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Pentecost 19
Malachi 3:6-12 October 23, 2011
Dear Friends in Christ,
Our text for this morning comes to us from the very last Words that God spoke to the Old
Testament Children of Israel. It was written about the year 400 B.C. which was over 100
years since the Children of Israel had returned to Israel from Babylon . The promises of
God had been fulfilled and God had restored a faithful remnant to their own land. They
were certainly grateful for what God had done in giving them back the blessing of their
own land, but not everything was as it should be.
For even though the people were quick to rebuild their own homes and business, and did go
about the work of rebuilding the temple, God’s dwelling place on earth, it was a slow
process. After many years the Temple was completed but the final result was so plain and
bare by comparison to the Temple of Solomon that all those who had seen the first Temple
cried at the sorry sight of the second. They finally understood that because of their sins and
their rebellion against God they had lost blessings. No longer was the Temple to the one
true God the finest in the world. God still blessed them with a Temple and the forgiveness
of sins, but now it was a mere shadow of the glorious Temple of Solomon .
But coming to such a realization and understanding of God’s desire to bless the faithful
and to withhold blessings from the unfaithful was not a lesson that stuck with the Children
of Israel. For after a few years they fell back into their old habits of mindless worship and
vain lip service to God. They would go to the Temple , but only out of habit, not out of love
and thanks. They would bring offerings, but they were not given out of gratitude for the
forgiveness of sins, they were merely given out of obligation. Though they looked like
believers on the surface, God knew their hearts and God knew what was motivating them.
He did not see a faithful and loving people, butarather the Israelites had once again showed
themselves to be people who lived for this world and not for God.
It is because of this that God spoke to His people through the Prophet Malachi. It was
going to be the final word of God before the coming of God’s Son and the fulfillment of His
promise of salvation. And though there were a lot of things that He could have said to close
out the Old Testament period, the word of God from Malachi was “I, the LORD, do not
change.” For Israel this was a cold and hard reminder of what had happened in the past.
Though God is a God of mercy, He has His limits. He has a point when the willful sins and
the outright denial of His Word are finally met with swift action. The history of Israel is
clear testimony to this. It is an ongoing rollercoaster ride of their plunges into sin, God’s
unpleasant intervention and Israel ’s rise in faithfulness to God. By declaring that He is the
LORD who does not change, God was making it plain that He was not going to go soft on
sin. He was not going to treat them differently than He had treated their ancestors. If they
ignored His Word, if they followed other gods, if they made worship and offerings nothing
more than a mindless ritual, God would deal with them even as He had dealt with Israel
and Judah in generations gone by. God was making it clear that He was serious. “I, the
LORD, do not change.”
And even as we hear these words, we, too, should note the serious tone of God, for there are
not two different gods, one for the Old Testament and one for the New. God has not
changed just because His Son has died, rose and ascended. The passage in Hebrews that
says “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today and forever,” is one that testifies to Him
as that unchanging God in both the Old and New Testaments. From the beginning of the
world to the very end God’s mindset against sin and His favor towards faithful believers
will not change. We can count on it and trust it to know that when we sin against God, we
will lose blessings and when we are faithful to God, He will bless us.
But this is not presented merely as God’s reminder that He hates sin and loves obedience.
This is not recorded for us as God’s last words to Old Testament Israel like a final warning
to lazy children. It comes also with the reminder that God does these things to help us turn
back to Him. He blesses the faithful to encourage faithful attitudes. He withholds blessings
from the unfaithful to remind them what it is like to be separated from God and to live
without the blessings of the God who controls all things. Even as Malachi speaks by
inspiration, the message is one that says “‘Return to me, and I will return to you,’ says the
LORD Almighty.”
Our message of this morning brings all of this together with the words we have just heard,
the words “RETURN TO ME.” For these words remind us that God has made us His own
and because of our sinfulness, we have wandered away. We leave God and only through
His calling are we brought back. Our theme “RETURN TO ME,” has two parts, the first
being I. RETURN TO GIVE GOD HIS DUE IN TIME, TALENTS AND TREASURES,
while part two says, II. RETURN TO SEE GOD'S BLESSINGS.
Now as we consider this first part of our sermon on how it is that we return to God, God
puts the picture in terms of how He sees it. He does this by carrying on a conversation with
the people of Israel . The conversation goes like this. God says to the people that they have
left Him and His desire is that they return, so He says, “Return to me, and I will return to
you,” says the LORD Almighty.” In response to this the people of Israel say, “How are we
to return?” They wanted to know what they must do to please God and to restore the
relationship of a loving God and faithful people. And at this point the conversation makes
sense to us. But then comes the response of God. For God’s answer to “How are we to
return” is, “Will a man rob God? Yet you rob Me.”
