And if you can find Malachi again in your Bibles, that would be really helpful.
There's a bit of a tendency today, I think, for people like us to prefer lighter things rather than heavier things.
We like light stuff, don't we? We like light, entertaining, funny stuff. We like triviality.
But God knows that what we often need is something much more substantial to live.
We need something weightier to take into our minds and hearts.
Heavier words that might be harder to hear, but actually in the long run are much better for us to swallow.
They go deeper down into us.
And the whole book of Malachi gives us a good dose of deep, heavy spiritual medicine.
If you look at verse 1 of Malachi, chapter 1 in your Bibles, you'll see that the book itself has great weight.
Malachi is given an oracle from God to speak to Israel.
That word oracle, it can translate as burden.
Malachi is burdened by a message that God gives him to speak to the people.
The message is heavy.
Heavy not in the sense of it being boring or stuffy or too much information, God.
But God speaks seriously and deeply.
So can you imagine this morning what might be the heaviest, weightiest, most sobering words that you can imagine hearing in the presence of God?
Angry words?
Words of rejection, perhaps?
I never knew you.
How does God open this heavy message in verse 2?
What kinds of words does he use?
Just look there.
I have loved you.
Those four words are the message that he gives, aren't they?
And unlike what we might think of those four words,
we hear them, don't we, in the movies, they're not light words.
These words, rather than turning you all gooey
and making Christianity a fluffy thing,
they're not an invitation for us to relax spiritually.
They are words that are very troubling.
They're spoken to weigh on you heavily this morning.
Israel, my people, you church people,
hear and feel the weight of these words.
I have loved you,
says the Lord.
So why does God choose to begin this heavy message of Malachi with these words?
Seems unexpected, doesn't it?
Well, first of all, God's love
is convicting.
God's love is convicting.
I don't blame you if it took a little bit longer
to thumb through your Bibles and find the book of Malachi.
It's just over two pages long, isn't it?
It's not easy to find.
A Scottish friend of mine used to say
that Malachi, it's wee,
but it's weighty.
One commentator calls it
a devastating little book.
We're going to work through it
over a few Sunday mornings.
Even though it's small,
it's heavy
and it's weighty.
And you might miss that
in the opening few verses
that we're going to look at this morning.
You could read the opening verses of Malachi
and think that he is the softies prophet.
What a great collection of calendar verses they are,
aren't they,
in verse 1 to 5.
God says,
I love you.
Sounds lovely, doesn't it?
But you might have sensed
that as we read on in the chapter earlier on,
things are not well
between God and his people.
This is not God
putting his arm around his people
and whispering sweet nothings in her ear.
No, the whole book of Malachi
is actually more like a row
between God and his people.
It's full of accusations,
accusations and excuses from the people.
And the loving, faithful God
confronts his unfaithful people.
Because the relationship at this point
has gone sour.
God wants them to come back to him.
Just a bit of context,
it's about 450 years
before Jesus Christ
appears on the scene.
And Malachi is speaking here
to a group of people
who are left behind,
the remnants of God's people
who've returned from captivity in Babylon.
Babylon, they were sent into exile.
And then Babylon is invaded by Persia
and the Persian emperor Cyrus
sends them back
to the land of Judah.
It's just after the time of Ezra
and Nehemiah
when they rebuild the walls.
It's after the rebuilding project
led by the prophets Haggai and Zechariah.
Zechariah.
And the people there
back in the little land of Judah,
the temple's rebuilt.
It's not as it was
in the days of Solomon,
but there is a temple there.
And there's a period of relative peace.
But spiritually,
things are dry.
Worship, we will see
as we go through the book,
is there,
but it's formulaic
and it's hypocritical.
And so as Malachi
speaks those words from God,
he isn't relaxed.
He isn't preaching about God's love
with a smile on his face.
These words come not immediately
as a comfort,
but as a convicting message.
And they lie heavily on his heart.
It is not a mushy love.
It is a covenant commitment
that God has placed on his people
like a marriage
or between two allied kings.
So just imagine the scenario.
In a room,
in a house,
maybe in the kitchen,
there is a husband
whose wife was out last night
and she didn't come home.
