Sermon: Tithing: 'Try Me Now!' (Part One)
#1736
Martin G. Collins
Given 25-Nov-23; 62 minutes
description: (hide)
transcript:
Gratitude, which we have heard a lot of lately, seems to be able to boost immune functions, improve sleep quality, and enhance mental health. Evidence links the grateful mindset—one embracing positivity and thankfulness—to fighting disease and nurturing optimal health.
On November 20th, 2023, the Epoch Times carried an article by Vance Voetberg titled, "How Thankfulness May Impact Inflammation, Sleep, and Mental Health." Let me read from this article.
Gratitude may do more than build character—it could help combat inflammation, according to recent research. Regularly expressing thankfulness lowers biomarkers of inflammation, a 2021 study published in the journal Brain Behavior and Immunity has found. This research contributes to a growing literature on the reinforcing relationships between positive emotions, prosocial behavior, and physiological processes related to physical health, the authors wrote. A study in behavioral sleep medicine found that people with higher scores on a gratitude and appreciation test [I did not realize there was one but they have worked one up], tend to experience longer, higher quality sleep. And the researchers hypothesize this could be because gratitude reduces depression, which can impair sleep. Highly grateful individuals have lower symptoms of depression which in turn leads to fewer presleep worries resulting in better perceived sleep quality, the authors wrote. A 2020 systematic review of 19 scientific articles confirmed a strong relationship between gratitude and improved sleep quality in chronic pain patients. Gratitude's anxiety-reducing effects may mediate better sleep.
As America's mental health crisis worsens, for example, in 2015 19% of American adults reported being depressed compared with almost 30% of the US population in 2023. According to Gallup, some researchers suggest gratitude could help combat depression and anxiety. A 2023 meta-analysis of 64 randomized clinical studies found gratitude interventions increased patients gratitude, improved mental health and mood, and reduced anxiety and depression symptoms. The results demonstrate that acts of gratitude can be used as a therapeutic complement for treating anxiety and depression, and can increase positive feelings and emotions in the general population, the authors wrote. In contrast, other studies show that negative thought patterns like worrying and rumination can predict worsening depression and health outcomes over time.
So there are a lot of benefits there and I guess we were all enjoying some of those benefits on Thursday because we kept Thanksgiving.
The explanation by these secular mental health experts falls far short of complete solutions to the problem of physical and mental health. But gratitude is obviously necessary for stable mental health. We must be thankful for the abundance of blessings God provides, beginning with who and what He is, if we want to have and maintain strong spiritual health.
Now, everything that exists belongs to God, which you know well, and He has the right to keep everything for Himself, but He chooses to share with us. He does not need to pay or repay anyone or ask us for anything. God created and owns everything—and that cannot be emphasized greatly enough.
The inspired written Word of God shows God's sovereignty many times. And I would like to give you a sampling of seven scriptures that express this. I am just going to go down through them. You can jot them down if you want. But I think I will be going too fast for you to turn to them.
Job 41:11 [God speaking] "Who has preceded Me, that I should pay him? Everything under heaven is Mine."
Exodus 19:5 [again, God speaking] "Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine."
Deuteronomy 10:14 [God speaking through Moses] "Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the Lord your God, also the earth with all that is in it."
Psalm 89:11 The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours; the world and all its fullness, You have founded them.
Acts 7:49-50 "Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. What house will you build for Me? says the Lord, or what is the place of My rest? Has My hand not made all these things?"
Acts 17:24-25 [the apostle Paul speaking to the men of Athens said] God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men's hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.
Revelation 4:11 [In a vision, the apostle John saw 24 elders worshipping God and saying] You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created."
So we must thank God for this massive amount, so to speak, of qualities and attributes and power and glory and sovereignty that He has. He is our Creator and our Sustainer, our Father in heaven; and He gives us life, breath, and everything, and we have to show our gratitude more than merely mouthing it.
But Rabbi Daniel Lapin, a Hebrew language scholar, in his Thought Tools commentary sheds some light on gratitude.
