Malachi 3:8-12
8 “Would anyone rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the entire nation of you! 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and put Me to the test now in this,” says the Lord of armies, “if I do not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. 11 Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruit of your ground; nor will the vine in the field prove fruitless to you,” says the Lord of armies. 12 “All the nations will call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land,” says the Lord of armies.
This passage has been used by religious leaders to suck money out of good hearted, ignorant and greedy people more than any other passage. It needs to be broken down and understood better.
I think that one of the most important elements to this passage is that God is addressing the entire nation. This is a call for the entire nation to repent of selfish, faithless and greedy attitudes towards wealth. God is not promising individual wealth. That attitude is the “curse they are cursed” with. God is promising to bless them as a nation so that other nations may see their obedience, and God’s goodness to Israel. God is promising to protect them and their agricultural efforts. Other nations will take notice and praise God.
Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse…
They were giving, they just weren’t giving all that the law required. And it was being accepted by the priests. But I think that this ties back to the first chapter when God tells them to try giving that to their governor. Would he accept it? If I knew that I was going to get arrested and put in jail for not paying my taxes, I would make sure they were paid. I take very seriously staying out of jail. God, is asking me to have that same attitude towards staying out of the prison of my own sin!
God doesn’t need anyone’s money. So any passage that talks about giving to God has to be looked at through that lens. When God is addressing money issues, he is addressing issues of the heart. Their attitude towards giving reveals their heart and God wants to help them with that.
It’s never about the money, the tithe or the sacrifice. It’s about the heart, the attitude and the mindset behind the actions. Not bringing in the whole tithe revealed their heart, attitude and mindset. Just like we do today when we try to find loopholes and ways to legally not pay our taxes and give the minimum we have to in order to stay out of jail, because we don’t love, trust or appreciate what the government does with our tax money, that is the attitude and mindset of the Israelites we see here. They were trying to find ways to give as little as they had to and keep as much for themselves as they could.
Do I take giving to God that seriously? Do I trust God with my money? When I am giving out of a heart that desires to do good, do I trust that it is God that I have given my money to or man? Or does God get my leftovers? Do I spend on myself, store up for myself and give God the scraps? The tithe is supposed to be the first portion not the last or the leftovers. Tithing is not an amount it is an attitude, a mindset, a lifestyle. It is recognizing that whatever I have received I have received from God. God’s vision for it was that it would be an expression of a desire to give back to the one who has given abundantly to me. While the government takes what I have made and I am required to turn it over, God has given me what I have made that I should desire to give back to Him.
“and put Me to the test now in this,” says the Lord of armies, “if I do not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. 11 Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruit of your ground; nor will the vine in the field prove fruitless to you,”
It would seem that “the Lord of armies” is telling the people (us) to “put Me to the test now in this”. What does that mean, “put Me to the test..”? How am I supposed to put God to the test? How do I do that? I have no first fruits to bring. I have no animals to sacrifice. I have no grain to offer. God set this system up so that his priests could serve the community spiritually and not have to put their attention towards their own sustenance.
This voluntary/required 10% tax on their agricultural income was for the Israelites and designed to protect them from greedy kings wanting a higher amount. Today our government extracts a 25-50% tax on us. Is God, who doesn’t need my money, asking me to give my church, who has more money than me, another 10% of my income? And then give to the poor also? Shouldn’t the 25-50% that I pay to the government go to the poor and the church who lives tax free?
I understand that its easier to think about giving to the church as giving God His tithe. And just write the church a check for 10% and feel good about it. But I think it’s good to ask questions. I don’t think I can give whole-heartedly if I don’t explore these questions and feel good about the answers I land on.
New Testament Giving:
- The idea of tithing is not found in the new testament. (No scripture to site😁)
Giving should be regular and according to what you can spare not what you make.
2. On the first day of every week, each of you should set aside and save whatever you can spare, so that when I come to you, no collections will have to be taken.
2Corinthians 16:2
3. It is up to the individual to decide what to give. We are encouraged to give generously and cheerfully.
“Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” 2 Corinthians 9:6-7
4. Our giving is to God, the recipient of our money is irrelevant. In Mark 12:38-44 this story is packed with so many powerful lessons about giving. It starts with Jesus pointing out that the recipients of the money this broke widow gives are going to eventually exhort it from her anyway. She is giving to God not to the church.
5. God pays attention to our giving.
As Jesus was sitting opposite the treasury, he watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many wealthy people put in large sums. Mark 12:41
When I read this, it reminds me of times when what I gave may have seemed like a lot compared to others but I knew in my heart I could have easily given more. My conscience bothered me because I knew I wasn’t being generous.
