So today, as we are following the lectionary readings, we come to these passages, and we
see that we're going to be dealing with the topic of money, and specifically tithing and
generosity.
And I love when we come to these places in the lectionary, because as I'm looking at
it, I'm thinking in particular, we're going to be focusing on Malachi chapter 3.
And these are passages that if they didn't come up in the lectionary, we could probably
go years and years and years without ever preaching on them.
And the reason is that most people don't really like to talk about the topic of money.
And a lot of preachers, surprisingly, don't particularly look forward to the prospect
of preaching about money, because we know that it's uncomfortable for all of us.
And, you know, people say, well, you know, I'm uncomfortable just because it's getting
too personal.
You know, it's just getting too personal.
Money is a very personal thing.
Funny is I've thought about that.
You know, a few years ago, I preached a sermon series on the Song of Songs.
It was all about sexuality and intimacy.
The place was packed.
Packed.
Attendance just spiked.
And I don't know if you've ever read Song of Songs.
But it doesn't get much more personal than the Song of Songs.
I mean, especially if you understand the anatomical references that are being made.
It's a highly, highly personal text.
And so, I actually don't think that that is the reason that we are uncomfortable talking
about the topic of money.
I think the topic is disturbing to us because it's not really about the money.
When we talk about money, we're not really talking about money.
And generosity is not really a money issue.
It's a heart issue.
If you want to know the state of your heart, the best way to do that is to look at your
spending habits.
In other words, follow the money.
Follow the money, and they will lead you to what's really going on.
It will lead you to the truth about yourself.
And this is probably why, if we look at the Gospels, Jesus talked about the topic of money
more than almost any other topic in Scripture.
So, this morning, we're going to be looking at this primarily in Malachi chapter 3.
And we're going to see what's going on with these people, and we're going to ask what the
parallels are for us, and we're going to see three questions that we are going to try to answer.
First of all, what's the problem?
Second of all, how do we know?
And third, what can we do about it?
So, what's the problem?
How do we know?
And then what can we do about it?
Let's pray.
Lord, we thank You for Your Word, and we thank You that it always goes out and accomplishes
what You desire for it to accomplish, Lord.
And we pray that You would open us to the power of Your Word this morning, that we would
be receptive to what You have to say for all of us.
And we pray that this would lead to our ability to glorify You and to glorify Your name, not only
among ourselves, but in this city.
Lord, that we would lift Your name above every other name.
We pray this in Your Son's holy name.
Amen.
So, first of all, what's the problem that we see happening in Malachi?
It says in verse 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?
So, what's going on here is this.
God loves His people, but God is lamenting the fact that they are living in rebellion
against Him.
So, He's calling them to return.
He's saying, return to Me.
I love you.
You're wayward.
You've departed from My ways.
Return to Me, and I will return to You.
I'm waiting for You to come back to Me.
And in the context of this passage, the people's response essentially means this.
They say to God, what do you mean?
What do you mean we need to return?
We haven't done anything wrong.
That's essentially what they're saying in response.
And, you know, right there, that's something to meditate on.
We can be going along in our lives.
We can be living, assuming that everything is good, assuming that we are, our relationship
with God is healthy, and yet we can be actively rebelling against God.
Even if we don't know it.
We can be running from God if we're not, even if we're not aware of it.
And so, God goes on in verse 8 and says, will man rob God?
Yet you are robbing Me.
And the Hebrew word for rob, the translation here isn't strong enough.
The Hebrew word actually means to pillage, to plunder, right?
To take by force.
You know, imagine kicking in the door of somebody's house and beating them up and then taking all
of their valuables.
That's the word in context.
Will man rob God?
Yet you are doing that to Me.
You're pillaging Me.
You're plundering Me.
And the people say, how in the world are we plundering you, God?
And then God says, through your lack of generosity.
Through your lack of generosity.
So, the question is, how does a lack of generosity rob God?
How does a lack of generosity plunder God?
Now, here's where the gospel reading comes in.
