Malachi 3.8
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Pastor Michael Champoux
OT: Exodus 20.1-17
NT: Matthew 6.24
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come praise & glorify
Historical reading:
Dr. Brett Eckel
apostles’ creed
Jabouri Baby Dedication
song:
I stand amazed
Confession & Pardon:
Pastor Zachary Mcguire
song:
Jesus is better
Sermon:
Dr. Alex Loginow
Malachi 3.8
Introduction
Have you ever seen the show The Middle? We love that show. It’s embarrassing how much The Middle mirrors our life, but so it goes. There’s one episode, in particular, that we identify with and quote all the time – The Hecks are out of town, so they ask their neighbor Nancy Donahue to collect their mail. Since Nancy is a close friend, she has a key to their place. Upon entering the Heck residence to deposit said mail she finds a complete mess – the house looks like it’s been ransacked. Panicked, she immediately calls Frankie to tell her they’ve been robbed. The Hecks do what you’d do if your neighbor told you you’ve been robbed; they frantically return home. But when they arrive it turns out that the state of the house in which their neighbor assumed they had been robbed, was simply their own mess.
I thought of that scene this week preparing this sermon. The prophet Malachi uses strong language here, doesn’t he? Robbing God! Money, man. It’s kind of awkward to discuss, isn’t it? Pastor Kevin preached a sermon on giving last week, now here I am doing the same thing. You’re like, “I think we’re going from not talking about giving much at all to now talking about it too much!”
Money is a funny thing in our modern Western capitalistic culture. Everyone worships money, but no one wants to talk about money. At least no one wants someone else telling them what they’re supposed to be doing with their money. But the Scripture has much to say about money – about wealth, the poor, how we spend our money, and most importantly, our heart toward money.
And as Christians, we’re countercultural. We’re not primarily concerned with what our culture says about money, or even what our own hearts whisper to us about money. Our primary concern is what does God say? And that is where we must always begin – with the one true and living God.
Stewardship
God is the rightful owner of creation. Genesis 1.1 says, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. As the creator of all things, God is the rightful owner of all things. Psalm 24.1 says, the earth is yhwh’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein. The earth, the people on the earth, and all things on earth, including all money, is God’s.
God created Adam and his posterity as stewards of His creation (Gen 2.15-17). Adam was to tend, cultivate, and expand the garden – he was to be fruitful and multiply both with his wife and in his work. Adam was not the owner of the creation; he was God’s steward. In ancient culture the steward managed the house in the name of and in the place of the owner, but the steward did not own the house. Humanity does not own this world, we are stewards; God is the rightful owner of all of creation, including our money.
And it is our sin, our pride, our self-righteousness that tempts us to believe otherwise. Adam fell in sin when he did not humbly steward God’s creation; in pride did what he wanted with God’s creation (Gen 3.1-7). God told Adam not to eat of the fruit of the tree, lest he die, but in his sin, in his cowardice, in his pride, in his self-righteousness, Adam robbed God. Not only did Adam take what he was explicitly and expressly forbidden to take, but Adam robbed God of the rightful submission and obedience due God.
In our sin, we do the same thing. Instead of humbly acknowledging that we are stewards of God’s rightful possession, we believe the lie that we are God, that we are the owners. We have our money. Don’t tell me what to do with my money! But it’s not our money; we are stewards of God’s money.
Tithing
This attitude of pride and idolatry with money is the same thing God rebukes through the prophet Malachi in our Scripture passage. The people of Israel returned from exile to rebuild the city and the temple, but the problem is that their sin returned from exile with them. Through the prophet God asks, will man rob God? The sense of the question being: is it right for man to rob God? Man is the Hebrew אָדָ֜ם – just like their father Adam, they are robbing God.
