Meeting God, Again - Malachi - Sermon Manuscript

We did it! We’ve made it to the end of this 15 week series!

Along the way we’ve seen different themes crop up… themes like loyalty, faithfulness, idolatry, broken and restored relationships…

But if you boil the minor prophets down to the basics: They invite us on a journey through history where the hearts of God’s people were far from Him, and yet God, in His love, constantly says: Return to Me, and I will return to you.

So that’s what we’ve been focusing on - The idea of Meeting God, Again.

I’m guessing this series resonated with each of us in different ways, but my main goal was to raise awareness that there is a real need for people to know Jesus.

There are a lot of people in this world who have never heard about Jesus. But I’m guessing that for us, most people we know have at least heard about Him.

I’m sure we could all think of people who have left God behind because they had questions about Him, but their questions were left unanswered or unsatisfied. Unfortunately what happens for some is that over time, those questions turn into accusations against God.

Accusations like: God, why didn’t You answer my prayer? Why did you allow this horrible circumstance to happen to me? Why are so many of my non-Christians friends well off, but my family is struggling financially?

This is what the book of Malachi is all about. It’s the last book in our Old Testament, and it was written about 100 years or so after the books of Haggai and Zechariah (the two previous books).

Both Haggai and Zechariah wrote to motivate God’s people to worship God with a pure heart. But when we fast forward to Malachi, we see that their devotion to God was only temporary. 2

What I want to do today with the book of Malachi is to take you inside the head of God’s people: the Israelites. Because maybe your story isn’t one where you left God and eventually came back to Him. For some of us I know that’s the case - praise God that’s the case! But a lot of us can’t relate.

So, Malachi provides us with a window inside the hearts of people who have deconstructed their faith and loyalty in Yahweh God.

But Malachi does this in an interesting way... The whole book is set up like a courtroom case trial between God and the Israelites.

If you have your Bible, or Bible app, go ahead and turn to Malachi with me. And while you get there, I want you to use your imagination…

Place yourself inside a courtroom and imagine that God Himself is being put on trial. You’re not the jury - you’re just observing. Now picture the prophet Malachi as the mediator between Yahweh God and the Israelites.

And I say “mediator” on purpose because Malachi isn’t like Judge Judy in this situation. Malachi is just the go-between... he’s the messenger for Yahweh God, who - let’s be real - is the ultimate Judge and Jury.

The gavel comes down; Court is now in session. The Israelites (or the plaintiff’s) are bringing 5 allegations against Yahweh God, the Defendant.

The Allegations go like this (check your sermon notes): 1. God doesn’t love me (1:2-5) 2. God asks too much of me (1:6-2:9, 3:6-12) 3. God won’t listen to me (2:10-16) 4. God isn’t fair (2:17-3:5) 5. God is a hypocrite (3:13-18)

All of these boil down to the fact that God’s people thought He had abandoned them. But from God’s perspective, they left Him first!

And let me just say… if you remember the show Judge Judy, those cases were said to be real (maybe?). But this case between Yahweh God and His people is 3 real… the people are real… this case is real, and the ruling is final! Let’s see how this plays out…

Allegation #1 - God doesn’t love me! (1:2-5)

Malachi 1:2-5 - “I have loved you,” says the LORD. “But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’

The Israelites’ question gives us a lot of insight. Despite their history with Yahweh God, they can’t see how He has loved them.

Well, God answers by reminding them that He loved Jacob but hated Esau. This would have resonated with them but maybe it’s not so familiar with us...

We talked about Jacob and Esau when I went through Obadiah about 8 weeks ago. Esau was the twin brother of Jacob who gave up his birthright for a plate of food. Eventually Esau moved from home and the land he and his wife settled in became known as the land of Edom.

Jacob (aka Israel) also married and had 12 sons and they became known as the 12 tribes of Israel (“God’s people” = the Israelites).

[Picture of High Places in Petra] So if you remember, the people from Esau’s family line were in Edom and made their homes in the high places. They thought they were untouchable. They thought that it didn’t matter who came against them, they lived high up in the rocks where no one could reach them.

