Why Don't God's People Support God's Work? by Dr. LeRoy Randolph

A. According to Malachi 1:6 because of failure to honor God as Father, provider of life, sustainer, and protector. No thanks on our lips for God as our Father. The Bible tells us what He has done for us and is constantly doing. As our children do to us, so we do to God as we begin to take our blessings for granted, giving no thanks.

B. Likewise according to Malachi1:6  because of failure to fear God as master, the giver of direction to our life, and the one who tells us what to do. And we wonder why we end up in so many messes that are often our excuses for not being able to do more for God. We have no fear of the consequences for not obeying God. The chastening of the Lord can be severe, and may mean death.

C. According to Malachi 2:7-9 because we have no respect for the Word of God. The preaching was only partial and the preacher was not committed to the truth. First Timothy 5:17 says: "Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the Word and doctrine." God's Word was clear as to what He required for offerings and sacrifice. In Deuteronomy 15:19-21, it is clear that God wanted the "firstling males" of the herds and flocks, and verse twenty-one makes it abundantly clear that "...if there be any blemish therein, as if it be lame, or blind, or have any ill blemish, thou shalt not sacrifice it unto the LORD thy God." But Malachi 2:7-8 shows we have no respect for God's Word.

D. According to Malachi 2:11 because we have no respect for the holiness of God. God says in I Peter 1:16: "As it is written Be ye holy for I am holy." We are to be careful about how we treat our bodies as the temples of God (I Corinthians 6:19). We are to be careful about what we eat, or what we look at, or listen to, or what we wear. Does it glorify?

In Malachi 2:14-16 God deals with  the subject of separation as it deals with marriage. Second Corinthians 6:14-17 warns us against being unequally yoked with unbelievers. God constantly stresses it even in the Old Testament. Because of Solomon's marriages to ungodly wives, the whole kingdom was divided.

Because marriage is a realistic possibility for anyone who falls in love with an unbeliever, we even discourage dating unbelievers. Verse fourteen indicates that they were even divorcing their Jewish wives to marry the foreign women. God says they were "treacherous." And God stresses in verse sixteen that He hates divorce.

E. According to Malachi 2:17 because we have compromised God's morals, ethics, and standards. We've begun to lose the distinction between right and wrong. For some, it is all right now to smoke, drink alcohol, see movies with filthy language and nudity and sex. In the church we see people who do such things put in positions of examplehood. We see wrongdoing tolerated or condoned. People often refuse to give if such is the case!

Malachi goes on the ask, "Where have we robbed thee?" or of what do men rob God? And the answer is given: of tithes and offerings.

Tithing Laws: (Legal giving) were to remind the people of God's ownership of all things and to teach them to put God first in their lives. His generosity allowed them to keep nine tenths (9/10ths) of all they produced but He wanted the first tenth. (The word "tithe" means "the tenth.") Leviticus 27:30 says: "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 unto the Lord."

Offering: (Free will giving) out of thankful hearts, having remembered God's ownership and His consistent provision and blessing. ''...they shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord  your God which He has given you" (Deuteronomy 16:16-17).

Nehemiah 13:10-11--The men of God could not give themselves wholly to the work of God because God's people would not obey God's laws that provided for the men of God (they found other ways of putting bread on their families' tables by taking other jobs).

New Testament Principle:When we give to God, God gives to us. (Galatians 6:7 also teaches the law of sowing and reaping.) Luke 6:38 states: "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete (measure) it shall be measured to you again."

In this the Church Age, we are not bound by tithing laws, but rather by God's blessing and prospering us. "Let every one of you lay by him in store (planned giving) as God has prospered him" (I Corinthians 16:2). We can use the tithe as a guide as to the minimum we should give, but our giving could and should be more than this. The amount above a tithe may well depend on how thankful we are.

God wants us to give like He does:

Generously: He who sows bountifully will reap bountifully (II Corinthians 9:6).

Planned: Lay by him in store (I Corinthians 16:2).

Regular: Upon the first day of the week (I Corinthians 16:2).

Inclusive: Let every one  of you. God doesn't want or need the money of the ungodly although God is not adverse to using them to provide for His children (I Corinthians 16:2).

Purposefully: Every man according as he purposes in his heart, so let him give (II Corinthians 9:7).