A Love That Gives

Let's turn in our Bibles tonight to the book of Malachi.

If you're not familiar with the book of Malachi, it comes right before Matthew, alright? I never forget when I was in high school, I asked one of my friends, he went to a church, a different church than I did, and I said, what did the pastor preach out of? And he said, he preached out of the book of Job. And I could not understand, like it took me like probably 15 seconds to figure it out. I was like, the book of Job, what is he?

I was like, you mean Job? He's like, oh, is that what it's called? I said, yes, that's what it's called.

I didn't even know what you were talking about. Book of, so Malachi, the book of Malachi, alright? So we're looking at chapter 3 verse 7 down to verse number 12. It's a great, great passage here. It says, even from the days of your fathers, let's start in actually verse number 6. This is the one verse we preached on last time.

Braden did a great job last Wednesday, appreciate him filling in. I was preaching to the guys over there, sharing and love hanging out with those guys. So Malachi chapter 3 verse 6 says, for I am the Lord I change not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Even from the days of your fathers are ye gone back, ye are gone back from mine ordinances, have not kept them. Return unto me and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, wherein shall we return?

But ye said, wherein shall we return? In verse number 8, will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me, but ye say, wherein have we robbed thee?

And tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse, for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house. And prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground, neither shall your vine cast your fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts. And all the nations shall call you blessed, for you shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts. Father, we do thank you for your word tonight. We ask that your blessing would be richly upon the services, hundreds of people that are throughout this building being taught the word of God as a joy to know. And I pray that your word would be effective in penetrating into our hearts.

Help us to get our focus upon you in this time, in the busyness of the day, in the week. Lord, help us to just gather our thoughts around the truth of God. And may you fill our hearts and our minds to not only know the truth, but to obey it. We ask it in Jesus' name, and God's people said, Amen.

You may be seated this evening. We come again to the book of Malachi as we're moving toward the end portion of this book. And this book was written around 430 B.C. by the prophet Malachi. He's the last of the Old Testament prophets. After Malachi, there's about a 400-year silent period until the book of Matthew is written.

And then you have the silence broken with a voice in the wilderness. John the Baptist comes on the scene and begins to preach. Malachi was written about 100 years after the nation had returned from the Babylonian captivity, about 80 years after the temple had been rebuilt.

And this is about 10 years after Nehemiah had rebuilt the walls of the city, just to kind of give you again a reminder of the timeframe. The purpose that Malachi wrote this book was, again, to call the nation to national repentance and to turn to God. The nation at this time was religious, but they had no relationship with God.

They were going through the external motions, but there was no internal reality to their faith. It was just what Jesus said in Matthew 1580. He said, This people draws nigh unto me with their mouth, honor unto me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

And that's really what was going on. And what you find in Malachi is God calling out to a nation in love. He's loving them. He's calling them to himself. And they were hard-hearted, even God saying, I have loved you, in Malachi chapter 1, verse 2. And they respond and say, Wherein hast thou loved us? And so they were those who questioned the love of God. They questioned why God would even accuse them of sin. They were the ones being questioned by God, but then they would turn around and make God the one who needed to bring an answer to them. God would question them, and they turned the examination around and tried to question God.

That's how arrogant and blinded they were. In chapter 1, God rebukes them for complaining about worshiping. They were saying what a weariness it is to come and worship God, to bring these offerings to God. And the Lord rebuked them for this because serving the Lord will always be a burden to a loveless believer. And a loveless believer, if that lovelessness stays there, evidence is they're a lost believer. They're not actually a true believer.

They're false. Serving the Lord is a blessing. It's an honor. It's a privilege. And Psalm 116, it's a wonderful psalm.

It'd be good to read through this week. But Psalm 116, verse 12 says, After he begins to go on and on about all the things that God has done for him, let's read this verse together. He says, What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me? And think about that in your life. What could we return to the Lord for all the benefits he's brought to us?

Think about all that he's poured out in the way of mercy and grace and salvation, as well as health and family and church and all these things. So what you find is love is giving. Love is a giver. If you were to define love with one word, I would say giving. Love is a giving entity. It is possible to give without love, but it is impossible to love without giving. You cannot love without giving. That's why the Bible says in John 3 16, For God so loved the world that what's the next word?

He gave. And so it is a giving thing. So God's love produced God giving. In Ephesians 5 25 husbands love your wife. Wives is Christ also loved the church.

And it says, And he gave himself for it. And so this is true in our worship and love for God. True love for God will produce a heart and life that joyfully gives to God. Giving is the response of a heart that loves and seeks worship of God. On the other hand, struggling to give, being frustrated to hear about giving or feeling it's a burden, all of that reveals a heart that doesn't value God.

