Why I Tithe and Why I Hope That You Do Too - Part 3 of 5

February 9, 2016
Pastor Jeff Lampl

Why I Tithe and Why I Hope That You Do Too
Part 3 of 5

Why I am glad that I was challenged to give 10% of my income to God
and why I yearn so much for every other Christian to tithe too.

“Should people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me!

“But you ask, ‘What do you mean? When did we ever cheat you?’

“You have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me.  You are under a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating me.  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!  Your crops will be abundant, for I will guard them from insects and disease. Your grapes will not fall from the vine before they are ripe,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.  “Then all nations will call you blessed, for your land will be such a delight,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.                                                                                                Malachi 3:8-12 (NLT)

In the last book of the Old Testament there is this passage (above) playing out a dialogue between Malachi and God.   in his vision Malachi sees God accusing Israel of cheating Him!  Say what?   So how could people cheat God?  Does this mean that God is .  . . like stingy?    And then . . .  is God vindictive . . . like if we don’t “pay our rent” for our spot on earth, he will curse us?”

But, as always, I learned.   I learned some simple but really, really big things.   I learned (as I still must learn this lesson over and over and over again) that everything (literally everything) that I have on earth is simply the gift of God.   It’s all gift!   That might be the greatest lesson in the world.  One day those three words simply came out of my mouth, “It’s all gift”.    And since that day I have never forgotten them. 

Everything I have and everything that I am is given to me by God.   

That’s first. 

God is a giver and if God created me to be something like him then I need to be a giver too.   However I am a very, very selfish person.  I’m as “me first” as anyone else and I need trained out of that.  

Tithing has helped.   10% is a lot of money, no matter how much you make.    Every check or automatic withdrawal in that amount to your church is an act of trust, that says, “with this check or withdrawal I entrust myself, God, to your provision for me, not my own”

The logic, of course, is this:   If God is provider of everything, not me,  then God’s heart is to get me to entrust myself to Him and when I don’t, in the end, having entrusted myself to myself, I will end up having lost everything.    Is there a bigger consideration for my life than this?    How smart would it be to live for myself, doing quite well for myself in this life thank you, only to come to the end of my life to discover that this life is now over and I missed God and his provision and eternity, for living for myself now always results in living for myself eternally and that eternity is just that, for myself and by myself.    That’s the self-imposed curse from which our Lord wants to save us.

There’s only one place in the whole Bible where God says to us, “test me”.   and it’s with our tithes!  

So, I am praying that if you haven’t done so that you take God’s challenge!    It’s a door opener to the blessed life of God.    And you may have noticed in verse 12 that when you do others see God through you!

Tune in next week  to learn more about “why I am a tither and I hope you are too”

(for parts one and two of this series click here and here)