April 18, 2004
Morning Worship
Text: Malachi 1:1-5
Subject: God’s Love for His People
Title: How Do I Love Thee…?
Sometimes it is difficult to preach an Easter sermon and then find something else to preach about following that day that is what we are all about. How can I top what God has done for us. Then I understand that I am not to try to top God’s work with His word, but to explain or expand on the work that He has done for us.
Really every sermon I preach is an Easter sermon, because the whole Bible is about Jesus, His transcendent relationship as Mediator between God and man, the love of God and our response to that love.
Today I want to specifically share with you about God’s love. We know God loves us; He loves all of His creation. But as children of the Living God, we are given the right to receive God’s love in a more significant way. How much does God love us? It is hard to put into words, the great American poet, Elizabeth Barrett Browning penned these words that could have come from the very throne of God.
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
Malachi begins his prophecy by describing the words he has been given as a burden. God’s love and desires for His people is often so intense that it becomes a burden to those who must speak God’s word. Today we will look at God’s love in three specific areas. 1) God’s love for His people, 2) God’s hatred for His enemies, and 3) God’s manifestation to all.
As God’s children, we can be assured of His love for us.
I. GOD’S LOVE FOR HIS CHILDREN. (verse 2)
A. God Pronounces His Love. “I have loved you…” This is not the first pronouncement that God had ever made to Israel. Deut. 4:37, “And because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their descendants after them; and He brought you out of Egypt with His Presence, with His mighty power.” We all need to be reminded of God’s love occasionally. Israel especially, knowing their history of continually turning to idolatry, needed to be reminded. God pronounced His love by making a covenant with Abraham. He honored it. God declared His love for Israel by bringing them out of Egypt. God made a covenant with Moses. “I will be your God and you will be My people.” He honored it. God showed His love for Israel by giving them a king of their choice and then anointing His choice, David. Then, He made a covenant with David, “And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.” (2 Samuel 7:16) Finally, God brought these three covenants together in the person of Jesus Christ. “God demonstrated His love for us in this, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God fulfilled His covenant with Abraham by naming all who are established by faith as Abraham’s offspring (they will be a numerous as the sands on the shore and the stars in the sky.) He fulfilled His covenant with Israel by grafting a new shoot on to the old vine of Israel, so that we might all be called God’s chosen people. He completed His covenant with David by sending His only begotten Son as legal heir to the throne of David but also as Sovereign King who sits and reigns at the right hand of the Father. How much does God love you? He loves you so much that He came to earth, went to the cross, opened up His arms, and died for you.
B. Man Questions God’s Love. After all that God has done for His people, they respond by saying, “In what way have You loved us”? The word that is translated “love” can have a sexual context, which gives it a meaning of deepest intimacy. In other words, “How have You been intimate with us?” Though God has continually shown love to His people through the ages, the question that is ever present is, “What have You done for us lately?” You know the cycle. God loves His people – they turn away. God chastises those He loves – they turn back. God reinstates them, establishing them in His love – they turn away… and so on. It seems that by nature man tends to dwell on the negative and forget the positive. Why did this happen to me? How could God do this to me? If God is love how could HE allow this to happen? These are questions I hear asked all the time. We have forgotten about all the promises that God has bestowed on us. Promises that are coupled with obedience. Sometimes I have to think that God looks at mankind and just shakes His head and laughs. Sometimes people do and say some things that even I think are silly. I can only wonder what God must think. There’s a story about a city dweller who was visiting relatives on a farm and the farmer gave a whistle and his dog herded the cattle into the corral, then latched the gate with her paw. "Wow, that’s some dog. What’s her name?" The forgetful farmer thought a minute, then asked, "What do you call that red flower that smells good and has thorns on the stem?" "A rose?" "That’s it!" The farmer turned to his wife. "Hey Rose, what do we call this dog?" It seems the we often come down with an occasional case of forgetfulness when it comes to God’s love for us.
C. God Demonstrates His Love. “Jacob I have loved.” Jacob is another name for Israel. God loves all men equally – even the unsaved. But God responds favorably to those who are obedient. Let me give you some examples. Isaiah 26:3, “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.” God gives peace to who? It’s conditional. Isaiah 40:31, “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength…” What is the condition that has to be met? God exhibits His love to those who respond with obedience. Now there was an act of love that was given to all just because God loves us. But to receive the benefit of that act we respond in obedience.
