Malachi God loves us? You've got to be joking!

Friends, today we begin our commitment, our annual commitment series since 2009.

We have set aside time to reflect on our individual and corporate commitment to our purpose here at St. Paul's.

Our corporate purpose is there in our mission statement to know Jesus, treasure Jesus, and represent Jesus for God's glory and the joy of all people.

At the heart of that purpose is to make Jesus look great in our world.

And we do that when Jesus is our greatest treasure.

He is our joy, our love, our satisfaction, our hope, our life.

And what Malachi will do for us in the next five weeks, it will push us to treasure Jesus in every area of our life.

And so let me pray that that might indeed be our end as we look through this book.

Our Father God, we commit this commitment series to you and ask that by your spirit you would speak through your words so clearly and powerfully to us.

Father, we pray that you would take us from a shallow level of understanding your love of who you are and take us to higher heights of adoration of you.

That we might adore you for who you truly are and treasure you as you have called us to be your treasured possession.

And so Father, we'll do that work in us individually and corporately we pray in the next number of weeks.

We ask it for your sake. Amen.

God's relationship with his people Israel began when God set his affection on them.

Here is how Deuteronomy 7 describes it.

It says,

And so there in Deuteronomy 7, we are told that Israel is God's treasured possession.

But history tells us that Israel did not make God or relationship with God their treasured possession.

Israel was God's treasured possession.

He loved them and yet they did not love him back.

How did you answer that question just a moment ago?

Speak about a time when you were loved or felt loved.

I felt loved yesterday.

Natalie sent me this just wonderful text message just affirming me who I was and beautiful, beautiful text message.

It was fantastic.

And I read it and I just jumped with joy.

And then last night as we went to bed, she said,

Did you get my text message?

Oh, yes.

It was wonderful.

It was wonderful.

It was wonderful.

Sorry.

I forgot to say thanks.

And so she didn't feel so loved.

The people of Israel disobeyed God.

They ignored God.

They did not love him back.

They eventually ended up in exile in a foreign land as God had warned them.

But God did not forget his covenant of love with them.

He restored his people to their place after 70 years in Babylon.

And Malachi wrote in the 5th century BC to the Jewish people who had been restored to their land after exile in Babylon.

And on one level, you could say the exiled people are back in their land.

The temple's being rebuilt and everything's looking good.

Malachi, however, speaks to an inglorious Israel.

They are a long way from their former glory.

And being an outsider looking in on the returned people of God,

you could easily conclude that the God of Israel was not so impressive.

It appears that the lessons of the exile had not been learned.

The people of God had grown sceptical of God's love for them in chapter 1 verse 2.

They had become careless in worship in verse 7 of chapter 1.

Indifferent to the truth in chapter 2 verses 6 and 7.

Disobedient to the covenant in chapter 2 verse 10.

Faithless in their marriages in chapter 2 verse 15 through to 3 verse 5.

And stingy in their offerings in chapter 3 verse 8.

And so Malachi is a passionate prophecy where God confronts his people for their half-hearted devotion and love of him.

God desires for his treasured possessions to treasure him.

And so right at the beginning of Malachi, God takes his people right back to the very foundation of their relationship.

And in doing this, he reminds them of his character.

And there are two things here in these first five verses that God says about himself.

The first is a tender reminder that they are God's people because of God's attitude towards them.

I have loved you, says the Lord in verse 2.

And the second is a reminder that this is not just some kind of weak, soft love.

It's a reminder in verse 5 of his universal greatness.

Great is the Lord, even beyond the borders of Israel.

At the very start, we are taken back to two very essential truths.

God is a God of mercy and love and grace.

And he is a God of absolute universal control.

And both of those things need to be held together in balance.

The very foundation of their relationship with God is that statement,

I have loved you.

Those four beautiful words.

And this statement actually means that he has loved them in the past with clear action

and that he is still loving them now with clear action.

God's blessing and faithfulness to his people were not the result of their faithfulness to him.

They are the product of his love.

It was his initiative to love.

We heard it a moment ago in Deuteronomy 7.

The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples of the face of the earth to be his people,

his treasured possession.

The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were numerous than other peoples.

For you were the fewest of all.

But it was because the Lord loved you.

You weren't chosen because you were the most impressive of all the nations.

And God went, well, if I've got to pick someone, I'll go for the good guys.

But the skeptical response of these people reveals a lot about their condition, does it not, in verse 2?

But you ask, well, how have you loved us?

We don't feel loved by you.

How would you answer that question?

