Malachi 3:13-End "Is God Enough?"

You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama.

Our passion is to experience and express grace.

Join us.

Thank you, guys.

It's going to be fun enjoying that with 1,500 or so of our closest friends next Sunday night.

I'm excited, too.

This is our last Sunday together in the Minor Prophets.

In this particular study, I told you when we started that I was a bit cautious about it.

And I was right to be so.

It's been hard.

A convicting study for me as I've seen more of my idols feel like every week.

And at the same time, it's been so needful and so helpful to my heart because God has kept calling me back to himself.

This morning, Malachi gives us a good chance to review.

So let's remember briefly where we've been and see how God keeps calling us back through his prophets.

Remember, God has this special relationship with his people, Israel.

They're to be his treasured possession.

So when they wander from him, he repeatedly calls them back to himself.

He sends one prophet after another to yell,

Repent!

Come home to me!

First, we looked at Micah.

Micah came and called out the idolatry of God's people as they stepped on the lowly to get ahead themselves.

As they were merely playing church.

As their leaders led them away from God.

And he calls them back to a God who's more great and glorious than anything they can imagine.

And then Zephaniah comes just a couple generations later and he warns the people of coming exile because of their repeated idolatry.

And he tells them,

You must come back in repentance to experience God's rich love or else.

And then they do go into exile, right?

And after that exile from the promised land and God bringing them back,

God sends Haggai to them because even through the exile they've forgotten.

Even though they've come back, Haggai has to say to them,

Remember to put God's house first and rebuild the temple.

That's first priority.

Living in relationship with him for his glory is of first importance.

Finally, Malachi has come.

And even though time and time again they've gotten these reminders,

Here are God's people again and they're caught worshipping half-heartedly.

Doing whatever suits them in marriage and divorce.

Focusing on others' sins rather than their own.

And robbing God by not trusting him enough to give.

And so again he says,

Repent!

There's a special relationship with God that is more important than anything else.

Come back and remember that.

And we've seen that that relationship is at the heart of what we're talking about

when we talk about repentance.

Right?

Repentance has to be for us a normal, daily turning back to God.

Not just from the big sins.

That's not what repentance merely means.

But even from the slow drifting away from him that our hearts know.

That moment by moment decisions to value something else more than we value God.

Repentance is where our hearts grieve even the smallest break in our relationship with God.

And turn back to him.

Knowing that we can rejoice as we do.

That there's restored relationship with him.

And so repentance which begins in sorrow leads to joy.

So now as we close, I want us to consider how we respond to that call back to relationship.

That repeated plea of our loving father.

Southwood.

We've read about God's people in the Old Testament.

How will we respond to God's call?

We are very capable.

Even conditioned, I would say, to hear that call to repentance.

We've heard it many times perhaps, some of us.

And to just ignore it and move on with life.

Not perhaps to complain about it, but just to carry on with life as usual.

Or, we have the chance to respond and run home in repentance.

And be renewed and revived in our relationship with God.

God's been speaking that to my heart.

I know he's been speaking to many of your hearts.

And Malachi presents here at the end of his prophecy.

Two ways that those among God's people respond to God's call to repentance.

Listen for that.

Those two ways.

As I read Malachi beginning at chapter 3 verse 13.

Your words have been hard against me, says the Lord.

But you say, how have we spoken against you?

You have said, it is vain to serve God.

What is the profit of our keeping his charge?

Or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts?

And now we call the arrogant blessed.

Evildoers not only prosper, but they put God to the test and they escape.

Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another.

The Lord paid attention and heard them.

And a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name.

They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts.

In the day when I make up my treasured possession.

And I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.

Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked.

Between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.

For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble.

The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.

But for you who fear my name, the son of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings.

You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall and you shall tread down the wicked.

For there will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts.

Remember the law of my servant Moses.

The statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.

And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers.

Lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.

The grass withers.

The flowers fade.

But the word of our God stands forever.

Let's pray.

Father, we do give you thanks for your word.

For your call to our hearts.

Again this morning.

So we ask Holy Spirit that you would give us soft hearts and open ears.

We would be willing to hear and respond.

As you would have us.

To our loving Father.

We pray it in Jesus name.

Amen.

As many of you have noticed.

I spend a lot of time at the gym working out.

Well at least I do run sometimes anyway.

If you ever catch me at the gym.

It's because I really want to be able to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner next week.

And I really don't want to buy new pants the following week.

That's the purpose for which I am there.

I am among the group at the gym to get something for me.

For my body.

But there is another group of people at the gym, isn't there?

There are those at the gym who really love working out.

They love being there.

They love being there.

You know who they are.

You see them.

And they love being there.

Whether they need to get something out of it or not.

They just love being there.