If we look at Matthew's gospel, what we just read, it's a situation where the religious leaders,
they're divided over whether or not to pay taxes to Caesar.
And they ask Jesus essentially a no-win question.
Regardless of what he says, somebody's going to be angry at him.
And so, they ask Jesus, should we pay taxes to Caesar or not?
And so, Jesus gives this amazing answer.
He says, bring me a coin.
And by the way, Jesus was so poor that he didn't have a coin in his pocket, right?
Bring me a coin.
They hand him a coin.
He says, whose image is stamped on this coin?
And they kind of reluctantly, Caesar's, you know, they're seeing where this is going.
And then Jesus says this, well, therefore, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's
and to God the things that are God's.
So, what's he saying there?
This is an amazing answer.
He says, well, you live in Caesar's empire,
and you benefit from imperial roads and education and justice and freedom from invasion.
The coins even have Caesar's image stamped on them.
It's only right that you would render to Caesar what is Caesar's.
But then what does he say?
He takes a step back.
He broadens it.
He says, render to God the things that are God's.
So, what's he saying there?
He says, listen, you live in God's world.
You live in a body that God gave you.
You benefit from talents and gifts and resources that God has given you.
Every breath you take is a gift from God.
Every beat of your heart, every time it beats,
it's a gift from God keeping you alive for another second.
So, he's saying that coin has Caesar's image stamped on it,
but you have God's image stamped on you.
Render to God the things that are God's.
It's an amazing answer.
And it really begins to shift our perspective
on the way we think about the world
and the way we think about even our own bodies.
Probably you're familiar with Nick Saban,
the legendary Alabama football coach.
I saw this clip of him giving a speech.
And yes, mark it.
I'm giving a sports analogy.
I think I'm due.
It's been about five years.
I love all the sports,
but Nick Saban gives this speech
that people have sort of dubbed the nothing speech.
Or he says this.
He says,
when you wake up every day,
you're entitled to nothing.
Nobody owes you.
Right?
And it's a very inspiring speech.
It goes on to talk about the importance of hard work
and discipline.
And you have to take that talent
and you have to turn it into something.
And, you know,
entitlement leads to disaster.
And he's aiming at people who are entitled.
And, you know,
it's a very inspiring speech.
But with all due respect to Coach Saban,
Jesus takes it much, much further.
So the truth that we see here is this.
Not only does the world owe us nothing,
but what Jesus is saying
is that we owe God everything.
That we owe God everything.
That's the meaning of the phrase,
the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.
The recognition that everything that we have is a gift.
That everything belongs to Him.
And that we owe Him everything.
Right?
So when God gives some of His things to us,
He does it in the way that an investor
would give money to a money manager.
The money still belongs to the investor.
But He gives it to the manager.
He entrusts it to the manager to use well.
And what does it mean for a manager
to use that money well?
Well, the job of a money manager
is to use that money in ways
that reflect the values and priorities of the owner.
Now, the money manager is expected
to be able to make a living off of this.
But their primary aim
is to use that money in ways
that reflect the values and the priorities
of the owner.
And when we look at God's values and priorities,
we see that God wants us to use His resources
to bring glory and honor to Him.
He wants to see people everywhere
come to know and worship Him.
He wants to see a beautiful community
made up of people from every tribe
and tongue and nation
emerging as this great family
that spans the globe.
God wants to see the world filled with justice
and filled with peace.
God wants to see human beings flourishing together,
loving and serving one another.
This is God's vision for the world.
And what this tells us
is that we are God's money managers
meant to pursue God's priorities
with God's resources.
We are God's money managers
meant to pursue God's priorities
with God's resources.
And so coming back to Malachi,
that's the context here.
When we don't do that,
when we start living and acting
like His resources belong to us,
we're committing cosmic fraud.
All right, we're robbing God.
So that's the problem in view here.
And so then we have to ask,
how do we know whether or not
this is a problem for me?
See, these people in Malachi,
they had no idea this was an issue for them
until God revealed it to them.
