The Fear Of The Lord Series

Too many people take God casually. Too few people take God seriously in our day.

Too many people’s passion for Christ is like the helium balloons from my son’s graduation party. A few balloons had slipped up to the second floor of our home, some twenty feet up in the air. If you wonder how they would ever get these balloons down, you quickly realize they will come down in a few days. As they lose their helium inside them, the balloons naturally fall back to the ground. The truth is that many of us lose our passion for Christ just that quickly.

Too many people take God casually. Too few people take God seriously in our day.

I invite you to find the book of Malachi 3 with me if you will [page 954 in your pew Bibles]. Malachi is a book that seeks to get you to take God seriously.

Today’s Scripture

“Your words have been hard against me, says the Lord. But you say, ‘How have we spoken against you?’ 14 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? 15 And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape.’”

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. 17 “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. 18 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” (Malachi 3:13-18).

Jesus had two groups surrounding Him when He walked on the earth: fans and followers. Now, not everyone religious is a follower of Jesus. Pastor Kyle Idleman, in his book, Not a Fan, offers this chilling warning: “The biggest threat to the church today is fans who call themselves Christians but aren’t actually interested in following Christ. They want to be close enough to Jesus to get all the benefits, but not so close that it requires anything from them.” Some people are simply fans of Jesus. You know what a fan is, right? It’s the woman who is a massive fan of some actress who is the latest Hollywood sensation. And this woman not only knows every movie this actress has been in, she knows what high school this actress went to. She knows the birthday of this actress, and she knows the name of her first boyfriend. She even knows what this actress’s real hair color is, something the actress herself is no longer certain of. She knows everything there is to know. But she doesn’t know the actress. She’s a huge fan, but she’s just a fan. She is simply an enthusiastic admirer.

Now, there are a lot of people who are enthusiastic admirers of Jesus, their fans. Again, Pastor Kyle warns: “The biggest threat to the church today is fans who call themselves Christians but aren’t actually interested in following Christ. They want to be close enough to Jesus to get all the benefits, but not so close that it requires anything from them.”

Again, too many people take God casually. Too few people take God seriously in our day.

I want to ask you a personal question this morning: are you a fan of Jesus or a follower of Jesus?

1. Serving God is Useless

“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. 15 And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape.’” (Malachi 3:14-15).

Verses 14-15 are what people were saying to one another. People were saying, “It’s useless to serve the Lord.” “Don’t be a religious fanatic. It doesn’t pay to go all the way with God.” It was as if these people had been to church a few times but then took a long, hard look at the world “as it really was” and concluded: “The arrogant [are]blessed” and “Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape.” Some wondered if God took sides with the wicked and the evil.

1.1 It’s No Good to Serve God

This is not the first time we’ve heard something like this from the little book of Malachi: “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 the LORD, and he delights in them.’ Or by asking, ‘Where is the God of justice’” (Malachi 2:17)?