Two different groups.

With two different reasons for being at the gym.

The same is true with the people of God in Malachi's day.

And in our day.

There are those who really love God.

And then there are those who use God to get something they want.

Note in this passage that those two groups we're talking about are not the religious and the irreligious.

Nope.

Malachi is addressing people who all go to the temple.

They all hear the words of the prophet.

They all know God's laws.

They all have even suffered for following his laws.

But their responses to God could not be more different.

Again, it's not the super spiritual and the pagans.

None of them is perfect.

God is calling all of them to repentance.

They all get that same call to repent.

But there are two distinct responses to that call.

And that makes all the difference.

Please hear me on this.

Two responses that people who sit in church today can have to God's call on them.

And both the focus of your life and the location of your eternity hang in the balance of how you respond to that call.

The first response I'll call tracking God.

Keeping track of how he's doing for me.

Right?

We'll hear value terms multiple times in this passage as we ask the question,

Is God enough?

Is God worth it?

We hear it in verse 14 when this group responds to God's call to repentance.

What is the profit?

What do I get from knowing and following Yahweh?

Not enough, apparently.

Because the arrogant, the evildoers are living the life I want.

They're getting away with murder.

I've been tracking you, God.

And to see if you're paying off if the benefit of, to my life is worth the cost of relationship with you.

And God, so far it's not.

That whole tithe thing cut into my profit margin.

That arrogant, prideful thief got the girl I wanted.

My competitors are out there getting ahead while I spend my Sabbath resting with you.

Do you hear the echoes of their gossip about God from earlier in Malachi?

Where is the God of justice?

Why is it not paying off?

What if I said it to you this way?

Because maybe that sounds really bad.

What if I said to you, they're just running a cost-benefit analysis?

Some of you do those.

What if I told you that we live in this tension every single day?

All of us, in different ways, are asking ourselves the question,

Is God worth it?

Maybe in marriage, you held out for the godly guy,

and he lets you down big time.

And you're asking,

Will I give God another chance this time around?

Maybe in your career, you made a tough decision to do what God was calling you to do,

but it just doesn't seem to be paying off,

and you're not able to provide for your kids the way you want to,

and it hurts you, and you start asking yourself,

What do I really want most for my kids?

Maybe you're a single adult who keeps coming to church week after week,

year after year,

and not only does God not seem to bring you a spouse,

but also the family of God is not the community you hoped and longed for.

And you're asking,

Is it time to give up?

Maybe your adult kids are shipwrecking their lives right now,

after you raised them to follow Jesus,

and you prayed for them.

And you're asking,

Can I follow this God anymore?

If this is how he treats those who love him,

these decisions,

and hundreds more like them,

they're not one-time decisions, are they?

You know that.

These are day after day,

moment-by-moment decisions that we have to make.

Will I come back to find God worth it here,

in this moment,

in this situation,

or will I reject him and look out for myself?

You may not use those words,

but every day we're making those kinds of decisions.

Y'all, the rich young ruler spent lots of time in church.

He kept lots of God's laws.

He talked lots of Christian things.

But in the final analysis,

he walked away sad,

because his riches were worth more to him

than relationship with God.

There's a clear warning here,

a painful warning,

of valuing anything above God.

If you're just tracking God,

chapter 4, verse 1,

Behold, the day is coming,

burning like an oven,

when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble.

The day that is coming shall set them ablaze,

says the Lord of hosts,

so that it will leave neither branch nor root.

That day of accounting is coming,

God says.

And God would have you understand,

in no uncertain terms,

that eternity must factor into your cost-benefit analysis.

A relationship with him is the only thing that counts in the end.

But I hang out with Christians.

No.

But I go to church pretty regularly.

No.

But do you know and love and trust Jesus alone?

He's warning you to run back to him

and know him personally today.

Please listen to this warning.

Friends, listen to me.

If life is really hard,

or if you don't know God very well,

it's really hard to take this seriously.

It's actually quite easy to think,

you know, a lot of money

is better than a little bit of God.

And in fact,

a lot of comfort is better than a lot of God.

Or, you know what?

If I'm honest,

even a little pleasure

is better than a lot of God.

Elizabeth Elliot's husband, Jim,

used to say,

he is no fool

who gives what he cannot keep

to gain what he cannot lose.

Elizabeth believed that so deeply

that even after her husband

was speared and killed

by a tribe

that he was seeking to reach

with the good news of Jesus,

instead of safely returning home,

which seemed to make a lot of sense,

she actually pressed in further

and stayed with this tribe.

Oh, yeah, sorry.

She and her toddler daughter

that she kept with her

for multiple years,

living among,

sharing the good news of Jesus

with people,

some of whom had killed her husband,

because God is worth it.

She wrote this,

God is God.

