Return to Me

Intro

Last week We saw in the first half of Malachi how God was issuing his people a wake up call. He was telling them hey you may be technically doing what you’re supposed to do by bringing sacrifices to my temple. but I can tell you’re hearts are far from me, and you actually despise me.

in Chapter one verse 6 the people said “how have we despised your name?”

And God laid out a fundemental truth that applied to the lamb sacrifices that were brought to God back then and the sacrifices of our time, money, and energy that we bring him today.

The quality of the sacrifice shows the quality of your heart.

They were showing up to God’s house with sacrifices that they didn’t deem worthy to be used for their own family but they had convinced themself that it was a worthy sacrifice before God. They were giving God their leftovers.

The question I posed to you last week is are you giving God your leftovers?

My eyes were personally opened to areas of my life where I was giving God my left overs. and I pray that you got the same wake up call I got, the same wake up call that Malachi was trying to give the nation of Judah

God is THE high king, THE Lord of Hosts, THE one every nation will bow to, He is THE Way, THE Truth, and THE life. He deserves way more than our leftovers, he deserves to have the hearts of the people that he sent Jesus to save fully devoted to him.

I know many of you had your eyes opened like me and you looked at your life and realized that what you are giving God isn’t your best its your leftovers. For those of us who got the wake up call and realized that. that leaves us with an obvious question that we got to answer.

What now?

we know we have been giving God our left overs and God isn’t ok with it, and finally now neither are we but now what?

The same thing that highlighted the problem also has the answer God’s word.

Malachi 3:6–12 CSB

“Because I, the Lord, have not changed, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed. “Since the days of your ancestors, you have turned from my statutes; you have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of Armies. Yet you ask, “How can we return?” “Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing me!” “How do we rob you?” you ask. “By not making the payments of the tenth and the contributions. You are suffering under a curse, yet you—the whole nation—are still robbing me. Bring the full tenth into the storehouse so that there may be food in my house. Test me in this way,” says the Lord of Armies. “See if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing for you without measure. I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not ruin the produce of your land and your vine in your field will not fail to produce fruit,” says the Lord of Armies. “Then all the nations will consider you fortunate, for you will be a delightful land,” says the Lord of Armies.

The first thing we need to understand before we answer the question what do we do when we realize we have drifted and starting giving God our left overs is this.

1.God Hasn’t Changed even when we Drift.

God spent the first two chapters listing all the ways that the nation had turned their back on him, how they drifted. but here in the middle of it he stops and says even though you have drifted. Even though you have changed I have not changed.

Change is one of the strangest things isn’t it. Everything around us changes constantly. sometimes that change ends up being good, sometimes its bad, sometimes its exciting, sometimes its scary. Perhaps the times when change is the scariest is when you leave a place that is familiar and comfortable and when you return it has changed completely.

An example of that is when I was 18. Alysa and I got engaged. Many of you know I used to serve tables at Dolly Parton’s Stampede. and thats what I was doing at that time. And I was still living at home getting ready to move in together after the wedding. and I went to work one day. and it was a long day I got home smelling like horses and rotissarie chicken. I turn on the light in my room. the room I had lived in for 16 years to find it had been completely changed into a generic guest room. The epic bunk beds I had grown up with were replaced with a simple twin bed, the walls went from being painted a dark red to being a light blue, all of my Star Wars action figures were boxed up in the closet. Couldn’t wait to get rid of me I guess. Can’t say I blame them but I still had to live there for 4 more months.

I returned home expecting something constant and familiar and it was gone.

We never have to worry about when it comes to God. Im someone who typically gets excited by change but you know what wouldn’t excite me a changing God.

A God who changes his mind on the promises he’s made, a God who changes his standard based on what the world expects, a God who’s love for us changes based on far we have drifted.

I think returning to God after you realize you have drifted is often times harder than coming to him for the first time. and one barrier that we put up to stop ourselves to returning is the lie that can creep in that God has changed. our relationship will be changed because of how he must look at me now. the way he loves me has changed because of how far I allowed myself to drift.

if you have looked up and seen how far away you have drifted and what’s keeping you from coming back is that you think all his promises to you must have changed. Let me tell you what God was telling his people in Malachi. You have been unfaithful, you have changed. But I the Lord am still faithful and I have not changed.

Malachi 3:7 CSB

“Since the days of your ancestors, you have turned from my statutes; you have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of Armies. Yet you ask, “How can we return?”

2. He Knows How Far You’ve Drifted—and Still Calls You Back

He knows how far you’ve drifted. He knew Judah had broken the law from day one that they had it. and for hundreds of years after. and he still invited them to return. Nothing you have ever done or will ever do will surprise them. He knows the mistakes of your past and the mistakes of your future. He knows, and he still invites you to return.

If everything you had every done, and every dark thought that you had ever had was put on display for all the world to see. How many people do you think would extend an invitation to you to their house? and yet God does.

