FAITHLESS TO EACH OTHER (10) God loves His people. It is clear in so many ways. For Malachi, the claim of God's love is immediately grounded in His choosing of Jacob. God's pursuing, electing, covenantal love for His people is without question. But do God’s people love Him? Often, the answer to that question is sad and tragic. Up to this point in Malachi we see God’s love answered with weak worship, spotted offerings, lame leaders, and dung and death. In Malachi 2.10-16 we see the condition of faithlessness added to that of lovelessness. In these few verses we find a people faithless to their covenant community, faithless to God, and faithless to their spouse.

Three Questions, And Three Reasons, To Be Faithful Malachi 2.10 lists three questions that provide three reasons, or motivations, to be faithful. We have one Father, one Creator, and one covenant. The questions posed by God, through Malachi, touch on some of the reasons faithlessness was such an offense. Having one Father made the people one family. Their faithlessness to each other didn’t exist between strangers, but brothers and sisters. Their lack of love for each other was the result of siblings separating. The people also had one Creator. They were dependent creatures made by the One God to function under His reign and rule according to His design. In being faithless they were ignoring the call of God for them to be a people together as a community not just individuals. Related to this is the one covenant. They were a called out people in covenantal relationship with God and each other. Their faithlessness profaned this covenant by destroying unity in favor of selfish living. All too often the church today finds herself in the same place as the people of God during Malachi’s day. We fight, divide, disconnect, and ignore one another.

* What three foundational questions does Malachi provide as three reasons faithlessness was so intolerable? * How often do you think about your church as your family? What would change right now in your commitment to your church if you embraced the people as brothers and sisters?

Faithless To Each Other Malachi says we are faithless and by being this way we profane the covenant. We do damage to relationships and we wreck unity. In the church this faithlessness can be seen far too easily. We find churches packed with consumers instead of contributors, spectators instead of servants, guests instead of family. While any church longing to see their city reached and souls saved will be a visible mix of people and their covenantal connectedness, sadly, those who profess faith in Christ and claim to be His followers stay loosely connected as well, spending their lives consuming, watching, and basically doing nothing.

* Do you consume more than you contribute to your local church? Do you even have a local church that you are devoted to? * Are you more a spectator than a servant to your local community? * Would the elders, or other leaders, of your church see you as a guest or as family?

There are many consequences to covenant faithlessness, with one of the most glaring and deadly, being the weakening of the local church. Covenants are understood to be, at least, a defined relationship between two people and God involving responsibilities and confirmed with a vow. Far too often in churches today we find a loosely connected collection of individuals, using churches, leaving churches, and redefining church. If you are consuming more than you give you may be in danger of using the church. If you are constantly moving from church to church in search of “something better” you are most likely violating the unity of the church. If you have turned the church into something you just attend, can do without, aren’t devoted to, then you have redefined the church to be something other than the Bride of Jesus, His Body, God’s Temple, the dwelling place of the Spirit, a family, etc.

* If you stopped being a part of a church would anyone care? If you left a church would you leave a hole that needs to be filled? * Do you find yourself switching churches often? Have you ever left a church for unbiblical reasons? If you have left a church, why did you leave and what did you do before leaving? * What is the church? What do you think about the church? How central in your life is the church?

FAITHLESS TO GOD (11-12)

Malachi shifts from the general faithlessness of God’s people to each other and directs attention to what is labeled an abomination.

The Abomination Of Rejecting God (Daughter Of Foreign God) Malachi targets the men who were marrying foreign women, daughters of a foreign god. The abomination and profaning of the sanctuary was not about ethnicity, it was theological. Men were taking wives for themselves who didn’t love God, serve God, follow God, fear God, honor God. This would be equivalent today to a Christian marrying a non-Christian, pursuing the most intimate of relationships you can have with another person who has no love for the Savior who bled and died so you could live. In effect, the abomination was rejecting and forsaking God for the affections of a forbidden woman. In other words, trading devotion to God to be devoted to someone who isn’t devoted to God. The result so often of this sort of activity is a weakening of faith, an increase in compromise, and a lack of mission and purpose in life. Your affections are split, your devotion divided, and your life fractured.

* What are some of the implications for a Christian who chooses to marry a non-Christian? * What should a Christian do if they are currently married to a non-Christian? (see 1 Corinthians 7)

Succumbing To Syncretism (Profaning The Sanctuary) While the focus of Malachi 2.11 and following is about marriage, we find a principle of syncretism laid out. Whatever you give room to, in your heart and your life, will have your heart and your life. You can love the sanctuary and still profane it. You can love the church and still leave Her. As Christians in love with Jesus we don’t separate from the world, but we better not marry the world. You need to love the world as John 3.16 states (people who need a savior) but as 1 John 2.15-17 says, you better not love the world for the things the world offers (desire of the flesh and eyes, possessions, the world that is passing away). In fact, loving the world, marrying yourself to the world, is a declaration that you do not love God. Tragically and seductively, this drifting from love and devotion and faithfulness to God often happens over time as you become more entangled in the world, seeking satisfaction from the world. This is what happened during Malachi’s day when men married women that didn’t love God. Eventually their love for God just grew cold. Unfortunately, this is what happens to many in the church, they marry the world and begin to look more like the world. They end up profaning the sanctuary by succumbing to syncretism.

