PUTTING OUR HOUSE IN ORDER
by Froukje Eibrink-Jansen

A Word to Leaders

Malachi 3:8-12 -"Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed Me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed Thee? In tithes and offerings. YE ARE CURSED WITH A CURSE: for ye have robbed Me, even this whole nation. 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. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of Hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of Hosts".

Now before you decide that you have other things to do, or when reading this you wished you had not come to visit this Homepage, I would like to ask you to stay with me a little longer.

Many pastors have used this scripture and maybe without realising it, they have actually spoken out a curse over their own flock, while this word was not meant for them in the first place.

Who is Malachi talking to?

Malachi 2:1,2 "And now this admonition is for you, O priests. If you do not listen and if you do not set your heart to honor My name," saith the Lord Almighty,"I will send a curse upon you..."

Malachi is speaking to the priests and Levites, the leaders of the people at that time.

Malachi lived in the time of Nehemiah and Ezra. Ezra helped with the rebuilding of the temple and Nehemiah had been used by God to help rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and when that was done, he taught the people how they had to take care of the Temple and live righteously before God. He built storerooms where the people could bring their tithes and he had told them what the should be used for and also who was not allowed to partake of them.

Now it was not my plan to give a teaching on tithing. There is enough of that on the net. There is something else we need to have a closer look at.

In the time when the temple was built and the walls rebuilt there was amongst the returned exiles a man named Tobiah, who with several others could not prove that he was a true Israelite.

Neh.7:61-65 "These sought their register among those that were reckoned by genealogy, but it was not found: therefore were they, as polluted, PUT FROM THE PRIESTHOOD. And the Tirshatha (Ezra) said unto them that they SHOULD NOT EAT OF THE MOST HOLY THINGS, till there stood up a priest with Urim and Thummim."

As soon as Nehemiah went back to babylon, something happened.

The direct result of this action was that the people stopped bringing their tithes. The question here is, WHO was to blame for that? It was Eliashib who had the oversight over the Temple service and the storerooms. And when he broke the rules, the people stopped giving.

Why did they stop giving? I believe and scripture confirms it, that it is the Holy Spirit Who moves on people to give and I believe that He also stops people from giving, when things are not done according to God's order. So, may I ask you, WHO is the one that is cursed here? The leader, the priest Eliashib and indirectly the other ministries as well and that in turn had its effect on the nation.

So the curse had effect on all of them, but the one who needed to repent and who could turn things around, was the priest-in-charge, in this case Eliashib. We know that the things that happened in the Old Testament are there to teach us God's ways.

They are a type or shadow of something and we need to find out how we can apply this to our situation in the church today.

Who was Tobiah a type of?

King Uzziah tried to do the work of a priest and he became a leper. The sons of Aaron brought in strange fire, they did not do things God's way and they died on the spot. King David did not bring in the Ark of God according to God's specific instructions and somebody died in the process. Peter said once in the book of Acts that God winks at ignorance but there comes a time when He comes to inspect His church and I believe that time is coming near.

It is time to do just what King David did. He called for the seer in the Word and found out how God wanted things done. We must do that too and once we know we must DO it.

So Tobiah was a type of somebody who takes a position of leadership in a place where God has NOT sent him. It could be that he is a friend of the pastor or a relative, or maybe he has money and is such a good supporter of the work . It is time that we understand that God has a divine plan and order for His church. Jesus is the head of His church and he said "I will build My church". So we need to submit to His leadership.

We often read in the OT that God talks about His people dishonoring the Sabbath. I found out what He is talking about in Isaiah 58:13. He is talking about people who are doing their own thing, going their own way, without consulting God. God says in Ezekiel 37 about His people, His church:

Ezekiel 37:21,23,26 " I will gather them...I will purify them....I will place them and.. I will multiply them..."

Do we believe that? We actually see this in the book of Acts in the church in Jerusalem.

Now many of us do not know where our place is in the Body of Christ. It is our inheritance to hear God for ourselves. He will tell us His will for our lives, when we seek Him with all our hearts. In the book of Nehemiah, Ezra appointed Levites to read the Word of God to the people and there is a little sentence there that we should take note of:

Neh.8:7.".and the Levites caused the people to understand the law: and the people stood in their place"

I believe that they were not just standing there, but as they began to understand what God wanted them to do, they went and started to stand in the place where God wanted them. The word 'stood' actually means 'to abide, to be employed, to serve' and the word 'place' means 'a fixed place'.

I want to share with you what could happen today if somebody is put in a place of leadership, where God has not placed him or anointed him. According to the word of God, when things are not done God's way, He withdraws His blessing.

I once heard a testimony from a Man of God, who had been very succesfull in business. When God called him, he asked if he could do business one more year so that he would not be dependant on people, once he was fulltime.

God said to him: "Son, I do not work that way. When you are obedient to Me, the givers will know it and you will always have enough, but when you are disobedient the givers will also know it and they will stop giving. "

When a church does not have enough money coming in, most of the time the pastor will resort to start preaching on Malachi 3. They do not realise however that they are cursing their own people that way. This has to stop! Pastors, go to God and ask Him if you maybe have a Tobiah in your storeroom. It is not the people's fault when the money doesn't come in. it is the responsibility of the leader ship to humble themselves before God and put things right. And I can assure you, according to God's word, that there is enough money available to build the house of God . Ofcourse you understand that I am not talking about brick and mortar, I am talking about that glorious church whose builder is God.

Where God's Glory is, there is enough money available to do the work! Look at what happened when the tabernakel was built and the Temple in Solomon's days . Study the life of King Josiah and King Hezekiah. People had to be restrained from giving....!

It is time for the church of God to be put in order.

God is coming closer to inspect His work:

THE DAY OF THE LORD IS COMING NEAR - ZEPHANIAH CHAPTER ONE

Zeph.1:12 "At that time I will search Jerusalem with a candle.."