Honouring God With Your Finances (Part 1)

TEXT:

‘Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!’ (Malachi 3:10 NLT)

THOUGHT:

Of the Ten Commandments God gave to Moses, the eighth says, ‘You shall not steal’ (Exodus 20:15). In the last book of the Old Testament, the prophet Malachi asks, ‘Will a man rob God?’ (Malachi 3:8). The way that the Children of Israel robbed God was by withholding their tithes or the tenth of their income.

There was a two-fold knock-on effect to their actions. Firstly, individually and as a nation, they ended up living under a curse, not under the blessing God had always intended. Secondly, the Temple was affected because the priests and Levites ended up living off the land and neglecting their ministry, instead of being fully supported by God’s people through their giving.¹  

Malachi threw down the challenge to bring all the tithes into God’s House and prove the truth that giving their tithes would cause them to be better off, because God would honour and bless those who honour Him with their finances. In fact, surrounding countries would see the evidence of this, ‘All nations will call you blessed’ (Malachi 3:12).

Today’s Teaching considers six aspects to do with money and honouring God.

1. Frustration

Why don’t the majority of churches have enough money? Why are the closures of small churches accelerating? Why is there not more teaching in the pulpit about giving? Why are struggling churches looking to the world to bail them out, instead of looking within their own congregations?

God’s intention for His people, as part of His blessing, is that they would lend but not have to borrow.² To be able to lend means one has more than enough. This surely reflects our God who is called El Shaddai, the God who is more than enough, the All-Sufficient One.³

God warned the Israelites that the opposite could happen, ‘The alien shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him’ (Deuteronomy 28:44). How terrible to end up living under a curse when in reality, all God ever wants is for His people to enjoy His blessing.

Nothing frustrates generous Christians more than fellow Christians who are mean and indifferent when it comes to supporting their local church and its mission within the community.

2. Final

I was impressed by the fact that the final two chapters of the Old Testament are about money and the coming of the Lord. This was written at the time when the nation was experiencing a spiritual dearth with the windows of heaven firmly shut!

The Children of Israel had returned from a seventy year exile in Babylon but opposition to rebuilding the temple had brought everything to a standstill. God’s people soon set about building their own homes instead and neglected building God’s house.⁴ The result of such actions was a four hundred year silence with no more prophetic words recorded until Christ’s first coming as a baby.

Many sense the nearness of Christ’s return for His Second Coming. Will it be the same scenario? Struggling churches unable to pay their way, unable to support a minister, and nothing left in the bank to evangelise the lost, instead of reaping a mighty harvest ready for the Lord’s return!

Yet the situation can be turned around dramatically with the simple solution, ‘Bring all the tithes into the storehouse’. The opened windows of heaven will surely pour out such blessing it will touch the whole nation. Churches and Christians who have dared to believe God and obey His word when it comes to finance have proved this to be true, even when all around them is like a desert.

3. Fear

I’ve discovered over and over again throughout the years of ministry that church leaders are afraid to preach and teach plainly about money. Why is this since it is God who commands us to bring in all our tithes?

If ministers fear people leaving the church when they speak about giving, especially tithing, I would say, “Let them go!” Better to have fewer in the congregation who are united in giving, than a building full of mean and stingy Christians.

I moved to a church to work with another minister but the offerings had declined and were not enough to fully support the church’s expenditure, let alone another minister. It had been relying on interest from the bank to pay its way. I immediately set a goal for the offerings to rise by £500 a week within twelve months. The goal was realised on time by people giving as they should and new people joining the church. Far from people leaving because I preached about tithing, the church increased and we were able to use the interest from the bank to fund missions, home and abroad!

Many Christians are afraid to prove God when it comes to finance, yet Malachi is the only book in the Bible where God invites us to put Him to the test. ‘Prove me now!’ is to do with giving all your tithes and offerings. Do not wait until you think you can afford to tithe, do it now and see God keep His word!

Of course selfishness plays a large part as to why there is not enough money in the church. Take a moment and examine what you spend in a week, then discover exactly what percentage, if any, God gets. If most of the top items of expenditure include what we spend on holidays, hobbies, habits and of course our mobile phone, but God is way down on the list, it’s time to redress the balance and to do it now.

Someone once said, “Christians are the best prepared to come through any recession”. Let our giving to God prove that statement to be true.

In Part 2 we will consider three more aspects about honouring God with our finances.

Endnotes:

¹ Nehemiah 13:10-11              ² Deuteronomy 28:12              ³ Genesis 17:1             ⁴ Haggai 1:3-11