Man’s Response to God’s Gift

MEMORY VERSE: “Bring ye 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 you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” —Malachi 3:10

MALACHI 3:5-16

GOD’S gifts are numberless and in great variety. To mankind in general he gives the sunshine and the rain, which in turn contribute to the bringing forth of food from the earth to sustain life; and there are countless other gifts of God to the natural man. To his own people of this Gospel Age there are all the precious gifts designed for the joy and growth of “new creatures in Christ Jesus.”

Chief among these, of course, is God’s gift of his Son to be our Redeemer and Life giver. Indeed, this “unspeakable gift” will eventually result in eternal life as humans for all who, throughout the thousand years of Christ’s reign, believe on him and obey the laws of the kingdom. How hearty should be our response to this gift, and how enthusiastic will be the response of the world in general during the kingdom age now near!

It is appropriate at this time that we think of our response to this, the greatest of all God’s gifts, for we have just been reminded in a special way of this Gift of his beloved Son. On the 25th of December professing Christians the world over commemorate the birth of Jesus, but if our appreciation does not carry over to, and through, the coming year, our commemoration is largely void of true meaning. Let us not be in the category of those who cry, “Lord, Lord,” and then fail to do the will of the Lord.

As followers of the Master, we have our response to God’s great Gift described by the Apostle Peter as “the answer of a good conscience toward God.” (I Pet. 3:21) Paul expresses the thought in a different way. He wrote, “The love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.”—II Cor. 5:14,5

Thus does Paul describe the proper response to God’s gift of his beloved Son to be our Redeemer as being the dedication of our all to the divine cause—time, talent, strength, means—everything. Only thus can we show true appreciation of divine love.

Our lesson is a reminder that typical Israel failed many times to show true appreciation of God’s goodness. God had made certain requirements of the Israelites, and while outwardly they made a pretense of responding, it was not from the heart. They robbed one another, and especially the needy among them. They sinned in many other ways. The Lord told them that the whole nation had robbed him. They said, “It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts? And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.”—vss. 14,15

It is true that in the world in general the wicked often prosper, are “set up” and “even delivered.” But that need not have been true of the Israelites. God had promised them, upon the basis of their faithfullness, that he would bless them in basket and in store. But they were not faithful, even though they claimed to be. God invited them to return to him and promised that if they did, he would return to them.

They could return to God by bringing all the tithes into the storehouse. And in our memory verse God promised that if they did, he would pour them out a blessing so great that they would not be able to contain it.

Spiritual Israelites are not requested to pay tithes to the Lord, for they have dedicated their all to him. But the principle still holds true; namely, that if we desire the richest of divine blessings to be poured out upon us, we will need to be faithful in paying our vows of sacrifice unto the Lord—we will need to give him all that we have and are, even as we have promised to do.

Even in that dark day of Israel’s history there were some who “feared the Lord,” and he gave heed to these and promised that a book of remembrance would be written for them. This is also true of the present age in connection with spiritual Israel.

QUESTIONS

What should be our response to God’s gift of his Son?

What is the answer of a good conscience toward God?

Explain Israel’s tithing arrangement.

Are Christians under that arrangement?

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