God REALLY Loves You
Malachi #trending • Sermon • Submitted
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· 10 viewsBlurb: Do you believe that God REALLY loves you? Are there moments in life where it feels like God does not love you? Probably all of us have questioned if God really loves you, but what would your life be like if you knew without a doubt that God REALLY loves you? There may be nothing more important in your life than knowing that God really loves you. It makes all the difference. Join us in this new series as we explore issues that were trending in Malachi's day and are still trending in our day.
Notes
Transcript
Over this past week, can you guess what news was trending?
The term trending has become a popular term—it is a subject that experiences a surge in popularity on one or more social media platforms for a limited duration of time; this term is especially popular on Twitter.
Can you guess what was trending for this past week on social media? I checked it one day...
in the world of politics—ISIS was trending.
health - Covid...
well, depending on the category… in the world of games--the game “Wordle” is trending. Anybody played that? the creator of it just sold it to the NY times for a price in the low 7 figures.
In the world of sports, the Olympics and Tom Brady’s retirement is trending—now everyone has a chance to win the Super Bowl. See football fans, God does answer prayer for after 22 long years.
well, I called the Malachi series #trending—because in Malachi's’ day, 2500 years ago, God delivered through the prophet Malachi to Israel a # of messages on various tropics that were trending in his day that Israel struggled with—topics like Worship, Leadership, Marriage and Divorce, Justice and Injustice, Money—topics that are still trending and just as relevant today. topics that we face in our world and may be with wrestling with right now.
So if you have your Bibles, please turn to Malachi, the last book in the OT.
It is a short book—only 4 chapters and 55 toal verses, and we are going to see the topic he addresses today.
before I read...
to understand the context..
Malachi, a prophet called by God to deliver God’s Word to Israel, God’s people.
and there is a lot of history there between God and Israel. (we say that some times—about people “we got history..” but God and Israel had lots of history).
Let me give you 5 key markers in their past.
Abraham ( Genesis 12) and his descendants. God made a big promise to him and his descendants that he would bless them. And so from Abraham and his wife Sarah, they are old—God miraculously gives them Isaac.
so from Abraham—Isaac to Jacob to the 12 tribes.
Eventually, they move to Egypt because of famine, and they grow big, so big, that the Egyptians take notice, and enslave them.
The Exodus: but God rescues Israel from slavery in Egypt—He sends the 10 plagues; He parts the Red Sea to save them, so that Israel can walk across on dry land, and the Egyptians who follow, the Sea comes crashing down on them.
The Promised Land (Joshua) - and eventually God enables them to settle in a new land, the Promised Land. there are high points at times with David and Solomon as king, but mostly low points.
show picture of divided kingdom
Exile and God’s Judgment (1 and 2 Kings) - because Israel does not follow God, God sends judgment...
722 BC —he sends in Assyria in the north (10 tribes)
586 BC — Babylon in the south
the Israelites are conquered, under foreign power, taken as slaves and captives—in exile. their beloved city, Jerusalem is destroyed, including the temple.
Return (Ezra and Nehemiah)… .but amazingly God brings them back to the land, to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem
Malachi prophesied during guys like Ezra and Nehemiah in the OT among the people in Jerusalem—but they are still under foreign power—Persia.
—show picture of Persian Empire
and that takes us to now—I want to play a video with a little more context...
because Malachi’s message takes place about 100 years after exile. they are back in the land.
this is from www.thebibleproject.com
(video plays)
we just had a series on generational unity, and we will address it again this spring....
but that video reminds us—even with a new generation coming—they have the same problems as previous generations...
would you stand as I read God’s Word
1 A prophecy: The word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi.
2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord. “But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’ “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob,
3 but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his hill country into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”
4 Edom may say, “Though we have been crushed, we will rebuild the ruins.” But this is what the Lord Almighty says: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Wicked Land, a people always under the wrath of the Lord.
5 You will see it with your own eyes and say, ‘Great is the Lord—even beyond the borders of Israel!’
the trending topic that God confronts Israel with through Malachi is what...
His Love.
God’s Love
look at verse 2 again:
2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord. “But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’ “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob,
God declares his love!
but look at what Israel says “How have you loved you?”