* Why is marrying the world, or the things of the world, in effect rejecting God? * What is the difference in love and engagement in the world between John 3.16 and 1 John 2.15-17? * In what ways are you currently married to the world? Think about what you spend money on, the media you consume, the lifestyle you live. How different from the world that doesn’t love Jesus is your life? Is there any distinction?

Cut Off From God, Even While Bringing Offerings In verse 12 we see a prayer and petition that those who commit the abomination of rejecting God, so they can fornicate with the world, would be cut off. Malachi is praying that the church would not be infested with half-devoted nominally faithful people. A detail even more shocking than the prayer for the removal of these faithless men, is that it is directed to those who were bringing in offerings. What you have in this verse is someone who says they love God, does certain religious activities that appear to honor God, all the while having hearts married to those who hate God. Just because you attend a church, read your Bible, give offerings, serve, does not mean you are devoted to God or not guilty of the abomination that Malachi speaks of in these verses. In some sense, this verse looks more at who you love than what you do, where your heart is, not what your offering is. You can do many religious things but do them with a heart far from God and ultimately end up far from God.

* What does Malachi pray for in this verse? * Do you love God? Do you have affections for God in addition to bringing offerings?

FAITHLESS AND FAVORLESS (13-16)

Malachi continues his discourse on faithlessness by turning attention to men who have left their wives, broken covenant, and offended God.

Weeping For The Wrong Reasons While Being Religious In Malachi 2.12, we see men weeping, covering the altar of their offerings with tears, wondering why God shows them no favor. On first glance, these tears appear like a good sign, an evidence of repentance, confession, and Godly grief. But as we look at the context of the passage we see men weeping for the wrong reasons even while being religious. What we have in these verses is men bringing offerings to God in postured devotion while forsaking their wives. What caused the tears is not their lack of integrity, character and covenantal faithlessness to their wives, but rather, the lack of God’s favor. Their crying was not confession. They are showing sorrow for the situation, not for their sin. They want God’s favor, His faithfulness, but don’t care about their own faithlessness. These men are crying for consequences not for offending God. This is regret not repentance. Put even more bluntly, their tears started when the “treasure” ceased. If God hadn’t withheld favor it seems that the tears would have never started. All too often this is the sort of “repentance” we practice. Tears shed for the situation not for our sin, for consequences not for crucifying Christ. We grieve over the results of sin but not the offense. In other words, we don’t hate sin, we hate that we can’t get away with sin.

* How often do you confess sin? How often do you confess sin prior to the sin being found out by others? When you confess sin do you grieve over the offense to God or is your confession more motivated by guilt or concern of the consequences of your sin? * Read Psalm 51. How is all sin ultimately against God? How does this Psalm impact how you come to God for forgiveness?

A Companion By Covenant God’s favor was withheld because faithfulness was forsaken. When God unites a man and women in marriage He does so in a covenant. This binding one-flesh union is never meant to be broken and faithlessness in marriage is ultimately an offense against God, your spouse, and even the following generations. When we are faithless to our spouse we are forgetting our vows. The vows I made with my wife, my pledge, my oath, have nothing to do with her obedience to me. No. I said I would love, be committed, be faithful, no matter what happens until death. Whatever she chooses to do in our marriage I can be faithful to her and ultimately to God. If I trade the wife of my youth in for a newer version I am not just forsaking her, I am offending God, and I am damaging my kids. Practically, modeled faithlessness often passes to the fowling generations. God is seeking godly offspring, not faithless fathers making faithless followers.

* What vows did you say on your wedding day? How often do you think about your vows? Where are you right now breaking those vows? * Why is God’s judgment on faithlessness so severe? What are some consequences of faithlessness in marriage?

Guard Yourself Or Wear A Violent Garment Those who hate and divorce put on a garment of violence. In other words, they bring destruction and pain. The fallout of a faithless spouse damages families and decays communities. Marital covenantal faithfulness is not just a private issue concerning a husband and wife, but includes children and grandchildren, cities and societies. Sometimes the “violence” seems small but in every case of faithlessness there is pain. It is inescapable. To separate and sever a marriage union is to rip and tear two lives that have been melded into one. There is always damage. Divorce is violence.

* In what ways does divorce bring violence? What are some of the specific results of divorce? * Who does divorce effect?

THE FAITHLESS FINDING FAVOR (Jesus Is Faithful)

Malachi 2.10-16 ends with the command to guard our spirit and to not be faithless. As we have seen faithlessness is destructive. Is does damage to relationships with each other, with God, with our spouses, with our children, and with our society. If we are honest, all of us are guilty of faithlessness in some way. All of us must receive the rebukes of this passage for we have not guarded and we have not been faithful, at least not perfectly. The hope we need for our faithlessness is the faithfulness of the One who is always faithful. If we look inside, or look to others, we will find faithlessness. What we need is the Faithful Husband of a Faithless Bride.

