Introduction: The God of Covenant Love
Covenant Faithfulness: Returning to the God of Covenant Love • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 1:09:03
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Wonderful Christmas
Halfway between Christmas and New Year, and so it is good to reflect and rejoice in what God has done for us and show His love
I decided on Tuesday to change our January series to focus on the book of Malachi, which I believe is a great book to help us grow as we start this new year, particularly in our covenant relationship with God. If you are like me, you rely on habit and routine, working out how to make time to seek the Lord and His Kingdom. But summer holidays, like Christmas, are a disruption to the norm, which tests whether your time with God is just a habit or something deeper.
Whatever level of relationship or understanding, the minor prophet Malachi will call us to a Covenant with God based on Love to see us grow, to encourage us in the right way of that covenant and challenge us if we are not giving it our all.
Today, I will be giving us an introduction to this series as we look at the opening passage of the book of Malachi. I also want to invite and challenge us to consider the partnership pledge we have or have not signed as our churches attempt to name aspects of the Covenant with God that will draw us deeper this year.
So if you have your Bibles, turn to Malachi; it's a simple one because it is just before the New Testament.
As we highlighted with our foundation stone from Chronicles, Malachi is in the time when the second temple is built, but they are waiting, as it doesn’t feel like God is dwelling with them again. Malachi, Haggai and Zechariah are what are called minor prophets, as opposed to major prophets like the well-known Ezekiel, Isaiah and Jerimah. There are some great and challenging statements here as Malachi shares a conversation with God that highlights the dispute God still has with the people of Israel after their time of exile, which in our Christian Western Culture is true for us as well.
A prophecy: The word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi.
“I have loved you,” says the Lord.
“But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’
“Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his hill country into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”
Edom may say, “Though we have been crushed, we will rebuild the ruins.”
But this is what the Lord Almighty says: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Wicked Land, a people always under the wrath of the Lord. You will see it with your own eyes and say, ‘Great is the Lord—even beyond the borders of Israel!’
You can see from this opening passage that we are in for an interesting time.
Some challenging statements from the beginning, which we will unpack.
But here at the beginning, Malachi is calling Israel back to a Covenant Focus: The Covenant of Jacob (the Patriarchs)
Malachi wants his Audience to have the Right Understanding of who God is
Malachi is a book of covenant renewal, showing that everything begins with God’s declaration: “I have loved you.” Before God confronts, corrects, or calls His people to change, He anchors them in His covenant love.
Invitation and Challenge
Right Worship
Right Relationship
Right Giving
A picture I always have of why Israel went into exile is from the Major Prophet Ezekiel's description in his book that God is fed up with people not caring for those on the margins.
1. Ezekiel 8–11 — The Glory Departs the Temple
These chapters form a vision sequence. Ezekiel is shown the abominations taking place in the temple and in Jerusalem, and then he witnesses the glory of the LORD progressively leaving.
“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally.
1. Israel’s leaders have become violent, corrupt, and self-serving.
2. The vulnerable—widows, orphans, foreigners, the poor—are neglected or exploited.
3. Idolatry and injustice are inseparable in Ezekiel’s theology.
4. Because of this, God’s glory departs the temple.
When God’s people abandon justice and compassion, God withdraws His presence.
Now Jesus has a lot to say on this and also calls people in this way to find the lost sheep, those that visit the prisoner, feed the hungry, give a cloak to someone in need, has done this for Jesus.
Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi: An Introduction and Commentary (Hill) 10. Theological Concerns
Malachi acknowledges that Israel’s relationship with YHWH demands both vertical and horizontal responsibilities, in the form of proper worship and social justice
Invitation and Challenge as they rebuild from the judgment they have been through in Exile.
Their vertical and horizontal worship and character will be tested
Going through the fire of Judgement - some will be shown their true colours, while those that have been in right Worship, relationship and giving will pass through with joy.
The goal of God’s judgment is the purification and restoration of the faithful of Israel, and this is true in the return of Jesus.
In Malachi, there are what are called 6 Disputations (disputes) stated as questions asked between God and his people. We heard the first one.
How have you loved us? - Malachi 1:2 (challenging God’s love for Israel)
2. I am a father, but where is my honour and respect? - Malachi 1:6 (accusing the priest and leaders of faithlessness)
3. Why do we … break faith with one another? - Malachi 2:10 (accusing people's faithlessness)
4. How have we wearied [God with our words]? - Malachi 2:17 (message of judgement)
5. How have we robbed you? - Malachi 3:8 (the call to return to God)
6. What [harsh] things have we said against you? - Malachi 3:13 (The day of God)
This dialogue between the people and God through the minor prophet Malachi is one of invitation and challenge. To repent and believe in the kingdom of God and participate horizontally and vertically in right worship, relationship and giving.
