Biblical Principles For Giving

Grace Fellowship Church

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:00

This sermon is from Grace Fellowship Church in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. To access other sermons or to learn more about us, please visit our website at graceedmonton .ca.

00:12

With that, brothers and sisters, let's turn in our Bibles to Malachi chapter 3.

00:18

Malachi chapter 3 and beginning in verse 6. And as you're turning there,

00:26

I'll introduce our subject matter. This afternoon as we study

00:32

Malachi chapter 3 in verses 6 through 15, we're going to consider the

00:37

Lord's fifth disputation with the people of Israel. And as we're turning there, we'll do a bit of a brief review.

00:45

So thus far, if you've been with us in the book of Malachi, I know there's a few here that haven't been with us, so this is a good time for a review.

00:52

We've considered now four different disputations in this book that are this question -and -answer style disputation that God raises with his people in the book.

01:05

And the first thing that we considered in disputation number 1 in chapter 1 was the people's rejection of God's love.

01:13

You might remember that, how God said, I have loved you. In number 2, we looked at the people's despisal of God through offering polluted offerings.

01:24

That was disputation number 2. Number 3, we looked at the people's violation of their covenant with God, and subsequently then with their wives.

01:33

That was God's disputation number 3. And then last week as part of disputation number 4, we looked at the people's denial of God's righteousness.

01:44

Now they questioned whether or not God was truly good, if God was truly righteous. Why did it seem as if all of the nations were succeeding, all of them were experiencing blessings and good things, while God's people themselves were not?

02:01

And maybe even as I list out these different disputations that God had with his people, you're beginning to pick up on a bit of a theme that runs through the book of Malachi.

02:12

And that is that at every objection, at every occasion, whether the Lord objects or raises an objection against his people, what leads up to that, what is principally concerned in that objection is the people's heart attitudes toward God.

02:31

See, this rebellious nation, they had looked up at a holy and righteous God, and instead of giving him the glory that he was rightfully due, they instead denied his love, they ignored his worth, they rejected his covenant, and then they dismissed his righteousness altogether.

02:50

And each situation, if we were to, as you've heard me say lately, grab it by the root, or grab it by the branch and trace it back to the root, what we'd find is that it was a theological error, a situation of wrong thinking, that gave way then to disobedience and rebellion, i .e.

03:10

wrong living. And so, with that said, as we get into Disputation No.

03:16

5, what do you think the theme will be? We're going to look at it together in verses 6 -15 and find the answer out for ourselves.

03:26

This is God's word, Malachi 3 and verse 6. For I, the Lord, do not change.

03:33

Therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes, and have not kept them.

03:45

Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say,

03:51

How shall we return? Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me.

03:58

But you say, How have we robbed you? In your tithes and contributions.

04:04

You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you.

04:10

Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the

04:18

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.

04:28

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

04:37

Lord of hosts. Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the

04:43

Lord of hosts. Your words have been hard against me, says the Lord. But you say,

04:50

How have we spoken against you? You have said, It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge, or of walking as in mourning before the

05:00

Lord of hosts? And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper, but they put

05:08

God to the test, and they escape. So in this fifth disputation,

05:15

God raises this particular issue with the people. He says, Israel, your wrong thinking has led to robbery, and not robbery against man, but robbery against God.

05:29

You're robbing God of his tithes and offerings. And because the nation then did not know

05:34

God, and because they did not see fit to give God from their material wealth and resources, give to him from their material wealth and resources, in the

05:44

Lord's sight, this was not a small thing, but it was in fact criminal. It was to rob

05:50

God himself. And I will just let you in on it. I struggled with this passage as to how to work through this in terms of our understanding today of tithes, of offerings, of generosity amongst

06:04

Christians, of what is applicable from this passage, and what needs to be left as what rightfully is, a part of the vestiges of the old covenant that God had with his people.

06:17

And today, as we look at this fifth disputation, we're going to deal principally with the issue of giving.

06:25

As Christians, these are questions that we have that very few people know the answer to. As Christians, are we bound by the

06:32

Old Testament practice of tithing? Is generous and sacrificial giving mandatory for Christians?

06:39

Or is it a scriptural suggestion, if I can call it that, in a new covenant system of worship that does not rely on a steady stream of sacrificial animals?

06:51

What is our giving to be used for? Few Christians know the answer to this question.

06:58

And yet, I think that in the wider, I guess I could call the broader evangelical church, there seems to be this philosophy that we should not teach on giving, that we should not teach on money.

07:12

I've heard a number of Christians, in fact, say that we should never teach on giving because it does two things.

07:18

It puts off unbelievers, and it has this way of manipulating

07:24

Christians into somehow enriching the church. And it's interesting that we should have so many visitors today, or at least a few visitors.

07:32

We don't teach on giving every week, but we will teach on giving this week. And so, for this reason, though, in many churches, this topic of money is a forbidden topic that cannot be touched, that cannot be spoken about from the pulpit.

07:47

And who knows? Maybe that's your perspective as well. Don't teach on giving, Shane. But this is the kind of attitude

07:54

I would respectfully submit, that has not protected believers from ecclesiastical greed, nor has it promoted the financial security of Christians, that Christians are better off because giving is not taught.

08:09

But it's actually served to impoverish Christians today. And this is why.

08:14

Because the few groups that do teach on giving are either what I would call prosperity pimps.

08:21

I use that term because I cannot in good conscience call them prosperity gospel preachers.

08:27

There is no gospel in that message. They are prosperity pimps, pimping out something that reflects or that they try to mask as the gospel, but is not.

08:37

Or, it has been left to be taught by those who have a low view or no view of the church and its ministerial duties, and what the church exists for.