Something about biblical gratitude is quite interesting and even shocking! In the first five books of the Bible nobody just says thank you, "todah" [the word used in Hebrew for thank you], does not appear in the five books of Moses, other than five times in Leviticus as the name of a specific thanksgiving offering. Here is one example in Leviticus 22:29, "And when you offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Lord, offer it of your own free will." [some translations say, "Offer a thank you offering to the Lord."]
This gives us a valuable insight into the deep meaning of thank you. It turns out that merely mouthing thank you is not part of God's biblical plan. It is preferable to do an action reflecting your gratitude. In the biblical record, Noah neglects to orally thank God for saving him from the flood. His gratitude takes the form of building an altar. Abraham never verbally thanked God for his son Isaac. Instead, he circumcises his eight day old son exactly according to God's commands, showing his obedience.
And while the Israelites sing a song of praise to God after their deliverance from Egypt, they never actually say the words thank you. Leah names her son Judah, which means "praise" to commemorate her feelings of gratitude rather than simply saying the words thank you.
There is something for us to learn from this. To the best of our abilities, we should use an action to represent our gratitude rather than just mouthing the words. Or, at the very least, specify the details about which we are grateful as we see demonstrated in Psalm 136. King David says "thank you' to God, but he does not stop there. He goes on for 26 verses specifying what acts of God he so deeply appreciates.
In Psalm 136, we are going to cherry pick these verses 1, 5, 7, 13, and 23 through 26.
Psalm 136:1 Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! His mercy endures forever.
Psalm 136:5 To Him who by wisdom made the heavens, for His mercy endures forever.
Psalm 136:7 to Him who made great lights, for His mercy endures forever.
Psalm 136:23-26 [These are a broad continuation of God's enduring commitment to His people here and they conclude the acts of God's deliverance and care.] Who remembered us in our lowly state, for His mercy endures forever; and rescued us from our enemies, for His mercy endures forever; who gives food to all flesh, for His mercy endures forever. Oh, give thanks to the God of heaven! For His mercy endures forever.
In the ESV, mercy is translated "steadfast love" instead of "His mercy" endures forever.
Now, this hymn calls on Israel in its worship to give thanks to the Lord who has shown His steadfast love throughout the history of God's people: From creating the world to bringing Israel out of Egypt and leading them through the wilderness, to giving them victory over those who oppose them as they took the Promised Land.
Our giving thanks for God's grace and for His mercy and steadfast love is a refined way of begging for more. It is not that we do it for that reason, but it has that effect. It is a privilege that allows us to express our inner attitude. This is similar to the way our prayers are based on God's promise of salvation. Our prayers are expressed in anticipated thanks. It is a way of giving thanks for what God has promised and with the faith that it is so sure to happen—it is as if it already has.
Now King David expressed his gratitude once again in his prayer of thanksgiving.
Psalm 9:1-2 I will praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will tell of all Your marvelous works. I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.
In these two verses, he states five ways that he will show his thankfulness: He will praise, tell, be glad, rejoice, and sing. So he does not only thank God personally, so to speak, with verbal expression, but he also adds other things to show his thankfulness.
God wills that we are thankful for the blessings we receive each day. We should thank Him for His mercy, especially for our privileges and hopes as the elect of God.
Thankfulness is an essential attitude in tithing and giving. Indirectly, the law of tithing is stated in the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:10 and restated in Deuteronomy 5:19 as, "You shall not steal." That is the negative side of the command to tithe—"You shall not steal." These laws are still in force today and are important for personal spiritual growth, to say the least.
Tithing is an ordinance of God; in its simplest form, it is returning one-tenth of one's earned income, that is, increase, to God for His use.
There is the letter of the law of God and there is the spirit of the law of God. The letter of the law is the most basic level of the law. It is what we might call the surface level of the law. It is required, of course. And if we merely do not steal but grudgingly pay our tithes and offerings as an obligation, we are only keeping the letter of the law and we are merely meeting a lawful obligation.
However, if we give God back tithes and offerings out of our God-given abundance with gratitude and with thankfulness—joyfully, as a faithful response to God—then we are tithing and offering fulfilling the spirit of the law. And so we need both as a complete keeping of that law. God commands us to keep it both in the letter as a lawful obligation, and in the spirit as a joyful, thankful response.
