Treasure

Treasure, Malachi 3:13-18

• Running in Maui and the dead tree

Main point- What’s your treasure? 

• Restoration—> Ezra, Haggai, Zech, Ester, Nehemiah, Malachi
  • Asking the question, as they sought to restore the people of God, what can we learn from them for us to restore the church? 

• 1. God says, “I have loved you.” “How?” “Because I choose you” God.
• 2. God says, “You have despised my name”. People ask “How?”, “Your offerings to me are not even fit for a human guest, yet I am God” 
• 3. God says, “I do not accept your offerings”, “why not?” “Because you have been unfaithful with you wife and family”
• 4. God says, “You have wearied me”, “How?” “By making wrong right and then asking to justice”. And his answer? Don’t worry, I got a plan… and we finally saw some hope as Jesus was prophesied. What’s wrong mades right in Jesus!
• 5. God says, Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ [8] Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. 
  • Principle- God doesn’t need your money, he wants your heart and a very clear indication of your heart, is what you do with money. 
    • They were giving of their time, still offering sacrifices, etc. but they were not giving of their money so God rebukes them and gives clear instruction that returning to God is returning all of you (baptized wallet) 
    • It wasn’t, nor has it ever been about keeping the temple lights on. It has always been about your heart. NT giving and the New Covenant of grace in Jesus is the same. Where your treasure is, there your heart is also. You cannot serve God and money. 
  • The biggest difference between OT, you give to be/stay blessed but the NT says you have been given SO you can bless. “You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way” 2 Cor. 9
• The lens by which we look at giving or any other discipline in the Christian life, and the assumed understanding of the NT writers is this… 

So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:33

• There is an assumption that if you are a “follower/disciple” of Jesus that you actually believe what he said. 

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Matthew 16:24–26a

Main point- What’s your treasure? 

Our text this morning let us not forget our context. They are still going to church, worshiping, sacrificing, gathering as a people, etc but their words begin to reflect their heart which has slide down a slide of apathy. 

Read vs. 13-14, “It is vain to serve God”- What’s the point? 

• Vain: the Hebrew word suggests not only meaningless but also deceitful. 
• God’s bait and switch, life with God is worthless. A life of Faith is a facade
• “Keeping his change” is walking in obedience to his commands. 
• “Mourning” speaks to repentance. Fasting, days of mourning were based on repentance of sin. 

Read vs. 15

• Redefining morality- Arrogant blessed. What they see is what they say. 
  • God is calling out their words that have shown their heart. 
    • How did they get there? It wasn’t in a day. We would do well to look for our own slow slide to apathy. 
  • But our text gives a clue to their continued slide. 
• What’s their treasure? “Profit” They lost focus. Their eyes drifted from the heavenly to the worldly, from the eternal to temporary. God stopped being enough and they started to call it out. 
  • I think we can relate to this. 
  • The lure of worldly pleasures, when bad things happen, temptation. They can all take our focus off our true treasure. 
    • “I’m an atheist.” Why?,  “I was raised in church and a lot of bad things happened to me when I was a kid so I choose not to believe in him. If God is out there, he would not have allowed me to go through what I went through.”
  • In Malachi’s time, it was similar. If God is out there, those that do evil would not be blessed. If God is out there I would not be struggling like this. If God is out there, ___________. 
• So what’s the answer? I think it comes down to this question, 
  • What’s your treasure? The reality is, when you become a Christian you are promised one thing- Jesus. You get Jesus. You get a relationship with God. The  benefits are you once were dead, but now you are alive, forgiven and free, your destiny is eternal life. You get to see, because you once were blind BUT, the slow slide to apathy to to start to look around rather to to keep looking up! 
• What’s the remedy? Look up! Lift your weary head and look up, again, and again, and again. 

looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2

• Why? Because Jesus is our treasure. 

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Matthew 13:44

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it. Matthew 13:45–46

• Why is Jesus such a treasure? 
  • You were once a dead tree, like the one on the beach, and he brought you back to life. That’s why. “yeah, but if God is really out there…”. 
  • You are alive. Have you so easily forgotten? Your name is written in the book of life. This is temporary, our life with God is eternal. This is not our home for he goes to prepare a place for us. 

Read vs. 16-18

• We are “God’s treasure”. He is our God, we are his people, and he dwells with us… God is enough. What more could we need? 

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:8–10