And probably, honestly,
most of us in this room are thinking,
you know, I'm not really sure
that this is an issue
that I need to be worried about,
but I do know somebody
who is wealthier than I am,
and they probably need to hear this.
You know, one of the things
that I hear sometimes after sermons
is people say,
I really appreciate the sermon.
I know exactly who I'm going to send it to.
You know, and of course,
I appreciate that,
but I would also say,
well, you know,
what if God was sending it to you?
You know?
So how do we know
if this is an issue for us?
And this is really where
the topic of tithing comes in.
In verse 8,
the people say,
how have we robbed you?
How do we know?
And God says,
in your tithes and contributions.
Now, what's the meaning
of this concept here?
In the Old Testament,
God called everyone
to give 10%
of what they brought in
for charity
and ministry purposes, right?
That's what the word tithe means.
It means 10%.
In the New Testament,
there's really only one reference
to tithing in the New Testament.
Interestingly,
when Paul talks about generosity,
which he does quite a bit,
he never uses the word tithe.
Never uses that word.
The only reference
in the New Testament
comes from Luke's Gospel,
chapter 11.
The Pharisees,
as we know,
were very scrupulous.
They were very legalistic.
They were very focused
on every jot and tittle,
doing everything exactly
as it was prescribed
in not only Scripture,
but in all of the additional rules
that they had created.
And so they were very focused
on giving exactly 10% of everything.
And down to their,
you know,
they would have their herbs
growing in their garden
and they would clip off,
you know,
exactly 10%
and bring that
and give it
as part of their tithe.
And Jesus challenges them
because of this,
because they would give
that 10%
that they were supposed to give,
and then maybe a need
would arise in the community.
There would be some sort
of a crisis
or a need,
and the Pharisees
would respond by saying,
oh, I'm sorry,
I can't help.
See, I already gave my 10%,
so I'm sorry.
I would,
but I already did
what God asked me to do,
so, you know,
go knock on somebody else's door,
you know.
And so Jesus says,
woe to you.
Woe to you
for neglecting justice.
Woe to you
for neglecting the love of God.
That's the whole point.
And so Jesus says,
you should have been doing both.
You know,
give your tithe,
that's great,
but you're giving your tithe
without giving your heart.
You know,
you should be giving
your money away
even as you give your heart
away to God,
even as you give your heart
away to those in need.
That's the whole reason
this happens.
And what we need
to understand is,
you know,
we begin to see this emerge.
A generous spirit
isn't gonna focus
on a percentage.
You know,
a generous spirit
isn't gonna focus
on where that line is,
right?
A generous spirit,
somebody who's given
their heart away to God,
somebody who's given
their heart away
to the things
that God cares about,
they're gonna give
freely and joyfully
just as an overflow
of love for God.
That's where that giving
is gonna come from.
And one of the best examples
of generosity in the Bible
comes from the Macedonian Christians
in 2 Corinthians chapters 8 and 9.
The apostle Paul
is collecting money.
There's a famine in Judea
and he's collecting
famine relief funds.
And even though
the Macedonian Christians
are facing their own crisis,
right,
they're in the midst
of their own crisis,
Paul says in verse 4,
they were begging us earnestly
for the favor
of taking part
in the relief
of the saints.
So the amazing thing
about the Macedonians is,
Paul didn't ask them
for money.
You know,
he didn't say,
I know you guys
are having a hard time,
could you just give a little bit,
just spare something?
No,
they're the ones
who approach Paul.
They come to Paul
and they beg him,
can we please give to this?
Can we please help relieve
the needs
because of the famine?
And so Paul's blown away
by this.
And what we see
is a generous spirit
doesn't ask,
how much do I have to give?
A generous spirit says,
how much do I get to give?
You know,
it's always eagerly looking
for opportunities to give.
So, you know,
for people like this,
giving is a source of joy.
When their income goes,
see, you know,
a lot of times
you get older,
you advance in your career
and your income
kind of, you know,
goes up over time
and what typically happens is
your lifestyle
just kind of immediately
comes up, right?
So you're giving,
your income goes up
and then your lifestyle
just fills in.
