DEVELOPING A GENEROUS SPIRIT: THE WINDOWS OF HEAVEN
MALACHI 3: 6-18
OCTOBER 12, 2003
INTRODUCTION: A mother wanted to teach her daughter a moral lesson. She gave the little girl a quarter and a dollar for church "Put whichever one you want in the collection plate and keep the other for yourself," she told the girl. When they were coming out of church, the mother asked her daughter which amount she had given. "Well," said the little girl, "I was going to give the dollar, but just before the collection the man in the pulpit said that we should all be cheerful givers. I knew I’d be a lot more cheerful if I gave the quarter, so I did."
Bits & Pieces, February 4, 1993, p. 23.
STORY OF HAILIE WILLS??
I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare.
C.S. Lewis.
In Matthew, Mark, and Luke 1 out of every 6 verses deals with money. Of the 29 parables Christ told, 16 deal with a person and his money.
Unknown.
TRANSITION THOUGHT: Our text for today is the conclusion of our series on DEVELOPING A GENEROUS SPIRIT. The goal all along was to help us realize that God blesses those who honor Him with all that they are. This, of course, includes giving of our time, our abilities, and our resources. Our text combines two primary issues of the GENEROUS SPIRIT. One is the issue of tithing and the other is the issue of serving. The real power of this text, however, is that both of these issues are placed within a core concept of what it means to be a follower of the living God. This central issue of our faith is Repentance. This word has a very simple meaning: Turn! Turn from the way you are living and live for the living God. The fact that tithing and serving follow this call of repentance should tell us something. True repentance includes tithing and serving! Do you think we can go to heaven without Repentance?
THESIS SENTENCE: REPENTANCE IS THE KEY TO THE WINDOWS OF HEAVEN.
THE WINDOWS OF HEAVEN OPEN WHEN…
I. REPENTANCE IS THE KEY TO THE GATE
A. REPENTANCE IS AN UNCHANGING GOD VV. 6
1. Our text begins with the very character of God. Our God does not change.
2. The issue presented here is that the people of God don’t think God will honor His promise to return to them. In all actuality, they would have to wait another four hundred years until Jesus was born in a stable, and then they would still wonder why God has not returned to them as He promised.
3. Here this first verse of our text: “I the Lord do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed (verse 6).”
4. Do you get it?? Thank God, He has not changed His mind and gone back on His word, for if He did, we would be destroyed. HOWEVER, our Father has one desire and it is not our destruction, it is our return.
B. REPENTANCE IS AN UNCHANGING PEOPLE VV. 7
1. Yes, the good news is that we are not destroyed. The bad news is that we never seem to change. Think about verse 7: “Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them.”
2. Now, if you were the Lord, and I am thankful that none of us is, how would you feel if your kids never did a thing, you said?
C. REPENTANCE IS TURNING VV. 7
1. The good news is that God hasn’t given up on us. Yes, he said we are not destroyed, but if that were all there is, we would miss so much.
2. Hope is offered in a call to Repentance. “Return to me, and I will return to you,’ says the Lord Almighty (verse 7).’”
3. Do you catch the implication of this text? If we don’t return to the Lord, He will not return to us! I guess that means we are out in the cold!
TRUTH: REPENTANCE IS THE BEGINNING OF OUR WALK WITH GOD!
QUESTION: HAVE YOU REPENTED?
THE WINDOWS OF HEAVEN OPEN WHEN…
II. TITHING IS A NOTCH IN THE KEY OF REPENTANCE
A. TITHING IS NOT ROBBING GOD VV. 8-9
1. This brings up a big question! How can we return to God, we didn’t know (yeah right!) that we were away from the Lord?
2. Well, the Lord says, since you are now asking the right questions, let me ask you a question: “Will a man rob God (verse 8)?”
3. Do you see the volley going? So the people ask, “How do we rob you (verse 8)?” 4. The volley continues: “In tithes and offering (verse 8).”
5. And God adds another truth for their hearing, “You are under a curse – the whole nation of you – because you are robbing me (verse 9).”
B. TITHING IS TESTING GOD FOR A BLESSING VV. 10
1. Now, this sounds bad. The priests have turned us in and God is on our trail. The word here is BUSTED!
2. Again, God does not retaliate the way we might think. Just as He offered us a chance to return to Him, He now offers us a chance to TEST HIM!
3. Through out scripture many have tested our God, but never before has He asked to be tested!
4. Let’s all read verse 10 together! Did you hear all that good news? If we bring our tenth to the Lord, He promises that not only will His house have all the provision it needs, but also we in return will have more than we can hold!
ILLUSTRATION: Captain Levy, a believer from Philadelphia, was once asked how he could give so much to the Lord’s work and still possess great wealth. The Captain replied, "Oh, as I shovel it out, He shovels it in, and the Lord has a bigger shovel."
