The Looming Election Season...

Next weekend, as a country and as a culture, we will celebrate Labor Day, which marks the unofficial end of summer. For most families, however, summer has already ended. A summer of family vacations, picnics, and mission trips is now in the rear view mirror. Students are already back in school. Fall sports have started. Next week, the college football season kicks off.  And this year, as we enter into the fall, there is another season that looms on the horizon. And that season is the 2012 election season. Now, it’s not that we haven’t heard about the upcoming presidential election; it seems as though we have been talking about the upcoming presidential election for the past several years.

However, there seems to be something different about this presidential election. There seems to be more urgency with this election. There seems to be more energy with this election. There seems to be more emotion with this election. There seems to be more that is hanging in the balance with this election.  There has already been a great deal of rhetoric; there has already been a great deal of political mudslinging; there has already been a great deal of partisan debate and demagoguery. There seems to be a recognition that we are at a crossroads as a nation. There seems to be a recognition that the outcome of this election will profoundly shape the future of the nation. 

Now as a church, we do not endorse political candidates and as a pastor, I will not use Sunday morning as a platform to endorse a candidate for president. As a church and as a pastor, I will speak about what the Bible teaches about many of the contemporary issues that we face as a nation. And on Sunday nights this fall, our Sunday evening Connection Point service has being doing just that so that,  as followers of Jesus, we can look through the lens of a Biblical worldview that enables us to vote in an informed manner when it comes to the many issues that our country faces.

But what if I told you that you actually vote every day on an issue that is far more important than a presidential election. Whether you are a republican, democrat or independent; whether you are a member of the tea party of the occupy wall street movement; whether you would consider yourself active or inactive in politics, you cast your ballot every day in an election that has far more at stake that who will be the leader of the free world for the next four years. Now you might be wondering “what do you mean I vote every morning? How can you say that I cast a ballot in an election every day? And if that is the case, how do I vote, and what am I voting for?”

If those questions are running through your mind, I just want to let you know that they are fair questions to be asking. And my response to those questions is this: Every morning, you cast a ballot every day with your head when it comes to this election. Every morning, you cast a ballot every day with your heart when it comes to this election. And every morning, you cast a ballot every day with your hands when it comes to this election.

And the ballot you cast in this election is for one of two candidates. Either you cast a ballot to vote to live your life as a religious-centered person; or you cast a ballot to live your life as a gospel-centered person. With your head, in other words how you think about a relationship with God; with your heart, in other words how you feel about a relationship with God; and with your hands, in other words how you practically live out your day to day life, you are either living your life as a religious-centered person or a gospel-centered person.

Now you might be wondering “what is the difference? And does it matter?” So in this election season, we are going to be spending our time together in a sermon series entitled “vote no on religion”. During this series, we are going to look at a letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament in our Bibles today called the Book of Galatians. And in this letter, we will discover that this election has been going on for thousands of years. We will discover the difference between a religious-centered person and a gospel-centered person. And my hope and my prayer is that God would move in our heads, our hearts, and our hands, so that we would come to a place as individuals where we vote no on religion and vote yes to living gospel-centered lives that reveal and reflect Jesus and His message of rescue through the message of the gospel to the world.

Tomorrow, we will begin where the book of Galatians begins…

A Promise of Restoration...or Rejection...

This week, we have been looking at the final section of a letter in our Bibles called the book of Malachi. Wednesday, we saw Malachi reveal the reality that as a result of God’s activity at the end of God’s story, all humanity will be able to distinguish between the righteous and the wicked. There will be a crystal clear distinction between those are just and right when it comes to their relationship with God and those who are guilty of not being right when it comes to a relationship with God. There will be a crystal clear distinction between those who served and followed God and those who did not serve and follow God.

Today, we see Malachi conclude his letter by reminding the Jewish people of God’s promise of the Messiah and His coming in verses 4-6:

"Remember the law of Moses My servant, even the statutes and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel. "Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. "He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse."

