A. When I was a boy our preacher called it, “Fence Straddling.”
1. That’s when someone tries to LIVE for both Jesus Christ and the World.
a. We see this all around us.
ILLUSTRATION:
Have you ever had a co-worker who CLAIMED to be a Christian, but you couldn’t tell it by the way she acts and talks at work? Or maybe you know someone who WEARS a CROSS around his neck, but whose life is far from what Jesus meant when He said, “Take up your cross and follow me.”
b. We see it in Social Media outlets.
ILLUSTRATION:
People we know personally, and maybe are even members of the same church, who’s social media presence on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram reveals a side or even a lifestyle that simply do not correspond with the WAY that the Bible says that Christians are to LIVE.
c. I know there have been times in my PAST when I’ve been guilty of “STRADDLING the FENCE.”
2. Jesus said, “He who is not with me is against me…”- Luke 11:23.
a. Then He illustrated with a parable “of how one was cleansed of EVIL from his life, but instead of pursuing a life of RIGHTEOUSNESS he allowed the influence of EVIL to return and became worse off than he was before he was CLEANSED”- Luke 11:24-26.
b. How many people do you know who are no longer LIVING for God, but they still claim to be a Christian and a follower of Christ?
B. The prophet Malachi is addressing people just like that . . . a people who claimed to SERVE God, but whose
lives told a different story.
1. Malachi was written in 444-432 BC.
COMMENT:
If you want to know more about the background of Malachi’s prophecy, you will want to read Ezra 7-10 and the book of Nehemiah. By this time the reconstruction of the TEMPLE had been
completed for over 70 years.
Ezra had returned with a second group of EXILES from Babylon in 458 BC, and his work was to RESTORE the knowledge and respect for the Law of God. Nehemiah was permitted to return to
Jerusalem to rebuild the WALLS of the CITY in 444 BC.
During the period between the completion of the TEMPLE and the building of the WALLS , the children of Israel, once again, had become LAX in their SERVICE to God and OBEDIENCE to His Word.
2. This is when Malachi comes into the picture.
a. Malachi’s name means: MY MESSENGER.
b. Throughout this book Malachi used the phrase, “Says the Lord Almighty,” multiple times.
c. His message was to let the people know emphatically that God loved them, but God wanted to know if they were “For Him or Against Him?”
MESSAGE:
I. GOD LOVES YOU- 1:1-5
A. God speaking through the prophet said, “I have loved you…”- v. 2a.
1. Doesn’t it make you FEEL GOOD when someone says, “I love you”?
ILLUSTRATION:
You go to WORK and find a note in your pocket from your wife or husband that simply says,
“I just want you to know that I love you.”
Or you hear from your son or daughter, “Dad (Mom), I know I don’t tell you enough, but
I really do love you.”
When my grandchildren say “I love you, Papa.” . . . that just makes my day.
2. But this is God saying, “I HAVE LOVED YOU…”
a. The phrase used here is perfect tense in Hebrew meaning, “I have loved you, and I still do.”
b. With all that He has been through with the Israelites—their DISOBEDIENCE, their
REBELLION, their DISRESPECT and LACK of ALLEGIANCE—God still LOVES them.
COMMENT:
There is nothing that we can THINK, DO, or SAY that will make God LOVE us any LESS or any MORE than He does right now. This doesn’t mean that God LOVES our ACTIONS. We
are going to see in a moment that He “HATED the EVIL ACTIONS of the nation of Edom.”
But His LOVE for you and me is UNRELENTING. That’s why He wants what is BEST for us. As Max Lucado used to say, “It’s true that God loves you the way you are. But He loves you too much to let you stay that way.” That’s why God has given us His WORD to show us how we can get the MOST out of this life with the LEAST amount of struggle and heartache.
B. But as is the case with people today, including many Christians, the Israelites asked, “How have you
loved us?”- v. 2b. . . . . “You say you loved us, but we haven’t seen it!”
1. REALLY!!!
a. God has shown them OVER and OVER how He has LOVED them.
b. God said, “I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated”- vv. 2-3
COMMENT:
Although Jacob and Esau were TWINS, God said I chose Jacob over Esau. Now, God is
speaking of the two peoples, the Israelites and the Edomites, the descendants of Jacob and Esau.
You may recall in the first lesson of this series from the book of Obadiah, how the nation of Edom MISTREATED the Israelites. God “HATED” their EVIL, CRUELTY and WICKEDNESS
committed against His people, and they were DESTROYED.
And if they try to REBUILD, God said “I will DEMOLISH them again.”- v. 4.
