Embracing God's Love: A Call to Authentic Worship

And I realize more and more, both for myself and for others, that the greatest danger to the church and to our lives is biblical illiteracy. Just not understanding the Bible. And so it's wonderful to be able to know what books to turn to. In time of need. You know, if you're going through a difficult time of suffering, you might know what Psalms to turn to or turn to the book of Job. But equally here in Malachi, there's this sense, wonderful sense of Malachi, and with a number of the minor prophets, of what it really means to worship God. [00:07:56]

The book's written about 100 years after the Jews have returned to Israel. So if you know about the Babylonian exile that took place, the temple was destroyed. The city was left in ruins. And the people were sent off into exile. And about 70 years after that, Jeremiah prophesied it will only be for 70 years. And exactly after 17 years, they returned from their exile to the land. They began rebuilding the temple. They rebuilt the walls. [00:09:38]

Equally, if you've ever wondered, how do I know if I've got a genuinely healthy, relationship with God? Then again, today's your morning because Malachi addresses that very issue throughout, but particularly also in chapter one. And he'll follow on that question of how do we know we've got a genuine, healthy relationship with God? And the thing I love about Christianity and the beauty of it is that almost all these questions we might have about faith, essentially the answer is always found in the same place, in realizing and living in right relationship with God. [00:10:59]

And what's so wonderful about Malachi and about the character of God it shows is the way that Malachi begins. Before God rebukes them, and there's going to be a number of chapters of rebuke coming out here, he reminds them of his love. That's a wonderful reality of the character of God, that he comes to us tenderly as well as comes to us fiercely. [00:12:17]

Malachi is aware that the people are looking at the poverty of their situation, and they're beginning to question God's love. But they never stop to question the poverty of their worship. You know, they're quick to look up, God, where are you? But they're so slow to look in at their own poverty of their worship. And God graciously reassures them, taking them back to the beginning. In Genesis, in the first book of the Bible, he shows God's love has always been present in his promise. [00:13:01]

The point is that neither of these people deserve God's love. Yet God chooses one to fulfill his covenant promise, which began with Abraham and from which God never wavered from his promise. Those children of promise are now the very people that Malachi are speaking to. And he's pointing out how God's love wasn't in question. It had been proven time and time again throughout scriptures, throughout history, throughout circumstances, God's commitment in love. [00:14:33]

The point of it is this. If being chosen by God was based on me and how good I am, then I would never be good enough to follow God. That's the reality. If at any point my salvation, my election, my following of God was dependent on me, failed. And I reckon you guys know me well enough to know that's true of me completely. And if you're willing just for a minute to let the truth out, it's true of every single one of us, not just Rab. [00:18:17]

But since that isn't how God calls us by our effort and our abilities, since it is purely by grace and God's willing commitment, then whatever we might have done in the past, however far from God we might find ourselves, God's call is enough. That's the basis of our faith. How can we know that God loves us? We know God loves us because God is a faithful God who has called us to him. [00:18:54]

God never leaves us where we are. The outward changing behavior is the evidence of the inward dwelling presence. We might say the health of the seen fruits, the way we live our lives, reveal the health of the hidden roots under the ground. And that's really the second major point that Malachi wants to make in this first chapter. [00:20:22]

There was tragically in Israel at this time. That Malachi speaks into a national corruption. In response to God's commitment that we've just seen about. The sense of God choosing them. The sense of God's commitment to them. Israel treated God like a joke. The sacrifice at the temple was at the very heart of the Jewish faith between them and God. [00:21:27]

And the situation that we created. Jesus lovingly and willingly laid down his own life in our place as the willing sacrifice once and for all, never to be repeated like these sacrifices were repeated regularly and annually. With Christ, it was complete. He declared on the cross, didn't he? It is finished once and for all. And when we look at the cross, we see the destruction of our sin, the misery of our situation. [00:24:40]

And the wonderful thing about the great king is that he has the power to lead the kingdom. We saw a little bit about the kingdom last week when Liam was preaching, but the great king brings protection to his people, and in victory he with God, an eternal peace in the midst of our utter turmoil today is the eternal peace of God that God has achieved for us in his son Jesus Christ that's the relationship that we're invited into by God through Malachi to realize that intimacy with God brings us into his family gives us direction of how to live in a way that's harmonious with his household and to bring peace only the king can bring because he's gone into the battle on our behalf and won our salvation [00:37:40]