Malachi commands the Jewish people to remember the Law of Moses. The word remember here conveys the sense of remembering something in a way that results in action. Malachi is commanding the Jewish people to keep watch and make sure that they follow God’s commands as given to Moses. The reason that they are to make sure to keep and follow God’s commands is revealed for us in verses 5-6. In these verses the prophet predicts and proclaims that God would send Elijah the prophet before the arrival of the Messiah and the ushering in of the kingdom of Heaven. Upon his arrival, Malachi explains that he will be used by God to “restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers.”

But who is this Elijah and what is he really supposed to do? We find the answer to this question in one of the accounts of Jesus life that is recorded for us in our Bibles, called the gospel of Matthew. At this point in the gospel of Matthew, Peter, James, and John, who were Jesus three closest disciples, were on a mountaintop and saw a glimpse of the glory of Jesus as God as He had a conversation with Moses and Elijah. In the middle of that conversation, God the Father appears in the middle of a cloud and says to the three disciples “this is My beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him”. So at this point, it is unmistakably clear to them that Jesus is God-in-a-bod, the Messiah. And they had seen Jesus talking with Moses and Elijah. But the disciples had a question. So let’s look at the question and the answer together in Matthew 17:10-13:

And His disciples asked Him, "Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?" And He answered and said, "Elijah is coming and will restore all things; but I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished. So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands." Then the disciples understood that He had spoken to them about John the Baptist.

Here we see Jesus reveal for us the reality that the prophet Malachi’s prediction had been fulfilled and was going to be fulfilled a second time in the future. Jesus is explaining that the last days and the great and glorious day of the Lord had come. John the Baptizer had come to call the Jewish people to repent, to recognize and feel remorse for how they were living life. John had called the Jewish people to change the trajectory of their life, because God was coming soon. The kingdom of God was approaching and would be here soon”.

And the Bible tells us that many Jewish people recognized their need to repent from their sin and their need to be right with God before the Messiah, the promised one of God appeared to usher in the kingdom of God that they were waiting for. You see, the last days and the great and glorious Day of the Lord began with Jesus appearance, which signaled that God was doing something new in the world. What John the baptizer announced, and what Jesus fulfilled was an opportunity for all of humanity to receive forgiveness and experience the relationship with God that they were created for. Just as reconciliation within a family involves a turning toward one another to restore the broken relationship, God was taking the initiative to restore the broken relationship with humanity.

Today, we live in what are often referred to as the last days. The last days began with Jesus initial appearance on earth. And the last days will end when Jesus returns again to defeat selfishness, sin, and death and to usher in the kingdom of Heaven in its fullest sense. And right before Jesus 2nd coming, the Bible tells us that there will be two witnesses that announce to the world, just as John the Baptizer did, that the Messiah is coming. And just as it was in the prophet Malachi’s day, there will be those who say that following God’s ways is foolish and futile. And there will be others who will not buy into the lie that following God’s ways is foolish and futile and will instead remain faithful.

So where are you when it comes to a relationship with God? Do you believe that following God’s ways are foolish and futile? Do you tell others that following God’s ways are foolish and futile? Because we take a detour when we tell others that following God’s ways is foolish and futile. We take a detour that dishonors God. We take a detour that deceives ourselves and others. We take a detour that reveals the reality that we are far from God. We take a detour that, apart from a changing of the trajectory of our lives that is moving away from God back toward God, will result in us receiving the right and just response to selfishness and rebellion.

You see, Jesus came the first time to earth in order to provide the opportunity for all of humanity to be rescued from selfishness and rebellion and experience the relationship with God that they were created for by believing, trusting and following Jesus as Lord and leader. When Jesus comes again, He will come as the conquering King and Judge that will defeat selfishness, sin, and death, and establish God’s royal reign forever.

In the meantime, we all have a decision. And that decision is whether or not we are going to follow Jesus…

A Detour that Reveals a Clear Distinction...

This week we are finishing a book in the Old Testament called the book of Malachi. Yesterday, we saw Malachi reveal for us that we take a detour when we tell others that following God’s ways is foolish and futile. Just like the Jewish people of Malachi’s day, when we tell others that following Jesus is foolish and futile; when we tell others that there is no benefit or gain by following Jesus; when we communicate to others, either verbally or through our body language, that following Jesus is a joyless duty; when we tell others that it is better off to be far from God than to follow God because God does not deal justly with arrogance, selfishness, and rebellion, we have taken a huge detour that gets us off track when it comes to our relationship with God and that dishonors God.

