The Blessing in the 10%“The Blessing in the 10%” Message by Ronny Cham preached at the Bahasa
Malaysia Service of SIB Metro Church on Sunday, 18th May, 2008. Scripture: Malachi 3:8-12 "Will a man rob God? Yet
you have robbed Me! But you say, 'In what way have we
robbed You?' In tithes and
offerings. You are cursed
with a curse, for you have robbed Me, even this whole
nation. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My
house, and try 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 such blessing that
there will not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for
your sakes, so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall the
vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field," says the LORD of hosts; “and
all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land," says
the LORD of hosts. We labour and strive for our daily
livelihood, always trying to make ends meet. It is not because we are greedy or
insatiable in our craving for more. I am talking about being always in genuine
need, sincere struggle to pay bills, to feed our family, to cloth ourselves and
to live a decent standard of life, to give our children reasonable education
etc… Yet, as Christians, we are confronted with this Scripture in
Malachi 3:8-12, literally accusing us of robbing God in tithes and
offerings. It is so difficult to
part with the 10%, the tithe, when we feel that the 10% tithe can do so much to
help defray mounting costs and desperate needs we are in. Robbing God? No, we
don’t put our hands into the offering bags to take His money. No, we don’t break into the
Pastor’s safe to steal God’s money. This scripture refers merely to
“withholding” the payment of tithes and offerings. Not a deliberate refusal to pay, no, I
am talking about a condition where we have the desire to pay, but yet we are in
such great financial needs and even crisis. “Lord, next time, ok, when I made
a little more… I give more!” such bargain is common isn’t
it? Or, “Lord, after payment
of everything I only have left over this little, ok, 10% of this left over
ok?” What was the condition of the people of God in when God spoke to
them in Malachi 3:8-12? Well, there
was, as if, a merciless devourer destroying the fruit of their ground and their
vine failed to bear fruit in their field. Can any one of us make a tree to
grow? Can any of us make a tree to
grow fruit? Malachi 3 is talking
about a situation where, before you can harvest of the fruit of the ground, the
fruit was destroyed. You may have a
tree full of mangoes but before you can eat of any of the mangoes, they dropped
before they are ripe for harvest.
In reality sense, we labour and we work hard,
yes, we are trying our best, not just devoting ourselves to 8 hours of work a
day, some of us go beyond 10 or 12 hours of work a day, trying to earn a little
bit more. And I am talking about
Christians. Tithes and offerings are to be given as commanded by God. In Numbers 18:21, we read, “Behold, I have given the children of Levi
all the tithes in Israel as an inheritance in return for the work which they
perform, the work of the tabernacle of meeting.” (NKJV) In Leviticus 27:30,
we also read, “And all the tithe of
the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the
LORD's. It is holy to the LORD.” (NKJV) Tithes belong to God. Tithes are to be taken into the dwelling place of God, into His
storehouse. This is clearly stated
in Deuteronomy 12:5-7 "But you shall seek the
place where the LORD your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name
for His dwelling place; and there you shall go. 6 There you shall take your
burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your
hand, your vowed offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your
herds and flocks. 7 And there you shall eat before the LORD your God, and you
shall rejoice in all to which you have put your hand, you and your households,
in which the LORD your God has blessed you. (NKJV) And in Nehemiah 10:38 “And the priest, the
descendant of Aaron, shall be with the Levites when the Levites receive tithes;
and the Levites shall bring up a tenth of the tithes to the house of our God, to
the rooms of the storehouse.” (NKJV) And in Nehemiah 13:12 “Then all Judah
brought the tithe of the grain and the new wine and the oil to the storehouse.”
(NKJV) Is God in need of our Tithes & Offerings? Certainly not, consider Psalms 50:7-15 "Hear, O My people, and
I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify against you;I am God, your God! I will not rebuke you for your
sacrifices Or your burnt offerings, Which are
continually before Me. I will not take a bull from your house, Nor goats out of your folds. 10 For every beast of the
forest is Mine, And the cattle on a thousand hills . I
know all the birds of the mountains, And the wild
beasts of the field are Mine. "If I were hungry, I would not tell you; For the world is Mine, and all its fullness. Will I eat the
flesh of bulls, Or drink the blood of goats? Offer to
God thanksgiving, And pay your vows to the Most High.
Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver
you, and you shall glorify Me." (NKJV) Is payment of tithes an Old Testament law or it applies to New testament Christians as well? In Matthew 23:23, Jesus has this to say to the scribes and
Pharisees:- "Woe to you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites! For
you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have
neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These
you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.”
(NKJV) It is clear that even when rebuking the scribes and Pharisees,
Jesus did not say that the legal requirement of paying tithe is no longer
required in the New Testament Church, He said, “these ought to have done” but we must do the more important
things such as justice, mercy and faith.
This means that the Word of God in Malachi 3:8-12, applies in the
Old Testament and in the New Testament too. Tithes and offerings are still to be
gathered by the people in charge of His House, and are to be brought into the
storehouse, i.e., the Church. The
‘withholding’ of tithes and offerings means ‘robbing
God’. Why do Christians withhold tithes and offerings and yet they pay
income tax, sales tax, rates and other dues to the Government? I am also
reminded of the word of God in 1 John 4:20, “If someone says, "I love God ," and
hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he
has seen, how can he love God whom
he has not seen?” (NKJV) Is
it because ‘God we cannot see’ and ‘Government we can
see’? Or is it because
Government has law requiring us to pay taxes and dues and if we do not pay,
they will sue us for breaking the law?
But on the other hand, God (whom we cannot see) or our Pastors, (who are
too nice), though there is the Commandment of God to pay tithes, they will not
sue us if we do not pay tithes and offerings? I am clearly reminded of the word
of God in James 2:20, 26 that faith without works is dead. This means that our deeds and actions
demonstrate our faith in the Lord. In John 14:15, Jesus says, “if you
love me, keep my commandments.” Keeping and obeying the Word of God
demonstrates our love for Christ. Am I trying to put a legal burden on Christians? You may quote to me what the Bible say
in 2 Corinthians 9:7, “So let each
one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity ; for God
loves a cheerful giver.” (NKJV)
Therefore, should our tithes be 10% or it is something that I would
cheerfully decide in my heart to give to God’s house and that would
fulfill the law of giving tithes? Tithes is Tithes, it is 10% of our income. Before tax or after
tax; before my household expenses or after deducting my household expenses; before
payment of my bills or staff salaries or after payment of my bills and staff
salary? Can we bargain with
God as to how much to be paid as tithes?
I am minded of a simple story I told my children about obeying
God’s law. By law we drive on
the left side of the road in Malaysia.
That’s the law. That
law guarantees our safety and makes sure we arrive at our destination. Now, try it, try driving on the right
hand side of the road and see what will the consequences
be. In the same say, God is saying
to us in Malachi 3:10, try Him. Try Him by withholding the tithes and
offering and see what are the consequences? Try God by bringing in His 10% into the storehouse and see what
would happen to the 90%. If I read
Malachi 3:10 – 12 correctly, the possible consequences are that my 90% can
be more than sufficient for me because God will not allow the fruit of my
ground to be destroyed, and the labour of my hands
shall bear fruits for me. My 90%
shall be more than enough to pay taxes and dues to the government, all my bills
and salaries etc and shall have left over from the 90%. People would see us and say, “surely your God has blessed you.” Our Church will be a place of delight
and joy. Thus, the fullness of our
blessing that we can derive out of the 90% depends on our faithfulness and
obedience in His 10%. His 10% and
our 90% made up the 100% that we earn.
There is no other computation in it that makes up the 100%. While verse 8 of Malachi 3 refers to ‘tithes and
offerings’, verse 10 refers to ‘tithes’ only. We rob God in tithes and offerings. It is my conviction that if I am
faithful with His 10%, my 90% shall be more than enough for me. Out of my abundance of His blessing, I
offer more than the 10% and that offering is what I set in my heart to give
cheerfully, not by compulsion or out of necessity, but with a willing and
cheerful heart in accordance with 2 Corinthians 9:7. The fullness of our blessing that we can derive out of the 90%
depends on our faithfulness and obedience in His 10% and our generosity in
offerings out of the abundance we received from Him. Ronny Cham |
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