Word of Salvation – Vol.53 No.9 – March 2008

 

Robbing God

A Sermon by Rev Jack Kapinga

on Malachi 3:6-12

Scripture Reading:  Malachi 3:6-12

Suggested Songs:  BoW 148; 32; 218; 531

 

Brothers and Sisters in Christ.

Introduction

Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ,

There are times in all of our lives when we feel spiritually alive. We have a faith that is strong, we find it easy to rejoice in the Lord, prayer is not difficult, and we feel as though nothing can go wrong and nothing can get us down. We are keen to serve our God and to live the way he wants us to. These are times when we feel close to the Lord.

But then there are other times when we feel spiritually dry and lost and even dead. We are full of doubts and struggles, we get depressed and miserable. We have no joy, we feel as though nothing goes right for us, and we have no desire to serve God. And at these times we don't feel close to the Lord but rather we feel as though he is far, far away. In fact at those times we can feel as though something has changed about God. We begin to wonder if he has changed his attitude toward us. We think that he doesn't care about us anymore, that he no longer loves us or protects us or blesses us. And those can be some of the most difficult periods in our lives.

But if you have felt this way in the past, or if you think you might feel this way in the future, or if you feel this way right now, then this passage that we're looking at in Malachi is an important passage for you.

1. God Does Not Change

At this time in their history the people of Israel felt that God was far away. Earlier passages reveal that they thought God didn't love them, they thought it was a waste of time worshipping him, they thought he wasn't taking any notice of them, they thought that he only blessed the wicked. And so in verse 7 of our text we are told that they wanted God to return to them. They wanted him to come back, because they felt that he had gone far away.

And they thought the reason for that was because God had changed. They were telling each other that God had now decided to turn away from them, that he didn't want them anymore, that he had become unfaithful to his covenant, that he had decided to take away his mercy and his love.

And so at the beginning of our passage, God alerts them to the truth. The people of Israel thought something had changed about God and that this was why they felt distant from him. But God tells them otherwise. In verse 6 he says, "I the LORD do not change", that's right "I the LORD do not change". The Lord God Almighty is holy and righteous and perfect. And so he is not reliable one minute and unreliable the next.

He does not make promises and then changes his mind and does something else instead. No the Lord our God is always the same, he is always reliable, he is always faithful, he is always loving and just. In theology we say that God is immutable, he simply does not change. As it says in James 1, "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." Or as it says in Hebrews 13, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."

So congregation, if we are in the spiritual pits, if we feel like everything is going wrong, then let us never think that it's because something has changed about our God. Let us never think that he once loved us but now he doesn't. Let us never think that he is unreliable or unfaithful or that he doesn't care. For the Lord our God does not change.

And he tells the people of Israel that it's a good thing that he doesn't. Having said that he doesn't change, he then says, "So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed." If God was unfaithful, if he had a change of heart about his mercy and his grace, then that would be the end for his people. If God no longer loved us, then that would be the end of us for he would give us what our sins deserve. It is only because of his unchanging grace that we have life on this earth, and it is only because of his unchanging grace that we have new life and everlasting life.

But in saying this, the Lord also leads us to the real problem. You see the people felt that God was far away and that this was because he had changed. But God tells them that the real reason for the distance between them was because they had changed. They were the ones who had been unfaithful, they were the ones who had caused this problem.

In verse 7 God says, "Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them." God had not turned away, but the people had turned away. They had been unfaithful to their promises; they had been unfaithful to their God. And this had been the case for many generations. This was why it seemed that their covenant God was so far away.

And so when we feel distant from the Lord, when we feel spiritually dry and isolated, then we need to seriously consider if this could be the reason. You may have heard the saying, "If you are far away from God, then who moved?" How true it is! If we turn our back on God, if we drift away, if we are no longer interested in him, then of course he will seem distant. God does not change, but we do. And so if we change our attitude to the Lord, then we will find that we have distanced ourselves from him.

And so it says, "Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD God Almighty." The people of Israel needed to turn back to the Lord. And if they did, then they would again know his nearness. And the same goes for us. If we have drifted away, then we need to turn back, and then we will again know the nearness of God.