But God says in Malachi 1:4 that even if they are crushed by a foreign nation and try to rebuild, He will demolish them because of their wicked ways. They are not exempt from God’s judgement.

The point here is that it doesn’t matter who you are or where you’re from; if you don’t have a loving-loyalty to Yahweh God, then you will face judgment, because Yahweh God is the Almighty High God; His majesty extends beyond the borders of His people. He is the ultimate Creator God. Nothing is hidden from Him.

But despite the unfaithfulness of the Israelites, God still chooses to love them even in their judgement, because long ago He pronounced them to be His treasured possession. They were HIS nation! God promised that His nation would endure, and He keeps that promise!

But that doesn’t mean they can do whatever they want. God requires absolute loyalty, and as we’ve seen in this series, the Israelites consistently chose other gods over Yahweh God. Every time they did that, they were breaking their end of the deal.

That covenant promise was a two way street! And we’ve seen that God always held up His end of the deal, but the Israelites had a habit of breaking their end. So, when God chose to use His judgement against His own people, He was justified because they were the ones who broke the covenant with Him!

But we know that Yahweh isn’t just this vengeful God because we’ve seen throughout the minor prophets that God has loved His people. He has protected them and sustained them throughout their history.

So, for His people to say, “How have you loved us?” ...that must have been heartbreaking for God.

It was a low-blow. They had no right to question how God has loved them.

But the allegations continue - the Israelites were just getting started.

Allegation #2 - God asks too much of me! (1:6-2:9, 3:6-12)

This is the part of the case where God spends the most time with His defense.

In Malachi 1:6 - 2:9 we see that the Israelites felt God was asking too much of them, so they decided to only give God their leftovers. God’s original commandment was that they were to offer the best of their flocks to Him, but instead they were offering Him blind, lame and diseased animals.

God says in Malachi 1:8, “Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” 5

That’s like one of those questions that parents ask their children where the obvious answer is “no”.

But what does it matter? So what if they weren’t giving God their best?

Well, imagine paying your taxes with Monopoly money. Would our government accept that? No! Why? Because Monopoly money is worthless! If we’re honest with ourselves, the only reason we would consider giving Monopoly money to our government rather than real money is because giving real dollar bills is a real sacrifice.

And that’s the point of God’s commandment. God wants His people to learn to depend on Him. Because the problem is that when they only depend on themselves, their hearts naturally wander far from Him.

But let’s keep exploring this…

Malachi 3:6-12 is another example of how God’s people were not depending on Him. Instead of giving a tenth of everything to the LORD as they were commanded in the Law (tithing, Leviticus 27:30), they decided to rob God of what was His. They kept everything for themselves.

Now why would God - the Almighty, Infinite, Creator God - Why would He need anything from us? Well, He doesn’t. The whole purpose of the tithe was so that everyone supported everyone. It promoted equality (2 Corinthians 8:3, 13). The Old Testament teaches us that at least 10% of everybody’s earnings and possessions would go to support the priests and the poor (who didn’t own farms/fields/flocks).

This might surprise you - but the New Testament hardly ever talks about tithing. And when it does, it’s more about giving what you’re able.

Listen to Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 8:1-3…

“And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. 2 In the midst of a very severe trial, their 6 overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. 3 For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability.”

Paul goes on to say in verse 8 that this isn’t a command. He’s just testing the sincerity of their love for God. It’s the whole biblical principle that says if you love God, then you’ll love your neighbor as yourself.

Again, the main idea behind tithing was so that no one was to be left behind or left hungry. Everybody was to take care of eachother. But rather than giving the required tithe, God’s people were keeping everything to themselves.

Their hearts were far from Him! God commands them to do something, and they say in Malachi 1:13, “What a burden!” In other words: “This is just too much for God to ask of us!”

It’s tempting to think this is just the Israelites being whiny. I mean, somebody call the WAHHHbulence!

But their heart issue goes much deeper than that. In Malachi 1:12, God is saying that they were defiling His Name! They were His people created in His image! They were supposed to represent Him to the rest of the world. But instead of honoring God’s Name by representing Him well, they desecrated it by dragging His Name through the mud.

