So the people of Israel have been back in the land for a century at this point. They have finished rebuilding the temple. They have finished rebuilding the walls. They have rebuilt their lives - they have made it back! Comeback! But there is still work to be done…
God sends them Malachi - the Italian prophet. We actually don’t know much about him.
There are 10 quotes attributed to the people in the book. Look at these 10 quotes - what does it say about their hearts? How would you describe their hearts? What we see is this spiritual malaise, this general state of disaffection. They are disappointed, fairly disinterested, and when God calls them on it, they are in denial. There is a spiritual arrogance about them. And it manifests itself in three ways:
-These people are pessimistic. They are slouchy. And they are stingy.
-Pessimism results from unmet expectations. They were dashed. And rather than be constantly disappointed, the pessimist readjusted their expectations - but they lowered them so far as to live in a state of perpetual disappointment. They have seen the brokenness of the world, how life lets you down, but rather than make the best of living in the tension of glory-yet-to-be-restored, they are the prophet of doom. The world is broken, people are broken, systems are broken, stuff breaks down. The future will be just as bad as the present, which is just as bad as the past. There is some truth to that, yes - but that’s only part of the story. Sadly, living hope does not apply to this person. Failure to understand the God of the Come Back. I come to make all things new, He says! But comebacks usually take time. Yes, you may have to be patient. You may have to wait for it. You may have to live with the reality of “yes but not yet”. Unfortunately, the pessimist is unwilling to wait. Why bother waiting, why bother hoping?
-[1.2-3] I have loved you, God says - AND STILL DO. “How have You loved us?”, they ask. They may as well just come out with it - You HAVEN’T loved us. That’s what they’re thinking. Shortsighted thinking, to be sure. Pessimism, oozing out of them. Cuz that whole exile thing - that was not what we wanted. And this come back - it has not been what we expected. We didn’t expect all this brokenness. All this opposition. We didn’t get what we wanted. You didn’t let us have our cake and eat it too. You didn’t let us have it our own way. When in fact God did give them exactly what they wanted - they wanted life on their own terms, life outside of God’s instructions - and that’s what God gave them. He allowed them to experience life apart from Him. Brokenness. Reminding them of their desperate need for Him. But to come back from that - rebuilding, healing - that always takes some time. Work.
-And God responds: I HAVE loved you - AND STILL DO! There is ample proof. God always has ample proof of His love for us. As evidence, God here reminds them that He chose them. He chose them over Esau, and He repeatedly lived into that choice over the centuries. And when Esau joined in with Babylon and cheered the heathen on when they destroyed Jerusalem, God let them have it. Esau, the Edomites, cheered the Babylonians on - and that was their last mistake. Raze it, burn it to the ground! [Ps 137.7] Whoa.
-Questioning God’s love. Why do we do that? Do you ever do that? God, You must not love me, cuz you have let this happen to me. Dashed expectations. You have put me here. You haven’t done such-and-such. You made me like this. It’s hard for me to see Your love when this is the hand I’ve been dealt. There must be some mistake, God. Father, You made a mistake - this hand You dealt me makes it really hard for me to feel like You love me. Sometimes it’s the love we experienced from our own parents that dashed our expectations.
[Lauren Chapin] - Father Knows Best was one of the most popular television series of the 1950s and early 1960s. The program won six Emmy Awards and finished sixth in ratings during its final year of production. Father Knows Best continued to be shown in prime time for three years after production ended and then for another five years on ABC’s daytime lineup. Father Knows Best can still be seen in reruns today.
The showstopper on the program was Lauren Chapin, the adorable little Kathy (nicknamed “Kitten”). Lauren appeared in many TV and radio programs as well as movies and commercials. Five times she was awarded Junior Emmy awards for best child actress. Elvis Presley, probably the most popular singer in the world at the time, was brought in by the studio to entertain at her private birthday party. Recently E! True Hollywood Stories aired a two-hour television special on Lauren’s life that won ratings higher than any of the shows produced to date.
To all outward appearances Lauren had the perfect life—fame, money, and professional accolades. However, looks can be deceiving and that was certainly true of this little girl. Lauren’s home life was totally dysfunctional. Secretly, her father was abusing her, and her mother was cold, unloving, and even cruel. When Father Knows Best was suddenly canceled, Lauren was devastated. With no direction she went from bad to worse. For years she lived a life of incredible misery—drugs, fast company, casual lovers, eight miscarriages, welfare, a mental hospital, and even prison!
Lauren had never been a religious person, but her son began going to church with relatives. When he threatened to quit if she did not attend with him, Lauren agreed. After visiting several churches, she found one where the pastor clearly shared the gospel. As the pastor preached, she felt he was speaking directly to her. For the first time, she heard that she had a Father who loved her with an unconditional love, in spite of her many sins. With tears she received Christ as her Lord and Savior, and her life was changed forever. Today she has found personal and professional success. She shares her testimony in churches and with all who will listen. During the interview for her biography on the E! True Hollywood Stories, Lauren gave a bold gospel presentation of how Jesus Christ changed her life. Lauren was touched by the love of God.