Today, we will see Malachi reveal for us that not only do we take a huge detour that gets us off track in our relationship with God and dishonors God when we tell others that following God’s ways is foolish and futile. When we tell others that following God’s ways is foolish and futile we reveal a powerful distinction that exposes us to some extreme consequences. We see Malachi unpack this reality in Malachi 3:16:

Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who esteem His name.

Here we see Malachi give us a glimpse into what was happening amongst the Jewish people and how they responded to those who were saying that following God’s ways is foolish and futile. The prophet explains that there were some Jewish people who responded to what they were hearing by coming together in order to encourage one another to stand firm in their confident trust in God and the Word of God. There were some Jewish people who remained faithful to God and who denied the arrogant slander and gossip of those who had taken a detour from God. There were some Jewish people who still held the Lord in honor; there were some Jewish people who still thought highly and made much of God. And those Jewish people continued to gather together in community to encourage one another to remain faithful to living lives that honored and glorified God.

Malachi then explains that God responded by giving attention to those who denied the gossip and slander of those who were saying that following God’s ways were foolish and futile. Now this phrase gave attention, literally means to incline one’s ear to hear. But not only did the Lord lean in to listen; Malachi also tells us that a book of remembrance was written before the Lord for those who fear the Lord and esteem His name.

This book of remembrance was not because God needed something to help Him remember. This book of remembrance was to serve as a memorial of the faithfulness of the Jewish people who did not buy into the lie that following God’s ways is foolish and futile. Malachi then reveals the reason why the Lord would keep such a book that memorializes the faithfulness of His followers in verses 17-18:

"They will be Mine," says the LORD of hosts, "on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him." So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.

Here we see Malachi reveal the reality that at the end of God’s story here on earth, there will be a day where every human being will give an account for how they lived their lives here on earth. And on that day, the book of remembrance will not only serve as a memorial for their faithfulness; the book of remembrance will also provide the evidence of their faithfulness during their life here on earth. And on that day, the Lord simply says “they will be Mine”. On the day when the Lord establishes the kingdom of Heaven in its fullest sense, those who were faithful to the Lord throughout history will be God’s possession. Now this little phrase, My own possession, conveys the sense of making someone or something a special treasure or possession.

And as the Lord’s special treasure and possession, when the Lord judges all of humanity, to those who are faithful, the Lord says “I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him." Malachi is revealing for us the reality that at the end of God’s story here on earth, that just as a father has compassion on his faithful son who serves him, God will have compassion on those who are faithful to Him.

And as a result of God’s activity at the end of God’s story, the prophet explains that all humanity will be able to distinguish between the righteous and the wicked. There will be a crystal clear distinction between those are just and right when it comes to their relationship with God and those who are guilty of not being right when it comes to a relationship with God. There will be a crystal clear distinction between those who served and followed God and those who did not serve and follow God. Malachi then unpacks exactly how this distinction will become so crystal clear in Malachi 4:1:

"For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze," says the LORD of hosts, "so that it will leave them neither root nor branch."

Here we see Malachi explain what the Messiah will do when the kingdom of Heaven arrives at the end of God’s story here on earth, when every human being will give an account for how they lived their lives here on earth. And that day of accounting or judgment will be like a furnace of fire that was used during the harvesting of grain. During the harvest, a winnowing fork was used in the Jewish agricultural society of the day to sift through grain. Piles of grain would be scooped up by the winnowing fork and thrown into the air. The heavier grain would fall to the ground, while the worthless chaff would be blown away by the wind. The wheat would be then gathered into a barn, while the chaff would be gathered to be burned with fire.

Malachi’s point is that the Messiah will sift through all of humanity and gather all of those who reject God and the word of God to experience the eternal judgment that awaits those who reject Him. And that judgment, according to Malachi will be thorough and complete. Neither root nor branch; not a shred of selfishness, rebellion, or arrogance will remain unscathed from God’s right and just response to selfishness and rebellion. Malachi then contrasts the consequences for those who rebel and reject God with those who are in a right and faithful relationship with Him in verses 2-3:

"But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall. "You will tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day which I am preparing," says the LORD of hosts.

