I spent some time in
a youth prison while I was in Bible School---not as an inmate but as a Bible
teacher. All sorts of kids from all
sorts of backgrounds were there at the JUVENILE DETENTION CENTER-close to the Broad River north of Columbia, SC.
Short kids, tall kids, white kids and black kids. Some were as young as 11 and as old as
17. When a teenager turned 18 and he
still had some time left of his sentence, he would be sent to adult
prison.
One factor was common
with ALL the kids: they all were innocent.
“Didn’t do it!” “Not me!”
“I was set up!” 100% of the
inmates were all innocent children! (That
is what they said, but…) But after talking with them for some time, you learn
that this innocent was short lived. They
had been doing all sorts of crime from an early age and the chances of them
returning to crime was very high. Law
enforcement officials I have met told me that South Carolina had the worst
reputation of all the States concerning the prisons.
The kids were tough
and so were the guards. I would not
hesitate to say that they were cruel and unkind. One guard I knew in the Rhode Island prison
system liked working there so he could beat up people real good. This is in no way implying ALL prison guards
are like this, but…
And the men…and the
youth in the prisons were all innocent.
We find that same
attitude today in our passage.
The People of Israel
were feeling pretty good about themselves.
Even as their country was falling apart around them, the enemy nations
were pressing in on every border, their economy was being stretched well beyond
any possibility of recovery, and God gives them this piece of news that they
reject. “You are stealing from Me!”
Every well
respecting Jewish person knew the Commandments Moses passed on to them. They knew the Five Books of Moses and for
some of them, had even memorized them! They wore the right kind of cloths. They followed—for the most part—those ceremonies
of their so-called Faith. They had some
holes in the outworking of their Faith but they felt smug. They felt that they
were the “Chosen Ones” of God and that alone would save them from defeat. Save them from disaster. Save them from the horrors of captivity.
After all, they had ‘made it’ through the Babylonian captivity. They were living through the Medo-Persian
Empire’s captivity. How hard could it
get?
They will need to
learn a very hard lesson. And they will
learn it rather soon. As background,
lets look at when all this happened.
Date Book
|
Theme
|
Prophecies
to/about
|
Major
Sins Addressed
|
520 Haggai
|
The
restoration Temple
points to the Church |
Zerubbabel,
Joshua and the returned remnant |
Neglect
in building
God's House. Procrastination. |
520-518 Zechariah
|
The
coming of
God's Kingdom preceded by building of Temple |
Zerubbabel,
Joshua and the returned remnant |
Joshua's
filthy garments.
Lack of judgment, mercy and peace. Living in evil ways. |
c.
400 Malachi
|
Be
prepared for
the Messenger that is to come |
Israel
and
'Israel of God' |
Priests
neglect duties.
People chided for divorce, adultery, criticizing, robbing God. |
In just a short amount of time,
Israel has been taken away three times—The Assyrians, the Babylonians and now
the Persians. For many of them, they
might have felt: “What more could happen to us?” Again, a lesson to be learnt the hard
way—thru fire. Fire, because they did
not follow the commands in the first place.
(God had promised them that IF they followed His Laws, only good would
come out of life—but, if they rejected His Plans and His Laws, they would be
punished.)
Here we have the situation where the people just did not get it! They felt that they could just sit back and
let life move on without any effort on their part. Even the idea of keeping the ‘easy’ laws of
God became a burden to them. And now,
God is telling them that they are robbing God Himself.
1. Robbing
God: In tithes and offerings – Mal 3:8神から奪う：１０分の１献金と捧げものにおいて マラキ3:8
The statement was given: You
have stolen from Me. They replied: “No, we are innocent! Not true!” (Just
like those inmates in the DJJ Detention Center.)
I would guess it is a serious thing to steal from God. Even as a young boy in Rhode Island, I just
could not steal things. Shoplifting was
very popular with the people I went to school with. I just could not do it. Glad I did not do it!
