Seek First: Everything Belongs to the King (Psalm 50:8; Malachi 3:6)
Psalm 50:8-15 The context here is God was dealing with the people’s attitudes toward the sacrifice.
• Everything already belongs to Him. He is not asking for it because He needs it like an earthly king might.
Verse 13 He clarifies that He does not eat the way we do. So, he does not need our sacrifice to sustain Himself.
Two things to note here: First, God does need our stuff, our money. He does not need an animal to eat.
o Second, this is not a tax. He is not an earthly king that needs to raise support for His reign and cause.
• So, if God is does not need our money and He is not taking taxes from us, then why does He ask for it?
Verse 14 The offering of a sacrifice was a matter for worship.
Verse 15 As part of that thanks offering, we can pray, or call out to God and He will answer us.
• We also see that part of the sacrifice was a way to honor the Lord.
Let’s continue by looking at Malachi 3:6-11
Verse 6 This statement about God being unchanging is really a statement about his unwavering faithfulness to His People. And if He is unchanging then we can trust Him, even in matters of money.
Verse 7 This verse tells us that as with so many of Israel’s sins this is a long running unfaithfulness to God.
o But God in His unchanging faithfulness is calling them back to Him, a call to repentance.
• While he has not destroyed them, He does say that at least some of his favor has turned from them.
Verse 8 God now makes the charge that the people are robbing God.
• The grammatical structure here makes it clear that this practice of robbing God has been on going.
o The answer is then simply stated at the end of the verse, “in tithes and offerings”
A little historical context:
1. We first see the idea of an offering or a tithe in Gen 4:3-7
2. We first see the tithe being 10% in Gen 24:20 We see a similar story in Gen 28:22 with Jacob.
3. The idea of the tithe being 10% is laid out in the OT books Lev, Deut, and Numbers.
• Both the words used here in Malachi have a definite article in front of them. The tithe and the offering.
Verse 9 God now makes this extremely strong statement. “You are under a curse.”
• It is also an ongoing curse in keeping with the fact that their robbing God was an ongoing act.
Verse 10 Two commands: “Bring the full tithes” and “test me in this” Followed by a promise of blessing.
• The clause “bring the full tithes and offerings” seems to insinuate that the people were brining something but not the full amount required.
• “Put me to the test in this.” God is saying that I will hold up my end of the deal if you hold up yours.
Here is that promise
• God says that he will throw open the flood gates of heaven.
• As a result of this promised blessing, the brining in the tithes will be made easier,
o You can’t afford to do it, until you do it.
Verse 11 We see the sovereignty of God and the control He has over the circumstances of our lives.
Seek First: Everything Belongs to the King
