The Book of Malachi ON TRIAL Robbing God Malachi 3:6-4:6

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1 The Book of Malachi ON TRIAL Robbing God Malachi 3:6-4:6 The Book of Malachi which we began studying 2 weeks ago is laid out like a court scene. It begins with God on trial and his people bringing charges against Him. They claim that He isn t upholding his end of the covenant. You don t love us; you re not accepting our sacrifices; you re not being fair to us; and, it doesn t really benefit us to serve you. But the tables quickly turn and in response to their accusations, God has his own charges against his people You have broken our covenant your worship is insincere; you re unfaithful to me and to your spouses; you are robbing me by not giving me what is rightfully mine; and, you re making unfair accusations against me. Like many of the Minor Prophets, Malachi s words sting, but God s goal in bringing correction is always redemption. Our Heavenly Father takes no delight in punishing his children. His desire is that we would become more like his Son, Jesus. Jesus name doesn t specifically appear anywhere in this prophecy, but there are several allusions to the coming of the Messiah. And the question, Where is Jesus? is a great question to ask when reading any portion of the Bible. Jesus has a prominent place in all Scripture, even in seemingly obscure Old Testament books like Malachi. From cover to cover the Bible points to the person and to the work of Jesus Christ. I recently heard Pastor Bruxy Cavy say, If you re reading your Bible and it doesn t lead you to Jesus, you re reading your Bible wrong. As we read Malachi you might be wondering, Why is God so concerned about the details of how his people live their lives? That s a great question and to help put Malachi s message in context I d like to look at another Old Testament prophet, Ezekiel. In Ezekiel chapter 36 God explains the importance of his people living holy lives. Listen to these selected verses: I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Sovereign LORD, when I show myself holy through you before their eyes. I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God. I will call for the grain and make it plentiful 1

2 and will not bring famine upon you. I will increase the fruit of the trees and the crops of the field, so that you will no longer suffer disgrace among the nations because of famine. I will resettle your towns, and the ruins will be rebuilt. The desolate land will be cultivated instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass through it. Then the nations around you that remain will know that I the LORD have rebuilt what was destroyed and have replanted what was desolate. I the LORD have spoken, and I will do it. Then they will know that I am the LORD. Ezekiel 36 selected God is so concerned about the purity and righteousness of his people, because his people are the ones who attract others to Him. That was true in the Old Testament and it s also true today. God s plan is that those of us who love and serve Him would live in such a way that people who don t know God are attracted to Him through our lives. We represent God. We re his ambassadors. When we fail to live in a way that positively reflects who God is, we give Him a bad name. God s plan is that as we walk with Him we would experience his life and joy and peace and hope in our lives and that as our lives reflect these attributes, those who don t know Him would be drawn to a relationship with Him. That is why God is so intent on his people living lives that are holy (that word means set apart or different ). Several weeks ago I received an from someone at McBIC that I want to share with you with this person s permission, I ve adjusted it slightly to hide their identity. I have recently transferred to a new job. Yesterday I was talking with one of my new coworkers who used to work at a different company where I know someone from McBIC currently works. I asked him if he knew so and so from McBIC. He immediately said yes and then made the comment about how similar this person was to me in demeanor and outlook. He then asked, How do you know him? I told him that we attend the same church. He got this look on his face like he was connecting the dots and then he relayed some stories that my fellow McBIC er had shared with him in the past. It was a good conversation and a reminder for me of how important my interactions are and how I m planting seeds even when I m not aware of it. That is an example of living out Ezekiel 36. And to bring this back to Malachi that is why God is so concerned about how his people live. His primary plan for bringing people who don t know Him into a relationship with Him is his people living in a way that attracts people to Him. I ve titled the passage that we re studying today, Robbing God, and I ll begin by reading chapter 3 verses 6 & 7. I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD Almighty. But you ask, How are we to return? Malachi 3:6 & 7 Once again, God and his people are engaged in a back and forth dialogue. God begins by stating that He doesn t change and then He calls his people to return to Him and his people 2

3 respond, How are we to return? God s people are making a bad assumption that many of us make. When we feel distance between ourselves and God we often jump to the conclusion that it s God s fault. We assume that He s preoccupied or upset with us or He doesn t care anymore. But God calls his people to return to Him. If we feel distance between ourselves and God we need to ask the question, Who moved? I ll start reading again at verse 8 where God accuses his people of robbing Him, and they ask, How are we robbing you? Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, How do we rob you? In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse the whole nation of you because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the LORD Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit, says the LORD Almighty. Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land, says the LORD Almighty. Matthew 3:8-12 Before I explain what s happening here, I want you to relax. I know that this is one of the most commonly used Scriptures that preachers refer to when they call people to give more money. You can take your hand off of your wallet or your purse. We re not going to pass the offering plates again and receive a 2 nd offering today. I m not going to try and convince you that if you don t put more money in the offering plate, you ll be under God s curse. As we read these verses, we need to understand that God isn t concerned about our giving because He needs more of our money. At various points in the Scripture God makes it clear that while He wants us to give generously to Him, it is us that He is concerned about, not his own needs. Listen to Psalm chapter 50 verses 9-12: I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it. God doesn t need what we have. His concern in asking us to give to Him, is us. Part of God s covenant that He established with his people was that they were instructed to give Him one tenth of their crops, of their livestock and of their wealth. A common practice in the world during Old Testament times was for people to give a tenth of their wealth to their king as a form of tax we d all love to get by with giving our government just 10% today, right? When 3

