Deconstruction - Malachi 1:1-5

Introduction

Stories of deconstruction have rocked the Christian world over the last ten years. It seems every week we learn of another well-known Christian influencer that has joined the exvangelical movement. If terms such as “deconstruction” and “exvangelical” are new to you, it’s important that you realize there’s a movement of formerly confessing Christians who are renouncing the faith and declaring themselves to be agnostic or atheistic. And, even if you haven’t heard of it, your children and grandchildren likely have or will. TikTok, Twitter, and podcasts are becoming platforms by which Christians are being evangelized out of the faith.

And, on graduation Sunday, it seems the perfect day for us to discuss it. This is an important conversation for at least two reasons. It’s something that you will face. Your faith will experience a crisis. Mine has. I’ve shared that story with many of you that I’ve counseled. While at a conservative evangelical seminary, I faced questions about my faith that rocked me to my core. You’ll face these moments, too. And, that leads me to the second reason this conversation is important: you’re afraid of deconstruction. Perhaps, you’re afraid that you will deconstruct, or, perhaps, you’re afraid your child will deconstruct. But, we don’t need to be afraid. We need to be aware. We need to drag these fears out into the light so that we can see them to be as puny as they really are.

God’s Word

What’s interesting is that Malachi is really written to Judah at a time of deconstruction. This is 80-100 years after Haggai and Zechariah. They’re a vassal state of Persia. Their temple and walls are pathetic. They’re struggling to make it by. And, they’ve just lost hope in God. And, what begins to emerge are complaints both aloud and internally toward God that leads to a faithlessness among them. And, I want us to see here God’s message for his deconstructing people (headline):

Two “Forms” of “Deconstruction”:

Graduation is a time of aspiration. A hundred times you’ve written down your future plans. The job you want. The school you plan to attend. The major you plan to pursue. The ambitions you want to accomplish. That’s good and right and beautiful. But, something that isn’t often discussed is that none of your dreams will be realized in exactly the way that you’ve dreamt them. The future is hopeful, but the future is hard, too. It will be filled with temptations, disappointments, and personal failures. And, it will be your ability to respond to those confrontations with brokenness and disorder that will determine to be a content and healthy person.

Judah was disappointed with where they were. They were under the rule of pagans and living in a city that wasn’t even a shadow of its former beauty. Their question, just like yours in moments of disappointment, is: how will they respond?

Deconstruction almost always flows out of this type of disorder, and there’s usually two different shades it takes.

God doesn’t “live.”

This is the response that we typically think of when we think of deconstruction. This person says, “If _______ is real, then God can’t be.” The blank can be almost anything, and it can genuine evil that a person has experienced. It can be abuse or job loss. It can be health failure or a series of bad news that all accumulate to this conclusion. It can be series of hard questions that you’ve been asked or asked of yourself that you can’t find an intellectually satisfying answer. So, the conclusion becomes, “If God was real and God loved me, this wouldn’t be. So, God must not be.”

This is a response that is radically built upon a person’s belief in their ability to comprehend and interpret the circumstances they’ve faced and/or the problems they’ve seen. The underlying assumption here is that they fully understand what they’ve seen and experienced as well as exactly how God should respond to it. And, because God has responded to what they’ve seen and experienced in the way they deem rational and moral, then God must not be at all. So, they find greater comfort in believing that there is no God rather than believing there is a God who is different than they want him to be.

God doesn’t “live up” to the “hype.”

Malachi 1:2a ““I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you say, “How have you loved us?”

Most deconstruction is more subtle and insidious than a public declaration of atheism. It’s a practical atheism rather than a public one. It’s living like there’s no God rather than saying there is no God. That’s where Judah was. They were asking a hard question of God, weren’t they? “How have you loved us?” They were looking at their tattered walls and their pitiful Temple and their poverty, and they were wondering how in the world their life could be as bad as it was if God was as good as he said. God had not lived up to the hype, and, now, they weren’t going to live up to their covenant with him. So, their response wasn’t to forsake God altogether. It was to give God their spare time, spare change, and spare energy. If God wasn’t giving his best, they weren’t giving him theirs.

