Malachi

3:1-12

Introduction

The people were bringing their tithes and offerings to the Temple. The priests were kept busy examining the tithes and offerings to determine if they were acceptable.

God also examined their tithes and offerings to determine if they were acceptable. His examination went beyond the gift to the giver; He could see the true motive of each heart. Two motives for bringing tithes and offerings are revealed in our text:

1. The first motive is righteousness. You see it in verses three and four. Those with this right motive bring "offerings of righteousness."
2. The second motive is robbery. You see it in verses eight and nine. Those with this wrong motive bring offerings of "robbery."

God examines all of our tithes and offerings. Our motive determines whether our tithes and offerings are offerings of righteousness or offerings of robbery. It’s not the gift God is concerned with; it’s the giver.

We’ll organize our thoughts around these two points this morning: #1 Jesus Will Return And Test The Jews To Turn Their Offerings Of Robbery Into Offerings Of Righteousness, and #2 You Can "Return" And "Test" Jesus By Turning Your Offerings Of Robbery Into Offerings Of Righteousness.

#1 Jesus Will Return And Test The Jews

To Turn Their Offerings Of Robbery

Into Offerings Of Righteousness

Tithes and offering are the theme of these verses. The Lord’s first coming to His Temple in Jerusalem, and His promise to return, are simply the exciting context.

The word "tithe" means tenth, or ten percent. There were several types of required tithes under the Jewish law:

1. A Levites tithe was given to the priests (Numbers 18:21,24). The priests had no other livelihood and were supported by the tithe given them.
2. A festival tithe was to be taken by the people to the sanctuary to support a national feast (Deuteronomy 12:6-8).
3. A poor tithe was collected every three years to aid the disadvantaged. It was the Jewish welfare system.

The required tithes were around twenty-three and one-half percent: ten percent for the Levites, ten percent for the festival, and three and one-half percent per year for the poor.

In addition to the required tithes, there was a Temple tax of one-third shekel (Nehemiah 10:32-33); there was a Sabbath rest for the land every seven years, which meant they forfeited the entire year’s earnings off the land (Exodus 23:10-11); and in the same Sabbath year they had to set aside all debts (Deuteronomy 15:1-2, 9).

After all these, the people were encouraged to make additional freewill offerings (Deuteronomy 16:17).

Their obedience to the required tithes and their openness to additional freewill offerings reflected the true motive of their hearts. God did not need their tithes and offerings, but they needed to give them. Giving is never really about God’s material need; it is about your spiritual motives.

The Lord announced to them that He was coming to His Temple:

Malachi 3:1 "Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming," says the LORD of hosts.

This verse contains a partial quote from Isaiah 40:3-5. Each of the New Testament Gospel writers quotes a portion of the verses from Isaiah and then applies them to John the Baptist; Matthew also quotes from Malachi. There can be no doubt that this verse in Malachi is a prophecy of the first coming of Jesus to His Temple at Jerusalem, with John the Baptist as His advance messenger urging the Jews to prepare their hearts for His arrival.

Jesus is here called the "Messenger of the covenant, in Whom you delight." He would be, and is, the fulfillment of all God’s wonderful covenant promises to Israel.

I also point out that Jesus is here identified as God. God is talking in this verse; He says He will send His messenger "before Me." The One Who is coming is therefore God; Jesus is therefore God - God with us, God in human flesh.

There is an abrupt change beginning with verse two. Verses two through six skip over several centuries and look beyond our own time. They describe the Second Coming of Jesus. Jesus came to His Temple as prophesied in verse one; but He was rejected by the Jews, and will return again in a different manner. He will return and test them.

Malachi 3:2 "But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like launderers’ soap."

Malachi 3:3 "He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the LORD an offering in righteousness."

The Lord will test the Jews in order that they might "offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness." It is not tithes and offerings Jesus is after. It is hearts – hearts that have received Him as Lord and Savior. The hearts of such men and women are reflected in their offerings to the Lord. Offerings of righteousness are simply offerings motivated from a right heart.

Actual offerings will be brought to Jesus:

Malachi 3:4 "Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasant to the LORD, as in the days of old, as in former years."

After Jesus returns to earth in His Second Coming, He will establish the kingdom on earth for one thousand years. There will be a Temple at Jerusalem where tithes and offerings will be brought. These tithes and offerings of righteousness will be "pleasing" to the Lord. The Lord and His people will be in the relationship He had intended for them all along.

Some characteristics of the one-thousand year kingdom are outlined:

Malachi 3:5 And I will come near you for judgment; I will be a swift witness against sorcerers, against adulterers, against perjurers, against those who exploit wage earners and widows and orphans, and against those who turn away an alien - because they do not fear Me," says the LORD of hosts.

Jesus will rule over the whole earth with righteousness:

1. "Sorcery" describes certain deviant spiritual activities. Jesus will judge any and all spiritual deviance and defection.
2. "Adultery" is marital unfaithfulness. Jesus will judge any and all marital unfaithfulness.
3. "Perjury" is lying under oath. Jesus will judge any and all legal matters.
4. "Exploitation" of any person will be judged.

Such was the kingdom Jesus offered the Jews in His first coming. He was rejected; therefore He must return, because as you read in verse six,

Malachi 3:6 "For I am the LORD, I do not change; therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob."