The Faithful Husband Of A Faithless Bride Read Hosea 1 and Hosea 3. In chapter 1 we see God’s call to Hosea to marry Gomer, a wife of whoredom. Hosea is faithful to God’s command and takes to himself a faithless bride. Hosea marries Gomer and has children with her. Sadly, by Hosea chapter 3 we see that Gomer has returned to her previous lifestyle. God commands Hosea to “go again, and love a woman who is loved by another man and even is an adulteress.” I still remember vividly reading through these chapters in January 2008. My devotional time for weeks had been in the book of Hosea and as I sat in a Starbucks reading through these chapters again I was praying that I would be a faithful man like Hosea. I was asking God that no matter what happens in my life with my spouse, my kids, family or friends, or church that I would be faithful. Even if everyone around me was faithless that I would be faithful, that I would “go again” and love those who didn’t love me or who had forsaken me. And as I sat there praying I was leveled with this reality; I am not Hosea, I am Gomer. It felt as if God spoke to me, “You are not faithful, your are faithless, your are not Hosea, you are Gomer.” And I wept. I cried out to God saying “I don’t want to be Gomer. I don’t want to be a whore. I don’t want to run from you or forsake you to fornicate with others.” Still praying the Spirit continued to apply the text and said; “until you know you are Gomer you will never get the Gospel.” I wept again. What I was learning is I will never know what Jesus has done for me on the Cross, until I know how my faithlessness put Him there. Jesus, the perfect faithful husband came and saw a faithless bride and married her anyway. He bought her with His blood and covered her in the wedding garments of His righteousness.

* Where do you find yourself in Hosea chapters 1 and 3? Do you believe you are like Gomer? * How would you explain the Gospel from Malachi 2.10-16? How is Jesus the hero of these verses?

Faithful From Faithfulness I am unfaithful, but Jesus is not, and by His faithfulness I find hope and strength to be faithful and I find grace and forgiveness for when I am not. As I learn and remember that I am Gomer God makes me more like Hosea. As I see what Jesus has done for me in my unfaithfulness I learn to be faithful. When I see the forgiveness He grants to me, at the cost of His life, I can forgive lesser offenses, whether my spouse, my kids, my family or friends, or my church. When I remember His commitment to His Bride, I stay committed to mine. As I see how Jesus loves the church and gave up His life for her, I follow in love for my wife. When I am faithless I remember I have a faithful Husband who will never leave or forsake his bride. Jesus will not profane the covenant. Jesus will not forsake the wife of His youth. Faithlessness brings violence and destruction but Jesus by His faithfulness brings peace and restoration, with God and with each other.

* How does experiencing Christ’s faithfulness make you more faithful? * How does knowing the Gospel allow you to find forgiveness for unfaithfulness and grow you to be more faithful? * What do you need to seek forgiveness from for being unfaithful? * Who do you need to forgive that has been unfaithful to you in light of the forgiveness you have received for being unfaithful to God?

REPENT OR DIE (1-3)Wicked leaders breed death. Godly leaders bring life. Which kind of leader are you? What kind of leaders are you following? Malachi 2.1-3 is loaded with a potent rebuke for weak worthless priests, calling them out to basically repent or die. Malachi 2.4-7 also records the life and peace that comes from God through godly leaders. The church today needs to hear these verses and after listening, to hear them again. Pulpits across our nation are often filled with peddlers not preachers, weaklings not warriors, and men more concerned with their popularity than with Jesus. It is sad. It is deadly.

The Kind Of Men No One Needs In Malachi 2.1-3 we are given a brief but colorful picture of the kind of men no one needs. These are men who don’t fear or honor God. Men who don’t care whether the church brings God spotted offerings and weak worship (see Malachi 1). Leaders too scared to speak truth, too distant from God to care, and too concerned with receiving honor instead of giving it. Men like this would be laughable if they didn’t damage so many with their spineless, sinful, self-gratifying leadership. Men like this never sin alone. They drag others to death with them and model poorly what it means to follow Jesus. They fear men, not God, and therefore forge fearful men who are far from God.

•    Summarize the rebuke given in Malachi 2.1-9 against these woeful priests •    Why does God directly rebuke the priests when all of His people are guilty of not honoring or fearing Him? •    Do you think the rebuke of this passage can be levied against leaders today? Why?

Cursed Blessings If the priests don’t repent God will curse them. He will curse their blessings. He will pour out upon them His personal wrath over their pathetic leadership. A few reasons for God’s fury for these priests is that the people they lead are God’s people. The church is Christ’s bride, the sheep belong to the Chief Shepherd. Leaders today need a constant reminder that they are not The Leader, The Shepherd, The Priest. No, they are underlings, and under-shepherds operating under the authority of the Great King. This should have caused the priests in Malachi’s day to fear and honor God by serving the people instead of themselves, just as pastors today should lead as followers of Jesus for His glory and not their own.

•    How would you apply these verses to leaders in the church today? •    What are some reasons that the church seems so willing to put up with leaders who don’t fear God or honor His name? •    What are the generational implications for weak leaders? How do weak leaders make weak leaders?

