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| > Sermon Archive > Sermons by Author > Rev. Sjirk Bajema > The Lord Re-Claims His Purpose! | Previous Next Print |
| Order Of Worship (Liturgy) |
MALACHI 3:13-18
(Reading: Matthew 23:1-39; Philippians 4:2-9)
The Lord Re-Claims His Purpose!
Have you ever heard anyone claim that they got nothing out of church? ‘Oh,’ they say, ‘I tried religion but it didn’t do anything for me!’
Now, forget all about whatever attitude they had when they went to a worship service, they are set on writing off the whole spiritual thing! The last thing they will admit is how negatively they entered into that service. They won’t acknowledge that they were not open to God on that occasion. Rather, they say that God owes them something. ‘He didn’t deliver, did he?’
And so they join a long line of lukewarm worshippers that go back thousands of years. In fact, here in Malachi’s third chapter we have this same dissatisfaction. They are letting God have it!
It is they whom we meet first in the text before us this afternoon, in the verses 13 till 15. In the words of a first aspect to the passage before us, THERE ARE THOSE FULL OF THEMSELVES.
We come here to the last in the series of questions and answers between the Lord and the people. And it is a questioning of God which really shows how worldly they are. They are subsumed with what they think they should be having right here and now!
Verse 13 tells us of this with what the Lord moves on to say of them. “‘You have said harsh things against me,’ says the LORD.” And the word for “harsh” is an unyielding and insistent arrogance. They have been defiant against God.
This already appeared in the attitude of the priests back in verse 6 of chapter 1. In verse 13 there it describes their sniffing contemptuously at his requirements. And this picks up what the Lord said to these people back in verse 17 of chapter 2. There he spoke of how they wearied him with their words.
But now he opens them up even more – he digs in deep and exposes them. You see, they have got together and have openly questioned the whole usefulness of serving God. They who never put anything actually into the worship of God had made themselves a judge over against him.
Oh, they would say they have done their bit. They have followed the requirements for temple worship. Nobody could say they didn’t do any of those things.
But it was never about God! They were only it for what they could get out of it themselves. And when it was clear the Lord was not blessing them they failed altogether to get that message!
Of course that was bound to happen. How could there be anything possibly wrong with them! No wonder their spiritual descendents were the Pharisees. They certainly claimed to have it altogether on the outside. They could make such a fuss about the tiniest details – details which went far beyond the original details in the Law. But inside how empty they are!
Jesus in Matthew 23 really shows how false and heartless they were. Whether it was the picture of a cup only cleansed on the outside or the whitewashed tombs beautiful on the outside but filled with dead men’s bones and everything unclean inside. They weren’t concerned with what they should have been concerned with.
Instead, in their self-righteousness they had come to that point of questioning God. The Lord has just challenged them to test him and so see that he would bless them. In verse 10 of this chapter he has laid that down before them. But these sceptics aren’t having any of that. Why should they do the Lord’s test when they’ve already got the answer!
This is what they again show in their response in verse 13. ‘What have we said against you?’ they respond to the LORD.
Has it really come down to this? Well we know it has, because we have heard in Malachi a number of times before. They have ears which are deaf to the Lord. Even though the prophet has declared that the nations will call them blessed if they test the Lord and do what he says, they just jeer him all the more! There’s no way they’re doing any listening here!
How far these words would be from the lips of the most suffering of God’s saints! Do you think Asaph in his troubles or Job when hit the worst would have uttered anything like this? Those believing ones, like so many other genuine saints, would never have murmured with each other like this. But that’s what these self-righteous ones do. Instead of bringing it to the Lord in prayer, they turned their doubts into beliefs. And as beliefs they just had to have others believe them too!
In verse 14 they make three bold statements. The first of these says, ‘It is futile to serve God.’ The word for ‘futile’ is the same word in the third commandment when it speaks of not taking the name of the Lord ‘in vain.’ There is a distinct emptiness here. So all so-called service to God has nothing at all in it – it has no value or worth, whether material or moral.
The second statement alleges that all that observing of God’s commandments brought no gain. It was all for nothing. They got no cut out of this.
You can see where it’s coming from, can’t you? It’s no different to what people say today that the Christian faith is just pie-in-the-sky-when-you-die kind of stuff! They jeer at you that it’s all pious nonsense – no earthly use at all!
The word for “gain” here relates to a cut or percentage. Thus in the same way a gangster would demand his ‘cut’ for his evil work so we have here. This was the same concept as shown by Joseph’s brothers when they sold him as a slave. In Genesis 37:26 Judah speaks about the better profit for them if they sell off Joseph rather than killing him.
Their third and last statement in verse 14 says that they gained nothing from “going about like mourners before the LORD Almighty.” They allege they had done their bit to show grief and sorrow for their sin and that of the nation.
But it was all just an act! They weren’t truly sorry at all. Like those of Isaiah’s day they claim to have fasted and humbled themselves. But as the prophet says there in Isaiah 58 all they showed was how they did what pleased them and so they selfishly quarrelled with each other.
In case, though, we think we have reached the lowest of the low with these people, verse 15 really bottoms it out. When it starts by saying “But now…” the sceptics are moving to make their most horrifying implication. They now reverse the affirmation of God in verse 10. ‘There’s no blessing for the righteous,’ they say, ‘because it’s actually all going to the unrighteous!’ ‘The arrogant are blessed,’ they shout! ‘They are the ones openly sinning and God’s doing nothing about it!’ ‘So where’s God in all this?’ they say. ‘What about the promise to Abraham now?’ ‘Who is blessed and who prospers and who escapes after challenging God?’