The basic principle of this passage is even more powerfully true since Jesus Christ did his work on the earth. Think about it. Jesus died on the cross and was buried, but on the third day he rose to new life. His earthly work of redeeming his people is finished. Can it be reversed? Can the devil somehow push back time and put Jesus back onto the earth and undo his saving work? Of course not, the thought is ridiculous! 1 Peter 3:18 says, "For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God." He died once and for all; his work is impossible to reverse. So if you are a Christian and you feel that you are far from God, what has changed: you or Jesus' work for you? The answer is plain, isn't it!

Hear the call of this passage! If you feel distant from God, repent and return to him! No one can snatch you out of the hand of the Good Shepherd, our Lord Jesus. Move back into fellowship with him today.

2. Are We Robbing God?

But perhaps you are now thinking, how have I moved away from God? What have I done to cause this distance? Aren't I doing the same things I always did? Well, the people of Israel wondered the same thing; they wondered what they could possibly be doing wrong. It says, "But you ask, How are we to return?" Well we've seen it over and over again in this book haven't we? If you want to ask God a question, then you better be ready for the answer. And again it is not the answer they were expecting.

In verse 8 the Lord says, "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me." The reason these people were in the situation they were in was because they were robbing God. To rob someone is to take what is rightfully theirs. It is a selfish act. And how much worse to rob the Lord, to take for yourself what is really his. God says to his people, the reason we are far apart is because you have been robbing me. But as usual, they are blissfully unaware of their own shortcomings. And so they ask, "How do we rob you?" Well God is going to tell them.

He says, "In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse - the whole nation of you - because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house." You see, in the Old Testament God expected his people to give him a tithe. And the word tithe means a tenth. The people were supposed to give the Lord 10% of their income; before anything else they were supposed to set aside a full tenth for his work. And that is why this verse speaks about God's storehouse. There was a place in the temple where these tithes were kept. People would bring 10% of their animals and livestock, 10% of their crops and harvest, 10% of whatever they produced.

But what were all these things used for? What was the point? Well, the tithes were used to bring sacrifices to God and to enable the temple worship to take place. The tithes were used to support and feed the Levites, the priests who worked in the temple. And they were used for the upkeep of the temple. And the tithes were also used to help the poor and the needy, they were used in case of emergency. Everything the Israelites had was a gift from the Lord. And so God said the first 10% must be given back to me, it is mine. And so tithing was sign of the people's devotion to the Lord.

But the problem was that it just wasn't happening. The people refused to give a tenth to the Lord and because they did, there was no food in the Lord's house, in the temple. And so God told them that they were robbing him, they were refusing to give him what was rightfully his. And this showed their lack of devotion, that they had moved away from the Lord.

But what does this mean for us today? Let's think about the particular example of tithing first. Does this law still apply to us? Does God still expect us to give 10% of our income to support his work? Does he really think that before we do anything else with our pay packet, that we should take out a full tenth and give it to him? Well of course the answer to that is 'no'. I mean you show me one passage in the New Testament where God expects the same of us today as he did in Old Testament times. No, in the new covenant God never expects the same as he did back then. No, in the new covenant he always expects much, much more.

After all, we have received so much more from God than the people did back then. They only saw the shadows but we have seen the reality. We have experienced all the vast riches of God's grace in Jesus Christ. And so how could we limit our devotion to what God expected in the Old Testament? Everything we have is from the Lord and so while 10% might be a good guide, it's definitely not the upper limit.

Think about these New Testament passages. In 1 Corinthians 16 Paul says, "Now about the collection for God's people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income." Or in 2 Corinthians 8 it says, "And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints." Or in 2 Corinthians 9 Paul says, "Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver."

If you read 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 right through, you will find that giving generously is encouraged on the basis of God's generosity to us in Christ. Jesus Christ has given you every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. He became poor and gave up his life, so that you might become rich. If Christ has so loved us, shouldn't we respond by loving him in return?

