Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Presbyterian Church of Easton
Sermon Malachi 3:6-12 “The Tithe”
November 14, 2021
This morning we will be talking about money. I won’t be talking about the budget of the church or what you need to give to keep all of this going. That is important and the session of the church wants you to at least think about these issues, but what I will be doing this morning is talking about our relationship with God and how God wants us to use our money. This is a very different topic, but somewhat related to the church budget. So I will ask you to be generous when you give to the church, but I will ask this out of the larger question of how God wants us to use our resources. Before we get to this please pray with me.
“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (Calvin)
Today we will be looking at Malachi 3:6-12.
6 For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, have not perished. 7 Ever since the days of your ancestors you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, “How shall we return?”
8 Will anyone rob God? Yet you are robbing me!
But you say, “How are we robbing you?”
In your tithes and offerings! 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me—the whole nation of you! 10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts; see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing. 11 I will rebuke the locust for you, so that it will not destroy the produce of your soil; and your vine in the field shall not be barren, says the Lord of hosts. 12 Then all nations will count you happy, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.
It’s the fifth century before Christ. The people of God were living in a province of the Persian Empire named Yehud. A governor was appointed by the imperial government, and taxes were very high. The empire needed high taxes to fund building projects and military expeditions. The people of Yehud were not prosperous and not content. It looked to them like the only way to get ahead was by lying and cheating. God seemed to be missing.
The Temple of God had been rebuilt in Jerusalem. This was supposed to inaugurate a new age of glory and peace. The Empire had permitted the reconstruction of the temple as a token of autonomy and so the people could maintain their identity as followers of Yahweh. But the new age of glory and peace had yet to arrive. The people found themselves just trying to maintain their religious traditions while living difficult lives.
In this context the prophet Malachi delivered a difficult message from God. He told the people that by their actions they had turned away from God. Justice demanded that they be punished for their disobedience. But the prophet assured them that God is faithful, and will return to Jerusalem if the people repent, turn from their evil ways and turn toward God.
Malachi’s words confused the people and they asked him: “How are we to return to God?”
The prophet’s response was that the people were robbing God. God’s covenant with the people was clear. God provided land to the farmers. They had everything they needed from God, sun, rain, good soil and seed, to grow plentiful crops. And the farmers were to bring ten percent of the harvest to the storehouses so that those with no land could also eat. The church workers, the widows, the orphans, the poor, the needy, the aliens in the land all needed to eat. And the only way they could eat was if the ten percent, the tithe, was delivered to the storehouses. But given the economic conditions of the times, the high imperial taxes, and the poverty of the farmers, who could spare another ten percent? So the farmers delivered what they could.
But God said that was not enough. Ten percent was the deal. God had blessed the farmers with land, sunshine and rain so that the crops would grow and the farmers should bless those without land with food to eat. Ten percent of the farm output was needed in the storehouse to do this. So Malachi told them to go back to their farms and bring the full tithe.
The people told Malachi, “We can’t do this. After we pay our taxes we barely have enough to feed our own families. How can we bring even more? And Malachi told them. “Do it anyway. Bring your tithe. Test God. See what happens.”
God’s promise was that if they returned to him, by obeying his command of the tithe, then the blessings of heaven would pour down upon them. The windows of heaven would be opened, not with a devastating flood, but with a gentle rain to water the crops. The brown stink bugs wouldn’t mess with their soybeans and wheat. The dear wouldn’t eat their corn. The chickens would be free from disease. And all would prosper in the land that God has given them.
For many years I didn’t give ten percent to the church. I figured that I needed to invest in my business to make it grow. And I rationalized that there were many people in my church who made a lot more than me. “They had plenty of resources to support the church, I thought. For many years I just gave just a token.
But as my relationship with God became closer I realized that I had to give ten percent. It was the least I should do. So for many years now I have been giving 10% of my income to the church. Every month I send 10% of my pay to the Presbyterian Church of Easton. Every month I have to pay for food, utilities, gas, insurance, car repairs and medical bills. My rent is deducted from my pay. So our monthly budget is very tight. We would live more comfortably if I did not tithe to the church. But we keep our expenses down and live frugally because I fully expect that God will bless us more than we could ever imagine if I pay the tithe.
It is difficult to tithe to the church, especially today in modern America because we have forgotten the virtue of thrift. We once believed in living below our means. John Wesley told us to “Make all you can; save all you can; give all you can.” Benjamin Franklin said, “If you would be wealthy, think of saving as well as getting.” Thrift is the virtue of spending less than your income and saving what’s left over. Today, “thrift” is confused with the word “cheap” and low quality as in “thrift stores.” But that is a misuse of the word. God wants us to be thrifty and live within our means.
Our culture tries to make the accumulation of wealth synonymous with greed. Making money and showing a profit is somehow evil and a sign of corruption. It’s true that the virtue of thrift can be twisted into the sin of greed by hoarding what we have. But if we use some of what we have accumulated to care for others, if we obey the law of the tithe, then thrift never becomes greed.
A few years ago I read a biography of Andrew Carnegie. My grandfather worked for a Frick coal mine which was owned by Carnegie. Carnegie was thrifty and always kept his costs below his revenue. By doing this he became one of the wealthiest people in the world. And before he died he gave away 90% of his fortune. He built 1,700 libraries across America, sponsored programs for peace, and funded schools all over the country.
The principle is that thriftiness allows us to be generous. So if we are careful not to accumulate too much debt, if we always live within our means, and if we save for the future then we will have the resources we need to be generous.
Dr. John Templeton said in his book Thrift and Generosity: The Joy of Giving, “Thrift is not so much a matter of what we have, but of how we appreciate, value and use what we have. Everyone, regardless of income level, has opportunities to exercise the virtue of thrift. We practice thrift by monitoring how we spend our time and money and then by making better decisions.” This is good advice for America today. Thirty years ago our savings rate was between ten and twelve percent. Since 2005 the savings rate in America has been below zero. We are consuming our wealth and losing our financial freedom.
The late Senator, Everett Dirksen once said, “Let God give me strength, that I might help to get America back on the beam and elevate thrift to the pedestal it rightly deserves, because thrift and opportunity have been the great horsemen of progress in America.” So resist the allure of advertising that tells you to spend more than you have. Resist the call of the government to spend our way out of economic problems. And remember that debt is toxic to your economic health.
So put your economic house in order. Live within your means. Get out of debt. Increase your savings. And tithe 10% to the church, Like Grace and I do, to prevent your thrift from turning into greed. And the promise of scripture is that God will bless you with abundance, more than you could ever imagine.
Frank von Christierson was an international student from Finland who graduated from San Francisco Theological Seminary in 1930. In 1960 he was serving two small Presbyterian Churches in Southern California. They had small membership and great financial needs. He wanted the members to understand the meaning of stewardship. So he wrote a poem, which we will sing shortly. Here is what Pastor Christierson wrote:
As those of old their first fruits brought
Of vineyard flock and field
To God the giver all of good
The source of bounteous yield
So we today our first fruits bring
The wealth of this good land
Of farm and market, shop and home,
Of mind and heart and hand.
Amen.