Unlike the justice and judgment that those who reject God and the word of God will experience at the end of God’s story here on earth, for those who honor and glorify the Lord, they will experience the blessings that come from living faithfully and rightly with Him. First, for those who live in a right relationship with God, God’s righteousness will become apparent like the sun shining in all its brightness. Those who fear the Lord will experience justice and righteousness in the fullest sense. Second, those who live in a right relationship with God will experience healing from the damage and destruction that selfishness and rebellion have wreaked on the earth.

Malachi then paints the word picture of calves skipping away as they are released from the captivity of a stall to reveal the reality that those who live in a right relationship with God will experience the joy that comes in living in the fullness of the relationship with God that they were created for. And in the joy that they will experience as a result of living in the fullness of the relationship with God that they were created for, those who live in a right relationship with God will overcome and dominate those who have received God’s right and just response to their selfishness and rebellion upon the Messiah’s coming.

Tomorrow, we will see Malachi then conclude his letter by reminding the Jewish people of God’s promise of the Messiah and His coming…

We take a detour when we tell others that following God's ways is foolish and futile...

This week, I would like for us to finish looking and the final section of a letter that is recorded for us in the Old Testament of our Bibles called the book of Malachi. And once again we will see Malachi accuse the Jewish people of taking another timeless detour that can get us off track when it comes to our relationship with God and can result in us living a life that dishonors God. So let’s look together as Malachi makes his accusation, beginning in Malachi 3:13:

           "Your words have been arrogant against Me,"
           says the LORD. "

Malachi begins be revealing another accusation that the Lord had against the Jewish people: “Your words have been arrogant against Me”. Now this word arrogant, in the language that this letter was originally written in, literally means to be strong or harsh. This accusation, if communicating in the language that we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “You have used strong and harsh words against Me when you have talked about Me to others”. After revealing the accusation against the Jewish people, Malachi then records their response in the second half of verse 13:

"Yet you say, 'What have we spoken against You?'”

Once again, we see the Jewish people respond to the prophet’s accusation with a plea of ignorance. “What have we spoken against You?” In other words, the Jewish people were saying “What have we said about You that was harsh? We haven’t said anything bad about You.” After hearing the Jewish people’s denial, Malachi, provides the evidence of their strong and harsh words against the Lord in verses 14-15. Let’s look at the evidence together:

"You have said, 'It is vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we have kept His charge, and that we have walked in mourning before the LORD of hosts? 'So now we call the arrogant blessed; not only are the doers of wickedness built up but they also test God and escape.'"

In these verses, we see Malachi reveal four different statements that the Jewish people were making about the Lord that served as evidence of the strong and harsh words that they were using against the Lord. First, the Jewish people were saying that it was vain to serve God.  Now when Malachi uses the word vain here, this word literally refers to something that foolish, futile, and worthless.  So, in essence the Jewish people were telling others that serving and following the Lord was foolish and worthless.

Second, the Jewish people were saying “what profit is it that we have kept His charge. This phrase, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “what do we gain by observing His commands? How does it benefit us to walk in His ways?”

Third, the Jewish people told others that “we have walked in mourning before the LORD of hosts”. But what does that mean? The Jewish people were painting a word picture for those listening of how a person conducted themselves at a funeral. In the Jewish culture of the day, a person who attended a funeral would not get dressed up in their best black outfit. Instead, the Jewish people would demonstrate their mourning by making their appearance very unkempt and by wailing loudly. The Jewish people painted this word picture to communicate to others that they no longer found joy on following God. Instead, like attending a funeral, it was a dreadful duty that did not benefit them at all to try to be right with God.

And, if that was not bad enough, in verse 15, Malachi provides an additional piece of evidence that the Jewish people were telling others: “So now we call the arrogant blessed”. Now in the Bible an arrogant person is someone who places themselves above God and others as being prominent and preeminent. An arrogant person is bold and disrespectful. And arrogant person presumes that they are better than others and will selfishly and rebelliously do things out of that arrogance that place themselves in opposition to God and others.  The Bible, from cover to cover, make is abundantly clear that God opposes those who are proud and arrogant. However, what the Jewish people were telling others is that God blesses the arrogant. 

