Pastor: If you would turn with me to Malachi chapter 3, as we are making our way through the book of Malachi, we're going to be looking at Malachi chapter 3, verses 6 through 12, getting to the end closer of Malachi. I would encourage you to turn with me and follow along to see what God says, to listen to God, to obey God-not simply a mere man, but listen to the words of God as you might see it and even read it there before you. Before we read God's word. Let us go again in prayer to Him, recognizing we need the Holy Spirit to illuminate our hearts and our eyes, lest we are here in vain and we are wasting our time. So let us ask now for the Lord to bless His word. Let's pray, Our heavenly Father, Lord, we recognize that apart from Your life-giving Spirit, we are dead in our sins and our trespasses, and whence we once walked. And so, Lord, we do pray that Your Spirit might give us eyes to see and behold the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ as He is revealed here in the Scriptures. Lord, I pray that You would soften our heart and hearts, that we might repent of our sin, that we might turn to You and seek to obey, Lord. Unstop our deaf ears, that we might hear Your words. Lord, be merciful to Your people. Let us return to You and find blessing. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Pastor: People of God, hear God's word for us this morning from Malachi chapter 3, verses 6 through 12.
Pastor: [6] “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. [7] 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?’ [8] Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me.
Pastor: But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. [9] You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. [10] 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. [11] 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. [12] Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.
Pastor: He who has ears, let him hear the word of God. Please be seated. Have you ever found yourself saying to God, "God, I've done it again. I've confessed this sin to you now 1000 and more times. I've confessed my sin to you so many times that I cannot remember how many times, and also maybe in that prayer to God, you feel, God, I get it. If if for this time you don't want to forgive anymore, it's an uncalculable number that I've confessed my sin. How long and how many times can you forgive me until you finally say, "That's it, enough.
Pastor: I'm through with you. Do you ever feel like that? Like I get it, God. Like I'm tired of myself too at times. I think one of the ways we why the why we feel like that sometimes is because our love changes. We have limits to our love. Some of you can think about people that you had in your life at one point, and you thought you couldn't really even think of your life without having that person in your life, but now they really aren't involved at all. They aren't really there.
Pastor: We can be hurt so deeply. We can be sinned against so harsh. That we might say enough. I can't be a part of that relationship anymore. And I think we often think that God's love must be something like our love, but Malachi here in our text is reminding us that God's love is profoundly different than our love.
Pastor: His love is not like us in the sense that he does not change, and neither does his love. He remains steadfast. He remains faithful, loving his people always and forever. Throughout this book, God has confronted His covenant people. He's not pleased with their worship. He hasn't been pleased with their politics and where they're putting their security. He hasn't been pleased with their marriages, and now He addresses something else that might make us a little uncomfortable. He addresses your money. Aren't these all the topics that you're not supposed to talk about at Thanksgiving and with your family? You know, how's your marriage? How's how's the sex life? And how's politics? And how much money are you making, and are you being generous with that money? But Malachi here is addressing all of these uncomfortable topics. Now, it's not really Malachi; Malachi is the messenger. But why is God bringing all of this up? Why is God bringing all of these topics to the forefront? It's a reminder to us that there is no aspect of your life that the Lord is not in control of, that He is not to be Lord of your life over every aspect of your life, the intimacy of your marriage and the love of husband and wife, Christ rules over.
Pastor: Where you put your security and your hope, Christ rules over.
Pastor: How you spend your money, Christ rules over. It all belongs to Him. Our vocation, our bodies, our children, our possessions, our bank accounts do not ultimately belong to us. They are the Lord's, and if this is true for all of creation, but it is especially true for you who are Christians who have been bought with a price, and you who are Christians, and you can even know that your only comfort in life and in death is that you are not your own, but you belong, body and soul-that is all of you-to your faithful Lord Jesus Christ. And what we find in our text today is, God is going to perform an audit on us, on you, and He's going to audit your finances, but for the purpose of revealing what your heart truly loves. What do you truly love? Because where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. And what I want us to see, we're going to look at three things. We're going to see the unchanging God. We're going to see the charge that God gives, but then we're also going to see the challenge that God gives to us to return, to repent, and believe, to rest in Him. So first, we see the unchanging God in verse six: For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore, O children of Jacob, you are not consumed. I think this is one of the best therefores in the Scripture.
