In Malachi chapter 3, God
told His people:
9 You are cursed with a
curse,
For
you have robbed Me,
Even
this whole nation.
10 Bring all the tithes
into the storehouse,
That
there may be food in My house,
And
try Me now in this,”
Says
the Lord of hosts,
“If
I will not open for you the windows of heaven
And
pour out for you such blessing
That
there will not be room enough to receive it.
Wait. Wait. Before you rehearse the same clichéd
and selfish response, read it again. Only
this time, listen to what God actually said.
WHY did God say He wants the
tithe?
That there may be food in My house
Food for whom? For you?
Dude, you ain’t hungry.
Food for whom? For God?
God already said:
Will
I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God thanksgiving, and pay your
vows to the Most High. (Psalm 50: 13,
14)
So who’s the food in God’s
house for?
It’s for those people who don’t
have food: the needy.
This prosperity passage isn’t
primarily about how to get money from God.
It’s about the church’s obligation to be a house of ministry and
outreach to the least of these. That’s the kind of house God wants.
Build the temple, build God a
house, the Lord commanded in Haggai 1: 7-9.
But build Him a house in which He feels comfortable.
Build God a house in which Jesus
has what we all expect to find at home: food,
clothing, shelter, and company.
And how do we provide food,
clothing, shelter, and company to God in His house?
Read Matthew chapter 25.
37 “Then the righteous will answer Him,
saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?
38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or
naked and clothe You? 39
Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and
come to You?’ 40 And the King will answer and say to them,
‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as
you did it to one of the least
of these My brethren, you did it
to Me.’
The church is supposed to be
a storehouse out of which God’s people help the needy and the lost. The church--- a church is NOT supposed to be
a showcase for our own aspirations to affluence.
We talk and sing about a
Jesus who was not found with the rich and great in palaces or in the grandest
temples.
But, we expend our energy and
treasure building personal palaces and the grandest churches we can or cannot
afford.
We lament how few people find
Jesus when we preach and worship in those expensive places.
But we talk about and sing
about how Jesus WAS FOUND with the poor and the sick, the lowly and the
sinners, NOT among the rich and powerful and self-righteous.
So, maybe it would be easier
to for them to find Jesus where we are if we built more homeless shelters
instead of larger sanctuaries.
Maybe Jesus would be found in our fellowship halls if we used them to feed the
hungry instead of ourselves.
Maybe the reason people can’t
find Jesus in the churches we build is that we didn’t really erect them for God.
We bought the places for us.
Foxes have holes and birds of
the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head because the
houses we’ve built in His name are places where He doesn’t feel welcome.
The reason so many
churches can’t cover their overhead is that we’ve built houses in Jesus' name
but left Jesus outside and homeless, and God has gotten tired of paying for
houses in which He doesn’t feel welcome.
And
Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests,
but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” (Luke 9: 58)
So if we want God to
open
for you the windows of heaven
And
pour out for you such blessing
That
there will not be room enough to receive it.
Then we should repurpose our
buildings to make Jesus feel more comfortable in all of his homeless, hungry,
needy, incarcerated, sick, and impoverished glory.
Then Jesus would come on in;
and the lost would be able to find Him where we are.
---Anderson T. Graves
II is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry,
and rural leadership development.
Rev.
Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church (5220
Myron Massey Boulevard) in Fairfield, Alabama; executive director of the
Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO); and
director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human
Development (NIHD).
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
Support
by check or money order may be mailed to
Miles
Chapel CME Church
P O
Box 132
Fairfield,
Al 35064
