Malachi: For Me Or Against Me? Series

A. When I was a boy our preacher called it, “Fence Straddling.”

1. That’s when someone tries to LIVE for both Jesus Christ and the World.

a. We see this all around us.

ILLUSTRATION:

Have you ever had a co-worker who CLAIMED to be a Christian, but you couldn’t tell it by the way she acts and talks at work? Or maybe you know someone who WEARS a CROSS around his neck, but whose life is far from what Jesus meant when He said, “Take up your cross and follow me.”

b. We see it in Social Media outlets.

ILLUSTRATION:

People we know personally, and maybe are even members of the same church, who’s social media presence on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram reveals a side or even a lifestyle that simply do not correspond with the WAY that the Bible says that Christians are to LIVE.

c. I know there have been times in my PAST when I’ve been guilty of “STRADDLING the FENCE.”

2. Jesus said, “He who is not with me is against me…”- Luke 11:23.

a. Then He illustrated with a parable “of how one was cleansed of EVIL from his life, but instead of pursuing a life of RIGHTEOUSNESS he allowed the influence of EVIL to return and became worse off than he was before he was CLEANSED”- Luke 11:24-26.

b. How many people do you know who are no longer LIVING for God, but they still claim to be a Christian and a follower of Christ?

B. The prophet Malachi is addressing people just like that . . . a people who claimed to SERVE God, but whose

lives told a different story.

1. Malachi was written in 444-432 BC.

COMMENT:

If you want to know more about the background of Malachi’s prophecy, you will want to read Ezra 7-10 and the book of Nehemiah. By this time the reconstruction of the TEMPLE had been

completed for over 70 years.

Ezra had returned with a second group of EXILES from Babylon in 458 BC, and his work was to RESTORE the knowledge and respect for the Law of God. Nehemiah was permitted to return to

Jerusalem to rebuild the WALLS of the CITY in 444 BC.

During the period between the completion of the TEMPLE and the building of the WALLS , the children of Israel, once again, had become LAX in their SERVICE to God and OBEDIENCE to His Word.

2. This is when Malachi comes into the picture.

a. Malachi’s name means: MY MESSENGER.

b. Throughout this book Malachi used the phrase, “Says the Lord Almighty,” multiple times.

c. His message was to let the people know emphatically that God loved them, but God wanted to know if they were “For Him or Against Him?”

MESSAGE:

I. GOD LOVES YOU- 1:1-5

A. God speaking through the prophet said, “I have loved you…”- v. 2a.

1. Doesn’t it make you FEEL GOOD when someone says, “I love you”?

ILLUSTRATION:

You go to WORK and find a note in your pocket from your wife or husband that simply says,

“I just want you to know that I love you.”

Or you hear from your son or daughter, “Dad (Mom), I know I don’t tell you enough, but

I really do love you.”

When my grandchildren say “I love you, Papa.” . . . that just makes my day.

2. But this is God saying, “I HAVE LOVED YOU…”

a. The phrase used here is perfect tense in Hebrew meaning, “I have loved you, and I still do.”

b. With all that He has been through with the Israelites—their DISOBEDIENCE, their

REBELLION, their DISRESPECT and LACK of ALLEGIANCE—God still LOVES them.

COMMENT:

There is nothing that we can THINK, DO, or SAY that will make God LOVE us any LESS or any MORE than He does right now. This doesn’t mean that God LOVES our ACTIONS. We

are going to see in a moment that He “HATED the EVIL ACTIONS of the nation of Edom.”

But His LOVE for you and me is UNRELENTING. That’s why He wants what is BEST for us. As Max Lucado used to say, “It’s true that God loves you the way you are. But He loves you too much to let you stay that way.” That’s why God has given us His WORD to show us how we can get the MOST out of this life with the LEAST amount of struggle and heartache.

B. But as is the case with people today, including many Christians, the Israelites asked, “How have you

loved us?”- v. 2b. . . . . “You say you loved us, but we haven’t seen it!”

1. REALLY!!!

a. God has shown them OVER and OVER how He has LOVED them.

b. God said, “I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated”- vv. 2-3