At the end of this verse the people ask God the same question we are asking today how can we return? and it could have been genuine out of a desire for reconciliation. but if you look at all their other questions and what comes right after it what they are actually saying is “why do we even need to come back?” they have drifted so far that they have don’t realize they have drifted.

my prayer after last week no one is still questioning if you have drifted or not. and God has revealed to you the areas of your life you have been giving him your leftovers. and you can now ask genuinely what Judah was asking disengenuinely.

How can I return?

Here’s what returning to God is not. Feeling bad about the things you’ve done. You can feel bad about something all day long that doesn’t change anything.

Its not trying to will power your way back.

You know what returning to God looks?

It looks like humbly saying God I thought my strength and my will power was enough to have the life I thought you had for me. I am done trying to paddle back to shore against the current. Take the oar. I trust you.

That was the core of Judah’s problem. They didn’t trust God enough to believe what he said. when he promised them a hope and future they didn’t believe him so they tried to make their own. The reason false God’s were in the nation in the first place was because they didnt trust when he said they could defeat their enemies so they didn’t even try.

And it is so often our problem too Listen to what Jesus says

Matthew 6:25–34 CSB

“Therefore I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? Consider the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they? Can any of you add one moment to his life span by worrying? And why do you worry about clothes? Observe how the wildflowers of the field grow: They don’t labor or spin thread. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these. If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won’t he do much more for you—you of little faith? So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

How many of us would ever drift if we truly believed these words.

How do we return? lets not make this more complicated than it needs to be. You returning by believing what you already know to be true. Believe him when he tells you who he is. Believe him when he says I haven’t changed. There is still a home for you here with me. Believe him when he say’s don’t spend your life clinging to worry over every material thing when I have already promised to take care of you. Believe him when he says. To seek first my kingdom and everything else will work out. Believe him when he promised that if you return to Him. he will return to you.

And if we can believe what he says in the promise that if we return to him he will return to us then we can also believe what he says next.

Malachi 4 CSB

“For look, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and everyone who commits wickedness will become stubble. The coming day will consume them,” says the Lord of Armies, “not leaving them root or branches. But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings, and you will go out and playfully jump like calves from the stall. You will trample the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day I am preparing,” says the Lord of Armies. “Remember the instruction of Moses my servant, the statutes and ordinances I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel. Look, I am going to send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers. Otherwise, I will come and strike the land with a curse.”

I don’t know about you but I don’t want my life to be an endless cycle of drifting from the Lord and returning, drifting from the Lord and returning. I am so thankful that when I do drift and return he hasn’t changed and he returns to me. But how do we stay close?

3. Trust That His Promises Still Stand

This chapter is the last words God’s would say to his people for 400 years. and its spilt into two parts. The last parts shows God sending another messenger to give them another chance to return to Him. That’s John the Baptist. and if they didn’t the land would be struck. Most people ignored Johns message and 40 years later after Jesus Jerusalem was destroyed again. They didn’t return.

But the first half of the chapter shows the future that those who return to the Lord can put their hope him.

A day when all the wickedness that you see in the world that goes unpunished will be delt with

A day when the son of righteousness will rise and heal us all the way down to our core so we can be the image of God we were originally created to be.

A day when we are free to play joyfully without all the presures of this world that weigh us down.

A day when we are fully with God.

God’s word says that day is coming. Do you trust that he meant what he said. Do you trust that the God who never changes has not changed his mind about what the future holds for his faithful people. Do you trust that when God says you can hope in this beautiful future because your hope is in me?

Do you trust him?

Returning to God involves a past, present and future element.

I know I can return because I look back and trust he hasn’t changed and his promises haven’t changed. I know I can return because I trust that today if I return to him he will return to me, and I know I can return because I trust that’s God promises aren’t just good for today. But I believe in the beautiful hopeful future that is only found in and through Him.

As equally beautiful as the hope promised for those who are a part of God’s family is, its equally as terrifying for those who aren’t. The book of Malachi is written as a warning.

God’s saying there are two sides and you’re living your life pretending like you’re on my side but you’re not. and there will come a day when you wont be able to pretend anymore. Return to me now before it’s too late.

Conclusion

I am here to tell you the same thing this morning. You can hide by giving God your leftovers and keeping up appearances. but there will come a day. when you can’t pretend anymore. When the wicked and the righteous will be sorted out. and one will have a beautiful future with God, and the other will be cast aside.

If you have never come to God in trust and surrender and done what Romans10:9 says

Romans 10:9 ESV

because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Do it today so you are the right side. The side of hope, the side of joy, the side of God.

If you have drifted this morning return to the Lord this morning. You don’t have to worry about if you will be accepted back. return to me and I will return to you says the Lord. Take him at his word?

Return to him by trusting that no matter how far you’ve drifted and how much you have changed. He is who says he is, and he will do what he says he will do and he says he will open his arms wide for you. if you just take the tiniest step back because his arms were never closed they have always been open for you.