Pastor: It's not you. You've now improved. Remember, you heard the sermon about worship, and now you've come, and you've improved your worship, and your your your you got some sleep last night, and now you've improved, and and God says, now I'm happy with you. No, it's not that you have improved. It's not that you have made progress, that you're finally getting it and becoming more faithful. The holy, holy, holy God, who is like a blast furnace before sinners, tells us we are not consumed because He does not change, this is what the theologians call the immutability of God. He does not change. The only reason Malachi again is even having this conversation with the people of God is because God is faithful and he is steadfast towards his people. Remember, if you and I were God and we rule all and have all power, and we have provided for our every need of creation, and the creation grumbles and complains and rebels against us constantly, I think eventually, at one point, don't we say enough? Goodbye. Of the earth, but the scriptures here remind us and tell us that God is a spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable. In His being, in His wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth, God does not change; He remains steadfast, faithful, and His promises never change. His holiness never diminishes. His mercy is never exhausted. Notice how God addresses the people, though, in verse 6o. children of Jacob, what's interesting is God says I don't change, but guess what? You don't really either.
Pastor: You're still like the children of Jacob.
Pastor: Remember Jacob, liar, deceiver, manipulator. He's a thief. He says you're just like Jacob.
Pastor: From verse seven, from the days of your fathers, you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. This isn't a recent problem. You just didn't have a bad day or a bad week or even a bad year. It says, generation after generation, this has been the problem.
Pastor: Faithlessness has been passed down as if it was an heirloom from generation to generation, but what preserved Jacob? It was the character of God. It was God's covenant promise to Jacob, and what preserves us is that we have a steadfast Savior, a Savior who is the same yesterday, today, and forever?
Pastor: And notice the astonishing statement that then God says next. He says, "Return to me.
Pastor: You think about it after centuries now, years and years and years, years of failure from Israel, Rebellion against their God. God says, "Return. After countless acts of disobedience, God says, "Return. This is the the language of repentance that God is calling His people to, to not only have a sense of the danger of sin and its filthiness and the odiousness of it, and not simply just grieving and hating it, but having an apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, to turn from sin, and now turn to the true and living God, and rest in Him. Walk in His ways in new obedience. This is not God simply just telling people to change their ways.
Pastor: It's an invitation to come back and have fellowship with God, have a relationship with God.
Pastor: Return to Me. Now, here's the charge that God gives against Israel. Israel says, "What have we done? What have we done, God?
Pastor: We don't see it. We don't get it. And what God could have said right here is, 'You've done everything. You've broken every one of the commands. Every single one of my commands you have broken. But what's interesting is God doesn't just give a blanket cast of you're sinful and you've broken all the commands because He's a master physician, and what we see here in our text is rather than simply God saying, "People of God, you are sick, He gets right to a specific sin and cuts in a particular place. One He focuses on one sin that is a symptom of the sickness of your home.
Pastor: Again, not because it's the only sin; it's because this is going to expose every other sin in your heart and in your life.
Pastor: Verse eight, God says, "Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me.
Pastor: But you say, "How have we robbed you? God says in your tithes and contributions. The tithe literally means 10th, and it was a Levitical law that you must give 10% of your agricultural and and agricultural produce and livestock. That is, you had to give 10% of your increase, and it served three purposes. First, it sustained the ministry of God's word in supporting the priests and the Levites. Second, it was there to care for the widows, the orphans, the strangers, and the poor. And then the third reason is it enabled God's people to celebrate joyfully together in times of fellowship. When Israel withheld its tithe, they weren't simply keeping extra money in their pockets; they were silencing the very worship of God and its instruction. They are neglecting the needy and weakening the the covenant community. Fellowship to withhold the tithe was an act of rebellion. It was a breaking of God's command. It was essentially a closed fist towards God and a cold shoulder to loving your neighbor. And because of that, the wages of sin is death. You are cursed by breaking God's commands. Verse nine, you are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. You are all guilty of being tight-fisted rather than generous and benevolent, giving God His due and loving your neighbor as you ought to. You have not loved God, you have not loved your neighbor. You have failed and cursed. Are all those who break God's law. Now, what's interesting that you know the the priests in Malachi's day, you know back in the when they were bringing their sacrifices, everyone could kind of see visually if you are bringing a lame lamb, right? You can see like, okay, this guy over here, he's bringing a three-legged lamb.
Pastor: I know we shouldn't do that, but you know God hasn't struck anyone with lightning, so we're going to just keep doing that.
Pastor: But the thing about the tithe is the priests didn't really know exactly how much anyone was making, and so when you would give a 10% the only person who really knew if this was 10% or not was God and you. There were no financial audits, so there was no IRS here during Malachi's time. You know, money is one of the clearest barometers of our hearts, and our bank accounts, I bet, often reveal us more than even our words do to one another. The tithe, though, was never about God needing money.