Because if it frustrates me, it's like doing something for someone that you are frustrated you have to do something for them. It shows there's a lack of love there. And so if God is number one in our lives, our giving should be joyful. Since giving is attached to love, it's not any wonder that God is such a giver. 2 Corinthians 8, Paul talks about giving to God, the churches of Macedonia. If you're not familiar with 2 Corinthians 8, it's such a powerful chapter. 2 Corinthians chapter 89, I've preached on through those verses.

It's such a convicting section because these churches were so giving. And as he's talking about this, in the midst of talking to them about the importance of giving and how wonderful they are in that, he says in 2 Corinthians 8, 9, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor so that you through his poverty might be rich. So Jesus Christ laid aside his riches to make us rich. He chose poverty for us. He gave his life to give us life. I would ask the question, what does your giving say about your love to the Lord? If you were to define your love for God by what you give to God, what would your love say?

For the people of Malachi's day, giving was a burden and it was not done often. In chapter 1, they were bringing not their best animals to God in sacrifice, but they were bringing animals that were deformed, that had ailments, because the offering reflected the value of the one they offered it to. God rebukes them. He says, you wouldn't give that to your governor.

You wouldn't bring out the leftovers to him. Why would you do that to the Lord? So here in chapter 3, the tithes and offerings are being withheld from God and we see God confronting them about that in verse 7 through 12. So let's look first of all at God's gracious call for them to return.

He says in verse number 7, you find your place there, it says, Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances. Anybody ever struggle with being patient with somebody? And you know, what causes the frustration to grow? When you're getting impatient with somebody, what would make it increase? It's when they continue to do the same thing again. You know, I was patient with you before.

My patience is running out because you keep making the same mistakes. You're not, you know, honey, you know, little child of mine, you know, you need to do this, wash this dish. They wash it. There's a red sauce still on the plate. You say, hey, you need to wash this. They go to wash it. It's still the same. You're like, listen, my patience is running out.

Wash the dish. You know, like you begin to build up frustration. And that's what happens. And what you find here is God dealing with a nation that he says, Even from your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances. This isn't something that is only being dealt with in 430 B.C.

This is something being dealt with in 1430 B.C. I mean, they have been, God has been gracious for a thousand years to the nation of Israel. And if God did not say what he said in verse 6, there would be no Israel. He says, For I am the Lord, I change not.

Therefore you're not consumed. The only reason you're not destroyed is because though you change in your faithfulness to unfaithfulness and all these things, I don't change, and therefore you're not consumed. It is God's immutability that the reason that Israel remained.

And it's the same thing for us. I like what Cambridge Bible Commentary said. I am not changed from good, but ye are not changed from evil. I am unchangeable in holiness, and you are unchangeable in perversity. And that's really what God is dealing with here in the nation. So he says in verse 6, I don't change in my goodness, and you don't change in your sin. And Ezra mourned the fact of the nation's sinfulness and lack of repentance. He says in Ezra 9-7, Since the days of our fathers, have we been in a great trespass unto this day, and for our iniquities have we, our kings and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the land, to the sword, to captivity, and to spoil into confusion of face as it is this day. But in the midst of this obstinate sinfulness, God says to them in verse 7, notice, he says after he says, even from the days of your fathers, I mean, it's been this way from the beginning. You would think God would say the next statement, my patience has run out, like I am done with you.

He would have said what we would have thought he would have said, but he doesn't. He says in verse 7, the second part of that verse, Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord. And so here is God and his immutability, his unchanging mercy, continuing to reach out to a nation, calling them to return to him. Think about where you would be today if God did not continue to reach his hand out. What if God stopped being merciful to us in year one, or in year two of our salvation, or in year 10, or in year 50? How much have you and I tested God's patience? In what ways would you say tonight that God has been merciful to you? What would you declare of God's mercy? And I think we should be patient with others because God's been patient with who?

So we should disseminate that patience. Now this word return is an Old Testament word that could be defined as repentance. It's shub is the word, S-H-U-B. It is a common verb. It's used 1,105 times in the Old Testament, eight times here in the book of Malachi, and it means to turn or return, to go back, to do again, to change, to withdraw, to bring back. Hosea 14, verse 1 and 2 says, O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God, for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.

Take with you words and turn to the Lord. This is a call of repentance. Take away all the iniquity and receive us graciously, so will we render the calves.

That's an interesting statement there. It just means we will render the calves of our lips, literally the sacrifice of our lips to God. We will give God the sacrifice of praise from our lips. And so for those who turn in repentance to the Lord, God says in verse 4 of chapter 14 of the book of Hosea, He said, I will heal their backsliding.

