November 13 - Malachi 1 - "A Little Respect"

MPC 13th November 2016.

Phil Campbell

If you're any kind of Harry Potter fan you'll know that after Harry's mum and dad were killed he was taken in by the Dursley family. Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and his cousin Dudley.

It wasn't hard to see what they thought of him. They set up Harry's bed in the broom closet under the stairs.

Dudley's gets a computerised robot for Christmas; they give Harry gets a box of dog biscuits.

For his tenth birthday, they give Harry a wire coat hanger and a pair of Uncle Vernon's old socks.

If you've done the parenting course, you'll know they say there are five love languages. There's physical touch. There's giving your time. There are words of affirmation. There are acts of service. And there's the giving of gifts.

And of course as you read those scenes in Harry Potter if you've got any sort of empathy you get a little lump in your throat, because it's just made so very obvious from the gifts they give him that poor Harry isn't loved at all.

It's abundantly clear. It couldn't be clearer.

This morning we're starting a three week visit to the last book in the Old Testament. The book of the Prophet Malachi.

And the fact is, the people of Israel are treating God in exactly the same way.

The God of the Universe. Relegated to the cupboard under the stairs, and treated like an inconvenience.

This is the final book of the Old Testament. And this is what it's come to.

The sweeping story of the people of God. Called to be his faithful covenant people. Chosen and cherished by God over every other nation. The line from the family of Abraham that he's preferenced over every other line; the nation he's loved more than any other nation.

He gave them their promised land.

They flourished; they had a line of kings. That we've been following the last few weeks.

But all along God's saying to them; ignore me, and there'll be a national exile. Ignore me, and you'll be thrown out of your promised land and scattered around the nations.

And they ignored him anyway. And so the exile came. Jerusalem crushed, the rich and powerful carted off to Babylon. For 70 years.

And then home again. For a fresh start.

Home again. And they've rebuilt their walls, and they've rebuilt their temple. And they're rebuilding their nation. Back in business.

Day by day, week by week, bringing their gifts to the temple. Their gifts of love. To the God who loves them.

Except of course, there's a problem.

The Harry Potter problem.

Which shows in the end, what's really going on.

And that's where Malachi steps in. As the final spokesman of God. Right at the very end. Of Israel's long story.

I think it's maybe a good idea just to stand back for a moment and ask the question, who is this God that they're dealing with? Because it's central to the issue. And they seem to have forgotten.

Who is this God who's loved them in verses 2 and 3; who's preferenced them over every other tribe?

Who is this God who's chosen from the beginning Jacob's line: the Israelites. Over Esau's line, the Edomites.

Because that doesn't mean for a minute that he's just going to be Israel's private domesticated God. Israel's vending machine on the corner. Just the contrary.

Because the thing everyone's going to see, in verse 5, is that Israel's God is a great God... Even beyond the borders of Israel. That's in a sense a theme that runs right through the passage. That not just the Israelites are going to honour God. But one day all the nations.

5 You will see it with your own eyes and say, 'great is the Lord-even beyond the borders of Israel!'

But of course that's going to need to start within the borders of Israel. Isn't it?

Run down the page. Verse 8. This is the Lord almighty we're dealing with. Same words in verse 9. Not just some trivial tribal God. And the same title again in verse 10. And verse 11. And verse 13 and 14.

Israel's God. Is the Lord almighty.

And focus in on verse 11... Here's the plan. From the East to the West, every corner of the compass, every tribe and nation; God says,

11 "My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to me, because my name will be great among the nations," says the Lord Almighty.

And it's the same again right down at the end of the chapter, the end of verse 14.

"For I am a great king," says the Lord Almighty, "and my name is to be feared among the nations."

Feared. Held in awe. And honour. Loved like the king he is. Not just by Israel, but the world.

And so again, here's the problem. Given that gifts are a love language, given that the gifts we give sometimes speak louder than words, let's take a look at what Israel's giving. As a sign of how they honour God.

Imagine the queen comes to visit. You're the one who's going to present her with the official bunch of flowers. What's it going to say to her... If you turn up with a bunch of last weeks wilted roses from the front bucket at Woolies?

When it comes to their sacrifices, that's what Israel's doing... all the time.

Verse 6, Israel's not even giving God the honour a dad gets from his son. Israel's not even giving God the honour a master gets from his slave.

And here's why. The Priests, when they bring the temple sacrifices, are really just going through the motions.

The sacrificial system, it was simple enough. Spelt out right back at the beginning in books like Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Because God is holy and Israel wasn't; they'd constantly recognise that. By bringing the best of their flocks. Bringing something without defects. And sacrificing it as a substitute. For their own failures.

The perfect and innocent. In place of the guilty.

If it's a grain offering, Leviticus 2, it's to be their finest flour. Their very best. Their first fruits. The first and best.

If it's a fellowship offering, or a sin offering or a guilt offering... An animal... Without defect.

And then the priests sacrifice it. And sprinkle the blood.

