Please turn with me, you know which book? The book of Malachi. Malachi chapter 3. And we've arrived at probably one of the most well-known verses in the book of Malachi. And there may be some verses some of you have been looking forward to and what I'm going to say and how I'm going to handle this text. I'm referring to Malachi chapter 3 verses 6 through to 15. Which in my Bible, and probably similar in yours, is the title Robbing God. I think some sermons are probably already coming to mind of things that you've heard on this text in the past. But let's read it together. Malachi chapter 3, verses 6 to 15. For I the LORD do not change, 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. Return to me and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, how shall we return? 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. 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, 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 Lord of hosts. Then all nations will call you blessed, For you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts. Your words have been hard against me, says the Lord. But you say, 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 in the morning before the Lord of hosts? And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper, but they put God to the test. and they escape. The title of my message this morning is, remember we're leading with some pastoral lessons from the book of Malachi. My sermon title this morning is, Pastor, do not rob God nor his people. I added those last three words to counteract how most people treat this passage. I'm sure you may know there are many who use this passage to manipulate money out of people's pockets. This is probably the most abused and misinterpreted portion of the Old Testament, if not the entire Bible. You may have heard some servants on these verses, and I'll probably suggest that many of them were bad ones. Because it's my observation that many Christians do not properly understand the concept of tithing or giving in the Bible. Therefore, as a result, I believe they practice tithing without giving it much thought. They simply presume that it's what needs to be done. And part of the problem is based on the meaning of the word tithe itself. I'm sure you know the word tithe simply means 10%. So it's a mathematical word. And so many Christians will say just assume that well 10% is what I need to give and they just assume that's God's standard and so they do it. So I want to take a step back from Malachi this morning. I want to consider the whole concept of giving and trace it from the history of the Old Testament. And I'm sticking to the Old Testament because that's the context the initial readers were in. We can't view it from where we are now. We've got to view it initially from where they were, how they would have understood what this giving is. But as you'll see, as we go through the principles, as we go through this history, we'll see the principles in the New Testament are actually pretty much the same. And this morning, we're going to look at the two types of giving in the Old Testament, namely voluntary giving and required giving. And just to note, you're not going to look at the entire text. I'm just going to, a little bit later, look at verses 8 to 11. Next time, we'll come back to this passage and deal with it a little bit more. And also, this isn't going to be a typical sermon. This is going to be more like a bit of a study. And you may be surprised by some of the things that I'll have to share this morning. And we're going to jump around a little bit, and we're going to, as I say, we're going to be tracing the history a bit of giving, so you may want to take notes of the references that I deal with and start looking for yourselves later. But to begin with, there is a principle in human eutects which is called the principle of first mention. And this principle says that to understand a particular word or doctrine, you must first, you must find the first place in scripture where it is mentioned and study it. So, we're not specifically going to do that, but that's the principle behind where I'm starting with this. We're going to go into the history of giving and start from the first mention all the way through. Well, not all the way through, but most of the way through the Old Testament. The first mention of any offering by man is in Genesis chapter 4, when Cain and Abel make offerings to God. Now, you may have never noticed this before, But there is no mention of any percentage given in their text. All that is recorded is that they brought offerings. The second mention of any offering in the book of Genesis comes four chapters later in chapter 8 with Noah. Noah comes out of the ark as the floodwaters have subsided and he builds an altar because he wants to make an offering of thankfulness to God. Listen to verse 20 of Genesis chapter 8. Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. Note there's no percentage given. Just says he took some of the clean birds and clean animals and there's no reason from the text for us to say he took 10% of the clean birds and clean animals. What if there's only 5 clean animals? How do you sacrifice half an animal? Doesn't make sense. The next time worship language is used is in Genesis chapter 12. This is now the story of Abram. And God instructs Abram and makes promises to him. And so Abram builds an altar to the Lord in Canaan. But when you study that text, it doesn't state whether or not he gave offerings. It just said he built an altar. And it also doesn't say what he had to offer on the altar, should he have offered anything. So again, there's no percentage, no value. So with these first three mentions of giving or offerings in Genesis 1 to 12, no amount or percentage is given. Now we come to Genesis chapter 14. And this is the first time the word tithe or tenth, depending on your translation, is mentioned. Listen to verses 18 to 20 of Genesis chapter 14. This will be a familiar passage to you. And Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine, He was priest of God Most High and he blessed him, that is Abram, and said, blessed be Abram by God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed be God Most High who has delivered your enemies into your hand. And Abram gave him a tenth, or tithe, of everything. Hebrews 7 verse 4 sheds a little bit more light on this. There we read that Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of the spoils. And the Greek word for spoils there literally means the top of the heap. top of the pile and he refers to the best of what he had. So an accurate way to understand this is that he did not give Melchizedek a tenth of everything that he had but a tenth of the top of the heap, the tenth of the best of what of everything that was the best. The best of the spoils. And he gave this not to Melchizedek just to give to Melchizedek but it was in gratitude to God. So in context Abram is returning home from war having been victorious over the five pagan kings in the Valley of Shavuot, and taking spoils from the battle. As he returns home, as he journeys home, he runs into Melchizedek, the king and priest of Salem, what we now know as Jerusalem. Melchizedek understands that God has given Abram victory over his enemies, thereby confirming that Abram is called by God. Abram, in return, decides that this is a moment to offer thanks to God through this priest. So he gives a tenth of the best of the spoils of war. He gives a tithe. But what I want you to note here is that nowhere in this account does God tell Abram to give a tithe. Rather, this is a spontaneous and voluntary act on Abram's part. God doesn't command it. In fact, Genesis 14.20 and Hebrews 7.4 are the only verses in the entire Bible where it's recorded that Abram gave a tithe. And Abram lived for 160 years. He didn't do this every week. He didn't do it every month. Not every year. Scripture only records this occasion. This is a one-time act of gratitude to God for giving him a victory, and he does it voluntarily. And note, too, that Genesis 14.20 doesn't record that Abram gave a tenth of everything he owned. He only gave a tenth of the spoils he had taken in the battle. It wasn't a tenth of his entire income, and it wasn't a tenth of his entire wealth. A fair question to ask here, then, is this. Why did Abram give a tenth? Why not a fifth or more? Why not less? Where did the tenth come from? Because we don't read of this earlier in the scripture. We don't read of a tithe or a tenth before this. What you need to understand here is that the concept of giving a tenth to a deity was common custom at the time. This is because the number ten was viewed as the number of completion or totality. So giving a tenth represented as though I'm giving the whole. It was standard practice for pagan worshippers give their deities a tenth, implying that they're giving their deities their all. So Abraham is simply doing what is normal for the time. He's giving the normal 10% that they were given in their pagan worship. Now there's only one other mention of tithe in the book of Genesis. In chapter 28 verse 22, where Jacob makes a vow to God. So this is the only other time we have a tenth actually being given in the book of Genesis. But I want you to listen to the words of Jacob's vow. I want to see if you can spot the problem. Reading from verse 20 of Genesis, of Genesis chapter 28. Then Jacob made a vow saying, if God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God and the stone which I have set up for a pillar shall be God's house. And all of that you give me, I will give a full tenth to you. Did you spot the problem with this vow? The problem here is that this isn't an expression of trust. It's more like rivalry. Listen again to his words. If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear so that I come again to my father's house in peace, if the Lord does this, then the Lord shall be my God. And this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house. And all of that that you give me, I will give a tenth to you. So basically what Jacob is saying, God, if you protect me, feed me, clothe me, and I arrive safely home, then I will let you be my God. And then I will tithe to you. But I'm only gonna tithe to you that which you give me from this point on, not what I've already got. He's placing conditions on his giving. But as with Abram, Jacob is simply doing what is customary for pagan people to do at the time. To give a tenth to their deity out of gratitude, but in this case only if God does what Jacob wants him to do. But what I want you to notice again is that there is no mention in this passage or the verses before of God commanding him to give a tenth. Instead, what we read before these verses is God reaffirming