And it turns out
she's been unfaithful.
And the two of them
meet for a kind of face-off.
And you can cut the tension
with a knife
and she stares at the floor
and he looks at her
and he has every right
to lay into her
about what happened.
But the conversation begins
with him saying,
I have loved you.
And those words
bring a moment
of introspection,
don't they?
They gently
shame her.
Later on in the book,
God is going to rebuke
his people quite harshly.
But his most
shaming indictment
actually
on their cold hearts
is his
warm love
for them.
God's love,
we love hearing about it,
don't we?
It cheers us
and it encourages us
and it should
as we know
that his steadfast love
endures forever
for his people
but his love
is troubling.
It is very serious.
It is a love
that cuts
into our hearts
as we come to terms
with our feelings
for God.
that we have not
loved the God
who has loved us
so.
When we turn from him
in different ways
and we do that,
don't we?
If we love something else
or if we spend a moment
maybe backsliding even
and living in a different way
than what we should,
we pretend
to do,
we pretend we can do that
because we think
God does not love us.
We pretend
that he's an abusive,
nasty,
hateful God
and so it's okay
to turn from him.
But we've hated him
in his love.
To be baptised,
to be a member
of this church
or any church,
Christian church,
to be a Christian
is to be wonderfully
marked
by God's love.
But that is a serious
and weighty thing.
The water
that was used
to baptise Zayn,
that is very heavy
water.
It marks Zayn out
as being loved
by God.
It is heavy
and serious.
To have his covenant
love set on you,
it is a heavy thing.
And if that has happened
to you,
you cannot ignore that,
you cannot pretend
that that's not the case.
Who is the man
who is offended
when a woman
sleeps with another man?
Well,
all of us should be,
shouldn't we?
All of us should be
offended by that.
But of course,
it's the husband,
isn't it?
He is the one
who is offended most.
The one who has set
his love on her
is most grieved
by any unfaithfulness
and any unfaithfulness
towards God
from his people
is never just
a casual goodbye.
His true people
cannot simply
walk away from him.
For God,
it instigates
a passion
and holy
jealousy
for his people.
A husband would say,
wouldn't he,
well,
that kind of thing
happens all the time.
It is an awful thing
and it's a regrettable
thing in society
but if my love
did that,
that's a different
thing altogether.
And God's love,
you see,
convicts us
when we
or if we
turn from him.
That is serious
because he has
loved us
and so he cares
what we do
especially.
He cares how we feel
or how we don't feel.
Convicted by his love.
But there is a problem
with that,
isn't there?
Because his love
can only convict us
this morning
if we actually
believe it's true.
His love convicts us
but secondly,
God's love is doubted.
I have loved you,
God says to his people.
But do you believe that?
God loves you.
We teach our children
that, don't we,
in Sunday school.
It's kind of bread and butter
of our faith
that God loves his people.
But do we believe it?
Do we really?
In this row
between God
and the people,
the book of Malachi,
it's marked out
as we'll see
by a series of arguments.
And the first argument
that is between God
and his people
is there in verse 2.
If you look there.
I have loved you,
says the Lord,
but you say,
how have you loved us?
The thing is,
in all of these arguments
in the book of Malachi,
you'll notice that
even though the people
speak back to God,
it's actually God
who says their words,
isn't it?
And he uses the words,
but you say.
That phrase is repeated
throughout the book.
But you say,
but you say.
So God makes a statement
of truth
and he fills in the lines
of the people's response.
They don't have to say
a word actually
because it's obvious
from the way
that they live.
He's giving the response
that maybe the people
won't articulate
themselves out loud.
God says,
I love you,
but I know
what you're thinking.
You don't have to say it.
I will verbalise
your thoughts for you.
Your inner thoughts.
Let's get all of the cards
on the table
about how things
really are in your heart.
Because even though
I love you,
I know,
I know that you
often don't believe that.
He shows us that
behind maybe
the language
that we sometimes use,
especially in church circles,
there can be a deeper
hidden subtext
of what's going on
really in our hearts.
We're not going around
necessarily lying
to each other
consciously,
are we?