08:50

And so, when it comes to giving, ignorance abounds amongst Christians. Christians don't know what they should give, if they should give, where to give, or even

08:59

God's mind towards giving. And to prove all of this, all you have to do is look at the statistics.

09:07

I was doing some reading this week on the research concerning giving. And in any given church in North America, if you think about this, walk into any church in North America, at least the average church, and look at the sea of people.

09:22

Only about 10 -25 % of members of churches, local churches, give as an expression of their worship to God.

09:33

This means that if you were to visit that average church on a Sunday and look out of that group, you can say, almost safely, that 75 % of the people in that room have not given, will not give, won't give this year.

09:49

And yet at the same time, if you were to go to Costco instead of the average church, go to Costco this afternoon, and gather 100 people who say,

10:00

I do not love God, I do not know God, I do not care about Christ, don't talk to me about it.

10:06

If you were to gather 100 of those people in Costco, and ask them how many of them give to charitable initiatives, almost providentially, strangely, 75 % of them give to charitable causes in their community.

10:26

And then as a general rule, amongst Christians, again, evangelical Christians, statistics show that the more a

10:32

Christian earns, the less they are likely to give. Only about 5 % of church members give 10 % of their income, and the remaining 95 % give less than 2 .5

10:45

% of their income. And if that doesn't sound that bad, just to put it into perspective to some degree, that during the

10:53

Great Depression, to compare it to Christians during the Great Depression, their rate of giving was about 3 .5

10:58

% of their earnings. And so even the Christians of the Great Depression outdo many Christians today in their giving.

11:05

And I'm not starting this sermon by trying to guilt you into giving. Not at all.

11:11

I think guilt is a terrible motivator. You've heard me say that before. I want us motivated by the Gospel, and by faithfulness to God.

11:19

But what I'm trying to show us here is that Christians don't understand giving.

11:25

That the Christian landscape is a wasteland when it comes to giving. It's almost as bad as the world.

11:32

And as it was in Malachi's day, so it is today. And I think that the remedy of this plague, this scourge upon the church, is not to not talk about it.

11:43

It's not to leave people to do whatever seems right in their own eyes. But it is to teach on the topic.

11:49

It is to understand the topic. It is to understand the God of the Bible better. And it is to allow our right thinking then to inform our right living.

11:59

And so as we approach our text for today, it's going to be good and digestible. I want to give you six biblical principles for giving.

12:08

Six biblical principles arising out of Malachi, and then fully informed by the teaching of the

12:15

New Testament. And so we'll go through them. Some of them are shorter, some of them are longer, but I've tried to keep each of them brief.

12:23

And so beginning in verses 6, 7, and 8. Malachi 3, verses 6, 7, and 8.

12:28

I want to demonstrate the first principle. And that is this, that God commands us to give.

12:36

While it is true that we are under a new covenant, and therefore we are not bound by the civil and ceremonial laws of Israel, generous and sacrificial giving was not, and today is not, optional for the people of God.

12:53

I want you to allow me to show you why that is. In Malachi, verses 6 and 7,

12:59

God confronts the nation with this sobering truth. This is a terrifying verse in verse 6.

13:06

That the only reason why God has not abandoned the people, his people in that time, is because of his own divine character.

13:15

Make no mistake about it. That the nation itself deserves, deserved at that time, to be forsaken.

13:21

There was nothing about them that was inherently lovely. They had, since the days of their first fathers, been begging to be expelled, to be cast out, to be consumed, we see in verse 6, by the white hot judgment of God.

13:36

But God tells us that he would not do this. And why was that? It was because he tells us he is unchangeable.

13:46

The theological term you'll sometimes hear people use is the word immutable. That God cannot change, that God cannot mutate.

13:55

That's where the word immutable comes from. That he cannot experience either improvement, nor can he deteriorate.

14:02

And therefore, he cannot change. In Psalm 33, 11, it says, The counsel of the

14:07

Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations. And just as a quick parenthesis here, brothers and sisters, if you hear us talking at times about the attributes of God, how it is that we learn the attributes of God, it's not by going into a room filled with books written by men and philosophizing about what

14:29

God might be, what he could be about. But it's reading the Bible just like this, and to see in Malachi chapter 3 and verse 6, that God does not change.

14:41

That one of his attributes, that he does not share with us, one of his incommunicable attributes is this immutability.

14:48

That God does not, and will not, and will never change. And as he reveals here, as he reveals himself to us in his inerrant word, he has revealed that he has not consumed his people for this very reason.

15:05

His own unchangeable character, and his unrelenting commitment to his covenant with Israel. Even though the people have been faithless, even though they've done everything they can under the sun to violate his covenant.

15:20

He has remained faithful, as it says in 2 Timothy, because he cannot deny himself. But in a very real way,

15:29

God has, we see in this passage, drawn back from his people. That while he has not changed, he has drawn back.

15:37

And we see that in verse 7. He says, He says,

15:44

And this really gets to the heart of the matter.

16:01

God says, return to me. And the people ask this rhetorical question. How? How shall we return?

16:07

And the heart of the matter is this. The people were robbing God by denying their tithes and contributions.

16:17

And God's command is this, to resume, or to begin if they haven't already, to repent and to begin giving as he has commanded.

16:28

Now without going too much into depth here, this is in reference to, as we see, the tithes and offerings that the people were commanded to give as part of the civil and ceremonial law.

16:39

And so throughout Leviticus, and if you've read through the Bible, you're familiar with these passages in Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy.

16:47

The people were commanded to make offerings from their various resources to accomplish at least three things in the nation.

16:56

The first thing was to sustain the priests who ministered in God's temple. The priests needed a way to live.

