How often have you heard, "if God loves me then why _________?"
You fill in the blank.
This was Israel's response. The Lord God through his prophet Malachi, which means messenger by the way, shows concern over the spiritual condition of the nation of Israel by sharing a back-and-forth conversation with Israel and their God.
Malachi 1:2a
The word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi.
“I have loved you,” says the Lord.
And Israel replies...
Malachi 1:2b
Yet you ask, “How have you loved us?”
And the Lord replies...
Malachi 1:2c-3
“Wasn’t Esau Jacob’s brother?” This is the Lord’s declaration. “Even so, I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau. I turned his mountains into a wasteland and gave his inheritance to the desert jackals.”
The Lord jumps right into the heart of the matter. Esau forfeited his inheritance for a bowl of stew. His brother Jacob steals his rightful fortune and took his place in the hands of the Lord. And God is less than pleased with Esau for having sold out his soul for an earthly pleasure.
The Lord points out that there is a serious sense of cynicism among his people as to whether or not God truly loves them. And this disillusioned cynical attitude is affecting the people and their honor, and their respect for God's word. They've been withholding their offerings. They've been mingling their faith and their families with foreign gods. They've been divorcing their wives and marrying foreign women. Their priorities have been sold out for present day pleasures. And they argue that God loved them before in the days of their ancestors, but obviously (from their perspective) God no longer loves them today.
They basically say, "hey God, what have you done for me lately?"
And The Lord gives them an example as to what it truly would be like if He didn't love them, and if He was completely against them. He recognizes that they have been through many generations of wrath, war, occupation, exile, and return, many times over. And they know that the Lord chastens those whom he loves. Yet they've suffered so much for so long that they've lost faith in His love. They've lost sight of his love. They've lost the ability to see his blessings even in the struggle and in the remnant that he secured in them. And so, God tells them what true hate on a God level looks like. He tells them about his relationship with Edom.
The Lord says...
Malachi 1:4a
Edom may say, “Though we have been crushed, we will rebuild the ruins.”
The Edomites were the people of the Transjordan region, the desert area to the northeast of Israel. They were cursed for eternal destruction by God for their constant attacks and lawlessness against Israel. And he kept his word.
No matter how much the Edomites tried to rebuild their country, the Lord is always against them and will defeat their efforts every time. The Edomites cannot exist, they've been marked for total destruction and failure. And nothing can stop God's wrath.
God explains to Israel what real God hatred looks like...
Malachi 1:4b-5
But this is what the Lord Almighty says: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Wicked Land, a people always under the wrath of the Lord. You will see it with your own eyes and say, ‘Great is the Lord—even beyond the borders of Israel!’
The Dishonest Offering
The conversation turns quickly now, the Lord digs down deep into what's really going on inside their temple and inside their hearts. The temple priests are identified as the most guilty in this respect. God charges them with indifference. They've been making love offerings that are less than even second best.
We've all seen this; the people give the church their cast offs. They ditch their worn-out clothes and furniture at the good will, while on their way to the mall to pick up some new stuff. They drop a dollar in the offering plate and fill up on the yummy goodies in the fellowship hall. They fill their bellies and pantries with the same food they serve to the needy. And they withhold their offerings when the Pastor isn't meeting their personal preferences.
Israel knows that the ancient instruction has always been that sacrifices must represent the first and the best of what the people have. The Lord through Malachi points out that they've been offering less than satisfactory service. Their animal sacrifices are blemished. And these ritually unfit offerings reveal that their hearts are not joyful about giving back to the Lord. They're keeping to best animals for themselves and giving the crippled and diseased animals to the Lord.
And the Lord makes a proclamation about these people that should ring loud and true, even today, for every church going person out there.
Malachi 1:6b, 10
"You have shown contempt for my name!"
“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."
The Lord says he'd rather see them close the doors of the church, rather than continue to make their worthless offerings in his name. They're dishonoring his name with their actions. And worse yet they claim it's right and good to do this thing.
How does this happen?
Are the religious people really just a bunch of liars, lawyers, cheats and criminals?
There's a story I read that always rang true to me...
There was village long ago that learned that their king would soon pay them a visit. The village was very honored by this news, and the village elders came together to celebrate this honor and determine a way to honor the king when he comes. They decided to hold a feast so that every villager could offer the king something. All the people, great and small, were asked to bring a pitcher of their finest wine and pour it into a vat from which the king would be served. Everyone promised to do this. And they all did, one by one, each family poured their wine offering into the vat.
The king arrives and is greeted with great fanfare. Then the moment came for him to taste the rich wine from the vat that everyone had contributed to. However, when one of the officials turned on the spigot, out came water.
How embarrassing!
Each villager had assumed that all of the other villagers would pour in their very best and therefore they each thought one pitcher of water wouldn't make any difference.
As you might imagine, the king was very disappointed.
Friends,
Listen, I understand the challenges of making a decision to make an offering from the best of what we have to offer. I've lived in poverty, in bankruptcy, in debt, and in blessings. And I've not always kept up with offering my best. And I know it's easy to get cynical about it, especially in the hard times. I've been there.
I'll tell you what I've learned in those hard times. I've learned to give myself. All of me. Not a monetary number, not a percentage, but everything. Jesus wants 💯 of you and me.
I heard another story. A story about a very old first peoples man who had attended a Christian church one day. And the service eventually got around to the offering being gathered. When the ushers came to him with the offering plate, he said, "lower it please."
The usher bent down some to lower the plate, and the old man again said, "lower please."
And so, the confused usher smiled a confused smile and bent down on his knees so he could lower it to the old man's ankles.
And the old man then said, "lower please."
Finally, the usher set the plate on the floor.
And the old man stepped into it.
This is what I learned in the hard times. The Lord wants everything, all of you and me. He wants all your heart, all your strength, all your mind, and all your spirit. In fact he's commanded it.
There is no balance to weigh your best, it's all or nothing. The offering plate isn't a take a penny leave a penny cup. You must give your best. Love is either everything, or nothing at all. If you can't do it then you might as well close the doors of the church.
Picture this...the Lord is knocking on the door. The door is shut. And the fingerprints on the door knob aren't Satan's, they're yours.
Food for thought.