Faithfulness, Tithes, and God’s Steadfast Love | Malachi 3:6-18

Show Notes

Episode 704: 
In this episode, hosts Chris and Wesley dive into the final verses of Malachi chapter 3, exploring themes of faithfulness, tithing, and God's unwavering promises. They emphasize the significance of God's unchanging nature, referencing Malachi 3:6, where God declares, "I am the Lord, I do not change." They discuss how this steadfastness provides comfort and assurance to believers, especially during challenging times. Chris draws parallels between God's covenants and the promises made in marriage, highlighting the importance of faithfulness in both relationships.

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You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun in practical ways. Hey, everybody, welcome back to the Bible Guys. We are Chris and Wesley. Yeah, yeah, good to be back. Are you excited? Wesley? Yeah, I am excited. It's a good day. It's Thursday because we found out that what we are Now, where's a platinum edition? Oh yes, I forgot to say that. Welcome to the Bible Guys, Platinum edition and uh yeah, Jeff's out of pocket, and so today we are going to be the Bible Guys. So, hey, we are about to jump into Matthew or excuse me, Malachi chapter four. But before we do three, oh it's still the oh yeah three. Oh my bad, continuing three. But before we do, we have a segment put together by Desiree. And this is an unusual segment. It's actually relatively new and uh it says that it's called the Bible Guys Jingle, and it's as we're working our way through old TV show theme songs and rebranding them to work to the Bibble Guys. Let's do the Jetsons for today's episode. Now, First of all, I'm fifty four. How are you? Yeah? I am forty eight. I had to think about it. Yeah, forty eight. Now do you remember the Jetsons? I do remember, like when I was a kid, it came on. Yeah. So I mean, like, if you're younger than you, nobody knows the Jetsons, right, they may know the reference, but they certainly don't know the tune. And so Desiree is younger than you and. Is like eighteen. Yeah, She's like, yeah, how do you, Desiree? She's thirty two. So Desiree is thirty two. And so I said, I said, hey, do you realize that the Jetsons only have four lines in the whole opening credit? She said no, I have no idea. So I asked chat Gpt to do it. But just in case you don't know, it starts off with this all this big or straban and it zooms in on the earth and it's like and he goes meet George Jetson his boy el Roy. That's it, and he goes he flies in no daughter, g and the he goes and he goes Jane, his wife, do do do do do? Do? Do? Do do do? And he goes bye, ba and that's it. So there's literally like four lives. And so I'm like, okay, so let's ask chat GPT. So what I The question I asked was, I said, would you please write a theme song about the Bible guys a podcast where two guys talk about the Bible and fun and practical ways, uh to the theme of the Jetsons. And then I actually had to ask it to make sure that it was only four lines, because originally it just gave me something different. I said, no, no, I said, the theme song only has four lines, and it's four syllables per line, even though it's Jane his wife has three. But that's okay. I just I just left it at four syllables. And so this is what we have. Are you ready? Okay? Ready? Do do do do do do do do do do do do. Meet Bible guys thinking they're wise, taking the word do do do do do do do do do do do do do what you heard? That's it. I think we need like a real drummer out here with that. I can't even take the music, but most of it's the music. So meet Bible guys thinking they're wise, taking the word do what you. Heard, that's it. That's it. Well, we don't even need to do today's lesson. Do that. That's right, Just do what you heard. That's what you have to do. So what a riveting segment that we get done super quick, you know. And speaking of riveting, yeah, you know it's riveting. Is when God starts to predict the future. That is riveting. That's pretty good, you know, because hey, listen, whenever the future is predicted back then, especially uh, you know, the note that Life Application Study Bible says one of the reasons why the people were so discouraged is because the future hadn't come to fruition yet. Right, all the prophets of the exciting prophecies of Jonah and the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah and all these different prophecies that are laid out in the Bible, they hadn't come true yet. So the people were getting discouraging, you know, discouraged about their faith and about you know, their obedience. Uh. And actually even down to the priests and the and the religious leaders, none of them we're keeping the commandments, even close to the commandments. They were living as hypocrites and as pagans because the fulfillment of the future is riveting Wesley. Yes, it is. That you win the Transition award. Thank you, thank you very much. So we're going to Malachi third chapter, and this is Versus six through eighteen. And it says, I am the Lord. I do not change. This is why you descendants of Jacob, are not already destroyed. Ever since the days of your ancestors, you have scorned my decrees and failed to obey them. Now return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of Heaven's Armies. But you ask, how can we re return when we have never gone away? 