What Are You Looking For?
How To Deal With God • Sermon • Submitted
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· 3 viewsWhat you look for is what you will find.
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In last week’s message you may have heard something interesting if your teeth weren’t chattering too loudly during our outside service.
Malachi said, “Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of Hosts.”
It’s like we can hear the Lord saying, if you think I’m not around, you’re mistaken.
I am where I’ve always been.
Maybe you just need to figure out what you are looking for.
Because, what we look for is what we will find.
Every morning I listen to Al Mohler’s “The Briefing” podcast that is “an analysis of the news and world events with a Christian Worldview,” that’s how Mohler explains it.
I’ve also started following a thing called, “Red Pen Logic with Dr. B.”
And you know what I’ve found?
I’ve found that people will find what they want to find.
Just the other day, Mr. B from Red Pen Logic played a Tik Tok of a very articulate young lady who said she could prove that God approves of abortion.
She quoted from Number 5:11-31, specifically from the New International Translation, because the other translations use different words but these words served her purpose.
And what was interesting for me is, she quoted the scripture “in context” she said.
And because she quoted it “in context,” then we have to accept the fact that God himself, she says, in certain situations, causes an abortion.
Her whole argument is built around a one-off translation but it all missed the point.
The scripture she quoted was a word of judgment from God.
It deals with marital infidelity and God’s absolute disdain for that.
But this young, articulate and apparently well educated young woman didn’t see that - because she wasn’t looking for that.
She was looking to find some way to make herself feel morally superior because she proved that God is OK with abortion.
She found what she was looking for.
Another fellow “proves” there is no God because - get ready - someone has to tell you about God and if there really was a God you’d be born knowing there was a God.
His argument is illogical on it’s face.
Using his argument, not much exists since someone at home or at school has to teach us about almost everything.
But I would say he’s wrong because of what Paul tells us in Romans 1:19-20
For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
It’s natural revelation - every time you go to the mountains or the ocean and you are awed at what you see - you know there is someone bigger than us out there.
But, the young man found what he was looking for.
Malachi 3:7 “From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’”
What we are going to see in this text is something we see everyday the sun rises - What you look for is what you will find.
“Your words have been hard against me, says the Lord. But you say, ‘How have we spoken against you?’
You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts?
And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape.’ ”
Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name.
“They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.
Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.
“For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.
But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.
And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts.
I named this series, “How To Deal With God.”
Here’s where the rubber meets the road.
If you want to know how to deal with God, the first thing you have to do is honestly answer the question, “What am I looking for?”
We’ve kind of proven that in our approach to Malachi.
For the entire book, the Lord has been doing two things.
First, he, in no uncertain terms, calls out all of the things His people - His Church are doing against Him.
He doesn’t mince words and He doesn’t worry about hurting anybody’s feelings.
Malachi 3:13 ““Your words have been hard against me, says the Lord...’”
“You have robbed me.”
“I will rebuke your offspring.”
God, in no uncertain terms, is telling His people that the reason they aren’t getting blessed is because they aren’t acting like His people.
And like I said, forever we’ve studied this and preached this asking the question, “What does the Lord want us to do? What does the Lord want us to do?”
But what we really mean is, what does the Lord want us to do so He will do what we want Him to do..
But that’s where the second thing the Lord is doing in Malachi comes into play.
Instead of asking “What do we do so God will do what we want God to do,” we’ve asked, “What does God want to do?”
And we found this long list hidden right before our eyes.
God wants to love us; He is loyal to us; the Lord wants to show us favor.
The Lord accepts us for who we are; He wants to bless us - to give us the power to be healthy in mind, body and soul.
The Lord wants to give us life; peace; character.
He wants us to know the truth so we will know how to live.
The Lord wants to teach us how to treat everyone fairly.
He wants us to be inspired by Him; He wants the world to be inspired by Him.
He wants everyone’s respect because He always keeps His promises to us.
The Lord is just, He is dependable, He is truth, and He is Judge.
He wants to bless us with life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
He wants to see us take care of the less fortunate, the hurting, the hungry.
And when we stray, just like the Israelites in this story, He wants us back.
Remember what we said a while back, there are two reactions people have when truth enters the room.
One person will recognize the Truth and follow it.
The other person will reject the Truth and go their own way.
Their choice depends on what they are looking for, because what you look for is what you will find.
In Malachi 3:16 “Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another...”
Remember the Lord’s words, you return to Me, I’ll return to you.
And look at what is happening here.
Those who feared the Lord.
Those who believed.
Those who quit worrying about trying to get the Lord to do what they wanted Him to do and instead they turned back.
They decided they wanted what the Lord wanted to do.
Do ya’ll remember the story of the prodigal son?
You know, a dad had this bratty child who demanded his inheritance while his dad was still alive.
Dad gave it to him and the kid ran off to the bright lights and the big city, spending money like there was no tomorrow.
But there is always tomorrow.
And one day, he woke up penniless and friendless.
And the only job he could find was slopping pigs.
He finally came to his senses and went back to his dad, asked for forgiveness - and he didn’t care what his dad did then.