The word rob is the Hebrew קָבַע and it’s only used here and in Proverbs 22.23; it means, “to take by force, to rob, to plunder.” The word in the LXX is πτερνίζω, which means, “to go behind the back of; to deceive, to outwit (metaph. meaning of to bite the heel of; from wrestling).” Just like their namesake, Jacob, whose name means deceiver, they were deceiving, they were robbing, plundering God himself.
The people respond: how are we robbing you? God’s answer: through your tithes and offerings. If you’ll indulge me, I’d like to spend a few minutes discussing tithes and offerings because there have been differing interpretations throughout the history of the church. Some believe Scripture teaches grace giving – namely that there is no prescribed amount required in the New Testament. Others believe Scripture teaches the tithe principle – a general principle of giving 10%. It’s important to note that while there has not been unity regarding the amount to be given, the Reformed tradition, in particular, and Christian history, in general, is unified in the belief that Scripture teaches that giving is an act of worship and obedience and lack of giving is sin.
I am of the persuasion that Scripture teaches the tithe principle. One reason to support this is that tithing was practiced before the formal giving of the Law. The tithe is first explicitly mentioned in Genesis 14 where Abraham tithed to Melchizedek, priest-king of the Most High God. In Genesis 28.22, after his ladder dream, Jacob says he will give to yhwh a full tenth of all that he possesses. The verb in Genesis 28 is אֲעַשְּׂרֶ֥נּוּ and it is a pi’’el imperfect, which means it’s describing an ongoing action, not just a one-time action. Jacob did not tithe just once, but for the rest of his life.
This was all before the formal giving of the Law on Mt. Sinai. Before the Law, God spoke His Law and it was passed down through oral tradition. In Genesis 4 we see Cain and Abel bringing sacrifices to God – how did they know to do that? Because after Adam fell, God sacrificed an animal to cover his sin, shame, and nakedness and Adam taught this practice of sacrificial giving to his sons.
Noah offered a sacrifice after he came out of the ark. And as just mentioned, Abraham and his sons continued the practice. Genesis 26.5 says Abraham obeyed God’s voice, commandments, statutes, and laws. Whether it was from the voice of God Himself, or the oral tradition passed down, it is reasonable that Abraham’s practice of tithing was not arbitrary but grounded in the Law of God.
With the formal giving of the Law came 3 formal tithes to (1) support Priests and Levites, (2) pay for liturgical festivals, and (3) for the poor. Under Old Covenant this would make up around 23.3% of their income. Many will argue that tithing is done away with in the New Covenant and replaced with the idea of grace giving, but the New Testament is not devoid of teaching on tithing. Jesus upholds tithing (Matt 23.23; cf. Luke 11.42):
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.
While Jesus rebukes the scribes and Pharisees for neglecting justice, mercy, and faithfulness, he remarks that the tithe they gave was what they ought to have done. It’s also important to note that while Jesus is talking about the scribes and Pharisees, he’s not talking to the scribes and Pharisees. Matthew 23.1 says that Jesus is teaching the crowds and his disciples. Jesus’ teaching was not primarily to rebuke the religious leaders, but to teach his disciples.
Matthew 23 isn’t the only New Testament witness to the tithe principle. Hebrews 7 teaches about how Jesus is a better priest than Melchizedek and enlists the pericope we mentioned earlier from Genesis 14 where Abraham tithed to Melchizedek. The author of Hebrews does not stumble over himself to qualify that tithing is no longer the practice of God’s people but speaks of tithing as if it’s still common practice; everyone knows what he’s talking about.
So why would a 10% principle remain and not the 23.3% prescribed in the 3 tithes of the old covenant? Well, the civil and ceremonial Law was fulfilled in Christ, but the moral Law remains. The tithe principle stands even as before old covenant, which we noted with the patriarchs. Practically, the tithe principle (10%) places the same burden on everyone regardless of socio-economic status. It also teaches us trust in God – 10% is not so much as to crush you, but enough to make you uncomfortable.
What about giving more than 10%? Of course! The poor widow gave all she had! But I think giving less than 10% would be hard to justify biblically.
