Reality Check (God's Possession)

Scripture Reading Phil 3:1-11

Good morning church family and friends. Let us look at the Catechism question this morning.

Q.What is the misery of that estate whereunto man fell? A. All mankind, by their fall lost communion with God, are under His wrath and curse, and so made liable to all the miseries of this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell forever.

Pastoral Prayer

Health of the Church

Let us Pray

We have been exploring the book of Malachi this summer. We are getting towards the end of this wonderful book. Malachi has been challenging and accusing the people of Israel about their obedience and heart towards God. We have seen that Israel believes they are doing everything the way God wants them too but God isn’t holding up his end of the deal. This has lead to a lack of reverence for the things God calls Holy such as the Alter, the word, marriage, tithe, and many more. God has called them out for their behavior and has warned them that a day will come where his messenger, Jesus, will come to judge the world an purify the people. They just are not listening. I will tell you one of the hardest things I experience as a pastor is watching people who know what scripture says, knows what God wants, knows that the bible promises and then continues to live contrary to the will of God. That is what is going on in Malachi. A group of people who have all of the answers but just will not do what God asks them to do.

We will start today with the final charge of Malachi.

Open you bibles to Chapter 3 we will be starting in 13 and reading till verse 15.

Malachi 3:13–18 (CSB)

13 “Your words against me are harsh,” says the Lord.

Yet you ask, “What have we spoken against you?”

14 You have said, “It is useless to serve God. What have we gained by keeping his requirements and walking mournfully before the Lord of Armies? 15 So now we consider the arrogant to be fortunate. Not only do those who commit wickedness prosper, they even test God and escape.”

16 At that time those who feared the Lord spoke to one another. The Lord took notice and listened. So a book of remembrance was written before him for those who feared the Lord and had high regard for his name. 17 “They will be mine,” says the Lord of Armies, “my own possession on the day I am preparing. I will have compassion on them as a man has compassion on his son who serves him. 18 So you will again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.

Malachi 3:13-14 The Charge of the Wicked

Verses 13 and 14 point us back to chapter 2 verse 17

Malachi 2:17 (CSB)

17 You have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet you ask, “How have we wearied him?”

When you say, “Everyone who does what is evil is good in the Lord’s sight, and he is delighted with them, or else where is the God of justice?”

Malachi is coming back to the hearts of the people in their worship and life for God. In 2:17 they accuse God of not following through with his justice that He is not condemning the wicked but he is also letting them prosper so he must be delighted in them.

The people have turned their hearts towards the possessions of this world and are looking though the lens of material greed in order to define the world and God around them. They are failing to look at their material possessions through the view of God and thus their service to God is distorted and full of false humility and worship.

In 13 we have the final dispute that Malachi brings to Isreal.

Malachi 3:13 (CSB)

13 “Your words against me are harsh,” says the Lord. Yet you ask, “What have we spoken against you?”

And Malachi states what their collective answer is “What have we spoken against you?” When God says their words are harsh. The word harsh translates to “strong words”. The people were critical of God and were using strong harsh words towards God. But like usual they were oblivious to what they were saying. Malachi then expounds on the what God means but harsh words.

These people selfishly focused on themselves and this way of thinking brings them to a place to to make three false claims about God in verse 14 and 15.

The first is that is is useless to serve God.

Malachi 3:14 (CSB)

14 You have said, “It is useless to serve God. ...

Their service was in vail or worthless. That in the end all of their hard works will not produce anything of value. They are saying whats the point. The word serve in this sense, is a sense of worship and service. Service as a place of obedience.

This leads right into the second claim. There wasn’t anything in it for them.

Malachi 3:14 (CSB)

What have we gained by keeping his requirements and walking mournfully before the Lord of Armies?

They have forgot the covenant that God established with them and that they had a responsibility to follow God and to obey his command and then he would bless them unlike any other nation that existed. Their disobedience has lead to a curse on the nation and the people believe that their false works should be compensated by God.

If we look back just to verse 10 God tells them of just a little of what he will do if they obey him.

Malachi 3:10–12 (CSB)

10 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. 11 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. 12 “Then all the nations will consider you fortunate, for you will be a delightful land,” says the Lord of Armies.

