Robbing God

This past Sunday, Pastor Paul Frey delivered a very challenging sermon on the topic of robbing God. His passage was selected from Malachi Chapter 3 and was a thorough examination of what it means to rob God. I have been a Christian now for fifteen years and have heard sermons preached on Mal. 3:8 numerous times. It is a favorite among the prosperity preachers and is commonly used when churches need to raise funds. After hearing so many sermons on the subject it is easy to become desensitized and not really hear any more. Why is this? Because of the sensitive topic of money. Because the church has so abused this passage and so many preachers have conned people out of their money by using such a passage, we tend to have a resistance to such words because of the abuse of many so called Christina.

But can we discount the inspired words of scripture because of those who have misused it? God forbid. That is like saying, lets cease to be moral because so many legalistic people have misused the scriptures to impose their beliefs. Or that is like saying, let's abandon any kind of eschatology because so many teachers have made such outrageous interpretations. No. We cannot and must not take such an approach. The words of Malachi 3 are as strong and as relevant today as they were when Malachi prophesied several centuries before Christ. Listen to the word:

"Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. 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 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."

The attitude of Malachi's immediate audience is not different today. the attitude they has was that they believed whatever wealth they had was theirs. What they didn't realize is that everything they owned was God's. The same today- when you look at your checking account, do we see it as our money, or the Lord's money? Depending on your perspective and attitude, will determine whether or not the charge of robbing God sticks or not. If indeed our resources are God's, than we are indeed robbing him, by failing to obey him and give back to him a portion of what has been given us. If it is ours, God has no claim.Recently my daughter has learned the word "mine". In our daily learning lessons, Rachel will sometimes defy me and grab something in the house and say "mine!" To which I usually respond, "No honey, everything is mine. You are just borrowing this from me." Sadly many of us act like 2 year old children when it come to money and scream "Mine!"

In 1 Chron. 29:12-14 David prays a prayer of blessing upon the plans to build a temple in God's honor. in light of the contributions the Israelites made to the Temple fund, David prays like this:

"Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. 13 And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name. 14 “But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you."

David clearly knew that anything he had to give to God was from God to begin with. We have nothing to offer God. We are bankrupt sinners who deserve nothing but God's judgment. Only by His grace we have anything good to offer him. And only by His grace are we able to work and earn a living. Therefore if God has been so gracious (generous) to us, how can we be cheap with him and rob him? The tithe was an OT principle for maintaining the priesthood. We no longer are under the OT jurisdiction, but that does not lessen our responsibility but rather it heightens our responsibility. The entire sermon on the Mount was preached by Christ, not to lessen the teachings of the Law, but to demonstrate the greater meaning and how much more is required to be "righteousness". God showed his grace towards us in the ultimate way by "Not sparing his only Son..And graciously gives us all things" Rom. 8:33, then we, out of humble gratitude, ought to give God our very best. Robbing God is not just about money, but we rob can rob God in our time, our gifts, our worship, our love, our honor and obedience. The eighth commandment forbids stealing from our fellow man. How much worse of a crime is it when we rob from God! The lesson is clear- After God has shown so much grace, we should be constrained with great love to honor God with the first fruits of our wealth. Then the windows of heaven will pour out a blessing, till there is not need. You cannot out give God, he has abundantly more than you or I can ever offer him!