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 tides 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 up 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 right, 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. You have said terrible things about me, says the Lord. But you say, what do you mean? What have we said against you? Verse fourteen. You have said, what's the use of serving God? What have we gained by obeying his commands? Or by trying to show the Lord of Heaven's Armies that we are sorry for our sins. From now on we will call the arrogant blest, for those who do evil get rich, and those who dare God to punish them suffer no harm. Then those who feared the Lord spoke with each other, and the Lord listened to what they said. In his presence. A scroll of remembrance was written to record the names of those who feared him and always thought about the honor of his name Verse seventeen. They will be my people, says the Lord of Heaven's Armies. On the day when I act in judgment. They will be my own special treasure. I will spare them as a father spares an obedient child. Then you will again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not. That's good there, it is in verse six. I like how it starts off where it says, I am the Lord. I do not change. Earlier o the week, we talked about that, the fact that God is the same yesterday, today and forever, and how he is unchanging and fine comfort in that, the fact that God is steadfast. Right, if he said it, he will do it. He's a God that is faithful and just. I love that about our God. Not I love the fact that we don't have to wake up in the morning. What kind of mood is God in today? He's the same yesterday, today and forever. So I love that. Yeah, And that's the reason why like a covenant. So, for instance, yesterday we talked about the word covenant. You know what the word covenant means. It means a promise until death. Yes, what that means? Uh, And so that's why it's so significant. So like, for instance, like you know, you had a wedding. How many how many years you've been married? Twenty It will be twenty four years in June. See, I know that I was testing you. You got it right, good answer. And so my wife and I were thirty three years and so and so when we stood up there and we made a promise to each other. It is actually we're entering into it. They call it a marriage covenant. Yeah. The reason why they call it a cove it is because you say, until death do us part, right, And that's the reason why it's able to be called a marriage covenant. Well, that's the reason why it's so significant that God should make a covenant to us because guess what. God never dies. So when God enters the covenants with us, he never dies. Which is which is? Which is? You know? I am the Lord. I do not change Verse six SSS. You know. So you know remember in Genesis chapter nine, what did God do? God says, I'm gonna make a covenant with you. I'm gonna put a rainbow in the sky because I'm going to remind you that every time it rains, I'm going to remind you that I will never again destroy the earth with water. Because this is right after the flood right in Genesis nine. And so from that day until this day, when it rains, what do we see in the sky rainbows? So many people don't understand, like that's not just pretty. A scientist may be able to say, oh, that's a there's there's a scientific reason of the reason why light off a water particles something with the curvature of the earth and it makes a bow. For these reasons, It's like, no, no, no, no, no no, that's just how God chose to show his covenant, right. Science proves that God has a reasonable explanation for the rainbow. But the purpose of the rainbow is God put that in motion to remind us every single time, Hey, don't worry, don't get scared when it rains. I'm not going to destroy humankind with water. It may seem like it's going to rain a long time, guess what, it's going to stop because I'm gonna put my rainbow there every single time. God never changes from the time of the Old Testament until now. From Genesis until now, God still keeps his promise right, and so all the promises that God kept in the Old Testament, you better believe that he's going to keep his promises that he gives us in the New Testament to the Church believer. And that's refreshing to know when you're going through a tough time, to know that God keeps his promise, says, even when it doesn't look good, even when your situation looks bad, you can't figure out how am I going to get out of this one? God still keeps his promises. Now, the situation may not unfold the way you desire, right, you know, God never said he had to follow your script or what you want it. But God does keep his promises. Yeah, well it it reminds me of Psalm seventy seven. We got to go on and talk about this, but but Psalm seventy seven is that it's patterned that way. The first ten verses say God, have you have you forgotten me? And then and then in verse number eleven it turns and says, but then I remember your faithfulness. Yeah, from long ago, I remember how you did X, Y and Z, and how you know what God is as great as our God? Right that that you know? To whom else shall we run? You know? You know, because because you're the one that we should run to, which is right? No, that's good. So anyway that that's that's all found in verse number six. But then we move on. And then he goes on and says, you know, should people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me. But you ask, what do you mean when do we cheat you? And he lays out and tithes and offerings. Now, what's so interesting about the word tithe is again the life application study. Bible has a lot of really cool things, and it says many ancient peoples observe the practice of tithing, that is, giving a tenth of their earnings of produce, of harvest, etc. Back to a leader or to a god. Malachi's reminded of the people of God's command to tithe. The first instance is Abraham's tithe to Melchzedek. And then in the book of Leviticus, and it gives all the chapters and all the verses. These are the different references to tithes. The Israelites were required to tithe of their crops, their fruit, and their hurts. The Levites were given the tithe as their support. The Levites in turn gave a tithe of the tithe to support the priests, and the Israelites were to bring their tithes to Jerusalem and offerings. When it comes to the form of ritual meals which Levites were invited to share, and of Jerusalem was too far of a person to transport the tithe. He could take the tithe there in the form of money, which is where we find the temple, right, Yeah, the temple in Jerusalem in Jesus' time when they would buy lambs and goats and things, right yeah. And then there's two more references. God promises blessings for those who faithfully tithe and says that refusing to tithe is like robbing him that we just read. And then tithing without love or obedience to God amounts to nothing more than a meaningless ritual in Luke, which is to your point a couple days ago, How's it's the heart. Behind the heart issue. Yeah, it's not about the money. