Malachi
3:8-12 “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask,
‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings. You are
under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me.
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. 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. s
“Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a
delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.
----oOo----
If
you go to church it is almost a certainty that you will have, at
sometime, listened to somebody talking about giving and offerings -
probably more than once. Recently my attention has been drawn once
again to this important question of giving and offering and how much
is the right amount to give or offer. However this time the Lord
seemed to want me to dig deeper into His word on the subject rather
than the many thoughts of others. It was like digging up buried, long
forgotten, treasures. And while digging around in His word this one
thought kept surfacing - are churches today struggling because it is
we who are robbing God even as we are giving generously to our
church? How is that even possible?
The
deeper I dug into the word of God on the matter the more fascinating
were the things I uncovered. Things we seem to have forgotten about.
But things I believe the Lord wants us to remember so that He can
again pour out His blessing on His people. For the very things we rob
Him of are the very things He wants to bless us with.
The
death of Jesus on the cross put an end to the need for sin offerings.
But sin offerings were not the only thing that the Lord's people
brought into the Temple of God. There were many other types of
offerings that were not for sins. But not all that was brought into
the temple - was for the temple. God used some of the things that
came into the Temple for other purposes - very important purposes.
One
of the treasures I unearthed as I not only dug deep into the word but
also deep into my own preconceived notions, was the understanding
that while these days there is a tendency to call it the
"collection", offerings were never about collecting. They
were not about "pooling our resources". Rather they have
always been about sharing and distribution of our resources. God does
not eat meat, fruit, vegetables, or grains. Nor does He drink the
fruit of the vine. Of what use is gold and precious stones to the one
who already owns everything? The offerings were received by God, but
not for Himself. He shared them and distributed them among His
"dependants"
The tribe of Levi were not apportioned
any land among the tribes of Israel by which they could support
themselves. They were set apart by God as His servants and the
offerings from their fellow Israelites were to feed and clothe and
care for those who had foregone personal material gain and
possessions in order to devote their time and energy, indeed their
entire lives, to serving the God of Israel and His people.
Numbers
18:23-25 (NIV) It is the Levites who are to do the work at the tent
of meeting and bear the responsibility for any offenses they commit
against it. This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come.
They will receive no inheritance among the Israelites. 24 Instead, I
give to the Levites as their inheritance the tithes that the
Israelites present as an offering to the Lord. That is why I said
concerning them: ‘They will have no inheritance among the
Israelites.’”
But
the Levites were not the only ones in Israel that did not have the
means to feed and clothe themselves. There were the, the widows, the
fatherless, and the destitute from other lands who sought refuge
among them. The offerings were to feed and clothe and care for them
also.
There
was one more surprising discovery I made. We speak often of the
"tithe" as a standard of offering to attain or exceed. But
the truth is the tithe is not an offering at all. It is not a mark of
our generosity, it is an expectation of our duty. In reality the
tithe is that part of our increase (income) that belongs to the Lord.
We do not offer the tithe - we surrender it to the Lord who already
owns it. Our generosity begins with anything we give beyond tithing.
"A
tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or
fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord."
(Leviticus 27:30)
But
it does not end there because the tithe did not belong to the Temple
or its keepers, it belonged to God Himself. It was to be placed in
HIS "storehouse" and used for a specific purpose. The tithe
was to feed, clothe, and care for not only the Levites themselves
whose only inheritence was the Lord, but also the fatherless, the
widow, and the foreigners in need among them. These people had no
families to look to for help, no lands to support them, they had only
the Lord Himself as their provider. And the Lord looked to His people
to ensure that a tenth of all He had blessed THEM with would be in
His storehouse to provide for those among His people who had no
provider but the Lord Himself.
Deuteronomy
26:12 When you have finished setting aside a tenth of all your
produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you shall give it
to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that
they may eat in your towns and be satisfied.
The
tithe was to ensure that ALL God's people and those who dwelt among
them in His Promised Land were EQUALLY blessed. It is not by accident
that the tribe of Levi plus the foreigners in need, the fatherless
and the widows represented about one tenth of the population of
Israel meaning the tithe produced one share that was about equal to
all the other shares. (For those who are into maths 100%-10% = one
90% share and 9x10% = one 90% share).
The
Lord has not put any time limit on the promise of Malachi 3 to HIS
people. I believe the Lord still issues this challenge to us today
also. If we, His people, bring His full tithe into His warehouse and
distribute it for that which HE intended it to be used, He will pour
out such blessing on His people that all the world will see it and
call us blessed of God.
Provided it is done freely and without charge
"Do We Rob God?" may be copied, used and distributed
(in its entirety only, including this notice)
by brothers and sisters in Christ
to the profit and glory of The Lord alone (ttpagoTLa)
By special permission of
D.J. Ludlow copyright 2019
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