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“WILL A MAN ROB GOD? YET YE HAVE ROBBED ME. BUT YE SAY, WHEREIN HAVE WE ROBBED THEE? IN TITHES AND OFFERINGS.” [Malachi 3:8]
Do you know we have men and women who rob from God? I am not addressing the subject of tithes here, since it cannot be affirmed that the Old Testament law of tithes is binding on the Christian Church. The principle of this law is however evident in 1 Corinthians 9:13-14 “Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar. Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.” This robbery I am speaking of comes from men and women who blatantly rob from God by not sowing into the Kingdom of God when it is in their power to do so. They hold back while pretending to be a cheerful and willing giver, yet their heart cringes when they think of what they could have done with the money they gave to the church. Many feel they are just giving to a preacher who is milking them and who is too lazy to get a real job, not understanding the immense calling and responsibility of those who carry the anointing of five-fold ministry upon their lives. The Bible is very clear in uncovering those who would pervert the gospel for their own gain and one would be a fool to think this spirit is not operating in the Church today, especially in light of the prosperity message taught in so many sanctuaries every week. The principle is also present concerning verse 10 of Malachi, “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of host, if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” Would it be fair to say that when we as Christians bring our offering to the house (storehouse) of God, it should provide for not only the needs of the people in that local church, but for the gospel to go forth to the nations and their needs [spiritual and physical] be met as well? Many give money to the church out of a sense of duty, or moral obligation, yet they are starving spiritually and their seed is being cast into dry, barren soil that is incapable of producing anything for the Kingdom of God.
Let’s say that robbery carries a sentence of ten years. Would God be fair in passing that same sentence upon you for robbing from Him? What do you think God would do if say two years into your sentence you truly repented before Him and cried out to Him for mercy? I can tell you what He would say, “GO AND SIN NO MORE.” But a man who robs you, you want him to do every day of that ten years in prison, regardless of whether he or she truly repents or not. Am I sounding a little critical here? Maybe so, but the truth can be critical at times and the truth is this; if you are a Christian and someone has offended you, maybe it is time for healing, reconciliation and restoration to take place. I’ll be the first to say not every man or woman, many in fact, do not care about God or the things of God in prison, but who’s to say that your forgiving that person won’t bring them to that place of repentance in their life? Very few men and women in prison have ever known what it is like to truly be loved by a man or woman of God. I’m talking about agape love that looks past the exterior and into the heart and soul of a person. That love transcends the heinous acts of depraved humanity and sees Calvary’s blood washing them whiter than snow. Who are you and I to judge another man, when we are doing the SAME thing he is?
“Therefore thou are inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same thing. But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?[i]
If you and I would view others in light of our own life before the Lord, it would probably be hard to label them a criminal, Amen? The next time you go to church and they take up tithes and offerings, judge whether or not you are a thief and a robber. There are other robbers and thieves in the Church as well, should they be locked up?
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.”[ii] This is referring to false teachers who do not enter in to the sheep by the porter but try to come in some other way. They are not interested in the well-being of the sheep but rather their own personal gain and position. We know that Jesus is the Good Shepherd, but He is also the Porter, or the keeper of the door, for He IS the DOOR. The apostle Paul in speaking to the Ephesian elders said these words: “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.” [iii] There are thieves in the Body of Christ who go about stealing away disciples unto themselves. They are not concerned about the things of God, they just want a following, more people to support their ministry. The Holy Ghost will not just give anybody a flock of God’s sheep. He is looking for someone who has the Shepherd’s heart for the sheep. I wonder how many pastors in America fall under this scripture as a thief and robber? They steal from the people of God for their own gain and rob them of the truth that will make them free. They have nothing to give, they only take. Pulpit pimps who prostitute the Body of Christ for gain.
This spirit of a thief and robber persist in many marriages today. Women give, their husbands get, men give their wives get, but only one is doing the giving. The other is being robbed from and everything they have to give is being taken from them until they have nothing left to give. Because the one who has been taking and taking and taking feels their mate no longer cares for them, because they can give nothing, they leave and go on to their next victim. Husbands rob their wives of spiritual authority in the home because they refuse to stand in the place God has ordained them to be. When a husband will not be a servant to his wife, he is robbing from her. It is the husband’s position to deposit into the wife, so she will have abundance to give. “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and GAVE himself for it;”[iv] Jesus loved us so much that He GAVE himself for us, even to the death of the cross. We received from Him so we could give to others. I don’t know about you, but that kind of love produces a response! Someone who pours his self out for you like that is worthy of honor, praise, glory, riches, adoration, love, blessings, etc. When you love your wife that kind of way, you won’t have to worry about getting back, it will flow into your life. Many women who love to receive spiritual things from their husband, but they have nothing to give. “That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.” [v] As a husband, I am a minister to my wife, to nourish her in the Word of God. It would be robbery for me to just provide natural things for my wife [food, clothing, and shelter] and not be able to provide eternal things as well. If the Church of America had this prison I have been talking about, how many husbands would be arrested for robbery? In tithes and offerings, in depriving their wife of spiritual food and nourishment or in taking away their covering. “That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing: but that it should be holy and without blemish.”[vi] When men do not take their role in the home as a high priest before their wife, they are in essence robbing them of a spiritual covering. The man is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the Church. He is our covering, our High Priest and He has committed this office to you and I as men before our wives.
“Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry; But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house.”[vii]
Shall we make this the punishment for robbery in the prison belonging to the Church of America? If you are found robbing from God in tithes and offerings, then you will just be fined to pay back sevenfold and you shall give ALL the substance of your home as payment. What would happen if God enacted judgment upon us like we do others?
“Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.”[viii]
How many times have we robbed from God? Give me Lord, give me! Take, take, take, but do not give anything back. It is a self-willed heart, a stubborn heart that only thinks of me, myself and I. No man or woman wants to suffer wrongly but vengeance is mine saith the Lord, I will recompense. Even though this man’s brother owed him, he was in essence robbing him. He was judging his brother of the very same thing he had been guilty of, only he chose justice over mercy. Because he did that, the king called back his mercy from this man and turned him over to the tormentors. Many in the Body of Christ today have been turned over to the tormentors because they refuse to forgive those who have trespassed against them. You say, “How was this man robbing from his brother?” He had been made debt free by the king, yet now, he was having his brother thrown in jail for just a small bit of money he owed. This man was being taken from his wife, his children, his job, and they were going to be sold to pay his debt. He was being robbed of his character, his dignity, and his name. The one who had been forgiven by the king should have known what it was like to be forgiven for so great a debt and what it would have meant to his brother if he had forgive him but this man owed HIM. When we owe somebody we want mercy, when they owe us, we want justice. This is much the same way in the penal system of America. If our son or daughter commits a crime and goes before the judge, we want mercy, leniency and compassion. But turn that around and let somebody rob our home, or shoot up the neighborhood and we cry, “Crucify him, crucify him!” When was the last time you robbed from God? A not so settling thought that reaches to the very heart of who we are and not who somebody else is. Am I a criminal in the sight of God? Have I violated the laws that govern the kingdom to which I profess to be a citizen? I surmise that most had rather point to others as being the problem rather than look into the perfect law of liberty and allow it to reflect who they are in the eyes of a holy God. Only a man or woman who walks in true humility can forgive another who has wronged them and remember their sin no more. The Bible declares who the real culprit is behind the woes of society and those whom he has deceived, used, and abused. “The thief [the devil] cometh not, but to steal, and to kill, and to destroy:[ix] The devil is a robber, a murderer, a destroyer! When someone steals from you, what spirit do you think is in operation in their life? O.K., that’s easy enough – the devil. When you rob from God, what spirit is operating in us? Would God rob from Himself? Which is of greater severity, crimes committed in the natural realm, or crimes committed in the spiritual realm? What do I mean? Have I committed a crime that deserves a greater degree of justice if I rape a woman physically, or if I rape her in my heart, where only God sees the crime carried out? If I murder a man in cold blood, is my crime more deserving of death than if I just have murder in my heart? If I rob you physically, is it any worse than me not putting my tithes and offerings in the storehouse of God? We don’t want to talk about these things in the Body of Christ but that doesn’t change the truth, nor does it change God’s opinion from His bar of justice. Crime is just as rampant in the House of God as it is in the world and until the church is willing to repent, she will never be able to forgive others who wrong her. Until we as the Body of Christ realize two things, we will continue to struggle with the issues that confront humanity and the Church.
1. We must realize that the conflict we are engaged in is not after the flesh but after the spirit.
2. We must actually believe that God can change the heart of a cold blooded murderer, rapist, or robber and raise that person up to deliver HIS people.
We are so caught up in our little egomania that we call righteousness, not even realizing that we are operating contrary to the Word of God. Will a man rob God? We rob God of His glory when we shun those who don’t meet our criteria for salvation. When we do allow them into our religious fraternity, we limit them as to how far they can go. What would our denomination look like if we let a murderer rise to the rank of Bishop? If he makes it to deacon status, he should be honored. The Apostle Paul would not have made it in our modern houses of perfection and politically correctness. I have heard Christians (I use that term loosely here) say they have no problem with men and women getting saved in prison, as long as they stay there. Hypocrite! How many thieves do you know in your church? How many Sunday’s have you robbed God of that which belongs to Him. You rob Him in finances, in worship, in reverence, and even in allowing Him His rightful place of preeminence in the very house that is called by His name. “….It is written, My House shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of THIEVES.”[x] What happens when we rob from God? “And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts.”[xi] When we rob from God, then He does not rebuke the devourer. We know that Satan is the devourer, so if he is not rebuked that means he has access to your things. Many Christians fall into financial debt because they rob from God. Their business goes under, their marriage crumbles, their children rebel, nothing they do seems to help, they only fall further and further behind. God cannot do what He said He wants to do in our lives until you and I do what God says for US to do. We want God’s blessing but do not want to be obedient to the Word of God. Are you a thief? That is a hard thing I just asked you, especially if the answer is “Yes.” What makes you any different from that man or woman in prison who robbed a bank, or a convenience store? Do you think God sees them any differently than He does you? He doesn’t.
