Historic First Lutheran Church of Pasadena

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

We began this four-week series – and continued it last week – emphasizing the opening words of the book, spoken from the very mouth of God, through Malachi, which serve as the basis and foundation for everything that follows. I remind you again of those words this morning, the words, “I have loved you,” declares the Lord God Almighty. This morning we add a second set of words which are almost as much a basis and foundation for the entire book, those words recorded in Malachi, chapter 3: “I, the Lord, do not change, so you, O decedents of Jacob, are not destroyed.”

Very few of you through these past almost 17 years have enjoyed a window into my soul when it comes to sermon preparation. I was trained well and trained classically in sermon preparation, that classical training involving the study of God’s Word in its original languages, that classical training involving the study of the fathers and what they had written about God’s Word, that classical training involving the study of cross-references and the study of the pericopes of the day, and the study of the season of the church year and themes that accompany the season. In my classical training I was told that there should be one hour of preparation for every minute in pulpit. As a seminary student, you pledge yourself to that equation, but once you receive your diploma and start your career as “pastor,” you might spend one month spending one hour in preparation for every minute in the pulpit, then reality sets in and you tell yourself that there has to be some other way to be a good preacher without having to discover an additional, elusive 15 hours per week for sermon preparation.

My own personal weekly sermon preparation takes three steps, in the form of three questions. Question #1 – “What does God’s Word say?” Question #2 – “What does God’s Word say to me, particularly in light of what’s going on in the world?” And Question #3 – “Is there one verse, one phrase, one thought upon which the rest of God’s Word seems to hang, seems to be dependent upon?”

This morning that one phrase that’s the apex of Malachi, chapter 3, is the question asked, “Will a man rob God?” and the following question, “How do we rob You?’ The second question emerges once God serves as a credible prosecution witness carrying the answer to the first question. “Will a man rob God?” God answers, “You have robbed Me – and you continue to rob Me.” That prompts the second question, “How do we rob You?”

These two questions to me are amazing. These two questions to me are like dealing with kids. You can watch them do something, catch them in the very act, draw their attention to it right at that moment, and what’s their frequent response? “What?” “I didn’t do that!” “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” “Do you really think I’d do that?”

Yes. That was God’s answer. “Yes, you rob Me,” just as much as you rob others in this world. “In fact, it’s probably easier to rob Me than to rob others because you have to look at and face others.”

Think about the truth of that for just a minute.

We might leave work a few minutes early for lunch and return a few minutes late. Is that not robbing?

The bank makes an error reading a check and either deposits more into our account than it should or withdraws less out of our account than we intended. Do we pick up the phone and report the error? If not, is that not robbing?

The great majority of us are wading through multiple legal papers and receipts preparing ourselves for the inevitable arrival of April 15. Are we being completely honest? If not, is that not robbing?

God makes a compelling point. We human beings have been affected by the fall into sin. Of that there is certainly no doubt. But what we often fail to recognize is just how affected we have each been by the fall into sin, so much so that we sometimes don’t even see our sin anymore and if we do see it, we don’t call it “sin.”

That’s what’s perfect about those three examples. They are considered “victimless crimes.” We’re not robbing another human being, a “real person.” The company that employs us probably doesn’t mind a few minutes here and there. The bank has plenty of money to cover that little amount they “gifted” me. And the government, well, they just use my money to build one more bomb anyway. It’s amazing how many people don’t consider these situations “wrong.”

How much more so when we rob God? There’s a chance our employer will discover our extended lunches. There’s a chance the bank will send a correction note. And we all know there’s a chance the government will audit us if it notices something funny on our tax return. But God, can He really be serious when He says we rob Him? How does one rob God?

Well, God answers that, both there and then to the people listening to Malachi and here and now as we listen to the Words of Jesus Himself. Through Jesus, God says, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you as well” [Matthew 6:33]. Seek first.

Anything less than that is robbing God, whether we like to admit it or not. When God doesn’t get the first check written out of our monthly income, but rather gets whatever is left – if anything is left – after everything else is paid, that is robbing God. Seek first. When we check our calendars to see if we can squeeze in Sunday worship and Bible study instead of seeing what we can squeeze onto our calendars after Sunday worship and Bible study, that is robbing God. Seek first. When we use our gifts and skills and talents to benefit ourselves and our families by bringing into our lives either a paycheck or personal enjoyment, but don’t share those gifts and skills and talents with God and with our fellow believers, that is robbing God. Seek first.

“Yet you ask, ‘How do we rob You?’” You see, we have fallen so far that we don’t even see how we are robbing God!

“Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you as well” [Matthew 6:33]. Or, in the words spoken through Malachi, God says, “Test Me in this. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of Heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” How many of us have produced that effect all on our own? “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you as well” [Matthew 6:33].

“Robbing God” is doubting God. “ Robbing God” is not trusting God. “Robbing God” is saying that we know better how to care for ourselves.

Well, my friends, if that’s the case, then there would have been no need for Jesus. There would have been no need for God to be faithful to His promise made to Adam and Eve to send for them and for their offspring a Savior. There would have been no need for God not to change from His plan of salvation involving His own Son, involving a Cross, involving a tomb and involving a spectacular morning called “Easter.” There would be no need for God to worry about whether or not we are destroyed, whether or not our greed destroys us, whether or not we destroy ourselves. But Jesus did come. God was faithful. God didn’t change His plan. He did worry about us. Through Jesus, He has provided us so many blessings that we don’t even know what to do with them.

“I have loved You, declares the Lord God Almighty, and I do not change so that you – and I – are not destroyed.”

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Pastor Christopher Schaar
Historic First Lutheran Church of Pasadena