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. God doesn't need your money. Those are the references to tithe in Leviticus and in Numbers and in Deuteronomy. Countless things in Deuteronomy, and then in Malachi, and then in Matthew, and then also in Luke. Now I want to throw a curve ball at you because a lady asked this question to me, this is like three four years ago, and she said, I do tithe, so a ten percent of her income she would actually set aside. But this is what she would do. She would like take five percent, give that to the church. Another the other five percent, maybe she would give to like a homeless shelter or something like that. Can you break apart your tithe you like divvy it up? Yeah, that's a great question. So there's a lot of debate about this. But keep in mind that they were supposed to bring their tithes to the local storehouse, which is the local church, right. It represents the local church. And when you give a tithe to the church, you have to understand that like today, we're supposed to tie to you know, give our tithes to the church, our offerings to the church. Well, Jesus didn't die for parachurch organizations. Jesus didn't die for nonprofits, right, And by the way, I'm on the board of a nonprofit, yeah, right, of a parachurch organization, so I definitely believe in them. It's a it's a sex trafficking uh, you know, anti sex trafficking cause, so so certainly, you know that's a worthy donation, right, But we have to understand that Jesus died for the church, and so you know, the church is the bride and and you know all the other ministries that are that are connected to Jesus's mission are the bride's maids. Yeah, right, and so and so yes, I believe that that your your tithes and offerings should go to the church. And then and then over and above, which I guess would be offerings right, ties to the church offerings if you want to, uh, which would be over and above your tithes, you can give to other ministries. So so yeah, that's a great question. And it actually supports that. In the scripture in verse ten, it says bring all the tithes into the storehouse. I think another Bible translation says bring the whole tithe right into the storehouse. That's right. So yeah, so we can't break it apart. Even though what she was trying to do wasn't She didn't have evil intent. She was trying to be a blessing to other people. But in her mind, yeah, I can take two percent, give it here, you know, give four percent of the church, give three percent there, you know. Yeah, yeah, and there's a lot of different and there's a lot of different interpretations about heart issues. Like people would say like, oh, is it tithing off the gross or is it is it tithing off the net? And then and then people would say, well, it's about the heart, and they use the heart to you know, say, you know, where's your heart? What kind of blessing do you want? And and but but yet there's no direct specific, you know, specification on tithe or Engrosser nets. And I mean these are these are these are debates that have gone on for centuries centuries, right, Yeah, and people go back and forth on it, and they'd say, well, you know, is tithe New Testament or is it Old Testament? And so just just so everybody knows. At Heritage Church, we we we say tithe is the model of the Old Testament. The commandment that Jesus supports. He references tithe, He supports it when he talks about you know, hey, you know you tithe of your your cumen and your and your spices, right and and and you should do so right. So Jesus supports these things. Yeah, it's referenced in the New. So it's referenced in Matthew. It's referenced in Luke. So we would say at Heritage Church, we would say the Biblical model is, uh, you know, tithe a ten percent off the top of your income. And then and then offerings are over and above a tithe. And then there's a third kind of offering alms, alms right. That you can give out to the Salvation army bucket if you wanted to. Sure, yeah, because alms in the Old test the in the Old Testament and New Testament are for the moment kind of givings. Yeah right, it's the spare change in your pocket kind of thing, right when they would collect alms. So there's so there's tithes, there's offerings, and then there's alms. Yeah yeah. So yeah, so when it comes down to tithing, how how have you experienced uh, you know, honoring God and your finances? Has that? Have you seen God work in that? Yeah? So when we and I mentioned this in a previous episode, when I was laid off from my job, we made a decision we would continue to tithe no matter what. That was just a decision when we're not going to backtrack on God or anything. And God, there was not one bill that we had in that timeframe that went unpaid. Don't ask me how we got money from, you know, like we sent off for there was someone who owed us money and we sent a letter and they sent the money. Like every single month, God provided in some kind of way to make sure that every bill that we have was paid for. Yeah, yeah, that's right. And it doesn't always work out that way. Yeah, true, but God definitely always works right. Like for instance, between my jobs, I was almost kicked out of my house and they almost did a foreclosure and yet we tithed, right, So it doesn't always it doesn't always mean that God's gonna, you know, just magically produce money, because after all, that's sort of a prosperity gospel, right, the prosperity gospel. As we give in order to get, we're going to give in order to be richer. And some people teach that, don't they, you know, And we don't necessarily believe that that the blessings that come have to be monetary. The blessings that God promises when tithing is that God would take care of us, and sometimes it is money, sometimes