4 God established a covenant with the people of Israel, He told them that He was their king and so they were instructed to give a tithe 10% of all they had to Him. God encourages his people to test Him. This is the only place in Scripture where God offers this kind of a challenge I believe that s because God understood how important and foundational our wealth and possessions are to us. God says, Test me and see if you have room enough for it. And why will God do this? It goes back to why God is so passionate about our holiness He knows that people who don t know Him are watching us and we are their best hope of learning to know Him. When they watch us and see how we live and when they see God s blessing on our lives, they ll connect that with God. Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land. God wants his people to give a portion of our finances and possessions to Him in recognition of the fact that He is the Lord of our lives that He is the one who sits on the throne of our hearts, not our money, our job security, or our possessions. When we give to God we re making a statement to ourselves and to others that He, not other things, is our priority. Jesus stated this principle very clearly in Matthew chapter 6 verses when He said, Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. In Malachi chapter 3 God encourages his people to return to Him by giving Him their tithes, but He also makes another charge against them in verses You have said harsh things against me, says the LORD. Yet you ask, What have we said against you? You have said, It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the LORD Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape. Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honored his name. They will be mine, says the LORD Almighty, in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not. God s exchange with his people through his prophet Malachi reminds me of a parents interaction with their teens. God makes a charge and his people respond by saying, What are you talking about? You have said harsh things against me, God says and his people say, What have we said against you? 4

5 The people of Israel were blaming the disconnect they felt with God on God, rather than holding a mirror up to themselves. They were saying, What good does it do to serve God? We do the religious stuff He tells us to do, but it doesn t get us anywhere. In fact, people who disregard God completely seem to fare better than those who try and follow Him. So, really, what good does it do us to serve Him? Aside from angering God with the untruth of their statements, what they were doing was painting a bad picture of God before people they were supposed to be pointing toward God s love and goodness. Their complaining and their failure to live for God and the subsequent chaos in their lives was literally profaning God s name before people who didn t know who God was and God wasn t happy about it. As we study Malachi it becomes clear that how we live our lives matters. Saying that we worship God and our allegiance is to Him, while we live our lives out of step with the truth of God s Word is hypocrisy. It s a form of atheism. An atheist doesn t believe God exists. When we live aspects of our lives as if God doesn t exist, we re living like an atheist. God calls us to repent to turn around and to return to Him. But God doesn t stop there. The goal of his correction is always redemption. Like many of the Minor Prophets, Malachi points to the coming of a future Messiah. Listen to these words of prophecy about the coming Messiah. Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire, says the LORD Almighty. Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall. Then you will trample down the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I do these things, says the LORD Almighty. Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel. See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse. Malachi s prophecy ends with 2 powerful images which explain the effect that the coming of the Messiah will have on God s people. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall. Malachi 4:2 God s people were in a season of darkness this period was known in Jewish history as The Silent Years, because God seemed to have disappeared. The people of God knew the 5

6 stories of how God had worked in the lives of their ancestors in the past and they were very familiar with the prophecies of a Messiah who would come in the future. But they didn t see any evidence of God s love and care in their lives. God s people were hurting, broken and oppressed by the nations around them and God wasn t helping them. But Malachi reminds them that all is not lost, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. The wings of the sun refer to its spreading rays of warmth and light rays that bring healing and warmth. And as the sun rises and its rays radiate light and warmth and healing, God s people will experience his joy and freedom and hope. They will leap like calves that have just been released from the stall. Imagine the calf that has been born during the winter and all it has known is its mother and its small, dark stall. In the spring of the year when it s warm enough to go outside a whole new world awaits the calf. Can you picture this calf after it gets used to its new surroundings leaping and jumping through the green meadow. It is experiencing freedom and joy and sights and sounds it has never known. God tells his people that those who revere his name will experience the healing light and warmth of the sun s rays and their response will be to leap like calves just released from the stall. It s a powerful picture. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall. So, what s God s word for us today through Malachi? God s desire for each of us is that there would be consistency between how we live our lives and the truth of his Word consistency in how we interact with our family members; in how we live at school; in how we conduct ourselves at work; and, in how we act when we re hanging out with our friends. If we re experiencing distance from God, we moved, He didn t go anywhere. God s plan is that people who don t know Him would learn to know Him through our lives and as our Heavenly Father, He wants each of us to experience his abundant life in our own lives. We are on the cusp of entering what is often a crazy season of the year. A season of hyper-activity, during which we want to quiet our hearts; a season where we re expected to keep so many commitments and we re called to focus on the reality of Immanuel; a season where we celebrate family, while we deal with the pain of broken and difficult relationships; and, a season of joy and peace, which for many is filled with hurt, a sense of loss and loneliness. 6

7 For those who revere God s name his promise is that the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall. That s a truth we can all embrace. 7