Malachi Sermon - 1

Malachi: An Introduction

Malachi 1:1

1. Introduction –Over the first half of the year, I had a lot of time off for surgeries and fun things like that, but in those weeks off, when my face was so swollen I could barely talk, I had a lot of time to plan what I wanted to preach on next.

a. As I was thinking about it and praying about it, a book popped into my head. One that I had read and really like previously, but had never studied seriously. Malachi.

b. So I listened to that prompting, got out my Bible and immediately read through the entire book of Malachi. And I was stirred, convicted, challenged and encouraged all that the same time.

i. That was March. And then a couple weeks later, a confirmation came for me.

1. At our EBA annual meeting, our girls gave a report about their experience at Blizzard.

a. And in their sharing, well I think Helen did the sharing for them…the talked about how the speaker used an example from the book of Malachi 4:2…it talks about the joy of living in God’s will and obeying his commands.

i. After having read and done some preliminary study on Malachi just a week or two before that report, gave me the confirmation I needed to go ahead and prepare to preach this great book.

c. So if you have a Bible in front of you, go ahead and turn to Malachi.

i. Now that you have Malachi open in front you, the first thing you probably notice is that it is short…really short. It’s only 55 verses. There are chapters that are longer than this whole book.

1. But just because its only 55 verses…called a minor prophet, doesn’t mean its unimportant…there’s a gold mine of information in this book.

d. So for the fall, from now until Advent, we will be hanging out in Malachi.

i. And since we are starting a new study in a new book of the Bible, it’s important for us to get a good handle on the book as a whole.

1. If we get a big picture view, understand the whole, it will help us when we zoom in and look at the parts.

e. So for our time this morning we are going to be answering some very basic questions about Malachi.

i. How is it written? What is it about? What’s it’s structure and major themes?

1. When was it written? Who was the book written to? Who wrote it? Why was it written?

i. This last question will be answered throughout the remainder of the series.

f. So, with any piece of literature, we are going to start at the beginning – Malachi 1:1 – and we will use this verse as a launching off point to answer the questions that were posed earlier.

i. Hear the God’s of the Lord – Malachi 1:1.

2. The Oracle – The very first words of this book tell us what kind of book we’re dealing with here.

a. How is this book written? It’s an oracle. What’s an oracle you might ask?

i. Some English translations use the word ‘prophecy.” And a quick reminder about prophecy and the role of prophets…

1. They don’t simply predicate the future…yes there are futuristic elements in prophecy…

a. But a prophet’s main role – his main concern was about calling God’s people to repentance and obedience in the present…

i. They painted a picture of the future…one where people obey God and enjoy his blessings…and one where people disobey God and suffer the consequences.

b. So Malachi is a prophecy – it is a word directly from God for his people, for the present…given through a human agent.

i. And while this word oracle is similar to prophecy, it carries with it a sense of urgency. And oracles usually included words about judgment.

1. Some English translations even use the word “burden” here. There word that Malachi received from to share with the people of his day weighed heavy on him.

a. But at the same time, even though it weighed heavy on him, his audience desperately needed to hear the message God gave to him.

ii. I think we can relate to this today. Our world desperately needs to hear the Good News of Jesus.

1. And the urgency and heaviness of that message should weigh heavily on us…

a. And we know that there are some who will not receive the gospel message kindly…they don’t want to hear what we have to say.

i. So in the same way that Malachi’s message was a burden to him, the message of the Gospel is all at the same time – the best good news anyone could ever believe, but also a burden.

2. But we should learn from Malachi and the other prophets that even though some in society will reject our message – we shouldn’t let that stop us from sharing it anyway.

a. Isaiah was told he would go to people who wouldn’t listen to him…and as he talked their hearts got harder…and he preached anyway.

i. And Malachi was given this burden of words from God…but he shared it anyway in order to correct God’s people of his day.

1. And Like Malachi, we have no alternative but to take the gospel message that we have been given, and share it with the world around us.

iii. This is an oracle…a message of divine authority that needs to be shared urgently.

3. Word of the Lord – And just to drive this point home about the source of this message, the next phrase heightens this even more.

a. This oracle is a word of the Lord. This phrase helps us answer two questions.

i. How is this word of the Lord structured? And “What is it about?”

b. First – how is this book structured?

i. Malachi actually plays out like a court room drama. There are accusations, questions, objections, evidence and answers.