it is God will show up miraculously. Make sure that your credit score is never going to go down right, and then sometimes it just does. But God always takes care of you in other ways. But I'll tell you, financially, I have seen God show up in the ways that you're talking about. I have seen money come in the mail that doesn't make any sense. I've seen things down to the very dollar, down to the dollar where it's just like we need to exactly like one and ten dollars and a check came for one ten dollars. I'm not even kidding, you know, as a refund for something that we didn't expect. I mean, I have seen God show up miraculously providing financially in ways that are just beyond coincidence. And I love when that happens because we can't take credit for it. That's what we can't say. So we can't take credit for it, and we can't say it was coincidence. When it's something like that and it's like to the specific dollar, it's like, Okay, God, this was you, and we give him the credit. Yeah and me. And let me be clear as well to say that the time that I referred to just now is almost being foreclosed upon. Eventually, God showed up in that situation as well. And of course I did not lose my house, and and God took care of me in a great way. And I would I would venturely say in that situation he showed up just in the nicked time, you know. So it happens that way as well, so you know. But the bottom line is is God asks us to walk in faith in all areas of our life, and tithing is no different right. And people are funny about money, aren't. Oh, this is one of the This is my hypothesis. My theory here is that God could have chosen anything on earth as a tithe It didn't have to be money. He could have, in his infinite wisdom, could have chosen anything you can. Yeah, he could have. But I believe that God chose the thing that humanity loves the most, the thing that you'll kill for, the thing that you'll steal for, the thing that you'll go to jail for. I want that not because I have a useful I don't need your money, but the thing that your heart is so attached to. I want you to give me that. Well. I love the phrase that says God gave us, you know, to over two thousand verses talking about finances in the Bible more than ten times than any other topic in the Bible, because he knew that money is the chief competitor for our affection. Yeah, it is, That's what it is. It's the chief Money is the chief competitor for our affection and loyalty. And so God asks us to have faith when it comes to you know, our choices and business, when it comes to our parenting, when it comes to our life decisions, when it comes to dating, when it comes to marriage, when it comes to all things, and then also when it comes to our finance, and and and so it's no different. And so make no mistake of it. You know, when when when God designed the church, I love the way that God designed the church because he designed giving as an individual practice right. So when I give my tithe, that is a Chris czar Ba and and and Chris Arba's family thing. It has to do with our faith as a family. It has to do with my faith individually, that's it. So it's an individual practice right of giving. But then God involves the corporate tithe too, you know, for all the church to give to the storehouse, so that God calls the church to be on mission to reach the world. So God's God put all the eggs in the baskets of the church. The church is God's Plan A and Plan B. The church is God's hope for the world. So God calls us corporately to this mission, which God uses the tithe for. So I love the way that God designed the church and the way that God asks us to do this. So anyway back to my original thought, which was, as church leaders, if we don't preach on marriage, then we are disobeying God. If we don't teach on obedience and being faithful with anger or forgiveness in relationships, we're being disobedient to God. And as pastors, if we don't teach on obedience and finance, we're being disobedient to God. We can't preach half the word. That's right, we can't. We can't discriminate. So a lot of times as leaders we shy away. There are so many pastors that shy away from preaching about money because they're like, oh, people get offended. Yeah, but people also get offended when you say God says that sex is reserved for marriage, right, People get offended by that. They say, stay out of my business. Right, And so it's like, don't tell me what to do, don't tell me what to do with you know, I can get angry if I want to get angry, right, don't tell me how to respond, don't tell me not to cuss, don't tell me all these different things. But pastors they say, oh, people are gonna get mad if we get in their business, and they shy away from God's word. But guess what. Listen, here's my big statement. My big statement is if you have a problem with giving that is a spiritual problem, make no mistake of it. That is not a financial problem, that is not a business problem, that is not a practical problem. That is just as much as a spiritual problem as any other spiritual problem. It's just as important in an exact same category as your marriage or your relationships. And if you have a giving problem, then we need to put it into the category of God teach me in this area, which, by the way, consequently that means that if people start to tie the more and as the church offerings go up and we're able to do more, that by church leadership should be just as celebrated as much as God saving a marriage. Right, Yeah, God saved a marriage. Man that's awesome. Let's celebrate God broke the power of greed in somebody's life. Hey man, let's celebrate, right, it's the same thing. And so yeah, so that's the reason why you know, God is going through and saying, here's all of my commands, here's all my decrees, and let me talk about how you need to also honor me with your resources as well. Yeah, and there's a lot more that we can get into here, but we are out. Of time, we certainly are. So anyway, that is all our time. So we will wrap up Malachi tomorrow and so hopefully we'll see you then on the babble. Guys,