Congregations
all over the world are struggling to make ends meet. People in India are living
in places we can’t even imagine. The people in Afghanistan and Iraq and Sudan
and Syria are living in fear for their lives because they never know whether
tomorrow might be their last. Christians living in nations where they are the
minority worship in secret because it’s against the law in their nation to be a
Christian.
Yet, every day these folks risk everything
they have to survive. And in some of these places there are folks who give the
little they have to help their neighbors.
So, I’ve been thinking. What do we
risk? Did any of us wake up this morning wondering if a car bomber was going to
be parked outside the church? Did any of us wake up this morning wondering if
there was enough flour in the cupboard to make something to eat? Did any of us
wake up this morning and count our pennies and decide that we could risk giving
them to the church…even though they were all we had? What chances do we take?
We may drive too fast. We probably eat
a few too many sweets or drink too many cups of coffee. We may choose not to
exercise. But that’s not what I’m getting at today.
Jesus took a seat in the temple and observed
the people putting their offerings into the temple treasury. Those who were wealthy were putting
substantial chunks of change. Then he
called his disciples over because he’d noticed a widow coming in with her
offering. She dropped two small coins in
the treasury.
And Jesus said that she had given more
than all the others put together. What
the others had put in they’d never miss but what she gave was all she had. She
risked it all trusting in God.
I don’t believe Jesus was saying that
folks should give all but he was pointing out the kind of trust this widow had
compared to those wealthy tithers who gave what they’d never miss.
The prophet Malachi spoke God’s words
to the people of his community. He spoke of how the priests were mistreating His
people and how the people weren’t remaining faithful to their spouses and each
other…and God.
In chapter 3 he speaks of sending a
messenger to prepare the way before Him. The people hadn’t been living as God
had instructed them. They had reverted back to sorcery and idols, swearing
falsely and cheating, and oppressing the laborers who worked for them by not
paying them a fair wage. They weren’t
caring for the aliens in their country…and they didn’t fear the Lord. God wasn’t happy.
But God hadn’t changed. He still loved
them. He desired them to return to Him. But how could they return when they’d
been robbing God? They questioned how they were robbing God and he replied, “In
your tithes and offerings! You are cursed with a curse, for robbing me—the whole
nation of you!”
Now you’d think that God would have
had enough. That he’d want children who loved him and cared to be with him and
wouldn’t cheat him. But no, He said, “Bring the full tithe into the storehouse,
so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test…see if I
will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an
overflowing blessing.”
God was asking them to risk giving
their tithe and then trust Him to bless them. Even though they’d neglected
their offerings for so long God didn’t reject them he was willing to take them
all back if they’d come back to him.
So…when we hear God saying, “You have
spoken harsh words against me,” do we wonder when and how we could have done
that? God’s reply is the same today as it was in Malachi’s day. When we say it
is vain to serve God. What do we profit by keeping his commands…Now we count
the arrogant happy; evildoers not only prosper, but when they put God to the
test they escape. We risk nothing. It’s all about us.
There is a day coming says the Lord
when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes
will burn them up. But…for you who
revere my name the sun of righteousness shall go out leaping like calves from
the stall.
Now, we might think that all of this
was just for those folks back in the day but I believe God is speaking to you
and me. He sees what we give. He knows what we’re thinking and saying…and his
heart is breaking.
There are hungry people in the world.
There are children starving in the world. But they don’t need to. They could be
fed. There is enough food in the world relieve the hunger and the
starvation. All it takes is for God’s
children to give. All it takes is for us
to give our tithe.
There’s not one of us here today who’d
starve or miss a payment by giving our tithe…not one. I say that because God isn’t asking us to
risk what the widow did. He just wants us to remember the commandments to love
him with all we are and to love our neighbors as much as we love
ourselves.
What would the impact be if we
committed to doing that? What kind of change would take place if we brought our
tithe into God’s storehouse? I wonder.
Friends, I believe God is reminding us
of our duty to Him and our neighbors.
And we know who our neighbors are, don’t we?
Thanks be to God for
his loving grace. Amen.
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