Keeping the spirit of the law deals primarily with our convicted mindset, our faithful attitude.
The sacrificial laws of the Old Covenant were strong on outward conformity but were helpless in dealing with human thoughts. They could not dictate a grateful attitude even though it was an expression of God's will. They tried, but they could not, because they did not have God's Holy Spirit.
The biblical system of tithing has been a point of controversy among Christians for years. Its opponents claim it is part of the Old Covenant and thus it was instituted solely for the support of the the Levitical priesthood. They often acknowledge that the principle of giving to support the ministry is still valid, but say God does not command giving a set percentage of one's income. Yet this ignores clear passages throughout the Bible. Through the tithing system, God provides for the feeding of His flock and the preaching of the gospel. And by doing this, faithful tithing expresses love toward God and love toward neighbor.
Please turn with me to Genesis 14, verse 17. The most ancient record of anyone giving a tithe of anything is found in Genesis 14, about four centuries before Moses. In a battle between various kings and armies of that day, Abraham's nephew Lot was taken captive. (And as you know, Abram's name was not yet changed at this point to Abraham.) Abram set out to rescue Lot with the help of a small army and was successful. And along with his nephew, Abram brought back many spoils from the campaign and there was great rejoicing.
Genesis 14:17-20 And the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley), after his return from the defeat of the Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him. Then Melchizedek king of Salem [meaning peace, later, the city of Jerusalem] brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of the of God Most High. [So he was the priest of God Most High] And he blessed him and said: "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." And he [Abraham] gave him a tithe of all.
Hebrews 7:4 says that tithes were given on the spoils of the battle, including non-agricultural products.
So Melchizedek was the priest of God Most High, and Abram was of God Most High, and God Most High is possessor of heaven and earth. Tithing, in this context, was a direct acknowledgement of God's sovereignty and lordship over the earth. God reveals in Haggai 2:8 that, "The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine," representing that He owns all that is on the earth. Giving God back one-tenth of what is entirely His anyway, was a way of acknowledging God's ownership of every kind of wealth.
The account indicates that the spoils belong to Abraham by right of conquest. And Abraham gave the tithes to Melchizedek before discussing their further distribution with the king of Sodom. He considered the tithe first.
Genesis 14 succinctly reveals several principles of tithing. First, the tithe goes to God through His representative, the priest. Second, the Bible repeats that it is one-tenth. Third, this law was in effect long before God commanded it through Moses. And fourth, Abraham, blessed for his faithfulness to God, gave tithes in recognition of God's rulership and providence.
Abraham is called the father of the faithful in Romans 4 and he lived an honorable life. His faith was a prototype of all believers and Christians. God recorded Abram's act of tithing for a reason: to provide us with an example from the life of righteous Abraham. Speaking of the events of the Old Testament, Paul tells us,
I Corinthians 10:11 Now all these things happened to them [that means the patriarchs and the stories of the Bible in the Old Testament] as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
So the faith and obedience of Abraham shows that tithing should be imitated or followed as a Christian practice.
Isaiah 51:2 "Look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah who bore you; for I called him alone, and blessed him and increased him."
Flip over to Genesis 28 please. God has provided us with one more mention of tithing prior to the time of Moses and it is the account of Jacob.
Genesis 28:18-22 Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it. And he called the name of that place Bethel; but the name of the city had been Luz previously. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, so that I come back to my father's house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God. And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God's house, and of all that You give me I surely will give a tenth to You."
This tithing in patriarchal times was an act o expression of worship. In this instance, it is plainly connected with the setting up of an altar or pillar, which was to represent God's house. Jacob must have been taught about tithing by his father Isaac and his grandfather Abraham because he knew of it and he knew what the right use of it was.
Now the next time tithing is mentioned in the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, is with Moses and the establishment of the priesthood in Israel. Please turn over to Hebrews 7, verse 5. Israelites gave tithes to the Levites to perform the work of the Tabernacle and later the Temple because they were involved in God's work and had no significant land of their own. The Levites had to be supported by the rest of the congregation of Israel. The apostle Paul wrote centuries later that, "The sons of Levi, who receive the priesthood, are commanded to receive tithes from the people in."