And then your giving goes up
and your lifestyle,
or I'm sorry,
your income goes up
and your lifestyle
just kind of keeps pace
with your income.
But these people,
the people that Paul's
talking about,
you know,
any extra income they have,
they're not thinking
about lifestyle changes,
they're thinking about
this category over here,
giving.
They're like,
well, this means
I can give more
and I can give more
and I can give more.
That's what a joyful giver
looks like.
And so the point is
if we start focusing
too much on an exact percentage
or if we start sort of,
you know,
biblically looking,
well,
is this pre-tax
or post-tax dollars?
Right?
We're missing the point.
So 10% is,
you know,
Jesus doesn't abolish it,
but he transforms
the way we think about it.
We start thinking,
you know,
10% is kind of
more of a baseline.
It's like a starting place.
You know,
the idea would be
we start here
and then we kind of
build on it.
You know,
and this brings us
back to the point
of how do we know
whether or not
generosity is a problem
for me?
And I would say
if we don't think
about generosity
the way that we've
been describing here,
right,
the way that we might see
in the example
of the Macedonians,
if giving is really
hard for us,
then it's worth
a closer look
at our hearts.
Right?
And this is where
tithing comes in
because for most people,
I mean,
pretty much everybody
I know,
including us,
giving away 10%
of your income
is something
that you feel.
You can't give away
10% of what you're
bringing in
and not know it,
right?
And not,
and not,
and not probably
have to make some
cuts and sacrifices
in other areas
of your life.
And so that's why
10% is a good
starting place
because if giving
at that level
feels unthinkable,
it's worth
a closer look.
Not just at the budget,
but at our heart.
So the question
then becomes,
for those of us
who do struggle
with generosity,
if we're sort of
sitting here thinking
and, you know,
sort of reflecting
and thinking,
well, maybe this is
kind of an issue
for me.
What can we do
about it?
You know,
research estimates
that if all Christians
in the U.S.
started tithing,
that that would mean
at a minimum
roughly $165 billion
extra dollars
going to various
churches and ministries,
right?
So on the one hand,
I would say
when we think about
tithing,
that doesn't necessarily
mean,
I'm not saying,
like,
start writing your checks
to Church of the Advent,
right?
In the Old Testament,
it was the temple,
but in the New Testament,
in the New Covenant world,
there's no equivalent
for the temple,
right?
So you're looking
at local churches
and ministries
and nonprofits,
missionaries,
whatever things
that we support.
What I would say
is this,
if everybody
actually started
tithing,
right,
churches,
ministries,
nonprofits
would be inundated
with resources,
right?
Everybody,
everybody would,
everybody would feel it.
So how can we be
more generous
as a people?
And I would say
a couple of things
coming out of this passage.
Number one,
follow the money,
right?
In the original context
of the film
that that comes from,
the idea is
that if you follow
the money,
that will lead you
to the corruption.
Where's the corruption?
And it's the same idea here.
Verse 10,
God calls His people
to bring the full tithe
into the temple treasury.
And in other words,
He's saying,
devote your full tithe
to the worship
and ministry of God.
Now,
is this because
God needs money?
Class?
No,
absolutely not,
right?
God doesn't need money,
just so we're clear on that.
So why would God say this?
It's because God knows
that our spending habits
reveal what we really love
and worship.
So as Jesus once said
in the Gospels,
where your treasure is,
there your heart
will be also.
Or in this context,
where your treasury is,
there your heart
will be also.
If it's hard for you
to consider giving
10% away to ministry
and to charity,
ask yourself,
well,
if it's hard for me
to give money here,
where is it easy
for me to give money?
Where are the areas
in my life
where I never have
to tell myself,
you should spend
more on this?
So start asking yourself,
where does your money go?
Right?
So if we find
that we're spending,
easily spending
too much money
on food and entertainment,
we don't even think about it.
We never,
you never have to set a goal
to say,
I need to go
to more nice restaurants.
I need to go
on more trips,
right?
We never have to set
a goal for that,
right?