A Face Full Of Fertilizer And Forsaken In addition to cursed blessings and rebuked offspring we see an activity of God that is jarring and shocking. Malachi 2.3 says that God will take the dung of the worthless half-hearted offerings the priests are bringing and will wipe their faces with it. God takes the defecation of deficient worship and smears it on these dejected leaders. Instead of receiving the offering as worship, God rejects the priests and sends them outside the camp. In other words, weak worshippers are carried away with weak worship. This act of God publically shamed and defiled the priests. The honor these leaders sought for themselves is tarnished as they are visibly disqualified from the office they held. The warnings and threats of this passage should cause many leaders to look at their own standing before God and to ask if they honor Him or seek honor for themselves, if they fear God or fear man. God’s name will be great among the nations, His name will be feared, He will be honored, is He great to you? •    How will spotted, blemished, half-hearted worship shame the worshipper? •    How does allowing weak worship disqualify you from leading? •    How does this verse play out in the church today?

FEAR AND AWE (4-7)

In light of the first three verse of Malachi 2 verse four is a breath of fresh air. The bedrock of verse 4 is God’s faithfulness to His covenant, His name and His people. We read in Malachi 2.4-7 of a different kind of leader. Here we see a leader of God’s people that is first and foremost a follower of God. We see a man who fears God, trembles in awe before His Name, preaches the Word, practices what he preaches, speaks of sin and protects people by speaking God’s Words.

God Raises Up Men By Removing Mice God clears away weak leaders to make way for men who will fear His name and preach His word. Malachi 2.3 speaks of leaders being removed and verses 4 and following speak of the kind of men God raises up to replace them.

•    Spend time asking God to remove weak leaders of the kind Malachi 2.1-3 speaks of •    Ask God to raise up godly men who will walk in step with Malachi 2.4-7 •    Thank God for leaders in your life who have led you by following Jesus, men who feared God more than they feared you, and who were willing to preach not for popularity but to please God.

Reverence And Relationship A few characteristics mark out the kind of man who leads and cares for God’s people well. Men who lead well are men who fear God and stand in awe of His name. These are men who have been confronted with the God of the Bible, the God of creation, the Trinitarian thrice Holy God and did not walk away unwounded or unmoved. These are men who know God is not safe. These are leaders that don’t domesticate God or remake Him in their image but fall before Him and cry out “woe is me.” The covenant of life and peace is with the one that knows God is an all consuming fire and that it is not right nor wise to treat Him lightly as if He was a trained dog following commands or as a sky-genie granting wishes. No, these are men who bow and tremble and fear and praise. Men with faces to the ground and hands raised high in honor. These are servants before the Master and sons before the Father.

•    How does the Bible teach us to fear God and to stand in awe of His name? •    How does your knowledge of God directly impact your approach to God? •    How often do you think of God in terms of fear and awe?

Messenger Of The Lord (6-7) A man that fears God and honor’s His name gets to carry the role of messenger of the Lord. A priest should guard knowledge and people should find instruction from his mouth. The kind of man pictured in verses 4-7 is someone who preaches the word, practices what he preaches, rebukes sin, and protects people by preaching truth. This is not the kind of preacher who sprinkles verses into a sermon and offers anecdotes and opinions. No. This is a leader who trembles at God’s Word and love’s His law. This is a man who knows his opinions are worth very little compared to the God-breathed, Holy Spirit inspired, inerrant, living, active, soul-piercing, life-giving Word. A man like this will turn many from iniquity because he speaks of sin and salvation. A leader like this will protect people best by preaching the Word most.

•    Why is it so important that a leader love the Word? •    What does it look like today for a leader to handle the Word of God in the way that verses 6-7 speak of? •    How is life and doctrine connected in this passage in the life and lecturing of a leader? Why is it necessary for a leader to watch both their life and doctrine?

DESPISED AND ABASED (8-9)

Verse 8 turns us back to weak leaders who have turned away from following God, have taught others to do the same and have corrupted the covenant God has made with His people.

Weakening Worshippers Through Woeful Teaching (The Church Suffers) The priests are not walking according to the Word, and they are not teaching the Word. Both their life and their doctrine are flawed and unfortunately they are not alone. One of the great tragedies of lame leaders is the weakening of the Church. Their bad doctrine and half-hearted living leads many to stumble. As we apply these verses to the church today we see men who are healed lightly, following weakly, and “affectionally” stunted. These are often preachers speaking of a God they do not know, do not love, do not honor and do not fear. Doctrinally this creates all sorts of problems as they instruct poorly. We may see this in atheological teaching. This often works out as anti-theology, poorly developed theology, ambiguous theology, or an attempt at no theology. Some teachers are more heterodox as they reach for “generosity” and end up in syncretism and heresy. This heresy may flow from ignorance and in its worse cases stems from hostility to God and His Word. All too often a preacher may speak with a devil’s orthodoxy. They make true statements about God but these statements are lifeless. These are men with orthodoxy and no doxology growing churches with no passion, no heart, no worship, no fear, and no awe.

•    What are the different ways a preacher might cause people to stumble by their instruction? •    What is the result of poor instruction? How does bad teaching harm the church?

Finished, But Not Well (Despised And Abased For Life And Doctrine) The priests addressed and rebuked in these verses reach an end that none of us should desire. God makes them despised and abased before all people because they do not keep His ways or preach His Word. As we read through Malachi 2.1-9 we see that weak, woeful leaders generate weak leaders, harm churches, and finish poorly. These are the type of men no one needs but unfortunately they are too often the type of men the church is full of.