Hebrews 7:5 And indeed those who are of the sons of Levi, who receive the priesthood, have a commandment to receive tithes from the people according to the law, that is, from their brethren, though they have come from the loins of Abraham [meaning even though they are descendants].
Now, Moses points out that the tithes were not the Levites'; the Levites did not own the tithes that were given to them. Leviticus 27:30 says, "And all the tithe of the land, whether the seed of the land or the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's. It is holy to the Lord."
So the tithe belonged to God, the tithe was holy—sanctified for God's use and purpose. This was how the tithe was to be used.
At that time, God designated the tithe for use by the Levites and priests for the function of the Tabernacle. Numbers 18:21 says, "Behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tithes of Israel as an inheritance in return for the work which they perform, the work of the Tabernacle of meeting."
The tithe represented the reward or wages of the priests and the Levites for the service they performed. God was defining as part of the Mosaic Law how His holy tithe was to be used.
The history of Israel, from the time of the death of Moses on, is a story of the decay and restitution. Israel's religious zeal and dedication declined and dissipated and they were never consistent in their worship of God. In the time of Samuel, the people demanded a king like the surrounding nations, and God allowed it, but instructed Samuel to protest solemnly about it and explain just what it would be like to have such a king.
I Samuel 8:15 "He will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage, and give it to his officers and servants."
I Samuel 8:17 "He will take a tenth of your sheep. And you will be his servants."
So that is the description God told Samuel to give to the Israelites as to what they were going to have to expect if they had a king. This tenth, or tithe, is a form of taxation. It was not the tithe, it was the taxation that the king was going to bring on the people. This would be over and above the tithe paid to God. They would still owe God His tithe. It was holy, sanctified, set apart for His exclusive use. God's prior claim came first, no matter what manmade form of government or humanly devised tax system was imposed.
It is basically the same today. Government is the most expensive commodity that we are charged for. And most people pay far more than a tenth of one's income in taxes and fees and licenses to pay for the privilege of human government. But this does not remove the requirement to pay God His tithe today.
Ancient Israel drifted progressively into idolatry and paganism. A steady and prolonged deterioration and worship followed. And eventually the house of Israel descended into national captivity. It is interesting that this nation is in a form of captivity now to the tax man, the government, and the laws, and on and on and on, and it may very well get worse. According to a prophecy, it sounds like many Israelites go into captivity.
Judah was able to maintain a relationship with God somewhat longer. But eventually they too ultimately departed from God and were delivered into captivity. Decades later, during the Persian era, Judah emerged from captivity. About 50,000 of them returned to Palestine and to Jerusalem.
Please turn over to Nehemiah 10, verse 37. Under the leadership of Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah, the Temple and the city were restored and the Levites were reinstated. Temple services resumed and the tithe system was revived. Nehemiah, as governor, reestablished the various Levitical offerings and rituals. And they made ordinance to re-establish tithing.
Nehemiah 10:37-38 To bring the firstfruits of our dough, our offerings, the fruit of all kinds of trees, the new wine and oil, to the priests, to the storerooms of the house of our God; and to bring the tithes of our land to the Levites, for the Levites should receive the tithes in all our farming communities. And the priest, the descendant of Aaron, shall be with the Levites when the Levites receive tithes; and the Levites shall bring up a tenth of the [that is, the tithe of the tithe] to the house of our God, to the rooms of the storehouse.
Now, the priests, the descendants of Aaron, received a tenth of all the tithes of the Levites for the performance of their priestly duties. If everyone diligently performed the responsibility in paying tithes, the Temple services flourished.
It was a time of exciting restoration and spiritual recovery for the Jews of that time. But once the initial zeal wore off, however, the situation in post-captivity Judah began once again to deteriorate and the people began to lose sight of God's love for Israel. Once the initial zeal wore off, the priests became politically oriented, disdainful of Temple service, and they became careless in their selection of sacrificial animals by choosing inferior and blemished animals. And it was the attitude behind it that was causing this in that they just did not value God at all. They saw no reason to be thankful for Him.