2. The people asked, “How have you loved us?” God chose Israel, among all others, to be His people.
a. He made His COVENANT with them.
b. He BLESSED them SPIRITUALLY and PHYSICALLY.
c. He DISCIPLINED them when needed, just as a father does His children.
d. He GAVE them His HOLY COMMANDS. (HE DID ALL OF THAT OUT OF LOVE!!)
II. DO YOU LOVE GOD?
COMMENT:
Malachi AFFIRMED God’s LOVE for them, so now he wants to know if they truly LOVE God. If so, their ACTIONS certainly didn’t SHOW IT.
A. “Priests offered God blemished sacrifices”- 1:6-14
1. God accuses the priests of DISRESPECTING Him- 1:6a (READ)
COMMENT:
Here is God, the CREATOR of the UNIVERSE and the GIVER of LIFE, having to ask for HONOR and RESPECT. Why must people, then and now, have to REMINDED to show God LOVE, HONOR and RESPECT?
2. Then the PRIESTS ask, “How have we shown contempt for your name?”- 1:6b
a. So God points to the “BLIND, CRIPPLED and DISEASED animals they bring to the
TEMPLE to be SACRIFICED upon His ALTAR”- 1:7, 13
COMMENT:
As commanded by the Law of Moses, they were to bring God their very BEST from their FLOCKS—“animals without SPOT or BLEMISH”- Exodus 12:5.
b. God said, “Try giving these animals to your Governor. Do you think he would be pleased with them? Would he accept them?”- 1:8. (No! They would give the Governor the BEST
they had. . . . . But not God.)
COMMENT:
We may be thinking, “How disgusting these priests are!” But I believe we have all been
guilty at one time or another of GIVING God our LEFTOVERS.
. . . only a SMALL PORTION of our TITHE after we spent the REST on a weekend CAMPING TRIP. . . . a HALF-HEARTED effort in INVITING others to a special EVENT at church. . . . OCCASIONALLY coming to WORSHIP because we don’t want anyone to CALL us up and ask “where we’ve been”.
c. God DESERVES our VERY BEST . . . ALL THE TIME!!!
B. “Men were unfaithful to their wives”- 2:10-16
1. God said that “the men of Judah had broken faith by marrying daughters of a foreign god”- v. 11.
a. Many of these Jewish men were marrying FOREIGN women. You can read more about this is
Ezra 9-10.
COMMENT:
I have heard preachers in the past who turn to this passage and the one in Ezra and preach against what they call “BI-RACIAL MARRIAGE.” This passage has nothing to do with someone marrying a person of another RACE, but marrying someone who is not a BELIEVER; and in this case marrying women who serve and worship other gods.
b. God has already dealt with LEADERS of Israel and Juda erecting IDOLS and worshipping other
gods, and He does not want them to follow that same PATH.
2. Not only were they MARRYING these women of a FOREIGN god, but they were DIVORCING the
WIVES of their YOUTH to do so- 2:14b (READ and COMMENT).
3. Malachi 2:16a- “‘I hate divorce,’ says the Lord God of Israel....”
ILLUSTRATION:
In my closing remarks of every WEDDING I officiate, I have the couple standing in front of me having just repeated their WEDDING VOWS to each other, and I look them in the eye and say, “Marriage is a LIFELONG COMMITMENT. You are to enter this relationship with no other thought, but that you both will GROW OLD together and STAY together until DEATH separates you. Therefore, don’t even allow the word “DIVORCE” to be PART of your VOCABULARY.”
Not every couple I MARRY stay together, but it’s not because they don’t know what God’s Word says about the importance of the COMMITMENT they make to each other as HUSBAND and WIFE.
C. “The people turned away from God’s commands”- 3:6-7
1. How many times throughout our study of the MINOR PROPHETS have we read about the
Israelites turning away from God’s Word?
a. In fact, God said, “Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my
decrees and have not kept them”- 3:7a
COMMENT:
We are seeing more and more Christians leave the church, and consequently leave the faith. According to the United States Census Bureau records, each year 4,000 churches close their doors, compared to only 1,000 new church starts each year. These records also reveal that from 1990 to 2010 an average of 2.7 million church members every year have fallen into INACTIVITY.
Undoubtedly there are many reasons given for this DECLINE. We can blame PREACHERS, WORSHIP LEADERS, ELDERS, CULTURE, ECONOMY, the NEIGHBORHOOD. But I believe the real issue is a LACK of SPIRITUAL CONVICTION and COMMITMENT to God.
