A Faithful God and His Faithless People

Text: Malachi

Theme: Covenant Faithfulness

Big Idea of the Text: God expects and empowers his people to be faithful in covenant to him.

Big Idea of the Sermon: God will purify his people by his presence, enabling them to be faithful in covenant with him.

Tonight, I want us to spend some time looking at a faithful God and his faithless people. Turn with me to the OT book of Malachi. You’ll find Malachi right at the end of the OT.

Reading: the Book of Malachi (via several volunteers)

Malachi prophesies somewhere in the second half of the fifth century B.C., possibly around the same time as Nehemiah. Malachi speaks to Judahites who have lived through the exile and returned to Jerusalem. The temple has been rebuilt, the walls are secure, and life has in many ways gotten “back to normal.”

“Back to normal;” that’s a phrase we all heard, and maybe said, in recent years. We have lived through chaotic times and wished that we could just settle things down and get back into the swing of things, just get back to normal.

The people of Judah had, for the most part, returned to normal life. But the “settling down” had cost them a price that “normal life” frequently exacts: they had lost their fervor for God. Sure, they were offering sacrifices and doing the whole “religious” thing. They were going to feasts and singing loud songs, making great noises, and performing all sorts of rituals. But there was no heart.

Adrian Rogers called the “faith” of Malachi’s day “superficial.” But it gets worse. Not only did they just “go through the motions,” they hardly did that. The offerings they gave were pitiful, the tithes were lacking, their lives were desolate of morals and virtues, and their ideas of God were downright wicked.

Think for a second about our day and age. How do we show a “superficial” faith?

God sees his people’s faithlessness and is moved to act. So he sends a prophet to bring his dispute. The book of Malachi features six disputes: each one brings the faithfulness of God and the faithlessness of Israel into sharp contrast. I want to briefly map out those six disputes, then consider how a faithful God deals with his faithless people.

God’s Disputes

Dispute 1: “I Love You!”

Malachi 1:2–5 ESV

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!”

This first dispute is not an accusation, but an affirmation. “I have loved you.” God loves his people. You would think that this would be an easy place of agreement, right? Who wouldn’t want to think of God as loving?

These people didn’t. In fact, they argued with God! They asked God to prove his love. Already we see the problem with Judah: they don’t trust God. Even with his track record of love for Israel, and even with his choice of Jacob over Esau, the people of Judah are blind to God’s love for them.

But God, in his faithfulness, provides them with the proof that they demand. “Just look at Edom - I could have easily chosen them, but I did not. I chose you, and I stand by that choice!”

God’s first dispute focuses on his love for Jacob - his faithfulness. The others, however, will spotlight the faithless people.

Dispute 2: “You Despise Me”

Malachi 1:6–14 ESV

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.

God’s second dispute centers on they way Israel treats God - they despise him. Like a father is honored by his son, and a master is feared by his servants, God should be honored and feared by the priests. Instead, they “despise [his] name” (1:6).

But the people again argue with God: “how?” God’s proof is on the altar: “polluted” offerings that are blind, lame, or sick, and offerings that have been violently stolen! “Try giving that to your governor and see if he takes it,” God says (1:8). Yet they are willing to give the unacceptable as sacrifices to God?

How do we offer God “polluted” offerings?

And the result of such offerings? God will not accept them. Look at verse 10 again:

Malachi 1:10 ESV

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.

He goes on to explain why it matters so much: “my name will be great among the nations” (1:11). Then in 1:14:

Malachi 1:14 ESV

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.

Dispute 3: “You Are Faithless”

Malachi 2:1–16 ESV

1 “And now, O priests, this command is for you. 2 If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart. 3 Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it. 4 So shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may stand, says the Lord of hosts. 5 My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name. 6 True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. 7 For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. 8 But you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts, 9 and so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but show partiality in your instruction.” 10 Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers? 11 Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. 12 May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendant of the man who does this, who brings an offering to the Lord of hosts! 13 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. 14 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. 15 Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. 16 “For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.”

Dispute 4: “You Weary Me”

Malachi 2:17–3:6 ESV

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?” 1 “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord. 4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years. 5 “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts. 6 “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.

Dispute 5: “You Rob Me”

Malachi 3:7–12 ESV

7 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?’ 8 Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. 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.

Dispute 6: “You Reject Me”

Malachi 3:13–15 ESV

13 “Your words have been hard against me, says the Lord. But you say, ‘How have we spoken against you?’ 14 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? 15 And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape.’ ”

That seems to be the last word of the people: an utter rejection of God. But, not all people acted this way. Something Malachi said struck a chord in some people’s hearts.

God’s Remnant

Malachi 3:16–18 ESV

16 Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name. 17 “They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. 18 Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.

God’s Response