Wearying Words

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How quick are you to go to the doctor when you can no longer hide from yourself the fact that something’s wrong, and that none of the various off-the-shelf medications you’ve tried has done the trick? Those of us who are males of the species are notoriously slow. In my experience the female is just as bad. None of us likes to admit we’ve got a serious problem; that it’s getting worse; and that we can’t deal with it.

On and around this anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers – and not least in the wake also of the recent riots around the UK – the media are full of heart-searching about the state of the nation. We cannot help but become more and more aware of painful and debilitating symptoms breaking out now in one part of our national – not to say global – body, and now in another.

But the diagnosis and the prescription for our ills are right here under our noses, if only we’d look and listen. We need to look in the Bible. We need to listen to what God has to say. It’s not comfortable. It is full of hope for those who listen. But, like a husband dragging his feet and refusing to go to the doctor, how slow we are to listen to the words that are our only hope.

We’re working our way through this powerful little book of Malachi. This morning we reach 2.17 – 3.18. Please turn that up. You’ll find it on p961 in the church Bibles.

The prophet is the mouthpiece for God. The message is for God’s people Israel, around 450 years before the coming of Christ. It was one of those times when as far as they could see God wasn’t doing much. As one commentator puts it:

Malachi is the prophet of the waiting period… He enables us to see the strains and temptations of such times, the imperceptible abrasion of faith that ends in cynicism because it has lost touch with the living God.

God’s people were losing sight of God and of what he had done for them. And as they lost sight of him they stopped living the way that he wanted them to live.

And in this prophecy of Malachi the Lord confronts them with their thinking and their behaviour and he challenges them to change.

They were doubting God’s love for them. They were neglecting their duty. The teaching of their religious leaders, instead of pointing people to the true God, was dragging them away. In a word, Israel had broken faith with God. They were trampling their covenant with him. There was social breakdown. They were promoting a multifaith agenda. Marriages and families were being torn apart and divorce was rife. That’s where Malachi’s analysis has got to by the time we get to 2.17.

Put all of that together, and what do you get? It’s an uncanny likeness of our own culture and nation. It reminds me of the kind of photofit picture that the police issue if they’re looking for a serious crime suspect. Our nation fits the description. Malachi, to a quite extraordinary degree, is a prophecy for our times and our culture.

This is God speaking to us. What he says makes very uncomfortable listening, like listening to a doctor tell you that the painful symptoms you’ve become aware of are happening because you have a disease that if left untreated will kill you. But it’s also full of hope, like the doctor telling you it’s a curable disease if treated right, and that once cured your life will be better than you’ve ever known.

How are you at DIY? Have you done much wall-paper hanging of patterned paper? It’s really important to see clearly how the pattern repeats and identify where each section matches. This chunk of Malachi has a repeated fourfold pattern. Let me point it out to you so we can see how all this fits together.

Here’s the pattern. One. The Lord makes an accusation against his people. We hear his voice. Two. The Lord’s people answer him back. We hear their voice. Three. The Lord substantiates his accusation. We hear his voice again. And four. The Lord sets out his response to their sin.

You can see that pattern three times here. And then there’s a separate short stand-alone segment, like a picture hanging against the wallpaper.

So I have four headings. Each one corresponds to one of the four sections into which this part of Malachi falls. Jot them down on the back of the service sheet as we go if you’d like. I’ll run through them now, but then I’ll repeat them as we go through. Each heading contains both an aspect of God’s diagnosis of our fatal disease, and also what he’s going to do about it.

First, God’s people are faithless, but he will purify them. That’s 2.17 – 3.5. Then in 3.6-7 there’s a chunk I’ll come back to. So secondly, God’s people are thieving, but he will prosper them. That’s 3.8-12. Thirdly, God’s people are rebellious, but he will treasure them. That’s 3.13-18. And fourthly, God’s people persistently reject him, but he is merciful. That’s back to 3.6-7.

And of course when we talk about God’s people we’re not just talking about them. We’re talking about us. This is about us. 1 Peter 1.12:

It was revealed to [the prophets] that they were not serving themselves but you…

That is, they weren’t only or even primarily speaking to the people of their own time, but to Christians of all time. And that’s us. So:


First, GOD’S PEOPLE ARE FAITHLESS, BUT HE WILL PURIFY THEM (2.17 – 3.5).

