MEAT IN MINE HOUSE...
Malachi 3:1-12 (KJV)[1]
Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.
But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap:
And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.
Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years.
And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.
For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?
Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.
And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts.
I have made it a practice over the last several years, to take notes during the preaching of the various men we have in for the month of March and then to try to construct the message I bring on our Faith Promise Offering day from those messages.
The lesson I want to bring this morning springs from two sources:
· First, our “I Love My Church” report that happened the last Sunday night of February and
· Some of the remarks that Brother Matheny made during the SS class he taught the first Sunday of March
Brother Matheny is:
· An observant person first of all, he is
· An open person and tends to speak his mind, and he is
· A concerned person when it comes to this church
He never visits our church without commenting on
· The number of people in the services
· The number of visitors and new faces in the services and
· The number of the Faith Promise that we have posted on the welcome screen Sunday mornings
He asks questions from me that, to be honest, I would not answer for any other missionary and only answer because of his involvement in the early years of this church.
· He knows that our property is debt free
· He knows we have money in the bank
And, armed with that knowledge he said something in Sunday school I had never considered before.
He said that we can give cheerfully to God, and not of necessity because we have money in the bank.
The Bible says, 2 Corinthians 9:7 (KJV)
Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.
I’ve always thought that giving cheerfully and not grudgingly was a matter of the heart.
Brother Matheny helped me to see that the reason we can give cheerfully is because we don’t have to give.
· There’s no bill that will go unpaid if we do not give today
· There will still be lights in the building next week if we don’t give today
· No one will come to confiscate the building if we don’t give today
· We’re not in danger of defaulting on any loans if we don’t give today
I have told some of you before about a couple of pastors I knew years ago who bragged, “We pastor the largest debt in the state.”
I have heard these preachers (they are retired now) teach that, whenever their churches got close to debt free they would build a new building or buy a new fleet of busses or something else that required a large loan, just so they could keep the pressure on their congregations to give.
I’ve never agreed with that sort of mind set. When I came here I said, “If you will be faithful in tithing, I will do my best to be faithful in using those tithes for the Lord.”
And it seems to me that God has blessed that plan.
· You’ve been faithful
· I’ve tried to be frugal
And, so far, we have money in the bank.
So, while Brother Matheny was teaching that first Sunday of March, a question entered into my head;
Why give when we have money in the bank?
I want to attempt to answer that question.
First of all you should give
I. BECAUSE GOD TOLD YOU TO
Malachi 3:8-10 (KJV)
Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
I make no apologies for using this Old Testament passage in a New Testament church.
Notice in this passage,
A. God told you where to bring your tithes
You are to bring it into the storehouse which is His house.
In the New Testament age, a local church is His house.
Your tithe is to go always to a local church.
And you are to bring it. That suggests it is supposed to come with you to the church to which you belong.
· It doesn’t go to your favorite TV evangelist
· It doesn’t go to the guy who promises to pray for your healing
· It doesn’t go to the most popular Christian ministry outside of your church
Your tithe goes all the time, every time to the storehouse of your local church.
B. God told you why to bring your tithes
Because if you don’t you are robbing God.
It is sin to withhold your tithes from your church.
If you love Jesus, you will bring your tithes into your church’s storehouse.
C. God told you the goal of bringing your tithes
“That there may be meat in mine house.”
Plainly speaking, you bring your tithes into the house of God, not so the bills can be barely paid this week but so the storehouse is full.
I praise the Lord for those times when our church’s storehouse looked a lot like the widow’s barrel that always looked empty but never ran out.
But that is not the Biblical goal for the church’s storehouse.
We are supposed to give so that it is full.
Give even though we have enough right now because God commands you to.
Why give when we have money in the bank?
II. BECAUSE GOD BLESSES YOU FOR DOING IT
Malachi 3:10-12 (KJV)
Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.
And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts.
So it is robbing God to not give Him tithes and offerings.
But when we obey His command to give
A. He pours us out blessings
Vs 10
Those blessings may come in the form of financial blessings, but they might not.
· God can bless us with peace
· God can bless us with souls saved
· God can bless us with happiness
· God can bless us with confidence
Etc
Don’t limit God by deciding what sort of blessings are the best ones for you.
Let God pour you out His blessings and you will discover that they are so much better than what you would have done on your own.
B. He rebukes our devourers
Vs 11
This goes back to the curse of Adam after the fall.
Genesis 3:17-19 (KJV)
And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
When you obey God’s command to bring your tithes so that there is “meat in mine house.” it’s as if God lifts the curse he placed on Adam.
· The ground isn’t cursed for your sake
· The thorns and thistles are gone
· The sweat of the face is wiped away[3]
C. He gives us a testimony among others
Vs 12
This is specifically true in the context of Faith Promise, where we become friends and co-laborers with missionaries in all parts of the world.
Why give when we have money in the bank?
III. BECAUSE YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT GOD MIGHT HAVE PLANNED FOR THE FUTURE
I don’t want to try to force this point out of the passage so let me just say that no one of us knows what tomorrow holds.
· It could be that our church is given an opportunity to do something bigger than we can think of right now
· It could be the we go through a period where we need the meat in the storehouse or
· It could be that God just wants it there for His own glory
Something happens that always interests me every time I read it.[4]
Jeremiah was instructed by God to buy a piece of property he never used.
Property is not cheap, and Jeremiah was in prison when he bought it.
Jeremiah would eventually be forced to go to Egypt where he would die and never ever even see the field he bought from his uncle.
The whole purpose of buying the field was to bring a message from God.
Why should you give when the church already has money in the bank?
Because the purpose of your giving is not about the money or the need of it.
The purpose of giving is about the giving and the blessings, lessons and benefits you receive when you give.
[1]I don’t really intend to preach on this entire passage, but I do believe it is good for us to see that the command to bring the tithe into the storehouse is associated with the promise of the coming of Jesus, in the days of John the Baptist. The passage that teaches that not tithing is robbing God is directly related to John the Baptist, the first coming of Jesus and the New Testament Church age.
[2]John 14:15
[3]Please understand that I mean this in a spiritual manner. I know there are still thorns and thistles and I know that we still get sweaty from work. I just mean that there is no curse in it any more. It is a joy to be a servant of the Lord.
[4]Jeremiah 32:6-8 (KJV)
And Jeremiah said, The word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Behold, Hanameel the son of Shallum thine uncle shall come unto thee, saying, Buy thee my field that is in Anathoth: for the right of redemption is thine to buy it.
So Hanameel mine uncle's son came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the LORD, and said unto me, Buy my field, I pray thee, that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin: for the right of inheritance is thine, and the redemption is thine; buy it for thyself. Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD.
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