Love Wholeheartedly - Malachi 1

A few years ago one entire lesson was dedicated to the study of the word ‘love’ as used in the Bible, but with an emphasis on the God love that we know as agape. I can remember that after several days of research and comparison of word meanings, I came to the conclusion that the word LOVE is the most important word in the Holy Scriptures. I can understand that this statement may cause you to shrink back a bit with the feeling that we should wait a moment before making this bold proclamation—and I readily admit that there are other words that may be equal…but still contend that none are greater or more important than the word LOVE. Here are a few thoughts for your consideration. The Bible tells us that “God is love” therefore when you speak of God the Father you are talking about true love…no more and no less. The Bible tells us that “God so loved the world that he gave his only Begotten Son to die in our place making an act of love the only gate to heaven.” When Christ was questioned about the most important of all the commandments he gave an answer something like this: “The Bible teaches you that you are to have no other God above Jehovah God [that is that you should love…or worship…no other God above Him—But I tell you that you are also suppose to LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR as you do yourself. There is an implication here that this love constitutes the keeping of the greatest of all commandments. Our lessons during the past few weeks have come from the book of Zechariah. Today we have a new author, his name is Malachi and our last three lessons in this quarter will be based upon his writings. As a teacher, I can tell you with assurance that when you study literature, history, or any of the subjects contained in the study of the humanities, it is imperative that you become acquainted with the author. Therefore we will stop here and introduce you to Malachi, the last of the Minor Prophets. In fast simple statements I will bring you up to date on the time, place, and reason for the words we have from Malachi. God’s people in Jerusalem and Judea were disobedient, and God allowed the Babylonians to capture them and destroy their land. Seventy years later the first exiles returned to Jerusalem in 538 BC, as God had promised they would. The temple reconstruction started in 536, Haggai and Zachariah became prophets in 520, and the temple was completed in 516. Ezra arrived in Jerusalem in 458, Nehemiah came in 445, and Malachi [our author for today] became a prophet in this area in 430 BC. Why?He was the last of the Minor Prophets to confront the people with their sins and to attempt to restore their relationship with God. Malachi is the author of this work, however he was a friend of and co-worker with both Ezra and Nehemiah. He wrote directly to the Jews in Jerusalem but just like most of the scriptures it applies to God’s people in every nation and in all time. He started his writings when he became a prophet in 430 BC. This may sound repetitious but it is not. We have been studying prophets that rebuked the people for their failure to move in and immediately rebuild their city and the temple. Now Malachi comes along after the building is complete and rebukes the people for their neglect of care for the temple and for their false and profane worship. He points out that our lives are a composite of the things we do that either heals or destroys; things we say that either builds relationships or tare good ones down. Like a vase that can be shattered by the brush of a careless elbow; a toy breaks when pushed beyond its limits by careless youth; milk spills when handled with speed but not accuracy. There is a loss in each of these circumstances that can not be completely regained. However, there is a loss that is far more costly when we suffer the loss of personal relationships. These costly relationships can come as a result of unfaithfulness in a family; untruths, hateful words, and prideful demands and acquisitions made by neighbors and friends. It is always much more difficult to heal these wounds of personal discord than one can imagine. There are two distinct roles of equal importance—there must be one who is willing to admit wrong and seek forgiveness—and then there must be one that is willing to forget the past and truly forgive the adversary. In some circumstances each one is partially to blame and partially innocent, making the final settlement even more precarious. Broken vows and frayed fellowship with our brethren is a problem; however—the most tragic of all broken relationships is the ones with God. It is in the study of broken relationships that we find that there is no way to be successful in the rebuilding of the broken spirit without the presence of agape love. There are four major topics that are covered in this book. The first is God’s love. He loves his people even when they ignore or disobey him. He bestows blessings on those who are faithful and his love never ends. The second has to do with his condemnation of the priest. He says they were unworthy and their service was insincere; they were lazy, arrogant, and insensitive. The prophet was critical of the people whom he said had not learned the lesson of the exile, nor listened to the prophets of God. The practice of divorce and the marrying of younger pagan women was his greatest complaint. The fourth theme is that the Lord is coming. No doubt, the Messiah is coming soon! Verse one in chapter one tells us this is an oracle of God, through