If this doesn’t make much sense to you, you are not alone. It didn’t make a lot of sense to
Israel either. But the reason they didn’t understand it was because they thought they were
doing a really good job of worshipping God. They thought God would be overjoyed to have
a people who gave occasional offerings and who said prayers from time to time. After all,
there were a lot of nations who followed after false gods and they were certainly better than
that. God should be content with them because it could have been worse.
But God’s point is that He was not looking for “good enough.” His blessings to Israel and
His blessings to us are not second best. Remember, this is the God whose love is so great
that He sent His Son to die in the place of worthless sinners. This is the God who blesses
people who still go on sinning in their thoughts, words and actions. This is the God who has
blessed you with house and home, land and cattle, spouse and children, friends, jobs,
co-workers, 50” TV’s, new cars, vacation homes, trips to other countries and overall
lifestyle that is the envy of the rest of the world.
And in exchange for all this, God only says remember Me. Remember Me with the best of
what I have given you. For Israel , this was to be shown in the best of their sheep and goats,
the finest grain and the best of their wine. For us it is the firstfruits of our time, talents and
treasures. And there is no command as to how much this should be, God lets that up to us.
He lets us choose to give back to Him 1%, 5%, 10% or more of what He has given to us and
then commands us to be faithful. That means when we tell God we are giving, say, 5%, that
money is no longer ours. If we use it to go to the movies, to take a vacation, to buy a new
dress, then comes into play that message of God which says, “Will a man rob God? Yet you
rob Me.”
For there is no difference in the mind of God if you went out and sneaked into the movie, or
were a stowaway on a boat or shoplifted a dress. You didn’t pay for what you took. You
didn’t buy what you received because the money you used was not yours. The money was
God’s and you stole it from God. The money that was set aside for Him was taken as a
robber steals your wallet or hacker steals your identity.
But the punishment that comes from God is not so many years in the state prison. No, the
punishment from God is loss of blessings. As God Himself says, “You are under a curse.”
The very God who knows the hairs of our head and can control the rise and fall of nations
and the changing of the seasons can make even the richest man a pauper. He can take even
the best life and make it miserable. He can use whatever He pleased to remind us that we
owe God the best of what He has given to us. And whether we choose to give God a ½% or
20% of all that we get, God expects that we would give what we owe. He expects that we
would not be so foolish as to think that we could rob God and hope to get away unscathed.
But God’s reason for withholding blessings is not to punish us worse than any jail or
prison. It is done to remind us that we have an obligation to Him. It is done to strengthen
our faith in the God who has promised, “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.”
For even though Israel had grown lax in giving to God what He deserved, the honor due
Him in the firstfruits of time, talents and treasures, He wanted to make it clear that there
was still time to change. There was still time to turn around from a life of selfish insecurity
to a life of trusting in the God who can do anything.
For the promise of God that was given to Israel is a promise that stands even today. It is the
promise that says, “Test me in this.” God is throwing down the gauntlet. He is using the
glove of challenge. He is saying, give to Him first and see if you have more or less at the end
of the week. Give to Him first in love and thanks and see if you are better off or worse.
Granted, it goes beyond human understanding to think that giving away money and time
and abilities will get you more, but this is a promise from God. This is a promise from the
God who created the world in 6 days. This is a promise from the God who destroyed the
world in a global flood yet saved Noah and the animals. This is a God who sent His Son
born of a virgin to redeem the world from sin. This is the God with whom nothing is
impossible. This is the God who is saying to you right here and right now, “Test me in
this.”
And the only way to really test God is to consider in your heart what percentage you want
to give and then to just give it. Every dollar that you make, give that percentage you choose
to the Lord first. Every hour that you are awake, give some of that time to God in prayer
and thanksgiving. Every talent that you have to speak and to comfort and to encourage and
to rebuke, make use of it in God’s name that others might have the same joy God has given
you. Test God by trusting that even by giving these things away, God can bless you with
more. Trust God that even in having less time for yourself, less money for your wants and
needs, less ability to do what you want, that God can somehow give you more than you had
before.
To Israel it was made clear. “‘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 you will not
have room enough for it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in
your fields will not cast their fruit,’ says the LORD Almighty.‘Then all the nations will call
you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,’ says the LORD Almighty.”
To us it is just as clear. Give God His due. Do not rob from the Lord Almighty. Instead,
trust that the God who has blessed you with all you have can bless you with even more.
Give to Him what is due in time, talents and treasures and see the floodgates of heaven
open. Amen.
In His Service,
Pastor Joseph R. Schlawin
Our Shepherd Ev. Lutheran Church
1515 W. 93rd Ave
Crown Point, IN 46307
219-663-5853