They Were Robbing Themselves (Mal. 3:9-11)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/1/2016 7:06 PM

My Worship Time                                                             Focus: They were Robbing Themselves

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Malachi 3:9-11

            Message of the verses:  “9 “You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you! 10 "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this," says the LORD of hosts, "if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. 11 “Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes," says the LORD of hosts.”

            I want to begin this SD by looking at some verses in the 26^th chapter of the book of Leviticus “3 ’If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments so as to carry them out, 4 then I shall give you rains in their season, so that the land will yield its produce and the trees of the field will bear their fruit. 5 ’Indeed, your threshing will last for you until grape gathering, and grape gathering will last until sowing time. You will thus eat your food to the full and live securely in your land.”

            Now we have been over this ground in previous SD’s as we have looked at similar words from the 28^th chapter of the book of Deuteronomy.  Both of these chapters speak of a covenant that God made with Israel, a covenant that is a conditional covenant while the covenants that God made with Abraham and then with David were unconditional covenants.  Not the covenant that is found in Leviticus and also in Deuteronomy had both positive and negative terms in it.  If you do this then you will be blessed and if you don’t do this then you will be cursed.

            Now as we look at our verses today in Malachi we see that since the Jewish people were robbing God then God would bring about a curse on them that is seen in these conditional covenants and therefore as our focus tells us they were actually going to be robbing themselves because they were robbing God.  Deuteronomy 28:8 says “"The LORD will command the blessing upon you in your barns and in all that you put your hand to, and He will bless you in the land which the LORD your God gives you.”  Now we will look at Malachi 3:11 “"Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes," says the LORD of hosts.” 

            Dr. Wiersbe writes “Whenever we rob God, we always rob ourselves.  To begin with, we rob ourselves of the spiritual blessings that always accompany obedience and faithful giving (2 Cor. 9:6-16) ‘  6 Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8  And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed; 9  as it is written, "HE SCATTERED ABROAD, HE GAVE TO THE POOR, HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS ENDURES FOREVER." 10 Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness; 11 you will be enriched in everything for all liberality, which through us is producing thanksgiving to God. 12 For the ministry of this service is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing through many thanksgivings to God. 13  Because of the proof given by this ministry, they will glorify God for your obedience to your confession of the gospel of Christ and for the liberality of your contribution to them and to all, 14  while they also, by prayer on your behalf, yearn for you because of the surpassing grace of God in you. 15 Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!’  But even more, the money that rightfully belongs to God that we keep for ourselves never stays with us.  It ends up going to the doctor, the auto body shop, or the tax collector.  ‘You have sown much, and bring in little…and he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes’ (Hag. 1:6, NKJV).  If we don’t trust God to care for us, whatever we do trust will prove futile.  People who lovingly give tithes and offerings to God find that whatever left over goes much farther and brings much greater blessing.”

            Giving is an act of faith and God will reward that faith in many ways.  I remember when I was a child that my father would always give a tithe to the church and one of the reasons that he would do this was because he believed that the Bible tells us to do that.  He also thought that by giving to the Lord he would be blessed by the Lord in monetary ways as many people believe.  I also remember that my first Pastor that I had after I became a believer said that if we give a tithe to the Lord then God will give us wisdom on how to spend the remaining 90%.  I think that was good advice.  Now if we gave just so we would get back that would be selfish on our part.  R. G. LeTourneau writes “If you give because it pays, it won’t pay.”  More good advice.  So what is the reason that we give?  We give because we love God, for surely God does not need our money, but He does want our obedience.  We also give because God is generous with us.  We cannot take it with us, but we can send it ahead and when we do that it will pay dividends.

            We have mentioned that this promise in Malachi 3:10 is linked to the covenant that the Israelites had made with God in Deuteronomy 28:1-14 and so if the faithfully obeyed it then God would faithfully keep His promises.  Dr. Wiersbe concludes this section by writing “But the spiritual principle behind this promise is echoed in Luke 6:38 and 2 Corinthians 9:6-8, so believers today can lay hold of it.  For some believers in America, a tithe would be much too small an amount, but each believer must be fully persuaded in his or her heart what the Lord wants him or her to do.”

            He then adds the following endnote:  “Multitudes of people have testified to the blessing of regular systematic proportionate giving.  However, we must remember that even after we’ve given generously to the Lord, what remains is still His, for we are stewards of everything He gives us.  Giving a tithe doesn’t mean we have the right to use the remaining 90 percent for ourselves.” 

Luke 6:38 says “"Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure-pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return."”

12/1/2016 7:45 PM