Brothers and sisters, the Bible tells us that we must be a people who are generous in our giving for the Lord. We need to give to maintain the work of the church. We need to give to support and feed those devoted to full time ministry. We need to give to sustain Christian projects and missions. We need to give to provide for the poor and the needy.

If all Christians did this then the church would never have to struggle to meet its budget. Christian ministries would not have to close due to lack of funding. And the poor would never have to be turned away because there is nothing to give them. But the fact of the matter is that it happens. It happens in every church, and it happens in our church. And so every one of us needs to think carefully about the way we give for the Lord's work. It's time for us to get real because loose change doesn't cut it with God.

Congregation, when it comes to our giving, are we giving generously, are we giving according to our income, are we giving cheerfully? Or are we robbing God of what is his? And more importantly, could our level of giving be a reflection of just how devoted we are to the Lord? And could our lack of devotion be the reason why God is so far away?

But you know there are other ways that we could rob God. If robbing God is keeping for yourself what is rightfully his, then our money is just one example out of many.

We could rob God if we spent all our spare time looking after our own pleasures, but never gave any for him. We could rob God if we never spend the time in prayer that he expects of us. We could rob God if we didn't honour his day, his Sunday, by using it the way he wants us to. We could rob God if every time he called us to get involved in some ministry or some task in the church we said no. We could rob God if we only ever thought about ourselves and never tried to help others. We could rob God if we never used the gifts and talents he has given us to truly serve him.

Everything we have has come from the Lord. Our money, our possessions, our time, our energy, our abilities, everything. And he calls on us to use these things for him. If you are on a spiritual low, if God seems far away, then could that be because you are failing to give him what is rightfully his? Could it be because you are robbing the Lord?

3. God Blesses Those Who Devote Themselves To Him

But brothers and sisters, there is one more thing that God teaches us in these verses. And that is that he blesses those who truly devote themselves to him. You see the reason the people of Israel did not bring their tithes is because they thought that if they did, then they themselves would have to go without. And we often think the same way. Every dollar I give is a dollar less for me. Every hour I give is an hour less for me. And if I give too much, then I will suffer.

But God explains that if you devote yourself to him then you won't go without. For he will look after you and he will bless you and he will provide what you truly need. From the second half of verse 10 it says, "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. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit, says the LORD Almighty. Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land, says the LORD Almighty."

These people had been robbing God but he says that if they stop, then he will show them what they had been missing out on. If they bring in the tithe then they won't suffer as a result. Rather they will receive God's richest blessings, far more than they could ever imagine.

And the same goes for us. The more we devote our time and our money and our efforts to the Lord, the more we will know his blessing. Often God will also bless us in physical and material things. He cares for us in so many ways. But we know that won't always be the case. Sometimes God has reasons for not blessing us with riches or possessions or health or well-being. But that reminds us that there are far greater blessings that we should desire. For we live in the age of the Holy Spirit and so God promises to give us spiritual blessings.

In other words, if we stop robbing the Lord of what is rightfully his, if we return to him in humble devotion, then we can expect that he will pour out his spiritual blessings upon us. God will increase our faith. He will give us joy in our hearts. He will motivate us to worship and to pray. He will give us confidence in his daily care and assurance of our salvation. He will strengthen us to serve him more. And as a result of all these things we will again feel the Lord's nearness.

Conclusion

My friends, when you are on a spiritual low, then remember these things. If God seems far away, if it seems as though he doesn't care for you, well it's not because he moved away from us. The Lord does not change, he is always faithful. But sometimes there is distance between us because we move, because we turn away from him. And one way we can do this is by robbing God. He has given us everything we have. And he calls on us to use what he has given us for him and for his church and for his kingdom. But if we selfishly keep it all for ourselves, then how can we expect to be blessed?

Let us return to the Lord. Let us serve him with our abilities and our finances and our possessions and our time and our effort. It is time for us to again give him our full devotion in every part of life. And if we do, then he has promised to pour out his blessings upon us. He will fill us with his Spirit and we will feel spiritually alive. And then once again we will feel close to the Lord. Amen.