Today in the Word, July, 1990, p. 28.
C. TITHING IS PROTECTION VV. 11-12
1. I think this is where we often miss the truth of tithing. We are expecting a Jaguar and God is say that what you have will not be devoured. The same truth is taught in Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”
2. The truth of this is found in the previous verse of this chapter. The bottom line is that God wants us to live where we are!
3. Verses 11-12 are pact with a powerful punch of promises. Do you want some of that?? Do you want this kind of blessing from God? This is a stand up and take notice kind of blessing. Is this the experience of your life?
TRUTH: TITHING IS A FRUIT OF REPENTANCE!
QUESTION: DO YOU TITHE?
THE WINDOWS OF HEAVEN OPEN WHEN…
III. SERVING IS ANOTHER NOTCH IN THE KEY TO REPENTANCE
A. SERVING IS NOT FUTILE VV. 13-15
1. Just when you think it is safe to go back in the water, the Lord says, “AND ANOTHER THING!”
2. Have you ever had one of those arguments? You start out fighting over who went to the grocery store last and before you are finished you are fighting about everything you have done wrong in the last month?
3. I believe our God has broken up for us the truth of repentance is bite size morsels so that we know we can truly turn to HIM!
4. The issue here is that the Lord can hear and He has heard what we have been saying! It goes something like this: “I have done everything I know to please the Lord and look where it has gotten me. I have a broke down car, my house is falling apart, I can’t pay my bills and my kids are on my nerves!”
5. What we are really saying is that SERVING GOD ISN’T PAYING OFF! 6. This is possible why some here today don’t tithe. They say, it just doesn’t pay to pay, because I just stay poor and everybody around me gets rich and they are even sinning to boot! Verse 15 makes this very clear!!
B. SERVING IS FEARING AND HONORING HIS NAME
1. Well, the volley continued a bit and this time, the people don’t need to be told what to do and what will happen. They want all they God has to offer and so they respond in kind!
2. “Then those who feared the Lord, talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name (VV. 16).”
3. Do you know what happened here? These people repented from turning away from God. They made it clear that they feared and honored HIM and just to make it official, they wrote it down. We are going to do this in a few minutes!
4. What they were saying is that we will SERVE GOD!
TRUTH: SERVING IS A FRUIT OF REPENTANCE!
QUESTION: DO YOU SERVE?
THE WINDOWS OF HEAVEN OPEN WHEN…
IV. BECOMING TREASURE IS THE RESULT OF REPENTANCE VV. 17-18
A. TREASURE IS ACCEPTANCE VV. 17
One word from the verse just jumped all over me and it is the word treasure. I thought about how we look at our money as our treasure, but God looks at us as His treasure. When we repent, we become His treasure, and Our Father, not our wealth, becomes our treasure!
1. The result of true repentance is acceptance by God.
2. The opposite must also be true. Without repentance, there is no acceptance by God.
3. Verse 17 contains the words we all long to hear: “They will be mine.”
B. TREASURE IS SALVATION VV. 17
1. Again the truth seems very clear here: “I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him.”
2. The inverse must also be true; those that don’t serve the Lord will not be spared. However, those that do will experience true Salvation, being spared from the punishment due them.
C. TREASURE IS THE DISTINCTION VV. 18
1. Once true repentance has taken place and we become those that tithe and serve, we will no longer have to ask the dumb questions.
2. No longer will we not understand right from wrong.
3. No longer will we have to ask God, how do we return.
4. Verse 18 teaches us that in true repentance, we gain eyesight and this sight will reveal the truth of who serves God and who doesn’t.
5. For repentance sake, serving is a major issue!
TRUTH: IN REPENTANCE, WE BECOME GOD TREASURE!
QUESTION: DOES GOD SEE YOU AS HIS TREASURE: ONE WHO TITHES AND SERVES?
CONCLUSION: This morning I want to give each of us a chance to become God’s treasure. If you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, I want to invite you to Repent of your sins and come to the altar so that we might pray for you. If you are a follower of Jesus the Christ, I have two questions for you: Are you tithing? In addition, are you Serving? If you can’t answer yes to both of these questions, you are under a curse (verse 9). I don’t know about you, but I don’t want God to curse me, I want God to OPEN THE FLOODGATES OF HEAVEN AND POUR OUT SO MUCH BLESSING ON ME THAT I WILL NOT HAVE ROOM ENOUGH FOR IT (VERSE 10)! If you want this kind of blessing, I want each of us to fill out the tithing guarantee in our bulletin and lay it on the altar. Now only do this if you want to live a life of true repentance. Come to the altar.
BENEDICTION: NUMBERS 6: 24-26
