Draft transcript prepared from the recording and edited for readability. Audio proofreading is still pending; please refer to the recording for the spoken wording.
You're listening to Sunday Sermons at Asbury Chapel. I'm going to read all 14 verses of this first chapter. It's the best way to introduce what we have. We're starting this series today on Malachi, and so for the next four Sundays, starting today and then the three after, we'll go through each chapter. I think it's an important lesson for us to pay attention to, especially in the days that we live in. Scripture is always going to be relevant, but there are just times where it jumps off the page, and it hits you square between the eyes, and I really hope that we can see the value of what Malachi has to offer, where we are actually, when we are actually living today.
And so before we begin, [Brief song lyric reference omitted.] If you want to know what it was like in the time of Malachi, they were not singing like never before. And so if you had to walk away with something this morning, it really and truly would be to leave this sanctuary and go out into this world and sing like never before. Here's what this means, and then we'll read the text. The scene looks like this. Malachi is the last prophet before the New Testament begins and Jesus comes.
But there was essentially 450 years between the message of Malachi and the coming of Jesus. And they call that period the intertestamental period. It's in between the two testaments. And it's not just convenient because, well, the Old Testament ends with Malachi and then the New Testament begins. I mean, it does play well to say it that way. But there was this period in between Malachi and his message and then God coming in Jesus Christ, being on foot, being God's messenger. The interesting thing is, is the word Malachi, the name Malachi means my messenger.
So as he comes onto the scene, it's the last of all of the exiles and returning from exile and Judah and Israel. And finally, the people get back to the land and things are not going the way that they really need to go. And isn't that the story? Isn't that the everyday? Things are just not what they should be. Things are not as they should be. They're not going the way they need to be going. And so the messenger of God gets raised up, literally God's messenger, Malachi.
And 450 years is a long time not to have this direct word, this direct revelation that's coming. You just have all this involvement, all this activity. But what's funny is, is there's already a couple of times where there's been, I don't know, 450 years. Take for instance, when Joseph went to Egypt and then God's people get raised up in Egypt through Joseph and his family. How long were they in Egypt when they started to then be oppressed and call out to God? 150 years. And so there's a couple of times where we've had these strange silences and then God comes screaming into the picture, revealing what it is that he has.
And right here, before Jesus comes in 450 years, they have the opportunity to come home. This is the last time. Let's get this right. And we know we can skip to the end of Malachi chapter 4 or we can really look between the Old Testament and New Testament. We know they don't get it right. But God continues to encourage and God continues to be the messenger and raise up messengers and give his holy word to his people that he's calling to be holy. Well, here's the problem.
They're not living that way. He's brought them home. He's shown them grace and they have the opportunity to do well, to do right, to live into everything. Everything. God has set them up for success. Will they take it? That's the question, is it not? So I've switched. I'm going to read from the New Living Translation. And so I originally was reading that in New English. They're all great. There was some specifics there. But just for the comprehension part, I made the decision last night. I was like, no, I'm reading this in the New Living Translation.
And so listen to this. Malachi chapter 1. It's 14 verses. But I want you to listen to this. New Living does a great job just breaking the language down and helping you understand the context. And a lot of the back and the forth that's going on here. So Malachi chapter 1, starting with the first verse. Hear the word of the Lord. This is the message that the Lord gave to Israel through the prophet Malachi. I have always loved you, says the Lord. But you retort, really?
How have you loved us? And the Lord replies, this is how I showed my love for you. I loved your ancestor Jacob, but I rejected his brother Esau and devastated his hill country. I turned Esau's inheritance into a desert for jackals. Esau's descendants in Edom may say, we have been shattered, but we will rebuild the ruins. But the Lord of heaven's armies replies, they may try to rebuild, but I will demolish them again. Their country will be known as the land of wickedness, and their people will be called the people with whom the Lord is forever angry.
When you see the destruction for yourselves, you will say, Truly, the Lord's greatness reaches far beyond Israel's borders. The Lord of heaven's army says to the priest, A son honors his father, and a servant respects his master. If I am your father and master, where are the honor and respect I deserve? You have shown contempt for my name. You have shown contempt by offering defiled sacrifices on my altar. Then you ask, how have we defiled the sacrifices? You defile them by saying the altar of the Lord deserves no respect.
When you give blind animals as sacrifices, isn't that wrong? And isn't it wrong to offer animals that are crippled and diseased? Try giving gifts like that to your governor and see how pleased he is, says the Lord of heaven's armies. Go ahead, beg God to be merciful to you. But when you bring that kind of offering, why should he show you any favor at all? Ask the Lord of heaven's armies. How I wish one of you would shut the temple doors so that these worthless sacrifices could not be offered.
