They were good times! Israel had just rebuilt their temple from scratch after it had lay in ruins for 70 years. Their country had been over-run by the Babylonians who destroyed their cities and took most of the population captive in Babylon. But finally a new empire arose, the Persians, who freed the Israelites and sponsored their project to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. So, thousands returned and resettled in their homeland. It was a wonderful time to be able to start over.
But something else happened after that fresh start. What was that? COMPROMISE. They began to compromise the standards that God had given them. They began to start to live like the world around them and what was normal in the world. Their love for God and commitment to Him waned and their love for the world strengthened.
Compromise is a very comfortable word. It’s not evil. In order to settle a dispute we will often have to compromise. You give a little and I give a little and we meet in between. And in many cases we must compromise – we do it all the time in marriage, in church, in business. We come to a consensus which demands some give and take.
But concerning the standards of the Word of God, there is never to be any compromise. We simply do not give and take concerning the 10 commandments. When we see the moral law of God, there is no compromise because it is the truth.
The people of Israel began to compromise and the book of Malachi writes about this. They began to give honor to man more than God. They began to marry non-believers. They started giving God less than their best. They cut down on their tithing – on stewardship. Many were unfaithful to their spouses.
Now, these issues aren’t extreme – it’s not that they were worshiping other gods. But they were simply compromising on God’s standards. And therefore he sent the prophet Malachi to confront them with the truth and to encourage them to return to where they started.
We’re going to spend several weeks looking into this book of Malachi. Not because I believe that we’ve compromised or anything of the sort. Maybe some have, maybe some haven’t. But what I find amazing is that the issues that they struggled with way back in 350 B.C. are the same issues that we deal with in 2012. People are the same and the struggles are the same. And the ministry of Malachi is to bring God’s people back to the standard of God’s Word. We too always need to be mindful of turning our standards back to the Scripture.
Malachi begins his message with these words: Malachi 1:1-2a The oracle of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi. 2 "I have loved you," says the LORD. But you say, "How have you loved us?"
“I have loved you” says the Lord! The beginning of this little book is God’s love! What an appropriate place to start because God’s love is very often at the heart of any compromise with the world. We often misunderstand what God’s love is and what it isn’t. What are the truths about God’s love that cannot be compromised or altered?
1. First truth about God’s love: God wants us to know first of all that his love is unconditional and continual.
Yet our normal thinking is that God loves us if we are good and do certain things for him and for others. We naturally think we have to earn God’s love.
Think of the story of the prodigal son from Luke 15. The son takes his inheritance and goes off on his own in the world. It’s as if he’s saying to his father, I wish you were dead so that I could get my inheritance but since you’re not, I’ll take it now. The son leaves after this disgraceful treatment of his father. Does his father still love him? Absolutely! His father loves him when he is at home and he loves him when he has left him and rebelled. His father also loves him when he returns. The love doesn’t change. God’s love is constant toward you.
God loves you the same whether you faithfully attend church and worship the Lord or if you come only twice a year. He loves you if you fail him or if you are faithful. He loves you if you are a good mother, or a poor mother. He loves you if cheat or if you are honest. He loves you if you’re Lutheran or Pentecostal, Catholic or Baptist, Muslim , Buddhist, or Atheist. There is nothing you can do to make God love you more or less than he already does! “I have loved you!”
2. Second truth about God’s love: God’s actions prove His love!
As we return to Malachi, we see an amazing thing: the people don’t believe it! They don’t believe that God loves them at all. They say, “How have you loved us?” What a challenge!
HOW COULD THEY HAVE FORGOTTEN? God had proven his love to them by choosing them as a nation from all the nations on earth. He freed them from slavery in Egypt by miracles. He appeared to them on Mount Sinai. He cleared out the land of Canaan for them. Over and over and over again God provided the victory for his people. But when trouble comes, they forget – very quickly. And so do we.
We ask this all the time: “How have you love me?” “How can you do this to me? How can you allow this to happen? You don’t love me, do you God?” We doubt God’s love because of our health problems. We doubt God’s love because of our enemies who mistreat us. We doubt God’s love because we don’t get what we believe we deserve. We doubt God’s love because of the death of a loved one. We say, “How have you loved me???” You didn’t do ANYTHING for me!! You don’t give me the life I deserve!
And what kind of life do we deserve? We believe that we deserve so much better. That’s why we complain. And yet how many things do we do in our daily life out of selfish motivation? How much time do we waste on meaningless things? How many things do each of us do on a daily basis that we would be ashamed of if it was revealed out in the open?
And we say: “But everyone is doing it. That’s normal behavior!”