LIFE AND PEACE (The Gospel And “Gospeled” Leaders)

The Only Man We Need (Follow Jesus) Malachi 2.1-9 ends in condemnation but praise God the story doesn’t end with these despised and abased leaders. The weakness of these wicked priests points all the more to the need for a great high priest who is totally unlike them. While much of this passage describes the kind of men no one wants, we are compelled to look for the only Man who we truly need. As our eyes shift from this passage they search to find the kind of man described in Malachi 2.4-7, and in the God-man Jesus Christ we find Him. A man who loved the law and mediated on it day and night. A man who’s mouth was filled with God’s Words and true instruction. A man who walked in the paths of righteousness. Jesus loved the law and lived the law, and then as the perfect High Priest died for those who didn’t love the law or live the law. This is perhaps the biggest contrast we see between the rebuked priests and our Redeemer Jesus Christ. Wherein the wicked leaders were destroying the people they were called to serve, we see Jesus die for His people bringing a covenant of life and peace. Jesus is the One Man we truly need.

•    How does this passage point you to Jesus? •    How is Jesus the hero of this passage? The Kind Of Men We Want (Follow Those Who Follow Jesus) We need Jesus and we want men to lead who know they need Jesus. In other words, in our churches we should pray and seek and ask God to fill our churches with men who follow Jesus with fear and awe. A.W. Tozer captures this desire well in his essay; “We Need Men Of God Again.” As you read through this essay ask God to raise up these kinds of men.

“We Need Men Of God Again” A.W. Tozer The Church at this moment needs men, the right kind of men, bold men. The talk is that we need revival, that we need a new [movement] of the Spirit—and God knows we must have both; but God will not revive mice. He will not fill rabbits with the Holy Ghost.

We languish for men who feel themselves expendable in the warfare of the soul, who cannot be frightened by threats of death because they have already died to the allurements of this world. Such men will be free from the compulsions that control weaker men. They will not be forced to do things by the squeeze of circumstances; their only compulsion will come from within—or from above.

This kind of freedom is necessary if we are to have [powerful preachers] in our pulpits again instead of mascots. These free men will serve God and mankind from motives too high to be understood by the rank and file of religious retainers who today shuttle in and out of the sanctuary. They will make no decisions out of fear, take no course out of a desire to please, accept no service for financial considerations, perform no religious act out of mere custom; nor will they allow themselves to be influenced by the love of publicity or the desire for reputation.

Much that the church—even the evangelical church—is doing these days she is doing because she is afraid not to. Ministerial associations take up projects for no higher reason than that they are being scared into it. Whatever their ear-to-the-ground, fear-inspired reconnoitering leads them to believe the world expects them to do they will be doing come next Monday morning with all kinds of trumped-up zeal and show of godliness. The pressure of public opinion calls these prophets, not the voice of Jehovah.

The true church has never sounded out public expectations before launching her crusades. Her leaders heard from God and went ahead wholly independent of popular support or the lack of it. They knew their Lord’s will and did it, and their people followed them—sometimes to triumph, oftener to insults and public persecution—and their sufficient reward was the satisfaction of being right in a wrong world.

Another characteristic of the true [man of God] has been love. The free man who has learned to hear God’s voice and dared to obey it has felt the moral burden that broke the hearts of the Old Testament prophets, crushed the soul of our Lord Jesus Christ and wrung streams of tears from the eyes of the apostles.

The free man has never been a religious tyrant, nor has he sought to lord it over God’s heritage. It is fear and lack of self-assurance that has led men to try to crush others under their feet. These have had some interest to protect, some position to secure, so they have demanded subjection from their followers as a guarantee of their own safety. But the free man—never; he has nothing to protect, no ambition to pursue and no enemy to fear. For that reason he is completely careless of his standing among men. If they follow him, well and good; if not, he loses nothing that he holds dear; but whether he is accepted or rejected he will go on loving his people with sincere devotion. And only death can silence his tender intercession for them.

Yes, if evangelical Christianity is to stay alive she must have men again, the right kind of men. She must repudiate the weaklings who dare not speak out, and she must seek in prayer and much humility the coming again of men of the stuff prophets and martyrs are made of. God will hear the cries of His people as He heard the cries of Israel in Egypt. And He will send deliverance by sending deliverers. It is His way among men.

And when the deliverers come . . . they will be men of God and men of courage. They will have God on their side because they will be careful to stay on God’s side. They will be co-workers with Christ and instruments in the hand of the Holy Ghost. . . .

The Type Of People We Will Be As we look to Jesus and follow those that follow Jesus we will be people who fear God, stand in awe of His name, turn from sin and live in salvation. May God by His mercy and grace fill our churches with leaders who serve under the Perfect Leader, Jesus Christ. May our churches be led by the only Senior Pastor, Jesus Christ with servants under Him for His glory and the good of His people. We need leaders in our churches but only leaders who know that first they are followers, and who follow with fear and awe. As we follow Jesus, and follow those who follow Jesus the promise of this passage is we receive life and peace not dung and death.

