“So You Think God Is Unfair?”
Malachi 2:17-3:5
According to Ann Landers, the average teenager uses the phrase “it’s not fair”, 86 times a day. This week I did web search for this simple phrase: “when life is not fair.” The search yielded a staggering 97.2 million results. In one of these results I ran across this journal entry posted on a blog that expresses the sentiments of the desperation in our search for fairness apart from God. “Life is not fair. Good people have to die early. There are people that waste money like water, and there are other people who struggle to pay for their parents hospital bills. There are people that spend thousands of dollars on a vacation, and there are other people working three jobs to make ends meet. The funny part is people that spent thousands of dollars on vacation wouldn’t pay for their children’s tuition, and people that working three jobs wants to pay for their children’s tuition. How sad…Life is not fair. And it never will be. What’s the point of life anyway? See the injustice and then you die, painfully.” Apparently many people have the same feelings that Israel expressed in Malachi’s day. I think if we are really honest we will discover that there have been those moments when we were hurt or disappointed and we just shook our fist and cried out that life just is not fair. Some times it just feels like the whole world has turned their back on you and treated you unfairly; and that includes God. The people of Israel definitely felt that way too. Today we are going to continue to seek to gain insight into the many struggles of life through the message of the prophet Malachi. God will ultimately establish justice for his people, and no one will be able to say God has been unfair.
I. Much like today the people of Malachi’s day cried out against God saying, “Life is just not fair.”
A. Skepticism wearies God. “You have wearied Yahweh with your words.”
1. The people felt that He did not care about the behavior of everyone who did evil.
2. The people were convinced that God was either unjust or negligent.
3. Here is the age-old complaint: the wicked prosper while the righteous are in low estate.
4. The underlying assumption here is that prosperity always results from divine blessing and implies divine approval. God must “delight” in the wicked else they would not be so blessed.
5. The words “where is the God of judgment” are not a second complaint, but the logical conclusion which the people had reached.
6. Either evil is pleasing to God or there is no God of justice.
B. Throughout the ages skeptics have echoed the same sentiments against the God who has revealed himself as absolutely just.
1. More often than not this is a result of faulty perspective.
2. Our misunderstanding is why we accuse God of not being fair, we find fault with God because our thinking is wrong.
3. Refusing to acknowledge their own sin the people made the inference that God was not with His people.
4. If God were here, then surely He would do something. If God won’t establish justice; if He won’t be fair, then God must not really care.
C. The prevailing attitude of their day is much like ours. Truth is relative; we can all decide for ourselves what is right and wrong because God must see evil as good.
1. In a culture where the truth is being watered down and sin is being justified and accepted, some had the nerve to question God’s character. Sound familiar?
2. The people of Malachi’s day were practicing evil as if it were acceptable; they accepted injustice believing God was indifferent and didn’t care.
3. Revealing a very hypocritical attitude the people are challenging God to intervene.
4. We have allowed our cultural views to establish the rules for fairness and many times we accuse God of breaking those laws.
5. If God was governed by our "laws of fairness," then Jesus could not have died on the cross for our sin. The "law of fairness" would mandate that an innocent man could never be put to death; it wouldn’t be fair to unjustly punish someone who had committed no crime.
6. When we overcome our own spiritual blindness and see our own sin we will stop calling for justice and humbly ask God for mercy.
II. God promises that one day justice will be served, wrong will be punished and right will be rewarded.
A. The God of judgment was nearer than any of the skeptics imagined. Malachi stressed that the coming of God would be both certain and sudden.
1. The God of judgment, who the skeptics were seeking, was going to come suddenly and unexpectedly.
2. There were people who still desired and hoped for deliverance to come through the Messiah.
3. Malachi is reminding the people that the coming Messiah would bring judgment, vindication and exoneration for the righteous but condemnation and punishment for the wicked.
4. The Jews expected the Messiah to come to judge the heathen. Malachi warned the skeptics that they would be the first to be judged.
5. “But who endures the day of his coming? And who stands when he appears?” None of the ungodly would be able to stand under the burden of this judgment
B. The Messiah would be a cleanser, one who would purge sin from the lives of his people.
1. When God puts His covenant and law into effect through His judgment; will we be on the wrong side of the law, or will we stand with His mercy?
2. God lists 7 types of people He will judge on that day when He establishes justice. Are we among those who will be judged? YES!
3. The list covers everything from "white lies" to perjury in a high court.
4. We must all stand before the Lord! Be careful before you toss this list aside as not applying to you; ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the true condition of your heart today while it is still possible to call out to God for mercy.
5. The fact to remember is that God’s grace is abundant and the cleansing agent that removes the stain of sin from our lives is the blood of Jesus Christ.
III. The hope we have through Jesus Christ will help us keep the proper perspective when life doesn’t seem fair.
A. When we complain that life is not fair, or cry out to God for justice, then we put ourselves in a position to be judged instead of a place to receive mercy.
1. He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. (Psalm 103:10—NIV)
2. God is the standard of justice. Through God’s love and mercy He sent His Son to die. Jesus, who is not guilty of any sin, freely dies to pay the penalty for our sin.
3. God’s purpose is to give forgiveness and eternal life to all who acknowledge that Jesus died for their sin and confess Him as Lord.
4. The human mind will reason with our faulty logic what God did was unfair and say "God that’s not fair!" God says it is justice!
B. When you are tempted to say, “God that’s just not fair.” Remember what Malachi reminded the people of, the Lord says, “I am coming.”
1. God is both holy and omnipotent. Holy means God is set apart from sin or evil, and omnipotence means God has the power to do anything; nothing is impossible for God. Therefore, everything God does is righteousness and just.
2. God’s purpose in coming to His people is to bring transformation and renewal.
3. Instead of showing the filth of evil and sin, God will come to transform us purifying us like silver through the blood of Christ so we might reflect His image.
4. Fairness or justice is not something apart from God; rather justice is an attribute or characteristic of God Himself.
5. DC Talk, in their song “What if I stumble” says, “The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians. Who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, and walk out the door, and deny Him with their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds, unbelievable.”
6. We need to remember that God desires us to keep justice, fairness and sin in perspective.
There’s an old French fairy tale about two daughters-one bad and the other good. The bad daughter was her mother’s favorite...but the good daughter was kind of a "Cinderella" in that she was unjustly neglected, despised, and mistreated in her own home. One day, while drawing water from the village well, the good daughter met a poor woman who asked her for a drink. The girl responded with kind words and gave the woman a cup of cool water. The poor woman-who was actually a fairy in disguise-was so pleased with the girl’s kindness and good manners that she gave her a gift.
She said, "From now on, each time you speak, a flower or jewel will come out of your mouth." Well, when the little girl got home, her mother began to scold her for taking so long to bring the water. The girl started to apologize and when she did, two roses, two pearls, and two diamonds came out of her mouth. Her mother was astonished! But after hearing her daughter’s story and seeing the number of beautiful jewels that came out of her mouth in the telling she called her other daughter-her favorite child (bad, though she was)-and sent her out to find the old woman and get the same gift. The bad daughter, was reluctant to be seen performing the lowly task of drawing water, so she whined and grumbled sourly all the way to the well. When she arrived, a beautiful queenly woman came by and asked for a drink....this by the way was the same fairy in another disguise. Disagreeable and proud, the girl responded with a rudeness that was typical behavior for her but she received a "reward" from the fairy as well. Each time she opened her mouth, she emitted snakes and toads.