I will love them freely, for mine anger is turned away from Him. And so the word there, Shabb, is a word for repentance, and it has a twofold idea there. It's a turning from sins of your life and then positively turning to God in holiness or in righteousness. So repentance has a twofold work, and I've shared just kind of the idea that Jesus is over here and sin is over here. Repentance is in one perspective, in a negative sense, turning away from my sin.

In a positive sense, it is turning to the Lord. That's why people who say you can be saved without repentance, how do you turn to Christ without turning from your sin? Because if you didn't, so if you said you turned to Christ and you don't have to repent and turn from your sin, if you're still in your sin, you didn't turn to who? You didn't turn to Christ. So it's not a work of repentance that saves you. It's a change of a heart that will show up in a changed life.

And if the changed life didn't happen, you would assume the changed heart did not happen. And so let me ask you, what did you give up in order to follow the Lord? People say, you know, oftentimes you talk to somebody, how do you know how to get to heaven? You ever have a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ?

If you stood before God and He said, why should I let you in heaven, what would you say? You know, oftentimes just ask the question, when did you in your life, what have you given up in order to fully surrender your life to Jesus Christ? When did you see the change? What did you give up? What did you turn from? Well, I've not really turned from anything and I don't really know what you're talking about. Well, then you don't know what salvation is. Like there's got to be a turning from something to someone and it's from sin to Christ. I would ask the question, how have you personally tonight turned to the Lord and followed Him? What in your life could you point to and say, I gave that up or I began to do this because I've given my life to Christ. And as a result of turning to God, He says, and I will return to you. Henry Morrison rightly says, we must come to God if we would have God come back to us, for it is we who have changed and not God, He is the same. And notice how the people respond in verse seven.

It just, they won't stop. He says in verse seven, but ye said, wherein shall we return? They could not see the sin of their hardness and obstinate heart of self-righteousness because pride is blinding. Albert Barnes says, strange ignorance of the blinded soul, unconscious that God has ought against it. It is the Pharisaic spirit in the gospels. The men in Malachi's day, the people of Malachi's day could not see their sin in the same way that the Pharisees couldn't see their sin. I mean, Jesus says, you blind guides.

I mean, Matthew 23, He lights them up because of their blindness. And that's what sin does. And I would say this, sin by definition is deceptive because you wouldn't do it if you knew what it would do to you. If you believe that it was the most damaging thing, you wouldn't commit it. But the people commit sin because they're deceived by it.

So by definition, it is deceitful. It is blinding. So we see here that God is in His grace reaching out. Secondly, we see the danger of robbing God and that's what He transitioned us into in verse number eight. They say, wherein have we, shall we return? What do we need to change from?

What do we need to stop doing and what do we need to start doing? And God makes the statement, gives a question in verse eight. He says, will a man rob God? You know, there are some people that wouldn't be wise to break in their house and rob. You understand what I'm saying?

I mean, there are some people you're like, that just would not be the safe bet. I saw this video the other day. Forgive me if this comes across wrong, but I just loved it. These guys pull up, this guy is 80 years old working a convenience store. It's his convenience store.

He put cameras because people kept trying to burglarize stuff, put cameras up. These three guys pull up, they're masked up and stuff, come in with an AR and this guy's watching them walk up. So he gets his salt off shotgun, man. It's like an 80-year-old guy. This guy comes and says, give me your money and the guy's like, boom, you know. And the guy's like, ah.

I mean, he went from like, give me your stuff to like, he blew my arm off. He's screaming and running. He's running outside. It looked like a little cat running off. I mean, not that I shoot cats, but he's screaming and running.

His arm wasn't blown off, but he had some pellets sprayed into him and screaming like a little child, scared to death his buddies are leaving him. He's trying to jump in the car. And I just thought, you're not going to rob that guy again. There's just some people you don't want to rob. Out of all people you wouldn't want to rob, wouldn't it be God?

Like, who would rob God? God says, will a man rob God? He says, yet you've robbed me.

You have robbed me. To their rebellious response of how shall we return, God gives them the clear, glaring sin that you have a sin that needs to be dealt with and it's robbery. He says, but ye say, wherein have we robbed thee? Again, they were just continuing to question God's assessment of them. You know, committing sin is a great evil, but how great the sin of blindness. You know, it's one thing to sin, but it's another thing to justify your sin. It's one thing to trespass against the Lord, but it's another thing to obstinately declare your right to do that and you don't know, you think something's wrong with God forgetting on you about it.

That is the mess that the world is in in Malachi's day and it's where we're at today. Listen, I'll preach a sermon sometimes and there have been people through the years who think I need to repent and ask them for forgiveness because I preach on some certain sin. How dare you talk about adultery? You know, we love each other. And I'm thinking, are you kidding me? So you want me, you think I was even talking to you?