17:03

They were without a land inheritance of their own, and that their job was to minister to the

17:09

Lord day and night, and someone needed to provide for that. The second reason that the tithes and offerings were commanded was to facilitate various religious festivals as part of their worship and remembrance of God.

17:23

And the third, to care for the poor, the orphan, the widow, and the sojourner. So a ministry of mercy.

17:30

So God tells these people, repent and give your tithe. And the failure of God's people to pay this tithe was enough, if not for God's unchangeable character, enough to inspire him, to motivate him to consume his people.

17:51

Now it begs the question, maybe many of you know the answer, maybe you have wondered this answer for a long time now, does this tithe still apply today?

18:02

What do you think? The biblical answer, the simple answer, is no.

18:09

Now there are some tremendous faithful Christians who will disagree with me on this point, but the answer that I can surmise from scripture is no.

18:18

And I would like to contend then that while that answer is no, that we are not bound by the

18:24

Old Testament tithe today, it is still very much possible to rob God like the

18:29

Israelites were doing in Malachi's day. But how can that be? How can it be that we are not bound by the

18:35

Old Covenant tithe and yet we can still rob God? While it is that we are not bound by the

18:43

Old Testament laws concerning tithes and offerings, the New Testament and the whole canon of scripture abounds with commands and exhortations to give, to give freely, to give generously, to give sacrificially.

18:58

The normative expectation, hear this with me, the normative expectation of the

19:04

New Testament believer is that his heart or her heart and mind and treasure would not be bound up in this world and in the little trinkets of this life, but in heaven where Christ is seated at the right hand of the glory of God.

19:20

So I want us to see for a moment just the biblical commands for New Testament believers, for you and I, to be generous, to give, to make our offerings to God of the resources that he has gifted us with.

19:36

In Matthew chapter 6 and verse 19, our Lord Jesus Christ, you can turn there with me if you'd like,

19:42

Malachi 6 .19, he said, do not lay up treasures for yourselves on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

20:01

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. This is a command from Christ himself and the immediate context is this, you cannot serve both

20:14

God and money and the way to remedy that is to take of your money and to give, to give it to God's purposes, to give it to God's causes that your heart and your mind and your soul might be bound up in heaven where your treasure is.

20:31

The apostle Paul confirmed this later in 1 Timothy 6 and verse 17 through 19 when at the end of that first letter to Timothy, he writes to Timothy about what

20:42

Timothy is to do as he relates to those who have any measure of wealth. He said, as for the rich in this present age, charge them, that is language of authority, charge them not to be haughty nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God who provides richly with everything, provides us richly with everything to enjoy.

21:08

They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future.

21:20

But you might say, Shane, I'm not rich, that text doesn't apply to me, that is for the wealthy,

21:25

I am not wealthy. First of all, you are richer than you think. I'm just waiting for Scotiabank to send me an email to sue me for saying that, but you're richer than you think.

21:37

And secondly, in 1 Corinthians 16 verses 1 and 2, we have the answer to that, that as Paul was giving instructions to the

21:46

Corinthian church to make preparations for the collection that was to go to the saints in Jerusalem, he said, on the first day of every week, he said it first to the

21:57

Galatians, now to the Corinthians, on the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside, store it up as he may prosper, so rich, poor, somewhere in the middle, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when

22:13

I come. So in no place in the New Testament do we see a prescribed amount or percentage, but there is an expectation, an imperative delivered to numerous churches that each

22:27

Christian is to give regularly and proportionately, Paul says, and the church is to store up and to steward these resources.

22:36

And it's not only commanded, but it is wise. My kids know, children you might remember going through Proverbs, and in the opening chapters in Proverbs we learn that it was a book given especially to young people, young men, he says, as a compendium of wisdom, and there it says, honor the

22:55

Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of your produce. So no church where the

23:04

Bible is consistently read and taught and the gospel is clearly understood should have a scenario where 75 % of the church does not give.

23:15

It is just plain wrong. It is outside of the revealed will of God, except under exceptional circumstances.

23:24

Giving as a command issued to all Christians, it is an act of obedience and worship to God, to a

23:30

God who never changes, mind you, and who has always in both the Old and the

23:36

New Covenants desired that his people would store up treasure in heaven by giving and giving generously.

23:42

So that is the first principle, that God commands us to give. The second principle that I want to share is this, giving is an act of stewardship.

23:52

Someone somewhere might look at verses eight and nine and then ask the question, but Shane, how am

24:00

I robbing God by not giving him my earnings? These are my earnings.

24:08

I worked for these earnings. The Bible affirms this. They were not a gift, but I worked for them.

24:14

They were my due and they are mine and not his. How could it possibly be then that I am robbing

24:21

God by not giving to him? It reminds me of a brother. I know some of you know him or know of him,

24:27

Bob Jennings, who went to be with the Lord I think around 2011 and he ministered in Missouri and he interacted with a lot of farmers and he was having a conversation with the farmers one day and they were talking about how good the crop production was and he said something along the lines of, praise the

24:43

Lord or thanks be to God for that. And the farmer looked Bob Jennings in the eye and he said,

24:50

God has nothing to do with this. I, I went into that field,

24:57

I planted the seed, I watered it, I fertilized it, I harvested it.

25:02

I was up all night getting that harvest from that field. That has nothing to do with God.

25:08

That is my work. Thanks be to me. And our brother

25:13

Bob Jennings, I know, what a sobering thought, my goodness. Our brother Bob Jennings said, but who caused, when you planted those seeds in the ground, who caused those seeds to grow?

25:26

And the farmer was dumbstruck. He could not answer to that.

25:32

If God did not cause those seeds to grow, he said, then you might as well have planted stones. You could have laid out your furrows and filled them full of gravel.

