Sermon Tone Analysis

*“Q & A”*

*Malachi 1.1-5*

This morning we begin a new study from the Minor Prophets.

The book of Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament and the last word from God for over 400 years.

We have just concluded the Gospel of Mark last week.

And from the time period that Mark has recorded we would need to rewind 400 years before the birth of Jesus.

And so between this book and the events recorded in the Gospels, there is no word from God.

This is referred to as the intertestamental period – the time between what we refer to as the Old and New Testaments.

Let’s look at where we find ourselves at the time of this book.

As you may know, God had called out the nation of Israel to be his chosen people who would be a light to the nations – to testify to the God who called them.

This began with the person of Abraham and his descendants.

One of the ways that God had chosen to multiply them and prepare them as a nation was to send them into captivity into Egypt.

When he raised up Moses as their leader, God led them out of Egypt in order to establish them in the land that he had promised them.

As you remember, they quickly turned away from God and grumbled and wandered throughout the wilderness for many years.

Under the new leadership of Joshua, they finally entered the land beyond the Jordan River where God scattered their enemies and allowed Israel to be established.

The people served under Judges and Kings Saul, David, and Solomon before they were divided against each other.

There was a split in the nation and were known as the northern kingdom and southern kingdom – Israel and Judah respectively.

Whereas Israel existed only under evil kings, the southern kingdom of Judah had its ups and downs with some good and evil kings as well.

Ultimately, however, the entire nation did not serve their God wholeheartedly despite his many warnings through his prophets.

And Israel was defeated by Assyria and scattered.

And Judah was later defeated by the Babylonians and deported into their land.

But there was also a promise of restoration should the people repent.

And under the leadership of such men as Zerubbabel and Ezra and Nehemiah, the people saw their nation being re-established.

The people returned to their land.

The temple was restored and so were the walls around the city of Jerusalem.

The prophetic voice at this time came through the ministries of Haggai and Zechariah – the books just prior to the book of Malachi.

The people responded favourably to their calls to repentance.

However, roughly 100 years have passed since they have returned to their way of life.

And once again the people have become cold and hard-hearted and disobedient.

And God now chooses to speak through his servant, Malachi.

Judging by the content of this letter, the nation has become corrupt in its routine worship, its rampant divorce, social injustices and neglected tithing.

So, the contemporary significance for us is its overarching theme of proper worship of our God.

How do we worship?

In our families, our community, in our giving…?

Let’s pay attention as we see similarities between the ancient nation of Israel and our own contemporary church culture.

How do we worship?

What I think that we will see as themes in this book are the following: God’s love for his people will pervade this book.

In this section and elsewhere, God continually reminds Israel of his covenant with them.

And this will require an obedient faith from his people.

Obedience does not derive from a begrudging sense of duty, but a response to God’s love.

Very appropriately, the book begins with a proper understanding of God and his love for his people.

This is quite similar to what the Apostle Paul has done on more than one occasion.

Before presenting churches with commands (or imperatives), he provides them with a correct theology to serve as the foundation – which is in the indicative.

For instance, in our study of Ephesians we noted that Paul began the letter reminding the church of their calling by God before the foundation of the world in chapter 1, of their state before they were made alive in Christ in chapter 2, teaching on the nature of the church and the gospel.

And then in chapter 4, Paul begins with “therefore.”

“Based on this sound doctrine, here is the expectation for the saint, the believer in Jesus Christ and in his church.

Walk in a manner worthy…” And then he goes on to spell out what this looks like.

One commentator made this very astute observation how this played out in the Old Testament as well.

He writes, “God did not send Moses down to Egypt with the law already tucked under his cloak.”

Rather, the giving of the Law is prefaced by “You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself” (Exod 19:4).”

This is what we will see with God’s words through Malachi.

We will see how the character of God, and his covenant with his people, will require obedience to that which he lays out as the expectations.

There is a proper and improper way to worship.

We get underway this morning by looking at the first 5 verses of Malachi.

Please turn there if you haven’t already.

Malachi 1. I’ll read Malachi 1.1-5.

The first brief point of the message this morning is, *My Messenger.

*The book begins with some helpful information.

Some questions are answered that are usually asked in Bible study.

Who wrote the book?

To whom?

What is being written?

What we learn in the opening words is that this is “an /oracle/ of the word *of the Lord* /to Israel/ *by Malachi*.”

That’s helpful.

Unfortunately, not much is known of the prophet himself other than his name means, “my messenger.”

There are no other references to this individual in Scripture.

However, his words are quoted by our Lord Jesus and this book has been recognized as part of the canon of Scripture.

I believe that the important thing for us to draw from this prophet is not his prominence, but his faithfulness to be used by God to declare tough words to his people.

And we know that this has often been the case as the mouthpieces of God often stood in direct opposition to the majority and the most prominent.

And despite the dangers faced by these prophets, they remained faithful to God and his words of warning and pleas for repentance.

In the same vein, the prophet Malachi will be God’s messenger to his people as they have again strayed from faithfulness in worship to him.

It is interesting that the word “oracle” is used here.

Some have noted that the Hebrew word here can also be translated as “burden.”

If the source of the message should come from God, it would not be too difficult to see how it is a weighty matter – a message that *needs *to be delivered.

Why else would the prophets and many others risk persecution and martyrdom unless it was a burden to be communicated?

In our text, it is clearly a message from the Lord that needs to be communicated to his people.

And for this task, he assigns Malachi as his messenger.

And the message is to Israel.

Israel, beloved by the Lord has once again grown cold to her God.

And in his mercy and love will not abandon her, but will send yet again another to call them to repentance.

The second point is *Message of Covenant Love.

*We find this in verses 2-5.

As we noted, the book begins with the character of God.

And here it is his love for his people.

The book begins in the indicative with God saying, “I have loved you.”

This does not suggest that he once loved Israel but does so no longer.

Rather, his love continues to exist for them.

The rest of the book and Scripture would confirm this.

Apparently they do not believe this and they challenge God.

“How have you loved us?”

I think it is possible that Israel had expected to participate in the fulfillment of the promises that were made by the prophets – not realizing that some would not be completed in their lifetime.

Perhaps this contributed to their rebellion and apathy.

We might expect God to list the many times he bailed them out of trouble and protected them.

Or maybe remind them of the many blessings and provisions.

He delivered their enemies into their hands.

But God says, “Is not Esau Jacob’s brother?” Huh?? “Yet I have loved Jacob but Esau I have hated.”

In this way, God has cut to the chase.

He is not messing around.

God has reached back to the beginning of their existence; back to covenant promises.

By naming Jacob and Esau the reader would be thrust back to the book of Genesis.