I didn't even know you were living together. Well, now we do need to talk, you know. But people today, instead of repenting, think the preacher needs to repent. They think the Bible needs to change. I can tell you, I'm not going to... Now, if I say something that's of my own accord, you know, then hey, I'm sorry and if it was not in line with the Scriptures, I'll be the first to say I'm sorry. But I will not apologize for the Bible and the word of God and the truth of God's word.

And so that's where we must stay. And that's what they were doing. They're questioning God now. And this is the Genesis 3 deception. But what does God say they are robbing Him in here in verse 8? And He says they're robbing Him in two things, in tithes and in offerings. Now, I know you're like, oh, man, I came to a Wednesday night service. He's going to talk about money. Oh, it's miserable.

It's already Wednesday, you know. And the money? Well, I haven't talked about money for a long time.

And let me just give you some thoughts here from the word of God. The word tithes there is a Hebrew word that means a tenth or part of a tenth. The word tithe comes from an old Anglo-Saxon word.

It just means a tenth. In the Old Testament, they gave a tithe of their grain, of the fruit of their land, the tenth of their money to the Lord. And they would bring it and give it to the tribe of Levi. The Levites were the priestly tribe. Leviticus 27, 30 says, in all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or the fruit of the tree is the Lord's, it is holy unto the Lord. Verse 32, and concerning the tithe of the herd or the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord. And so the tribe of Levi received the tithe for their spiritual service that they did to the nation.

If you remember, the tribe of Levi was given no possession, like land property. They served God full time. And so a way to provide for them was the tithe provided for those Levites. Numbers 18, 21, God says, and behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they serve, even the service of the tabernacle of the congregation. And so all the service that they did and all the spiritual work that they did, that's how God cared for them through the tithe of the people. Now the tribe of Levi also gave a tenth of what they received to the priests. Numbers 18, 28 says, thus ye shall also offer a heave offering on the Lord of all your tithe which you have received of the children of Israel, and ye shall give thereof of the Lord's heave offering to Aaron the priest. So even they were to give. And so what were offerings? The offerings were those of the first fruits.

Sometimes it was a one sixtieth part of the corn, of wine and oil, and includes animal sacrifices, burnt sacrifice, things like that. And so God comes to them and says, you're robbing me in these areas of giving. And in verse number nine, he declares a judgment on them. He says, you are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed me, even this whole nation. They thought that they could have more by giving God less, but instead they incurred the judgment of God. Notice the widespread nature. He said this whole nation has done this.

The whole nation is guilty of this. According to Josephus, who was the chief historian in the days of Christ, he said that the people had robbed God of the tithes and offerings before the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD. It was going on 400 years after this. They were still robbing God.

They did not learn their lesson. Now, people ask, are Christians commanded to give the tithe under the Old Testament law? Well, I would ask the question, were tithes only given under the Old Testament law? The tithe was a principle of giving even before the law. Abraham gave a tithe 400 years before the law was established. According to Genesis 14, 16 through 20, he gave a tithe of all he had. It says, Hebrews 7 says this in verse one and two, For this Melchizedek king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, blessed him to whom Abraham gave a tenth part of all.

Notice he gave a tenth part of all of it to him. Proverbs 3, 9 in the book of Proverbs. Anybody familiar with Proverbs 3, 5, and 6? Raise your hand if you're familiar with those verses. That's the passage many of us have quoted, trust in the Lord with how much? All thine heart, lean not to your own understanding. All your ways acknowledge him.

He'll direct your path. Notice what he talks about just a couple verses later in verse 9. Honor the Lord with your substance. You understand trusting God with your heart means trusting God with your money, right?

They're connected in the area of trust. So Jacob also, which is Abraham's son, grandson, gave a tithe before the law was given. Genesis 28, 22. It says, In this stone which I have set for a pillar shall be God's house, and of all that thou shalt give me, I shall surely give a tenth unto thee.

So Abraham gave a tenth, Jacob gave a tenth. God commanded the tithe from those under the law, according to Leviticus 27, verse 30. Malachi 3, even after the law was broken, he was dealing with them giving their tithe. Then you get to the New Testament in Matthew 23, 23. Jesus is rebuking the scribes and Pharisees, and he mentions the tithe, and I want to just speak to that for just a second. This verse, he says, Won't you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites?