25:41

That's what you would get if God did not cause those seeds to grow. So what did God have to do with that crop?

25:48

Absolutely everything. And so it is with everything that we receive in this life.

25:55

We ought not to be like that foolish farmer in the story, but understand that everything that we have is a gift given from the sovereign hand of God, that everything that you have and that I have, that we have collectively, is by providence.

26:11

Even as we rejoiced a few weeks ago that we have a real pulpit. I'm grateful to the men that built this, but I praise

26:19

God for providing those men and for providing the resources. 1

26:24

Corinthians 4, 7 says, what do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?

26:34

Or in James 1, verse 17, every good gift. Listen carefully to these words.

26:40

We're building a theology of God's immutability this afternoon, if not by accidents, then on purpose perhaps.

26:46

But every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the father of light.

26:53

Listen to this. With whom there is no variation of shadow due to change, i .e. unchangeable, immutable.

27:03

So the same unchangeable God of Malachi's day is the same God who gives you everything that you need.

27:11

Therefore, do not rob God of what is his. Your time. Think about this for a moment.

27:17

How you spend your time. Or how you spend your money. And how cavalierly we often do, as if it were our own.

27:27

But your time is not your own. Your money is not your own. Your house is not your own.

27:33

For some of you, you don't have any of those things, except for maybe a car. Brother or sister, your car is not your own.

27:42

Your life is not your own. To do with it whatever you will. But everything that you have is a stewardship from God.

27:51

This week, I was leaning heavily on a book by Randy Alcorn. Maybe some of you know,

27:56

The Treasure Principle. A little plug for our library. The Treasure Principle is in the library, behind those doors.

28:02

Talk to Amy. As well, it's on our book table. So if you like it that much, you can buy it.

28:08

But for a discounted price. And he shares a story of John Wesley at some point.

28:18

Where, as John Wesley was ministering one day. He was speaking to a crowd of people.

28:24

And a man rode up to John Wesley on horseback. And said, John Wesley. Maybe he didn't say exactly that.

28:30

Mr. Wesley, your house. Something terrible has happened. Your house has burned to the ground.

28:37

And John Wesley sat there for a moment, pensively. And gave some thought to it. And then he turned to the man and he said.

28:43

That was not Mr. Wesley's house that burnt down. That was God's house that burnt down. And I suppose

28:49

I've been relieved of the responsibility of stewarding that house. Haven't I? And then carried on with his ministry.

28:57

Randy Alcorn says. Whenever we think that we are the owner of something. That should be an immediate red flag.

29:04

We need to adopt a stewardship mentality. Toward the assets that he has entrusted.

29:09

Not given to us. A steward manages the assets of the owner.

29:15

For the owner's benefit. It is his job to find out what the owner wants done.

29:20

And then carry out that will. Everything that you have. Everything that I have is from God.

29:27

And through God. And now it is to return to God. In our generosity.

29:33

And in our use of it. Are you doing that? The third principle that I want us to look at is this.

29:41

That giving should be proportionate and generous. Now when we look again in verse 8.

29:49

At that word tithes. In your tithes and contributions. When most people think of that word tithes.

29:57

Or tithe. They think of the Hebrew definition of that word. That word literally translated means a tenth.

30:06

And so they're not wrong in thinking that a tithe is 10%. But that word tithe.

30:12

Or those two words. Three words together. Tithes and contributions. Contains so much more than 10%.

30:19

You see once the needs of the priests were cared for. And the religious festivals were tended to.

30:26

And the poor and the needy were provided for. So the tithes and the contributions. You take all of those commands.

30:33

From Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Put them all together. It wasn't actually 10 % that the people of God gave.

30:41

To the service of God. To their worship of God. But it was actually. It wasn't 10%.

30:47

It wasn't 20%. It was somewhere around 23%. Or 23 to 30%.

30:53

Depending on how you look at it. I'm not good at math. I didn't go to school for math.

30:58

But some people who are good at math. Have pinpointed that it's 23 and a half percent.

31:04

And so if you were a Jew. Living in Israel. You were responsible for 23 and a half percent. Tithes and offerings every year.

31:13

And are we bound then. To that 23%. As we've established already. Absolutely not.

31:19

But then it begs the question. What number are we bound to? How do we measure. What faithful giving is.

31:26

Versus unfaithful giving. Because I can tell you. That there are in those churches. That average church that you would attend.

31:33

Amongst that 75 % group in the church. There are people in that church. Who are not giving.

31:38

And the Lord is pleased. And he's pleased with their faithfulness. And there are others.

31:43

Where the Lord is very displeased. And he might even say. Through the words of Malachi. You are robbing me of what is mine.

31:51

And so how do we measure then. What a faithful offering is. What faithful giving is.

31:57

For each Christian. Because the Bible has not given us. A prescribed number.

32:02

I think that we need to rely. On some important principles. To determine this. And the first principle.

32:09

That I think is this. If we went to 2nd Corinthians. Chapter 9. In verse 7. The first principle.

32:15

Is that our giving should be. Willing and cheerful. Now that's an interesting one.

32:22

That's not a number. That's not the specificity. Shane that I would have hoped for. But that our giving should be.

32:28

Willing and cheerful. In 2nd Corinthians 9 .7. Paul says. Each one.

32:34

Each one. Must give as he has decided. In his own heart.

32:40

Not reluctantly. Or under compulsion. For God loves. A cheerful giver.

32:46

And so what God has given us. Instead of. Maybe much to our dismay. Because we like numbers.

32:53

And we like to follow. The dotted line. If we can. But instead of giving us a number.

32:59

Instead of giving us a percentage. What God has given us. Is a heart attitude.