1. In fact, the entire book is structured around this question answer format.

a. I hope this week you’ll take time to read through this book, and when you do…take note of the 6 major sections.

c. The 6 major sections have a distinct characteristic. Every major section begins with a statement from God…

i. But immediately following that statement, the audience objects…they have a rebuttal.

1. Now, Malachi’s audience didn’t actually voice these rebuttals, the writer simply anticipated their response to the initial statement in order to further the impact of God’s statement.

a. And in response to the audience’s rebuttal, God provides proof to bolster his original statement.

i. This style is called a disputation – a back and forth between speaker and audience…

1. There are 6 such disputations in Malachi… and the book repeats this style of statement, rebuttal, evidence.

d. Secondly, what is this book about? What are its major themes?

i. Well, keep in mind that this is a word from the Lord, these aren’t Malachi’s words…and in 47 of the 55 total verses on this book…God is directly addressing his people. The use of the first-person single pronoun “I” is quite prevalent through this book.

1. Unlike other prophets…there are no visions in this book – the book of Malachi is quite literally a word of the Lord, given by God to his prophet to share with his people.

e. So what is this book of Malachi about? Well, along the way through this study we are going to look at themes like…

i. God’s love and faithfulness, what proper worship looks like, marriage and divorce, giving to the Lord, judgment, and the promise of a Messiah.

1. Actually, where this book ends is actually a perfect segue into Advent.

4. To Israel – The next question to ask and answer is, “Who was this book written to?

a. And 1:1 answers this question also. “To Israel.”

i. Who is Israel? Well, it was the name God gave to Jacob, second son of Isaac.

1. Israel stood for the 12 tribes made up of the 12 sons of Jacob.

a. Israel was a united kingdom under Kings Saul, David and Solomon.

i. After Solomon’s death the nation was divided into a norther and southern kingdom.

1. Israel referred to the 10 northern tribes, while Judah referred to the 2 southern ones.

ii. But even though the name Israel was used in many different ways…it is always God’s covenant name for his people.

1. Even though the nation was divided, even though the kingdom was ransacked and exiled, its people displaced to a foreign land…

a. Look at this, even though they had no king, no real land of their own…even though the were small and insignificant to the world around them…

i. They were still Israel…the children of God…God’s covenant people.

b. That fact that this book was “to Israel” means that even though they had lost their former earthly glory…they were still God people…covenant people –

i. And that means God will be utter faithful to them. To Israel, to God’s covenant people.

5. By Malachi – Next, who wrote this book? To Israel by Malachi.

a. Now, we don’t actually know anything about the prophet Malachi.

i. I believe the obscurity is purposeful and it heightens the importance of the words here.

1. These aren’t Malachi’s own words to Israel. These are the words of the Lord. Even though his name is attached to this book, Malachi is an insignificant player here…what’s importance is what’s written – what’s said…by God to his people.

a. Words to rebuke, correct., comfort and train God’s covenant people.

6. Why? – And finally, this morning let’s begin to answer the age-old question…why? Why was this book written?

a. In order to answer this question, we first need to know when this book was written.

b. Malachi was written in what’s known as the ‘post-exilic’ period. Let me briefly recap Israel’s history up to Malachi’s time period.

i. God promised Abe, Ike and Jake that he would make them into a great nation. Through Jacob that promised was fulfilled.

1. Jacob’s descendants…known as the Israelites, were enslaved in Egypt for hundreds of years, until God raised up Moses to led the people out of slavery. It was a great act of redemption.

a. The people’s sin led them to 40 years of wandering around in circles in the desert, until Joshua led the conquest of the promised land.

i. They had a united kingdom under Saul, David and Solomon, but the kingdom eventually divided like a mentioned before.

c. And all along the way, the Israelites broke their end of the covenant with God. They repented, there was renewal.

i. Until the kingdom was divided…then things got serious, they began worshipping other gods, building them temples and offering them sacrifices.

