Malachi very skillfully provides a very vivid image of the love of God as well as His might and power. Malachi helps us see that the story has not yet ended. God still has promises to fulfill on behalf of His people. The Book of Malachi represents the link between the Old and New Testaments. Malachi was the last of the inspired prophets to speak in the Old Testament. Malachi addresses the profane and corrupt character of the priests, the people’s marriages with foreigners, the non-payment of tithes, and a lack of sympathy towards the poor. Despite all the corruptness and evil of the priests and the people they just could not understand why God would be upset with them. They were going to the temple; they were offering sacrifices…so they were doing what God required. So what is the problem? As intermediaries between God and the people, the priests were responsible for reflecting God’s attitudes and character. By accepting imperfect sacrifices, they were leading the people to believe that God accepted those sacrifices as well. But God says I am not pleased with you. Malachi drives the point home by saying that the temple might as well be closed because God will not accept these sacrifices. The bottom line is that this is a group that was simply going through the motions; maintaining the traditions and following all the prescribed rituals. The act of worship had become a burden to them; they did it because they felt they had to. As Christians, we are often in the same position as these priests because we reflect God to our friends and family. What image of God’s character and attitudes do they see in you? If you casually accept sin, you are like these priests in Malachi’s day, simply going through the motions. God will not be pleased with you. In this message we would like to discover that God’s desire is for His unfailing love to be the driving force that causes us to seek to honor Him.
I. God gives the people a reminder of His unfailing love.
A. The opening part of Malachi’s message seems to suggest that Judah is questioning or doubting God’s love.
1. Israel is characterized by widespread doubt of their standing with God.
2. Malachi’s message highlights God’s unchanging love for His people.
3. Their doubt may have been rooted in several circumstances.
a. They had returned from exile (as God had promised), and they had built their temple (as God had promised.)
b. However the monarchy had not been reestablished and there was no sign of the glorious priest-king predicted by Zechariah.
c. They were not a great and victorious people. Gentiles were not coming to worship at Jerusalem.
d. Prosperity had not returned. Enemies had not been crushed.
4. Unfilled hopes had given rise to serious doubts.
B. The appreciation of God’s love, faithfulness and justice in the face of their sin had not lasted.
1. God’s love bridges the gap between the beautifulness of His holiness and the ugliness of mankind’s sin.
2. The obvious fact in our text is that Israel has lost sight of both God’s holiness and their own sins.
3. Israel had begun to take God’s love for granted and responded to His discipline with, “You don’t love me.”
4. Love was the heart of this covenant relationship as was obvious in Him choosing them to be His own people.
5. Acknowledging God’s love for her, Israel should have responded by loving Him and obeying His commands
C. The knowledge that we have been chosen to have an intimate relationship with God should make a profound difference in the way we handle failure, obstacles, and disappointment and human relationships.
1. To a large extent spiritual health and growth is based on a growing appreciation of God’s love.
2. Even in the midst of rebellion God has demonstrated His compassion, grace, patience and love.
3. Despite our continued sin God will never abandon us, always hoping that we will confess our sins and turn back to Him.
II. The people had forgotten what the heart of our worship should be.
A. The servants at the temple who were the closest to the sacred things were the ones who had defaulted in the most central obligation of all—that of honoring God.
1. The most sacred duty which God delegated to priests under the law was their service at the altar of sacrifice. Here was where these priests helped sinful people find reconciliation with God.
2. Apathy toward the temple ritual and especially toward the laws of Moses had reached such proportions in postexilic Judah that God raised up the prophet Malachi to reprimand the people.
3. Even though they were blind to God’s love, Israel should have recognized God as their Father and realized that He deserved their honor.
4. The leaders of the religion continuously mocked God and sneered at his name and will.
5. However, if the leadership fails in honoring and serving God what can the people be expected to do?
6. The leaders were leading the people to believe that this type of behavior was acceptable to God.
B. Spiritual leaders, both ancient and modern alike, have often run the risk of treating sacred things as ordinary.
1. Intimate familiarity with holy matters conduces to treating them with indifference.
2. They brought blind and lame sacrifices, which they would not dare offer ... to their governor.
3. The table is a symbol of hospitality and relationship, and the attitude toward someone’s table would betray the attitude toward the person and relationship.
4. The priests’ actions spoke volumes about their true heart.
5. Their religion has become one of ritual, one of doing what they felt was necessary to get by.
C. The way people were going about their worship left a lot to be desired from God’s stand point.
1. The bottom line was that the people were trying to win God’s favor by simply pacifying Him.
2. God, once again speaking of himself in the first person, wished that the temple would go out of business.
3. As long as it was not serving as a meeting place for God and man, why should any perfunctory and self-deceiving rituals go on in it? Not only were the sacrifices ineffective, but the priests and the people were lulled into thinking that their deeds were winning God’s approval.
4. So why not shut the temple doors and be done with what was for the priests merely a nuisance?
5. The thought may be applied to present-day churches that have ceased to be places where people worship in spirit and in truth and are merely meeting places and nothing more.
6. He could hardly have spoken his mind more clearly than he did in the last part of v.10: "I am not pleased with you, … and I will accept no offering from your hands."
III. We need to understand that God’s love should cause us to seek to honor Him.
A. They were treating God’s altar with contempt by disregarding God’s requirements concerning the kinds of sacrifices that should be placed on it.
1. The Medo-Persian king Darius, and probably his successors, had liberally supplied them with victims for sacrifice, yet they presented none but the worst.
2. A cheap religion, costing little, is rejected by God, and so is worth nothing. It costs more than it is worth, for it is worth nothing, and so proves really dear.
3. Malachi is quick to point out that their offerings would be an insult to an earthly leader yet they still chose to offer them to God.
4. In essence Malachi is saying, “There is no evil,” in your opinion, in such an offering; it is quite good enough for such a purpose.
B. God’s love for His people should have stirred up in the people love for Him; however their disobedience spoke of their lack of love.
1. They obviously place no value on their relationship with God, since gifts were designed to declare the glory of the recipient.
2. The priests were conducting worship in a way that misrepresented God’s character.
3. Worship acts are not acceptable unless the worshipers are acceptable to the Lord. By their attitude the priests had forfeited their right to be worship leaders.
4. God’s grace and love that has been extended toward us should lead us to want to give Him our very best.
5. Worship was never meant to replace obedience, acts of worship that do not come from a devoted heart show great disrespect to God.
6. We need to give God the love and honor that is due Him in response to all He has done for us.
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.
