Will a mere mortal rob God?

 

Read Malachi 3

The people had gone astray but thought they were justified.  Following God’s rules has not been profitable for us.

The priests had lost fidelity to their calling.  The half-blind and crippled runt was accepted as a sacrifice when the owner had much finer animals.

Everyone was just going through the motions.  The people gave God their leftovers and the priests sanctioned it.

God was not pleased, but he promised the people if they would return to him that he would do likewise.  God had not written off his people as a lost cause.

But the people were prone to defend their apathy and malaise and so the questions continued.

How are we to return?

Will a mere mortal rob God?  Yet you rob me.

How are we robbing you?

You might think that Malachi had already explained this in the first two chapters.  You are bringing defective offerings.  You are bringing God your leftovers.  God is not first in your lives.

God through the prophet replied:

“In tithes and offerings.  You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me.  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.  I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty.  “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.

Malachi had previously chastised the people for trying to get away with sacrifices and offerings to God that they would never try on their governor.  Now he frames this as robbing God. 

What is the tithe?  Tithe means tenth.  It’s one tenth of that with which you have been blessed.  In this time, it was often a tenth of the crop.  Today, we write a check, but the tithe is still a tenth.

God gives two reasons as to why to be faithful in the tithe other than strict obedience.  Obedience is good, but God offered his rationale with this directive.

First, it fills God’s house.  The priests will be provisioned, but more importantly, the poor will be fed.  Those that might be called the least of these will have provision as well.

The second is that the tither will be blessed—very blessed.  It’s not a money-for-money exchange.  It is God’s blessing poured out upon us in ways that we often don’t understand.  God longs to bless us.  He longs to open the floodgates of blessings.

This is a unique passage for God says test me in this.  God says put him to the test.  God says go ahead and double-dog dare me to bless you when you give a tenth of what you have.

Talk to a tither who has been faithful for a few years and ask them if they would ever go back to not tithing.  I am confident that each one would tell you no way.

God is true to his word!

Now talk with someone who tithes one month then gives what’s left over the next month and then stops giving for a while because the budget is so tight that they don’t think that they can.

Some people say Proverbs 3:5-6 with attached caveats.  Trust in the Lord with all of your heart but not your checkbook.  In all of your ways acknowledge him except in your budget where your own understanding must prevail to survive. Then they wonder why God is not making their paths straight.

The people who gave defective animals or did not tithe did not trust God.  How can I give a tenth?  How can I give my best bull?  They did not trust that God would continue to bless them with more.

They had forgotten their most recent deliverance from Babylon.  They had forgotten how their ancestors had swept through the Promised Land defeating all who opposed them.  They had forgotten crossing the Jordan and the Red Sea on dry land.  They had forgotten the plagues upon Egypt that delivered them from bondage.

They had forgotten the counsel of another prophet—Jeremiah—who asked if anything is too hard for God.  It was a rhetorical question.  Nothing is too hard for God, including blessing his people with more than they thought possible.

But the people had to let go of their own understanding.  In this equation of trusting in the Lord and leaning on your own understanding, there was a whole bunch of leaning.

Many remained in their own understanding but some who feared the Lord sought to do better. 

Some kept complaining about God not helping them and the wicked getting away with everything, not knowing that in this distrust of the Lord and constant complaining they were migrating to the ranks of the wicked.  Their own understanding brought them to apathy towards God.

Some did fear the Lord and desireD to serve him.  Those few—a remnant—put their names on a scroll.  These were those who still feared the Lord.  They still desired to honor the Lord.  These few wanted to bring glory to God’s name.

And God noticed them.

He said when the time was right, when it was time for God to act, at just the right time God would claim these faithful few as his treasured possession.

God listened and heard.  God desires none to perish but he is always pleased with faithfulness.  There were some who were faithful among the apathetic and ambivalent of that day.

There were some who honored God.  There were some who feared the Lord.  There were some who by their lives and their offerings and their sacrifices and their words brought glory to God.

God assured them that they would see the difference between how God treated those who honored him and served him and those who did not.

There will come a time when there will be a sorting and these few will be on the right side of the equation.

What about today?