They have taken their eyes off of the Spiritual and turned to the material. And now they walk around trying to act in a way that God should remember them and give them something for their behavior. They were walking around mourning. They were trying to act like humble servants but their hearts were not actually sorrowful at all. We see this type of behavior in other parts of the bible as well where people pray or fast to look holy. To play the part. To be seen as righteous but they are not genuine in their behavior.

Because of the perceived lack of action by God to reward them for their behavior they have now come to the conclusion that the arrogant or those with unwarranted pride are fortunate, that they are gaining the material rewards they they deserve. They claim that those that are wicked are prosperous and even though they are blatant in their disregard for God they are getting away with it right before God’s eyes and he is not doing anything about.

They are look at the world through the view of material possessions and then using that view to define who and what God is. This is in contract to those that look at the world through God view and define the material possession of life based on what they know of God and his work in the world around them.

Application:

What happens when we see the world through a filter of material goods rather than God? If you looked around in the christian world today do we see our bothers and sisters consumed with the desire to gain wealth? What about churches? Are they focused on God or on wealth? Not to make a buck but to present a good show? I am not saying that God does not bless people or churches with finances but there is a fine line that gets crossed very quickly when it comes to our material possessions. It reminds me of the rich young ruler in the gospels.

Mark 10:17–22 (CSB)

17 As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked him. “No one is good except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: Do not murder; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not bear false witness; do not defraud; honor your father and mother.”

20 He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these from my youth.”

21 Looking at him, Jesus loved him and said to him, “You lack one thing: Go, sell all you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 22 But he was dismayed by this demand, and he went away grieving, because he had many possessions.

I cannot remember where I heard this from but a long time ago some one told that “if you what to know what a person believes is important, open their budget” This also applies to churches. If we are not careful we can see the blessing of God as something we have earned and not something that has been graciously given to each and every person based on God will for them.

This man ran up to Jesus asking how to have eternal life and his one hold up was his possessions. When we start to see the world through our own selfish filter it does not take long to get disenchanted. Once we think we deserve more we get very discontent. which leads to a distorted sense of what is really important.

Have you ever felt like everything you do for God is not going to amount to anything? That the service to God is futile? I mean you come every Sunday, you pray every night, you read your bible, but life just does not seam to be better. There are still hardships in your life that cannot be explained as fair or right. The evil people of the world get everything they want and we are stuck barely making it? If those thoughts have entertained your mind then I would say you are not alone.

Money is a huge sticking point for people. If you look at statistics on debt or spending as an indicator it is easy to see that this is a sticking point for christians.

God never promised to make life easy. He promised eternal life. A new life without hardship or sin. He promised the Holy Spirit in our lives. He promised to stand in our place when day of the Lord comes and take the wrath of God that we deserved for our lives of iniquity. Our hope is not in the material possessions of this world but in the saving grace of Jesus. The priceless gift of salvation. The gift that makes all worldly possessions as worthless as dross that will be burnt up in the end.

We must keep our eyes focused on God the Father, saved by God the Son, and Guided by God the Spirit.

And why should we live this way?

Malachi 3:16-18 God’s Possession

So far in Malachi we God has been communication the wickedness and distorted truth of Isreal. He has rebuked them many times trying to give them another opportunity to repent and return to God as a nation. But is there anyone who is doing the right things or are they all in the wrong.

Malachi 3:16 (CSB)

16 At that time those who feared the Lord spoke to one another. The Lord took notice and listened. So a book of remembrance was written before him for those who feared the Lord and had high regard for his name.

At the same time that the alter is being defiled, marriages are being broken, the word of God is being distorted, there is a remnant of people who fear the Lord. Those that have a reverence and a profound respect for God. These people gathered together and spoke to one another about the things of God. As we can tell from the book so far these would have been a minority of the people. A group that went counter cultural and kept a proper perspective on who God is, who they are, and the proper relationship between the two.

These people were decried as people who have a high regard for his name. What does that mean to have a high regard for God’s name. Their language with each other came from their reverence and conversations about who God was. The name of God was more than just an identifier like we use it today. My name is Kyle. Tells you nothing about me. But the name of the Lord was speaking of all of who God is. What his characteristics and attributes are and the obedience to those beliefs. These people were in obvious contrast to the people that we have been talking about so far in this book.

