Sermon Tone Analysis

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.