Friday, April 27,
2012, 8:45 a.m. – The Lord woke me this morning with the song, “The Heart of Man,” playing in my mind.
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Malachi 3:6-18 (NIV 1984):
“I the LORD do not change. So you, O
descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Ever since the time of your
forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return
to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD Almighty.
“But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’
“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. I will
prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not
cast their fruit,” says the LORD Almighty. “Then all the nations will call you
blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the LORD Almighty.
“You have said harsh things against me,” says
the LORD.
“Yet you ask, ‘What have we said against
you?’
“You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God.
What did we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners
before the LORD Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the
evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape.’”
Then those who feared the LORD talked with
each other, and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was
written in his presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honored his
name.
“They will be mine,” says the LORD Almighty,
“in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as
in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the
distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God
and those who do not.
My Understanding:
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and
today and forever” (Heb. 13:8). “Every
good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the
heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” (James 1:17). God
does not change, i.e. his divine character does not change. The God of the Old
Testament is the same God of the New Testament. The covenant relationship with
his people has changed somewhat, i.e. from the old to the new, but he has not
changed. We can always count on him, we can trust in his promises, and we can
believe that he will always act according to his true character. Men will lie
to us, betray us, not keep promises, commit slander, be greedy, etc., but God
can never do evil, though he may use evil men to accomplish his purposes in our
lives sometimes. Though God came near to his people in judgment, God, in his
faithfulness, preserved a remnant and did not entirely destroy them.
Generational
Disobedience
God told his people that their disobedience was
generational. They had followed in their father’s footsteps in not honoring and
not obeying God’s commands. Some people, including church leaders in the church
today are teaching that we no longer have to obey God’s commands since we are
under grace, so let’s look at this subject in the New Testament.
Jesus’ commission he gave to his disciples before he left
the earth to go back to the Father was: “Therefore
go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I
have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the
age” (Matt. 28:19-20). If we, as the Lord’s disciples, are supposed to
teach others to obey everything Jesus Christ has commanded us (in his word),
then we are also required to obey his commandments. Jesus Christ summed up the
Ten Commandments into two: “‘Love the
Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it:
‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these
two commandments” (Matt. 22:37-40).
Everything Jesus commanded us derives from either one of
these commandments. And, we are continually taught throughout the New Testament
that Christ requires obedience.
“Although he was a
son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he
became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him…” (Heb. 5:8-9).
“We know that we have come to know him if
we obey his commands. The man who says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he
commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” (1 Jn. 2:3-4). “Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn
us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because
we obey his commands and do what pleases him… Those who obey his commands live
in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it
by the Spirit he gave us” (1 Jn. 3:21-22, 24). “This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not
burdensome…” (1 Jn. 5:3).
“Return to Me”
God told his disobedient people to return to him, and he
would return to them. We know that God will never leave us or forsake us if we
are truly his, and as followers of Christ, we have the promised Holy Spirit
within us as a deposit guaranteeing what is to come. So God, in His Spirit, is
always with us, and dwells within those who are his true disciples. Yet, it is
possible for us, as followers of Christ, to become complacent about our
relationship with Jesus Christ, to stray away from our pure devotion to him, to
let the cares of this world crowd out our time with him, and/or for us to fall
back into old sin patterns. When we do this, our pure fellowship with our Lord
is broken or is at least strained so that we no longer share in the joy of a
daily walk with Christ, nor do we experience fully the blessings that could be
ours for walking with him in obedience and surrender to his will for our lives.
This is evidenced by Jesus Christ’s letters to the seven
churches in Revelation. God is calling out to his disobedient church today to
return to him in pure devotion and obedience via repentance (turning from sin).
If they will, they will be renewed and restored in their relationship with
Jesus Christ and God the Father, and they will experience the outpouring of his
spiritual blessings upon them.
“How are we to
return?”
The people of God asked how they were to return. It seems
obvious that they should have known the answer to this question, so perhaps
they were pleading ignorance or this is another display of their cynicism. No
matter their motivation for the question, though, God decided to answer them by
first of all showing them what was in their hearts.