The difficulty of their lives led to the hardening of their hearts. Perhaps, that’s where you are. There was a time in which you lived for God full-force. But now, you were convinced you were just naive then. That was before your divorce. That was before your chronic pain. That was before your children rebelled. God hasn’t lived up to the hype, and so your passion has devolved into dead religion.

Most deconstruction falls here, but all deconstruction begins here. People don’t immediately go from believing in God to disbelieving in him. They drift there.

Three “Complaints” of the “Faithless”:

Malachi’s prophecy is built upon six disputations between God and Judah. God would make a claim, and Judah would dispute it. Then, God would respond to their dispute. This helps us understand how God might respond to our complaints. Interestingly, what you see here is a summary of the complaints that exvangelicals make against God. Judah is actually referred to as the “faithless” throughout the book; so, it makes sense. We can summarize the six complaints of Judah (and exvangelicals) into three categories:

God isn’t “good.”

Malachi 1:2a ““I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you say, “How have you loved us?”

Malachi 1:6-9 ““A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, ‘How have we despised your name?’ By offering polluted food upon my altar. But you say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ By saying that the Lord’s table may be despised. When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favor? says the Lord of hosts. And now entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious to us. With such a gift from your hand, will he show favor to any of you? says the Lord of hosts.”

One of the interesting phenomena that often takes place is that each generation believes that they’re smarter than their parents were. It’s not unusual for a child to go to college and become too educated to treat their families well. Often, the very ones who enabled the education become viewed as too backward, traditional, or unhealthy for real contribution as a result. And, part of this is that the child can become too educated, in their minds, to love God. There’s actually some of this happening here when Judah complains in the first two disputations. In verse 2, they say: “God doesn’t really love us.” And, in 1:6-9, they’re saying: “God’s the real problem not us.” In other words, we know what our ancestors say that they experienced, and we know what the ancient scriptures say. But, we’ve learned better. We know that we’re not the problem with our lives; God is. We know that God says that He loves us, but look around. He isn’t actually good.

One of the great cries of exvangelicals and evangelistic atheists is that God never brings about the good He promises. Christopher Hitchens, the famous leader of this New Atheism, wrote: “Human decency is not derived from religion. It precedes it.” That is, through the examination of history, if there is a god, he’s made our lives worse, not better. He’s led to wars and deaths and destructions, not prevented it.

God isn’t “reasonable.”

Malachi 2:13-14 “And this second thing you do. You cover the Lord’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.”

Malachi 2:17 “You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.” Or by asking, “Where is the God of justice?””

When we see the two complaints of chapter 2, we see that they’re really bitter and angry with God. They say, “How could He not accept what we give him after the hand He’s given us? How dare He be upset with us?” Their faithlessness had led them to just throwing at God their spare change, spare time, and spare energy, and it seemed unreasonable to them that God would expect any more. When life hits us between the eyes and the doubts creep in, we can wonder how in the world God could expect us to still love him, trust him, and live for him. Obviously, we tried that, and it didn’t work.

We want following God to make perfect sense to us, but there’s too much senselessness in a disordered world for that. God is too infinite for that. Often, we’re angry at God because He won’t make us the center of the universe. We’re angry at him because He won’t submit his plans to ours. That’s where Judah was. That’s where many of us are.

God isn’t “helpful.”

Malachi 3:6-8 ““For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions.”

Malachi 3:13-14 ““Your words have been hard against me, says the Lord. But you say, ‘How have we spoken against you?’ You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts?”

You see, we are people who live for profit. And often, following God feels like a net loss. We obey his commands instead of doing what we want to do. We give to his church instead of buying what we want to buy. We serve him rather than using our time for ourselves. And then, hard stuff still comes. It feels like a net loss. That’s what Judah is saying. “Why would we return? What is the profit?”

John Piper’s son, Abraham, has left the faith and established a TikTok channel to evangelize people out of the faith. He said, “At first I pretended that my reasoning was high-minded and philosophical. But really I just wanted to drink gallons of cheap sangria and sleep around.” You see, he started out trying to prove that it was an intellectual issue or that it was a ethical issue (and, he’s a very intelligent and well-read man). Turns out, it just wasn’t giving him what he wanted. He left the faith because he saw it as a net loss. Another famous exvangelical, Josh Harris who wrote I Kissed Dating Goodbye, even went so far to even try to profit from his de-conversion by selling de-coversion kits for $275.