Please turn over to Jeremiah 7, verse 8. Now in his Temple sermon, the prophet Jeremiah warned Jerusalem against using the Temple while practicing theft, murder, and adultery. For God's elect to steal would violate His covenant with them. By keeping the eighth commandment, "You shall not steal," Israel displayed its faith in and loyalty to God.
Jeremiah 7:8-11 "Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, 'We are delivered to do all these abominations'? Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it," says the Lord.
Ultimately, God will judge all sinners who have rebelled against His law, but He will start with Israel because she was given God's law first. It is a divine principle that judgment begins with God's people.
Now turn over to Zechariah 5. Zechariah writes to give a warning and encouragement of God's offer and promise to Jerusalem, a code name for the church. The Lord tells Zechariah to tell her that if she returns to Him, He will return to her. So God invites His people to renew the commitment to Him.
The Lord promised everything would be bright for His people. They would be full of the abundance of the gifts of God and His grace, and God would restore and expand and secure them under His protection. But there is a reverse side to all this. If they did not take God up on His offer, His judgments would be on those who reject His mercies.
Zechariah 5:1-2 Then I turned and raised my eyes, and saw there a flying scroll. [Zechariah speaking] And he said to me, "What do you see?" So I answered, "I see a flying scroll. Its length is twenty cubits and its width ten cubits."
So this sixth vision is of a giant scroll approximately 30 feet wide and 15 feet high flying in mid-air. Its dimensions are those of a large billboard suggesting that the scroll is unrolled so that its fearful contents may be easily read. Its flight signifies a very swift coming of punishment. And flying from heaven signifies that the sentence came from the Judgment Seat above.
Zechariah 5:3 Then he said to me, "This is the curse that goes out over the face of the whole earth: 'Every thief shall be expelled,' according to this side of the scroll; and, 'Every perjurer [or liar] shall be expelled,' according to that side of it."
The scroll is a covenant document, written on both sides, like the tablets Moses received from the Lord. Those tablets given to Moses were the Ten Commandments.
Exodus 32:15-16 And Moses turned and went down from the mountain, and the two tablets of the Testimony were in his hand. The tablets were written on both sides; on the one side and on the other they were written. Now the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God engraved on the tablets.
The purpose of this scroll in Zechariah is to bring the covenant curses to bear on covenant breakers, using everyone who steals and everyone who swears falsely as representative examples.
Zechariah 5:4 "I will send out the curse," says the Lord of hosts; "it shall enter the house of the thief and the house of the one who swears falsely by My name. It shall remain in the midst of his house and consume it, with its timber and stones."
Theft is a sin that carries a severe curse. It is the breaking of the eighth commandment, "You shall not steal." According to His covenant, all covenant breakers will be cleaned out of God's church. And maybe I should say all flagrant covenant breakers because I think we all sin occasionally and then we repent of our sins so that we can be forgiven of them. But the curse or the issue with Israel is that any and all were to be cleaned out.
Now, the curse will enter the house of the covenant breaker and consume it, no matter what spiritual building materials have been used in leading and training the family. So it is an on an individual basis as well as a national judgment.
The scroll represented the law of God that brings a curse on all who disobey it. Nobody can fully obey God's law without God's Holy Spirit, as I mentioned earlier. The law was never given to save people, but to reveal that people need to be saved because by the law is the knowledge of sin.
Now here in Zechariah, out of the Ten Commandments, God selected the two that forbid stealing and lying. These sins were especially prevalent among the Jewish remnants at that time. So many Jews were not faithful in giving to God. They were robbing Him of tithes and offerings and then lying about it; and in their business dealings, they cheated one another. Ultimately, God will judge all sinners who have rebelled against the law, but He will start with Israel, the people who had God's law. Judgment begins with God's people, as I mentioned.
The Lord announced that the scroll of His law would visit individual homes and judge those who were deliberately disobeying God. Expelled, in Zechariah 5:3, means cut off or removed from the covenant community. So thieves were to be expelled from Israel, cut off from the church, and refused entry into the Kingdom. And ironically, the curse for stealing enters the houses like a thief or a plague unannounced and brings destruction.