6. Giving to one another to meet each other’s needs is valid giving. The early church met together and gave as they saw the needs of each other.
“All who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.”
Acts 2:44-45
There are 2 things that stand out about this to me. First the church in acts lived under the belief that Jesus was coming back any day now. So their mindset was very different from ours 2,000 years later…and still waiting. Following are 2 explanations that I find helpful
- Here’s the story I learned at seminary:
This incident – and it was an incident rather than a doctrine – came from a Jewish belief that the Resurrection at the end of days would start at the Temple. Elderly Jews with the means to make the trip would travel to Jerusalem to die and be buried there, especially at Passover. Their widows were then left behind, broke and bereaved. No means of support. Many of them joined themselves to the Church, who took them in and cared for them.
A few years later came a famine. The Christians at Jerusalem were all pretty much broke at this point, and collections were made at the other Churches for their relief. We see St Paul, for instance, writing the Christians to have their money ready when he arrived to carry to them.
None of this stopped. Across the Empire, the Romans were amazed that Christians devoted themselves to caring for people they didn’t know, whom they themselves were writing them off to fend for themselves. Like Jesus said, “by this shall all know you are My disciples.” - The early church believed that Jesus would return shortly in their lifetime. People shared their possessions with others from an attitude of love. This Christian world of faith started as a “building-less” faith.
As the church started constructing buildings and systematically establishing an organizational hierarchy, the faithful started giving to the visible church. They also “gave and shared” with others in need.
This process has been expanding since just after the early church. So what has developed over the centuries is a cultural form of Christianity that is not identical to the early church. But the message of salvation is steady and true.
But authentic faith in Jesus Christ is a behavioral modifier that embraces Christ-like love. That is the common denominator.
Secondly, living small in a materialistic world by choice IS the essence of the early Christians. They had a forward looking attitude to be with Jesus in Heaven that made the things of this world seem unworthy as an investment. Mature Christians today share that same attitude.
Christians have always provided for others. We do the unnatural naturally. Proverbs 23:7 reveals that what we do reveals our hearts. This applies to the early church and us today. Nothing stops anyone from doing what the early church did. Nothing. The church did not change, we did. - I know I said 2 but I thought this offered a valid point:
One interesting thing I noted in the biblical accounts, telling how the early church ordered itself in Jerusalem: there is no comment at all where God said that they were right to do it this way. It was simply what they did, as they thought best. No divine command, no instruction, but no rebuke either.
You might also note that this impulse has never completely ended. The monastics have over 1500 years of keeping that flame alive. Many are Roman Catholic, but not all. There are certainly orthodox, anglican and Lutheran houses, and some non- denominational ones.
And I think there is much to learn from their manner of life.
Summary
It is hard to summarize what giving should be for the Christian. But maybe that’s the point. It is something that we each individually have to spend time considering.
We all like nice neat formulas and to know for certain what to do and how things are going to work out and God just says, “Trust Me”. Giving 10% of our income may be the right thing for someone but not for everyone. It may be the right thing that week but not the next week. If there is any formula to God it is that there is no formula to God. The amount doesn’t seem to matter to God nearly as much as the heart and motive behind the giving.
No one told the widow to give all she had. No one told the Christians in Jerusalem to sell their possessions and give to one another. No one told Zacheus to pay back anyone he wronged 4Xs the amount. These examples are all of people who were moved by God’s love to give. They weren’t following a formula. They weren’t doing what was required. It would seem that their generosity sprang from a grateful heart.
If I needed to figure out just how much I should be giving, I think the only way to find an answer would be to pray and then give whatever I genuinely feel led to give. But also be open to that not being a fixed amount. Pray the next time before giving.
This is one of those areas in my walk with Jesus that my understanding continues to grow and mature. As a newly born again christian over 30 years ago, I gave with a transactional mindset. I gave because I wanted God to bless me. I gave because I feared not giving. I gave because I believed it was required and I would be under a curse for not giving. Therefore I was very disciplined with my giving. I think it’s okay that I started there. But as God confronted the Israelites about their attitude toward giving, he has confronted me many times over the years. I don’t think God wants my giving to be a result of discipline as much as he wants it to be a result of gratitude. I don’t think He cares that I gave 10% as much as He cares that I gave generously.
I think if I had to sum up how to give God my money as a Christian, I would say, “Give generously”. And if my heart is not in a place that it wants to, then that is as good a good place as any to start my journey towards giving generously.