The Jewish people then attempted to justify their statements by saying that God does not punish the selfishness and rebellion of the arrogant. Instead, as they looked around at those who were arrogant, they seemed to be prospering. From the perspective of the Jewish people, the arrogantly selfish and rebellious person repeatedly tested God through their rebellion, yet seemed to escape judgment and punishment for their rebellion. And based on what the Jewish people were observing, they had come to the conclusion and were telling others that God blessed those who arrogantly opposed God.

The Jewish people were telling others “It is foolish and worthless to follow God and keep His commands. After all, what have we gained from serving and following the Lord? Those who arrogantly rebel against God are not being punished; instead they seem to be having all the fun and seem to be doing fine financially. So, you are better off not to follow the Lord, because following the Lord is just a dreadful duty. I mean I even don’t know why we are following Him”.

And it is here where we see Malachi reveal for us a timeless detour that can get us off track when it comes to our relationship with God and can result in us living a life that dishonors God. And that timeless detour is that we take a detour when we tell others that following God's ways is foolish and futile.

Just like the Jewish people of Malachi’s day, when we tell others that following Jesus is foolish and futile; when we tell others that there is no benefit or gain by following Jesus; when we communicate to others, either verbally or through our body language, that following Jesus is a joyless duty; when we tell others that it is better off to be far from God than to follow God because God does not deal justly with arrogance, selfishness, and rebellion, we have taken a huge detour that gets us off track when it comes to our relationship with God and that dishonors God.

But not only do we take a huge detour that gets us off track in our relationship with God and dishonors God when we tell others that following God’s ways is foolish and futile. When we tell others that following God’s ways is foolish and futile we reveal a powerful distinction that exposes us to some extreme consequences.

Tomorrow, we will see Malachi unpack this reality…

We Take a Detour When We Rob God of His Resources In Order To Advance Our Kingdom Instead of His...

This week, we have been looking at another detour that the Jewish people had taken that had gotten them off track when it came to their relationship with God. Wednesday, we saw that throughout their history, the Jewish people failed to follow God’s command to bring a portion of the resources that God owned and that God had provided them and offer them back to God as an act of worship. And as a result of their failure to give God the honor and reverence that He deserved as their provider; as a result of their selfishness and rebellion, the Jewish people were not receiving enough rain; entire crops were failing. Yet, despite the curse that they were under, the Jewish people continued to rob God.

Today, we will see Malachi, after providing the evidence to support the accusation that the Jewish people had taken a detour that had dishonored God, communicate God’s promise to the Jewish people if they changed the trajectory of their lives so as to get back on track when it came to their relationship with God in verse 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.

Now this verse tends to be one of the most misinterpreted and misapplied verses in the entire Bible. Proponents of the Prosperity gospel will often use this verse as a proof text to support their belief that “the more you give to God, the more you get from God”. This verse is also used to support the statement “you can’t out give God”. So is Malachi promoting a “name it and claim it” mentality here? Is Malachi telling us to try to out give God, so that God can give more to us?

To understand what God is communicating through Malachi here, we first need to answer several questions. First, we need to answer the question “Why is God commanding the Jewish people to bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house?” The reason why God was commanding the Jewish people to bring the whole tithe into the storehouse was because the Jewish people were being unfaithful and disobedient by failing to follow God’s command to bring a portion of the resources that God owned and that God had provided them and offer them back to God as an act of worship.

And because they were robbing God through their disobedience, there was not food in the storehouse. The storehouse was a part of the temple grounds where the tithe and offerings that helped support the Levites and priests were stored. And as a result of the Jewish people’s failure to follow God’s commands when it came to giving, there were no resources to feed the Levites and priests.

Second, we need to answer the question “What does God mean when He says test Me now in this?” How are the Jewish people to test God? Now proponents of the Prosperity Gospel would say that the test is to try to out give God. However, the issue before the Jewish people that God is addressing is not one of gaining greater prosperity; the issue before the Jewish people that God is addressing is their taking a detour that has gotten them off track when it came to their relationship with God and had dishonored God.

