Discipleship:
responding to God's love; respect for who he is
Malachi
was the last prophet of the OT. The name means “My Messenger”,
and may have been been the surname of Ezra (who lived about the same
time) although we don't know. He spoke into the situation after the
exile. In Malachi, “Israel” but strictly speaking what was left
of the kingdom of Judah (representing all of God's people) who were
back in their own land, though under the rule of the Persian empire.
The Temple had been rebuilt; the people were struggling to keep going
– and they were apparently seeing nothing much from god. So where
is God and what has become of his promises? What ever happened to
the idea of dedicating the temple, and the Lord coming down so
powerfully that the “priests were overcome.” So there's
possibly a sense of disappointment, disillusionment and exhaustion
present among the people and their priests.
And
in that context, something had happened to their worship in this
second temple. They brought the sacrifices; they burned incense
every morning, they put the “bread of the Presence” out fresh
every day, they kept the lamps lit... but it had all become...
routine. Dull. Boring. A chore. A drag. And in the end, a matter
of legalism: how little they could get away with, and still keep up
appearances, still hope to satisfy God that they were his people and
he would have to look after them. So bad had it got, that God shames
them by saying that the day is coming when all the nations –
including these people they detest - will worship him properly.
All
pretty sad, really, but it rings bells, doesn't it? A people living
kind of “late in time”. We have experienced some difficult and
challenging things in our history. We have worked and sacrificed to
keep going, and to build what we believe is right for the Lord....
but contrary to expectations, we have not seen much from God in
return. So there might well be disappointment, disillusionment and
exhaustion present among us as well. And it's a temptation, in a
time when we are not seeing God at work in power, to experience a
shift of gear: we are no longer expecting God to “turn up”. We
are not longer expecting a mighty visitation of God's power. But we
no longer live in awe of God's holiness, either. And our worship can
me marked with legalism, dullness, boredom. It all seems like a
chore and a drag.
So
that's the situation that God speaks into through his messenger,
Malachi. And he says “I have loved you!”. Plain and simple.
Although the word God uses here is not “Chesedh” the Covenant
word, none the less the Lord's love still establishes a covenant
agreement with his people. Can you hear that cry of heaven today
from Jeremiah 31, 3. “I have loved you with an everlasting love and
have drawn you with cords of mercy (chesedh)”.
When
we were giving things away to kids yesterdy at the Gala, I heard
Several Mums or Grannies ask their children “What do you say?”
Your Heavenly Father loves you.: “what do you say?” What do you
do? How do you respond? Well, God's people didn't respond all that
well: “OK Lord, how have you loved us?” In their tiredness and
business and disillusionment, they can't really see God's love at
work. God says, “I have loved you” and we answer back “How have
you?” Our hurts, our disappointments, get in the way and we only
see part of the picture.
God
answers “Remember Jacob and Esau? They were not only brothers but
twins – and I loved Jacob and hated Esau.” (v. 2-3) Now that
sounds harsh and arbitrary, like God chooses one and not another, and
pity help you if you are not one of the chosen. But that is not what
Malachi is saying and it is not what God is saying. Let's look a bit
more closely at this:
- "Love" is about favour and ''Hate" does not imply the level of vehemence we associate with it. It is a deliberately exaggerated way of speaking. Jesus talked talked about his followers "hating their father & mother. He didn't mean us to dislike our parents but to love God so much that by comparison it looks like we hate our parents. In the same way God shows such unique favour to Jacob (Israel) that in comparison he seems to hate Esau. God is emphasising the tremendous favour he has shown to his people.
- The original Esau had in fact treated God's favour -- his birthright as the older son -- with contempt. He traded it for a bowl of soup! (Gen 25. 29-34} And the tribe that had come from him, "Edom" had always caused trouble for Israel. Most recently, when the Babylonian army had come, and taken the kingdom of Judah off into exile, Edom had happily moved into their land and taken over!
Judah
had been in exile for 70 years. Then they got their land back. But in
the meantime, Edom had
actually been ransacked by the Nabataeans. (Arab people who carved
the City of Petra into the rocks). And as Malachi spoke, Edom looked
looked unlikely to get into their land any time soon. So God is
saying to his people "Listen, I favoured
you, and brought you into a special "Covenant"relationship
with me. And you can see that worked
out in history. Your exile lasted 70 years -- but you're now back in
your land. But Esau, Edom, is still suffering for their mistakes".
We need to read the facts of our story and see the ways in which God
has blessed us. When the prophet Elijah was having a bad time
because the wicked queen Jezebel wanted to have him killed, we are
told he "saw" and ran for his life (1Kings 19. 3 AV).The
enemy loves to make us "see" our problems. We need to look
at what he has done for us: to "count our blessings."
So
God had loved his people in real, practical ways. He had favoured
them; he had entered a covenant with them. He had forgiven them and
looked after them. But they weren't seeing that. They had allowed
their religion to become routine,and a chore and a bore, They were
content to be "Serving God the
Leftovers".
The
reason he gives law is not because he is a legalist: it's Satan who
is the legalist! But God gives law to teach us and assess what is in
our hearts. There are four symptoms of heart trouble in this
chapter:
- Contesting God's word. God says “I have loved you.” The people say “How have you?” God says “You show contempt for my name” and the priests say “ How have we?” God says You offered defiled food on my altar” and the people say “How have we?” If our hearts are right, we will live under the authority of God and of his word. That doesn't mean we will never ask questions or always obey what a preacher tells you. Btu yo will have an attitude of submission to God's word.
- Contempt towards God's person. Our actions are unspoken words. To offer cheap and nasty offerings is to say “God's table is contemptible” and to imply “God's name – his very person – is contemptible.” We need respect instead of contempt. God is concerned about "the Heart of worship!" It is legalism to look only at the outward actions: hats, ties, best china, polished silver & polished choir – & long prayers. God looks at the heart! "Giving God our best" is not meant to be about religious snobbery and showing off. We get too concerned about “dignity” - I guess it would not have been too dignified for the Ark of the Covenant to fall in the mud – but when a guy called Uzzah reached out to steady the Ark, God judged him for it. God is not concerned whether you wear a tie or a hat. But he is concerned about what is going on in your heart! True respect is internal, and is the response of our hearts to being loved! Only when sacrifices represent penitence & faith are they of any value. (V13)
- Conventional religion instead of passionate faith. They were "keeping up appearances" while breaking the law. (Lev 22. 22) "Do not offer to the Lord the blind, the injured or the maimed...". You can't cheat God by off-loading all your least profitable animals as sacrifices. God says, “If it's burden, to come and worship, if it only about keeping up appearances, shut the place down.”
- And all of that came from Coldness instead of love. We get our passion back, we learn to respect who god is, we obey God's word, when we learn to love him.. And we learn to love him when we learn that he has loved us, and that he is “The Lord almighty, whose Name is to be feared among the nations.
©
Gilmour Lilly May 2016
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