The Windows of Heaven

January 5, 1992

Malachi 3:10 "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this," says the Lord of Hosts, "if I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows."

INTRODUCTION

Malachi 3:10 is one of those texts that lends itself to manipulation by people who want to raise money for churches. It appeals to a strict cause and effect mentality; it may be used to underscore the mind set the ultra fundamentalist, who sees salvation as a strict contract with the Almighty.
Actually, there ARE elements of contract, of promise, even hints of cause and effect here. God says, "If you will do thus and so, you can prove Me now! I will do thus and so!"
But to be fair we need to see that THE TEXT IS A CLIMAX OF THE [TOTAL] LESSON OF MALACHI; and the whole book reveals God's desire to love and to be loved by His people. God is disappointed when His own people are less than they could be.

[The reason God's people do not experience God's full blessing is plain. They have forgotten that real life centers around GOD! One message of Malachi is:]

I. A REVELATION OF SPIRITUAL IGNORANCE ON ISRAEL'S PART

The Book of Malachi reveals that the people who claim to know all about God and religion are in fact exasperatingly ignorant. A recurrent theme throughout the short book is (1) a statement of fact by God, through His prophet; immediately followed by (2) incredulous statements like "How can that be?" "Why do you say that?" "Where is that a fact?"
1. (1:2) They are ignorant of God's LOVE to them. (1:6) They are ignorant of insulting the name of God.
2. (2:14) They are ignorant of any reason why God should despise their fancy worship, even though they have been treacherous with one another. (2:17) They are ignorant of the fact that God is weary of their empty mouthing of prayers.
3. (3:7) They are ignorant both of the need to return to God, and the way in which they might return to God.
There is no sense of the 'personal' in their dealings with God: [God is "an institution, not a Person with feelings!] How easy to take God for granted! How easy to despise holy things!
1. (3:8) They have never connected GIVING with LOVING GOD! They are ignorant of the fact that when they withhold their tithes from God they are robbing God.
2. (3:13) They have become CASUAL about SEEKING and DOING God's will! They are ignorant that when they speak for God without being in touch with God they are actually speaking against God.
The call of the prophet is not to condemn, but to re establish true faith. The clear way in which God's people may experience God's grace is practical in nature:

II. THE RE ESTABLISHING OF TRUST IN GOD

God is NOT bound strictly by "contract" to us, or we would all be long gone! We are never dealt with as we deserve, but by God's great grace! God is, however, faithful to His covenant with His people! He is reluctant ever to write off one of His own!
TO LOVE GOD, WE MUST MAKE HIM OUR LIFE'S CENTER
Our love to Him must not be merely a matter of convenience. Malachi says, sarcastically, to his hearers (1:8): "Try giving what is left over to the IRS! Try paying your bills with left overs with the things you don't want any more! Doesn't that work?? Well, then WHY GIVE YOUR 'CONVENIENCE' TO GOD?
TO LOVE GOD, WE ARE TO SEEK TO LEARN TO GIVE!
1. The people to whom Malachi was preaching were consumer minded! THEY WERE TAKERS! They asked "What can God and religion do for me?"
  Malachi (actually God, speaking through Malachi) was seeking to turn around their thinking, to make them covenant minded! God always wants His people to be GIVERS! And in God's economy, and in His own currency it is the givers who are rich!
2. Keying on the areas where Malachi accused the people of ignorance, here is an outline on how we should give:
  1. Our MOTIVE must be love not profit.
  2. Our ATTITUDE must be reverence for God and His church; and faith. (Not cynical, not self serving. The widow woman COULD have saved her two mites, saying "I need it more than those rich Pharisees...")
  3. Our ACT OF GIVING should be sacramental. When the plates go by, the amount you place on the plate is one thing; but the very fact of placing something on the plate can be an act of stewardship, a statement of submission to God's will!
  4. Our METHOD of giving is NOT unimportant! Malachi mentions tithing!
  I think that I have heard most of the arguments against storehouse tithing: Tithing is legalistic. Storehouse tithing is invented to support institutions. O.T. Law has been eliminated. Give to get preaching has decimated genuine giving.
  But the fact is storehouse tithing is the floor on which to build a disciplined life of stewardship. I do not limit my personal giving to 10% of my income now; but I grew up in the demonstration of what it means to be partners with God, including faithful tithing during the Great Depression. I will testify that it works!

POINTS TO DRIVE HOME: It is possible to give and not be a Christian, but it is impossible to be a Christian and NOT give. Tithing makes us partners with God in the practical world of finances.

CONCLUSION

The end of this short book is like a fork in the road. Malachi. There is the threat of cursing for those who are arrogant, and choose to remain in ignorance of God's Law and God's LOVE. But there is promise of great blessing as well:

(3:16) "Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and esteem His name.

"'And they will be Mine,' says the Lord of hosts, 'on the day that I prepare my own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.'

"So you will distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him."

(4:2)"But for you who revere my Name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall."

The windows of heaven are open, and God's blessing is promised to those who truly seek to love Him, and let Him love through them. I pray for you and me and for us the joy of being GIVERS to the glory of God! Amen.

173 As with Gladness Men of Old