Because he is God,

he is worthy of my trust and obedience.

I will find rest nowhere

but in his holy will

that is unspeakably beyond

my largest notions

of what he is up to.

I have one desire now,

to live a life of reckless abandon

for the Lord,

putting all my energy

and strength into it.

The only cost-benefit analysis

I hear going on here

is valuing God's great glory

above even my own life.

That's the second response

to God's call to repentance.

Not tracking God

for what he's doing for me

but rather treasuring God

for who he is in himself.

That's what happens in verse 16.

Verse 16.

Then those who feared the Lord

spoke with one another.

The Lord paid attention

and heard them

and a book of remembrance

was written before him

of those who feared the Lord

and esteemed his name.

This remnant of God's people,

this small group of them,

fears him,

esteems, values his name.

In other words,

when asked,

is God worth it,

they respond,

absolutely.

They don't have to run

a cost-benefit analysis

of life's circumstances

because they have gotten to know

and experience God himself

and in so doing,

realize there is nothing

of greater value.

And so there's this unique picture here.

I love it.

These people gathering

to speak with one another,

right?

Apparently,

about that very reality,

how much they treasured God.

Likely,

they needed to remind each other

of that.

Likely,

they needed to encourage each other

to remain faithful.

Likely,

they needed to share stories

of his faithful care for them.

I think one of them said,

you know what?

A little of God

is better than a lot

of anything else.

Let's get to know him

and trust him more together.

Can you say that?

Could you honestly say that

to yourself

or to someone else?

You know what?

A little bit of God

is better than a lot of money

or comfort

or pleasure

or fame

or peace

or a lot

of God

is better

than a lot

of anything else

because I know him.

Just him.

Remember,

the difference with this group

is not their perfection.

These aren't all the people

who kept a straight line

their whole lives.

It's actually

their repentance.

They too have struggled.

They too have wandered.

But they hear God's call

and they run home to him.

And that gospel community

that they share

urges them towards it.

Our newest members

stood up here

and made a public statement

of the value of God

this morning.

Praise the Lord.

But usually,

the picture is

of smaller groups

sharing.

Of connect community

discussion.

Where the commitment

to God

and to each other

is more tangible

and personal.

How are we reminding

each other daily

of God's value

in a world

where other things

have higher price tags,

right?

How are we doing

that together?

Since the earliest days

of the church,

martyrs would remind

each other

of this truth.

In many different ways.

Some,

there are stories

even of sharing it together

in prison

the night

before they died together.

That still happens

in other places

today.

I love the story

from the 1600s

in Scotland

of two Margarets.

Margaret Wilson

was 18.

Margaret McLaughlin

was 70.

The younger

18-year-old

Margaret

was arrested

while visiting

her much older

widowed friend.

As faithful

covenanters,

neither of them

would acknowledge

the king

as head of the church

but only

Jesus Christ.

And so the two friends

were held in prison

with others.

They were convicted

at trial

and the two of them

sentenced

to drown.

All the while

they encouraged

each other

to cling

to Christ.

There's a poetic

telling of the morning

they were led out

to be drowned

in the raging sea

off the coast.

It reads

this way

of the two women.

Long had they loved

as Christians love

those two

so soon to die

and each the other

greeted first

with weeping

silently.

The matron

wept

that that young life

so timelessly

must cease.

The maiden

that that honored

head

must not go down

in peace.

But soon

oh soon

it passed away

the coward

thought and base

and each looked

humbly

thankfully

into the other's face.

Mother

he rules

the awful sea

with all

its waters

wild.

The many waters

are his voice

of love

to thee

my child.

They spoke

to each other

for the last

time on earth

though certainly

not the first time

these sisters

had shared it

together

of God's

love

for them.

A God

whose love

even when

hard

and costly

was strong

and good

and would

bring them

home.

Do we talk

to each other

like that?

Not in

poetry.

I mean

do we talk

to each other

about how much

God is worth it?

Who reminds you

when life is hard?

To whom

are you whispering

through tears

God is worth it?

When we talk

to each other

like that

we're told

God pays attention

he hears

and he remembers

those who

esteem

his name

who value

him

more than

anything else

even

life

itself.