Key Movements:
Context: Post‑exile disappointment and covenant drift.
Like Chronicles and the building of the temple, something is still not right; there is what is called the great synod that tries to shift the Israelites to repent and return to God, like they were asked to do when the temple was first built. Yet, the question here is, why should we?
God’s opening word is love: Not sentimentality but covenant commitment.
Israel’s doubt: “How have you loved us?” reveals spiritual blindness.
God’s answer: His faithfulness to Jacob demonstrates His unchanging love. God’s covenant with Israel is unchanged.
Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi: An Introduction and Commentary (Hill) B. YHWH’S Love for Israel (1:2–5)
Malachi’s assertive speech is intended to assure the post-exilic Hebrew community that God’s unconditional covenant love for Israel is still operative (1:3), despite the recent experience of Babylonian exile. The goal of YHWH’s covenant relationship with the Hebrews and the core of Malachi’s message was ‘to reciprocate God’s love, not in the original sense of emotion, but in the form of genuine obedience and pure devotion’.
A prophecy: The word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi.
“I have loved you,” says the Lord.
“But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’
“Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob,
‘I have always loved you’ (NLT) reminds Israel of its privileged position as the people of God. The word love (Heb. ’āhab) has covenant implications when describing the relationship between the Lord and the Hebrew people. God’s covenant love is an act of election that makes Israel Yahweh’s child.
Malachi preaches to a crowd harbouring doubts, even scepticism, about their relationship to God as his elect people. The perceived inability of God to prevent the Babylonian exile spawned a spirit of indifference that verged on practical atheism.
I wonder if today we have drifted from our covenant in the western world, not of disappointment but abundance, which has led to pride and a reliance on self, resulting in covenantal drift.
but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his hill country into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”
When the bible uses such strong language, it is worth investigating.
This year, I spoke on Jesus' words on hating our family in Luke 14:26
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.
The strong language, interpreted as hate, is a choice between something good for something better, to love less in comparison. This is also the central theme of Malachi: to love God more than anything and be in a right relationship. Yet there is another reason for the use of this term here: our English translation again cannot communicate the depth of the comparison. As God declares his love for Israel, it is followed by a covenant to reciprocate that love. So this statement of hate to Esau is because he first rejected God’s love, and that rejection is now reciprocated.
Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi: An Introduction and Commentary (Hill) B. YHWH’S Love for Israel (1:2–5)
Even as God’s love for Jacob indicates his election of Israel as his covenant people, God’s animosity toward Esau signifies his rejection of Esau and his descendants. The expression describes ‘the hostility of a broken covenant relationship’. Such is the case here, as God rejected Esau (and consequently his descendants the Edomites) because Esau despised and rejected the tokens of covenant relationship with YHWH (cf.
Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left.
So Esau despised his birthright.
When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite. They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah.
This covenant rejection leads to the men and women of Edom thinking they can do things in their own wisdom without the love and favour of God.
Edom may say, “Though we have been crushed, we will rebuild the ruins.”
But this is what the Lord Almighty says: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Wicked Land, a people always under the wrath of the Lord. You will see it with your own eyes and say, ‘Great is the Lord—even beyond the borders of Israel!’
Unlike the Israelites who returned from captivity in Babylonia to re-inhabit Judah and rebuild Jerusalem and the Lord’s temple, Edom will experience no such restoration.
These people groups represented by the covenant first made and rejected with God, Jacob and Esau are a testament to those who humble themselves and turn to God.
Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi: An Introduction and Commentary (Hill) B. YHWH’S Love for Israel (1:2–5)
The story of Esau is one of selfishness and contempt for the tokens of YHWH’s covenant (cf.
The Edomites were allies of the Babylonians in the sacking of Jerusalem. Unlike Esau, who welcomed back his brother Israel, the Edomites had totally forgotten the covenant of God and, as a result, are labelled a Wicked Land, because of their violent crimes against their Israelite brothers in league with the Babylonians in the invasion of Judah in 587 BC
The history books are not certain about what happened to Edom and when it collapsed.
So with that in mind, we return to Malachi’s explanation of why God loves Israel; he will always be faithful to that covenant. Yet Israel was not certain —and blaming God for their plight (Hag. 1:6, 9). The prophet offered his audience three external proofs of God’s enduring covenant love for Israel.
The first is the word of divine revelation, YHWH’s declaration that he still loves Israel (v. 2).
The second piece of supporting evidence was more tangible, if the people would only observe the current events unfolding around them—God destroyed the nation of Edom! The event was actually an answer to the psalmist’s prayer requesting that God judge the Edomites for their part in the destruction of Jerusalem (cf. Ps. 137:7). The psalmist reminds us that remembering God’s work in history is still a potent antidote for those in a crisis of faith (e.g. Ps. 73:2, 16–17).