1. And despite the repeated warnings from the prophets, warnings of exile, the people refused to repent and turn back to YHWH…

a. So in 722 BC the 10 northern tribes were exiled to Assyria, and in 587, the southern tribes were exiled to Babylon…think Daniel, Shadrach Meshach and Abednego.

ii. But God promised that THAT exile would only last for a short period of time. And under the rule of Cyrus, God’s people were allowed to return to their home land, they were allowed to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, and eventually the temple was also rebuilt.

1. This part of the story is told in Ezra and Nehemiah. During their time there was great renewal among God’s people. But…

a. Time passed…the passion and zeal that were hallmarks of Ezra and Nehemiah’s time were gone. The social and religious reform and revival had waned.

iii. The temple was no longer bright and shiny and new… and God’s people began to fall into a lifeless and dead ritualistic religion.

1. So somewhere between the years 458 &445 BC, God sent this message through the prophet Malachi to wake his people up.

d. For the people of Malachi’s day, worship had become a lifeless ritual. They no longer brought God their best, but instead brought lane, sick and defective gifts as their offering.

i. They were once again intermarrying with different nations and religions. They weren’t observing God’s laws.

1. Maybe they went to worship at the temple, or maybe they didn’t even bother showing up sometime.

a. And maybe went they went, they left saying, “I didn’t get anything out that…”

i. For Israel at that time, they had forgotten what it meant to worship God and what it meant to be a child of God.

1. They had forgotten the holy awe of worship.

e. But we know nothing about that do we? We always come and worship with fervor and passion.

i. We always bring God our best…we never rob from God.

1. We never lose the holy aw of worship…and we never say, “I didn’t get anything out of that…”

ii. I wish that were true, but sometimes we do lose the holy awe of worship.

1. Sometimes we don’t bring our best, and this is why the message of Malachi is still appropriate for us as God’s people today.

f. The historical situation of Malachi is actually a lot like ours.

i. Malachi’s original recipients were in waiting period, they had a new city, a new temple, but they were waiting…waiting for the long-promised Messiah to come.

1. And while they were waiting complacency and apathy set in. They passion that once drove their religious reforms waned and was followed by lifeless ritual.

g. And that sounds like our day…we’re waiting. We’re waiting for Jesus to return.

i. But as time rolls on, it’s easy for complacency to set it…for passion to give way to lifeless routine.

1. But that shouldn’t be. Living when we do, we know that God fulfilled his promise of a Messiah by sending Jesus.

a. We just finished looking at the final outcome of history…and we should have the fullest confidence that god will fulfill those promises too!

h. Remember a few minutes ago when I stressed the importance of this book being written to “Israel?”

i. The title reminded a ragtag group that they were still God’s covenant people, that God would be faithful to them and fulfill his promises.

1. And Malachi’s message to his people is this – if you’re Israel, if God is still covenantally faithful to you…you must also be covenantally faithful to him. You must observe his laws and worship him in the beauty of holiness.

a. And for us today, knowing that God’s true Israel isn’t made up of one nationalistic group, but of people from every nation who have been saved by the blood of Jesus…

i. Malachi reminds us that God will always be faithful to his people…but we must also be faithful to him.

i. We must never worship God with a lifeless routine of “I lift my hands here” “I put my envelope in the plate now” – but every act of worship must be done with a sense of awe of what we get to do.

i. I’ll be honest with you…Malachi’s message will probably make us a little bit or may a lot bit uncomfortable…and that’s a good thing.

1. Malachi’s message will confront our complacency, our sins and our mis steps.

a. However, Malachi’s message, if we allow it, will help us regain and renew the holy awe of worship – remind us why it is we do what we do on Sunday mornings.

j. Understand, no one is immune to complacency. The very first word of rebuke in this book is written to the pastors of Malachi’s day who defiled the name of the Lord and led people in to sin.

i. It’s a reminder to me as a pastor that I must be careful in my study, prayerful in my preparation and dependent on the Holy Spirit to led you rightly and properly into the worship of God. But we’ll cover that in a couple of weeks.

k. We’ve covered a lot of ground today, but knowing the big picture will help us when we zoom in and look at the parts.

i. Read the whole book this week, its 55 verses…do it a couple times. Next week we’ll look at what God means when he says, “Jacob I have loved but Esau I have hated.”