God asked them, “Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me,” to
which the people responded, “How do we rob you?” God answered that they robbed
him in tithes and offerings.
I always want to make sure that I am true to the New
Covenant relationship with Jesus Christ when teaching the Old Testament, so I
will endeavor to always make sure of what is taught in the New Testament under
the New Covenant relationship with God, so that I am not teaching Old Covenant
doctrine to New Covenant people. So, with that said, I did a word search on the
word “tithe” from Acts to Revelation (New Covenant), and the word “tithe” did
not appear, with the exception of in Hebrews 7 in reference to the Old Covenant
and the Law. From what I understand of New Covenant teaching, we are no longer
under this old law which requires a 10% tithe, but rather we are to give freely
from our hearts:
“But just as you excel
in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in
your love for us —see that you also excel in this grace of giving” (2 Co.
8:7). “Each man should give what he has
decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God
loves a cheerful giver” (2 Co. 9:7).
Yet, I see a greater understanding of “tithes and offerings”
under the New Covenant. When we truly understand and apply this teaching,
whether or not to pay a tithe will become an irrelevant point, I believe. Jesus
wants every part of us fully committed to him. He wants us 100%! Then, he will
tell us how much he wants us to give financially to his work (and we need to
make sure it is his work we are giving to, and not the work of men).
People are now what are given as an offering to God: “so that the Gentiles might become an
offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit” (Ro. 15:16b). “But even if I am being poured out like a
drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad
and rejoice with all of you” (Php. 2:17). “As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God
and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a
spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 2:4-5). “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of
God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to
God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the
pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then
you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and
perfect will” (Ro. 12:1-2).
So, the way in which we now rob God is by robbing him of the
awe, reverence and honor due his name; of obedience to his commands; of lives
fully devoted and committed to him and to his service; of faithfulness
(spiritual fidelity); of spiritual offerings and sacrifices; of living holy
lives pleasing to God; and of leaving our lives of sin behind us and walking in
daily fellowship with our Lord in surrender to his will for our lives. God
wants us, not what we can give to him. When he has us, he will have what he
wants of us, because we will be inclined to give whatever he asks us to give of
our resources, time, heart, mind, and soul.
Fear the Lord
Those who fear the Lord, i.e. who love, honor, respect,
revere and obey him will be heard by the Lord. He will listen to them, they
will be the Lord’s, they will be his treasured possession, and he will show
compassion to them. There will be a distinction between those who serve God and
those who do not, i.e. between the righteous and the wicked, and the New
Testament bears this out, as well. Coming to faith in Christ Jesus involves
turning from our sin, being transformed in heart and mind by the power and working
of the Holy Spirit within us, and turning to walk in faithful obedience to
Jesus Christ, taking on his righteous character (see Eph. 4:17-24). If you have
not turned to walk in faithful obedience to Christ, and/or if you are guilty of
robbing God/Jesus of what is due him, I pray you will come before the Lord
today in humility and that you will surrender your lives to him.
The Heart of Man
/ An Original Work / April 4, 2012
Based off Matt. 15:1-20; Mk. 7:1-23
Listen to me ev’ryone
and
Understand this
teaching of Christ:
Why do you break the
commands
Of God for the sake of
tradition?
When you follow the
ways of man,
And don’t obey the
words of Christ,
You nullify the words
of God,
And you hold to the
ways of man.
What comes out of a
man’s mouth is
What makes him unclean
and dirty.
The things that come
out of the mouth
Come from the heart,
from within him.
The heart of man is so
sinful;
From his nature, out
comes evil:
Lying, cursing, greed
and malice,
Lust and lewdness,
deceit, slander.
Jesus calls us to obey
him;
Turn from our sins;
follow His ways.
Yet, his people honor
him with their lips,
but their hearts not
with Him.
Their worship of God
is in vain.
Their teachings are
rules taught by man.
Jesus calls us; gently
leads us
To return and follow
His truth.
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