The “we” here is emphatic. They have given up on the Lord. And so they are definitely those who are full of themselves.
But the Lord has not worked out his purpose through his people to come to this point. Rather, those people make the contrast even clearer for those the Lord has chosen and set apart as his own. And so it is Malachi, in the verses 16 till 18, shows us that HERE ARE THOSE EMPTY BEFORE GOD.
Verse 16 also introduces a group who are speaking to each other. But what they’re saying to each other is something quite different. You see, they are those “who feared the LORD…”
And so what they talk to each other about is the respect they have for him. That means the person and the work of the living God is what matters to them.
What a change happens here! A mirror is suddenly held up to the priests and people of Israel. By describing what these believers have done, the prophet tells those others what they should have done.
The change is noticeable also because of the jump from the second person to the third person. From this constantly addressing the people as “you’ he now speaks of “they”.
Now, the personal pronoun “you” is commonly used in an accusative way. We hear that in an argument people have with each other. “You did this…” and “you did that…” they will shout at each other.
But here it is about those the Lord isn’t angry with. They are those he is said to listen to and to hear in verse 16.
And just in case we didn’t hear it the first time, a second time in verse 16 it tells us that they fear the Lord. It’s this “fear of the Lord” which is an expression for the holy life that comes out of that reverent respect for the Lord. So this is about turning to the Lord in faith – the faith which gives true meaning and enjoyment to life.
It’s these believers about whom it is also said that they honour the Lord’s name. Other versions translate it as “esteem”. It tells us that this remnant placed their highest worth on the character and being of the Lord. This is what they thought about – this is what was central in their lives. It’s no wonder Paul uses the same word in Philippians 4:8 when he exhorts us to think about godly qualities.
But is this where our treasure is also? In the words of Jesus in Matthew 6:21 do you see the Lord as the One who matters most of all?
You know, so much loved is this group by the Lord it says further in verse 16 that “a scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning them.”
Scrolls appear a number of times in Scripture. In Esther 6 we read of the Persian King’s Chronicles, which recorded good deeds that were done.
But what Malachi refers to here is more closely linked to what we read earlier in Scripture in Exodus 32. There in verse 32 Moses refers to his name being in the book God has written.
It is this book Psalm 69 speaks of in verse 28 as “the book of life.” It is this same book Daniel 12:1 describes as it speaks of those belonging to the Lord. Malachi calls this ‘book of life’ “a scroll of remembrance.” For his thought is that not one believer will be forgotten by God.
The precious place these believers have with the Lord is further confirmed in verse 17. “They will be mine,” says the LORD Almighty – that’s very emphatic! And to doubly emphasise this, the Lord also describes them as his treasured possession.
Now, doesn’t that bring back a bit of history? Again going back to Exodus we have the Hebrews called in chapter 4:22 the “firstborn son.” And in Exodus 19:5 they are called the Lord’s “treasured possession.”
These verses, and others, focus us on the original election of Israel. This is the purpose of God clearly reclaimed as he yet keeps a remnant for himself. This was far from anything any of those believers had done – indeed, they in fearing the Lord show how much they depend on him for everything!
The final part of verse 17 seals this. In the day of the final judgment these ones will be remembered and cared for. And how much more loving could that be than the picture here of the man sparing his own son?
The punishment that falls on the ungodly won’t come upon them. And how much won’t everyone see then the difference between the righteous and the wicked?
And so we come to verse 18. The time is coming when those who are so full of themselves will be exposed for the emptiness they have within. All their taunts against God were only ever words. And much as the wicked tried to turn Israel from God, it is they who are turned away now for all eternity!
The word “again” in verse 18 once again draws us back to Exodus. And this time it draws us back to the judgment God made between those who were his and those who were not. Who could forget the ten plagues described in chapters 7 till 12. How much didn’t God make a distinction between the righteous and the wicked in those acts? There in Exodus 11:7 Moses said of the last plague – the death of the firstborn who were not his – “Then you will know that the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.”
How much aren’t we drawn back here to the beginning of this prophecy? There in chapter 1 verse 2 the Lord declares his love for his people. And now this love comes through.
But, dear friend, does this include you? Are you those who join with the Lord’s own and worship and serve him alone? Has the Lord saved you too, because he didn’t spare his only begotten Son?
Did you hear that? Verse 17 speaks of the compassion a man has in sparing the son who serves him. But what about the compassion God has in not sparing his own Son who has perfectly served him?
John 3 verse 16 says it all. The Lord Jesus Christ says there, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in his shall not perish but have eternal life.” And then he goes on in verses 17 and 18 there, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
Those who were the Lord’s true people in Malachi’s time looked forward to that coming Messiah. They believed the promise of his coming.
But do you believe he has come? And do you believe he has won?
This will determine whether you are serving God or not serving him. Don’t be found on the wrong side! Make sure your name is his book!
Amen.
PRAYER:
Let’s pray…
O Lord God, may we indeed be found as those who are yours. Stir us by your Spirit to be true God-fearers – those who love you and your Word. Then we will know your salvation and the ultimate difference that makes.
Thank you for the Son of your love. Thank you that he – the true Messiah – has come and he has won over sin and death and the devil. Now we may live victoriously in him.
In his saving and ruling name – the name of the Lord Jesus Christ – we pray, Amen.
* As a matter of courtesy please advise Rev. Sjirk Bajema, if you plan to use this sermon in a worship service. Thank-you.
(c) Copyright 2023, Rev. Sjirk Bajema
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