And God says: “Yes, this is true. And NO ONE deserves my love.” “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom 3:23)
Again we ask: “How have you loved me?” What is his answer? His answer …. “I gave the most precious thing in my possession for you. I gave up my firstborn Son for you.” I don’t think anyone of us can ever comprehend the great sacrifice God made because of his love.
The Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit – they have been intimately united for eternity. You know how it is to be separated from a loved one. You know how painful it is to lose a mother, a father, a spouse, a dear friend. The pain is not the fact of their death, but the fact of their separation from you – you can’t talk anymore – you can’t hug – you have no contact. That intimacy is gone.
The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are much more intimate in a relationship of love than any relationship you have ever had or ever will have. And when Jesus was hanging on the cross, that intimacy was broken. He said, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me!” It was the most horrific pain in history. The physical suffering of the cross was NOTHING compared to being separated from the Father.
And when we ask: “how have you loved me?” The Lord points to the cross – I gave my very Son out of love for you. 1 John 4:10 “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
The very proof of his love is the cross. He sent his Son to die on the cross for us not because we were good and deserved it. He didn’t send his Son as a reward. But because he loves us even as rebellious, evil, miserable failures. Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Normally we only love someone if they love us back, but God loves us while we are his enemies.
And his greatest passion is to see you return that love.
3. Third truth about God’s love: A God of love does NOT love sin but MUST judge sin.
Let us return to our text. Malachi 1:2b-5 says "Is not Esau Jacob's brother?" declares the LORD. "Yet I have loved Jacob but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert." If Edom says, "We are shattered but we will rebuild the ruins," the LORD of hosts says, "They may build, but I will tear down, and they will be called 'the wicked country,' and 'the people with whom the LORD is angry forever.'" Your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, "Great is the LORD beyond the border of Israel!"
This statement is difficult to understand. How can God hate anyone? 1 John 4:8 says “God is love.” He doesn’t hate those he creates. 1 Timothy 2:4 says that God desires ALL to be saved. And John 3:16 tells us that “God so loved THE WORLD that he have his only begotten Son…”
But in this context we have to first of all remember that this is referring to the choosing of Jacob over Esau just like Jacob chose Rachel over Leah as his most beloved wife. (Gen. 29:31) But God chose to bless Jacob with the covenant promises. Throughout the Old Testament times, God chose to reveal himself through one nation alone – that was the nation of Jacob whose other name was Israel. If anyone wanted to receive the blessing of God, they needed to go through Israel. All other nations were rejected.
God does NOT love sin. In fact, he HATES sin. Jacob is the symbol for the nation of Israel and Esau is the symbol for the nation of Edom. Edom helped the Babylonians defeat Israel and send them into captivity. But now look how God has blessed Israel – he returned them back to Jerusalem.
What about Edom? Will they get what they deserve for persecuting God’s people? Yes! God will show justice. He even calls Edom “the land of wickedness.” They chose sin and therefore God will judge them with desolation.
So what? What does this ancient problem between Israel and Edom have to do with us today? There are two countries today as well. Edom represents not any physical nation but simply the world we live in. You can choose to be citizen of the world. You can live for all the world can give you and all that you can achieve for yourself – reject God’s love. And you will receive the just reward for your life which is judgment. The same words that the Lord said about Edom, he will say about you: the people with whom the LORD is angry forever.
Jacob or Israel represents the Kingdom of Jesus. Jesus said in, John 18:36 “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm."
This is a kingdom ruled today by the Holy Spirit all over the world. Those in this kingdom are blessed with peace, with guidance, with love, and with a future with God.
4. Fourth truth about God’s love: God’s love demands a response.
How do you transfer from the kingdom of wickedness to the Kingdom of the Lord? Renounce your kingdom. Renounce your present life and the direction it is going. And receive the forgiveness and love of Jesus. Give your life into His hands!
You know, my son Peter was born in Poland and has a Polish passport and yet since he’s my son, he also has an American passport. Depending on the situation, he can use whichever passport he wants and claims he is a citizen of both countries.
Some people think that they can do the same with their life here on earth. They think that they can keep their citizenship here on earth and live the so called “good life” with all that the world has to offer. And at the same time, claim to believe in Jesus and the cross and all that he did for them. They might be baptized and confirmed and claim to be a Christian. So that when the day comes, they can use that passport to get to heaven.
What does Jesus say? Matthew 7:23 “And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.'” Either you are a citizen of this earth with all its consequences or you are a citizen of the heavenly kingdom with all its privileges. God loves you enough to give the biggest sacrifice to bring you into His kingdom. Will you receive that gift or reject it?
God’s approach to every one of us is this: I have loved you with an everlasting love!
What is your response? I receive your love and give you my life!