The test that God is referring to is His statement in verse 7: “return to Me, and I shall return to you”. In others words, God is saying “test Me in my promise that if you repent and change the direction of your life away from the detour that you have taken and get back on track to follow Me, that I will return to you and you will experience the relationship with Me that you previously had.”

Third, we need to answer the question “What is God referring to when He says “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.”? In the Bible, we see the phrase “open the windows of Heaven’ used on three occasions. On two occasions, this phrase was used to describe how God opened the windows of Heaven when He flooded the earth in the days of Noah. The third instance of this phrase is found in 2 Kings, when an unbelieving official sarcastically stated that even a flood of Divine provisions from Heaven could not remedy a famine that was being caused by a siege of the Jewish people by a foreign army.

God is painting a word picture for the Jewish people that just as God flooded the earth in the days of Noah, if the Jewish people changed the trajectory of their lives so as to get back on track when it came to their relationship with God by being obedient to His commands, God was promising that He would lift the drought that was a part of the curse and bring forth rain in abundance. And the rain would be so abundant that the resulting blessings of crops would provide an abundance of resources to meet the needs of the nation who had been suffering as a result of their disobedience.

You see, the issue is not prosperity; the issue is obedience. And just as the detour of disobedience that the Jewish people took by robbing God resulted in a curse of a famine, the repentance and return to obedience to God’s command would result in God’s provision and blessings. We see Malachi reinforce this reality in verses 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.

Here we see God paint two additional word pictures for the Jewish people when it came to the blessings that they would receive as a result of changing the direction of their life away from the detour that they have taken by robbing God and to get back on track by following God’s commands. First, God paints a word picture of restraining the wild locusts that would often ravage crops after a drought. You see, what would happen during seasons of drought was that locusts would continue to lay eggs that would not hatch, but instead would accumulate until the rains returned. Then, after the first rains broke the drought, the eggs would hatch and proceed to devour everything in sight. God is explaining to the Jewish people that He would not only send forth rain in abundance; God also would restrain anything that would damage the resources that God would provide as a result of the rain.

Second, God paints a word picture of a vine filled with grapes. One of the consequences of the curse that the Jewish people were experiencing as a result of robbing God was that grapes would be cast to the ground. In other words, the grape vines were barren and would fail to produce any fruit. God is explaining to the Jewish people that He would not only send forth rain in abundance; God also would ensure that their crops would produce the resources that they needed as a result of the rain.

God’s point in both of these word pictures is that as the Jewish people changed the direction of their life away from the detour that they have taken by robbing God and got back on track by following God’s commands to give the resources that were His back to Him and to His mission in the world, they would experience the blessings and the resources to be the vehicle He used to advance His kingdom in the world. We see this reality revealed for us in Malachi 3:12:

"All the nations will call you blessed, for you shall be a delightful land," says the LORD of hosts.

God’s promise to the Jewish people was that as they changed the direction of their life that had taken a detour and got back on track when it came to their relationship with Him, that the world around them would see the evidence of God’s activity in their lives and call them blessed. When God says that the Jewish people would be a delightful land, this phrase literally means a treasure or jewel. God’s point here is that the faithfulness and obedience of the Jewish people would result in them being a reflection of the glory of God and would result in them being the vehicle that God used to reveal His glory to the world.

And it is here where we see Malachi reveal for us a timeless detour that can get us off track when it comes to our relationship with God and can result in us living a life that dishonors God. And that timeless detour is this: We take a detour when we rob God of His resources in order to advance our kingdom instead of His. Just like the Jewish people of Malachi’s day, when we take the resources that God has given us to manage and choose to invest those resources in a kingdom for ourselves here on earth instead of investing a portion of those resources to advance God’s kingdom in the world, we begin to take a detour that gets us off track when it comes to our relationship with God and that dishonors God.