But God knows
our true intentions
and the thoughts
of our hearts
at any time.
So it's like
one of those moments
when everyone
is biting their tongues.
Nobody says
what everybody
actually might be thinking
and then somebody
goes and says it.
And God does that.
He says to us,
I want to get real
with you
and I want you
to be real with me.
It's time for some
candid self-examination
because the underlying
issue is that you
doubt so often
what I'm saying here
when I say,
I love you.
I know what you're thinking
because you say
in your heart
how?
How have you loved us,
God?
What have you ever
done for me, God?
you wouldn't dare
say it plainly.
You wouldn't say it
out loud.
So let me say
what you're so often
thinking.
Let me say
how you might be
feeling.
You're thinking
how have you loved
us, God?
And he's right,
isn't he,
so often.
That's why it
takes me ages
to warm up
just to saying
a prayer.
Why reading
the Bible
it seems like
a chore.
How can it
seem like a chore?
When other things
take my affection
away from the Lord,
when I don't feel
warm towards him,
it's because I don't
think that God
loves me.
The fruit of that
forbidden tree,
it's the age-old
problem is that,
isn't it,
that it just seems
so much better
than what God
is and what he
says and that he's
a killjoy.
For the people
of Malachi's day,
they had a
particular set
of issues,
they had their
own reasons
for thinking
that.
If you were
around about
this time last
year, we looked
through the book
of Haggai,
you can remember,
and in that
prophecy, it's
just around about
the same time
in the life
of the people
of Israel,
there was this
grand vision,
wasn't there,
at the end
of Haggai,
of the rebuilt
temple.
The latter glory
of that house
would outweigh
the former glory.
God would shake
the heavens
and the earth
and all the
nations would
bring their
treasures in
and there will
be this cosmic
shift and this
king Zerubbabel
was the king
named to lead
the revolution
for God's
people.
But that was
about 60 years
ago now.
Zerubbabel is
dead, Judah is
now surrounded
by enemies,
and they're only
there under
permission by the
Persian emperor
Cyrus.
The temple is
there, but it's
just okay.
It's been a
while since the
return from
exile.
A lot has
happened, but
there's still
obviously a lot
more still to
come, isn't
there?
And the
assured realities
of Haggai's
day, of
restoration,
are not the
present realities
yet.
And they
struggle with
the now and
the not yet
of waiting
for God's
promises to
be fully
fulfilled.
And the
question in
their hearts
isn't just
then, how
has God
loved us, or
what has God
ever done for
us, but
rather, how
has God
loved us, what
has he done
for us lately?
How have you
loved me right
now, God?
Because the
assured realities
that you've
promised are
not the present
realities of my
life right now.
the king who
was promised, who
was going to
restore the
glory of the
temple, was
Jesus Christ.
And he came,
didn't he?
And much was
fulfilled, and
we see much of
it fulfilled in
the life of the
church today.
But not
everything is
here yet, is
it?
Not everything
is fulfilled.
Victory over
sin and death,
it is complete
on the cross,
nothing more
needs to be
done by
Jesus.
But we
still sin,
don't we?
And we
still die.
If God
loves us, we
might ask, why
am I still
ill?
Why are the
Christian
funerals?
If God
loves me, why
aren't I
immune from
pain and
from illness
and frustration
in this world?
the cross
and the
resurrection, they
were great
then, but we
might think, well
Lord, what have
you done for me
lately?
Those words at
the end of 1
Corinthians, that
death will lose
its sting, those
words are an
assured reality,
aren't they?
But are they a
present reality?
We still die.
We've been
raised with
Christ.
And when a
person becomes a
Christian, a
new creation,
Paul says, our
life is hidden
with Christ.
Nothing more
needs to be done
to forgive you
or give you new
life in Christ.
But the
outworkings of
all that are
still not fully
known.
We are in the
now and in the
not yet too,
aren't we?
And so his
love convicts,
but we so
often doubt his
love, looking at
our circumstances.
So God says,
let me show
you.
Let me
persuade you
that I do,
that I have
loved you.