We pray for our nation to turn to God but see little happening in that area.  We keep praying but must know that God listens and hears us.  We may not get what we seek, but God has already sorted us.  We are his.

We pray for the lives of the unborn and the helpless, but see little progress.  We keep praying but must know that God listens and hears us.  We may not get what we seek, but God has already sorted us.  We are his. God will rescue the helpless. We must trust him that he knows exactly what to do.

We pray that our offerings and our living sacrificeS are pleasing to God.  We may not see change in the world, but we trust that we are changing and being molded in the image and likeness of Christ Jesus.

God listens and hears and does what is just.  We must do what we are commanded to do and what God’s Spirit leads us to do without doubt that God listens and hears and does what is right.

We might just be in the minority.  It may be a very small minority.  It may be a remnant, but we will remain faithful to God by putting him first in all things.

We will tithe with both trust and joy in our hearts.

We will serve with passion and purpose and our service and obedience will not be a burden.

We will grow in God’s grace and the trials that seem to take forever will be nothing compared to the coming glory.

We will be known by our love and not our complaints.

We will be known by our faith even when the world doubts us.  In fact, our faith is most evident when it is the evidence of things not seen.

We trust that God has heard us and that he listens to us and that he has good plans for those of us who remain faithful to him.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.

This is not only a verse that we all know by heart but one that guides us to remain faithful when others have moved God out of first place and complain why things are not going well.

We are known as Christ’s disciples by our love.

We are known as God’s faithful by our unwavering trust in him and his promises.

Amen.

I will send a messenger ahead of me

 

Read Malachi 3

The Hebrew people were a mess.  The priests were a mess and were largely responsible for the people continuing down the wrong path.  They were complicit in the matter.

What does God do when his people are a mess?  He sends a messenger, and not just a messenger but one that will prepare the way for his coming.

There will be a messenger.  For us he has come.  It was John the Baptist or if you keep reading, Elijah. Later, Jesus would note that John and Elijah were the same man.

God would not leave his people in the mess of their own making.  He would come and bring a New Covenant.  He would offer life to those enslaved by death and sin.

But who could endure his coming?  He will be like a refiner’s fire.  He will sift out impurities.  Those who continue in rebellion will perish.  This is judgment.

But it is also restoration.  God can do more than one thing at once. We are told that God will purify the Levites.  Those who he chastised severely will be cleansed and refined like silver or gold.  Then offerings pleasing and acceptable to God may resume.

For some there is hope.  There is restoration.  The offerings of the people will once again be acceptable to God.  God said not to fear his coming.  He does have good plans for his people.

Were we to continue reading, we would see that God has more admonition for his people.  He gives them hope and he chews them out at the same time. The tithe is the focus of the next reprimand.  We will save that for another time.

For now, let us have hope and take courage that even in our worst mess, God still loves us.  He does not want to see us perish.  He does have good plans for us.

If you go to the end of the chapter, you will see that there were some people who still feared the Lord. They made a scroll of remembrance. God heard them.

There will be a time when it will be too late to worship and serve the Lord, but that time has not yet come.  So long as it is still called today, we hope and encourage and share God’s love.

But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

God through Malachi is giving his priests and his people a harsh chewing out, but he is also speaking of a time when he will come in the flesh and forgive sins and make a way where there was no way. He will be everything we need.

We have received the fulfillment of this prophecy.  Jesus has come.  He made the atoning sacrifice for our sins.  We have been restored and made right with God not by anything we did but by God alone.  We have received his mercy.  We live in his favor and grace. 

We have received what was promised by the prophet Malachi.  We have received what the people of Malachi’s day saw as a future promise.

That promise lives in us.  We must never let ourselves become like God’s people of Malachi’s time—complacent, apathetic, and without hope.

We have no excuse for God himself lives within us. 

Your pastor, the body of Christ, and the Holy Spirit are here to challenge and encourage you.

The promises of God are true.

So let us never make God second best in our lives.

Let us never give him leftovers when we have first fruits.

Let us always seek him first, and not be enslaved to the things that the godless seek after.

Let us long to be known as his disciples by our love.

Let us take the admonishments and lessons of Malachi and apply them to our lives so as to be his faithful servant. 

Amen.