He says, For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cum. And those were tiny little herbs that were not even, they really didn't even have to tithe some of these things, but they were counting out like seeds that were so minuscule and giving a tenth of those. And he says, And you've omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith. It ought to be done and not to leave the others undone. So Jesus believed that love, mercy, and judgment were weightier matters of the law. Judgment, mercy, and faith, I should say. And they were missing those elements of the law, but they were priding themselves on tithing little tiny seeds, making sure that they got down to the very base of that. Now Jesus says, when he rebukes them for that, he says, These things ought you to have done and not leave the others undone. You ought to give, you ought to tithe, but don't leave judgment, mercy, and faith undone, is what he's saying.

And so Matthew 23, 23, Jesus again confirms that. I do not believe, if you asked me what do I believe about the Old Testament tithe, are we commanded to tithe? I do not believe personally we are under a command to tithe. I believe we are under a principle of tithing. I believe that God, I don't believe we're under the Old Testament law, I believe we're under grace, but I don't see the command to tithe being given in the New Testament, but I would say if they gave the tithe in the Old Testament under the law, how much more should we give a tithe under grace? And what you find in the New Testament, they gave a lot more than 10%. To me, I've always tithed throughout my life.

I don't say that to some way gain elevation. I just say that that's a principle that I've placed in my heart because I say, boy, if Abraham did that, you know why they gave a 10th? Because a 10th represented the whole. It was one of 10. It represented the whole.

That's why they would do that. So if Abraham did that, if Jacob did that, that seemed to be a principle in the Bible that was established. Then it turned into a command under the Old Testament law and under the law of grace in the New Testament, I would say the woman who gave her two mites gave 100%. Jesus gave 100%.

You know, God owns it all. And so for me, it's always been, God, you have the first part. I would want to honor the Lord with… And people say, what part do I give? Do I give off the net or do I give off the gross? I believe that whenever you give, I think you should give off the gross of whatever you have coming in.

I don't give to the government after some other groups have paid insurance and whatever else you begin to get out. They take the top portion. So the Bible says, honor the Lord with thy substance and with the firstfruits of all thine increase. The Israelites, and you know what in the book of Malachi they did? They brought God their leftovers. They brought God what they felt they could afford.

And that was sliding God. You don't give God off the back end. You give Him off the front end. And what you find over and over in the Bible, it always says, give Him the firstfruits, the firstfruits. Well, what's the firstfruits? It's the very first. You know why you and I should give God of our first?

It's because He gave of His first and best and because He's worthy of that. I love this illustration of two little boys were each given a box of chocolates by their grandfather. The first boy took the package into his bedroom, tore it open, stuffed the candies into his mouth until he was a big mess of chocolate. The other boy unwrapped his package. There was there in front of his grandfather, he opened the box, looked at the candies, then he raised the box to his grandfather and he said, thank you for giving me this candy, grandfather. Here, you have the first piece. And that's the picture of the heart of a child of God that says, God, everything I have has been given from you.

But I've worked for that. Who gave you the lungs? Who gave you air and breath? So we come to God and say, God, you've given me all these things.

I gladly return those to you. Giving is an act of worship. So giving should be done, I think, regularly. I think it should be done every time we receive income that we turn that over to the Lord and a way of honoring Him.

Pies were brought in the Old Testament to God's storehouse in the New Testament, that is the local assembly, the church. 1 Corinthians 16, 1 and 2 says, Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so you do upon the first day of the week, that's not Saturday, that's on Sunday, that's the day the early church met. On the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him store as God has prospered him that there be no gathering when I come. They were to bring their offerings the first day of the week because that's when they met. And so we don't take up offerings on Wednesdays, we take them up on Sundays.

Now some of us give online, there's nothing wrong with that. This is not a legalistic system because sometimes you can give 10% and have a terrible heart and you can give 9% and have a great heart and honor the Lord. And so what I'm trying to say is you need to make sure what you give to God is in honor of the Lord Jesus Christ and I think our giving should always be growing in a level. And people ask, you know, what does the tithe go toward? Well, you know, the properties we support here. There's so much that goes on in having a 14-acre, 28,000-square-foot facility, the property, the grounds.

Tomorrow, I forgot to announce this, this is a good time to announce this, we're going to be redoing the parking lot, respraying that, resealing it, reseal coating that, and those things take money. Maintaining a property is costly and so also making tracks and chairs and upkeep of facilities, staff that works here, ministering, also missionaries, we support missions and all around the world, 50 missionaries. And so those are the things that tithe and offerings go towards. The offering in the Old Testament, again, was given many times. There was freewill offerings as well as commanded offerings in the Old Testament. And the offerings in the Old Testament, sometimes there were building needs that they were applied to. If you remember David, they brought all the offering for the building, for the temple, and the people didn't have to do that, but they chose to do that. And so we have offerings such as the missions and building and the way I believe a good process is, is to give a tenth to the general fund and then I give a whatever else percent to building fund or over and above my tithe to give to the offering of building fund or missions.

