Our continued look at biblical stewardship and what makes a faithful Christian steward brings us today to the prophet Malachi, the final book of the Old Testament. Now, for us to fully understand what our text today is really saying I think that we need to have a sense of what’s going on at this particular time. You see, this book is the last of the prophets, and the 400 years of silence known as the intertestamental period begins with the close of Malachi. So, what is contained in this prophetic book are the final words of God before a period of silence from Him that lasts for 400 years until the time of John the Baptist. Now, Malachi is speaking to Israel (the Jews) almost a century after their return from exile. When they were initially allowed to come back from their exile from their land, they returned with a great fervor for the Lord. They almost immediately began rebuilding the temple and were very committed to the service of their God. However, that did not last very long. The people began to not tithe because of their own interests and what they wanted to do with their money. Now the purpose of the tithe was to provide for the Levites, the priests. This notion of a tithe, or ten percent, was initiated in Leviticus 27 when God, through Moses, commanded that a tenth of all possessions should go to supporting the priests, their ministry, and the tabernacle. This was done since the tribe of Levi was the only one that did not inherit any land of their own. Since the Levites, the priests, were not being support through proper tithing, they were forced to go and make a living for themselves. They were forced to enter into some other line of work in order to provide for their needs and the needs of their families. In doing so, the priests began to neglect their God-given responsibilities of caring for the temple and conducting the worship services. After years of this type of behavior continuing to happen, things had become pretty unruly and God’s chosen people had gone astray. Eventually, there was almost an entire generation of the people of Israel that knew putting oneself before God and didn’t know the importance of tithing.
So Malachi enters the scene and God speaks through him and paints just a stunning picture of Israel’s unfaithfulness. This picture leaves us with no other conclusion than that Israel deserves complete and total condemnation. Roughly 46 out of the 55 verses in this book are words condemning both the sinful people and unfaithful priests. And it’s near the end of those condemning words that we find our text for today. You see, it isn’t as if this is a new problem that has arisen with God’s chosen people. We are told in verse 7 that “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.” God’s patience seems endless. Throughout history, both prior to this account, during this account, and even after this account extending through today and I’m sure into the future, God’s people have ignored and disobeyed Him. Sure, some of it has been unintentional, but many times it has been something that we knew was contrary to how God would have us behave. Despite man’s numerous acts of rebellion and disobedience, God has always been willing to accept us back. It truly is one of the great pillars of the Christian faith that our God loves us so much that He is willing to forgive anything if we will simply come before Him and ask for forgiveness.
However, the people in Malachi’s day don’t admit their guilt; they wouldn’t admit that they had gone astray. They even had the audacity to imply that they in fact had never disobeyed. They had asked the question, “How shall we return?” God responds to this question by saying, “Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you? In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you.” God doesn’t leave anyone out. He doesn’t go easy on them. He doesn’t say, “I know that you have had great difficulty rebuilding your lives. I know that things have not been easy with all that has transpired.” He doesn’t even say to the people, “Look, I know that not having the priests in their usual role has made it difficult for you to worship, so I understand a little bit why you have neglected your responsibilities as you have.” There are no words of comfort and understanding here. Our God is a loving and caring God, but make no mistake about it; He is a just God who expects what He commands.
He goes on to tell the people “Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.” He demands that the full tithe, the full ten percent be brought before Him. One of the greatest stories that I have ever been told about tithing came from the pastor of my previous church, Rev. Steve Bryant. Many of you got to meet Steve at my ordination and installation service back in February. Well, shortly after beginning his pastoral ministry Steve found himself the sole pastor of a fairly large church in Florida, one of the largest Presbyterian churches in the state at that time. They were going through a season of stewardship much like we are today. At the end of the season, they submitted pledge cards similar to what we will do in a few weeks. As the secretary of the church was going through the cards and writing the amount that each family pledged, she came across an unusual amount written on the card of one particular individual in the church. She came into Steve’s office to tell him and to ask him what should be done about it. Well, Steve, much like myself, doesn’t really want to know what any particular member of his congregation is giving. After some discussion he consented to look at the amount and he was blown away with what this man pledged. He figured that it must have been an error on the part of the man and that they would just hold out that one man’s pledge from the overall total until it got straightened out. Well, beginning at the first of the year this man wrote a check that was in line with what he had pledged a few months prior, and each month after his checks were in line with that pledge. This was a great blessing to Steve and to this church because it allowed them to do so many things with this money that they really weren’t even expecting.
The end of the year came, and Steve got a call from this particular man and all he would say was that he had just gotten off the phone with his accountant and there was a problem and he needed Steve to come to his office as soon as possible. Steve has admitted more than once that that was one of the scariest drives that he has ever made. He didn’t know what he was about to find when he got to the man’s business. For all he knew the church was getting ready to have some explaining of its own to do to federal authorities. Steve got to the man’s business, went back to his office, and closed the door so they could talk. He asked the man what the problem was almost not wanting to hear what the answer was going to be. The businessman looked at him and said, “Steve, I was talking to my accountant this morning and it turns out that I actually made $80,000 more than I thought I did this year and I didn’t tithe any of that. I need your help because I don’t want to not tithe, and this means that I’ve got at least $8,000 I need to give back to God. Steve, can you help me with this problem? Am I being an unfaithful steward?” Now, every time Steve tells this story he begins to smirk and chuckle at this point. He told the man, “Yeah, I don’t think that we’ll have any trouble helping you to resolve this problem, and I don’t think that God has a problem with you stewardship at all.”
We hear this story, and there are many just like it out there floating around, and our first instinct is to laugh about it. Our first thought is to say something along the lines of “That’s a problem that I’d like to have,” and I understand that. All of us would love for issues about money to be how we are going to spend it all instead of where is it going to come from. But I want you to think about this man for a moment and his situation as it compares to the people of Israel in Malachi’s day. You see, as we were told earlier, God condemned the people and He was angry with them for not giving Him the FULL tithe, for not giving Him the FULL ten percent. This man in Florida, had he just stayed with his original pledge, even though it was substantial, it would not have been his full tithe.
Friends, it is very easy for any one of us to become complacent in what we give to God and I’m not just talking about financially. Every single person who bears the name Christian is called to examine themselves each and every day. Just as we are called to examine ourselves before partaking of these elements on the table that sits before us, we are called to examine and evaluate whether or not what we are doing for God’s kingdom is enough and is our FULL tithe. As all of us continue to pray and discern what God’s will is for us in the coming year and what He wants each of us to commit to His Church, I want to encourage you to not become complacent. I want to encourage you to not just stay with something because it’s familiar and you’re comfortable with it. In order for truth Christian growth and maturity to occur, there is a sense in which we must truly place our faith at the forefront and put ourselves out there. What happens when we do this? In verse 10, God tells us, “Put me to the test, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.” You can’t out-give God, and He has promised to bless us beyond all that we can imagine when we return to Him what is rightfully His. Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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