQ6hqhKQ6hKQhqh" hUhh~lh36h P#$dC L  I J ~  H h ; h gd $a$gdJ @{|b=> QBK !gd > qz".EMSt}&JV  #$,/=>?@ANghoཱུ hB`p6hVbHh 6hVbHhVbH6 jhB`phB`phVbHh 5hVbHhVbH5h h@hVbHhyShqhDh~lhKQE!h3v.w9?QDqgd@gd 2=Rdu-6U^_v8Umn >APY]`yz "#9:CDGKpq %*2hsAhw h+H5h+Hh 6h@h+HhB`ph V!Za"p&'j5z '(r gd 2YBIJou%&'il{$)4?y&'(qt|   g !2!3!h!j!k!l!y!|!hsA hwhw hw6hwh 6hwhw6 jhwhwh R I ^ 3!z!!!"]""""#^####-$@$z$$$8%%%%%gd |!!!!""" 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