Are We Robbing God?

Malachi 3:8-10
By Harold Dinsmore, M.Div.
© 2008 Harold Dinsmore

Today I want to share a message that entails the aspect of giving according to the Bible.  Our church is committed to the scriptures and its authority over us.  Therefore, we are under obligation to preach and teach the Word of God.  So, I encourage you to listen to what God has to say about giving and not what man has to say about it with all his preconceived ideas.

               Billy Graham in his sermon, “Partners with God,” says, “One of the greatest sins in America today is the fact that we are robbing God of that which rightfully belongs to him.  When we don’t tither, we shirk a just debt…..this is a debt we owe.  Not until we have given a tenth do we actually begin an offering to the Lord!”

               Now what do you think about that statement?  When he talks about tithing and giving a tenth, just what is it he is talking about?  Where does he get such stuff and is that source reliable.  I would like for you to turn in your Bibles now to a passage that is both frightening and encouraging at the same time.  You can find it in the last book of the Old Testament, the book of Malachi, chapter 3 and verses 8-10.  “Will a man rob God?  Yet you rob me.  But you ask, How do we rob you?  In tithes and offerings.  You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me.  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 you will not have room enough for it.”