The Lord must and will keep His unconditional promises to His chosen nation. They deserve to be consumed; but God does not give them what they deserve. He will return, test them through the Great Tribulation, and establish the promised kingdom.

The Great Tribulation will turn their offerings of robbery into offerings of righteousness. But God’s people could, prior to His first and Second Comings, turn their own offerings from robbery to righteousness if they would simply return to Him. Look at verse seven:

Malachi 3:7 Yet from the days of your fathers you have gone away from My ordinances and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you," says the LORD of hosts. "But you said, ‘In what way shall we return?’"

The Lord reviews their entire spiritual history in one verse! The Jews had "gone away from" God’s ordinances. They had turned away; they need only turn back, re-turn to Him.

You don’t need to wait until Jesus somehow refines you. You can return to the Lord. You can return whenever something in your walk with Him is not quite right. It should cause you no offense, nor bring you under any condemnation, to be exhorted to "return." It is a word of self-examination. The Lord loves to reveal your heart to you as you read or hear His Word. He does it so you can return to Him and experience the blessings of obedience.

#2 You Can "Return" And "Test" Jesus

By Turning Your Offerings Of Robbery

God can speak to you with blunt honesty because He always speaks the truth with love. Verses eight and nine are about as blunt as it gets:

Malachi 3:8 "Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings."

Malachi 3:9 You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation.

Again please remember: They were bringing their tithes and offerings, but they were bringing them only to fulfill their legal obligation and not out of a desire to thank and please the Lord. The quantity of their tithes and offerings was sufficient, but the quality was deficient.

There is an example of this sort of motivation in the New Testament that puts it into perspective. The scribes and Pharisees kept the letter of the law by tithing even the seeds of herbs from their herb gardens. They would carefully count-out the tiny seeds and give God His required ten percent. Jesus said,

They kept the letter of the law, but ignored the spirit of the law. They seemed righteous; but they were robbing God.

God reveals a timeless spiritual principle in verses ten through twelve:

Malachi 3:10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try 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 such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.

Malachi 3:11 "And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field," says the LORD of hosts;

Malachi 3:12 And all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land," says the LORD of hosts.

"Try" Me, God said. The word means test. It is a form of the word God used earlier, the word "refine." God warned them He would test them in His return; but they could avoid testing by returning to Him and putting Him to the test!

This same principle is repeated in the New Testament. Paul the apostle, in his teaching about New Testament tithes and offerings, says,

2 Corinthians 9:6 But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

In Malachi, God used an example from farming. Paul appeals to the same example. The timeless principle being illustrated is to model your giving after the example of the farmer and his field. God "supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food" (Second Corinthians 9:10). God provides the farmer with a certain amount of seed. Some of it must be sown; some of it must be held back to be ground into flour to make bread. It’s up to the farmer to determine the quantity he’ll sow, and the quantity he’ll save. The farmer can’t sow all of the seed or he’ll starve. But he knows that the more he sows now, the more he’ll reap later; as you sow, so shall you reap.

When it comes to giving, you are the farmer and your life is the field. God provides you with a certain amount of "seed" in the form of resources. Some of it must be sown; some of it must be held back to provide for yourself. It’s up to you to determine the proportion; but remember,

2 Corinthians 9:6 …He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

Sow as much as you can, holding back as little as you need, and you will see God "multiply the seed you have sown."

What about tithing? Should the believer in the Church tithe?

You are under no legal obligation to tithe – to give exactly ten percent of your (gross) income. No amounts or percentages are specified in the New Testament. Based upon the timeless principle of sewing and reaping, instead of tithing you are encouraged to give freely, regularly, generously, sacrificially, and joyfully. (You can read all about New Testament giving in Second Corinthians chapters eight and nine).

Why do many believers tithe? Even though tithing was not a requirement until the giving of the law, and even though it is not specified in the New Testament, it was practiced by godly men before the law was given:

1. Abraham gave a tithe to a priest named Melchizedek (Genesis 14:20).
2. Jacob made a vow to give God a tithe (Genesis 28:22).

These tithes were voluntary, not required; thus they reflect the offerings of righteousness we have been discussing and, therefore, do provide some insight as to how we might gauge our own giving. The tithe – ten percent – is a good reference point. Still, your giving to God is an individual matter. It is a reflection of your heart for God.

Maybe you tithe; maybe you don’t tithe. Either way, the real question is this: Is yours an offering of righteousness? Or an offering of robbery?

We’ve learned from Malachi that it is possible to be tithing, but to be robbing God.

If you are not tithing… It might be that the amount you are giving is exactly what God has put on your heart. Or it might be that you, too, are robbing God!

Conclusion

God promised the Jews material blessings. He makes no such promise to you. Material blessings are beside the point. God wants to bless you with spiritual blessings.

Put God to the test and He will multiply spiritual blessings in your life as you give yourself and your substance to Him.

We put far too much emphasis on what we ought to do for God, and that includes what we ought to give Him in the way of tithes and offerings. When the emphasis is on man, I relate to God from a legal standpoint. I begin to believe I am pleasing God because of my outward behavior.

Don’t become bound by a legal requirement. Put the emphasis where it belongs – on God and all that He has done for you. When the emphasis is on God, I respond to Him from love. I am set free to give to God freely, regularly, generously, sacrificially, and joyfully.