Sermon Tone Analysis

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*1*The oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi.

*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 *3 *but Esau I have hated.

I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert.”

*4 *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.’

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

*6 *“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?’ *7 *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.

*8 *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.

*9 *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.

*10 *Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain!

I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand.

*11 *For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering.

For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts.

*12 *But you profane it when you say that the Lord’s table is polluted, and its fruit, that is, its food may be despised.

*13 *But you say, ‘What a weariness this is,’ and you snort at it, says the Lord of hosts.

You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering!

Shall I accept that from your hand? says the Lord.

*14 *Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished.

For I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations.

*3:10 *Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.

And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.

*11 *I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts.

*12 *Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.

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Today is our first International Missions Emphasis Sunday.

We hope to make this an annual day in our life together as Crosstown Church.

Every year on the last Sunday of August, Lord willing, we will focus our entire worship gathering on the work of gospel spreading around the world.

This is not a time merely for us to /see /what is going on with the gospel around the world.

We also want to /taste /what is going on with the gospel around the world.

In other words, we do not want this Sunday every year to be only informational.

We also want it to be practical, because we believe that God has called all of his people to be involved in the work of spreading the good news of God’s gospel to every nation on the planet.

We believe this because we learn this from the Scripture.

And we will not have to return to the same passage every year to emphasize international missions.

The Bible is saturated with the mission of gospel advancement around the globe.

So for example, we do not need to leave our current study of the book of Malachi to see that God has a global purpose in all that he is doing.

Throughout the book of Malachi God has been focused on the waywardness of his covenant people.

But this internal focus has an external application.

We might say it this way: a healthy church leads to gospel advancement around the world.

According to Malachi, God has a global purpose in saving the elect, in the proper worship of the elect, and in the blessing of the elect.

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GOD’S GLOBAL PURPOSE IN SAVING THE ELECT

As we have noted throughout the series, the first five verses of the book of Malachi are massively foundational to a proper interpretation and application of the rest of the book.

Before God begins his rebuke of his wayward people, he begins with a declaration of God’s love for Israel.

!! The blessing of Jacob

The people, of course, have doubts about the sincerity of God’s love.

They said, “How have you loved us?”

And God’s answer to them is a reminder of the different way he responded to two brothers.

“I have loved Jacob but Esau I have hated” (Mal 1:2-3).

The New Testament makes it clear that God’s feelings toward the two brothers were not based upon how they behaved but simply on God’s sovereign purposes.

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/When Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”

As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated”/ (Rom 9:10-13).

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So God’s sovereign choice of Jacob and his descendents over Esau is proof of God’s love for Israel.

He chose to love them before they were even born, so his love does not depend upon how they respond to him.

!! The blessing of Abraham

This sovereign election of Israel goes back further, to Jacob’s grandfather, Abraham.

According to Genesis 12:1-2, God chose Abraham from among his own people and purposed to bless him.

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‎/Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.

/*/ /*/And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing./

(Gen 12:1-2)‎

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God’s purpose was to make a great nation from the descendents of Abraham, but notice that the choice of Abraham over his brothers and subsequently Jacob over his, was for a global purpose.

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/I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed./

(Gen 12:3)

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God purposed to bless all the families of the earth through his blessing of Abraham.

In fact, this seems to be the only way that God will bless other nations.

If one does not “bless” Abraham but rather “dishonors” him, then God will curse him instead.

We see this played out in Malachi.

God promised to tear down anything that the descendents of Edom built so that they would be known as “the people with whom the LORD is angry forever” (Mal 1:4).

And one reason for this is because of how they treated Israel when they were taken into captivity by Babylon.

/“Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever”/ (Obadiah 10).

!! The blessing of the gospel

But God’s global purpose is not primarily to curse.

No, the emphasis in Genesis 12 is on the blessing he intends to bring to the nations through Abraham.

Notice how Genesis 12:3 is cited in Paul’s argument in the book of Galatians.

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‎/Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.

And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.”

/*/ /*/ So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith./

(Gal 3:7-9)

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‎‎The most striking observation is the fact that the blessing promised in Genesis 12:3 is called the gospel in Galatians 3:8.

How can this be?

What is the connection between the blessing of Abraham and the gospel?

The answer is that the blessing is supremely found not in material prosperity but in justification.

“And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would /justify /the Gentiles by faith, preached the /gospel /beforehand to Abraham.”

Justification is the act of God’s free grace by which he pardons all our sins and accepts us as righteous in his sight.

So the good news is that God has purposed to bring the blessing of justification to all the nations through Abraham.

The gospel has had a global purpose all along.

How does God bring the blessing of justification to Abraham and therefore to all the nations?

By faith.

“So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.”

And according to verse 7, “it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.”

This means there is significant continuity between God’s covenant with Abraham and the church.

We conclude that God continues to extend the blessing of justification to all the nations through the church, his new covenant community.

!! The greatness of God “beyond the borders”

We might also ask /why /God has always had a global purpose in saving the elect.