Is your life in such a shambles right now that you feel skeptical about God's love as Israel did here?

No doubt I would say that there is a little bit of that in all of us.

And so it would do us really good to listen to God's answer to their question.

It's not the sort of answer I think that we'd give.

Verse 2 again.

Was not Esau Jacob's brother?

The Lord says.

Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated.

We need to unpack that because in that short answer we get to the very essence of God's love.

Malachi is written to Israel, the descendants of Jacob,

and their next door neighbours Edom are the descendants of Esau.

And Edom have been fairly nasty to Israel.

In the exile, Edom joined brothers instead of with their half-brothers.

They joined forces with the enemies of Israel to cut down anyone who was escaping from the invaders.

They plotted against their brothers.

And so the question is, was not Esau Jacob's brother?

And the answer is yes.

Of course he was his brother.

In fact, let me say, he wasn't just his brother.

He was his twin brother.

And not only were they twins, but Esau was the older brother.

And by customary rights and privileges, Esau would be the main heir of the father's blessing.

That is, Edom ought to be the ones with the promised land and all the blessings.

Not Israel.

And so why mention this here?

The point is, that based on what Jacob and Esau were in themselves,

God could have just as easily have chosen Esau.

Aren't you brothers?

Weren't you twins?

Weren't you both formed in your mother's womb at the same time?

Isn't Esau, in fact, your older brother?

But I passed him by and I chose to set my love and affection on you.

And so when these loved people skeptically say, well, how have you loved us?

The answer is, I have loved you with free, sovereign, unconditional, electing love.

That is how I've loved you.

Straight up, God sets the very foundation, the basis of his relationship with these people.

He says, my love for you is electing love because I chose you for myself above your older brother Esau.

My love for you is unconditional because I chose you before you had done anything good or evil,

before you had met any conditions,

or had any applause for doing anything impressive and good.

In fact, I chose you before you were even born.

My love for you is a sovereign love because I was under no constraint whatsoever to love you.

I wasn't forced to love you.

I was not tricked into loving you.

I wasn't manipulated to love you.

I was totally in charge, totally clear-headed, and I chose to love you.

And my love for you is free because it is the abundant overflow of my immeasurable grace

that can never be bought, it can never be repaid, it can never be earned in any way.

Is that not the glorious center of the Christian faith?

No other religion in this world dares to speak of God's relationship with his people in that way.

Free, unconditional, sovereign, electing love.

It is the grace of God which sets it apart.

Is that not the glorious center of the Christian faith?

Romans 3,

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Romans 5, 6,

At just the right time, when we were still powerless,

Christ died for the ungodly.

Romans 5, 8,

God demonstrates his own love for us in this.

That while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Ephesians 1,

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.

In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ.

In accordance with his pleasure and will,

to the praise of his glorious grace,

which he has freely given us in the one he loves.

2 Timothy 1,

God who has saved us and called us to a holy life,

not because of anything that we have done,

but because of his own purpose and grace.

And this grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time.

We don't earn acceptance with God.

We don't make ourselves lovable to God.

He loves the unlovable.

It is his free choice.

A moment ago,

we were asked the question,

when have you ever felt loved?

Let me tell you

that when I understood that

for the very first time

was the first time when I felt loved.

As a man 23 years of age,

questionable you man,

I felt loved.

And for weeks I cried like a baby.

I still remember it.

The electing, unconditional, sovereign, free love of God

just come, bam, into my heart

and turned my life upside down and inside out.

I remember trembling with fearful joy

that of all the people

that on the face of this earth

I was not passed by.

That the sovereign creator God

would set his affection

on a young punk like me.

before the beginning of time.

For the first time in my life,

I saw clearly what it was

to be totally loved,

completely, unconditionally loved.

God in Jesus

embraced me forever

and I have never,

ever felt so secure.

Ever felt so secure

in any relationship.

God in Jesus

and no new piece of information

somehow making its way to God

through the great accuser

is going to ever overturn

his love for me.

No one loves like that.

No one.

Everywhere you turn in this world,

love is conditional.

I will love you

if you change,

if you do better,

if you put more effort in.

Expectations wherever you turn.

Do you know what it is

to be loved like this

unconditionally

in spite of your failings

with all the imperfection,

the sin?

Do you know what it is

to still feel secure

in a relationship?

It would be great

if I could end it just there.

Of course,

the brilliance and beauty

of God's love

in these verses

becomes so clear

because it's set

against the darkness

of Esau.

What about Esau?

Verse 3,

God says,

Esau,

I have hated.

