Malachi 1:6-2:16

Thank you very much indeed for your welcome and the opportunity of being with you. I'm using this microphone if you can't hear or want to hear, wave of Paul because I can easily speak up.

! I feel I've had lots of links with you here, not the least friendship with Paul, but recently I've been in Singapore and Andrew Leung was there, greatly enjoyed his time with you.

And last night I was staying in a student house up in York and one of the students there goes to St Nicholas Seveneights where Paul often does a youth camp with them.

And this student imitated Paul perfectly. Wonderful Welsh accent, so I felt I was prepared and ready to be with you.

I hope this is going to be encouraging. You probably know the story of the elderly couple, the alarm went off and the wife got up to make the tea and as she passed the mirror, she looked in the mirror and said,

Oh dear, I'm so grey, I've got lots of lines, I've got bags under my eyes, I've got several chins.

And she turned to her husband and said, Can't you say something encouraging?

Nothing wrong with your eyesight, he said.

I hope you've got Malachi open. I've been walking out with Malachi for a few months, we're not yet an item but we're getting to know one another.

And greatly helped by a very new commentary in the Bible Speaks Today series, which I want to warmly commend.

The background is the year 460 BC, Malachi is the last of the prophets and is a natural bridge into the New Testament.

He wasn't the last book in the Hebrew Bible, that was Chronicles.

But in our Christian Bibles he's the last one.

And the situation is that people are fairly jaded, as you'll see.

And there are a whole series of disputations.

So look with me, chapter 1, verse 1,

I have loved you, says the Lord, but you say, how have you loved us?

And chapter 1, verse 6,

Where is my fear, says the Lord of hosts, O priest who despised my name?

But you say, how have we despised your name?

Chapter 2, verse 17, the same sort of thing happens.

You have wearied the Lord with your words, but you say, how have we wearied him?

By saying, everyone who does evil is good, in the sight of God, and so on.

Go into chapter 3, verse 7 and 8.

So all these disputations.

Now I know that we are in Ealing, and not in Jerusalem.

And I know that most of us probably are Gentiles, not Jews.

So there's not an exactly comparable priesthood,

as we're speaking about Levi.

And yet one of the things we discovered at the Reformation,

was the priesthood of all believers.

So I think we can learn much from this.

And there's a certain amount that is negative here.

A very strong language used in chapter 2, verse 3.

There was a very rude, outspoken, but wonderful evangelist called Donald Barnhouse.

And he was doing a mission in Cambridge in 1947, I think it was.

And he was due to speak at the girls' college, Girton.

And he was asked what his text was going to be.

And it was going to be Malachi chapter 2, verse 3.

Malachi 2:3

I will spread dung on your faces.

Which was slightly alarming for the young ladies there.

But anyway, that's the way he approached things.

So there's a lot here that is quite strong.

And in a sense, negative.

But I want to major on the positives,

with contrast with the negatives.

And here's the first thing.

The Christian believer,

the Christian believer,

and I've got lots of x-ray eyes,

so there may be some here who are still exploring and investigating.

But the Christian believer must listen to the voice of God.

Chapter 2, verse 2.

If you will not listen,

you will not take it to heart.

You will not listen.

We can't speak for the Lord Jesus

unless we first listen and heard.

Do you remember the miracle of the healing of the man

who was deaf and dumb?

Some people who've got a serious hearing impediment

don't speak clearly.

Because they've never heard people speak clearly.

And we won't speak clearly

unless we've heard clearly.

And the trouble with these people

is that they were not listening to God's word.

And the result of that

was they caused many people to stumble.

Look on to verse 8.

You have turned aside from the way.

You've caused many to stumble by your instruction.

Because you've got to listen first.

And you know that there's one thing worse than being a sinner.

It's being a stumbling block.

So Jesus said that if anybody causes little ones to stumble,

it would be better for a millstone to be turned round to their neck

and were thrown into the sea.

And this is what was happening with some of them.

They were not listening.

And therefore they caused people to stumble.

And probably they showed partiality.

Look at verse 9.

That is, they cherished bits

that they liked and disregarded other things.

And when Paul says goodbye to the Ephesian elders,

he said, I preach the whole counsel of God.

There was a distinguished theologian,

Reinhold Niebuhr,

who characterized liberal teaching in this way.

He said, the liberals talk about a God without wrath,

bringing man without sin

into a kingdom without judgment

through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross.

Very shrewd.

And that is people showing partiality.

They're not talking about the fact that God is a God of holy wrath.

They play down the fact that we are sinners,

and depraved, and guilty.

They say that there's going to be no judgment.