Malachi 1.6-14 (Worship) SPOTTED OFFERINGS AND MISDIRECTED HEDONISM (6-8)

Our actions are often the result of our affections. We do what our hearts want. Malachi is an immensely practical book as it illustrates what it looks like to be a people with misguided affections resulting in sinful actions. In Malachi 1.6-14 we see a people made for God’s glory worshiping creation instead of the Creator. As we encounter a people more enamored with their gifts than the Giver we are confronted with our own sinful tendency to treasure trinkets more than Christ. In the first verse of this passage we hear the rebuke, through God’s questions, that He is not being honored as the Father or feared as the Master. His name is despised by polluted offerings. The picture of the priests bringing spotted sacrifices is illustrative of half-hearted worship flowing forth from half-hearted worshipers.

Giving God What You Won’t Miss, Giving God What You Don’t Want (6-7)

Hopefully, we would readily confess that we give God less than He deserves. However, identifying the specific areas where we need the most growth can be difficult. The following questions focus on the clock and on cash as a framework for discerning where you are giving God what you won’t miss and what you don’t want.

• What does your average weekly schedule look like? Write out what it has been, not what you want it to be. Does this schedule reflect someone who is living for God’s glory? Would others look at the way you spend your time and say you love Jesus more than television, for example? Now, make an ideal schedule that reflects an understanding that your time is God’s time and that you want to worship Him with the clock.
• Cash can’t lie and where your treasure is there your heart is. Evaluating how you spend money is a practical way of seeing what’s important to you. If you don’t have a budget (or a budget that’s accurate) make one. Who or what is worshipped by this budget? If someone saw your budget would they know you love Jesus? Is there something that needs to change with the way you spend money?
• It is right to see the gifts you have as good things. It is right to treasure gifts that God has given (such as a spouse, children, your health, etc.) What is not right is turning these good things into gods. How do you treasure Christ with your treasures? Are you holding too tightly to anything other than Jesus? What, other than Jesus, if you lost right now would destroy you?

Why We Bring Leftovers (8)

One of the questions raised in verse 8 is why we think we can get away with such weak worship. We would rarely insult an earthly leader with the level of disrespect and disinterest we so often give God. In truth, we often give much more honor and interest to our celebrities, our employers, our friends and our stuff than we do the LORD Of Hosts, the Great King. Our misplaced worship often flows from devaluing God and overvaluing stuff. In other words, we have very dim views of God and very inflated views of everything else.

• Read Genesis 1; Psalm 29, Psalm 145; Isaiah 6.1-7, Isaiah 46; Colossians 1.15-20; and Revelation 4-5. What do these passage do to your understanding of who God is? What needs to change about your view of God from these passages?
• Read Psalm 27, Psalm 73 and Psalm 84. Is this how you feel about God? In what ways does your life reflect the love for God that is found in these Psalms?

GOD WILL BE GREAT (9-11)

Two times in verse 11 we read the phrase; “my name will be great among the nations.” God is passionate for His glory. He is a great God and will be praised as a great God. Spotted offerings and weak worship are offensive and intolerable to Him. The following questions are hard but if received as God’s discipline, producing godly grief, they will bring a godly life.

God Hates Half-Hearted Worship

Read through the following passages; Matt 15.7-9; Rev 3.15-22, Isa 1.12-15.

• How does God feel about half-hearted worship?
• Read Malachi 1.10-11. How do you feel about half-hearted worship? When was the last time you were angry because God was not being glorified?

WEAK WORSHIP (12-14)

Weak worship is a disease that brings death and decay to our lives and our churches. All around us we can see the rotting effects of “nominal Christianity.” Half-hearted Christians are often hell bound people (see Revelation 3.14-22) who confuse our culture about Christianity, live unproductive selfish lives, and teach others to do the same.

Your Weak Worship Is Unacceptable, And Yet Teach It’s Fine (12-13)

• Can you think of specific examples of how churches teach that nominal Christianity is acceptable?
• What does lukewarm Christianity look like? In what ways is your life teaching others that a lukewarm life is fine?

Your Weak Worship Has Hardened Your Heart, And You Don’t Even Care (13)

As God rebukes His people for bringing weak worship we see a sad and too common response, that of scoffing. In verse 13 we actually see people snorting at God and claiming that His discipline is wearisome. Weak worship hardens our hearts from caring that we have offended God and from hearing his word to us.

• Do you love discipline or do you hate reproof? (see Proverbs 12.1)
• How do you see the hardening of hearts in the church today? Where do you see this verse played out in your own life?

Your Weak Worship Has Cursed You, What Will You Do? (14)

• What does your weak worship deserve?
• What have you done to be cursed?

"GOSPELED" WORSHIP

Malachi 1 ends with a promise based upon an eternal truth; God is a great King (truth), and His name will be feared among the nations (promise). In light of these realities we must respond. It is foolish and deadly to read the rebukes issued in this chapter and walk away unchanged, unchallenged, and unrepentant. God is a great King and His name will be feared, but is He your King and do you fear Him?

