Are You Robbing God?

17th January, 2010

Written By Rev Law Hui Seng

Posted By Teresa Han

Malachi 3:6-12
Main Idea: Do not rob God.
Objectives: a. To teach the congregation not to rob God. b. To teach to do tithing and make a plan to do it.

A. Introduction
- In the whole bible, the word of God, with all teachings that exhort disciples of Jesus to do many things, and you learn today, in the Old Testament, the old covenant, in the book of Malachi, there is such a thing as robbing God.
- Everything on earth belongs to God, whether you possess it or not, everything belong to God. It was so in the OT and also, the same today.
- Why God still said to the Isralites in verse 8 “Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me.” I shall tell you the answer after I explain to you how Israelites robbed God.
- Let us see how Israelites robbed God.

B. How Israelites robbed God?
- In the book of Malachi, the prophet was speaking in the context where lots of Israelites had come back to Israel after exiles in foreign countries after 500 BC. They came back after the prophetic activity of prophets Haggai and Zechariah, the returned exiles were under the governor Zerubbabel.
- In 433 BC, Nehemiah, the cupbearer of the Persian King, after rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem returned to the service of the Persian King, and during his absence the Jews fell into sin once more. Later, Nehemiah came back to Jerusalem to discover that the tithes were ignored, the Sabbath was broken, the people had intermarried with foreigners, and the priests had become corrupt (Neh 13:7-31). Several of these same sins are condemned by Malachi. And not tithing and gave offerings were one of the sins.
- When prophets Malachi condemned the sin of Israelites, he put it as robbing God in verse 8. This is all to do with God’s requirement in Leviticus 27:30-33, where it says, a tithe of the grain, the herd and flock is holy and belong to God. And then, it verse 34, it goes to say that they are commands given by God to Moses to the Israelites on Mount Sinai. The basis of tithing for the OT is that tihing is something designated by God. It belongs to God. This answers my question on whether we rob God or not.
- So, when the Isrealites did not do tithing, they robbed God.
- That is the big deal about OT tithing Another big deal about not tithing is found in verse 9, the whole nation of Israelites was under curse. It was the discipline of God for them.
- However, as an encouragement to them, prophet Malachi who was inspired by God also said that they could test God in tithing to see if God would bless them with opening of floodgate of heaven (verse 10), it refers to blessing in terms of supply of God. God would also take care of their crops and prevent them from the attack of the pests and make sure that they had good harvest.


C. Applications
- Now, you may like to ask if the same teaching of the OT apply to us or not.
- I believe that we are not at all free from the OT covenant that God made with Abraham. We are binded by it. If God required His children in OT to take care of the temple by submitting their tithes and offering, today, we have the church, we are required to do the same.
- In fact, Jesus in his rebuking of Pharisees he affirmed the tithing. He condemned them for doing it for show and it becomes very superficial. As a result, tithing was not done from their heart.
- You can see if you are not careful, you may rob God also. Whatever you earn, you must realize, even before it belongs to you, it actually belongs to God, at the end of the day, what you earn belongs to God and it is for your stewardship. So, whatever you get, God says 10% belongs to Him; designated to belong to Him. So, if you do not give to Him what he requires, then, we are answerable to Him. We rob God.
- What it takes to tithe? For the Israelites, it takes repentance to tithe again. Prophet Malachi said they need to return to God in verse 7, “...Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord Almighty.”
- For us to tithe, it takes repentance also. We must confess our sin of not tithing to the house of God despite the prophet’s challenge to test and see God would open the floodgate of heaven. I have 4 children, me and my wife practised tithing, we have tested the faithfulness of God’s provision for our needs.
- In order for repentance from not tithing to happen, you must be convinced to tithe. Now, I believe you have to be spiritually becoming more matured, only then, you will tithe. In other words, your relationship with Jesus has to be good, in order for you to obey God’s teaching in the Bible.
- If you are not tithing, I pray that you will pray and work out a plan to do it. I encourage you to set outside an amount in your monthly salary for the purpose of tithing. The amount may not be 10% at first. You may like to increase it as the months go by and in the end you will achieve tithing, do the heart desire of Jesus.
- Remember, do it willingly and not reluctantly.
- This can be your new year resolution.

D. Conclusion
- Be a good steward of God what God has blessed you with. Do not rob God and begin to tithe and make a difference for Jesus.