As I spoke to the kids in the Center, they would tell of the things they
stole—not that they were guilty of those crimes—and I would wonder- “What kind of conscious do they have?” Not a very active one.
But stealing from God? Think about it in the sense of what could be stolen
from the King of the Universe? Does He
have anything that I could indeed lift? It would be on a different level.
Stealing time away from Him. Neglecting
devotional time—prayer time—time in His presence? Sure that would be
stealing. Here in this passage, the
stealing was different than time or devotion—it was real robbing of money…of
the tithes and offerings due to Him.
Last week, we looked at the question of tithing and through our research;
we found that a tithe (10%) was the starting point and that we are to add to that
as we mature in our Faith. Here, God’s
People were robbing God even of that 10% plus offerings. They became callus to
the things of God. They became immature
in their Faith. In short, they were at
the bottom looking down and not up. If
they were looking up, God would have helped them. They felt comfortable in this
position. And yet God wanted to give
them more—so much more. Read on in verse 10. God is inviting the people to bring
in the tithe into the storehouse…to test Him at His Word.
Before we go to far, 2. Penalty
For Robbing: Under a curse – Mal 3:9
強奪への制裁 呪いのもと マラキ3:9
Then in verse 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. So what was going on in their country? Pest
was affecting their harvests. Their vines were drying up before the fruit would
mature. And for an agricultural nation, this means certain death!
3. Command: Bring In The Whole Tithe – Mal 3:10命令 全ての１０分の１献金を持ち寄る マラキ3:10
I would imagine that we also need to put this to a test. Bring to Him what is His due and see what the
Lord God will do in our lives, in our families, and in our communities. I do believe that IF—as in 2 Chronicles 7:14— “If My people, who are
called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn
from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin
and will heal their land.” DO YOU BELIEVE HE WOULD DO THIS FOR US! Do we need sins forgiven? Does our land need healing? Here He says: “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.”
The Lord also had a lot to say about the condition of your
offerings. Not the lame, cut, weak
sheep, but healthy, whole spotless lambs would be the one’s the Lord
required.
Think of our gifts we bring to Him.
Are they the first fruits of our labor? Are they given out of a heart of
gratitude or in a grudging manner? Identify the motives and make changes where
necessary and move on to become mature in your Faith.
How? There are programs out
there to help us, but let’s look at just three simple steps:
a. Program For Stewards: First
Day of Week – 1 Cor 16:1-2 仕える者に関するプログラム 週の最初の日 第１コリント16:1-2 1 Now about the collection for the Lord’s people:
Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. 2 On the first
day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping
with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to
be made.
b. Prosperity Of Stewards: Sowing Generously – Reap Generously – 2 Cor 9:6仕える者の繁栄 ゆたかに撒き ゆたかに刈り取る 第２コリント9:6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also
reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.
c. Possessions Of Stewards: Store Up Treasures In Heaven – Matt
6:20-21 仕える者の財産 天に宝を積む マタイ20 But
store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not
destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart
will be also. Where is your heart?
• Col 3:23
Whatever
you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human
masters. Whatever you do, do with all your heart 何をするにも、心から働きなさい。 コロサイ
3:23
• 2 Cor 9:7 Each of you should give what you have decided in
your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful
giver. God loves a
cheerful giver神は喜んで施す人を愛して下さるのである。第２コリント 9:7
Are you cheerful?
• Matt 10:8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who
have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give. Freely
you have received, freely give ただで受けたのだから、ただで与えるがよい。マタイ10:8
•Two Promises given: 与えよ.
• Luke 6:38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good
measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into
your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Give, and it will be given えよ。そうすれば、自分にも与えられるであろう。 ルカ6:38
• Malachi 3:10. 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. I will throw
open the floodgates of heaven わたしがあなたがたのために、天の窓を開き、あふれるばかりの祝福をあなたがたに注ぐ. マラキ3:10
Are you getting ready for the floodgates to be opened?
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