Please get your noses in the Bible and see how the pattern unfolds for the first time. There in 2.17 is the Lord’s accusation against his people, through Malachi:

You have wearied the LORD with your words.

Think of the exasperated parent saying to the winging child, “I am sick and tired of listening to you. Now you listen to me.”

But bold as brass and cocky as you like, the child just answers back. So 2.17 goes on:

“How have we wearied him?” you ask.

And the Lord – actually with remarkable forbearance; this is the Lord of the universe on the receiving end of this cheek – the Lord substantiates his accusation in the last part of 2.17:

By saying, All who do evil are good in the eyes of the LORD, and he is pleased with them or Where is the God of justice?

In other words, either “God is on the side of the wicked because they get the best of everything”, or “God is nowhere to be seen – he’s doing nothing for us”. And the upshot of that kind of thinking is a culture in which what once was known to be wrong is regarded as something to be endorsed and celebrated. And it’s a culture in which the secularised, atheistic voices are increasingly prominent and dominant. A culture like ours.

What is the response that the Lord sets out? There it is in 3.1-5. It’s a remarkable prophecy and we’ve already seen the beginning of its fulfilment. 3.1:

See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me.

That’s John the Baptist. How do I know? Jesus said so. On one occasion, after an encounter with some of John’s followers, Jesus quoted this verse, Malachi 3.1, and said that it was written about John. You can see that in Matthew 11.10. Then what’s promised after the coming of the messenger? 3.1 continues:

Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you will desire, will come, says the LORD Almighty.

No doubt it wasn’t clear then but it is now that the coming Lord and the coming messenger of the covenant are one and the same. God comes to earth and to his people in the person of Jesus Christ.

He came; died; rose; ascended; sent his Spirit; reigns at the right hand of the Father. And what’s he doing? 3.2-3:

But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver.

Now I’m no expert on the process of refining precious metals. But nowadays you can find a video of silver refining at the click of a mouse. What does it take? Intense and sustained heat directed at the contaminated, unrefined, silver; and close attention from the silversmith.

And what happens? You can see it before your eyes. In time the dross and the pure silver separate. The dross is burned away. And pure silver is left, molten and mirror-like, so that the silver-smith can see his image reflected in it. The refiners fire either purifies or in the end it destroys. Both must happen. You can’t keep the dross and still end up with pure silver. Judgment and redemption belong together.

So what are we going to be? What we can’t do is avoid this encounter with Christ the judge and the Redeemer. So what are you going to be? Dross or silver? Either in the end his just judgement will consume us, or we’ve got to give ourselves up to him and let him purify us – purge the sin from our lives. That is what you might call a ‘no-brainer’.

So don’t be faithless. Don’t follow our culture into cynical, secular atheistic amorality, imagining quite wrongly that God, if he’s there at all, has gone awol.

God’s people are faithless, but he will purify them. So don’t distrust God. But trust him, no matter what. That’s the first point.


Secondly, GOD’S PEOPLE ARE THIEVING, BUT HE WILL PROSPER THEM

We’re skipping 3.6-7, to which we’ll return. So this is 3.8-12. Take a look. Here’s God’s accusation:

Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me.

Again God’s people answer back:

But you ask, “How do we rob you?”

And the Lord spells it out:

In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse – the whole nation of you – because you are robbing me.

And what is the Lord’s response to this grievious situation? You might expect a devastating condemnation. But instead there’s an astounding promise:

Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.

And then in verse 12 there’s more than a hint of the unfolding and fulfilment of the Great Commission given to the church to take the gospel to the ends of the earth:

Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land, says the LORD Almighty.

Now of course this is about what we do with our money. Or rather, not our money but God’s money that he’s given to us to steward for his purposes. And if you want more on that then I spoke on these verses and how they relate to our giving a few months ago – to be precise on 6 February this year. You can find it on the website.

But the bottom line is that the tithe – the tenth part – represents the whole. It’s a sign of recognition that all of our money, and not just our money but all that we are and all that we have come from God and belong to God. He made us. He gave us everything. He died to save us. We have been “bought with his own blood” (Acts 20.28).

We cannot afford to withhold anything of what we have or what we are from him. More than that, when we surrender all that we have and all that we are – our whole lives – to Christ, then the blessing that comes back is overwhelming, and it overflows to the ends of the earth.