And the rest
of our short
section this
morning is that
proof from
verse 3 to
5.
Look at verse
3 with me.
How is it
true that I've
loved you?
And here is
the killer
blow.
Is not
Esau
Jacob's
brother.
And we're
thinking, how
is that
supposed to
help?
How does
that convince
us that
you love
us, God?
That God's
love is true,
it's real.
How does that
help?
Well, his love
convicts us and
it is real
because it is
terrifyingly,
wonderfully,
soberingly
exclusive to
us.
It is
exclusive to
us.
That is our
third thing.
Theologians
call Malachi a
post-exilic
minor prophet.
That's just a
posh way of
saying that he's
one of the
smaller prophets
that was written
after the return
from exile.
Now, if you
think about it,
that should be
enough in and
of itself,
shouldn't it,
to convince the
people of his
love.
In case you
forgot, God
says, I
promised that
if you left
me, this would
happen, that
you'd be invaded
by foreign
powers, that
you'd be taken
off to a
foreign land.
I promised
that as early
as Deuteronomy
in the time of
Moses, and I
warned you again
and again that
it would happen.
And it did
happen, and the
very fact that
you're back in
your homeland
should say a
lot, that I
haven't left
you, and I'm
still committed
to you.
He could go
down that route,
couldn't he?
to convince
them that he
loved them.
But what God
does is more
challenging here.
He actually
addresses the
modern preacher's
least favourite
subject, it's
election.
It's God's
choice of a
particular people
for salvation,
and his
rejection of
everybody else.
love.
It's the very
unpopular
teaching that
God's love
is exclusive
to a certain
people.
And God
uses that
as his big
argument here.
He preaches
election to
his people.
Do you
remember, he
says, how all
of this started?
There was this
man called
Jacob, do you
remember?
You know the
story in
Genesis.
Jacob was
given the
name Israel.
He became
the father of
my chosen
people.
He was the
man that I
chose.
And you're
related to
him.
You're here
because of
him.
But don't you
remember that he
also had a
brother, Esau.
And not only
were they
brothers, they
were twins.
There was
nothing to
separate them.
If you read
the stories of
Jacob and
Esau, you can
see that they
were both
rotten scoundrels.
Jacob was that
scheming,
conniving con
man who
posed as the
heir, that
conniving
tow rag.
And Esau
was just as
bad.
He gave up
his birthright
for a bowl
of stew.
They were
both as bad
as each
other.
But God
says, I
chose one of
them.
I chose
Jacob.
I decided
that my
love was
going to be
exclusive to
one of them
and not to
the other.
I loved
Jacob and
I hated
Esau.
And the
story of
Esau and
Jacob perfectly
shows us that
it wasn't that
one of them
was better
than the
other, that
they both
had equally
little claim
on God's
love.
his point
is that
the love
I've shown
to you,
I've shown
to you
exclusively,
my people,
and others
who were
just as
good as
you,
I've
passed by.
Others
equally
deserving
as you
to be in
this church
now,
I've
rejected.
love.
That is
heavy.
That is
heavy love.
That is
serious.
It's
deep and
sobering love,
isn't it,
when you think
about it.
When we see
that there are
people in this
world, there are
people on your
street, there are
people that you
live next door to,
your next door
neighbours even,
in this town that
are just as nice as
you are,
and as I am,
nicer than you.
And God has
chosen not to love
them in this way,
when he's loved
you.
I realise that
talking about
this, talking
about election,
God's choice,
might be the
first time that
you've heard about
this, and that
might raise lots of
questions for you,
and I'd really
genuinely be
delighted in
chatting about
that with you
afterwards.
I can give some
time to that if
you want to ask
some more
questions.
I think it's
quite interesting
how Jesus
himself, the
master preacher,
uses the subject
of God's
choice in
evangelism.
If you read
Matthew chapter
11, it's not
off the table for
preaching, far
from it.
But for the
moment it's
important that
we say that
Esau and those
chosen by God
are never
rejected against
their own
will.
As people
live wanting
no part of
God as Esau
did, and
nothing to do
with him, God
merely gives
them what they
asked for.