33:04

Toward giving. That we are to give. As he says here. Whatever we decide in our heart.

33:12

So long as we do it. Cheerfully. That we are to approach. Giving with a sense of joy.

33:19

And I wonder how many of us. Have lost that. How many of us think. When we get our paychecks.

33:24

Okay well. How much do I need to give? How much must I give? You know we've been praying. About saving money for this.

33:31

There's that. Maybe I should give a little more. A little less. How much do I give? How much must

33:36

I give? I would venture to say. That the way the Christian. Should receive their paycheck.

33:43

I know we don't receive. Our pay for paychecks anymore. Most of us. But when you receive your pay stub. To look at it.

33:51

Young men. Young women. With your husband or wife. To look at it. And say. Okay.

33:57

How much can we give? How much treasure. Can we store.

34:03

In heaven this week? How much can we give. So that our hearts. And our minds.

34:08

And our all. Are bound up with God. Where Christ is now. We're not.

34:14

We're not given here. A tax to pay. But a blessing. And a privilege. To enter into.

34:20

To enter into. Cheerfully. And joyfully. And joyfully. And exuberantly. Exuberantly. That's the word.

34:29

To ask. How can I store. As much treasure. In heaven. As I possibly can.

34:35

And so we should give then. Willingly. And cheerfully. But what else? Another principle that we find.

34:41

Is that our giving should be. In proportion. To our receiving. There are some of you.

34:48

Who. You are students. And you make. Like. Two hundred dollars a year. I'm not here.

34:54

To tell you. You make. Two thousand dollars a year. But. But if you make.

35:00

Two hundred dollars a year. Praise the Lord. Perhaps there is a way. That you can give. Proportionately.

35:07

Again. To go back to. 1st Corinthians 16. 2. Where. Paul commanded the Corinthians. To give.

35:13

He said. As he may prosper. And so. The scriptures.

35:19

Excuse me. Only dictate. That our. Giving should be. Willing and cheerful. But. Proportionate.

35:24

To our earnings. As God has prospered. Each one of us. And this means then. That we.

35:30

That we have the. The sobering. And the exciting task. Of. Of sitting down.

35:35

With our families. Perhaps. Or if you're single. Sitting down alone. Before God. And determining. Okay. What do

35:42

I get. To give. How do I invest. In God's. Heavenly.

35:48

Treasury. Now. If we were to go back. Through. Church history. Which you know.

35:53

I like to do. And. And. And. And look at people like. Origen. And Jerome. And Augustine.

36:00

We would find that they believed. That ten percent. Was it was a good starting. Number. Again. To reference

36:06

Randy Alcorn. In his book. Treasure Principle. If you were to read that. He says. Ten percent. That's.

36:11

That's a good training wheel. Number. It's a good starting place. To go from. And he. He actually asks. A very piercing question.

36:18

He says. Does. Does God really expect. Less of us. Those of us. Who have the Holy Spirit. Within us.

36:24

Those of us. Who live in the. The wealthiest society. In human history. Does he expect.

36:29

Less of us. Than he demanded. Of the poorest. Of the Israelites. In the Old Testament. That's a good question.

36:36

It's a question. Worth. Worth asking ourselves. But. But. A good question.

36:42

An equally good question. Is this. What percentage. Of my earnings. We'll ensure.

36:49

As Christ. Is taught. That my heart. And my treasure. Are in heaven.

36:54

And not in this earth. What proportion. Think about this for a moment. I know it's ethereal.

37:00

It's hard to imagine. It's like talking to my children. About heaven. And dad. What is heaven going to be like.

37:06

But think about this for a moment. What amount. Will you be happiest with. Not. Not.

37:13

A week from now. Or a year from now. But what. What amount. Will you be happiest with.

37:19

In ten. Thousands. Years. In ten thousand years.

37:26

How generous. Will you have. Will you wish you have been. Had been.

37:33

What is that number. And our giving. A third principle within this principle.

37:39

Is that our giving should be generous. And sacrificial. That. That your giving.

37:46

To a certain extent. Should. Must. Impact. Your lifestyle.

37:53

If your lifestyle. Is complete. Unimpacted. By your giving. I would say that it's. That it is in fact.

37:59

Outside of the scope. Of normal. Normative. Biblical. Christianity. In some ways.

38:06

The way I think of it. Many of you know. I've been going to the gym. For the last number of months. And I'm loving it. I like to talk about it.

38:11

From time to time. I'm. I'm grateful for it. But it's like going to the gym. Okay. I'm going to go to the gym.

38:18

I go. Willfully. Sometimes. I drag myself. But I go willfully. I go.

38:24

I go. Happily. I go. Joyfully. Even sometimes. I want to be there. But I know that when

38:30

I get there. It's going to hurt a little. It's going to cost me something. And biblical giving.

38:36

I would suggest. Is the exact same way. That it is good. And you want to do it.

38:41

But you know. It's going to cost me something. I don't. I don't have. An iPad

38:47

Pro. It's going to cost me that. I don't. I don't have a. A great computer.

38:52

It freezes sometimes. Whatever. It's going to cost me that.

38:58

Sometimes we don't have a microphone that works either. Second Corinthians 8 verses 1 to 3 says.

39:04

We want you to know brothers. This is great. The Apostle Paul boasting about the generosity of another church.

39:12

We want you to know brothers. About the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia.

39:19

For in a severe test of affliction. Their abundance of joy.

39:25

And their extreme poverty. How many of you feel like that describes you? A severe test of affliction.

39:32

An abundance of joy. And extreme poverty. Most of us would say. Brother. You are exempt.

39:38

Do not give please. Just don't do it. You know. You're dealing with a severe affliction.

