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Malachi 3:8–10
Today we will exegete a Scripture which has been used to brow beat and manipulate people into giving to the church.
I was not raised in the church and so I, and many non-believers, would say, “The church only wants your money.”
Because that was the experience we had.
The so-called preachers on TV only talked about money and this is still common place in many churches.
This is tragic.
How sad is it, to someone would go to a church and be spoken to as though the most important thing they brought with them was their pocket book or wallet?
I strongly disagree!
Nothing is greater than your presence among the Body of Christ.
Nothing is more valuable than the giving of your time and Spiritual Gifts for the edification of another.
We talked about that a couple weeks ago.
The Scripture we are covering today, has even been used to call one’s salvation into question.
To be up front, as your Pastor, I am completely unaware of how much or even that you give to the church.
My relationship with you will not be shaped by that knowledge.
That brings us back to the problem at hand, the unbiblical nature which Scripture is being twisted?
This week we will exegete Scripture looking at a few areas: The Old Covenant, Tithing, The New Covenant, and giving.
We will be a church who worships God is all areas of faith and we will not be a church which see’s your value being defined by what you put in the offering plate.
Nor are we going to pressure people to do so.
Malachi 3:8-10
Malachi 3:8–10 ESV
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.
1.
The first thing we must note is the location of the text: Is it Old Covenant or New Covenant?
Old Covenant.
This is important, because as we go through this series, we have 3 passages which are connected to the Old Covenant.
a.
In short, God made a covenant with Israel.
Not just the people but the Nation.
This is why God would punish the nation as a whole due to their disobedience and bless them as a whole due to their faithfulness.
Within this Covenant God made specific promises and commands to the Nation of Israel which do not apply to us today.
In many cases, one we will see today, because Jesus fulfilled the Law.
We are under the New Covenant.
We will get more into this as we go through this sermon.
But allow me to talk about some of the ways this passage is twisted.
We know that giving to your church is a part of our Christian faith.
Giving, in no way means that the more someone gives the more say they have.
No that is corruption, not giving.
We understand that a church is not for profit.
At the end of the year the Elder’s will not come to me and say, “Well we have about $1000 more in giving than we budgeted for so, here ya go JR.” No, that money will be put back into the church for ministry or the building.
Saving to replace an air-conditioning unit, increasing the children’s ministry budget, saving for a playground, etc.
This church is not going to make the staff rich.
This passage is used in fear-mongering, saying your life will be under a curse if you do not give.
No, that was Old Covenant.
God’s Covenant with Israel and its people.
Speakers will say that tithing is a test which God gives the Christian and by not giving the right amount you have failed the test leaving you subject to a curse.
b.
At staff meeting this week it was interesting to see the different approaches to giving that Ross and I have which result in our landing in the same spot.
Two different routes to the same destination.
I said that by giving I purge from myself this desire to covet money.
To make money an idol in my heart.
I do not want to be on the fence about this.
Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and wealth.”
I recognize that in order to make sure I do not fall into this snare, that I understand what I have is not my own.
As a Christian if I am to wage war against my sin, then I have to fight all of it, and this is the way I fight a covetous heart.
Ross on the other hand got all spiritual, but he was absolutely right.
He recognizes that God is giving.
This is who He is, He is gracious in His giving.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
God gave.
We know that in our sanctification, which a fancy word for what God the Holy Spirit does in the life of a believer.
He works in our lives and He shapes into being more like Christ.
Ross said, if God is giving, then I want to be giving.
c.
Already, just in this line of thought we see on the subject of giving, two people can have two different motivations or purpose in their giving and yet arrive at the same place.
False teachers, do not allow this kind of diversity.
“Wait God can work in people differently and get them to the same place?
NEVER!”
But it is because of these false teachers that we must address this text.
Maybe still as the offering plate is passed, we have a sour disposition about it.
We still feel pressured.
I truly hope, by the end of this sermon you will no longer feel that way.
2. So, we know giving is a part of the Christian faith.
We also know that this text is being twisted.
One such twister of Scripture is Robert Morris, he says that when you get paid you take a test, “Whom are you going to thank for your income.”
He then goes on to say that these are to be your first fruits.
Maybe you have heard this.
But, here in the United Sates, we have something called withholding.
Government gets the first swipe at our paychecks.
So, what does that mean Robert?
I have failed the test and I am under a curse because taxes have been taken out before what I give?
You got to think this through Bob.
a.
What is the context of Malachi 3? We know God is speaking to the people and Nation of Israel because of His Covenant with them, specifically the Mosaic Covenant.
3 rules to Biblical interpretation?
Context, context, context.
In Malachi 3 God is addressing the tithe.
But what is the context of Malachi 3 in the book of Malachi?
i. Malachi 1:6-10 “A son honors his father, and a servant his master.
Then if I am a father, where is My honor?
And if I am a master, where is My respect?’ says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests who despise My name.
But you say, ‘How have we despised Your name?’ “You are presenting defiled food upon My altar.
But you say, ‘How have we defiled You?’
In that you say, ‘The table of the Lord is to be despised.’
“But when you present the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil?
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