Am I Robbing Myself of Blessing

Come, Lord Jesus!

When things are going badly we cry, "Come, Lord Jesus. Come in all your righteousness, glory, and power."

Deliver justice to your enemies, to the nations, and the ungodly multitudes! Save us from this earthly mess-- from the economic ruin-- from the moral, religious, and political corruption of our day!

Save us from those who don't stand in awe of your holy name. Save us from those who worship idols-- who curse your holy name-- who call evil good, and good evil. Save us from those who consider it their right, and a matter of public policy, to kill innocents.

Deliver us from those who compromise the rule of law for selfish gain-- who corrupt the institution of marriage for their own pleasure-- who placate the irresponsible, endorse the immoral, suppress your word, and neglect the widows and fatherless. Save us from all our personal hardships and pain. Come, Lord Jesus!

In Malachi 3:1-2 (NIV) God tells the people of Israel, " 'See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the Lord Almighty. "But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears?"

Will you be ready when Christ comes again?

Elsewhere in scripture we are warned that the day of the Lord will come suddenly, like a thief in the night, when we least expect it, in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the sound of the last trumpet. And when our great and mighty Lord comes, will he find faith on the earth? Will you be ready?

Now obviously Malachi 3:1-2 is referring to Christ's first return. In a short while, Malachi said that the Lord would send forth his messenger, one like Elijah. John the Baptist would prepare the way for the coming of the Lord. And John's message would be clear and compelling: Repent. Turn to God. Make your path straight. Be baptized.

And in the gospels, Christ did indeed enter his holy temple. And he hated the corruption and greed that he saw. With righteousness and justice, he fashioned a whip of cords and cleaned house. He drove out the vendors and money-changers. He rebuked those who had turned God's house of prayer into a den of robbers.

But when Christ comes again, there will be no such preliminaries. The Lord will cast his net. The righteous will be separated from the unrighteous, the sheep from the goats, and the faithful from the unfaithful. And when he does arrive, who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? When the son of man returns, will he find faith?

In Malachi 3 Malachi reveals three things God desires to see on the day he visits us.

God desires a pure heart.

In Malachi 3:2-4 (NIV) Malachi asks, "But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years."

There isn't anything a dirty child fears more than bath time. The Lord will be like a launderer's soap-- scrubbing away the blots and blemishes and stains and impurities and every sinful thing that's offensive. Malachi also says that the Lord will be like a refiner's fire. He says that essentially, we will be consumed with fire, not for our destruction, but for the purification of our souls.

The things we most beg of God to be delivered from are intended by God to purify our hearts, to serve as a kind of launderer's soap or a refiner's fire. One thing we know about God is that he desires purity of heart. In Matthew 5:8 (NIV) Jesus says, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God." This means that everything impure must be washed away.

In Matthew 3:8-12 (NIV) John the Baptist tells those waiting for Christ, "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that our of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

In James 4:7-10 (NIV) we're instructed, "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up."

Though you pray, "Come, Lord Jesus" ask yourself, "What is it about my painful circumstances, my hardships, and my personal trials that God is using to purify my heart?" We shouldn't be afraid of what God is doing, but we should certainly understand it. His goal is that when we come to him, we come in righteousness, with pure and sincere hearts.

God desires a posture of faith.

In Malachi 3:5-7 (NIV) God says, " 'So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me,' says the Lord Almighty. '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."

Now at first glance, you may assume these verses have absolutely nothing to do with faith. But they have everything to do with faith. These verses describe all the shortcuts we begin to take when we don't trust God. And what I want you to observe is how they are almost all tied to economics.

Sorcerers were those who claimed to have miraculous powers to make people's lives better. In this context, adulterers refers to those Jewish men who were forsaking their sacred marriage vows to take wealthy Persian wives for themselves. Perjurers were those who'd lie in the court of law for personal and financial gain. And notice how God is acting as a witness against those who, "defraud laborers of their wages" and, "deprive aliens of justice."

When times get desperate, especially when things get desperate financially, our tendency is to turn away from God and start looking for shortcuts. We look to the ungodly for answers. We destroy our marriages and families. We brazenly lie. We take advantage of others, defrauding them of what is rightfully theirs. We exploit the weak.

When times are tough, nothing seems out of bounds. And when times are tough it can seem utterly irrational to trust God and fear his name. But this is precisely what God desires. That we have a pure heart, that we trust him with our needs, that we not look for shortcuts, or turn to sin or greed or selfish ambition or to exploit others.

Listen to what James says in James 4:1-3 (NIV) and notice the interplay between having a pure heart and trusting God. "What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with the wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures."

In Matthew 6:25 Jesus tells us not to worry, but to trust. In Matthew 6:32 he assures us that God already knows all our needs. In Matthew 6:33 (NIV) he asks us to, "seek first his kingdom and his righteousness" and all that we need will be given to us.

So let me summarize what God is doing. First, he is purifying your heart, he is washing you with launderer's soap, and he is refining you with fire. Why? Because he desires that you have a pure heart that is singularly devoted to him. Second, he is breaking your self-reliance. He is bringing you to your knees so that you would pray, and stop worrying, and fear God, and trust God in everything. He is your creator, the source of every good and perfect gift. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. God is good and gracious, faithful and trustworthy. God says, "You've turned away from my decrees, and not kept them. Return to me, and I'll return to you."

God desires steps of faith.

Malachi 3:7-12 (NIV) says, " '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."

Now don't get mad at me. I was just as surprised as you are. It seems utterly irrational, from the standpoint of human economics, for God to bring up tithing here. But we aren't talking about human economics, we are talking about divine economics.

In human economics, you look before you leap. You grab and grasp. You take all you can get. You violate your conscience, you break trust, and you take care of number one first, no matter what. You turn to violence if necessary. War. When considering human economics you say, "No way am I going to trust God and tithe ten percent of my income unless I have every bill paid first, and a sizable nest-egg in place to provide for all I need, and my children's need, and my children's children's need."

But in divine economics, you leap before you look. You walk by faith, not by sight. You test God (at his invitation and by his command) by giving, and then he opens the floodgates, and pours out so much blessing that you won't have room enough for it.

You take steps of faith, and then God meets you in your faith. He prevents the pests from devouring your crops and the vines from casting their fruit.

When Christ returns, the pure in heart will see God. Those who trust in his name will never be put to shame. When Christ returns, he wants to find faith-- authentic faith-- sincere faith-- costly faith. But when he returns, will he find faith? Will you be ALL IN for God, even in those areas of your life that are most difficult for you?