I am not pleased with you, says the Lord of heaven's armies. And I will not accept your offerings. But my name is honored by people of other nations from morning till night. All around the world they offer sweet incense and pure offerings in honor of my name. For my name is great among the nations, says the Lord of heaven's armies. But you dishonor my name with your actions. By bringing contemptible food, you are saying it's all right to defile the Lord's table. You say it's too hard to serve the Lord.
And you turn up your nose at my commands, says the Lord of heaven's armies. Think of it. Animals that are stolen and crippled and sick are being presented as offerings. Should I accept from you such offerings as these? Ask the Lord. Cursed is the cheat who promises to give a fine ram from his flock, but then sacrifices a defective one to the Lord. For I am a great king, says the Lord of heaven's armies. And my name is feared among the nations. The word of God for the people of God.
Thanks be to God. That's tough. I mean, he's calling them out on it. But I think at the same time, especially the way the New Living Translation puts it out there, I think it makes it a little more clear. I believe it to be quite helpful. I mean, even in the beginning there, where we have quoted a couple of times, originally when Jacob and Esau were before the Lord, and then Paul later in Romans, the Hebrew there is to be rejected, right? And so to love Jacob and to hate Esau, the word there means to be rejected and cast aside.
What kind of man was Esau? And it's very important that you understand the reason for Malachi quoting this part of Genesis about the choosing of Jacob and the rejection of Esau. What kind of man was Esau? From start to finish, it ends up being who he is. There's a reconciliation with his brother later, but he's the kind of guy that has the opportunity to be the firstborn. And he has this opportunity to take the blessing of Isaac, which the God of the universe has reached in and said, I'm going to bless you.
And instead he goes, tell you what, you can have my birthright if you'll give me some soup. You remember the story now in Genesis? Some of you do. For those of you who don't know the story, Jacob and Esau are brothers. Esau, they come out about the same time, but Esau came out first. And Jacob looks at his brother and says, I'll tell you what, I'll give you some soup, but you got to trade me your birthright. Esau took him up on it. What does it say though?
We can laugh, we can jest, we can talk about brothers being silly, but there's nothing silly about what was taught and told and exemplified to Jacob and to Esau. And when Esau has the opportunity, he jests, he doesn't take it seriously. And because he wasn't willing to take the Lord seriously, the birthright was taken from him and it was given to Jacob. And he favored Jacob because the kind of man that Jacob was, was a man who could be humbled, a man who could be taught, a man who would be coachable.
It doesn't say anything about Jacob being perfect. But Esau is the one who was going to hunt and gather and make his own luck. And he was going to trust in his own strength. And that's exactly what he did. What is it that Malachi finds when he approaches the people of Israel, but people who have no competition, they're living in Israel, they've come back to their home, they've got leaders who are setting everything up, the walls of the city are going to be rebuilt, the house of the Lord is going to be rebuilt, the altar is going to be raised up.
And so without enemies who are pushing and pressing in on them and making it impossible to worship, they have an unbelievable opportunity to raise holy hands and say, God, you've done this. God, we love you. And instead of doing such a thing which feels right and maybe even sounds right, coming out of my lips right now, what do they do but two things? First, they get lazy. Isn't that how it always starts? First, they get lazy. And then, and you'll see this as we go throughout the rest of the chapters, I can't give it all away today, but they get lazy.
And then after they get lazy, they start to feel self-sufficient. And they start to think, well, we've got this. We can do this. We know how to check everything off. We know how to be holy. You want this, this, this, and this. But then after a while, after the laziness, and they move past the check boxes, they start wondering, why is it even necessary? We're here. We've got what we want now. They've landed. They're back. They're not in exile. And here they are. And here's their leaders.
And here's their people. And so, we got it made. And they don't have to lift a finger. And they don't have to serve. And they can just sit back and they can rest and go, oh. If anything, because of the graciousness of God, even more would be expected. Some of us maybe who've read our Bibles kind of closely, can you finish this New Testament sentence? To whom much is given, much is required. Some of y'all have other translations. It says much is expected. Much is required.
Much is expected from God. The moment that they come home is not the moment for them to sit back and for them to just go, we've arrived. It's the arriving part, the coming back home part. That's not the good part. Are you following me? That's the beginning. That's not the end. The reward is not being brought back to Israel. God frees them, brings them back to Israel so that. Right? Think back to the Exodus. I've said this many times. Some of you might be going, why is he bringing this up again?