-“But I HAVE loved you”, He says. And still do! Such grace and forbearance. When did God’s love for you begin? Eph. 1:4 “Even before He made the world, God loved us…” [Jer 31.3 - “I have loved you with an everlasting love…”] And for each one of us, He HAS shown us His love in no uncertain terms - at the Cross. God demonstrates His love toward us in that while we were sinners, while we were His enemies, what? Christ died for us. He gave us His Son. It is the old story of the train conductor - most of us have heard it. He is our loving restoring redeeming healing heavenly Father. And He wants to be the Father we never had.
-[1.6-10] So we see that they are questioning His love - and they are withholding their hearts. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also, right? So where was Israel putting its treasure? The better question, of course, is, where were they NOT putting their treasure? We know where they were NOT putting their treasure - it was not going to the Lord. You don’t give Me your treasure, because I am not your Treasure. You’ve heard of the treasure principle? That’s what we’re talking about. We give our treasure - the best of our time, the best of our talent, the best of our treasure - to that which we treasure. And God was getting their scraps, their leftovers. They were giving Him what they didn’t want. What they didn’t care about. What wasn’t even theirs. Things they didn’t care about - because they really didn’t care about Him. "How tiresome it is." They were weary. Bored. And it made them slouchy. [1.11] From the rising to the sun even to its setting, My Name will be great among the nations, the Lord says. My Name will be great. Revered. Honored. It means weighty. That to which I attach weight. Significance. Importance. Which is precisely what you, My people, are NOT doing for Me. You are not attaching honor and value and significance to Me. You are not treasuring Me. You are bringing it in weak. Not to mention diseased! In doing so, You are despising Me. You are profaning Me. Making Me look bad. You are offering Me that which costs you nothing, second-hand, that which is worthless, and You are basically saying that I am worthless. Second-hand. Slouchy. Oh that someone would shut the gates, just shut the doors of the temple, God says. Put a stop to it! I would that you were cold or hot but not lukewarm...
-Some people treasure the Dallas Cowboys. I realize I’m about to step on some toes here…[on Dallas Cowboys fanaticism, and 25 yrs of fan loyalty for a team mired in mediocrity]
-We treasure by instinct. We have no trouble with our treasure mechanism. It’s our treasure identification system which is a bit haywire. Our treasure wi-fi is always on - it just has trouble picking the best network. My Name will be great…!
[2.1] - this command is for you, O priests. Yes, the priests were complicit. All this profane slouchy sacrificing was being conducted and condoned by the priests. Their spiritual leaders. They were maybe not the ones who were bringing it in weak and sick and diseased and worthless, but they were offering it up. They were doubly culpable. They were just as guilty. They could have put a stop to it. They could have said no - you are not bringing God some diseased sacrifice. And I am not offering it. That’s not right.
[2.5-6] - that’s how it used to be w Levi, God says. He revered Me. He feared Me, stood in awe of My Name. He walked with Me - and turned many back from iniquity. There was a time when Levi would have said no way - you are not bringing this in here. You are not bringing it in like this.
-This slouchiness - that’s not how we relate to the Lord, the thrice-holy God. And here’s the thing - we are also doubly culpable - because who does God say are the priests now? We are. We are the priests - we are the ones offering the sacrifices now. Not animals. But our treasure. Our time and our talents. Our lives and our hearts. God gets our best - because He is bester. Suffice it to say, the Lord is trusting me and the leaders of this church to do all that we can to help everyone who is part of the Hope Fellowship Family bring their best to the Lord. But we are all accountable. So, by all means, and by the grace which God so generously provides, let’s not bring it in weak.
-There was yet another symptom of this slouchiness. [2.10-12] - You are giving your hearts to the daughters of a foreign God. You are giving your heart to someone who does not love the Lord, Who is not following Him, who doesn’t know Him. This maybe is mostly for young singles. Sometimes we don’t think about it when we begin to give our heart to someone. We think they are funny, or they make us feel special, or they are good-looking - but what we are not thinking about is that, when/if I give my heart to someone is NOT following the Lord, usually they are going to pull my heart AWAY from the Lord. There is a reason why the Lord made this part of His covenant with His people. It is not because He is trying to restrict their freedom. No, far from it. He loves us. He wants the very best for us - and He knows that our greatest good, our highest bester joys are to be found in Him. IF God calls you to be with someone (that’s for a lifetime!), you want that person to ultimately be spurring your heart on closer to the Lord. And they are not generally going to do that if they don’t know Him. I’m not saying that God never can use us in the life of someone who is not following Him. Sometimes God in His grace will draw someone we date or marry to Himself. But that is usually the exception. What usually happens is that you give your heart to so-and-so, and you think they will start following the Lord, and somewhere down the road you are sitting in church by yourself. Maybe the kids are with you - but maybe they aren’t. It’s usually the women. There are a lot of (married) women sitting in churches by themselves. They fell in love with a guy who treated them nice and made them laugh and they figured he would start going to church but he didn’t change. And now the kids have a dad who is not following the Lord. Of course, God can redeem that situation - but God’s point here is, the smart choice is just to set some boundaries. In fact, just live within these boundaries I’ve set up for you. That’s freedom. That’s where blessing is found. There is freedom to be found inside the fence of God’s love.