The verse says because of this The Lord took notice and listened. Lets stop there. The Lord took notice and listened. God knows all and sees all. And he takes notice of those who have a high regard for his name. God told them that they were listed in a book of remembered. Books were used by king in this time to record events and to take notes of things going on in the world.

Esther 6:1 (CSB)

1 That night sleep escaped the king, so he ordered the book recording daily events to be brought and read to the king.

These books were recorded by kings and we see reference to them from time to time in the scriptures.

The scriptures also speak of God using books for different things. There is debate on whether there are actual books or not but most interpret these as figurative language but the point is that there are those that are remembered differently that others. God does not have a short term memory so he does not need to read a book to remember. this is a figurative way of say that they have been noticed and regarded by God. This writing in the books is common in the scriptures.

Luke 10:20 (CSB)

20 However, don’t rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

Psalm 56:8 (CSB)

8 You yourself have recorded my wanderings. Put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?

Daniel 7:10 (CSB)

10 A river of fire was flowing, coming out from his presence. Thousands upon thousands served him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.

The court was convened, and the books were opened.

Daniel 12:1 (CSB)

1 At that time Michael, the great prince who stands watch over your people, will rise up. There will be a time of distress such as never has occurred since nations came into being until that time. But at that time all your people who are found written in the book will escape.

We also see the book of Life

Revelation 20:12 (CSB)

12 I also saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged according to their works by what was written in the books.

As we can see the use of language describing these books is throughout the entire bible. God uses them to communicate to his people that he takes notice, that he is watching and working in their lives. That they should have assurance that if they are doing what is right in God’s eyes then he is faithful to remember them.

Malachi 3:17–18 (CSB)

17 “They will be mine,” says the Lord of Armies, “my own possession on the day I am preparing. I will have compassion on them as a man has compassion on his son who serves him. 18 So you will again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.

“The will be mine”. What a powerful statement. That these people who think on his name and speak together of God will be claimed by God. God isn’t some far off entity flying through the cosmos that will return someday he is at work in his world and those that follow him will be claimed by him as his. AS his own possession. No one else can claim a person who is claimed by God. The result of this possession is that God will have compassion on those that are written in his books.

The sad part is that this is where Isreal started

Deuteronomy 7:6 (CSB)

6 For you are a holy people belonging to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be his own possession out of all the peoples on the face of the earth.

God chose them to be his holy and special possession and they have walked away from him. But there were those in Isreal that will be remembered and will stand separate from the wicked when the day of the Lord comes. and on that day there will be no confusion about who a person is and whether they are claimed by God or not. There will be separation from the wicked and the righteous, from those that serve God and those that do not.

Conclusion

Application

And what about the new testament church?

1 Peter 2:9 (CSB)

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Ephesians 1:11–14 (CSB)

11 In him we have also received an inheritance, because we were predestined according to the plan of the one who works out everything in agreement with the purpose of his will, 12 so that we who had already put our hope in Christ might bring praise to his glory.

13 In him you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed. 14 The Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory.

Each and every person in here that has been saved when they heard the good news that Jesus came and died for their sins and believed in Jesus Christ. We were chosen by God to be his. To be his possession. To you get that? The creator of the universe choose you. And when you believed he sealed us and gave us the Holy Spirit as a down payment of our inheritance. We are his possession. On the day of judgment the righteous will be saved and separated from the lost. Those that serve him and those that do not.

This should change everything. This should be the focus of our lives. Lives that live in thankfulness and love that we were chosen to be His. and in the end everything that was broken and defiled when sin entered mankind will be removed and made new again.

The enemy loves the fact that we get so easily distracted by the influence of the world. The drive for success, or material things, social acceptance. The list goes on and on. When we focus on the things of this world we start to view God through these things instead of viewing these things through God. We start to elevate our selfish desires over the obeying God.

Let us pray.

Luke 22:19-20

Benediction

Romans 15:5–6 (CSB)

5 Now may the God who gives endurance and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, according to Christ Jesus, 6 so that you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with one mind and one voice.