Because, because, remember, they stand before Pharaoh and they say, let my people go so that they may come and worship me. The whole purpose of being freed was to go and be faithful. The people, the people this time, hundreds and hundreds of years later, generations have passed. And this last time, they get brought back to the homeland and they go, oh, we're home. And they just put a period and they go to bed. No. We're home. Now let's get to work. See, this is incredibly important because we don't live in a world that's looking for the opportunity to work.
We live in a world that's looking for an opportunity to rest. I don't know if you've checked it or not, but we serve a God who does not sleep or slumber. Thank God for God. And so the God who doesn't sleep and the God who doesn't rest is calling a people who would be holy. They would be other than, that they wouldn't be like everybody else who's trying to get home just to put their feet up. He's looking for people who want to work and worship and serve.
He wants hearts and hands to be intimately involved in what it is that he's doing. He's freed them for a certain purpose. He's brought them home for a certain purpose. So three points I want to make from three verses and we'll move towards communion. Verse 8, verse 10, and verse 14 is what I hope for us to take a little something away from. Okay? Verse 8 has the indictment. When we offer the world better things than we offer God. Ouch. I mean, look, you tell me right now.
I'm going to talk to the ladies in the room. I mean, I'm meddling. This is dangerous. I'm even vamping because I'm wondering if I ought to say it. If he bought something more expensive and better for somebody else. Because you're kind of sitting there going, where's mine? You gave what to who? Last I checked, you married me. When we give the world better things to God, the world did not die on a cross to save you for eternity. The world cannot get you into heaven. The world cannot forgive you of your sins.
God can. Jesus did. Our love and loyalty belong to him. He has done what not only could we not do for ourselves, but he's also done what the world can't offer us or do for us. It can try, but it continuously fails over and over. And I'm going to tell you something. The world doesn't want to cover your sin. If anything, the world is out for itself and wants you to participate in what it is doing. And if Jesus is going to cover sin and forgive sin, that means the world's fun ends.
They're not looking for that. They're looking for a continuation of who they are and what they do. They're not looking for transformation. They're not looking to be made new per God's definition. What happens when we offer the world better things than we offer God? Ah, that should break your heart. Yes, we move into the margin and ask the question of ourselves. Am I offering this world things that are better than what I'm offering God? Is my heart, have I actually looked in the mirror lately and exposed my heart?
Have I let the mirror see my chest as my heart beats within it? And have I said, oh my goodness, I really have given more of myself to this world than I have the Lord himself. Verse 10, this one's really hard. Better for the doors of the church to be shut than for us to not honor God and please him. That is such a tough verse. Let me read it for us. How I wish one of you would shut the temple doors so that these worthless sacrifices could not be offered.
I am not pleased with you, he says. Can you think about that for a moment? The minute that the church begins to offer sacrifices that don't glorify him, that aren't trying to offer salvation to people, shut the doors. And this is not an invitation to judge other churches or other things. That's not where I'm going. But I do want you to realize something. You better search the bottom of your soul to wonder whether or not the doors of the church should be open or shut. And if they're going to put God first, then fling wide the doors.
But if they're not, shut the doors and keep on moving. And Israel got to a place where Malachi had to come on behalf of God and say, it might be better for y'all to just stop trying to make offerings. It might be better for y'all to just shut the temple doors. You're not putting God first. This is not pleasing him. All right, we're moving to the margin. Am I pleasing the Lord? Am I offering the Lord worthy things? Offer the Lord things that honor him. He said it before then about the master and the father, right?
That's what we should do then is we should honor him. But he goes, where's the honor, right? Verse six, a son honors his father and a servant respects his master. If I'm your father and master, where are the honor and respect I deserve? Instead, you've shown contempt for my name. And so the challenge question on that one, the push question for verse 10, verse six even, if you need to go there, that's good, that's fine. It's all together. It's all the same. How is it that I need to be honoring the Lord in a way that I'm not?
I know there's a way that I need to honor God and I'm not doing that right now. Don't let the doors of your heart get shut. Keep them open with pleasing offerings to him. The goodness that you can show to others. The way you can reveal the father. The way you can reveal what Jesus has done for you. Now you're pleasing the master. You're pleasing the father by offering such things. Okay, verse 14. They're cheating God. They're cheating God. We learn something in the book of Acts about what it means to cheat God.
Some of you may know where I'm going if you're thinking through some of this. I'm hovering around Acts chapter four, Acts chapter five. Okay? Ananias and Sapphira. Some of you are already there. Well done. I'll recap for just a second. But look at how Malachi is saying they're cheating you, Lord. And the people are cheating the Lord by what they're doing. They're saying they're going to do this and they don't do it and they don't follow through. And even when they do follow through, they're giving the cheap stuff.