to Jacob the promises he previously made to Abraham and Isaac. And nowhere in the promises does God state any stipulations for giving. He doesn't ask Jacob to give him a tithe. So it's not as though God's asked him for a tithe and he says, okay, Lord, I'll give you a tithe if you do this. This is, again, is voluntary despite it being a bribe. So in summary, from these five examples of giving in Genesis, Only two of them are tithes, but both of those are voluntary and not required. Abraham and Jacob gave a tenth because they chose to give a tenth, not because God instructed them to. But voluntary giving is not the only type of giving we see in the Old Testament. There is also some required giving. The first time we see any required giving is in Genesis chapter 41. You all know the account. Joseph is in Egypt, and Pharaoh has a dream. And Joseph is the only one who can interpret this dream, and he explains that, well, Pharaoh, there's only seven years of plenty in the land, which will be followed by seven years of famine and drought. And in verse 34, Joseph instructs Pharaoh that to survive the seven years of famine, he must appoint overseers over the land and take one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven plentiful years, store it, And then in the seven years of famine, they will have enough food to survive. In effect, these overseers are tax collectors. They're responsible to collect what we could call an income tax to fund the national government and to assist in the welfare of the nation. A tax that is greater than the tithe of 10%, or one-fifth is equal to 20%. Keep that number in mind. As you know, Joseph's council would not only support the nation of Egypt, but also his family, when his father and brothers would later come to Egypt during the time of the famine to seek relief. Later in Genesis 47 verse 24, Joseph essentially repeats the exact same thing to his own people, to his own family. He says, and at the harvest you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh and four fifths shall be your own. Israel, You keep 80% and give the government 20%. This is the only required giving that is recorded in the book of Genesis, which everybody of Israel, at that point wasn't many people, but everybody had to do in a form of tax. So what we see at this early stage is that free will or voluntary giving is directed towards the Lord, but required giving is directed towards the government. But the question now stands is this, what about tithing in the law of Moses? Was that required giving or was it voluntary giving? This is where the commands concerning tithing comes in. Listen to Leviticus 27 verse 13. Every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the Lord's. It is holy to the Lord. Later in Numbers 18 verse 24, we learn that this tithe is divided among the Levites. There we read, for the tithe of the people of Israel, which they present as a contribution to the Lord, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance. However, when you read the surrounding verses, you learn that this included other things such as olive oil, grain, fruit, meat, and wine. The 10% required then was a tithe of the land. They gave it to the Lord, and they did so by giving it to the Levites. The Levites, as I'm sure you know, All good students have studied the Old Testament. It's one of the 12 tribes of Israel. But they weren't given any land. And they didn't have any jobs other than serving the Lord in the tabernacle and later in the temple. The Levites were essentially responsible for providing the leadership for the nation by teaching people the Word of God. In that sense, you could say they were God's vice presidents. And the tenth was to supply the needs of the Levites who had no land and no regular income. Remember, Israel was a theocracy, a nation ruled by God. In a nation run by the people, such as a democracy like we have here in South Africa, the people choose the leaders and the people pay the taxes to support them. But in a theocracy, God chooses the leaders and the people support them as God tells them to support them. They worked to serve the people as per God's commands. They were the government and made the decisions. They were the judges and counselors and as such they needed to be supported. So God requires that the people give 10% every year to support those he placed in government. But did you know that the Israelites did not only give 10% per year? There is a second type. Every year the people had to give a second 10%. Listen to Deuteronomy chapter 14 verses 22 and 23. You shall tithe all the yield of your seed that comes from the field year by year, and before the Lord your God and the place that he will choose to make his name dwell there, that is the city of Jerusalem, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, of your wine and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always. The tithe talked about in these verses is not given to the Levites. It's not given to them for their work, for their governing the land, but instead it was used by the individuals. It was used by the people. Yes, it was given to the temple and stored there, but it was given, it was eaten and used by the people during the annual festivals, the seven annual festivals that they had to go to. So this is referred to as a festival tithe or a second tithe. So the first tithe supports the Levites, the