Because he knew his dad was a good man who took care of his workers.
Now here’s the question - where was the father?
Did he follow the kid?
Did he pay private eyes to find out what the kid was doing?
Did he send money to keep the kid from suffering?
Dad stayed home, because Dad’s motto is, “Return to me and I will return to you.”
These folks who feared the Lord spoke with one another - repentance is implied and what did the Lord do?
Malachi 3:16 “The Lord paid attention and heard them...”
They returned, the Lord received them - but then He does one better.
Malachi 3:16 “Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name.”
He wrote their names down.
The way they did business then was, if the king wanted something remembered way down the road, he would issue a decree which was written down and stored in the archives.
That’s what is happening here.
Malachi 3:17 ““They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.”
He will spare them.
Spare means to show kindness in an unfavorable, difficult or dangerous situation.
The word spare implies that you made your bed and you deserve whatever distress you’ve brought on yourself.
But the Lord spares you.
What does He spare you from? Ultimately, from judgment.
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
Everyone - including the saved - will appear in judgment one day.
There will be a reckoning - a “how did you follow me” accounting of our lives - each one of us.
But the Lord will spare His treasured possession - because He made us righteous.
He Himself has made us his treasured possession.
Jesus paid a huge price - He considers us His treasure.
What you look for is what you will find.
Malachi 4 starts looking out into the future - Malachi answers the question, “How will this thing end up?”
In the long term, the division between God’s people and everyone else will become more and more apparent.
And there’s a word here I want to make sure we define correctly.
The word is wicked.
We define wicked as someone who is evil, who does bad things - maybe horrible things.
And all of that is true - but there is a little more nuance to it.
Wicked means they are guilty of violating God’s standards - God’s morality.
And it doesn’t end well for the wicked.
The Lord says the arrogant - those who will not humble themselves before the Lord.
Those whose sole goal in to make God do what they want Him to do - that’s arrogance.
Those who will not humble themselves - they are ultimately consumed.
Does the image Malachi paints here - does it land with you?
They will be stubble.
They will be set ablaze.
They will be ashes under the soles of your feet.
When I was a little boy, about this time of year every year we’d burn the field off between our house and my granddad’s house.
And when the fire was completely out and all of the weeds were burned up, I loved to walk across the field.
Because every step I took, there was a little puff of ash that would pop up.
All of the weeds, everything - utterly consumed.
Everything, ash under my feet.
As insignificant as broom sedge in a pasture that’s being burned.
There is only one result possible - it will be utterly removed - utterly defeated - utterly destroyed.
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness,
waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!
But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
They will be destroyed, but you...
But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.
Healing - mental, physical, emotional; mind, body and spirit.
And this has been His plan all along.
So many people look and find rejection.
But the Lord offers acceptance - healing for mind, body and soul.
And He always has.
Remember I told you my goat story last week.
When the lady set that goat free--- can you imagine?
Here you are, a baby goat.
Carefree, nibbling on the grass in the field.
You see some really pretty grass over to the side - and you strain your head and strain your head and you pop it through this thing.
And you eat the grass and it is so good.
But then this big white thing drives up.
And the big, two-legged thing walks up.
And you yell, and you struggle and you pull with all of your might.
But you are trapped.
And all you can expect at that point, is to be slaughtered in a most painful and frightening way.
So when the lady freed her goat, she took off bounding across that field.
You know goats don’t run - the kind of spring forward into the air.
It’s crazy looking - but cute -and funny.
That’s the image here.
We were trapped - destined to be slaughtered - but He released us.
And we bounded off, exuberant and alive.
And listen, this has always been his plan.
The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give you light; but the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.
Your sun shall no more go down, nor your moon withdraw itself; for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning shall be ended.
Your people shall all be righteous; they shall possess the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I might be glorified.
I did this for you, God says.
I have always offered you healing.
And I always will, says the Lord.
No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.
They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
Because that is the Lord’s will for your life.
How you deal with God depends on what you are looking for.
Because what you are looking for is what you are going to find.
Let me show you a little something I picked up this week.
John the Baptist is living in the wilderness.
To hear John the Baptist preach, you had to be looking for something.
In light of what we’ve just talked about, listen to something John the Baptist said.
“I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
Are you looking for an angry God?
Are you looking for a God who is full of condemnation and anger and fire?
If you are looking for a God who will do exactly what you want Him to do,
If your desire is to go toe to toe with God, if that’s what you are looking for, well, John says Jesus will baptize with fire.
But if you are looking for something else.
Return to the Lord and He will return to you.
Come to Jesus to be baptized with the Holy Spirit.
To be revived.
To be healed.
To be accepted.
To be called a treasure - maybe for the first time in your life.
You have to decide what you are looking for.
If you are looking for Jesus, you will find Jesus.
If you are ready to follow Him where ever He takes you regardless of the outcome.
Well, I can tell you the outcome.
Jesus will wipe the tears from your eyes.
He’ll stand you on your feet.
He’ll give you courage to take on the day.
And He will be proud of you.
You’ll be His treasured child.
I promise - what you look for is what you will find.
Let’s pray.