In fact

he promises

a different

outcome

doesn't he

than the outcome

for those

who do not

repent

for those

who do

repent

he remembers

them

in his

book

never

forgets

their names

he sends

Elijah

John

the Baptist

to restore

relationships

especially

in their

families

the picture

there in

verse 6

of chapter 4

of multiple

generations

faithfully committed

to the covenant

God

old

and young

father

and son

grandmother

and granddaughter

being restored

because they're

united

in their love

for God

following

Yahweh

no matter

what

18 and

70

we're in

this

together

and then

ultimately

for these

who are

repenting

of course

there's

Jesus

himself

the fullest

manifestation

of the

son of

righteousness

rising with

healing

verse 2

providing

freedom

and justice

for those

who serve

God

and delight

in him

and in

his law

and run

after him

like young

calves

running out

of the stall

with joy

and freedom

to run

after our

God

and follow

in his

ways

is

God

enough

sometimes

I want

500 other

people to

love me

too

sometimes

I want

the money

so I can

rest in

myself

too

is

God

enough

friends

to be

in relationship

with him

is always

worth it

to experience

his grace

time and

time again

is glorious

to know

his faithful

love

protects

his beloved

people

even in

their deaths

and some

of you

have watched

that reality

with those

that you

love

see that's

the one

God

worth

treasuring

we've

learned a lot

about him

in the

prophets

for sure

his great

majesty

his creative

power

his unchanging

faithfulness

his steadfast

love

his overwhelming

generosity

last week

his constant

pursuit

of his

people

isn't it

amazing

how he

continues

to call

us

and as we

begin truly

to know

him

we see

how

worth

it

he is

how

committed

that he

actually

is to

us

listen

Southwood

if we

together

decide

to repent

to talk

with each

other

about the

value

of God

beyond

anything

else

to hold

each other

to lives

that demonstrate

the great

worth of

Jesus

in everything

that we

do

then listen

to what

he says

to us

verse

17

they shall

be mine

says the

Lord of

hosts

in the

day when

I make

up my

treasured

possession

I will

spare them

as a man

spares his

son

who serves

him

you're

mine

right

my

treasured

possession

God says

these people

treasured him

and he

treasures

them

he calls

again

because he

is utterly

committed

to our

relationship

with him

he absolutely

insists on

our knowing

and experiencing

the blessings

of repentance

that come

the revival

that he brings

in our hearts

and in our

community

when we actually

come back

to him

there's personal

joy right

there's

there's

corporate

restoration

there's

eternal

celebration

that happens

with our

father

and this

is what

he's calling

us to

when our

loving

heavenly

father

calls us

to repent

he's

he's not

just

calling us

to

to quit

some big

sins

and to try

to live

a little

bit better

he's calling

us back

to himself

he wants

to know you

like that

he wants

you to know

him

and he

wants us

together

as we

do

to be

able to

live

with him

and for

his glory

he wants

to do

that here

in new

ways

one illustration

of this

incredible

love of our

God

and then

we'll close

you may

have heard

Ruth Graham

tell her

story

at the

funeral of

her father

Billy Graham

last year

I've shared

it with you

once before

newly

divorced

and

devastated

she found

herself

in another

relationship

that her

parents

and her

children

told her

was not

good for

her

but in

her words

now

being

stubborn

willful

and sinful

I married

this man

on New

Year's

Eve

and within

24 hours

I knew

I'd made

a terrible

mistake

after five

weeks I

fled

I was afraid

of him

what was

I going

to do

I wanted

to talk

to my

mother

and my

father

it was

a two

day

drive

questions

swirled

in my

mind

what was

I going

to say

to daddy

what was

I going

to say

to mother

what was

I going

to say

to my

children

I'd been

such a

failure

what were

they going

to say

to me

we're tired

of fooling

with you

we told

you not

to do

it

you've

embarrassed

us

you don't

want to

embarrass

your father

but you

really don't

want to

embarrass

Billy Graham

and as I

rounded the

last bend

in my

father's

driveway

my father

was standing

there

waiting for

me

as I got

out of the

car he

wrapped his

arms around

me

he said

welcome

home

there was

no shame

there was

no blame

there was

no condemnation

there was

just

unconditional

love

and you

know my

father was

not God

but he

showed me

what God

was like

that day

when we

come to

God with

our sin

our

brokenness

our

failure

our

pain

and our

hurt

God

says

welcome

home

as often

as our

heavenly

father

issues

the call

to repent

he throws

open the

doors

and welcomes

us

home

return to

me

and I

will return

to you

he says

he treasures

you

Southwood

you are

his

his

treasured

possession

won't you

join me

in continuing

to run

back home

to him

together

let's

pray

father

thank you

that the

one who

exposes

our

hearts

who can

cause so

much pain

as our

idols are

uprooted

and torn

away

is so

tender

loving

and merciful

and so

longs for

us to

come home

to his

arms

father I

pray we

trip over

each other

on the way

back to you

that we

would drag

each other

towards you

that you

bring new

life

in our

hearts

that even

in this

next season

as you

move and

break into

our world

because of

your love

we would

see you

clearly

and know

what a

treasure you

are

and how much

you treasure

us

work in us

Jesus

for your

glory

we ask

in your

name

amen

for more

information

visit us

online

at

southwood.org