Hosea pointed out that while there is no faithfulness, kindness, and knowledge of God in the land, swearing, lying, killing, stealing, and adultery exist in abundance. Haggai 1:1-11 shows us that the prophet Haggai rebuked them for putting their own interests ahead of the work of God.
Please turn to Malachi 2. Malachi reminds Israel that God promises them if they become faithful in presenting the full tithe, God's full tenth, as evidence of their wholehearted repentance, then the desperately needed rain will come and pestilence and crop failure will cease. Then the promise to Abraham that all nations will call you blessed will be fulfilled.
Now, the tithes were given to support the priests and the Levites whose ministry was essential if Israel was faithful to its calling. Also, a tithe was given every three years on a seven-year cycle for the poor and needy. Now, God gave Israel a scathing indictment through the prophet Malachi.
Malachi 2:8 "But you have departed from the way; and have caused many to stumble at the law. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi," says the Lord of hosts.
So God warned that He would purify the Levites and the priests by punishing them and cleaning them up first.
Malachi 3:3 "He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness."
He pointed to the track record of all Israel forsaking His ordinances and laws since the nation's infancy.
Malachi 3:7 "Yet from the days of your fathers you have gone away from My ordinances [like tithing] and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you," says the Lord of hosts. But you said, "In what way shall we return?"
So God appealed to the nation to return to Him, to give Him their wholehearted respect and honor, to worship Him as they should. The people ask God, "In what way do we need to return?" And God answered in verse 8.
Malachi 3:8 "Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, 'In what way have we robbed you?' In tithes and offerings."
God did not say, "Will a man rob the Levites?" even though they were the ones who were designated to receive the tithes of the people. He still claimed the tithes as His; that is, God still claims the tithe as His. The tithe was larger than the Levites or their administration. The tithe was, is, and always will be God's and He merely allowed the Levites to use it. By not paying the Levites, the people were robbing God.
Because the Israelites did not render God's tithes and offerings, they were cursed with famine and poverty. Famine generally means severe shortages and because they did not render tithes and offerings to the Levites, the Lord said that He Himself suffered fraud, whose ministers, constrained by hunger and poverty, deserted the Temple. So when the people did not give the tithe, they were keeping wealth that rightly belonged to God.
Now Malachi showed the people that they were being cursed for failing to bring the tithes and offerings into God's Temple storehouse. And if they would repent and fulfill the tithing laws God had instructed through Moses, they would once again be blessed.
Malachi 3:9 "You were cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation."
This sinful negligence of withholding God's tithes and offerings may have seemed justified because of crop failures and drought and pestilence and famine and shortage of work. But God reveals that these natural disasters were not the cause of the nation's disobedience, but the cursed result. Matthew 6:24 says, "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and [money]."
Nevertheless, God is merciful and so He promises abundance to those who obey Him by giving Him back His tithes and offerings.
Malachi 3:10 "Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this [He is giving us a challenge, giving everyone a challenge who reads this]," says the Lord of hosts, "if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it."
These blessings come in both physical material forms, but primarily in spiritual understanding for members of the church. So you are being blessed for your tithing far beyond things that you can even imagine because there is spiritual blessings and part of those blessings includes salvation and eternal life. How can you put a price and a value on that?
By saying, "Try Me now" or put Me to the test, God challenges us to give the tithe we owe Him and then watch to see if He would be faithful to His promise. God promises to meet all our needs, but not necessarily all our greed (I have heard that comment before by other ministers), and to pour blessings on us until there is no need for people say, "Well, I can't afford to tithe." You cannot afford not to tithe. Really, seriously—you cannot afford not to tithe! That is, if you are bringing in an earned income. I am not talking about the people on Social Security and that type of thing. But I will get into that later in probably my next sermon.
So on the spiritual level, God's church will be judged first and this will occur before Christ establishes God's Kingdom on earth. This judgment is happening during our lifetimes.
