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Title: The Twelve
Scripture: Luke 9:1-6
Speaker: Bill Shirlaw
Date: 29 January 2012
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| Title: | Are you cheating God? |
| Reference: | Malachi 3:6-12 |
| Notes: | About 100 years after Haggia and Zechariah. This reading starts with an assurance that God doesn’t change. The problem in this book is that God seems far away from the people. And people are asking where is God? And God states. Here I am. What do you mean where am I? Return to me and I will return to you. And what does God say the problem is? Tithes? Well yes and no. Tithe means Tenth. It was the tenth of the peoples produce or income that was owed to God for the temple service and other social obligations. Basic tenth paid to the Levites (Lev.27:30-33). There were tithes paid out of that and you can read about them in (Num 18:25-32; Deut. 14:28-29) And the people of this time had stopped living by that rule. They made some contribution, but certainly not the whole tithe. Now we have to keep things in context. These tithes were made to support a specific class of people. It is not something that is carried over to the New Testament. Paul for all his rules, regulations and advice to the fledgling Church, never mentions ‘tithe’ Perhaps and more importantly.... maybe there is a deeper truth in all this. They had not....given with a willing and thankful heart. Now giving is mentioned in the New Testament (1 Cor. 16:2) “On the first day of every week each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income” Now some will argue that we shouldn’t change what the Bible says. And I would argue that I don’t. But it does require to be understood in the context of the times it was written in and understood in our times too. So when God say’s “You rob me” It still has a significance down the years. In the business of tithing, God is expecting the 1st 10%. Not some kind of left over amount. If we have 10% left then we will give it to God. God is reminding them of the obligation to provide the 10%. First! So where does that leave us today? This story reminds us to put God first. When you are giving, how is the amount you give decided. What you want to give to God or what you have got left? When volunteering, do you give your left over time? Or the best of your time? When you sit down to pray, is that a priority? Or just an after thought? Do you give God your second best? Or your best? What are you cheating God with today? |
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