The third demonstration of God’s covenant love for Israel stood in their midst: the Second Temple had been rebuilt
God’s Covenant goes beyond the remnant that carries His name.
It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.
Reflection on today
Western culture was built and blessed by the covenant of God.
We can see the speed at which Western society has globalised, though not perfectly (there have been those who have abused the power); however, those in right worship, relationship and giving have given their lives to better the world because of their covenant with God. Yet now this comfort gives rise to criticism when it seems like it could be taken away. A Crisis of faith, does God really love me?
As mentioned, this passage argues three truths
The Bible tells me so - God’s word is His revelation (it could not say that)
If there isn’t God, why is there love, why is there Jesus? I have been thinking about this more lately when people say they want the kingdom without the king. To live these honest virtues that Malachi is calling Israel to return to, because God first showed them. If there is no God, I do not understand the argument for why I should live a sacrificial life. Why not live like Esau, Survival of the fittest, take whatever resources are presented, live for today. People do live like that, look at current news headlines on the Epstein files. Now the elite are trying not to be associated with those who were happy living in a way that took advantage of others.
That's the second point: God does not let injustice go unpunished in this world or in eternity.
The third for us this side of the New Testament is God’s demonstration of His love in Jesus, and now the work and presence of the holy spirit.
Application:
Our discipleship begins with receiving God’s love. Do we believe and reciprocate the love of God with all of our heart, mind and strength, and to others?
Do we live both a horizontal and vertical worship of God?
Covenant identity shapes covenant living. - Our Partnership pledge
We, the Partners of Newstead Baptist Church, having received Christ as our Lord and Saviour and being a baptised believers, wish to express our commitment to the Newstead Baptist Church.
We have chosen to make Newstead Baptist our church home and to become part of the church family.
We pledge ourselves as a willing partner with Newstead Baptist Churchpursuing its God - given vision and commission to go and make disciples of all people.
We will look more at this covenant over the series, but this is our attempt to live vertically and horizontally in right relationship and action.
This series is a call to renewed partnership with God.
Shift to Communion, our new covenant promise of His love for us.
Communion
Communion
What Malachi was calling Israel to, Jesus lived, the perfect son who displayed and accepted the invitation and challenge of right worship, right relationship and right giving. Giving and submitting his life to the cross.
“All are Welcome to join in this family meal as the people of God. Here we recognise our identity in Christ and reaffirm our trust in God. If you consider yourself a child of God, please partake in these elements. If you are still on a journey of trusting God with your life, please use this time to reflect on Jesus' love and forgiveness available to you and allow the elements to pass by.”
Reflection
Malachi opens with a simple but staggering declaration from God to His people:
“I have loved you,” says the LORD.
(Malachi 1:2, summary)
Israel questions that love, and God answers by pointing to His covenant faithfulness—a love rooted not in Israel’s performance but in God’s unchanging commitment to His people. Malachi 1:1–5 is God saying, “Look at your story. Look at My choosing, My rescuing, My preserving. My love for you is not fragile.”
This is the heartbeat of the covenant:
God binds Himself to His people in steadfast love, even when they waver.
But Malachi also exposes something uncomfortable. Israel has grown numb to God’s love. They have forgotten the story they live in. They have lost sight of the God who chose them, rescued them, and sustained them.
Communion brings us back to that story.
At the Table, God Reasserts His Covenant Love
In Malachi, God says, “I have loved you.”
At the Lord’s Table, Jesus shows us how far that love goes.
The bread and the cup declare:
God’s covenant love is embodied in Christ.
God’s covenant faithfulness is sealed in blood.
God’s covenant commitment is not dependent on our worthiness—it is anchored in Christ’s sacrifice.
Where Malachi points Israel back to God’s past faithfulness, communion points us to the ultimate act of God’s faithfulness:
Christ’s work on the cross, sustaining us, forgiving us, and renewing us.
Malachi’s audience doubted God’s love because they looked at their circumstances.
Communion invites us to look at the cross.
Here, Christ says to His people:
“This is My body, given for you.”
“This is My blood of the covenant.”
This is the love that does not waver.
This is the faithfulness that does not fail.
This is the sustenance that does not run dry.
We come to the table not because we have been faithful, but because He has.
Distribution of the bread: “The bread is a symbol of Jesus' life given to sustain us, take and eat this bread, remembering that Jesus Christ died for you.”
Prayer
“Lord, You have loved us with an everlasting love.
As we take this bread and this cup, remind us of Your covenant faithfulness.
Sustain us again by the work of Christ on the cross.
Renew our hearts, restore our gratitude, and anchor us in Your unchanging love.
Amen.”
Sharing the cup: “This cup is a symbol of the covenant of love as an outcome of Jesus’ poured-out life, the cup reminds us that God is ‘with us’ and ‘for us’.”
