Giving #7

Joyful Giving
Stewardship #7
November 30, 2008
Pastor Ben Fleming

Turn with me to the last book in the Old Testament – the book of Malachi. For the past 7 weeks we have been studying Joyful Giving or stewardship. Next week we begin our study of the book of James . I have passed out a challenge card called the Ten Percent Challenge. I did not ask you to turn in your response to it but I also passed out a sheet called My Estimate for 2009. It is in your program again today. This Estimate Card is to help your deacons prepare a budget for 2009 – only _____ have been turned in. .

Pastor John MacArthur has said that you and I spend 50 percent of our time thinking about money – how to get it, how to spend it, how to save it, and how much we need to pay for different things. If we spend that much time thinking about money, money is very important to us… You would think with all the time and thought that we put into acquiring money, we would be good at managing our finances – but the truth is – we are terrible at it… Because we spend so much of our time and energy thinking about money – earning it – spending it – fighting over it and because we handle our money so poorly God talks a lot about money in the bible. I could speak to you every Sunday on stewardship but today is our 7th and final message this year. God wants us to be joyful and victorious with the money and possessions that He gives to us. He does not wants us burdened down with debt --- He does not want us to be slaves to lenders. He does not want us to be thieves.

God wants our character to reflect Jesus Christ and His principles. The message in our text today that God gives to us can be summed up in one verse – Malachi chap 3:7. On your outline write in the words.

Key Principle: When you return to God with obedient giving. He will return to you with financial blessing. Write in the two words.

Everyone wants the promise of God – financial blessing --- but most find it easy to overlook and rationalize disobedience to God and His commands. We must remember that this key principle is only true when you put into practice the Six financial wisdom principles we found in God’s Word last week in the book of Proverbs. Please stand as we read God’s Word.
Malachi 3:6 - 12 6“I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD Almighty. “But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’ 8“Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ “In tithes and offerings. 9You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. 10Bring 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 you will not have room enough for it. 11I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit,” says the LORD Almighty. 12“Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the LORD Almighty.

We just read a portion of the last book in the OT. It was written by the prophet Malachi only 400 years before Jesus Christ. The people of God were not giving God their best. God demanded then their best and He demands from His children their best today. In this passage that we read – the Holy Spirit took the hand of this prophet and wrote down these words. They are words that confront us as a believer and they are words that challenge us. Bringing these messages to you has been a challenge to me – I have not wanted to come across as a preacher telling people they just ought to give money and when they do not they are bad….
It grieves me when a child of God is a poor manger of the money God gives to them -- and I personally hurt for them when they rob themselves of the joy and blessings that God brings when His children are obedient to His Word. I cannot image the weight of guilt and condemnation that many live under. I hope you have seen that attitude in me from these messages. There are two challenges in our text today that God gives to us.

Challenge One. We are robbing God when we are disobedient in our giving. (vs.8 - 9) “Will a man rob God? Yet you rob Me. But you ask, How do we rob You? In tithes and offerings.” God begins this section by reminding His people who He is. He does not change. His laws do not change. His principles do not change. His holiness does not change. This first challenge contains five truths that we must pay attention to.

1. Robbing God is a terrible act. Vs.8a “Will a man rob God”? The prophet writes this kind of like a shocking statement or question.” It is almost like he is saying – you got to be kidding me – you are going to rob God? You are content to be a thief and the one you are stealing from is God? What planet are you from?????? A mere man – who owes his entire existence and every good gift from God thinks that he is able to get away with robbing God. If you are or have been robbing God then you are committing a terrible sin. Truth #2

2. Many of God’s people are regularly robbing God. Vs. 8b. “Yet you are robbing Me” This is what God spoke through the prophet --- the prophet was not writing about himself – he was writing about God. The Jewish nation was regularly not bringing to God their best. Turn back to Malachi chap 1: 13 -14 ………the prophet wrote in the beginning of his writing what was happening “When you bring injured, crippled and diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands says the Lord? Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord.” God’s people were not bringing to God their best. They did not do this on just one occasion but they were regularly doing it time and time again. Christian Magazine World reports that in 2006 American believers gave less per capita than believers in churches during the Great Depression. The truth that was happening during Malachi’s time was nothing new --- what is sad is how much believers were not only robbing God but themselves of the blessings of God. We cannot expect the promises of God when we care little about the conditions that go with the promises of God. Truth #3

3. It is possible to rob God without being aware of it. Vs.8c “How have we robbed you” When Malachi told the people what they were doing they ignorantly and perhaps rebelliously sneered at him…… I am thankful that no one has sneered at me this month – at least not to my face……. The spiritual insensitivity and rebellion of the people caused them to deliberately forget God’s commands. You may be robbing God and you are not even aware of it – but God still holds His children responsible to the commands in His Word. However – when a believer hears instruction and teaching about giving and yet they continue to disobey --- the guilt upon that person is greater. The Word of God always has an affect on your life one way or another. During this series I gave you the Ten Percent Challenge card and I challenged you to give for 90 days and if you can not meet your financial needs during that time we promised to give the money that you gave back to you. I have not had one person tell me that they have accepted that challenge but if you look at our giving this month it has not been this high in the past 6 months. You all can be givers and obey Him. Comment about 90 days and faithfulness--- When you begin to sow – do not stop --- often you do not see the return on your sowing until some time has passed where you have shown your self faithful. I keep a prayer journal and I regularly record God’s blessings in my life --- spiritual ones ---- physical ones and financial ones. Truth #4

4. Believers rob God when they disobey His commands. Vs.8d “In tithes and offerings”. God patiently explained through Malachi to the people something they already knew - God expected His people to give regularly a tithe or 10% and offerings when they are needed. We are not under the Old Testament law today we are under the grace of Jesus in the New Testament ,so therefore – it is spiritually healthy for a believer to learn to give to the point where they are giving over 10% of their income. I know of a family who has increased their giving by 1 % a year for the past 15 years. If you want to grow in your hunger for the bible – then learn to give. If you want to grow in your prayer life and see God answer you prayers – learn to give. If husbands and wives want to grow in their love for each other - then learn to give. If you want to get out of debt and break the grip of materialism on your life --- learn to give.