That’s the entire premise of Kyle Idleman’s book: NOT A FAN. There’s a lot of FANS in our CHURCHES, but not FOLLOWERS. The time when Brenda and I left the church in our first years of MARRIAGE, we were mere FANS of Jesus and not true FOLLOWERS. FANS fall away, FOLLOWERS remain!
b. Even so, God says, “Return to Me, and I will return to you”- 3:7b
COMMENT:
Isn’t that like our loving Father? No matter how many times you SPIT on Him. No matter how many times you TURN AWAY. As long as you are willing to REPENT and RETURN to
Him, God says, “I’m here! I haven’t left you.”
c. Even then the people ask, “How are we to return?”
COMMENT:
We do even as King David when he sinned against the Lord and turned away from his Holy commands. Psalm 32:5- “Then I acknowledged my sin to You, and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’—and You forgave the guilt of my sin.”
2. THAT’S HOW WE RETURN.
COMMENT:
And like the Father in the parable of “The Prodigal Son” (Luke 15), God will always take us back as long as we are willing to RETURN and COME HOME.
D. The people robbed God of their tithes”- 3:8-18
1. There was an announcement that appeared in a church bulletin some time ago with this caption:
“OUR CHURCH WAS ROBBED RECENTLY.” The story that followed said:
ILLUSTRATION:
“We are thankful that no one was injured physically, but it will be some time before things are back to normal. Concerning the actual amount that was taken is undetermined at this time, but it could exceed several thousands of dollars. It’s clear that more than one person is responsible—in fact, there may actually be many people who have been party to the
crime.
“Three things are most disturbing about the robbery: One is that we have no assurances that it won’t happen again, and that is a bit unnerving! Second, we are certain that those who carried out the robbery are members of our church. And third, the robbery happened
in full view during Sunday services while the offering plates were being passed.
“Several members of this church decided to use their tithe and offerings that belong to God for their own personal use. It’s hard to imagine that Christians who claim to love God would actually steal from Him and the ministries of this church. We can only hope and pray that they will repent and start giving back to God.”
2. God asked the children of Israel, “Will a man rob God? Yet you rob Me.”- 3:8
a. The people asked, “How do we rob you?”
COMMENT:
They can’t fathom how they had been ROBBING God. “What do you mean? We’ve
never taken anything from God!”
b. God answered, “In tithes and offerings.”
COMMENT:
When the OFFERING BASKETS are being passed each Sunday morning, as they were just a while ago, you and I would never dream of REACHING into that basket and TAKING out a
WAD of MONEY and put it in our pockets.
But God tells the children of Israel that “You are ROBBING Me not by TAKING from Me,
but by not GIVING to Me!”
If we are not GIVING to God as we’ve been PROSPERED, then we have been ROBBING God of what belongs to Him. (ILL: In times past, I have certainly been GUILTY of ROBBING God.)
3. Please understand that God is not urging the people to GIVE their tithes and offerings because He
needs their MONEY.
a. God reminded the prophet Haggai when they were rebuilding the TEMPLE, that “all the gold
and silver is mine”- Haggai 2:8.
b. God OWNS it all, but what He wants from us is to LOVE and TRUST Him with what we hold dear. Our GIVING is not for God’s BENEFIT; it is for ours.
III. ULTIMATE DEMONSTRATION OF GOD’S LOVE
A. Malachi prophecies the return of Elijah- 4:5-6- “See, I will send you the prophet Elijah…”
1. Hundreds of years had passed since “the prophet Elijah was taken up into heaven on a chariot of fire”- 2 Kings 2.
2. Elijah is the messenger that was to prepare the way for the Lord- Malachi 3:1 (READ)
a. From these prophecies of Malachi, many Jews believed that Elijah would return and lead them
to the Messiah—to the Christ.
b. Jesus pointed out that Malachi was not referring to the physical Elijah, but the spiritual Elijah in
the person of John the Baptist.
-Referring to John the Baptist Jesus said, “He will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and
power of Elijah . . . to make ready a people prepared for the Lord”- Luke 1:17
-In Matthew 11:10-11- “Jesus quotes Malachi in referring to John the Baptist as Elijah, the messenger sent by God to prepare way for Him as the Christ.”
B. The ULTIMATE LOVE of God is SEEN in the sending of His Son Jesus to DIE for us.
1. John 3:16- “For God so LOVED the world that He GAVE His One and only Son…”
COMMENT:
The children of Israel asked, “How have you loved us?” People today ask, “How do we know if God loves us?”
2. The answer is the CROSS!!
CONCLUSION:
A. I hope that you benefited from our study of the MINOR PROPHETS.
B. I know this was a different kind of study, but one that we need to have from time to time.
1. But what I hope you gained most from this study is that God has always been LOVING, PATIENT, and
FORGIVING.
2. He DELIGHTS in SHOWING MERCY, not JUDGMENT.
COMMENT:
If we or someone we know is LOST, it’s not because of God. It’s our DECISION, not His.