39:45

But in the midst of all of that. He says. And their extreme poverty. Have overflowed.

39:51

In a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means.

39:58

As I can testify. So in proportion. And beyond their means. Of their own accord.

40:05

Paul did not go into Macedonia and say. 10 percent. That is weak. 20 percent.

40:10

30 percent for you. But he said. Brothers and sisters. Give. Generously.

40:16

Give sacrificially. Give proportionately. And of their own means. They gave even more.

40:24

Does your giving cost you something? Praise the Lord. Does it not? Prayerfully consider increasing your giving.

40:34

And our giving should. Within this principle of trying to figure out how much to give. What to give.

40:40

Our giving should reflect the riches of the gospel. That same passage.

40:46

Just after Paul is boasting about the Macedonians. Do you want to hear their motivation? He says in 2

40:52

Corinthians 8 and 9. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. That though he was rich. How rich was

40:59

Christ. Ten million years ago. In the presence of the

41:05

Father. Living in perfect love and harmony. The Father and the Son. And the

41:10

Holy Spirit. In perfect union. With no need. To get into another attribute of God.

41:17

The aseity of God. The self -existence of God. He could speak worlds into existence.

41:26

And he left it all. And he got on a cross. And he died in our place.

41:36

If Christ can give that. Lord, what can I give? That though he was rich.

41:45

Yet for our sake he became poor. So that his poverty. By his poverty.

41:50

We might become rich in Christ. We have all been made rich in Christ through his poverty.

41:58

So let us now reciprocate as it were. Not to earn that forgiveness.

42:05

I despise. Even as I teach this. I despise the way Prosperity Gospel Preachers have made us think about giving.

42:14

Even as I preach these words, I think some of you might be thinking that this is just manipulating so that the church can get more money.

42:22

So that we can do this. That we can do that. No. But that Christ would give it all for us.

42:32

And one of the ways then that we get to pour out our thanks and love to him is to say,

42:39

I'm going to give to missions. I'm going to give so that the gospel is preached. I'm going to give so that there's no need in this church.

42:45

I'm going to give so that this is there. This is not my own. I have been bought with a price. I'm going to glorify

42:51

God with my money. I'm going to glorify God with my pocketbook. We have the gospel to inform our giving.

43:07

The Christ himself who gave it all. And so if the Lord has given you means, ask yourself, why has the

43:15

Lord given me these means? It wouldn't be complete today. You'd be impressed.

43:21

You should be impressed. I haven't mentioned Charles Spurgeon in a long time, I think, but I'm going to mention Charles Spurgeon today.

43:28

Charles Spurgeon, this great story where he was in London and a wealthy man invited him to a country church and said, they're in debt, they need to raise some funds, come and preach in this church and help them raise the funds to pay off their debt.

43:45

And the man said, when you go there, I have three places you can stay at. You can stay in my country home, my town home, or my seaside home.

43:53

And Charles Spurgeon wrote a letter back and he said, sell one of your homes and pay the debt. If the

44:00

Lord has given you means, perhaps it is to meet some of the needs. But if the

44:05

Lord has given you no means at all, or very little, ask yourself then, in light of Christ, in light of my thanks to him and of the eternity that I have with him, how can

44:17

I, with the very little that I have, store as much treasure in heaven as I possibly can?

44:25

The fourth principle, our giving is purposeful. In verse 10, he says, bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.

44:40

God does not merely ask his people to give for arbitrary purposes, as if there is no real reason behind these laws, except it's just a test.

44:53

Give, it's like, give the money, and then we take it every Sunday evening and we burn it in a pail in the parking lot.

45:01

God is not asking you to give for no purpose. But in fact, it is through these laws that we see in Malachi, in the old covenant, and through these commands in the new covenant, that the destitute were and are cared for, that the sacrifices in that time were maintained, that the priests were fed, that as long as these offerings were being made, it preserved the system of God's worship.

45:35

And when these offerings were not made, it forced that entire system of worship and of benevolence into chaos and disarray.

45:47

For instance, we read about this food that was to be kept in the storehouses. These storehouses were in the temple where the tithes and the offerings would go, and this had an important function.

45:58

One amongst many was feeding the priests, but because the tithes were not offered, as a result, the priests had to go, they had to leave their congregational, their communal place of worship, which then hindered the worship of God, and they were forced to take up farming and other secular work to provide for themselves.

46:21

And we actually see this for ourselves in Nehemiah chapter 13. For those of you who haven't been with us, Nehemiah and Malachi happen, not concurrently, but very close, almost on top of each other.

46:33

There's a little bit of a staggering there. And in Nehemiah 13, this is what we read in verse 10. I also found out that the proportions of the

46:41

Levites, sorry, the portions of the Levites had not been given to them, so that the

46:47

Levites and the singers who did the work had fled each to his field. This was to work to feed themselves.

46:56

That's my note. This was to work to feed themselves. So I confronted the officials and said, why is this house of God forsaken?

47:03

And I gathered them together and set them in their stations. Then all Judah brought in the tithe of the grain, the wine, and the oil into the storehouses.

47:13

And I appointed treasurers of the storehouses, Shalamiah and the priest Zadok, the scribe, and Padiah of the

47:20

Levites, and as their assistant, Hanan, the son of Zechor, son of Madaniah. And they were considered reliable, and their duty was to,

47:29

I love the way this is worded, to distribute to the brothers. There were these priests that were, because the nation, the people had been unfaithful, they had to leave their stations.

47:43

Think about that for a second. The worship of God was left aside, so that they could go and work in the farmer's fields and do other things to provide for themselves.

47:56

And Nehemiah said, no, we are going to provide for them. We're going to make sure they're well fed.