Now a natural question that often arises here is “Well Dave, I am a new covenant Christian; I am not under the Law. And since the tithe is an Old Testament concept, I am not bound by any percentage when it comes to giving. And since the New Testament says that God loves a cheerful giver, then I only have to give what would make me cheerful. So, for those of us here that would consider ourselves “new covenant Christians” which we all are if you have a personal relationship with Jesus by the way, and justify that as a reason as to why you are not bound by the “10 percent rule”, here is my question. In light of all that God has generously done to rescue you from your selfishness and sin, what percentage do you think would reflect the heartfelt joy that you feel in response to His generosity?

Is the heartfelt joy that you feel as a result of what Jesus has done for you the same as the joy you feel when your waitress brings your meal to you at the restaurant? Because most people give that waitress 10%; I mean that is the cultural standard isn’t it? So, why are we so put off at the idea of giving God at least a tip when he comes to responding to His activity in our lives but we give almost no thought to giving a waitress a tip?

Here is another question to consider: What would happen if we embraced using God’s resources to advance His Kingdom instead of ours? Here’s what I mean: let’s just say for the sake of argument you are an average American Christian. Now the average American Christian gives approximately 2.5 percent of their income to church. In other words, God gives the average American 100% of His money and the average American gives God 2.5% of His money back and then spends the remaining 97.5 % however they please. What would happen if the average American Christian gave God a tip? What if the average American Christian gave God 10% of His money instead of 2.5 % of His money?

Now what would happen if we were no longer average and gave God a tip? What type of environments would we be able to create where people could explore faith, grow in their faith, and experience genuine and authentic community? What could we do in terms of staffing? What could we do in terms of missionary support? Engaging our community by loving and serving them in real and practical ways that would open the door to share the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel?

You see, we take a detour when we rob God of His resources in order to advance our kingdom instead of His. A detour that dishonors God because we place advancing our kingdom over advancing God’s kingdom. A detour that limits our ability to be the vehicle that He uses to advance His kingdom and enhance His reputation in the world.

So here’s the question: are you robbing God?

A History of Robbery...

This week, we are looking at another detour that the Jewish people had taken that had got them off track when it came to their relationship with God and dishonored God. Yesterday, in Malachi 3:7-8, we discovered that the Jewish people had taken a detour when it came to keeping God’s command to bring tithes and offerings. Today, as we continue to look at this detour, we see God’s command concerning the tithe recorded for us in a letter in the Old Testament of our Bibles called the book of Deuteronomy. In Deuteronomy 14:22-29, we read the following:

"You shall surely tithe all the produce from what you sow, which comes out of the field every year. "You shall eat in the presence of the LORD your God, at the place where He chooses to establish His name, the tithe of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and your flock, so that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always. "If the distance is so great for you that you are not able to bring the tithe, since the place where the LORD your God chooses to set His name is too far away from you when the LORD your God blesses you, then you shall exchange it for money, and bind the money in your hand and go to the place which the LORD your God chooses. "You may spend the money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen, or sheep, or wine, or strong drink, or whatever your heart desires; and there you shall eat in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice, you and your household. "Also you shall not neglect the Levite who is in your town, for he has no portion or inheritance among you. "At the end of every third year you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in that year, and shall deposit it in your town. "The Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance among you, and the alien, the orphan and the widow who are in your town, shall come and eat and be satisfied, in order that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.

In addition to the tithes, the Jewish people were to provide voluntary offerings of worship that were set aside and used for the maintenance of the Temple and the Levites and priests who cared for the Temple, However, throughout their history, the Jewish people failed to follow God’s command to bring a portion of the resources that God owned and that God had provided them and offer them back to God as an act of worship. And as a result of their failure to give God the honor and reverence that He deserved as their provider; as a result of their selfishness and rebellion, the Jewish people were conquered by the Babylonians.

Yet, even after returning from captivity and rebuilding the Temple, the Jewish people still continued to take a detour by robbing God. In the book of Haggai, we discover the Jewish people were choosing to ignore the rebuilding of the Temple in order to focus on building bigger and larger homes for themselves. God responded by condemning the Jewish people for being more concerned about building their own kingdoms instead of God’s kingdom.