And that's over and above that to the Lord. Some gift of benevolence fund, transportations, and different things like that. Let me just talk about for a moment, offerings should be given three different ways. First of all, it should be done with a willing heart. There should be a willingness to give. Exodus 35, 5 says, Take ye from among you an offering unto the Lord. Whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it. An offer to the Lord, gold and silver and brass.

Verse 21 goes on, And they came, everyone whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made him willing. And that's the idea is that you would have a willing spirit to want to give to God. And giving here is, we're talking about money, but we often talk about the other areas such as your time, your talents, your abilities, your gifts. All of that should be done in a willing manner. It has rejoiced my heart over the years to see people who love to give to God of their time, energy, and so forth. But there have been times where maybe we had a need come up and we have such a serving church that it's so awesome to see things get filled up and taken care of.

But I know there's been times through the years where somebody's like begrudging about it and I'll always say, you know, really don't worry about it. If you don't have a heart to do it, I'd rather you not, really. If you don't have a heart to do it, it would be better not. Well, I would rather not do a ministry than to have people who have a bad heart to do the ministry, right? So we need to do what people's hearts are stirred up and willing to do. And sometimes ministries are sacrificed because if you don't have that, but so also they need to be given not only willingly but sacrificially. The churches of Macedonia, it says in 2 Corinthians 8, just listen to what some of the things Paul writes about here. He says, Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia.

I want to talk to you about the grace of God on these churches, he says. Notice what he says, great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. Inside that verse you have great trial and deep poverty joined with great joy and abundant riches in liberality or very giving. Verse 3, For to their power, that word means to their ability, and I bear record, yea, beyond their power or ability, they were willing of themselves. I mean they gave, they were poor and they were in persecution and they gave beyond what they were able to give. Verse 4, Praying us with much entreaty, I should say, that means like they're imploring us, they're pleading with us that we would take it, that we should receive the gift and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. Like they just wanted to be a part of giving and ministering and supporting the ministry there. Verse 5, And this they did not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord and unto us by the will of God. Before they gave to God, they gave God their heart. They first gave God their life and then they gave God their resources. You know who I see in the New Testament like that is Mary with the alabaster box of ointment. Right? I mean this is worth a year's wage.

Think about what you make in a year. And she broke it and poured it on Jesus. I mean we would not, pouring it, we'd be like, you know, maybe a couple drips.

There's thousands of dollars coming out of this thing with every drip. You know, I mean come on now. I mean that's what they, she did. And Jesus and the disciples were distraught by this because they're like, man, that's a lot of money. All of them were bothered by it.

They felt like a waste. Judas couldn't handle it. It was actually after that that Judas bailed out on Jesus. And so they were upset by this and Jesus defends her. I can tell you what, when you serve Jesus, you don't need to speak.

He'll speak on your behalf. And he defended her and he says, what she's done is for my burial. And what she's done will, it will always be remembered.

And we still talk about her, right? You know, I think in our lives, friends, whatever we do with our resources, our time, our talents, our money, some of the things we do, it just dissolves into the world. But boy, the things we give to God, the things we invest in people, the souls that we minister to, that's what's lasting.

That's what's valuable. God is pleased in sacrificial giving. I think about Philippians chapter 4.

Paul writes, for even in Thessalonica, he's telling the church at Philippi, he said, you sent once and again into my necessity. He says, not because I desire a gift. He says, I'm not desiring your money, he says, but I desire fruit to abound to your account. I mean, when you're giving, he says, to my mission's work, he says, you're going to be benefited. Verse 18, but I have on abound I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which are sent from you, an odor of a sweet smell of sacrifice. When's the last time it, like, cost you to give?

Like, it was like, yeah, that stung a little bit. Sacrifice, acceptable, and he said, that's well pleasing to God. He says, notice verse 19, but my God shall supply all your need according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. God will take care of those who are faithful and give. And then a third way to give is to give cheerfully.

We need to give cheerfully. 2 Corinthians chapter 9, verse 7 of the churches of Macedonia, he says, every man according as he purposes in his heart. That's why I don't think we're bound in a command of tithing, but what do you purpose in your heart? In my heart, I have purposed to tithe everything that ever comes into me, my entire existence. Ever, ever that I make, give a tenth of that. Always give a tenth of that.

I don't care what it is, give a tenth of that. And because, so what have you purposed in your heart? Do you want to maintain such a principle? Do you want to, how do you want to honor God in your giving? So let him give. Notice, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loves a, what kind of giver?

Cheerful giver. You know, don't be a begrudging giver, be a cheerful giver. So I believe Christians can be in danger of robbing God by withholding love and devotion to God. And a lot of times that can show up in the way we give to God. I never want to get to heaven and have white knuckles on the blessings that God's given me.