The apostle James writes “every good gift and perfect gift is from above.” God’s good gifts are perfect. God is the source of good gifts and He is the source of giving impulse. The ability to give is one aspect of God’s image in us. So, if you are a real believer you are able to examine yourself and see God in you as you grow in your giving. You cannot grow in trusting God and not become a giver – you cannot grow in your faith and not grow in the discipline of giving.

5. There is always a result in the life of the believer when they rob God. Vs.9 “You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you.” God says that He is cursing the nation of Israel because they are thieves. God not only disciplines His children individually He disciplines a nation corporately. Could we be seeing this happening nationally today in our country? Could our countries current economic crises be as a result of God’s hand upon us? The IRS says that in 2006 – 3% of the people who itemized on their taxes claimed that they gave 10% or more to their churches and that included the Mormans. I have never met or known anyone who did not give to God who was spiritually healthy. It is impossible to be spiritually healthy and not be a growing giver. I have never encountered a believer in 35 years who loved to pray --- who loved to read the Word of God, who did not obey God when it came to giving. I have heard story after story of believer who began to obey God when it comes to giving and it affects the rest of their lives and it especially affects their financial health. They become believers who learn to budget. They learn to do without --- they do not go deep deep in debt. Givers care about others in the family of God --- they become other centered people. Charles Spurgeon wrote, “Many believers are financially and spiritually poor because they continue to rob God.” Think about it:

If you found that your bank manager stole your money after you made a deposit in his bank and he refused to give it back – would you continue to make deposits in his bank? Well, God would not either. That is Challenge #1, now for #2

Challenge Two We can trust God to bless us financially when we are obedient in our giving.
Malachi 3:”10 – 12 “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 you will not have enough room for it.” Notice with me three facets of this second challenge.

1. Followers of God are commanded to be completely obedient to the law.
(vs. 10a) Malachi is commanding the followers of God to bring all their tithe to the place of worship. He says – bring it all the time and every time – give God your best every month – be fully obedient to His command. This does not mean that a believer cannot support other spiritual missions and activities. Many of you give to other mission works – some of you support Compassion International – some of you support KNIS radio – but that support is an offering, it is not your tithe according to Malachi. 2nd facet

2. Followers of God are commanded by God to test Him and see if He will not keep His promise. (vs. 10b). This is the only place in the bible where God challenges His people to put Him to the test in anything. I believe that He does this because God knows that giving is the hardest area in which to trust Him. Christian financial teacher Larry Burkett said, “if I had not learned to trust God with giving, I know I would not have trusted Him with my cancer.”

Think about it: If takes faith to believe that you’ll be better off financially by giving your money away than by keeping it. I think about that every year when I do our taxes and I look at our personal giving report from the previous year – I see if we have been faithful and I am able to see how much we did give --------- I confess to you that I have wondered what we could have done with all that money, but I find myself having a healthy fear of what our lives would have been like if were not givers. God says, Put Me to the test, try me, accept my challenge and see if I will break My promise. Some of you have done that and you know that God keeps His Word. You have grown to trust God in this area and you would not think of stopping to trust Him. Look at number three – the promise of God’s blessing.

3. God promises His children blessing. (vs.10c -12) God says that He will pour out so much blessing on His children until it overflowed. He would give them more crops than they could eat and then look at verse 11 – He promises to remove His financial discipline that He has put upon them. They were suffering from locusts and poor grape harvests because they were not giving as they should have. This could be why getting out and staying out of debt and giving go together. And then in verse 12 God says that He would bless them to such a degree that all heathen nations would see their prosperity. These promises were given to the Jewish nation as a whole but as followers of the Jesus Christ they apply to you and me today. People will see our prosperity. People know who givers are. People are attracked to those who give --- not because they think they can get something from them but givers are people persons who care about others. God says put Me to the test. If you test God – then you can believe God for three promises:

Promise #1 God will meet all your financial needs.
Matthew 6:33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness: and all these things shall be added to you.” Are you seeking the first the Kingdom of God in your life? What do you think about the most? What is the top priority with your time?

2 Corinthians 9:6 “Now this I say, he who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly; and he who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully.”

Slide: Philippians 4:19 “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Remember that verse and address.

Promise #2 God promises to provide you with more money than you need. 2 Corinthians 9:6 “Now this I say; he who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly; and he who sows bountifully will reap bountifully.” There is nothing wrong with a believer enjoying the things of life. Someone recently told me they felt guilty eating all the food at a buffet when there are so many people in need. I told them to eat with joy but make sure to stop at the store and bring some food for our food pantry. There is nothing sinful when a giving believer enjoys extra things in life. God says He will cause you to reap more than you need.

2 Corinthians 9:11 “You will be enriched in everything for all liberality.”

Promise #3 He will provide you with an abundance to give to His work.

2 Corinthians 9:8 -10 “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that always having all sufficiency in everything , you may have an abundance for every good deed…. Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.” I personally believe that our response to this third promise is the key to the first two. When God gives us excess – what do we do with it?

Do we first spend it on ourselves or do we look for opportunities to give and invest in God’s kingdom.

Key Principle: When you return to God with obedient giving, He will return to you with financial blessing.

Let us pray: Heavenly Father – we thank you for being a God who gives. You want us to become more and more like you. Teach us to give. Teach us to manage what you give us in a way that brings you glory and honor. We thank you – In Jesus name amen