Where is my Honor?
Scripture: Malachi 1:6Devotional Series: Where is My Fear?
Teaching: Where Is My Fear pt. 2 (SUN_PM 2024-05-19) by Pastor Star R Scott
We fear Him. We reverence Him, regardless of what the conditions are that we find ourselves in. “You’ve robbed me.” Verse 10, “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven to you.” After these many years that we’ve been following the Lord now, I can say, "Amen," and I agree with David, "I was young and now I’m old, and I’ve never seen the righteous forsaken nor His seed begging bread." I agree with that principle of God’s commitment to what He spoke, that if we’ll seek the kingdom, everything that pertains to our life and godliness He will provide for us, hallelujah!
In Malachi, the first chapter, we see what the circumstances of the church were at that particular time. There were those who were giving. There were those who were assuming they were tithing. There were those who presumed that in their offerings they were doing everything God asked them to do, just like Saul and Agag. Saul was convinced that he had done the will of God, but Samuel said, “Then what is this bleating of sheep in my ears?” He was approached a number of times and said, “I have done the will of God,” and tried to justify himself and then wanted Samuel to exalt him in the eyes of the people; amen?
Let’s just remind ourselves tonight that Ananias and Sapphira were not exalted among the people. We’re not talking about money. We’re talking about fearing God. You want to know what happened right after Ananias and Sapphira dropped dead in the church because they lied to the Holy Ghost about their giving? It said, “and the people feared God.” Amen? I’d rather fear Him without that kind of visitation. I’d rather fear Him because He deserves to be honored and glorified. I’d rather fear Him because of Who He is, the immutable God; He changes not. Every time I’ve made myself available to God, He’s used me and protected me and delivered me (praise God!), but not without adversities, not without trial, not without pain! Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but God delivers us out of them all.
Whom does He deliver? Those who fear Him, we’ll see in depth here as we begin to go through some of these Scriptures. But, see, here was the problem of the church. Not just the lack of giving, but what was being given was an abomination to God, an insult to God. This should be adequate. I’ve told the story so many times, of the little boy who went up to the preacher one time and said, “Preacher,” he said, “Mom was going to bring the chicken to you”—you know, the preachers used to get paid with chicken and eggs and produce and whatever the tithe was of people. If they were tending sheep, then, of course, it’s the sheep. If they were harvesting wheat, then it was a tenth of the wheat. So, the little boy came up and said, “Preacher, Mama was going to bring you the chicken for an offering, but it got well.” That’s what Malachi says here. Verse 6, first chapter, “A son honors his father, and a servant his master: if I then be a father, where is my honor? and if I be a master, where is my fear?”