This is God Almighty’s Name we’re talking about: Yahweh! His name is Great and is to be feared among the nations (1:10-14). God deserves the respect that’s due to Him simply because of who He is and everything He’s done for His people.

So, the Israelites really didn’t have any legs to stand on with their allegations against God. It wasn’t that God’s commands were too much for them to follow. It was that they were too selfish to follow God.

I’m hoping that you, as observers in this courtroom, are realizing that the case isn’t looking good for the Israelites at this point! But they press on...

Allegation #3 - God won’t listen to me! (2:10-16)

Malachi says…

Malachi 2:13-14 - Another thing you do: You flood the LORD’s altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer looks with favor on your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. 14 You ask, “Why?” It is because the LORD is the witness between you and the wife of your youth. You have been unfaithful to her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.

So, the Israelites would go to the altar at Jerusalem’s Temple to make sacrifices for Yahweh God. Why? Well, there were several reasons. But the point here is that they wanted God to look at them with favor. Because if He did, then their crops would yield an abundant harvest. They would have what they needed to survive the winter months.

But it didn’t matter how much they pleaded with God, He wasn’t going to listen to them. And why should He? Not only were their offerings pitiful, but they were sinning against the LORD by being unfaithful to their spouses. The text is specific in saying that Israelite men were actually divorcing their wives so that they could marry women who worshiped foreign gods.

This is detestable to the LORD on two levels. The first is that anyone who does this is breaking their end of the covenant promise with God. They were to worship no other god except Yahweh God - period!

The second thing to consider is that their marriage was symbolic of this covenant promise. In the same way that we are to remain faithful to Yahweh God, we are to also remain faithful to our spouse.

So, because the Israelites were being unfaithful to Yahweh, He wasn’t listening to their cries. It’s like we noted last week in Zechariah: Why would we think God should answer our prayers if we’ve not given our hearts to Him? Maybe He’ll answer them anyway? He is a gracious God who is slow to anger.

But, the truth is that if our hearts are far from Him, the only prayer that He will definitely answer is the one where we decide to return to Him. When we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us (James 4:8).

Allegation #4 - God isn’t fair (2:17-3:5)

Listen to this…

Malachi 2:17 - You have wearied the LORD with your words. ‘How have we wearied him?” you ask. By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the LORD, and he is pleased with them” or “Where is the God of justice?”

This is like saying to God: “You know what? You say that You love me, but I’m not seeing it. I’m not seeing your favor being stored up in my barns. You won’t even listen to me anymore! How are we supposed to live? You ask way too much of us. It’s not fair that we sit here, hungry, while You’re out there blessing evil nations. You’re supposed to be the God of Justice. How is that justice?!”

God answers with something really interesting…

Malachi 3:1 - “I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the LORD Almighty.”

Who is God talking about? Well, first of all we know that God has Isaiah 40:3 in mind where He says, “A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”

This might ring a bell, because the Gospel Accounts (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) all claim that the one who is coming to prepare the way of the LORD is John the Baptist! John isn’t claiming to be the Messiah, but he is claiming to be the one that is to prepare the way for the Messiah (Jesus)!

Note: See Mat. 3:1-12; Mark 1:3-8; Luke 3:2-17; John 1:19-23

So, why does Yahweh God bring this up in Malachi chapter 3? He’s showing that not only is He fair, but that when He comes as Jesus, He will purify His people.

Everyone will be put on trial. Those who are not faithful to Jesus will be dealt with. Malachi 3:2-5 says “who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when He appears?” But for those who are faithful to Jesus, they have no reason to fear.

So, for you observers in this courtroom, I want you to see that the problem with the Israelites in Malachi’s day was that they couldn’t see the big picture of what God was doing; God had to spell it out for them. He’s urging them to remain faithful, and He’s giving them an assurance that the Messiah they were waiting for would eventually come.

And now we get to the final allegation:

Allegation #5 - God is a hypocrite (3:13-18)

Malachi 3:13-15 - “You have spoken arrogantly against me,” says the LORD. “Yet you ask, ‘What have we said against you?’ 14 “You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the LORD Almighty? 15 But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.’”