If you do,
we'll get to you
in a second.
But a lot of us,
we don't,
right?
If that's an area
where you tend to spend
more than you should
and every few months
you're looking
and you're thinking
or maybe you're talking
to your spouse
and you're saying,
we really need
to bring this down.
We're spending
way too much
on groceries
and eating out
and all that.
We need to bring
this down,
right?
Maybe that's where
your money goes.
Or maybe some of us,
we spend money easily
on how we look.
We buy clothes,
we buy accessories,
hair,
makeup products,
other enhancements,
right?
I'll just leave that
a big broad category.
Whatever that may be,
right?
Or maybe we're
the kind of people
who we scoff at people
who spend their money
on going out.
We're like,
I never eat out,
right?
I always eat at home
and we,
you know,
we go to Aldi
once a month
and it's a rigorous budget
and everything
is accounted for
and everybody's allowed
one egg a week
and we do it,
you know,
we keep it,
you know,
and you're very good
about that
and you're really focused
on making good investments
and you're really focused
on building your retirement,
right?
So there's different
kinds of people
but here's the thing,
there's nothing wrong
with going out
to eat at restaurants.
I love going out
to eat.
There's nothing wrong
with buying good food.
There's nothing wrong
with spending money
on your appearance
to make sure you look good
and look professional.
There's nothing wrong
with building a retirement account.
There's nothing wrong
with any of these things
specifically,
right?
What's the point?
The point is what Jesus said,
right?
Where your treasury is,
there your heart
will be also.
So the thing
that we need to ask is
if it's really hard
for me to think
about giving generously
for God's purposes
and it's really easy
for me to spend
way too much over here,
then where's my heart?
What's really going on inside?
What am I really worshiping?
Right?
This tells us
where our real treasury is,
where our heart
really dwells.
We may say
that we love
and worship God,
but our spending habits
would say otherwise.
So, you know,
in truth,
maybe we love
and worship pleasure
and escapism.
Or maybe we love
and worship
feeling attractive.
Or maybe we love
and worship
financial security
or the status
that that brings us.
The truth is
we are all
extravagantly generous
with our money
when it comes
to the things
that we worship.
You never have
to be convinced
to give generously
to your God.
We all are
overwhelmingly generous
in service
of our God.
So financial change
begins with
spiritual change.
We have to change
what we worship
if we want to change
how we spend
our money.
And that's what leads us
to the second thing.
So we say
follow the money,
number one,
and then number two,
focus on God's generosity.
That's how we're
going to change.
God says,
bring your full tithe
and thereby
put me to the test.
See if I will not
open the windows
of heaven for you
and pour down for you
a blessing
until there's no more need.
Now,
this is a verse
that prosperity
gospel preachers
have twisted
and abused.
Okay,
now if you're not
familiar with the
prosperity gospel,
don't worry about it.
You don't need to know.
But if you do want
to know,
prosperity gospel preachers
tell their followers,
send all your money,
send your grandparents' money,
send your inheritance,
send all your money
into my ministry,
and in return,
and you're going to
put God to the test,
and then God is
contractually obligated,
see he says it right here,
to pour down even greater
financial blessings on you.
So put God to the test,
give as much as you can
to my ministry,
and then God is going
to open the windows
and pour out the storehouse
onto you.
They're taking these verses
completely out of context.
See,
in this particular context,
God's not talking about
money raining down,
you know.
What's that like gun
that like fires bills out,
you know,
you imagine God's going,
you know.
This is not what this verse
is talking about.
God's talking about
literal rain,
because there's a famine
in the land,
and God's talking about
it's going to,
you know,
God,
trust that God
is going to bring an end
to this.
Trust that God
is going to bring an end
to the blight,
right?
You don't have to live
with a scarcity mentality.
You can continue
to give generously
and know that God
is going to come through,
right?
So that's what he's talking about.
So the prosperity gospel
is a get-rich-quick scheme
based on manipulating God.
If you do this,
God has to bless you financially.
So it teaches the opposite
of what this passage means,
because here's the problem
with the prosperity gospel
in a nutshell.
