Summary: 7th Rebuke - We ought to pay tithes 8th Rebuke - We ought to diligently seek God, as we know that God sees and remembers our efforts

Hymn 118

7th Rebuke

Mal 3:6-8
“For I am the LORD, I do not change;
Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.
Yet from the days of your fathers
You have gone away from My ordinances
And have not kept them.
Return to Me, and I will return to you,”
Says the LORD of hosts.
“But you said,
‘In what way shall we return?’
“Will a man rob God?
Yet you have robbed Me!
But you say,
‘In what way have we robbed You?’
In tithes and offerings.

The Lord did not change, but the people robbed God in tithes and offerings.

This wasn’t the first time this happened; it happened in the time of Nehemiah too.

What are tithes?

Gen 14:18-20
Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said:
“Blessed be Abram of God Most High,
Possessor of heaven and earth;
And blessed be God Most High,
Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.”
And he gave him a tithe of all.

This was the first record of tithes being given. It shows that Abraham had the concept of giving tithes. Nevertheless, we are unsure if the tithes Abraham gave and the tithes recorded later are the same.

Lev 27:30
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.

Here, the Lord institutionalised tithes. Why? He created everything, why would He need tithes back from people?

Num 18:21
“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.

Who did the tithes go to? They were given to the descendants of Levi; they were supported by the other tribes as their time was devoted to serving in the tabernacle.

Neh 13:10
I also realized that the portions for the Levites had not been given them; for each of the Levites and the singers who did the work had gone back to his field.

During Nehemiah’s time, the Levites couldn’t serve in the tabernacle because people did not give their tithes. They hence had to return to the field to work to survive.

The offering of tithes is hence closely related to the service in the tabernacle of the Lord. This was why God was so angry. When the people didn’t offer tithes, service to the Lord could not continue.

Mal 3:10-11
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;

This was God’s special blessing if the people brought in their tithes.

In the New Testament, tithes are not necessary as it’s a free will offering. We may offer the amount we like e.g. if we want to offer our all like the poor widow with two mites, we can. What is the purpose of tithes? God doesn’t need to be sustained by us. Rather, tithes are needed to support the operations of the church and the people who serve in the church.

The next question is: should we offer tithes (1/10 of what we earn) or follow the free will method?

Matt 23:23
“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.”

While Jesus was scolding the Pharisees, He doesn’t say tithes shouldn’t be offered because He mentions “these you ought to have done”. From this we can infer we can follow the method of tithe offering.

If we withhold the giving of tithes, that’s robbing God like what He said in Malachi. In Singapore, 20% of our salary is set aside in the CPF. An additional 10% being set aside for tithes leaves little take home money. This can pose as a struggle for some. But isn’t this struggle an opportunity for us to display our faith each month?

Mal 3:10
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.

The Lord will remember our offering and He will bless us. This blessing may be in physical terms, but it’s not limited to that. We may not be driving a 7 series Benz the next day, but God provides food on our table each day - a great blessing! Let us pray that God will bless us with food for each day.

8th Rebuke

Mal 3:13-15
“Your words have been harsh against Me,”
Says the LORD,
“Yet you say,
‘What have we spoken against You?’
You have said,
‘It is useless to serve God;
What profit is it that we have kept His ordinance,
And that we have walked as mourners
Before the LORD of hosts?
So now we call the proud blessed,
For those who do wickedness are raised up;
They even tempt God and go free.’ ”

“It is useless/futile to serve God”

What was God’s response?

Mal 3:16-18
Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another,
And the LORD listened and heard them;
So a book of remembrance was written before Him
For those who fear the LORD
And who meditate on His name.
“They shall be Mine,” says the LORD of hosts,
“On the day that I make them My jewels.
And I will spare them
As a man spares his own son who serves him.”
Then you shall again discern
Between the righteous and the wicked,
Between one who serves God
And one who does not serve Him.

Essentially what God was saying was, “Do not be affected by what the people around you are saying. Concentrate on the fact that I am observing you. I will make you My jewel and will spare you if you fear Me and meditate on My name.”

Do we have similar thoughts as the people? We make great efforts to attend service. We make great efforts to serve God, but are spoken ill of. “All the effort I put in isn’t seen by God at all!”

If we do have such thoughts, we must read v16-18 again. God is listening, watching and will reward on that Day.

Heb 11:6
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Many of us believe that He is. But that isn’t enough to please God because it’s just the former point. We also have to believe that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Diligently seeking Him is not just in terms of serving Him. There are other aspects too.

Let us not say we have tried our best and that the Lord hasn’t seen us putting in effort. Diligently pursuing God is not an easy matter. Humans are lazy. We often prefer to chill and relax in a corner. We often tell ourselves it’s okay to take a break. But in the matters of faith, we cannot harbour such an attitude.

After going through 21 days of theolo, the habit of prayer should have been inculcated in the students. There was an initiative to continue with the morning prayer habit after theolo. 50 people had attended the theolo. Guess how many attended the post-theolo prayer? Less than 10. Amongst them, there was only 1 consistent student (other students attended too but not consistently).

It isn’t easy to diligently pursue after the Lord. We think that everyone has already formed the prayer habit in the 21 days of theolo. Continuing it should be achievable. But many did not continue.

Diligently pursuing and seeking after the Lord takes effort. Faith doesn’t happen by chance. It is a conscious consistent effort.

Let us esteem the matter of being more earnest to seek the Lord.

There are 6 more years to 2027 - the 100th year of Singapore church. What is the True Jesus Church Singapore we envision? That depends on the amount of effort we put into our faith today. May we all put in effort into our faith. God listens and watches our efforts. We may think He isn’t, but He is.

Hymn 418