[Laska’s journey of chaos and the freedom of the fence - our dog is happiest and free-est inside the boundaries of the fence we installed]
-God says, you turned away from My statutes, BUT, He says, return to ME [3.7]. Return to Me. Heaven is a Person. It is not just a bunch of wearisome cumbersome do’s-and-don’ts. It's not just going thru the motions of Sunday morning stand-up-sit-down-pay-your-tithe-sing-a-song-and-listen-to-some-long-and-boring-message and be done with it. Maybe the message is long and boring - I don’t know. But it’s not about all that. Return to Me, He says. We’re talking about a Person. THE Person. The King of the universe. The God Who made us. Return to Me. Every day. Come back to Me, to a relationship with Me. Relate to Me - as your Treasure. The most important and bestest Person-Place-or-Thing in your life.
-So, God's people were cynical. They were slouchy. And they were being stingy. You are also robbing Me [3.7-12]. You are not giving Me your best, AND you are not giving me your all. You’re not giving Me the whole tithe, what you are giving Me is less than your all - and this is all a symptom of your heart. Your time, your talents, AND your treasure - you are being stingy, because I am not your treasure. Again, we give our treasure to that which we treasure. But what is it that makes a person generous, ready to share, ready to give? What would it look like for you and me to give our all to the Lord? Why is it that a person would give their all to the Lord? I think stinginess is the symptom of a small heart. It’s classic selfishness laced with a scarcity mindset. We are concerned that there will not be enough for us. If I give my all to the Lord, there will not be enough for me. Isn’t that how it plays out in everyday life? We identify certain things as ours. Perhaps some bag of cheesy or sugary yumminess. And then we are unwilling to share, and what we’re afraid of is that if we give some of this to someone else, then there won’t be enough for me. That’s MY bag of yumminess, and there needs to be enough for me. It extends to my time and my talents: if I give you or the Lord my time - and the corresponding level of effort required - then there won’t be enough left for ME.
I think what we ultimately have is a heart which has not been truly overrun by the magnanimous uber-generous God of the universe. His amazing wonderful grace and undeserved favor. His all-sufficient abundant supply. We forget. We fail to realize how much He has first given us. How much He has forgiven us. We forget His promise to provide - or we doubt. It’s a bit of cynicism mingled with some fleshy fear. If I give my all to God, there won’t be enough. I’m not sure I really believe that God will fully supply all my needs. Test Me now in this, He says. Scripture actually tells us NOT to put God to the test, but here He makes this glaring exception, gives us a blanket invitation, to test Him in this. Bring the whole tithe in. Give Me your all, He says. Open up your hand, and see if I don’t open up the windows of heaven. Watch Me. See if I won’t bless your socks off. Overflowing. Uncontainable. All nations will call you blessed, and you will be a delightful land, says the Lord of Hosts. Open hands (and hearts) open the windows of heaven. Some of God’s greatest blessings are tied to the generosity of His people. Generous with our time. And our talents. And our treasure. Generous with our stuff. With His blessings. Generous with the Gospel. Welcoming to strangers. Welcoming towards those who are different. Towards ones who maybe require a little extra grace. EGRs we call them. Extra grace required. That’s each one of us. Open up your heart. Open up your hand. Ask God to open your eyes to ways that you can do that this week. For your family. For your neighbors. For our church. For our city.
[4.1-5] The cure for this malaise? What we need is a fresh glimpse of our God Who is NOT a tame lion. The Coming King! The day of the Lord is great and terrifying because He is great - and terrifying. Those who fear the Lord, He says… He is coming back - are we living like it? Are we ready? We each need fresh glimpses of the greatness and fearsome awesomeness (and generosity!) of the bester God of heaven. May the Lord open our eyes to see Him…
Outline of Malachi
- Intro [1.1]
- Questioning God’s love [1.2-5]
- Disrespectful sacrifices [1.6-14]
- Dishonoring priests [2.1-9]
- Treachery in marriage [2.10-16]
- Marrying unbelievers [2.10-12]
- Divorce [2.13-16]
- Questions of justice [2.17-3.6]
- Symptoms of the need to return [3.7-15]
- Questioning return [3.7]
- Robbing God [3.8-12]
- Not serving God [3.13-15]
- VIII. The Great and Terrifying Day of the Lord [3.16-4.6]
- The reverent vs the arrogant [3.16-4.4]
- The restoring messenger [4.5-6]
How have You loved us? [1.2]
How have we despised Your name? [1.6]
How have we defiled You? [1.7]
(My Name will be great/feared among the nations) —> My how tiresome it is [1.13]
Why do you no longer accept our offerings w favor? [2.14]
How have we wearied the Lord w our words? [2.17]
How will we return? [3.7]
How have we robbed You? [3.8]
What have we spoken against You? [3.13]
It is vain to serve God. [3.14]