Now, bad economic times are tests on God's people as to our faithfulness in tithing and our dedication to God's way of life.
Please turn with me to I Peter 4, verse 12. All the commandments, including you shall not steal, are summed up and fulfilled in the words, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Peter included the admonition that while Christians can expect to suffer in the name of Christ, we should not suffer as murderers, thieves, wrongdoers, or mischief makers.
I Peter 4:12-17 Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad and with exceeding joy. If you are a reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the spirit of glory and of God rest upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or a busybody in other people's matters. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?
Peter lists a thief, indicating that it is a shameful thing, and he warns that judgment will come upon the thief. Matthew 19:18 commands, "You shall not steal" if you want eternal life. No thief or robber will inherit God's Kingdom. No habitual thief can call himself a saint.
I Corinthians 6:9-10 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.
It does not get much clearer than that.
In verse 9, we see Paul's third reminder, "Do you not know?" meaning it is inconceivable that a member of God's church would not know better. And the other two verses are verses 2 and 3, which say,
I Corinthians 6:2-3 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?
This illustrates the gap that existed between the Corinthians future spiritual position and their present fleshly practice of breaking the commandments. The unrighteous would not have any share in God's future Kingdom because they were not Christ-like. And so Paul was giving them a warning, then, that they were to straighten up. Some were very righteous, but some were not.
One day the unrighteous will be judged by the saints based on their own works which will condemn them if they have committed sin, or continued to commit sin. The problem Paul saw in the Corinthian brethren is that they were acting no differently than those that they were going to judge in the future. That is, those who were sinning in that congregation flagrantly.
Back to Malachi 3. God even promised to rebuke the insects and pests ravaging their crops, if they would only fulfill their obligation to God and the Levites. However, the people claim that it was worthless and unprofitable to serve and honor God.
Malachi 3:11-14 "And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field," says the Lord of hosts; "and all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land," says the Lord of hosts. "Your words have been harsh against Me," says the Lord, "yet you say, 'What have we spoken against You?' You have said, 'It is useless to serve God; what profit is it that we have kept His ordinance, and that we have walked as mourners before the Lord of hosts.'"
Thankfully, a few in Jerusalem heeded God's warning through Malachi and they responded to God's warning.
Malachi 3:16 Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened and heard them; so a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and who meditate on His name.
Tithing, in the context of Malachi's message here, is more than a mere formality for the Temple service. It is an act of worship that has continued for a very, very long time with God's people. It is a symbol of the willingness to honor God's divine sovereignty. It is a sign of submission to the will of God and an acknowledgement of His lordship and dominion. Failure to tithe, as shown by Malachi, is regarded by God as outright robbery. That is, if you have something to tithe on. If you have not earned anything; you cannot tithe on an increase if you did not have any. But I will get into that at another time.
As God stated in an earlier chapter in Malachi,
Malachi 1:6 "A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am the Father, where is My honor? And if I am a Master, where is My reverence? says the Lord of hosts to you priests who despise My name. Yet you say, 'In what way have we despised Your name?'"
So failure to obey God and keep His laws is no less than a sin. These laws are still in force today and are important for personal spiritual growth, as I mentioned earlier in the sermon.
But please turn over to Matthew 6, verse 30. The work of God is a work of faith. And the apostles were instructed to rely on God for the support of their work. They were instructed not to be unduly concerned or worried about their physical needs.
Matthew 6:30-34 "Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek [or the people of the world seek]. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."
If you will, please turn over to I Corinthians 9, verse 13. Nevertheless, it takes money to perform the work of preaching the gospel. The apostle Paul describes the support system of the priesthood of Israel and the work of the ministry in the church.
I Corinthians 9:13-14 Do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the temple, and those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar? Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel.
The work of God was to be supported by those who had the gospel preached to them. And although Paul did not always exercise his right, he and the other apostles had the authority to require financial support from those who had heard and received the gospel message from them.
Now flip over to Matthew 22, verse 15. The Pharisees plotted to entrap Jesus into incriminating Himself with the authorities, so they sent their followers with the Herodians, and using insincere flattery attempted to debate Christ into speaking against paying the taxes to the authorities.