I want to be able to be gracious in that giving. So thirdly, God's blessing to the giver. Notice what he says in verse 10. You'd almost think this is the prosperity gospel, what he says in verse 10. This is really an interesting statement because God's actually telling them to put him to a challenge. He says, bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house. And prove me now, test me literally, herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

I mean, this is really incredible. He says in verse 11, and I will rebuke the devourer. He says, I'm not going to let the devourer come and mess up things. He says, it won't destroy the fruit of your ground.

Your vine's not going to cast its fruit in an untimely fashion. Verse 12, and all the nations shall call you blessed, for you shall be the lights of the land, saith the Lord of hosts. You're going to be prosperous.

You're going to be blessed. 2 Corinthians 9, 6 says, but this I say he which soweth sparingly shall also reap sparingly. He that soweth bountifully shall also reap bountifully. Jesus said in Luke 6, 38, give and it shall be given unto you. Good measure pressed down, shaken together, running over shall men give unto your bosom.

With the same measure you give or you meet shall be measured back to you. And so, I tell you what friends, there is a blessing from God to those who are faithful to him. The founder of Quaker Oats, I get teased because I like oats. I put oats on almost, I don't even want to get into this tonight. But I love putting like the, not the big ones, but like the smaller ones on like, on the ice cream. If you want to enhance an experience in your life, you say you mean raw. Yes, I mean raw. Put it on there. It's a texture thing for me.

I don't know. I grew up eating no-bake cookies. And anybody else like no-bake cookies, it like gets you into the gluttonous sin of just heaven. It's like there's got to be a no-bake cookie somewhere in heaven.

I know they seem sinful, but they're sanctified somehow. And so, but the founder of Quaker Oats, Henry Crowell, who founded Quaker Oats Company and a significant contributor to the work of the Moody Bible Institute, knew how to use money wisely. As a young man, he received Christ as his savior. When he began his business career in a little Ohio factory, he promised God that he would honor him and his giving. God's blessing was upon him and in his business as it grew, he increased in his giving. After more than 40 years of giving 60% of his income to God, Crowell testified, I've never gotten ahead of God. He has always been ahead of me in giving. And I could talk to you about the head of Kraft Cheese who for more than 25% of his income to Christian causes, he said the only investment I ever made that paid constant increasing dividends is the money I gave to God. John D. Rockefeller said, I have tied every dollar God has entrusted me, and I want to say if I had not tied the first dollar I made, I would not have tied the first million dollars I made. You know, giving is not an issue of how much you have.

It's an issue of the heart. I remember reading about guys in persecution camps where they were being persecuted for the cause of Christ in like Russia and some different places who they didn't have any obviously money, but they tithed the piece of crusty bread that they had. They said every 10th day we would give that away to somebody in the name of the Lord. See, it's not a matter, and they said the people who did that were the ones who ended up surviving it.

God's grace was upon them and their spirits were better, they were givers. You know, there's a difference between a giver and a taker. We're all born takers. That's why nobody's born saying, it's yours, it's yours. No, it's yours, take it. I mean, we're all like, it's mine, it's mine, you know. But we're born again to be givers because Jesus is the ultimate giver, and when you get saved, the ultimate giver comes inside of the ultimate taker, and he turns the taker into a giver.

See what happens. And so let me close out with some thoughts. Why is giving a blessing? Let me give you 57 reasons why, okay?

Just give you a few. It is interesting to note there's only one verse in the entire New Testament where a quote from the lips of our Lord Jesus Christ is given that's not mentioned in the Gospels. This is something he said while he was on earth in the flesh that is not recorded in the Gospels. It's the only quote by him given that is later on in the record of the epistles. But in the book of Acts 20 verse 35, Paul says, I have showed you all things how that in laboring you ought to support the weak and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus how he said, it is more blessed to give than to receive.

Giving is a blessing because it is more joyful to give than to receive. Takers are miserable people. That's why when we were all teenagers we were miserable.

You know why? Because we were thinking about who? Ourself. Show me a couple who's thinking about themselves and they're a miserable couple.

Turn that couple into givers and they just love each other and who can serve who the most and it's like a joy-filled marriage. Money also is a chief competitor with our affection to God. Jesus says either you serve God or money, Matthew 6 24. He says you can't serve two masters, either God or mammon. It's a word for money. So if money is a chief competitor in my heart's allegiance to God, I want to be able to faithfully give money to God so that my heart stays clean to God.

Does that make sense? To be honest, God doesn't need our money, does he? He owns everything. We need to give God our money so that we don't get controlled by it. It also protects us from covetousness, which is such a great sin. Also, thirdly, money leads to all kinds of evil. 1 Timothy 6 10 says, For the love of money is the root of all evil.