Malachi and his fist message reveals our lesson topic for today…verse two says—“I have loved you,” says the lord. You must understand that an oracle is simply a ‘message’ of or from God. Now it has been about one hundred years since the temple was finished and the people are not responding as God had hoped they would. They were losing their enthusiasm for worship. The indications are that the former prophets had told them that their new Messiah would soon come and reign over them. They visualized this new ruler as a king like David had been—and a century had gone by without the fulfillment of these prophecies. They were now committing many of the same sins that had brought the downfall of Jerusalem in 586 BC. Malachi confronted the hypocrites with their sin by writing a dialogue between a righteous God and his hardened people. God’s first message came through the prophet to the Jews when He said—“I have loved you.” I do not believe that this message was directed to ONLY THE JEWS—but this is a universal message of hope and assurance to all people in all times. God is disheartened and angry with those of us today that sin against him when we know that we should not sin. We have his word that tells us that no sin goes without condemnation. There will always be a pay day some day. The nation had not prospered, and government rulers had proven to be unfaithful and the people had decided that God did not love them. This is never so—he loved them and he loves us regardless of our circumstances…however, his eternal rewards go only to those who are faithful to him. I have told you many times that I really believe that OBEDIENCE is just as important as REPENTANCE. In fact, obedience is the result of true repentance and therefore we know that repentance did not take place in our lives if we continue to disobey God. God does not hate people…he hates their sin, therefore in verses 2 to 5, the term “Esau I have hated” does not refer to Esau’s final destiny. It simply means that God chose Jacob [not Esau] to be the one through whom the Messiah [Jesus Christ] would come to rule over his people… [See Romans 9: 10-13]. Esau was given the opportunity to father the nation EDOM but he led his nation to become one of Israel’s greatest enemies. This story is found in Genesis 25: 19-26—God chose Jacob and his descendents and loved them in a special way—even so, thy too rejected God. In verse six, God charged the priests with failing to honor him…even showing contempt for his name…they were failing to be good spiritual examples for the people to follow. The temple was rebuilt in 516 BC and a type of worship was being conducted but the priests were not following the laws regarding sacrifice. Ezra, a godly priest, conducted a revival in about 458, but by the time of Malachi, the leaders had fallen away and led the people back into some of the original sins. There was no heart felt practice of worship, but simply a burdensome job for the priest. Read verses 6 to 8 and you will see that God’s complaint was that the priests were allowing the imperfect animals to be sacrificed. God demands the best…our best…God is not honored when we give anything less than our best. This demand is carried forward to NT times, in Romans 12: 1, Paul says that our very lives must be offered as a LIVING SACRIFICE to God. If we are giving God only our ‘left over’ money, time, and energy then we are committing the same sins that the Jews were when they did not bring anything valuable to God…but only their lame, sick, or weak animals. What they gave reflected their attitude toward God. Are the gifts you make a true reflection of your attitude toward God. Do they prove that you LOVE GOD WHOLEHARTEDLY? Verses 10 through 14 are self explanatory and easy to understand. God wants our best! And anything less is not acceptable to God. Proclaiming to be a Christian places you and me in the same position of the priest in that day. We are his examples for others to follow. If we casually accept sin and this causes others to fail, God will not be pleased and we will suffer the consequences. God says, “My name will be great among the nations” and this is the theme throughout the OT. God chose his people to bless the nations and save the people of the world. He made a covenant with them to this effect. When it was obvious that this plan had failed…our new covenant came through the birth, life and death of Jesus Christ and now it is the plan through which the world can be saved. God now wants to save and bless the world through those who will believe and trust him—both Jews and Gentiles. We are now his chosen people and our pure offering to the Lord is our new life in Christ. If your offering is a ‘sinful life’ it is as displeasing to God as a crippled or sick calf, sheep or dove was in Malachi’s day. Far too many think that the Christian walk should be easy and without problems or sorrow. They think that following God is supposed to make life easy and more comfortable. The truth is often just the opposite. Think about the life of Job. Testing our WHOLEHEARTED LOVE FOR HIM—he may allow us to face poverty and endure suffering but if our love for him and his love for us is more important than anything else—the things we give up are of little importance when compared to our gain…ETERNAL LIFE WITH GOD. FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS SON TO DIE THE CRUELEST OF ALL DEATHS ON THAT OLD RUGGED CROSS TO PAY OUR SIN DEBT THAT WE COULD HAVE NEVER PAID. BY HIS GRACE THROUGH OUR FAITH IN HIM, WE ARE NOW SAVED. Forever!!