Matthew 22:15-22 Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk. And they sent to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that You are true, and teach the way of God in truth; nor did You care about anyone, for You do not regard the person of men. Tell us, therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?" But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, "Why do you test Me, you hypocrites? Show me the tax money." So they brought Him a denarius. And He said to them, "Whose image and inscription is this?" And they said to Him, "Caesar's." And He said to them, "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." When they had heard these words, they marveled, and left Him and went their way.
Instead of giving these adversaries a direct answer, which they were trying to entrap Him to incriminate Himself, Christ gave them a guiding principle. But the real value of what He said is for His disciples in all ages. The phrase, "to God the things that are God's" commands us to give to God displays of our honor for Him. They demonstrate our respect and esteem for Him. And this timeless living principle also applies to tithing because tithing and giving offerings is a demonstration of respect, honor, love, and esteem for our Creator and our Sustainer.
Please turn over to Matthew 23, verse 23, just over a page. Now, Jesus gave His approval of the tithing system during His ministry in His denunciation of the Pharisees. Jesus does not condemn tithing or even condemn meticulous observance of it. Instead, He denounces their lack of justice, mercy, and faith. On the contrary, He supports tithing.
Matthew 23:23 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone."
The true spirit and attitude of giving is at the heart of Jesus' instruction in the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5:42 says, "Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away." So we must reflect God's care and compassion, even for those who are our enemies.
Please turn over to Luke 6, verse 34. Now, if we seek even our enemy's well being, we confirm that we are the children of God. Luke's account picks up on this theme and expands it.
Luke 6:34-36 "And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful."
And then Jesus goes on to show that the true spirit and attitude of giving brings on an automatic boomerang-like effect.
Luke 6:38 "Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you."
This vital principle is threaded throughout the pages of the Bible. Of course, we should not give to get. A giving person gives out of a spirit of genuine generosity. When we receive something, we should treat it as a totally unexpected blessing and turn around to give more. It is not something we should expect. I have heard many times people emphasize that if you keep third tithe for the needy, that God will bless you even more than that, and that type of thing. And so I have heard people say that they do not want to miss out on that blessing, which is, you know, a good thing. But you have to be very careful about the attitude of giving that type of thing and expecting something back. We give, not to expect back, but knowing that God will bless us beyond belief.
The true giver looks around in absolute bewilderment when he receives it. Seeking to get is disastrous to the spirit of giving. And Paul quoted Jesus who said,
Acts 20:35 I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you should support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive."
God bestows blessings on those who tithe and He withholds from those who do not when they have an increase from their work, profit from their efforts, or produce from their labors.
So from Genesis to Revelation, tithing and offerings is the only financial system God endorses. He shows that blessings accrue to those who faithfully tithe on the increase of what God has first given them.
Solomon understood the spirit of this principle when he said,
Proverbs 3:9-10 Honor the Lord with your possessions, and with the firstfruits of all your increase; so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.
There is both a national and a personal promise there. God abundantly physically and spiritually blesses us. Tithes are primarily used to spiritually feed His people. And if we support what the work of God is doing through His faithful people, He promises to bless us far above anything we could imagine.
Ephesians 3, if you can turn there with me, please.
Ephesians 3:20-21 Now to Him [that is, God] who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Jesus Christ to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Now, who are we that we are able to give so freely to the Lord? After all, everything comes from Him. And when we give, we only return to the Lord what He has graciously already given to us.
I John 4:19 We love Him because He first loved us.
Please turn for a final scripture to I Chronicles 29, verse 11. King David was so overwhelmingly impressed by the contributions offered by the Israelites of their own free will for the building of the Temple that he expressed his gratitude in a magnificent prayer that began with praise and adoration.
I Chronicles 29:11-14 "Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power and the glory, the victory and the majesty; for all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and You are exalted as head over all. Both riches and honor come from You, and You reign over all. In Your hand is power and might; in Your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. Now therefore, our God, we thank You and praise Your glorious name. But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly as this? For all things come from You, and of Your own we have given You."
And I add to that, especially in tithes and offerings.
MGC/aws/drm