In other words, the Israelites were claiming that God is a hypocrite. God says one thing, but then turns around and does something else. So to the Israelites, it seems that people who don’t serve God are better off because they always get away with their evil schemes!

But again, the Israelites were missing the big picture because they were blinded by their own selfishness.

And yet, God says there will come a day when they will see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked; between those who serve God and those 10 who do not. And Yahweh God reinforces His promise in Malachi 3:17, that those who serve Him will be called His “treasured possession” [Hebrew = “segolah”].

God says that there will come a day when the wicked will face their punishment. They can’t escape it. But for anyone who revere’s His Name, they will have the light of righteousness in them.

And that’s pretty much how Malachi ends. Case closed.

I hope you see that God did love His people, but their hearts were far from Him. In His justice, He needed to judge them… but forgiveness was always right there waiting for them. They just needed to turn back to God. After all, as we’ve noted many times in this series, God consistently says throughout the prophets:

“Return to Me and I will return to you.”

So, really, the decision was always in their hands. God required them to make the move to come to Him, and the same is true for us today.

I’ll close this morning with a story I recently heard…

I was outside chopping wood listening to a podcast I like. You might remember hearing Alisa Childer’s story in one of my sermons during our quarantine. She was the one who said that she grew up going to church. She was in a Christian band called ZOEgirl. They toured all over the world for several years…

Eventually she got married. She and her husband chose a church and it wasn’t long until they were invited into a bible study with their pastor and other members of the church. But the longer she was in this group, the more her faith was challenged because the pastor didn’t actually believe in Jesus! He admitted He was an agnostic, and every time they would meet he would try to dismantle their Christian beliefs.

Thankfully Alisa and her husband left that church. Years have passed and she’s now a Christian apologist. She has a new book out that I put in your sermon notes called…

Another Gospel

She also runs her own podcast called The Alisa Childers Podcast, which is what I was listening to while chopping wood. And in one of her latest episodes, she interviewed Dr. Sean McDowell.

Sean is also a well known Christian apologist. If you haven’t heard of him, he’s the Associate Professor of Christian Apologetics at Biola University. Maybe you know his dad: Josh McDowell?

Anyway, Sean has interviewed many people that grew up in the church, but for whatever reason they eventually ‘deconstructed’ their faith. And in every interview, Sean asks them:

What was the experience that was defining in your faith? What was it that originally brought you to a faith in Jesus?

The typical answers were: ● I wanted to be part of a movement ● I felt God in worship (Example: Creation) - emotional experience ● All my friends went to church/youth group ● I felt God in Creation ● I wanted to be on the side of justice

But here’s what’s never said… after having dozens of conversations with famous Christians who have deconstructed their faith, Sean says:

“When I’ve asked a former believer about the experience that defined them in their faith, they’ve never said that the experience was when they realized they were a sinner and they needed God’s grace for transformation.”

Sean goes on to say, “The defining experience of a Christian is recognizing our sinfulness, and crying out to God in repentance for forgiveness.”

He points out that if you’ve never had that experience, then maybe you’ve never truly been a Christian?

And there it is. Many people leave the faith, but did they really understand the gospel? Did they really understand that every single one of us are sinners and in need of God’s grace for the forgiveness of our sins?

Do you understand that none of us can have a relationship with God until we recognize the sin inside of us; the sin that separates us from God.

The ancient Israelites didn’t understand this. They were too wrapped up in themselves. But they were still waiting for someone to come and pave the way for the LORD. Thankfully, we don’t have to wait for that anymore because Jesus already came!

Jesus paid the price for our sins so that when we put our believing loyalty in Him, we are forgiven!

As the Apostle Paul says…

Colossians 2:13-15 - When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

And so, I’ll end this series by saying… if you don’t know Jesus, or maybe you did but it’s been a while… here’s what He’s saying through His Word:

“Return to Me, and I will return to you. Draw near to Me, and I will draw near to you. Your sins will be forgiven. You will have eternal life. You will be adopted into My forever family. So, turn from your sins, and return to Me.”

Let’s Pray