II. GOD’S HATRED OF HIS ENEMIES. (3-4)
A. The Example of God’s Enemies. Who are God’s enemies and why does He hate them. Isn’t that contradictory to the scripture that says, “God is love”? Let’s look at the story of Esau. He was the firstborn twin of Isaac. He was a hunter. He was his father’s favorite. He had everything going for him. But he was more concerned with earthly lusts than future promises. He sold his birthright for a bowl of soup. Even though Jacob obtained the blessing by trickery, God honored it because of Esau’s failure to trust God. In the blessing Isaac said, “Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be those who bless you.” It comes down to this. Everyone who is outside the covenant is an enemy of God. Just as God chose Jacob (Israel) before he was born “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love…” (Ephesians 1:4) All others make themselves enemies of God. Paul speaks of those who are enemies in Philippians 3:18, “For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame – who set their minds on earthly things.”
B. The Pride of God’s Enemies. In verse 4 the Edomites – descendants of Esau – forget that God has judged them and vow to come back and rebuild. God has “laid waste his mountains and his heritage for the jackals of the wilderness.” Here is where the pride really becomes evident. No matter what judgment God has judged them with; they think they can overcome it. It is the mind - set of the god of this world. Even though he has already lost the battle, through the cross of Calvary and the resurrection, he thinks that somehow he can ultimately win the war. People today are living for the moment, making the most of this life, looking out for number one, and have the audacity to think that if there is a God, they can ease their way into heaven. We were once enemies of God. Romans 5:10, “For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” That is the good news for all that are outside the covenant. There is always the opportunity to come the grace God offers.
C. The Judgment Against God’s Enemies. Jesus came to seek and save that which is lost. God desires that none should perish but that all should come to repentance. Why? Because He loves the entire human race. He gives countless opportunities to the lost to come to Him. But the proud and arrogant continue to build their towers of Babel to which the Lord says, “They may build, but I will throw down. They shall be called the Territory of Wickedness, and the people against whom the Lord will have indignation forever.” The last time I checked, forever was a long time.
III. ONE GOD INDIVISIBLE, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL… (Verse 5)
A. God’s Children Shall See His Power. You don’t have to look very far to find evidence of God’s power. In this very church we see His saving power, His transforming power, His healing power, His miraculous power… But a time is coming when we will see the reality of His power. “Jesus came and spoke to them saying, ‘All power has been given to Me in heaven and on earth’…” “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” While we see His power in operation today, soon we will see the power Himself.
B. God’s Children Shall Proclaim His Glory. “You shall say…” When we stop to think about the things we have talked about today – God’s love, justice, power – doesn’t it bring you to a place of worship? God’s creation is worshiping Him right now. “The heavens declare the glory of God…” “The whole earth is full of His glory…” Psalm 149 says, “Let the saints be joyful in glory...” We see, therefore we are expected to say that, “Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father…” It does not leave any question as to our response to God’s love. We see, we shall say.
C. The Whole World Shall Know His Goodness. God will be magnified beyond the borders of Israel. The fulfillment of that prophecy came to pass on the cross, and then when the apostle Paul took the gospel to the gentiles. What God is doing is not limited to any particular time or place. The revivals that are taking place in China and Africa and South America are not for them only. It is happening in the US and here in the Midwest and even in Palmyra, MO. When God is magnified, when He becomes the focus of our worship, our lives, and our plans, revival is hear.
There are many questions that people have about God. But God has revealed Himself to us through His Son Jesus Christ. He is the perfect expression of love. That love is available to all, even those who are at enmity with God right now. What awaits those who do to turn to God? A judgment with eternal consequences. “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him, might be saved.” Those who do not receive the message have condemned themselves as enemies of God.
What can we do to change that? Verse 5 tells us all we need to know.
1. Your eyes shall see. You have seen God’s mercy and His saving power. You have seen the change that a life in Christ can produce. You have seen His grace working in your own life.
2. You shall say. There is a Michael W. Smith song that says “Love isn’t love till you give it away” God has given us the chance to receive the greatest gift of all – salvation – and see the greatest miracle of all – a changed life - and somehow we think that we have the right to keep it to ourselves. The gift of eternal life that God has given is a gift that we can hold on to but not one that we are intended to hoard. Trust me folks, there is enough of God’s love to go around. You can give it all away and still have enough to get you into heaven.
3. The Lord is magnified beyond the border of Israel. We come to church and worship and study and hear the word of God proclaimed. But here we see that it is not to remain in this building. We are not some secret society where we say, “What is said here stays here.” God intends for it to be the other way around. Take it out. Spread the good news. God loves you. God has made a way for you. Jesus is preparing a place for you.
There are children of the king and there are those that will never be, but there are so many who are just waiting for someone to tell them.
Remember our core values – loving God, trusting God, loving people?
There was a campaign against drugs that said, “Just say no!”
I think it is time for a “Just say yes to Jesus” campaign.