But like I said, that is my interpretation. The church has disagreed and disputed this for 2,000 years. Even on our Elder board we have disagreement. Some like me and the Didache, and RC Sproul believe in tithing, others are wrong. Just kidding.
The important thing to note is that this is a 3rd tier issue. It should not cause dissention or self-righteousness. Good Reformed Christians disagree on tithing vs. grace giving, but what is clear in Scripture is that giving is an act of worship and obedience and lack of giving is sin. When we do not give, we are robbing God.
Motivated by the Gospel
Giving in worship and obedience is essential because it, like everything else, is grounded in the good news of Jesus. Giving must be motivated by the gospel. The gospel is about what God gave. John 3.16 says for God loved the world in this way that he gave his only begotten Son so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but have eternal life.
The good news of Jesus is that even though we sinned against our holy creator, God gave his Son – Jesus put on flesh and dwelt among us. Conceived by the Spirit and born of the virgin, Jesus lived without sin in our place. Jesus never robbed God in thought, word or deed.
It was the Romans and the Jews who robbed Jesus of his rights and dignity when they convicted him in a kangaroo court and executed him unjustly, but Scripture says they did not take his life, he laid it down. Jesus offered his sinless life to God on the cross bearing the God’s wrath against the sins of the elect. Jesus had no sin debt to God, not only that, but Jesus paid our debt.
Jesus died and he was buried and 3 days later he resurrected from the dead for our justification. Jesus took the keys to death and hades and now freely offers forgiveness and eternal life to all who believe. And this we receive through faith and repentance. Faith means to know this good news, to assent to this good news – assent means to believe it yourself; to confess it and not deny it – and finally, faith means to trust – to rest in Jesus alone, in his person and work as your righteousness before God.
When God gives you the gift of faith he also grants you repentance. Repentance first means that you humble yourself. We acknowledge God for who he is. Then we confess our sin. And we turn from our sin to Christ. Breathe in faith, breathe out repentance – this is the Christian life.
When the Spirit changes our hearts through the gospel, we then look at money differently than we did before. There are at least 3 ways:
Humility and gratitude – The result of God’s grace is that we are humble and grateful. We are humbled and grateful that in Christ God would save us, forgiving us of our sin and promising eternal life. As God’s creatures we are humbled and grateful for his provision (Deut 8.17-18 -- Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember yhwh your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day)
Fear of the Lord – Jesus said that it is impossible to worship God and money. Part of the reason Christ taught this is because there is nothing that tempts our hearts like money. Money offers power, security, status, freedom, comfort, but it cannot deliver. Money is a menacing and morbid messiah. It cannot forgive your sins or give you meaning. We must fear the Lord. We must trust in Him and not the almighty dollar. Money is a tool, given by God because it belongs to God.
Generosity toward the mission of the gospel – Like the OT Priests and Levites, NT Pastors are supported by tithes and offerings of church (1 Tim 5.17-18 - Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer deserves his wages.”). I’ll never forget hearing Mark Dever discuss this one time. He said something to the effect of “if you want the gospel to disappear from Michigan, stop giving to your church; stop paying full-time pastors.” He’s not wrong. The work of preaching the Word, administering the Sacraments, and shepherding the flock is eternal work, and completely supported by the offerings of the church. I can see some people’s mind exploding when I tell them that I’m 100% supported by the freewill offerings of the people of our church. That is God’s way and God gives his people a genuine desire to be generous to support those who work full-time preaching the gospel.
Conclusion
I wonder do our hearts look like the Heck’s house from The Middle? Would God’s Word discern our hearts and declare, “you’ve been robbing God!” And would we look around and say, “this is just how we live?”
But there is a better way! The good news of Jesus, God gave his only begotten Son so that we might live. The Spirit changes our hearts so that we’re humble, grateful, and generous. And once again, as we do every week, we come to the Holy Eucharist giving thanks to God for his inexpressible gift.