“Robbing God” (Malachi 3:6–12)

“Robbing God” (Malachi 3:6–12)
Pastor Cameron Jungels
Eastside Baptist Church
Sunday AM, July 28, 2019

Malachi 3:6–12 (NIV)

6 “I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty.

“But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’

8 “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.

“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’

“In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. 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 there will not be room enough to store it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty. 12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.

1. God is unchanging, and it is because of his faithfulness to his promises that we are saved (v. 6).

2. The problem is not with God’s faithfulness; the problem is with our unfaithfulness (v. 7).

a. Our track record of unfaithfulness (7a)
b. God’s openness and faithfulness to restore (7b)
c. Our blindness and cynicism toward our own unfaithfulness (7c).

3. Our unfaithfulness may be manifested in our lack of giving to God and the work of the ministry (8–9).

a. Withholding tithes and offerings from God is robbing from God what rightfully belongs to him (8).
b. Withholding tithes and offerings from God may result in discipline (9).

4. A return to faithfulness to the Lord will result in God’s abundant blessings (10–12).

a. The solution to our unfaithfulness: repentance/turning (7b, 10a)
b. God’s openness to our returning (10b)
c. God’s abundant blessing on those who give generously to the Lord (10b–12)

Main Idea: The Lord promises to take care of his people if they demonstrate faithfulness to him in their stewardship; but he warns his people that he will withhold his blessing if they are ungrateful.