We're all going to be alright in the end.

And therefore the death of the Lord Jesus is irrelevant.

Those are the people all around us, I'm afraid.

Especially in the Church of England.

For showing partiality.

There was a good American bishop.

One, literally.

And he wrote a book with this brilliant title,

The Cruelty of Heresy.

You see, the truth of the Gospel is to liberate,

to set free, it's wonderful.

And to deviate from that is very, very cruel indeed.

So, what the Christian believers do,

is first of all to listen to God's word.

Make sure that what they're going to say

is in accord with God's word.

Now, I don't know what some of you senior people feel,

as I do.

There's been a decline, I think, recently,

in the habit of daily quiet times.

I think 30, 40 years ago,

it was axiomatic for all key Christians

to be having a good half hour or more than that

before they went off to work.

Obviously, mothers looking after young children

couldn't face that,

and they mustn't be put under a feeling of guilt.

But I get the impression that that's declined.

And there's a wonderful senior Christian statesman,

Alec Mateer,

who quoted to himself,

Isaiah 50, verse 4.

Isaiah 50:4

He's in his 90s now.

But this is the verse that hit him.

The Lord has given me the tongue of those who are taught,

that I may know how to sustain with the word

him who is weary.

Morning by morning,

he awakens me.

He awakens my ear

to hear as those who are taught.

And what Malachi is saying,

look,

some of you folk are not listening to God.

They're not listening to his word.

Whereas Isaiah says,

look, if you're going to pass on anything true,

you must listen to his word.

And of course,

the glorious truth is,

that we'll never be closer to the Lord Jesus,

than when we're reading the Bible.

Never closer to the Lord Jesus,

than when we've got our Bibles open,

and we're hearing his word to us.

So that's the first positive.

The Christian believer must listen to the voice of God.

Some of them weren't doing that.

Secondly,

the Christian believer must honour,

glorify God's name.

And what we discover is that

some of these people were despising his name.

Chapter 1, verse 6.

A son honours his father,

and a servant his master.

If I then am a father,

where is my honour?

I am a master.

Where is my fear?

Says the Lord of hosts.

To you, O priests,

who despise my name.

And again,

in chapter 2, verse 2.

If you will not listen,

if you will not take it out,

to give honour to my name.

And the lack of reverence for his name,

was shown in sort of shoddy public worship.

They were offering knackered animals in the temple.

They were giving their loose change to God.

And he says,

well you wouldn't do that for your boss.

Look at chapter 1, verse 8.

Present that to your governor.

Some churches suffer from

what we call the

tyranny of the volunteer.

That is,

when it comes to their paid employment,

they arrive on time,

absolutely regular and so on and so forth.

But when it comes to things

they volunteer to do for their church,

the honour rata,

well,

they feel they could arrive late

and not sort of do it particularly efficiently.

And that is what's happening here.

They were shoddy in their public worship.

Whereas Levi, by contrast,

was completely different.

Chapter 2, verse 5.

My covenant with him was one of life and peace.

I gave him to him.

It was a covenant of fear.

And he feared me.

The Lord Jesus once said,

his people honours me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me.

And I think that describes some of the people

in Malachi's day.

Now, I don't know what your reaction has been

over the last ten days

with what happened in Paris.

I mean,

that form of violence

is absolutely horrendous.

And we distance ourselves from it in every way.

But,

it's just striking that they

don't like their prophet

being insulted.

Now, the way they reacted to that,

I think, is horrendous.

But have we got the same concern

for his name,

his honour?

I wonder whether we feel

as offended as we should

when his name is just used

to blasphemy

and trips off people's tongues

like that.

This concern for the honour of God

comes throughout the Bible.

Back in Ezekiel 36,

turn to it.

Ezekiel has,

well, God speaks to Ezekiel

and says,

look,

the way you've behaved

has meant that you've gone into exile

and people are saying,

what sort of God have you got?

If he can't keep you safely

in your own land

and you've gone off into exile,

he must be a rather feeble God.

And so,

God's name was being dishonoured

in that way.

The same thing may be happening here.

I personally think

the nation

is under judgment

and the Church of England

is under judgment

because his name is not honoured

and glorified.

Do you remember Psalm 23?

He leads me

in paths of righteousness.

Why?

For his name's sake.

So that his name

is not dishonoured

in any way.

Hallowed be thy name.

And intriguingly,

the first reason

why the Lord Jesus

had to die

was to vindicate

God's honour.

This is Romans 3, 25 and 26.

See,

the spectacle

that confronted

the whole of the moral

universe

was a scandal.

God had said

that he hated sin

and would punish it.