48:01

They're not going to have to work outside. Their job is here to lead God's people in worship, to act on behalf of God's people in worship.

48:13

And so because they were not faithful in their tithes, the congregational worship of God suffered. And I would suggest that in the very same way, that the offerings of Christian believers are not arbitrary, but they serve an essential function in the health and the vitality and the effectiveness of the local church.

48:37

And that a church that gives less, very likely, or gives less faithfully is a better way to put it, a church that gives less faithfully is going to be less effective.

48:49

Now there's not a need for priests today. We don't have, like I said, a steady stream of offerings that are working their way to the temple.

48:58

But one of the strongest parallels, and this is always, this stuff makes me nervous because it could sound self -serving, but I'm just trying to teach it faithfully.

49:08

One of the strongest parallels between Old Testament tithing and New Testament offerings, one of the strongest parallels that we can draw is between those who labored in the temple as priests and those who labor in what

49:25

Paul would call spiritual things in the New Covenant. In fact, the

49:31

Apostle Paul, he drew a straight line from that place with the priests to the

49:37

New Covenant with elders and those who labor in teaching and preaching. In 1

49:42

Corinthians 8, sorry, 1 Corinthians 9, verses 8 to 11, Paul says this, do

49:49

I say these things on human authority, teaching that those who are laboring in spiritual things should be cared for.

49:58

He says, does not the law, so he's referencing the law now, say the same, for it is written in the law of Moses, you shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.

50:08

It is for oxen that God is concerned. Does he not certainly speak for our sake?

50:14

It was written for our sake because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop.

50:23

If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much to reap material things from you?

50:29

We're just a few verses over in 9 and verse 13, he says, do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service, this is

50:38

Nehemiah 13, this is Malachi chapter 3, those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple in the storehouses and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings in the same way the

50:52

Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel. So the church continues to have that responsibility to care for the poor, to care for the orphan, to care for the widow, for the saints in need and the church also has the responsibility as it were to fill the proverbial storehouses for those elders who rule well and especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.

51:18

And to fail to do this, as it would in Malachi's day, is to cut oneself off at the knees.

51:25

It is to, kids, who among you, if you're riding a bicycle, you're riding a bicycle full steam ahead and you grab a branch off a tree as you go down a path, who among us would take that stick and jam it in the front spokes of our bicycles?

51:40

What would happen to your bicycles? You'd go head over heels in the same way that the people of God that refuse to give for that purpose are sticking a stick in the spokes of the bike.

51:53

It is going to crash. Galatians 6 says this, verse 6, that the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches.

52:03

This is interesting. You wouldn't think that this passage is in this context. Do not be deceived,

52:10

God is not mocked. Well, how are the people mocking God, at least as Paul is describing in Galatians 6?

52:17

For whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption.

52:25

But the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary in doing good.

52:30

For in due season we will reap if we do not give up. And the context of that, that the one who is taught the word share all things with the one who teaches.

52:42

Some churches have bad preaching because they don't support the preacher. They don't have the ability sometimes perhaps.

52:50

And this is not me saying this to you. I want you to know that as our church budget committee meets, it's almost as if they are begging me to leave so that I can be provided for.

52:59

Our church has limited means. And so we're not there yet. So it's not me saying it to you.

53:05

But I'm saying that when we do get to the place, we will be foolish not to prioritize this. Principle number five, this is a fast one

53:14

I assure you. Our giving will be opposed. In verse 11, he says,

53:20

I will rebuke the devourer for you so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil.

53:26

And your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts. The historical context of verse 11 proves to us that there is nothing new under the sun.

53:37

What was happening in Israel is very similar to living in Canada today.

53:43

There was political dysfunction and then there was other environmental pressures.

53:49

I'm not talking about climate change. But political pressures, what was happening was that Xerxes, who was ruling at that time, decided that the

53:58

Persian Empire would no longer fund the temple, that that funding came to an end, which ended up putting tremendous strain on the people.

54:05

These operating costs that they were acquainted to not having to pay for, all of a sudden because of a political decision, bang, it is your responsibility.

54:14

So, maybe that's akin to whatever the interest rate as well, but whatever the inflation rate is right now.

54:22

That politically the situation was hard. But then environmentally, in verse 11, what does that mean?

54:29

I will rebuke the devourer for you. What is very likely happening here is that during this time there was likely a drought and pestilence.

54:38

Think locusts, a devourer, and as a result, huge crop failures.

54:44

And so the crops were not growing and the ones that were growing a little bit were being devoured by locusts.

54:52

And these things, as we see, if we can just bounce back to verse 9, you are cursed with a curse.

54:58

These things were not the cause of the nation's disobedience. They weren't saying, well, we are not going to give because all these bad things are happening.

55:07

But God is saying, these things are happening because you are not giving. We are going to come up with as many reasons as we can to justify not being generous.

55:21

That our hearts are tricky things and we will seek actively to not be generous.

55:27

We will come up with rationalizations. We will say that the crops are being destroyed, the interest rate is this, the inflation rate is that.

55:36

I live in Justin Trudeau's Canada. I cannot give under these circumstances.

55:45

And I'm just going to say that God is not going to have our excuses. That he did not have the excuses of the

55:54

Israelites in Malachi's day and he will not have our excuses now. I would go so far as to say that if you make $100, you make $100 this year, give one penny to the church.

56:09

Earmark it so that you will say, I have almost nothing to give but I will give something.

56:18

That's what the widow did in Luke 21, 1 -4. Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting in their gifts and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins and he said, truly

56:31

I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they contributed out of their abundance but she out of her poverty gave all that she had to live on.

56:43

I know that some of you kids, you guys have jobs, they might be small jobs.