It literally means the affection for silver, your love for money. You know, money is a neutral thing. It's not good or bad.

It's like a gun. It can be very helpful and it can be very dangerous. But what you do with money is the issue. So loving money leads to great problems and it says, While some coveted after they erred from the faith, pierced themselves through with many sorrows. If I'm faithful to give to God, it will protect my heart from covetousness.

I don't know about you, but I think we all need that, right? Also, money can keep a person from being saved. You know, one of the reasons some people don't get saved is because they love their money too much. Matthew 19 23 and 4, Jesus says that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. I mean, having money isn't wrong, but it's wrong when money has us. And so we have to be careful because money can get a hold of our hearts.

It can keep people from being saved. Number five, giving to God. Evidence is our love for God. Jesus said in Matthew 6 21, For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

I like what one man said. He said, Other than the Bible, no other book reveals the truth about our heart like our checkbook. You want to know where our heart is? I knew a counselor one time. He said when he would sit down and counsel people, he asked for their checkbook. And they said, Why on earth do you want to see our checkbook?

He said, Because then I'm going to know where the problems are. I know where your heart is. I know it's important to you. Know what you value and what you don't value. William Barkley said, We have not yet begun to be Christian if we think of giving the Christ to his church in terms of as little as we respectively can. Also, it allows you to invest in eternity.

I mean, I think about what else could we better invest in? Jesus says, Lay up for yourself treasure in heaven, invest eternally, but also invest in ministries. You know, you think we're going to get to the end of our life laying on our deathbed and say, Why did I give so much to missions? Why did I give so much to the church? Why did I help them start that church or support that mission or build that building? Or why would I invest in that?

No, we're going to say, boy, it's a lot better investment there. Unbiblical and unwise decisions with money leads to slavery. Proverbs 22 seven says, The rich rules over the poor, the bar is serving to the lender. You know, when you're faithful to God, I can tell you it's like being faithful with your time.

Nobody has any time for anything. And then they start going to church and they're like, Man, my schedule seems to be a lot more regimented. I'm giving, you know, 12 hours a week to church and ministries and this things. And I seem like I have more time than I did before.

You know why? Because when you start putting God first place in your time, he begins to settle out your schedule and thin out things that you didn't need. And money is the same way. It also allows us to trust God and not our money.

You know, one of the greatest reasons you should give is because it says, God, I trust you more than my wallet. You know what they put on the money we have? And God, we trust. Somebody knew something, right?

They knew, hey, because they knew there was a problem of trusting our money. The difficulty of stewardship is faith, but the joy of stewardship is freedom. To know the peace that you find when your hand is, your life is in the hand of God and he's upholding you. That you don't have to worry about possessions because they belong to God. To realize if God didn't spare his son but gave him up for us all, how shall not freely give us all things? We can just focus on seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added. That if God feeds the birds of the air and takes care of the animals of the earth, how much more will he take care of us who he died for? And so we can just get busy serving God and being faithful. I can tell you there's so many reasons that giving is a blessing. You know, you can be someone who gives something without loving someone, but you cannot love someone without giving. And so God calls us to return in verse 7. He says there's a danger of robbing God. And if we're faithful to give, God will bless. We've seen many reasons tonight by giving such a blessing. I would encourage you this week, spend some time in Psalm 116, read that chapter, read 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, and just be impacted by it. Slow down and say, God, let me, what could I render to the Lord for all the benefits he's given to me?

How could I ever repay him? You know, we don't pay God back in giving, but we say, God, you are so valuable. It's a joy for me. You know, when we come in on Sundays, one of the greatest ways we worship God is, you know, we sing, we greet, we do all these things. But one of the greatest ways we honor God is just by giving. Thank God, I want to worship you in giving.

That's an act of worship and treat it as such. And so let's all stand tonight with heads bowed and eyes closed. Friend, I would say tonight, the greatest thing you can give to God, you have to first give your life to him. Before you ever give anything else, you've got to give your life to him. And if you stood before God and you've never turned your life over to Jesus Christ, let this be the night you do that. Are you sure of heaven? You know, heaven's your home. You stood before God. Would he say you surrendered fully your life to Jesus Christ?

Tonight, you need to be serious about that. Surrender your life to him. Give him your life.

Turn it over to him. Father, we thank you for your mercy, for your grace. We pray your blessing on this invitation time. And Lord, as we look tonight toward these verses, we are so thankful that you are so gracious to call us to return to you when we have fallen away and help us to be faithful. May we surrender our life to you and not allow any sin or any anything in our life, money or anything to keep us from you. We ask your blessing in Jesus name. Amen.