And yet,

Abraham,

a liar,

Moses who lost his temper,

David who was an adulterer,

Jacob who was a cheat,

they all get accepted

by God.

And what did God

mean then?

He said that he hated sin

and would punish it.

And therefore his name

and his honour

had to be vindicated.

And it was vindicated

by the Lord Jesus

dying

and the punishment

due to Abraham,

Moses,

Jacob and the others,

was paid for

by the Lord Jesus.

And so his honour

was vindicated.

So the debt

of the Lord Jesus

works backwards

and forwards for us.

And God can only

accept us honourably

because the Lord Jesus

died for us.

That is a wonderful

truth, isn't it?

Just to think

that if you had been

the only sinner

in the world,

the Lord Jesus

would have died for you

for his name's sake.

So he's very concerned

that people should

honour his name.

And many of you

like me will

revere

the memory

of John Stott.

John Stott said

that verse 2

of chapter 2

was a defining moment

for his ministry

when he set his heart

to honour

God's name.

Take it to heart,

not to let honour

come to his own

funny little name,

but to give honour

to God's name.

A crucial clarification

of the goal

and objective

of his life.

To bring honour

to God's name.

Now, I don't know

whether you noticed it.

Did you notice

how God is called

in our passage?

It's there in

chapter 1

verse 7,

it's there in

chapter 1

verse 8,

verse 10,

verse 11,

and on and on and on.

It's the Lord of hosts.

Have you pondered

on that?

What was the state

of Judah

at the time?

They were a subject

nation,

they were still part

of the Persian

empire.

The Persians

had failed

to get into Europe.

They had

attacked Greece.

Athens

was evacuated

twice.

If Athens

had been captured

by the Persians,

the whole of

Western civilisation

would have been

completely different.

but they were beaten.

But they still

occupied the

eastern Mediterranean.

And Judah

was a subject

nation

and it had

no army.

But their God

was the Lord

of hosts.

What a terrific

thought for them

when they felt,

you know,

we are a despised

subject nation.

Ah, but our God

is the Lord of hosts.

Do you remember

how Elijah had

to say to the

young man

who was all

frightened

because the

opposition seemed

so great?

Open the young

man's eyes

that he might

see.

Saw the mountains

filled with

the hosts

of the Lord

God.

And this is

the reminder

of who their

God is,

the Lord

of hosts.

And therefore

honour him.

Honour him.

Henry Martin,

that great

missionary.

There was an

occasion when

he was in a

Persian court

or something

and there

was a picture

of the

Lord Jesus

kneeling

before

Mohammed.

And

Henry Martin

said he was

so grieved

and outraged

at this,

felt he couldn't

live for another

moment without

wanting Jesus'

name to be

honoured.

And this is

the second mark.

A Christian

believer must

honour and

glorify God's

name.

And we

read in Acts

again and again

that as people

became Christians,

they gave honour

to his name

and lived in fear.

So as we're

taking notes,

you might like

to jot down

Acts chapter

Acts 9:31

9 verse

31 where

we read

So the

church throughout

all Judea and

Galilee and

Samaria had

peace and was

being built up

and walking

in the fear

of the Lord

and in the

comfort of

the Holy

Spirit.

Multiply.

The fear of

the Lord.

Practically I

think that means

daily repentance,

just acknowledging

that I'm a

sinner and

keeping short

accounts and

being full of

praise and

thanksgiving and

honouring him.

You know the

story of praying

Hyde,

missionary in

India.

Obviously it's

fairly quaint,

but he felt the

Lord was laying

on him the

idea of leading

one person to

Christ every

day.

And he began

doing that.

And day by

day somebody

was converted.

And at the

end of the

year there

were 365

people converted.

And next

year he

felt he

to lead

two people

to Christ

every day.

And that

began to

happen.

And then

there were

some days

where he

didn't get

his quota.

And he'd

flop on his

knees and

he'd ask what

sin he'd been

committing that

had stopped

him being used.

And again

and again it

was the sin

of not praising

and thanking

God.

And one of

the secrets of

humility is to

be constantly

thanking God

and therefore

honouring him.

For all that

he's done.

All the

promises that

he's kept

for us.

So the

Christian

believer must

listen to

God's word.

Must honour

and glorify

God's name.

And then

very obviously

the Christian

believer must

be marked

by holy

living.

And with

the folk at

Malachi's day

initially it

doesn't seem

to be so much

gross immorality.

There's a touch

of that in

chapter 3.

but this

lukewarmness

this

stinginess

this infidelity

it comes to

and probably

sins of

omission

not doing

as much

as they

should.