Repent Of Your Half-Hearted Worship (You Need The Gospel: The Perfect Worshiper)

The curse claimed in Malachi 1.14 is rightfully earned by everyone for their half-hearted worship. Many times over we have all vowed to God what we have kept for ourselves. Our hope comes not first and foremost by becoming perfect worshippers but by repenting of our cruse-deserving, God-offending, half-hearted, weak worship and turning to the perfect worshiper, the spotless offering, Jesus Christ.

• How is Jesus’ life credited to us?
• Why do we need Jesus to be the perfect worshiper for us?
• How does the Gospel allow us to hear the rebuke of this passage, repent and be transformed, while not experiencing condemnation or worldly grief?

Confess Your Need For A Curse Bearer (You Need The Gospel: The Spotless Offering)

Malachi 1 leaves all who read it with the knowledge they should be cursed for their careless worship. As you repent of half-hearted worship it is important to also confess the need for a Curse-Bearer to stand in your place for unfaithful and dishonoring worship to God.

• How does Jesus bear the curse that you deserve for worshipping other gods?
• What does it mean to believe that Jesus is the Spotless Offering, the Perfect Worship? Why is this good news for Christians that are loved by God as they are in Christ? (See Hebrews 9-10)

Loved Much. Love Much. (Affections)

John Owen says this; “So much as we see of the love of God, so much shall we delight in Him, and no more.” Malachi 1.6-14 points out clearly that our affections for God are too small and our appetites too easily satisfied by lesser pleasures. One of the best antidotes for lukewarm affections for God is to meditate upon the Gospel of Christ. It is impossible to see what Jesus has done in your place without being moved with love for Him. Use the following questions to help you see God’s love and learn to delight in Him and in no more.

• What did Jesus do to forgive your sins? What sins did Jesus pay for?
• What did it cost God to bear your curse for half-hearted worship?

Speaking And Showing, Satisfied And Singing (Actions From Affections)

As we see the Gospel and taste its goodness our appetites are changed and we long to fast from this world so we can feast on God. Our passions shift, our priorities are reordered, and we become a people who long to bring God more than leftovers. Below you will find the lyrics from the hymn; Take My Life And Let It Be. As you read through this hymn, answering questions as you go, ask God to make it both your request and your confession. As a request the song becomes a petition that God take your life, even when you don’t want to give it; as a confession, the song becomes a statement that your life is His and His alone.

Take My Life And Let It Be (word by Frances Havergal)

Take my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee. Take my moments and my days; let them flow in ceaseless praise. Take my hands, and let them move at the impulse of Thy love. Take my feet, and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee.

• What would change in your life right now if every morning you asked God to take ever moment of the coming day and use it to praise Him?
• What are specific ways that God is using, or wants to use, your hand and your feet to bring Him glory in your city?

Take my voice, and let me sing always, only, for my King. Take my lips, and let them be filled with messages from Thee. Take my silver and my gold; not a mite would I withhold. Take my intellect and use, every power as You choose.

• Is God’s Word in your mind and heart so when your voice sings and your lips speak they are filled with messages from Him?
• What mites are you holding that God wants you to give? Are you generous in light of the Cross or do you give the minimum you can to not feel guilty?
• Are all your gifts, every power, used for His glory or your fame?

Take my will, and make it Thine; it shall be no longer mine. Take my heart, it is Thine own; it shall be Thy royal throne. Take my love, my Lord, I pour at Thy feet its treasure store. Take myself, and I will be ever, only, all for Thee.

• What does it look like practically in your life to have your will be God’s will?
• Is your heart God’s throne? Is He your passion? Is Jesus your ultimate love?
• How does the Gospel produce this song without producing condemnation?

Malachi 1.1-5, LOVED

THE ORACLE OF THE WORD OF THE LORD: Malachi, among many things, is a book of rebuke and correction. There is much grace offered, but additionally, that grace is meant to produce repentance. As you prepare to study through this book it is important to understand the different ways you can respond to the Malachi’s message. After you read through the different approaches decide which response you are going to pray God grants you.

Ignore: Some may choose to ignore the message of Malachi. This can happen through dismissing too quickly God’s Word in this Book. Ignoring can also happen by drowning out its message by cluttering up your life with busyness or by medicating the message away through distraction.

• Do you believe you need the message of Malachi?
• Is your life too busy to sit and listen to this text? In what ways might you try to medicate and distract yourself from Malachi?

Worldly Grief: Read 2 Corinthians 7.8-11

• What is the result of worldly grief?
• How is worldly grief the product of a religious attitude?
• How does worldly grief produce confession without repentance?

Godly Grief: Read 2 Corinthians 7.8-11

• What are the results of godly grief?
• How does godly grief reflect a “gospeled” life?

WHO THE WORD IS TO: Like every book in the Bible, Malachi is written to a specific people in a specific time. Familiarity with the cultural setting of the book is helpful in understanding the message for us today. Many of the issues Malachi was addressing in his time are the same problems that plague the church today. Following is a brief list of the different “types” of people addressed in Malachi. As you look at each of these approaches to faith ask yourself where you see evidences of each of these “worldviews” in your life.

Practical Atheism (Live As If God Doesn’t Exist, Material And Temporary)

• How often do you consciously think about God throughout your day?
• How much of your day is spent focused on material and temporary things?