Instead of using money
to worship God,
it uses God
to worship money.
Right?
We've been talking
this entire time
about how the way
we use our money
is a way of worshiping God,
but instead of doing that,
it tries to use God
to worship money,
and frankly,
it is evil.
There is no nuance on that.
I love nuance,
but in this case,
it is evil,
and it ensnares
many, many, many people.
So what does this passage mean?
Here's what it means.
None of the things
that we worship
are ever gonna give us
what they promise.
Right?
The more you worship beauty,
the more you're gonna feel
unattractive.
The more you worship status,
the more you're gonna feel inadequate.
The more you worship safety,
the more you're always
gonna be insecure.
If you worship pleasure,
you're always gonna be unsatisfied.
You're gonna be chasing
that next hit of dopamine,
that next high.
If you worship control,
you're always gonna feel anxious.
Right?
People who struggle with anxiety,
sometimes, many times,
there's underlying that
a worship of control,
a need to be in control.
If you worship and idealize
your children or your family,
right,
if you project the image
of a perfect family
or a perfect marriage
because that's what you need it to be
to show the world,
they're never gonna be good enough.
You're always gonna find fault with them.
Right?
You're gonna crush them
under the weight
of unrealistic expectations.
So nothing that we worship
delivers on what it promises.
And so God is saying this,
come to my treasury,
come to my storehouse,
come to my temple
and see if you don't find
everything that you seek.
The greatest blessing in history
is not something that God gives us.
The greatest blessing in history
is that God has given us himself.
And if we remember the generosity
of the Macedonian Christians,
they were willing to give abundantly
even though they were poor.
Right?
They gave out of their poverty.
Now, where did they see that happen?
Well, the secret of their generosity
is what Paul says
in chapter 8, verse 9.
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.
And they had seen Jesus Christ
who was rich.
They had seen him be willing
to become poor.
And that they had seen
that through his poverty,
through his suffering
and death on the cross,
they became rich
beyond all imagination.
That secured for them
an eternal inheritance.
They knew that because of that,
they belonged to God.
And all of the stuff
that is going to one day fade,
all of the money
that is one day
going to be meaningless,
all that is going to fade,
and yet what they have
in Jesus Christ
is eternal
and forever
and priceless.
And that had so changed
their hearts
that it changed the way
they thought about their money.
And they were like,
oh, yeah,
we would love to become poor
so that you might become rich.
Paul, can we please help
with this famine relief?
We would love to do that
because that's exactly
what he did for us.
And it begins to change
the way you think about
your own priorities.
Because you realize
Jesus didn't just give 10%.
Right?
Jesus gave everything he had
because that's what love does.
And in all the universe,
there's nothing that,
there's nothing that he loves
more than he loves you.
So whatever else we worship,
whatever treasury holds our heart,
we're never going to find
a greater love than that.
So this question
that we are asking ourselves,
do we want to become
more generous?
Focus on the cross.
Focus on God's ultimate display
of generosity.
His generosity to us
because we,
because we are his treasure.
Let's pray.
Lord, we thank you for this
and pray that whatever,
whatever of this
we need to hear,
Lord, whether,
whether,
whether we are here
and we are,
we are filled with joy
at every opportunity to give
and we love to give
and we love to see
the fruit of our giving
and we love to,
to see your heart
reflected in that,
Lord.
I pray that we would hear
our hearts affirmed in this.
And for all of us
who,
who struggle
with generosity
or who are generous
maybe in the wrong direction,
Lord.
Lord,
I pray that this would
challenge us.
I pray that it would inspire us.
Lord,
I pray that your gospel
would,
would penetrate
and permeate
our hearts,
Lord.
And,
and I pray that we would be
known,
Lord,
as a people who are
extravagantly generous,
Lord,
in all that we do
and how we live.
I pray this,
that it would bring you glory,
that it would set us apart,
that it would provoke questions
only the gospel can answer.
Pray this in your son's name.
Amen.
May I pray.
Amen.
Help me.