Pastor: God doesn't need money. The tithe was a tangible profession of faith that declared everything that I have belongs to the Lord, and my security, and my hope, and my peace is not found in clinging to things, but clinging to God. So I'm joyfully and willingly letting this stuff go, because this kingdom is not mine. This world is not my home.
Pastor: What I desire is closer relationship with God, to rest and trust in Him. You know, we too, we are children of Jacob.
Pastor: We like to grasp and to cling to our stuff too. We convince ourselves that just a little bit more, and then I'll be satisfied. Once I get this amount, or I have that amount in savings, or once this is paid, or this is purchased, then I will give, but God now issues a challenge to us and the people of Israel, verses 10 through 12.
Pastor: 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 the nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts. Now, after confronting their sin, notice that what God says next, He doesn't simply just pronounce judgment. He doesn't just simply say, "You've robbed me. Here's the evidence. Case closed. The hammer falls. He invites them and calls them now to trust and actually believe him again.
Verse 10: Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and thereby put me to the test.
Verse 10: Obey, listen to the word of God, and I will bless you. God is saying. But does that sound strange to you? Put me to the test? We're not supposed to do that, all right? We're not supposed to put God to the test.
Verse 10: I mean, Deuteronomy says you shall not put the Lord your God to the test, and Paul will even write we must not put the Lord to the test as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents.
Verse 10: So, what what's happening here?
Verse 10: What's this whole testing with God? The difference here is between unbelief and faith.
Verse 10: Unbelief demands that God prove Himself on our terms. Prove Yourself to me, God, then maybe I'll. Trust and obey. You see the difference. We want God to first do something, and then we will listen and obey. But here, God is saying, "Believe me, and then watch what I will do.
Verse 10: Essentially, God is saying,"Taste and see that the Lord is good. Following my commands will bless you. It will be good for you. My commands are not burdensome. They are there for they're for your good. God promises them, "I will open the windows of heaven. That is, He will send rain. Remember, this is an agricultural people. Their livelihood was on on crops, and for for the most part. And he says, "I will rebuke the devourer. This is the locust. He will keep the bugs away, so you can have a plentiful harvest. I will give you a fruitful harvest if you trust me. I will take care of you. I'm not stingy, I'm not tight-fisted. I delight to overflow those who trust me, says God.
Verse 10: And to Israel, this meant God would bless them by giving them a land flowing with milk and honey. That He's going to bless them until it says there's no more need. You know, back when when they were building that the tabernacle, God had blessed the people with the plunder of the Egyptians. And when the tabernacle is being built, the people of God are bringing so much silver and gold that Moses has to say, "Stop! Stop! There's too much, too much giving, too much generosity. Just wait, stop! God is going to bless His people. Now, is this text teaching prosperity gospel?
Verse 10: Tithe, give, and you will be wealthy beyond measure. You will be healthy. Is that what's happening here? Well, you know the answer is no, because the the land itself in the in the Old Testament was always actually pointing us to something else, and actually something even better than material and land. It points to heavenly land, and it it points to a place where God Himself dwells in our communion with Him. That the greatest blessing that God could ever give His people is not more stuff. It's Himself. It is His presence, His promises, His peace, His son.
Verse 10: That's why David says, "Your word is to be desired than much fine gold. Think about it. Much fine gold, or the word of God, which would you rather have?
Verse 10: Much fine gold sounds pretty good. I would like to have some much fine gold, but the word of God is worth more because in the word of God you find life and wisdom, peace and salvation. All these things of gold will perish; the promises of God will not, because He will not change.
Verse 10: Jesus is called the pearl of great price. He is the great treasure, and he will provide for our every need. The prosperity gospel makes God's gifts greater than God Himself.
Verse 10: But here, God is actually calling people back into a relationship. Return to me, and I will bless you. Now, should Christians tithe today? I think whenever that question is asked to me, I sometimes think it might not be asked with the right motivation. I think most people are not asking, Pastor. I really want to give 20% and why can I only give 10? That's not usually it. It's usually what's the smallest amount of generosity I can give and still have a clear conscience and still feel okay. But that's the wrong question because the New Testament doesn't lower our generosity. I think it actually raises it. The specific civil law here to Israel, I believe, no longer is binding, but the equity or general equity of that law, I would say, still very much applies to us today.
Verse 10: Because remember the goals of the tithe, supporting the ministry of the word. There are more church plants in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church than there are finances ready to support them. There, God is is wanting His word to go so far in here, and even in the United States, and yet there aren't the finances there to support these.
