Reality Check -- Are You Giving God the Best of You or the Rest of You?

The Weight of the Word — (Vs. 1)

The Book of Malachi begins here in Verse 1 with… “The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi.”

As I began to meditate on this verse a few things came to mind that I want to share because I believe it will help us to understand the context behind the Book of Malachi.

As I was reading this, the word “burden” continued to just stand out to me and after I pondered on it for a few minutes, some things began to make sense as to why it’s there.

First off, I believe the contempt of Israel, the disdain of their offerings and their halfhearted worship of God had become burdensome to God!

It had begun to weigh on Him and He was sick of the way they were living!

He was sick of not getting the respect that He deserves!

He was sick of not being recognized as the creator and sustainer of life!

He was sick of not being remembered as the mighty deliverer who brought them up out of bondage time, after time, after time!

And as I began to think upon this thought, I began to wonder, is God happy with the way we are living?

I mean it’s easy to say about the world as a whole, “of course God’s not happy with the way we’re living” but I believe we need to zoom in and take a look at our personal lives!

Is God happy with the way we’re living!

Is God happy with what we’re doing here at New Home?

Is God happy with what you’re doing at your home?

Is God happy with how you’ve been treating Him and living for Him?

I’m here to tell you this morning as your Pastor, there’s some folks here, in this very congregation, that need to have their ears open and take heed to the word that is being preached here this morning because I believe God has a word for you! There’s some folks here who need to do a reality check on their own lives!

There was a burden upon the heart of God because of His people’s lackadaisical worship and so He delivers this weighty word to the Prophet Malachi so that he, in turn, could deliver it to the people of Israel!

Now, not only was this a burden upon the heart of God but this was a weighty word for Malachi to deliver!

The word “burden” is the Hebrew word (massa) and it means that which is borne by man or something that is laid upon a man, a spiritual load, and it can also mean something burdensome or a hardship.

This message delivered to Malachi to deliver to Israel was a heavy word!

It had some sting to it!

In my opinion, Malachi is like the Book of James in the New Testament.

He holds nothing back and you can rest assured there’s nothing sugarcoated about this message he delivers to the Children of Israel!

The message itself was a burden upon Malachi. It was a hard message but it was a needed message and he just happened to be the man that God could rely upon to deliver it!

The very name “Malachi” means “My Messenger” and that’s exactly who Malachi was!

A messenger of God with a weighty word for the Children of Israel and I believe this same message that was delivered some 2400 years ago is also the message needed here today to give someone in this congregation or watching online a wake up call!

The acts of the Children of Israel had become a burden to God! Make sure this morning as we work through this message that your actions aren’t doing the same!

Now that we’ve looked at the Weight of the Word, let’s move on down to the Warranty in the Word.

The Warranty in the Word — (Vs. 2-5)

Vs. 2a — I want to stop here for just a quick second and say I hope you know God loves you!

Did you know that?

Now, I can’t explain it, I don’t have an answer as to why God loves any of us, myself included, because I’d dare say we’ve all gave Him way more reasons to not love us than to love us but the fact still remains that He does!

Just ask yourself sometime, why does God love me? What have I ever done to give Him a reason to love me?

If you ponder on it long enough, you’ll come up with the same answer as every other person who has ever asked themselves…I don’t know why God loves me!

But the fact remains, He does!

God does love you and not only does He love us, but He loves us with an everlasting love! The Bible says in...

Jeremiah 31:3 — The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: Therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.

God doesn’t just love us but He loves us with an everlasting love!

And it was this everlasting love for us that caused Him to send His one and only Son to die for us!

John 3:16 — For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

God loved His creation so much and had such burden on His heart to see them redeemed, that He sent the most precious thing He had, His one and only Son, to die for our sins so that we in turn, those who believe upon His Son Jesus, could be saved from ourselves, inherit eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, and be reunited with Him one day in glory!

That’s how much the God of all creation loves you this morning!

It’s a Warranty in His Word without end Amen!

How many of you have ever had a warranty on your vehicle?

As we all know and some have experienced, at some point that warranty runs out doesn’t it? And when it runs out, if something happens to your car, you’re the one paying the price to have it fixed right?

Well praise be to God, His warranty of love for us never ends and that was promise was written in the blood of His Son Jesus on a cross at Calvary, Amen!

The price for our sin was paid in full through the precious blood of Jesus Christ and all you have to do to receive forgiveness of your sins this morning is believe upon Jesus and His finished work and you shall be saved!

God begins His address to His people by reminding them of the Warranty of His Love.

He says, I have loved you!

And then He begins to explain the lengths of that love to them.

Explain Verses 2b-4.

Luke 14:26 — If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

Vs. 5 — Malachi 1:5 NLT — When you see the destruction for yourselves, you will say, ‘Truly, the Lord’s greatness reaches far beyond Israel’s borders!’ ”

God’s love for His people knows no bounds and He’s willing to fight for His people to show that love but just because He loves us with an everlasting love, doesn’t mean we can do whatever we want, whenever we want and treat Him however we want and get away with it without consequences.

The true love of a Father shows up in the correction of His children when they go astray, for He knows the consequences they will experience if left to wander!

Deuteronomy 8:5 — Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee.

Psalm 89:30–34 — 30 If his children forsake my law, And walk not in my judgments; 31 If they break my statutes, And keep not my commandments; 32 Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, And their iniquity with stripes. 33 Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, Nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. 34 My covenant will I not break, Nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.

Proverbs 3:12 — For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; Even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.

Hebrews 12:6–8 — 6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

There’s The Weight of Word, The Warranty in the Word and next there is The Weariness in the Word.

The Weariness in the Word — (Vs. 6-10)

Luke 9:23 — And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Romans 12:1 — I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

1 Corinthians 15:31b — “I die daily.”

Mark 12:32–33 — 32 And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: 33 And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.

Psalm 51:17 — The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

The Warning in the Word — (Vs. 11-14)