It would have been

so much nicer

if that wasn't included.

What does it mean?

I think it's actually

spelled out for us

in the rest of verses 3 and 4.

Follow it with me.

I have turned his mountains

into a wasteland

and left his inheritance

to the desert jackals.

Edom,

remember they're

the descendants of Esau.

Edom may say,

though we have been crushed,

we will rebuild the ruins.

But this is what

the Lord Almighty says,

they may rebuild,

but I will demolish.

They will be called

the wicked land

of people

under the wrath

of the Lord.

Notice in those

four very quick words,

Esau I have hated,

there are four aspects

in those next few verses,

aspects of God's

rejection of Esau.

Firstly,

God opposes

their prosperity

and brings their land

under his judgment.

Secondly,

it means that God

will continue

to oppose them

when he resists

their judgment

of his judgment

of them.

He will continue

to demolish.

Third,

they will by and large

be given over

to wickedness.

And this is possibly

the most devastating

of the judgments

and the one

that makes

all the other judgments

just.

You see,

they are not

an innocent people.

God is just

in all his dealings

with people.

And when God decides

to pass by Esau

and choose Jacob,

there is no decree

here anywhere,

anywhere in the Bible

to say that Esau

was innocent

and would be judged

harshly as an innocent man.

That is,

neither Jacob

nor Esau

actually deserve love.

Neither of them

deserve love.

Neither of them

deserve grace.

Now, of course,

there's a great mystery

here and I don't claim

to solve

all the problems

that we have

in our finite minds

in a text like this,

but this is sure

from this text.

God passes by

the descendants

of Esau

and withheld

his electing love

and as a result,

Esau gave way

to wickedness

and deserved

the indignation

of God.

And that takes me

to the fourth point

from the end

of verse four

is that God

is angry

with them

forever.

In verse two,

God declares

his love

and the people

of God

are skeptical.

And having heard

God describe

his love

in such a stark

way here,

we might be

tempted

to be skeptical

too.

We might be tempted

just to cut

the second four

verses off

and just keep

the first four.

And what you do

at that point

is you diminish

and demolish

the love of God.

You have a simple

view of the love

of God.

You see,

to our minds,

we look at

these verses

and we go,

it seems

insufficient,

it seems

unjust,

it seems

callous.

Our problem

is most likely

that, well,

if one gets

love,

then why not

both?

I suppose,

I suppose,

but if two

criminals were

before a judge

guilty of

exactly the

same crime

and the judge

chooses to

let one off

and punish

the other

one justly

according to

their crimes,

I don't think

either criminal

can say to

the judge,

that's unfair.

Neither

deserves mercy

and I think

that's one

of the points

that Paul

makes in

Romans 9.

Who are we

to question

the infinitely

wise God

with our

small minds?

there is a

mystery here.

There is a

mystery.

But at the

very least,

let me

hammer this

home.

It is

meant to

cause those

in Christ

to reach

to higher

levels of

gratitude

and affection

for God

that he

should set

his affection

on anyone.

It ought to

take our

love of

God beyond

a shallow

confidence

to a

deep

joyful

trembling.

And I

want to

include the

word

trembling.

I think

that's why

Malachi

begins his

message in

this way

to these

apathetic

Israelites.

I think

that these

words are

meant to

humble them,

to take

away their

presumption,

to remove

every ground

of their

boasting,

to cut

the nerve

of pride

that possibly

rejoiced in

the downfall

of Edom,

as if their

salvation,

Israel's salvation,

were owing to

something that

they had done.

To grind

away their

cavalier sense

of self-reliance

that made them

think that they

were equal

partners with

their God

within this

relationship.

To make

their tremble

with tears

of joy that

they belong

to God.

and they

don't

deserve it.

And I

want to keep

throwing the

word tremble

in there.

Because as we

see, this

God is not

simply to be

admired with

joyful songs

of praise.

He is to

be feared.

God's love

is not soft

and it's not

simple.

So the

second purpose

of revealing

his electing

love of Jacob

and his

judgment of

Esau helps

us to see

that he's

to be

feared.

Verse 5,

you will

see it

with your

own eyes

and say

great is

the Lord

even beyond

the borders

of Israel.

You see,

part of what

it means to

be loved

by God

is to know

that this

God

sovereignly

reigns.

That he

is awesome

and mighty

over everything

above the

earth,

on the

earth,

and below

the earth.

And Malachi

here is not

speaking of

some kind

of village

God or

tribal spirit.

this is the

universal

sovereign

Lord over

all that

is.

He is

mighty in

Israel.