In Acts chapter five, verses one through 11, Ananias and Sapphira have property. They have the opportunity to go and sell that property. Now let us look at what it is that really happens. In Acts chapter four, just before that fifth chapter, you have this incredible person. Now in verse 32 of chapter four in the book of Acts, it's the group of believers. They were of one heart and one mind and no one said that any of his possessions was his own, but everything was held in common.
They were selling stuff, giving stuff to each other, lifting each other up. This guy had debt. This lady had bills. She was a widow. They're orphans. And they were going, this is not okay. We are the church. Jesus provided for me. Therefore, through Christ, I provide for you. And they were a community. One heart, one soul. Boy, they were really doing ministry together. And there were some among them who were owners of land and they gave houses and all this sorts of stuff and they gave the proceeds from the sale.
It was incredible. And then here's one. This is great. And some of you love this particular person in history. Verse 36. So Joseph, a Levite, who was a native of Cyprus, called by the apostles Barnabas. Don't we all love Barnabas? His name means son of encouragement. He encouraged people. He's the one that took John Mark when Paul said, he abandoned us. And he said, tell you what, you don't have to take him, but I will. I'm going to teach him. I'm going to grow him. I'm going to bring him along.
And Paul said, all right, fine. You take him. I'll go this way. Y'all go that way. Barnabas says, this is the New Whit translation, but he says, he said, all right, I got him. I'll take him. I'll grow him. This will work. Guess who ends up writing the gospel of Mark? John Mark. Guess who encouraged him? Barnabas. What did Barnabas do in Acts chapter 4? He sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and he placed it at the disciples' feet. Why is that so significant?
Because in chapter 5, verse 1, in this story that unfolds for 11 chapters is Ananias and Sapphira. Great, wonderful, wealthy couple. Wonderful. They're well-respected and loved. They sell this property, but before they sell it, they go, tell you what, we're going to sell it for X amount. We're going to tell the disciples that we sold it for this amount. We'll keep back a little bit for us, you know, a little nest egg kind of thing, but we'll tell them this is how much it was. If you remember the story, they come before the disciples individually.
And Ananias comes, is this the amount it sold for? Yep. Is that how much you're given? Yep. Drops dead. Peter says, because you've lied to the Holy Spirit. Sapphira comes in, doesn't know what's going on, she walks in, is this how much you sold it for? Yep. Is that how much you're given? Yep. Drops dead. We don't feel like we have any precedent for something like that. It terrifies us. And yet at the same time, in Malachi chapter one, what do we read in verse 14?
Cursed is the cheat who promises to give a fine ram from his flock, but then sacrifices a defective one to the Lord. For I am a great king, says the Lord of heaven's army, and my name is feared among the nations. Esau had the opportunity as the firstborn son to live into the covenant, but instead he was the kind of man that was going to sell his birthright for something that didn't even matter. Skip lunch. Esau. But he gave it away. As we go into communion, don't give it away, church.
Don't give it away. He has given you something magnificent, something precious, something wonderful, and what he's asking for in return is not that you would just simply rest, but that you would accept this call to come. Let your heart rest, but let your hands be busy with loving the Lord and having the same mind and the same heart and putting him first because the work is only beginning. This is not an end. I know how this, I know what building committee's thinking right now. Whit, are you preaching about the new building?
Absolutely. That wasn't the plan, but I sat here, Lynn Siphon, and saw how that played together. It's not an end. We get to 1963 Jesse Jewel Parkway, and it is coming really fast, and it is coming really fast, Joel. Yay. I'm giving like a really tough message, and we got somebody, yay. I needed that. Maybe we all did, but the work begins. The work begins. We think we're working now, but I've been over there almost every single day for the last three or four weeks. I ride by, I pray, I pass by, I pull in the parking lot, and I get out of there before Lynn finds out I was there because I'm not supposed to be there, and I pray, and I pray, and I pray, and every time, and I eat over there, and I have meetings over there, and I do that because there's an entire community of people who are just waiting for light to break out everywhere.
Dana rode by there months ago after we had bought the building and drove by and said in his heart he saw a vision of light around that church and then darkness that surrounded the larger area and how this church gets to be a city on a hill. We get to have light break out and push back darkness. May that be what happens. We can't go to a place and put ourselves there and go, we did it! Guess what? No, we didn't. I am waking up every single day right now to constant reminders that this church, me, leaders, we're not doing this.
God is. We got some nods. We got some, there's some people in here who knows the daily miracles that are taking place. But you know what we are doing? And you know what we better do? We better put him first and never forget. Not a single moment. And you're going to be imperfect and have a moment where you forget. It's okay. This is it. The opportunity for us to march forward, be obedient, and then to go and do what God has called us to do. And that's be faithful.
That's be faithful. Amen. Thank you.