government. But this second tithe provides for the religious festivals and the people themselves benefit. This second tithe serves to keep the people united, focused on the Lord. And there's an essence, you could say, another tax, a national tax. You could maybe say it's like a sin tax, paying for those things that we're enjoying, that we're getting the benefit of. So now we're at 20%, like it was back in Egypt. And again, for similar uses, to provide food for the land given to the government. But did you know that there was a third tithe? We learn of this in Deuteronomy chapter 14 verse 28 and 26 verse 12. Firstly, Deuteronomy 14, 28. At the end of every three years, you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in the same year and lay it up within your towns. And in chapter 26 verse 12, speaking in the same context if you study the two passages together. When you have finished paying all the tithe of your produce in the third year, which is the year of tithing, giving it to the Levites, the Sojourner, the Fatherless, and the Widow, so that they may eat within your towns and be filled. Every third year, the people had to give this additional 10%. So if you take 10% and divide it over three years, it's equal to three and a third percent every year, on top of the other 20% they're already giving. Therefore you have the Levite tithe, the festival tithe, and what we can consider here to be a welfare tithe, because it's caring for the poor, the widows, the sojourners, the poor. So 10% plus 10% plus essentially 3 and a third percent every year adds up to 23.3% in tithes every year. Not very far off the 20% that it was back then. So now can you see why we cannot use Manichae chapter 3 and say that's about giving your 10% because he talks about the complete tithe, bring the full tithe into the storehouse, not just the 10% but the full 23 and a third. And this they gave every year to fund the national needs and this was the required giving. Before Moses, back in Egypt, required giving was tax. From the time of Moses, In the time of the law, again, required giving is a tax. By the way, all of these tithes are referred to, all of these three tithes are what is referred to in Malachi chapter 3. Malachi 3 verse 8. Will man rob God? You are robbing me, but you say, how have we robbed you? In your tithes and contributions. Tithes, plural. Remember the tithes belong to the Lord. This is why he says you're robbing me. This is due to me. And remember that they were giving their tithe to the Lord by giving it to the Levites, by taking it to the tabernacle in the temple to be stored so they could support the Levites, the national religious festivals and the poor. But because these tithes were meant to bless the nation and they weren't giving them, their quality of life suffered greatly because the tithes were withheld. God speaks of the consequences of this in the next verse, Malachi chapter 3 verse 9. You are cursed with a curse for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. Not just one or two people, not just those who are priests and Levites and serving me. Everybody, the whole nation is responsible for this. Although they may offer some of the tithes, they're not giving the whole tithe. That's why God says in Malachi chapter 3 verse 10, bring the full tithe into the storehouse. Not part of it, not only the 10% to support the Levites, or only the 10% that you're gonna benefit from when you come to Jerusalem for your feasts. No, bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be found 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 people of Israel are missing out on God's intended blessing because they hold back on his prescribed tithes. Perhaps they reduced their giving because of the difficulties they were experiencing, but God's basically saying here, that's no excuse. And the suffering is into that in the next verse where God says, I will rebuke the devourer for you so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil and your vine and the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts. Obviously this devourer was devouring their crops. And the devourer here literally means the eater, the consumer. Perhaps it's referring to locusts or their enemies who are consuming the fruit of their labors, both of which are a problem at this time. But if only they would just give to God what he asks them for, then he would remove the curse upon the land. So the required giving in the Old Testament amounts to taxation and was intended to bless the nation. Before we close, let's consider another example of voluntary giving in the Old Testament. I'll paint the full picture of what's going on. In Exodus 25, Moses is needing to build a tabernacle. But in order to do so, he needs to have materials and the people to do the work. This therefore would require some giving on the part of the people. So the Lord tells Moses in verses 1 and 2 of Exodus chapter 25, speak to the people of Israel. that they may take for me a contribution. From every man whose heart moves him, you shall receive the contribution for me." Did you catch that? We read verse 2 again. From every man whose heart moves, you shall receive the contribution for me. The people are to give whatever they want from their heart. Notice yet again, God does not prescribe any fixed amount. Doesn't give him any percentage. He doesn't say, give me a tenth, so now I'm