He is

mighty in

Edom,

next door.

He is

mighty in

Sudan and

the US

and in

Chatswood.

He

great is

the Lord

even beyond

the walls

of this

church.

And so

friends,

right at the

very beginning,

Malachi

is calling

the people

of God

back into

covenant

relationship

and devotion

with their

God who

has loved

them,

who has

said his

affection

towards

them.

And the

way he

does that

is by

reminding

them of

this great

God.

And what

we discover

in the first

few verses

are deep

things that

are very

hard to

get our

minds

and our

hearts

around.

But they

are beautiful

truths that

ought to cause

us to

tremble.

tears of

joy.

Let me

say that

normally

these things

that I've

only touched

them very

lightly,

they are so

much deeper

than what I

can give

them justice

to here.

We normally

only touch

these sort

of deep

truths,

sort of

think,

well these

are for

the mature

Christians,

for Bible

study classes,

for the keen

ones to dig

a little bit

deeper and

understand some

big concepts.

But that's

not Malachi's

purpose here.

Malachi is

not speaking

to a bunch

of mature

Christians locked

up in some

theological

college, he

is speaking

to a

bunch, a

worldly

bunch of

half-hearted

followers of

their God.

They are

sceptical, they

are careless,

they are

indifferent, they

are disobedient,

they are

adulterous, they

are stingy.

And these

deep and

difficult truths

are here

designed to

shock the

presumption and

the flippancy of

the careless

children of

God.

You could say

these words are

good for

Christians whose

grasp of the

love of God is

so shallow that

it never makes

them tremble but

instead it makes

them careless and

casual and

presumptuous in

their relationship

with God where

they take him for

granted.

Where these

truths of the

sovereign, electing,

unconditional

purposes of God,

love of God,

where it should

take us is

commitment and

zeal and

earnestness for the

things of God

whereas often we

take the grace of

God and

interpret it as

I've got a

license.

I'm not under

law anymore, I'm

free in grace, I

can do what I

like.

Hoop-dee-doo-dah.

And the

apostle Paul says

in chapter 9 of

Romans, how dare

you take the love

of God that way?

Do you think

God's an idiot?

That's kind of how

I interpret Romans

9.

Unfortunately, when

we reduce the love

and grace of God

down so that it

sits so easy with

our finite minds,

then we, as a

result, become

careless, apathetic,

flippant, followers

of the Lord Jesus

and God's grace in

the Bible never,

ever excuses

disobedience and

apathy and

carelessness.

It motivates

obedience and

zeal.

And that's what

we're going to

see as we go

through Malachi.

We'll see that as

we go through

Malachi, that the

love of God is the

very foundation of

calling his people

back to faithfulness

in their marriage,

faithfulness in

their worship,

faithfulness in

their giving,

and faithfulness in

their treatment of

one another.

And so as we

commence our

commitment series,

I want to call you

to make a

commitment to go

deeper in knowing

this God.

We cannot worship

and treasure and

adore what we do

not understand.

Don't be consent

with just a simple

view of God.

God.

I recall a true story of

a minister sitting

on a plane.

Many, many years

ago, he was

working on his

sermon for the

next Sunday when

the person sitting

beside him was

quite interested in

what he was doing.

And so he says to

him, you know,

what are you doing?

And the answer he

gets was, I'm

working on my

sermon.

And the guy said

to the minister,

oh, religion.

He said, I don't

get caught up in

all the ins and

outs, the

complexities of

religion.

He said, I like to

keep it real simple.

Do unto others as

you would have

them do unto you.

That's my golden

rule and that's my

religion.

And the minister

working on his

sermon said, I

see, what do you

do?

And he says, I'm

an astronomer.

I teach at

university.

And the minister

replied, oh,

astronomy.

I don't like to

get caught up in

all the ins and

outs and

complexities of

astronomy.

Twinkle, twinkle,

little star.

That's my

astronomy.

My friends, go

deeper.

Go deeper.

The opening

verses of

Malachi reveal to

us a God much

bigger than we can

fully grasp.

And the burden of

this text is that

the glorious truth

about this God

will for some be

dark and foreboding

and unapproachable.

And so this God

will be ignored and

he'll be ridiculed and

he will be scorned.

But for others

here, the mere

glimpse that we've

received this morning

of an awesome God

will bring a real

sense of joyful

trembling and

security in this

relationship.

And so may God

give us the grace to

see the glory and

move us to greater

levels in adoration and

love and awe and

joyfully trembling as

we seek to commit to

this great God.

Amen.