Do you see your faith as a net loss?

Three “Declarations” of “Love”:

The first disputation is a summary of them all. Their main issue with God was that He didn’t love them, at least not well. And, in God’s response to the first complaint of his lacking love, you can see a summary of his response to them all. What we see is likely not the response that we expect. Having read the Minor Prophets over the last three months, we might suspect that God would take this opportunity to have Persia’s army turn Judah into a parking lot. Instead, what we see is that the God sent means by which God came to overcome their faithlessness and rekindle their passion for his name is summed up in his opening line: “I have loved.” God’s response to their unbelief was not a crashing fist but a declaration of love. There are three distinct declarations of his love:

“I “chose” you.”

Malachi 1:2 ““I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you say, “How have you loved us?” “Is not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob”

What’s the difference between Jacob and Esau (and the nations they represent)? Honestly, most commentators have acknowledged that in many ways he was his brother’s superior. So, what’s the difference? God chose Jacob. He adopted Jacob. He poured out his grace upon Jacob. When life is hard and overwhelming and not going according to your plan, it’s easy to forget where you would be if it were not for God’s kindness to you. That’s the point here. Edom had been wiped from the earth. Things were tough for Israel. But, Esau’s people had been annihilated. Judah’s faith may feel like a net loss until they realize that they got God, and they have Him forever. The greatest gain can’t be lost!

I have a friend who was adopted. As he grew into a teenager, he began to resent his parents and rebel against him. They had rules for him, and they wouldn’t let him go where he wanted to go or do everything he wanted to do. He had to take on responsibilities around the house. He’d think to himself, “If I were with my birth family, I wouldn’t have to live up to all of this.” One day, his parents provided him the opportunity to visit his birth family. When he met them, he saw immediate dysfunction and generational destitution. As soon as he left them, he drove home and just hugged his mom. He realized who he should’ve been apart from the intervention of his parents. That’s the picture here, too.

When God doesn’t feel good, when God seems unreasonable, when following Jesus feels like a net loss, when your life seems anything but managed by a good God, consider this: who might you be apart from him? There are no net losses with Jesus. His resurrection assures you that every loss will be turned to glory. So, no loss is final or ultimate so long as you don’t lose him. And, He’s assured us nothing can separate us from his love.

“I’ve “avenged” you.”

Malachi 1:3-4 “but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert.” If Edom says, “We are shattered but we will rebuild the ruins,” the Lord of hosts says, “They may build, but I will tear down, and they will be called ‘the wicked country,’ and ‘the people with whom the Lord is angry forever.’ ””

You’ll remember in Obadiah’s prophecy that he’d prophesied that Edom would be wiped from the map for the evil they’d perpetrated against Judah. By the time of Malachi, that had taken place. God is showing his people that He stands against their enemy. He’s the “Lord of Hosts,” the Warrior-God who commands the angels for their good. The current absence of Edom is affirmation that this was true.

Years ago in an elder meeting, John Hall said one of the most memorable quotes. If you know John, you know what a humble and meek man he is. That added to its force. He said: “If you stand against my church, I stand against you.” That’s what God is saying. If someone stands against my people, I stand against them. I am for you, and I will deliver you. This is what the cross says to us today. Our great enemy is not a hard life or even a disappointing one. Our great enemy is death and sin. Our great enemy is the vanity of believing this is as good as it gets. And, the cross declares otherwise. God has overcome our enemies. Don’t let today’s disappointments and disillusionments take you away from the cross. There you see how committed God is to your good.

“I’m not “finished”.”

Malachi 1:5 “Your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, “Great is the Lord beyond the border of Israel!””

Malachi weaves throughout his prophecy a call to look “beyond the border” of what they can see right now. He even tells of an Elijah-like prophet that will break the lingering silence of God to announce a new age — a prophecy fulfilled by John the Baptist. So much deconstruction is the result of life feeling like a net loss. It’s because God doesn’t seem to live up to the hype. It’s an unwillingness to live by faith and not by sight. But, God’s timeline and God’s storyline is very different from yours. The arrival and death of Jesus proves that. So, look “beyond the border” of what you have experienced to see that the love of God isn’t finished yet. And, if you trust him and follow him, you will experience only gain in the age to come.