The Messenger
Notes
Transcript
If you have your Bibles, we are going to begin in Malachi 1:1
A prophecy: The word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi.
As we start a new expository series. I was praying to the Lord , what it is that we should cover and we just finished working our way through the book of Revelation. The Lord put Malachi on my heart for a couple of reasons. Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament. He is considered to be the last prophet before John the Baptist would arrive. Which of course brings about the first coming of Jesus. It gets interesting because when you look at the parallels between Israel and the world today. Perhaps there are some insights that we can gain as we ourselves wait for the Jesus to return again.
First we must put Malachi in context. First, we don’t actually know who Malachi is, this is the only time he appears in the Biblical record and there is no mention of himself or his family line. Malachi means “ my messenger”. God is the speaker in 47 of the 55 verses in the book.
Malachi preaches to Israel after they had returned from exile. The temple had been rebuilt and Jersualem had for the most part been rebuilt. However they were still under Persian rule and life was not easy for them. Economically they were in troubled times and the people’s faith had grown weak. There was wide spread unfaithfulness to worship in Israel and they had fallen into disobedience yet again. The book is laid out 6 messages.
As we begin we must also understand the nature of the job of a prophet of the Lord. When most people think of prophets, they think of people that can see the future. The main job of a prophet was to speak the Word of the Lord. It was to speak the truth to the people in order to bring them back to repentance and bring them back to the Lord. It was a dangerous job that cost many of them their lives.
“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.”
It begins with the Lord saying that , I have loved you. This is not a general statement of love. This is God speaking. His love is greater than because he created it all. First looking specifically at Israel, why does that nation exist? It exists because of the Lord. He called Abraham. He called them out of slavery and through the book of Exodus and Joshua, established the promise land. Do not devalue when the Lord says I have loved you.
When we look at the the New Covenant. The Lord says I have loved you. Do not devalue you that because we just celebrated the resurrection of Jesus. He gave His son for you. That is how much He loves you. The Lord has proven it over and over again through every covenant that runs through the Old Testament and into the New. He proves it every single day by giving us another day of grace. When the Bible says I have loved you. Do not discount or cheapen that love. That is costly love that we do not deserve. It is costly grace given to us by God But the people ask
How have you loved us? This is Israel asking the Lord, and people do it today. How Lord , how have you loved us the world asks all the time. This question is what happens when we distrust God. This questions is what happens when we lose faith in His Word. When a person questions How God has loved us, we just need to point to the cross.
This question is a good indication that we need to repent. The question is a good indication of the spiritual maturity of a people. We need to get back into the Word of God , because God has shown His love .
Now we need to get into some tough truths of the world. First really quickly, when you go to the Greek words that are used in this verse. For both love and hate, these are not referring to God’s emotions but rather the choice for covenant relationship. Now according to tradition Esau should have gotten the inheritance of God’s promise. However Jacob , later named Israel was chosen. The covenant goes all the way back to Genesis.
Now what did Esau do?
Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.)
Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.”
“Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?”
But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob.
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.
What the significance is there is that Esau did not value the spiritual and long-term value of his birthright. He instead chose immediate gratification. So Jacob was chosen which would later become Israel. The line of Esau became the nation of Edom
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!’
God’s greatness goes much further than the borders of Israel, and extends to the entire world. That is why we are blessed to be under God’s grace.
When Babylon captured Jerusalem, the Edomites did not just stand by. The actually joined in , they looted the city, they helped bring about it’s destruction and the worst thing they did was they blocked escape routes so they could capture fleeing Jews and hand them over to the Babylonians.
Edom was a city built into the mountains and they took great pride that no nation could take them down because of this location.
The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks and make your home on the heights, you who say to yourself, ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’ Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down,” declares the Lord.
Pride had pulled Edom away. Just as desire pulled Esau away in Genesis. Edom had their faith in the mountains and not in God. So they dare ask , what has God done for us? Well God built the mountains, and God can take down those mountains. Again this shows that no matter everyone puts their faith into something. You need to make sure that you are putting your faith in the Lord and not in false pride.
“A son honors his father, and a slave his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?” says the Lord Almighty.
“It is you priests who show contempt for my name.
“But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’
The next charge against Israel was about Honoring God. Again if we are looking at parallels between Israel and the world today, the church is a good example. Where is honoring God? I am not talking about unbelievers, but believers. Believers in Jesus Christ, where is God’s honor? Against Israel this charge was especially sad because they had returned from exile. The priests were responsible for teaching the people about God’s covenant and returning to God. They failed. The Lord would then give us Jesus. Church leaders are responsible for teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The full Gospel of Jesus.
“By offering defiled food on my altar. “But you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’
“By saying that the Lord’s table is contemptible. When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the Lord Almighty.
They treated the commands of the Lord with contempt by disregarding God’s requirements with unacceptable sacrifices. However with the Persian governor they would never do that. Where is their allegiance? Governors or false ideologies, idols in our lives. God is more concerned about the allegiance , God is concerned because they are just going through the motions. Where is our allegiance? Is Jesus truly our King?
“Now plead with God to be gracious to us. With such offerings from your hands, will he accept you?”—says the Lord Almighty.
“Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord Almighty, “and I will accept no offering from your hands. My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to me, because my name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord Almighty.
It would be better to close the doors of the temple than continue with the charade that they were putting on. If I as a pastor fail to preach the Gospel, it is better for me to just go home. If we fail to honor the Lord, than we fail to move forward in our faith. The Lord’s name will be great among the nations, He is speaking of the coming Jesus and the coming Kingdom that will reign forever.
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me.
We are beholden to the Lord and only to the Lord.
“But you profane it by saying, ‘The Lord’s table is defiled,’ and, ‘Its food is contemptible.’ And you say, ‘What a burden!’ and you sniff at it contemptuously,” says the Lord Almighty.
“When you bring injured, lame or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?” says the Lord.
What a burden. This is what happens when we get comfortable. This what happens when we take the grace of God for granted. We start to see the commands of God as a burden. They are not a burden, they are what truly set us free? This is what happens when complancey traps us as people. The commands are not burdens but there to guide us in following Jesus.
“Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For I am a great king,” says the Lord Almighty, “and my name is to be feared among the nations.
The Lord here is talking about people who make vows but then cheat on those vows. People would not cheat a king or governor for the fear of what might happen. So why do we dare to cheat the King of Kings, God is in full authority.
The land of Israel and particularly the faith of Israel had grown stale. We must not allow our faith to grow stale. We must not wonder if God loves us. He has proven His love and proven He holds to His promises to His people. The church needs to awaken to who Jesus says the church is
Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Everyone that is in our church or a follower of Jesus. This is who you are. The church is God’s plan. You belong to the body of Christ and the Gates of hell will not over come it. Remember who Jesus says that you are!
As we close in prayer, if you need prayer, if you would like to give your life to Jesus or reaffirm your faith, we are here at the front.
Let us prayer