In Nehemiah 13:10, we read that the Jewish people continued to fail to bring the tithe and offerings to God. And as a result of the Jewish people’s failure to bring these tithes and offerings, the Levites and the priests abandoned their positions and responsibilities in order to provide for themselves and their families, which resulted in the Temple being abandoned and the Jewish sacrificial system grinding to a halt. God was not longer receiving the worship He deserved.

Malachi then reminds the Jewish people of the consequences of their continued detours: "You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you!”. Now when the Bible uses the word curse, it is referring to a destructive power that is sent by God as an instrument of God’s right and just response to selfishness and rebellion. And as we have seen previously in this letter, the Jewish people were experiencing a curse in the form of a famine throughout the region. The Jewish nation was not receiving enough rain; entire crops were failing. Yet, despite the curse that they were under, the Jewish people continued to rob God.

Tomorrow, we will see Malachi communicate God’s promise to the Jewish people if they changed the trajectory of their lives so as to get back on track when it came to their relationship with God...

A Plea of Ignorance...

For the past several months at the church where I serve, we have been looking at a letter in our Bibles called the book of Malachi as part of a series of talks called “Detour”. This week, I would like for us to pick up where we left off last week. And once again we will see Malachi accuse the Jewish people of taking another timeless detour that can get us off track when it comes to our relationship with God and can result in us living a life that dishonors God. So let’s look together as Malachi makes his accusation, beginning in Malachi 3:7:

"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.

Malachi begins this section of his letter by making another accusation against the Jewish people. This accusation, if communicated in the language that we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “Throughout your history as a people and a nation, you have continually taken a detour by not following My commands that I have given you to keep and observe. Instead of following My directions, you have gotten off track in your relationship with Me by taking a detour to follow your own desires”.

Malachi, after revealing the accusation that God had against the Jewish people, then reveals God’s promise toward the Jewish people: “Return to Me, and I will return to you”. Now this word return conveys the sense of repentance, which literally means to change the direction of the trajectory of one’s life. In other words, God is saying to the Jewish people “repent and change the direction of your life that has taken a detour so that you can get back on track when it comes to your relationship with Me. I promise that if you change the direction for your life back towards Me, I will be there for you”. After revealing God’s accusation and promise, Malachi records the Jewish people’s response in the second half of verse 7:

"But you say, 'How shall we return?'

The Jewish people responded to Malachi’s accusation with a question: “How shall we return?” The Jewish people pleaded ignorance: “What do you mean that we have not been following Your directions? What do you mean we have taken a detour? Where did we get off track when it comes to our relationship with You?” We see God’s response to their plea of ignorance in verse 8:

 "Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me!

Here we see God respond to the Jewish people’s plea of ignorance with a rhetorical question and a statement. First, God asks a rhetorical question: will a man rob God? Now, the answer to this rhetorical question seems obvious, doesn’t it? I mean, how can any human being rob God? God is in Heaven outside of space and time, a distance that is far too distant to traverse. And even if we could traverse that distance, how would we rob the all-powerful Creator of the Universe? And while the answer to the rhetorical question should be a resounding “No”, that is exactly what God accuses the Jewish people of doing: “Yet you are robbing Me!” We see the Jewish people’s stunned response in the second part of verse 8:

But you say, 'How have we robbed You?'

The Jewish people repeat their response of ignorance: “How have we robbed You?” God responds to their ignorance by providing the evidence of their robbery and the consequences that should have clued them into the detour that they had taken that had gotten them off track when it came to their relationship with God in the remainder of verse 8 and verse 9. Let’s look at the evidence together:

In tithes and offerings. "You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you!

Here we see Malachi reveal the reality that the Jewish people had taken a detour when it came to keeping God’s command to bring tithes and offerings. Now to understand the evidence that Malachi is presenting on God’s behalf against the Jewish people, we first need to understand what Malachi is referring to when he talks about tithes and offerings. The word tithe literally means a tenth. The Jewish people had been commanded by God to give 10% of the produce and proceeds of their labor as an act of worship to God in recognition of God as their provider. This act of worship was then to be given to the Levites, who were responsible to worship and minister to God and His people, in order to support them.

Tomorrow, we will look at God’s command concerning the tithe and how the Jewish people had taken a detour when it came to following God’s command…