Esau happily
gave up his
right to the
inheritance for
a bowl of
stew.
And there is
no one who
is outside of
God's love at
present who
wishes otherwise.
The mercy of
God comes to
people of his
choice and it
gives them
something that
they did not
ask for or
want.
God's choice
and the
stories of
Jacob and
Esau serve
as the
first of the
dominoes of
God's choice
throughout history.
Bible history
shows us that
Esau's descendants
grew and
developed and
they took
ownership of
the land of
Eden.
And so the
choice and the
gifts and the
calling of God
are irreversible.
Because we see
here, don't we,
in Malachi,
centuries later,
Eden remains
rejected by
God.
Ezekiel foretold
their destruction
and it's
happened.
They've suffered
under military
invasion just
like Judah has,
just as Israel
has, but notice
the difference
with Edom here.
Verse 4, if
Edom says we
are shattered
but we will
rebuild the
ruins, the
Lord of hosts
says they may
rebuild but I'll
tear down and
they'll be called
the wicked
country and the
people with whom
the Lord is
angry forever.
They think we'll
bounce back,
the Lord has
rejected us but
we'll be okay.
Notice the
contrast there,
the Edomites are
self-appointed
saviours, they
think that they
can rescue
themselves, that
they can build
themselves up.
Ironically they
do what the
Israelites were
reluctant to do,
build up.
Both Esau and
Israel have
endured God's
judgement in
history but the
end goal is
totally different.
For Esau and
Jacob in the
end.
For the
loved Jacob
judgment will
end up in
restoration and
return.
And for the
rejected Edomites
it will end in
absolute destruction.
So do you get it
this morning?
Do you get what
we're saying?
If you're a
Christian, if you're
baptised, if you're
here even this
morning and you're
not a Christian,
you're very
privileged, can I
put it as bluntly
as possible?
God is saying
here that receiving
my love is not
because you are any
different in
yourself to people
who are heading
for hell.
The only thing
that makes you
different is that
I've chosen you.
love is exclusive
to you.
And as you see
the final destruction
of Edom, you
will see how
differently I have
treated you in
comparison.
I have loved you
in a way that I
have not loved
others.
Paul says to the
Ephesians, he
chose us in
him, that's in
Christ, before the
foundation of the
world, that we
should be holy and
blameless before
him.
In love he
predestined us
for adoption to
himself as sons
through Jesus
Christ.
Now notice how
Paul does not
say there, he
chose us because we
were holy and
blameless.
No, he chose us
that we should be
holy and blameless.
We were no
different.
C.S. Lewis writes
in his book The
Four Loves,
depth beneath
depth and
subtlety within
subtlety, there
remains some
lingering idea of
our own, our
very own
attractiveness.
It is easy to
acknowledge, but
almost impossible to
realize for
long.
That we are
mirrors whose
brightness, if we
are bright, is
wholly derived
from the sun that
shines upon us.
Another
commentator
writes, he
loves us not
because of what
we are, but
because of what
he is.
The light may
shine from you
this morning, if
you are amongst
God's people, but
it is only a
reflection of the
light that has
shone on you
from God.
Simply the fact
of being here
and of being a
Christian, of being
baptised, is a
weighty thing.
That you, my
people, have
received my love
in Christ, and
that I have chosen
you, and it is a
privilege, it is a
serious thing.
Convicts us,
doesn't it?
I have loved you
exclusively.
If you have been
raised in a
Christian home, if
you have got any
interest in God, it
is not because you
are nicer, or
better, or more
moral.
So this love is
quite devastating,
isn't it?
It is weighty.
This week, if
your love is
cold towards God,
perhaps if you're
beginning to move
away from God in
your communion with
him, please
remember these
words.
If you're coming
to terms with
any lack of
faith, or any
lack of love, or
zeal, remember
these words.
any impatience
that you might
have with the
assured realities
not being the
present realities
in your life,
remember these
words.
I have loved
you.
I have loved
you.
It's only the
start of the
conversation, isn't
it, in the
kitchen, in
Malachi, but that
is how God
begins, with
those convicting
and heavy
words.
I have loved
you.
Let's pray.