Sermon Tone Analysis

1.Intro:

1.Today.

we pick back up our study of Malachi.

We will cover about a chapter--namely 2:10 through 3:7.

Again, I’m not intentionally chopping up these chapters but I do believe the division we’re following makes sense.

2.Previously, the focus was on the priests and their malpractice.

Now, the turn comes to some degree to the congregation of Israel.

Sadly, both leaders and people were severely rebuked from the Lord.

3.The focus of this rebuke turns to issues in the home.

While we may face more than Malachi deals with, we surely do not face less.

I hope that the reflections on some of these matters will be practical and helpful.

After discussing these issues, we will turn to the prophetic future.

2.Rebuke of Congregation: Marriage (2:10-17)  

1.First Indictment - Inter-faith Marriages (2:10-13)

1.Intro (2:10) - Relationship with God and one another leads to questioning about profaned covenant, the basis of the relationship with God and one another/

2.Profaned holiness with foreign wives (2:11-12)

1.This was a problem before Malachi’s time in the episode in Ezra 10:2-4 “And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have taken strange wives of the people of the land: yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing.

3 Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.”

1.It was so serious that there the Israelites were commanded to divorce their foreign wives.

See Deu 7:2-4 for some justification as well.

1.In passing, it needs to be stated that there is no need to jump to a conclusion that God had something against people of differing nationalities marrying.

Some Christians in America of previous generations did have some faulty beliefs about this.

I would caution on any harsh conclusions on such Christians.

The theological issues involved in their position while wrong, are complicated.

Do not identify such Christians with such people as white-supremacist’s for holding to the idea of inter-racial marriage being wrong.

2.Back to Israel, the issue is a spiritual one, as we shall see.

3.The fact that we have some marriages of foreigners to Israelites in the OT supports this – most notably the marriage of Ruth to Boaz in the book of Ruth.

2.Turning to our context in the church age though, we must note that the New Testament has other instructions to believers -- the Christian who is married to a non-Christian must remain with the unbeliever, seeking to win him or her.

1.1 Cor.

7:12-13 “But to the rest speak I, not the Lord: If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away.

And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him.”

NOTE that in Malachi, the issue with these marriages is that holiness is profaned.

But here in Corinthians 7:14 actually indicates that unbelievers today are sanctified in some way by the marriage.

I am not going to try to explain it, but i note it.

2.1 Pet 3:1-2 “Ye be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear.”

3.But a Christian has no place intentionally marrying someone who is not a believer.

God’s people have no business marrying a partner who does not have the same relationship with our God.

This is a classic application of that text on the NT passage about separation from the world in 2 Cor 6:14ff “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?

and what communion hath light with darkness?

And what concord hath Christ with Belial [an idol]?

or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?

And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?

for ye are the temple of the living God; “

4.If you are single today, if you are a teenager, it is crucial to not compromise the standard on this matter.

You need to strengthen your own faith, live by God’s Spirit, and trust God to bring two people together.

In fact, we as a church can and should encourage people in our midst to marry.

What more natural place to meet someone?

Are there options outside the church?

Yes, and I am a beneficiary of those outside things – I met Deborah from an online dating website.

But a church is a natural place and it can be encouraged without reducing to awkward match-making.

Notice I didn’t say that match-making might not happen, but people filled by God’s spirit can still encourage.

That also applies to parents with their children.

2.v 12 concludes that no one is excluded from this -- the leaders (master and scholar) as well as the average person (the one bringing sacrifices).

2.Second Indictment - Divorce (2:13-17)

1.The failed crying out of the people (2:13-14)

1.We cannot fool ourselves.

Sometimes, our prayers are hindered by our sin.

Especially the way men treat their wives, according to 1 Pet 3:7 “ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.”

If you seek to serve the Lord, and I do and many here do, you must keep your marriage healthy in every aspect.

That is a foundation for your ministry.

2.The Lord points out the seriousness of how we treat our spouses.

There is a finality here.

Certain acts are decisive, and in context it seems to be divorce.

Under the OT, there were situations where reconciliation is not possible.

That would seem to hold true as well – as it has been put, it is impossible to unscramble the egg some times.

3.God’s purpose and design for Marriage (2:15) - Children

1.Now, there are several things here.

We should not read more into this text than is there, but there are implications around this Verse.

1a.

Yes, it is reasonable especially in the context of Israel that the seed were of special interest.

Think of how every Israeli woman hoped that she would give birth to the Messiah.

1b.But, this does not mean that marriages that fail to produce offspring, or those that fail to specifically produce Godly offspring, are failures.

I want anyone who hears this who has wayward children to hear that point.

Christian parents are to be faithful in training up their children in the Lord, and that is the goal, but it is not a guarantee.

Every child must be converted for his or herself and

1c One other matter needs to be discussed.

This verse does not intend to give any explicit moral teaching about the use or lack thereof of birth control for married couples, but still one should also pause concerning that matter.

Please do not throw stones at me – ultimately husbands and wives are accountable to God in the area – but this past week I heard this quote and I’d like to share it with you (I can share the source if you want, just ask): “I believe that a biblical worldview tells us that the use of birth control or contraception should always be suspect.

That doesn't mean it is never legitimate.

It does mean it's suspect.

It means we have to ask the question about the legitimacy of using it and not just assume that contraception is the norm and a birth by normal processes within marriage is some kind of aberration.”

If we don’t take the use of the word “suspect” too strongly, this is a good statement.

I think this is a good perspective.

Christian couples should pause in decisions about birth control for several reasons.

Why do I bring this up?

Because it is necessary in light of the assumptions our culture makes about this and how such things impact what we profess to believe about many areas – pro-life, the proper expression of human sexuality, and other areas.

3.To summarize here - the natural result of marriage among God’s people is that Godly offspring would result.

4.God’s feelings toward divorce (2:15b-16)

1.Again, surely the hatred of God in this context is especially for divorce among God’s people.

We ought be more concerned about what’s going on in the church than outside the world.

We are not doing much better—and we are better at justifying it.

3.Third Indictment - Falsehood about God (2:17)

1.The Indicment

1.Wearied Words (2:17a)

1.Note similar language back in 1:10 where the Lord practically begs them to shut the doors to the temple.

2.“Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for nought?

Neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for nought.

I have no pleasure in you, saith the LORD of hosts, Neither will I accept an offering at your hand.”

2.The Charges:

1.They speak good about evil and say evil about good.