Functional Deism (Live As If God Doesn’t Care, Distant And Indifferent)

• What does your prayer life look like? Does it feel like anyone is listening?
• How often to do you talk with God about decisions and direction in your life?

Cynical Agnosticism (No Judgment, No Resurrection, No Relationship)

• How often do you think about the return of Jesus?
• How often do you think about eternity and heaven?

Religious Formalism (Spotted Leftovers, Minimum Offerings, And Rule Driven Routines. Obedience To Be Accepted)

• Is your faith more rule-oriented or relational?
• When you fail in your obedience do you believe God is going to leave you?
• Do you find yourself doing the very minimum you can so God “isn’t angry with you?”

Stoic Spirituality (Passionless Worship, Lukewarm Affections, And A Joyless Relationship)

• What is your passion?
• What do you spend most of your time talking about, thinking about, excited about?

Misdirected Hedonism (Immediate, Finite, Comfort Seeking And Control)

• In what ways do you pursue temporary pleasure in place of eternal satisfaction?
• What do you delight in?

GOD’S CONTRACONDITIONAL LOVE David Powlison asserts, “the Gospel is better than unconditional love. The Gospel says, “God accepts you just as Christ is. God has ‘contraconditional’ love for you.” Christ bears the curse you deserve. Christ is fully pleasing to the Father and gives you His own perfect goodness. Christ reigns in power, making you the Father’s child and coming close to you to begin to change what is unacceptable to God about you. God never accepts me “as I am.” He accepts me “as I am in Jesus Christ.” The center of gravity is different. The true Gospel does not allow God’s love to be sucked into the vortex of the soul’s LUST for acceptability and worth in and of itself. Rather, it radically decenters people—to look outside themselves.” The following questions attempt to unpack Powlison’s insights as applied to Malachi 1.2-5.

God Has Loved You

• In what way is God’s love the ground of the entire book of Malachi?
• Why are God’s words both unexpected and undeserved?
• Why did God love (choose) Jacob and hate (reject) Esau? (See Romans 9)
• How can a holy God love sinful people?
• Why is God’s contraconditional love such good news for sinners? How does God’s love for us “as we are in Christ Jesus” both comfort us and compel us to respond?

Responding To God’s Love The rebukes throughout the book of Malachi are particularly strong in light of the initiatory, electing, contraconditional love of God for His people. This kind of love demands a response. God’s love will produce a response. Read the entire book of Malachi in one sitting asking these two questions:

• How has God loved His people?
• Have God’s people loved Him?

Fasting And FeastingAs I was preparing for Malachi I sensed something that as a church will be unique for us, a corporate fast. My hope is that as a church we will see individuals, by God's grace, fast throughout the entire 7-week series. In other words, that at least one individual will fast every day from the start of the series on April 25th until we end the series with a feast on June 6th.

To prepare for the fast I found the following summary by John Piper helpful in focusing my affections and my mind towards some Biblical aims of fasting. Here are six aims Piper provides for reasons to fast:

1. For Jesus to come back Matthew 9:14-15: Then the disciples of John came to Him, asking, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?” 15 And Jesus said to them, “The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast

2. For help in a new venture in ministry Matthew 4:1-2: Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry.

Acts 13:3: Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.

3. To avert some danger or threat Ezra 8:21: Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God to seek from Him a safe journey for us, our little ones, and all our possessions.

2 Samuel 12:16: David therefore inquired of God for the child; and David fasted and went and lay all night on the ground.

4. To express sorrow and loss 2 Samuel 1:12: They mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and his son Jonathan and for the people of the LORD and the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword

1 Chronicles 10:12: All the valiant men arose and took away the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons and brought them to Jabesh, and they buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh, and fasted seven days. 5. To express repentance and grief for sin Joel 2:12-13: “Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “Return to Me with all your heart, And with fasting, weeping and mourning; 13 And rend your heart and not your garments.” Now return to the LORD your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness And relenting of evil.

6. Not for the praise of men Matthew 6:16-18: Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 17 But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face 18 so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

In reflecting on my prayer time and preparation for Malachi over the last year there are a number of reasons that fasting seems of the Spirit and exceedingly appropriate for a study like Malachi. I imagine all of the Biblical aims Piper summarized above will come into play through our study of Malachi. Perhaps the biggest aim I sense in fasting, is the practical discipline of willingly removing things that often curb our hunger for God so we can learn to feast on Him as The Only One who can truly satisfy. For now consider praying and asking God if you should participate in this corporate fast and to what extent. Some may choose to fast multiple days throughout this series, others may be led not to fast  (for medical or other reasons) but to pray for those that are. If you are going to fast I strongly recommend John Piper’s book, “A Hunger For God” as a helpful and inspirational book on what it means to desire God through fasting and prayer.

Let me end this brief call to fast with Matthew 6.16-18. Jesus says; “16And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” As you prepare to fast this passage would be a good one to memorize. Jesus’ words teach us that fasting when rightly understood and practiced is not a gloomy and sad experience but a joyful time of enjoying the Father more than anything else. What could be a more glorious in fasting than feasting on the Father’s reward? My prayer for our church is a deeper hunger for God and a lessening thirst for the things of this world. For God’s glory and our satisfaction in Him, Amen.