Creekside Church, Sunday, March 23, 2025
Robbing God
Locations & Times
Creekside Church
660 Conservation Dr, Waterloo, ON N2J 3Z4, Canada
Sunday 8:25 AM
Sunday 9:45 AM
Sunday 11:15 AM
MALACHI 3:6-12
6 “I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty.
“But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’
8 “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.
“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’
“In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty. 12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.
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A BAD READING OF MALACHI 3:6-12
"Better give 10% of your income to the church or else you'll be cursed."
"Test God by giving to him and watch him multiply it!"
----------
CONTEXT
Tithe means "tenth"
Who gives them? > People with land, animals, crops.
Who are they for? > Levites, celebrations, the poor
o Deuteronomy 14:22-29
o Numbers 18:21
o Leviticus 27:30-32
Offerings
-Voluntary, for worship and special needs
- Malachi 1:6-14 - priests are giving bad food and animal offerings that God is rebuking
The curse in Malachi 3:9 is a reference to God's promise in Deuteronomy 11:13-17.
Malachi 3:6-12 is talking to the nation. It's communal. Not about individual curses and blessings.
God is calling his people to return to him in this passage.
What is in view is that God has setup a tithing system to take care of the priestly class (levites) as well as the poor.
This is part of what being God's holy people was to look like.
And instead the people have setup systems to avoid God's commands.
----------
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR US TODAY?
#1 – We are not in the same covenant as Israel. These commands are not for us.
#2 - Do we have to give a tenth of our income to the church?
No. Christians are nowhere commanded to tithe in the New Testament.
#3 - Followers of Jesus are called to see everything they have as belonging to God. Jesus wants everything! We are called to give generously.
Examples - 2 Corinthians 9:1-15
#4 - Jesus makes giving a heart issue. What do you love more? Where are you storing up treasures? In the present? Or in the future? - Matthew 6:19-24
----------
ARE YOU ROBBING GOD?
Acts 5:1-11
Married couple attempt to lie to their community about how much they are giving.
Are you robbing God by pretending to be faithful members of the church?
Matthew 25:14-30
Jesus tells a parable about a man who robs God of a return on his investment.
Are you robbing God by trying to keep what is his or by not using the gifts he has given you to expand the kingdom?
2 Corinthians 9:7
Have you contemplated and prayed about how much to give?
Or do you avoid it?
6 “I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty.
“But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’
8 “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.
“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’
“In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty. 12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.
----------
A BAD READING OF MALACHI 3:6-12
"Better give 10% of your income to the church or else you'll be cursed."
"Test God by giving to him and watch him multiply it!"
----------
CONTEXT
Tithe means "tenth"
Who gives them? > People with land, animals, crops.
Who are they for? > Levites, celebrations, the poor
o Deuteronomy 14:22-29
o Numbers 18:21
o Leviticus 27:30-32
Offerings
-Voluntary, for worship and special needs
- Malachi 1:6-14 - priests are giving bad food and animal offerings that God is rebuking
The curse in Malachi 3:9 is a reference to God's promise in Deuteronomy 11:13-17.
Malachi 3:6-12 is talking to the nation. It's communal. Not about individual curses and blessings.
God is calling his people to return to him in this passage.
What is in view is that God has setup a tithing system to take care of the priestly class (levites) as well as the poor.
This is part of what being God's holy people was to look like.
And instead the people have setup systems to avoid God's commands.
----------
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR US TODAY?
#1 – We are not in the same covenant as Israel. These commands are not for us.
#2 - Do we have to give a tenth of our income to the church?
No. Christians are nowhere commanded to tithe in the New Testament.
#3 - Followers of Jesus are called to see everything they have as belonging to God. Jesus wants everything! We are called to give generously.
Examples - 2 Corinthians 9:1-15
#4 - Jesus makes giving a heart issue. What do you love more? Where are you storing up treasures? In the present? Or in the future? - Matthew 6:19-24
----------
ARE YOU ROBBING GOD?
Acts 5:1-11
Married couple attempt to lie to their community about how much they are giving.
Are you robbing God by pretending to be faithful members of the church?
Matthew 25:14-30
Jesus tells a parable about a man who robs God of a return on his investment.
Are you robbing God by trying to keep what is his or by not using the gifts he has given you to expand the kingdom?
2 Corinthians 9:7
Have you contemplated and prayed about how much to give?
Or do you avoid it?