This is a very serious look at giving since the opposite of obedience to God is disobedience. There is no neutral ground between obedience to God and disobedience to God.
“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 he 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. (Malachi 3:6-10)
Our obedience equates to our love for God. Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commands. (John 14:15) This is a big issue, giving obediently and we will look at scriptures that go along this line.
The Tithe belongs to God. The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; (Psalm 24:1)
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. 32 Every tithe of the herd and flock—every tenth animal that passes under the shepherd’s rod—will be holy to the LORD. (Leviticus 27:30,32)
We are to acknowledge God’s ownership of everything. This requires faith because we believe that God will provide our needs. We give a tithe to God and he will supply with the remaining ninety percent. God owns all but the tithe is uniquely God’s.
A failure to tithe represents a lack of reverence to God. In Malachi 3:8 the Israelites where stealing when they were keeping the tithe for their own use.
Giving obediently means giving with a deep reverence for God. We need a reminder of how awesome God is. We are to have the sense of awe that Isaiah experienced when he had his vision of the Lord high and lifted up. He said, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne. (Isaiah 6:1)
Our obedient giving, our tithe is a way we show our reverence to God. When we are giving obediently with our tithe we learn to revere the Lord our God always. Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the LORD your God always. (Deuteronomy 14:23)
We have an unpayable debt to God. Tithing is a reminder of that. Not that we are paying back our debt, but that we live with a sense of gratitude for what God has done for us. Our debt has already been paid by God and we live with a gratitude to God.
Jesus condemned the Pharisees for neglecting the important matters of justice mercy, faithfulness and love for God.
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. (Matthew 23:23)
You should tithe he said, but do not forget the important matters. Giving the tithe is a reminder of our reverence to God. Our reverence to God is the important issue. We are to tithe. We are to have reverence to God and we are to experience the provision of God.
Giving obediently enables us to experience God’s provision. When we give obediently there is more involved than the money given. When I worked for Quaker Oats they had a plan that would triple your gift. For every $100 I gave to a seminary the company would give a triple amount of $300 so in the end your gift was tripled. I gave $100 and they received $400.
God has a plan like the company triple your gift plan. The widows mite counts for so much. Not only would God bless the widow who gave the widows mite, but God would bless who she was giving to.
As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. 2 He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. 3 “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. 4 All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” (Luke 21:1-4)
There is a curse in not giving obediently to God.
You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. (Malachi 3:9)
There is a blessing in giving obediently to God.
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. (Malachi 3:10)
I was speaking to leaders about giving. The leaders are not tithing and of course the people they are leading are not either. I explained to them about obedient giving. Be faithful and let God open the windows. After I finished speaking my friend challenged them to tithe. All stood, 500 leaders.
A pastor told me that he had been a pastor for ten years and never himself gave the tithe. He pledged from that day to give obediently. I was very moved by the response. God will open the floodgates when we give obediently with selfless motives. We do not give to get, but we give obediently come what may, because we love God.
The property across the road where we are putting our new facilities is multi million dollars. We paid about ten percent per acre of the asking price. I see that as the result of us giving our widows mite. Like a child who tithes pennies of their allowance.
The new road came through and they gave us three hundred dump truck loads of dirt that was needed for the property to pass the requirements to put new facilities on the property. The cost of those three hundred loads of dirt was beyond us. It was a provision of God.
Someone from outside the church brought an enormous check. In the construction of the church the trusses were blown down by a storm. The insurance paid the amount, and the new trusses were lower. It saved more than anyone of us has given. God opened the floodgates of heaven.
Trust God to provide. We don’t need to worry about making more money. Just be faithful to God. That is the beauty of obedience. God will provide.
We give our tithe. We give with reverence. We give to see God’s provision and we give our first fruits. Giving obediently means giving God the first fruits. Giving obediently does not mean we give after we see everything has worked out.
We are not to wait and give after we find out there are no unexpected bills and then see if there is enough left over to give to God. We are to give first to God. That is giving the first fruits to God.
After the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites and gives it to you, as he promised on oath to you and your ancestors, 12 you are to give over to the LORD the first offspring of every womb. All the firstborn males of your livestock belong to the LORD. 13 Redeem with a lamb every firstborn donkey, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem every firstborn among your sons. 14 “In days to come, when your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ say to him, ‘With a mighty hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 15 When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD killed the firstborn of both people and animals in Egypt. This is why I sacrifice to the LORD the first male offspring of every womb and redeem each of my firstborn sons.’ (Exodus 13:11-15)
Giving of the first fruits is a reminder of redemption. In the Old Testament a deliverance from evil oppression and in the New Testament a reminder of deliverance from sin.
Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; (Proverbs 3:9)
We must make the Lord our number one priority and that means giving our first and best to the Lord. That was the problem with God’s people Malachi was talking about. It was God using Malachi to talk about how His people were robbing Him. The people lost reverence for God. They were bringing the leftovers to God.
God deserves our best, not our leftovers. God deserves more than giving our spare change. Obedient giving means setting aside the first tenth for God. “Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God. (Exodus 34:26)
Our obedient giving brings personal and corporate revival.
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. (Malachi 3:10)
Return to me and I will return to you says the Lord. How? By tithing. You start with the outward in getting your heart right before God. Where your treasure is there will your heart be also. Have you turned away from God. Test God through your obedient giving and see what spiritual blessing he opens heaven and pours on you.
That day when five hundred leaders stood to their feet to commit to obedient giving, I started weeping. God was using me to bring revival. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse. Return to God and he will return to you. Won’t you commit in your heart to give obediently.