56:48

I know my son shovels driveways for a rate of pay that I could have only dreamed of when I was making $5 .90

56:54

an hour at the Esso gas station on Highway 21 when I was 16. But you might make, kids, whether because of an allowance or a little job or something like that, maybe you make $5.

57:08

Say to yourself, how can I begin practicing, developing this skill of storing up treasure in heaven now?

57:18

Don't listen to the excuses now because those excuses will only grow as you get older and bigger and us adults, we can affirm that.

57:28

Develop a practice now. Say no to the excuses. Do what you can with what you have and no more.

57:37

And then principle number six, our giving is not in vain. In verse 10, the

57:45

Lord says, bring the full tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house and thereby put me to the test, says the

57:53

Lord of hosts. Not very often you hear God say, put me to the test, except that he says this, when you give, see for yourselves that you are not giving in vain.

58:07

In verses 13 through 15, maybe specifically verse 14,

58:12

I'll highlight that, he says, you have said it is in vain to serve God, it is vain to serve

58:18

God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning, repentance, or of walking as in mourning before the

58:27

Lord of hosts? Throughout the scriptures, one of the things we see, it actually becomes a little bit difficult to battle with the prosperity gospel preachers as wrong as they are because there are so many verses in the

58:45

Bible that speak of the benefits of giving. If you don't know what the prosperity gospel is, it's this, it's name it and claim it, believe, have faith that it will happen, name it, speak it into existence and it will happen.

58:59

And they often use the language of sowing a seed, of give $100, give $100 this week, or I've had a prophecy, give $777 and you will yield a hundredfold return in the next 90 days.

59:12

They say foolish and ridiculous things like that, nothing about the gospel, but just how they can enrich themselves.

59:20

But it's almost hard sometimes to come against them as wrong as they certainly are because there are so many verses in the

59:26

Bible that speak about how we will receive blessings and benefits when we are faithful and giving.

59:33

And I would suggest that there are blessings to be had in this life and then blessings to be had for all of eternity through it.

59:42

You've already heard our Lord Jesus speak about the eternal blessings of storing up our treasure in heaven and it's reminiscent of Jim Elliott's words, he is no fool who gives that which he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.

59:59

Martin Luther in his many words said this, he said, I have held many things in my hands. How many of us can relate to this?

01:00:06

I have held many things in my hands and I have lost them all, but whatever

01:00:13

I have placed in God's hands, that I still possess. Store your treasure in money bags that do not have holes.

01:00:24

Work for bread that does not perish. Take everything that you can and give to missions and give to the church and give to the poor so that in eternity as you come into the presence of God, you will say, this was for something.

01:00:43

It was not in vain, but this was for eternity and I will reap the rewards forever rather than to come and say, but why?

01:00:53

Why did I have no faith? Why did I not believe God's promises? There are eternal benefits, but then there are temporal benefits as well.

01:01:05

He says in verse 12, then all the nations will call you blessed and you will be a land of delight.

01:01:14

Brethren, give to missions and give to the poor and give to this church so that when people come, they will say, that is a church of delight.

01:01:25

That all the needs are met, that there is no dysfunction, that the worship of God is not disrupted because of the stinginess of the people, but that we would be a church called blessed, a nation of delight, a land of delight.

01:01:44

Christ says in Luke 6 .38, give and it will be given to you. Good measure pressed down, shaken together, running over will be put into your lap.

01:01:55

For with the measure you use it, it will be measured back to you. Proverbs 11 .24,

01:02:01

our brother read 1 Corinthians 9, so I won't go there, but Proverbs 11 .24, one gives freely, yet grows all the richer.

01:02:09

Another withholds what he should give and only suffers want. Whoever brings blessing will be enriched and the one who waters will himself be watered.

01:02:23

We can trust that if we are faithful with our giving, not only do we have an eternity of blessing to look forward to, but we have a time now, for whatever time that is, whatever short time that is, whatever missed that is, to enjoy the blessings and the benefits that God yields today.

01:02:44

One commentary said, in robbing God, the Israelites were actually robbing themselves.

01:02:50

Let us not rob ourselves or God, but bless ourselves, as it were. A man named

01:02:57

R .G. Letourneau, he was the inventor of the massive earth mover, you think those big yellow things that clear land for houses, and he invented this.

01:03:09

And then he voluntarily chose a reverse tithe, where instead of giving 10 % of his earnings, he said,

01:03:17

I am going to give 90 % of my earnings and I will keep 10%. And what he said was, as he gave 90 % of his earnings,

01:03:26

I am not preaching the prosperity gospel here, please do not hear this, but as he gave 90 % of his earnings, he said,

01:03:32

I could not give my money away fast enough. Before I could give away that 90%,

01:03:39

I already had more than that 90 % back in my bank account. And he said this, he said,

01:03:44

I shovel it out and God shovels it back and God has a bigger shovel. So do we believe this, or are we going to live like the world and the people at Costco?

01:03:58

Are we going to store up treasure in heaven? Are we going to see the gospel of Jesus Christ and give everything that we can because we know that he died for our sins and we know that we are going to be in eternity with him and we are going to invest in that world and not in this world.

01:04:16

I will finish our time with Matthew Henry's quote, he said, God has blessing ready for us, but through the weakness of our faith, in the narrowness of our desires, we have not room to receive them.

01:04:34

May God give us room to receive those blessings and the ability to be faithful in it. Let's pray.

01:04:41

Thank you for listening to another sermon from Grace Fellowship Church. If you would like to keep up with us, you can find us at Facebook at Grace Fellowship Church or our

01:04:52

Instagram at Grace Church, Y -E -G, all one word. Finally, you can visit us at our website, graceedmonton .ca.