Sermon Tone Analysis

: Robbing God

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2013/september-web-only/secrets-of-giving-church.html

Church Planting journey:

Moved knowing we had about $35,000 or so.

R.C.Sproul: “The Didache gives practical instruction for Christian living.

In the Didache, the principle of the giving of the first fruits or the tithe is mentioned as a basic responsibility for every Christian.”

R.C. Sproul: “It’s an interesting phenomenon in the life of the church, that people who in 1960 gave a dollar to the offering plate every week, still give that same dollar today.

Everything else in their living costs has been adjusted to inflation except their giving.”

Jesus talked much about money.

Sixteen of the thirty-eight parables were concerned with how to handle money and possessions.

In the Gospels, an amazing one out of ten verses (288 in all) deal directly with the subject of money.

The Bible offers 500 verses on prayer, less than 500 verses on faith, but more than 2,000 verses on money and possessions.

Howard L. Dayton, Jr., Leadership, Vol. 2, no. 2.

– Tithers make up only 10-25 percent of a normal congregation.

– Only 5 percent of the U.S. tithes, with 80 percent of Americans only giving 2 percent of their income.

– Christians are only giving at 2.5 percent per capita, while during the Great Depression they gave at a 3.3 percent rate.

There would be an additional $165 billion for churches to use and distribute.

Relevant Magazine

It’s alarming that Christians now give less per capita than during the Great Depression.

When we finally look at those in church, at best 25% of the congregation give.That’s at best.

If you have that level of participation, you’re not in the norm, according to other research, which says only about 3-5% actually tithe in most cases.

And, it’s not the wealthy who always tithe.

The statistics suggest that if you make less than $20k, you’re eight times more likely to give than someone who makes more than $75k.

Sharefaith Team

Sharefaith Team

Similarly, when Jacob’s descendants returned from their exile, they rebuilt the altar at Jerusalem, but they were grossly negligent in offering their tithes (cf.

Neh.

13:10–13).

This negligence may have seemed justified because of crop failure, drought, and pestilence (Mal.

3:10–11).

The Lord reveals, however, that these natural disasters were not the cause of the nation’s disobedience, but the cursed result (3:8; cf.

Hag.

1:6, 9–11; 2:16–19).

Tithe=10th in Hebrew

God would fulfill the need- not greed

Need not Greed

How are you robbing God?

QUESTIONS MALACHI ANSWERS

How have You loved us? (Mal.

1:2) God’s choice of Israel proves His love.

How have we despised Your name?

(Mal.

1:6) Failure to honor God is disrespect.

How have we defiled You? (Mal.

1:7) Failing to give God our best cheapens Him.

Why shouldn’t God hear our prayers?

(Mal.

2:14) You break faith with your wife.

How have we wearied God? (Mal.

2:17) By calling the evil person good.

What do you mean, “return” to God? (Mal.

3:6) If you violate God’s Laws, you’ve left Him and thus must return.

How do we rob You? (Mal.

3:8) By failing to pay required tithes.

What have we said against You? (Mal.

3:13) Saying it is futile to serve God is to deny Him.

Tithes: Leviticus

30 “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.

31 If a man wishes to redeem some of his tithe, he shall add a fifth to it.

32 And every tithe of herds and flocks, every tenth animal of all that pass under the herdsman’s staff, shall be holy to the LORD.

33 One shall not differentiate between good or bad, neither shall he make a substitute for it; and if he does substitute for it, then both it and the substitute shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.”

Back ground:

24 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.

Therefore I have said of them that they shall have no inheritance among the people of Israel.”

Problem during Nehemiah’s Time: Nehemiah

10 I also found out that the portions of the Levites had not been given to them, so that the Levites and the singers, who did the work, had fled each to his field.

11 So I confronted the officials and said, “Why is the house of God forsaken?”

And I gathered them together and set them in their stations.

12 Then all Judah brought the tithe of the grain, wine, and oil into the storehouses.

13 And I appointed as treasurers over the storehouses Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah of the Levites, and as their assistant Hanan the son of Zaccur, son of Mattaniah, for they were considered reliable, and their duty was to distribute to their brothers.

14 Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God and for his service.

God’s Economy:

24  One gives freely, yet grows all the richer;

another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.

Back ground:

Malachi: During the rebuilding of the walls and temple of Jerusalem.

Book arranged by questions.

Short book.

How have you loved us?

How have we despised Your name?

How have we defiled you?

Why shouldn’t God hear our prayers?

How have we wearied God?

What do you mean, ‘return’ to God?

How do we rob You?

What have we said against you?

Don’ Test! Deuteronomy

16 “You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah.

Gideon Tested God:

God is the one who tests, not the other way around!

Not viewed as positively, until Malachi

Back from Exile

Allowed to build walls and temples

Build and don’t intermix with the enemy.

But they are obviously not getting enough money.

When we build it, the people cried!

They come back from exile.

Super excited!

They start settling in the land and they already start to hoard there resources!

Enter Malachi

Tells them of the wrong they’ve done

They build this temple and they grieve.

It’s not how we remembered it!