making it 33 and a third, but rather, give me whatever you want from your heart. Why? Because God is concerned with our heart attitude. He wants people to give to him out of gratitude and with joy, not under compulsion. So what happened? How did they give toward the tabernacle? Well, listen to the results later in Exodus 35, verses 21 and 22. And they came, just listen to what they gave. And they came, everyone whose heart stirred him, and everyone whose spirit moved him, and brought the Lord's contribution to be used for the tent of meeting, and for all its service, and for the holy garments. So they came, both men and women, all who were of a willing heart, brought brooches and earrings and signet rings and armlets, all sorts of gold objects, every man dedicating an offering of gold to the Lord. Let me repeat just one phrase from that report that you may have missed. All who were of a willing heart. And all of this gold, all of this giving was over and above their 23 and a third percent. And the same principle is seen in the New Testament. Giving should not be under duress, it should be out of a willing heart. Because remember Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 9 verse 7? God loves a cheerful giver. And how is giving under duress in any way cheerful? But there is another example of this kind of giving in Deuteronomy 16 verse 10 and 17 that also illustrates this point that Paul is making in 2 Corinthians. We read there, Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God with a tribute of a free will offering from your hand, which you shall give as the Lord your God blesses you. Every man shall give as he is able according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you. That's proportionate giving. They were to give according to how God has prospered them. No percentage is prescribed. So they've already given their tax for this feast, but here he's saying give over and above what you've given. But again, it's not a prescribed amount. They were to give willingly and proportionately as they were motivated by thankfulness to God and their love for Him. Listen to Paul in 2 Corinthians 9 verse 7 again, and this time I'll read the entire verse. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful See how the Old Testament and New Testament forms of giving match one another? So despite what people may say and how badly they misinterpret Malachi chapter 3, the Old Testament's teaching on giving is the same as the New. Pay your taxes, or as Jesus put it, render to Caesar what is Caesar's, and give God what your heart desires, what you've decided. I bet you've never heard pay your taxes from Malachi chapter 3 before. So in closing, how do we rob God? By not applying these two principles. By not rendering to the government what is theirs so that they can look after his people. And by not cheerfully giving to God that which we have determined in our hearts to give out of the abundance that he has given us. My title is Pastor Do Not Rob God Nor His People. You understand now how we're robbing God. How do we rob people? Well, in similar ways. When you don't pay your taxes, you're robbing the government of the money they need to care for the country and her people. But also, and this is a warning to all of you who are pastors or have the opportunity to preach these verses. We rob God, or sorry, we rob God's people by using Malachi 3 out of context. to manipulate them to give more than they can truly afford. And not because they want to give or to give cheerfully, but because the pastor told them to. Because the pastor manipulated them. And ultimately may be making the pastor and the ministry rich. So folks, do not rob God. Give to him what is right, pay your taxes, and do not rob God's people. I trust that's helping you to understand this passage a little bit more. Next time we'll dig into what this passage really is telling us, and it's not just focused on finances. Let us pray. O Lord, you have given us many things, and you have given us in abundance. And so, Lord, often we just respond by saying thank you in our prayers, and not really considering other things that we ought to give to you. Lord, you don't want us to give under compulsion. You're not demanding that we give 50% of our finances so that we go broke. You're not demanding, Lord, that we give a thousand rand every week to the pastor so he can get rich. Lord, no, you want us to give with cheerful hearts and willing hearts. Lord, there are places where we are required to give, and those things are demands upon us. So, Lord, when we come to church, it often feels like I've got to give again. But Lord, that shall never be. It should be a joyful experience. Because Lord, you have blessed us. Help us, Lord, to give out of our abundance. And it's not only finances, Lord. As we've seen here, there's also the fruits. There's things that we have in our cupboards that we can help somebody with who's hungry. Can even include our time and our skills and our talents. Lord, that we can give to you by giving to your people, by working in your church. Lord, help us not to be stingy. Help us, Lord, to give out of the abundance of which you have given us. Pray, Lord, that you'll be faithful in us. And Lord, we will not use these verses to manipulate other people and use them out of context, but Lord, we have to use them to rather encourage people. We pray this in your name.