That’s the second point. God’s people are thieving, but he will prosper them. So don’t rob God. Give back to him all that belongs to him – everything.


Thirdly, GOD’S PEOPLE ARE REBELLIOUS, BUT HE WILL TREASURE THEM

We’re on to 3.13-17. And here for the third time is that now familiar pattern. It begins with God’s accusation against his people. Look at verse 13:

You have said harsh things against me, says the LORD.

And back again from God’s people comes the counter-question, full of sham innocence masking their underlying insolence, as if they think that God is answerable to them:

Yet you ask, “What have we said against you?”

And the Lord, patient in the face of provocation, replies:

You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the LORD Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape.’

That seems at first to bring us full circle back to where we began, to their cynical lack of faith which becomes a cloak for living lives that serve their own selfish ends, rather than serving the Lord their maker and their redeemer. They say, “Those who are arrogant, who callously trample over others in pursuit of their own pleasure, and who treat God with contempt, not only get away with it but thrive. So let’s join them.”

But in fact we haven’t gone back to where we started, because what comes next shows that the Lord’s refining and purifiying work is underway. Not everyone is refusing to listen to God’s voice. Some are taking to heart his warnings. 3.16:

Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honoured his name.

There is a Book of Life and in it are all the names of those redeemed by grace through faith – the names of those who have not just heard but have heeded God’s warnings. Instead of treating him with contempt, like the culture surrounding them, they have feared him and honoured his name by trusting him, obeying him, and serving him.

And how does the Lord look on these people? 3.17:

They will be mine, says the LORD Almighty, in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him.

So there’s a foreshadowing of the Parable of the Prodigal Son. God will be to these people a compassionate, loving and merciful heavenly Father. His just anger will be turned aside. And he’s not just going to tolerate and forgive them. He will treasure them. They will be immensely valuable to him. He will enjoy their company and be glad to have them with him for all eternity.

What a prospect that is. How could anyone not want that? How could anyone’s heart – cold and hard against God as it might have been – not be melted by such amazing grace? The tragedy is that even in response to such warnings and such promises, so many relentlessly pursue their rebellion against God. Don’t let us be among them. Don’t you be among them.

What is more, all those cynical taunts that God is dead and that we’d do better to forget him and live for ourselves will be silenced for good. 3.18:

And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.

That faithless question we started with: “Where is the God of justice?” will be answered once and for all.

That’s the third point. God’s people are rebellious, but he will treasure them. So don’t rebel against God, but obey and serve him.


Fourthly, GOD’S PEOPLE PERSISTENTLY REJECT HIM, BUT HE IS MERCIFUL

Remember the wallpaper analogy? Three times now we’ve followed through that pattern of divine accusation; human answering back; divine substantiation and then response. Now finally it’s time to stand back and look at the picture on the wall. So go back up to those verses that we skipped over earlier, 3.6-7. Here they are:

“I the LORD do not change. So you, descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD Almighty. “But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’”

The big picture is that God’s people persistently reject him. We’ve seen that three times over in different ways. God’s people are faithless. They are thieving. They are rebellious. And yet we’ve also seen three times over the amazing destiny of God’s people. They’re going to be refined until they’re pure. They’re going to prosper and thrive. They’re going to be his treasured possession, with their names lovingly inscribed in his Book of Life.

What’s going to bridge the gap between those two states? What happens to move God’s people from one side of that chasm to the other? God is going to carry them across on the back of Christ. But for that to happen they have to turn to him. So here’s the invitation in 3.6-7. “Return to me,” the Lord says to us. “Return to me.”

The reason it sometimes looks like there’s no justice in the world – the reason the Day of Judgement has not yet come – is that God is merciful and patient and he’s waiting for us to turn back to him. He’s waiting for you to turn back to him.

How? How are we to return? There’s no answer to that at the end of verse 7 because the Lord has told us again and again in that repeated pattern. Turn to him by jumping into the refining fire of his Word. Turn to him by trusting him no matter what. Turn to him by surrendering yourself – all you are and all you have – totally to him, because you belong to him. Obey him. Serve him.

As so many are recognising, we live in a society riddled with the symptoms of serious disease. What is the diagnosis and the what is the cure? Here it is, right under our noses in the book of the prophet Malachi.

“Return to me,” says the LORD Almighty, “and I will return to you.”


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