Verse 10: Small little churches trying to to grow and and be nourished to relieve the poor. This is our diaconate to support one another and to to care for the needs of our community, for the widows and the orphans and for for the poor, and also practicing hospitality that we can have good fellowship and interaction with each other. These are still priorities of God and His kingdom. Now we live now under to a fuller and better covenant, and the standard of generosity is not less. We haven't simply been freed from Egypt, we have been freed from sin and judgment. We we've been freed from a much better salvation.
Verse 10: Why would we be less generous than what we see in the Old Testament? We do not give under compulsion, but as those who have been made rich through the poverty of Christ, as we read, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.
Verse 10: What does this have to do with Jesus? What does this money and this whole tithing have to do with Jesus? Well, tithing has to do with our Lord and Savior because it exposes our heart problem.
Verse 10: It exposes our stinginess and it exposes our disposition to trust the things of this world. And for those sins, Christ had to come and die. It also. helps us to understand, for you who are in Christ, how to live to live generously in response to the grace of God. You know that the problem of stinginess really goes all the way back to the garden, doesn't it? God gave Adam the whole garden to eat from one tree, don't eat. But he didn't obey, and he ate, and it cast Adam and all of his posterity in sin and misery. And we're cast out of the presence of God. We're cast out of the garden. But God sends His very own Son, who is rich beyond all splendor, all for love's sake, became poor, and he come, he comes, and he takes on our curse. He is born in a low estate. He is born in a manger.
Verse 10: He is born with nothing. He doesn't even have a place to lay his head, and he takes our curse for our stubbornness, for our trusting in the things of this world, but by faith He gives you the riches of heaven, that you have an inheritance that will not perish or fade, that cannot be robbed or or stolen, and you have a relationship with the true and living God. You have not only union with Christ, but communion with Him. Remember the rich young ruler. You remember young young man, very wealthy, had a lot of money, and he thinks that he's been obedient to the law, but Jesus says,"Sell all that you have, give it to the poor, and come and follow me. And the man goes away sad.
Verse 10: Why? Because he loved his possessions more than he loved the Savior of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I think that is the
call here in this text: to turn from our possessions, to not rest and trust in them, but to rest and trust in our faithful Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will indeed provide for our every need. God has given us His Son. He is not stingy. If God was going to withhold one good thing from you, it would have been his son, the pearl of greatest price, Christ who is worth more than this world and universe put together. But he withheld him not and gave him to you. How much more will he freely give us all things? He will provide for every need. He will give us our daily bread. So now, how do we end this? Let's pass the plate around, and I think that might even be a temptation, because I think it would be all right. Now I'll just give to God, and God will be happy with me. But that is not what this text is about. The text is not ultimately about your money. It's about your heart. That God doesn't want you clinging to your stuff. He wants you clinging to Him. He wants you clinging to Christ because that is our only hope. That is our only security. He is our only peace, Christ. That is the call of this text. Let goods and kindred go. This mortal life also. We need the foundation and the rock of our Lord Jesus Christ. He wants us to hate our sin in all of its forms and fashions, our stinginess, our cold hearts, and lack of love towards God and neighbor. But look again to our Christ, who perfectly loved His Father, perfectly served His neighbor.
call here in this text: He wants us to to look at Christ, to love Him, to rest in Him, to desire Him above all.
call here in this text: This is an uncomfortable text. I never like talking about money, but the question it is: money often is that barometer of our heart's treasure. What is it that you love? Again, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Repent, turn from your sin, and turn to God anew in Christ, and He welcomes you like the prodigal son, like the father with open arms, ready and willing to receive you again. Even now, it is the 1,000th, millionth, uncalculable number of times we have repented. He changes not, and he says, "I am faithful and just to forgive and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness when you confess. Come to me, return to me, and I will give you life.
call here in this text: I will bring you joy, and you will have fellowship with me. We can rest in our God who changes not. Let's go to the Lord in prayer.
call here in this text: Our heavenly Father, we thank you for giving us your Word, and Lord, this is a challenging text. Lord, we are a people that all we know in many ways and how things operate is our money, where we might find security and where we might find comfort. But Lord, you call us to repent of those things and those idols, and to rest in you as our as our peace, as our joy, as our security, Lord, I do pray that you will help us to see the Lord Jesus Christ more clearly today, to see how He came to rescue sinners like us, to redeem us, to cleanse us, to renew us, and Lord, by the power of Your Spirit, would You work in our hearts in such a way that we might be enabled more to love You and to be generous to not only in the giving to the work of Your church, but also into loving our neighbor. Lord, help us to return and to rest in Christ. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.