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Artist: Lilly Cantabile
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I resumed reading the KJV (King James Version) Bible backwards today. You can buy your favorite Pure Cambridge Text Bible here. I've read the NT from Revelation to Matthew, respectively, so today I started Malachi in the Old Testament. It's the last book of the Old Testament. And it's probably a book that gets less treatment behind the Bible, especially in churches where the preacher chooses the text each week.
I have two recollections of preachers who preached from this book. One was the pastor I grew up, The Reverend Dr. Jim Christy, at Sunny View Church of the Nazarene, now Celebration Pointe Church at a different location. Unfortunately, I don't remember the content of his sermon. I do remember he was preaching through the Bible, one book at a time, each Sunday.
The second was from the Reverend Dr. Stephen Borger at Nampa First Church of the Nazarene. I remember that he referred to a previous sermon when he preached from Malachi which is encouraging. But he was kind of vague in saying that the Church had been robbed throughout his sermon and people thought that someone literally stole money from the church. By the end of the sermon, everybody was so upset, trying to figure out which evil person could have stolen money from the church. I believe the church must have gotten so many phone calls that the pastor clarified the following week what had happened. People steal from God by not giving their money to him.
I think, though, that sometimes people give to churches, thinking they are giving to God, but that the money is actually "stolen" in the sense that it isn't used for what the giver intended. It's not quite the same nuance but how many have given to alternate organizations because they didn't trust that the Church was going to use the money for purposes that truly build God's kingdom. I have thought for some time now about giving to Nazarene Compassionate Ministries for some time now because I know that 100% of donations go to help those in need and not to pay salaries of staff who work there. There are many such organizations.
Before I digress into a debate about where the best places are to donate money, or more accurately, to pay offering (tithe is an Old Testament concept, which also seems appropriate in this context, although some would argue, rightly so, that 10% is actually a pretty small amount), let me suggest some other things that stick out. Keep in mind, I'm referring to the text in the KJV and I am not a KJV only, it's just a challenge that one of my uncle's gave me a few years ago, which I intend to complete (although he doesn't endorse my reading the Bible backwards).
The first thing I noticed, which is the last thing in the book, are these words in all caps: "THE END OF THE PROPHETS." This is a key point for those who claim to be prophets today, you might want to rethink what you're saying by calling yourselves prophets.
When I read Malachi, I see more than just withholding money from God. I read a refreshing thing, that God isn't satisfied by our going to church in and of itself. In fact, God was not accepting the offerings of the people in Malachi. There's a reason for that and we also ought to consider whether God really accepts our offerings if we are just "Sunday" Christians or just "Church Christians" meaning we act like Christians at church but God's Spirit doesn't really move in us when we are at home, in the neighborhood, or at work. And think about that, how hard it is to get along with family and how that might be the real test of whether or not we are really God's people.
But that's not "the rest of the story" as Paul Harvey used to say. At the end of the book, there is a promise that God "will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse" (Malachi 4:5-6, KJV). One who is familiar with the gospels will recall that some thought Jesus was Elijah. We have to wonder if the gospel writers, not to mention the witnesses of Jesus, were thinking of this verse, and also what the writer of Malachi had in mind of speaking of this future Elijah.