And you

remember the

old saying

it's not

great gifts

that God

uses

but great

likeness

to Jesus.

And therefore

we've got this

wonderful example

of Levi

in verse 6.

True instruction

was in his

mouth

no wrong

was found

on it.

He walked

with me

in peace

and uprightness.

He turned

many from

iniquity.

You're probably

well aware

that in

the pastoral

epistles

when Paul

is giving

instructions

to Timothy

the one

non-moral

characteristic

that Timothy

had to have

was being

apt to teach.

But all the

other qualities

were just

basic Christian

qualities.

Put negatively

he had to

have money

sex

temper

alcohol

under control.

And that's

the things

for us as

well.

I suspect

I suspect

that few

generations

future generations

will look back

at us and

just see how

very very

wealthy we

are.

And there

will just be

friends who

come from

India.

spent time

here just

slightly amazed

at how

comfortably

off we

are.

And once

there's

nothing wrong

with it.

God's

made all

things

richly

to enjoy.

But are

we as

generous

as we

should be?

I know

that

Philip

Jensen

back in

Australia

feels that

money,

materialism

is probably

the biggest

problem for

young pastors

there.

So that would

be an area

to get under

control.

Sex

obviously.

I've just

been on a

student

conference

and there

was one

very helpful

talk on

digital stuff.

Now this

bypasses me

because I

haven't got

it, I

haven't even

got a

mobile

phone.

But in

the little

group that

I was

with it

was very

interesting

how honest

some of the

students were

about the

problems with

the internet

and so on.

That's an

area.

And what

price purity

said one of

them.

If it

costs a bit

to be on

covenant eyes,

well it's

worth it.

If it's

going to

help me

to be

pure.

Temper.

We read

of some

of our

politicians

being in

a rage

about things

and that

we can't

do that.

And simply

alcohol.

Till 1967

in evangelical

circles we

were pretty

well all

teetotal.

And then

almost overnight

people stopped

being teetotal.

And I

don't think

the Bible

enjoins that

but there's

no doubt

that some

people, I

remember a

very distinguished

senior

evangelical

leader

staying with

me.

He'd been

at dinner

and I

had to

help him

up the

stairs because

he'd just

drunk a bit

too much.

And another

missionary friend

of mine

told me that

on the

mission field

one night

he'd drunk

and he wasn't

quite sure

what he'd

done, had

he slept

with a

girl or

not.

So there

is that

danger.

And what

Malachi is

saying is

that the

Christian

leader,

teacher,

but every

Christian

must be

marked by

holy living.

And this

is a lovely

example that we

read often

of Levi.

He walked

with me in

peace and

uprightness.

I think a

particular problem

for men,

where we

tend to be

slow to

admit it,

is,

according to

scripture,

quarrelsomeness.

And the

mark of Levi

was he walked

with in

peace and

uprightness.

Uprightness.

A dear

friend of

mine, now

in glory,

he was a

very distinguished

scholar,

got a first

in classics

at Cambridge.

He was a

great athlete.

I think he

has a record

that's filled

in wisdom

at the fastest

opening century

in minor

counter cricket.

He was

headmaster of

two different

schools.

When he

retired, he

did a second

degree in

maths at

the open

university.

He had a

lovely family,

a great

Christian man.

And it was

said of him,

his life could

bear inspection

at every point,

on the

capes field,

at work,

in the

family.

And that was

the sort of

life that

Levi lived.

And that the

Christian is

to aspire to

a consistency

of life and

living.

So, there is

quite a lot

in Malachi to

challenge us

and to

rebuke us.

But I'm

really anxious

that we should

look at the

positives.

The Christian

believer,

must listen

to the

voice of

God.

If you

will not

listen, he

says, chapter

two, verse

two.

And here

he's spoken,

God has

spoken, we've

got it in

front of us.

God has

said all he

needs to

say in

this book.

Let's

renew our

determination to

come and hear

him through

his word.

The Christian

believer must

be concerned

for his

honour and

glory.

And

therefore,

feeling very

grieved at

what is

happening in

our country

today.

The standards

that are

plummeting,

the way the

name of the

Lord Jesus

is tossed

out so

irreverently.

Whereas we

want his

name to be

honoured, to

be glorified

in our

lives.

Paul was

able to say

they glorified

God in

me, in

our church,

in our

land.

And the

Christian

believer must

live a life

consistent with

the standards

of God.

Take away

the love

of sin.

Remind me

of your

standards,

Lord.

Help me to

live accordingly

so that I

reflect the

Lord Jesus

and become

more like

him day

by day.

Let's pray

together.