That's the system. So fast forward to the end of the story; Israel's back from their exile, they're starting again. And Malachi the prophet says to Israel on behalf of God, you've shown ...

Contempt for my name. By offering defiled food on my altar.

By causally bringing your worst. Instead of your best. By bringing me the sort of gifts and offerings the Dursleys dished up for Harry Potter as a mark of their disdain for him.

By halfheartedly curtsying and presenting your bunch of dead roses to the Queen.

You act all innocent and say, how have we defiled you? Verse 7...

Here it is. Verse 8. I mean, surely it doesn't really matter? Here's a blind one. This one's not going to get a good price at the market. Perfect. For the sin offering, isn't it?

Here's a mangy lame one. Send it to the temple. Perfect. For the thank offering. Isn't it?

I mean, why does it matter?

Read verse 8 to get the full impact.

8 "When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?" says the Lord Almighty.

And yet I'm far greater that your governor. Far higher than your King.

God says, I'd rather you just stopped. Just stopped going through the motions. I'd rather you just shut the temple doors. And put a sign up.

Like the big sign over at Masters. Store closing.

Verse 10.

"Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you," says the Lord Almighty, "and I will accept no offering from your hands. 12 But you profane it by saying, 'the Lord's table is defiled,' and, 'its food is contemptible.' 13 And you say, 'what A burden!' and you sniff at it contemptuously," says the Lord Almighty.

So here's the wrap up. If they didn't get it already.

What they're doing is they're cheating God.

"When you bring injured, lame or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?" says the Lord. 14 "Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord."

Now friends, a lot of water's gone under the bridge since God said those words to Israel. For starters, we're not Israelites.

And we don't bring animals to sacrifice. We don't have to.

God did away with that system once and for all with one final perfect sacrifice of his own. That you read about in the New Testament just over the page.

And yet here's one thing that's the same.

God. Is still. A mighty king. Do you get that?

And in the coming of his son the Lord Jesus, you see that even more clearly.

Because in everything he says and does, you can see Jesus is just awesome. His authority is to be trembled before.

Healed sickness; ordered demons around; calmed storms. Did things that terrified people. He was uncontainable. Someone of mind numbing authority. When Peter sees him in action he falls at his feet trembling.

Now surely. If we believe that of Jesus; it's got to show in the honour and respect we give him. Hasn't it? I mean, most of us here this morning, we're here because on some level we want to say we're his people. And so if we've got any kind of understanding of the level of his authority it's got to show in the sort of sacrifices we're prepared to make in our lives. In the things we value. In the things we're prepared to give up?

Not just giving God second best use of our time and our money and our energy and our passion. But the best bits.

I reckon most of us are in danger of being more excited by our favourite sporting team; or our holiday plans; than we are serving our king. More exciting about who's going to win the block than we are to hear from God's word.

Don't fall into Israel's trap of thinking God will be happy with our half baked commitment. He's a great king. He's to be feared.

And look, here's the thing. See, it was always God's plan to be seen not just as Israel's God, but for his name to be revered and feared among the nations. And that means us.

So how foolish. If we make exactly the same mistakes all over again.

And look, the challenge is if you do want God's name to be greatly revered in our nation... If you're kind of shaky at the turn of world events in the last week and you can see our culture letting go of it's Christian roots... I just want to say, if you really want his name to be revered among the nations, it's got to start with you and me. And the way we're so obviously taking Jesus seriously. Instead of just paying lip service.

Because why would you think the people around you are going to take God seriously - if you're not. Why would you expect the people in your street to take Jesus seriously. If you're taking him so casually?

Even closer to home. Why would you think your kids will take Jesus seriously. If you don't. Serve him sacrificially. If you're not? Giving of your best time and energy. If they never ever ever... see it in you?

Friends, the people round about us, the people closest to us... you can't fake it. They'll see the value you give to the one you call your Lord... in countless small ways. That all show how you hold him in honour. Or you don't.

You know it was a fantastic privilege on Friday night, I got to work the control room; or at least I tried to. For the women's Summer Sweets and Stories night.

And look, it was fantastic the way Lydia and Lola and Denielle shared their stories in a way that brought the gospel to life. But it was fantastic as well the way there was a team in the background just giving so much. To making the whole thing look as if it was important.

Fiona said to me afterwards, it's just fantastic, the attention to detail that the team's put in. The way it's decorated. The food. The Durhams there doing fantastic coffee.

See, they were doing it not just because they love decorating stuff or they love making coffee, but because they love doing that to serve Jesus.

Says something, doesn't it, to the guests we bring along. When they say that we're taking Jesus so seriously that we're giving our best.

And the best thing of all is that it's a labour of love. Not that we're meant to be sacrificing our best animals to pay for our sins. Because the great news of the gospel is that in all his massive authority, King Jesus has done that for us perfectly already with his own life.

But that now, as a labour of love, we're not just going to go through the motions like Israel. But in gratitude, serve from our hearts.

For I am a great king, says the Lord Almighty, and my name is to be feared; to be held in awe; among the nations.