I don’t think Israel is asking that nicely or innocently.
They are really questioning...
they are really doubting God’s love. “how have you loved us?”
The Israelites were frustrated.
Yes, God brought them back to the land after exile in Babylon...
and Yes God enabled them to rebuild the city of Jerusalem at some level and the temple…but it wasn’t as glorious as before.
They were still under foreign power—the Persians. when are they going to be free?
The Prophets like Jeremiah and Isaiah had promised a glorious future with everything awesome—God reigning with people, peace on earth…but that’s not really happening.
so they are questioning…Does God really love us?
have you ever questioned God’s love for you?
I want you to turn to your neighbor for a second and say “God loves you.” and then say it to your other neighbor “God loves you.” Go ahead, and embrace the awkwardness.
Do you really believe that today?
I think we can relate to Israel here.
Whenever we go through suffering or hard times, it makes us wonder does God really love me? If he did, wouldn’t life be a little easier. why I am having financial problems. Does God love me? (others are doing just fine—)
Why I am having relational problems—does God really love me?
Or whenever God doesn’t answer prayer like we think he should—does God really love me?
or sometimes for some of us—God may have called you to a specific mission, and so you obeyed and did it, but as you have journeyed with God, it’s been hard. If God really called me to that, why is it so stinking hard to do it?
or some of us feel just a general sense of weariness—everyone and their cousin is sick…the month of January feels like the longest year ever… Does God really love me?
Maybe life has just not worked out like you expected..Does God really love me?
I have chronic pain…does God REALLY love me.
So what do we do…whenever…we face this question..
I believe ONE OF THE MOST IF NOT THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU NEED TO KNOW, REALLY KNOW IS THAT GOD LOVES YOU!
why?
I think every time we sin—we don’t just question…we doubt.
Think of Adam and Eve in the Garden…when they sinned, the serpent Satan convinced that God is holding out you. Did God Really say—if he really loved you you could eat from that tree too—He’s holding out on you.
Israel, when they were saved out of Egypt…in the desert…on the way to the PL....they often questioned God’s love— “God has brought us out here to die. we had it better in Egypt.”
When you doubt God’s love…sin quickly follows.
some of the reason that you struggle with sin—is b/c you doubt God’s love you.
how do we know that GOD REALLY LOVES US?
Remember that God chose you to be in His family. (vs. 2-3)
LOOK AT YOUR BIBLE AGAIN
2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord. “But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’ “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob,
3 but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his hill country into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”
That’s a really weird answer...
He tells Israel—remember your history. Remember the story of Jacob and Esau.
Jacob and Esau were twins. They were the grandchildren of Abraham.
they were born to Isaac and Rebekkah.
and let me read a little of their story:
23 The Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.”
24 When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb.
25 The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau.
26 After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.
27 The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents.
28 Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
29 Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished.
30 He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.)
31 Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.”
32 “Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?”
33 But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob.
34 Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright.
that’s a pretty crazy story...
a whole of drama in the OT
Jacob basically deceived Esau into gaining the firstborn status—b/c the firstborn in that culture received the double portion of the family inheritance--whatever was passed down in .
and God says, I choose Jacob the younger of the twins…and Not Esau. I chose your ancestor Jacob to be my people, not Esau.
I chose you...
you out of the all the people…not Esau’s line, but Jacob. That’s how much I love you.
in fact, I will prove it---in verses 4-5 —Esau and the Edomites (His descendants—are going to experience my judgment—you will see it—and know—they are not God’s chosen people; you are).
you see up to that point—Israel as God’s chosen people, had experienced a lot of God’s judgment and Esau and Edom were living securely in their land. not anymore...
that’s how I will prove it, God says.
Now, this doctrine of God choosing someone and not others is a little controversial. and for the longest time I hated it.
because it says literally Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated...
Hate!
that’s strong language—what are we to make of that?
Well, first, I would say that language of hate is used elsewhere in the Bible—it doesn’t mean God hated, or that he was mean to Esau.
we see this language in Luke 14:26
26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.
you don’t hate your father and mother—it’s Jesus’ way of saying He must be the supreme love.
so back in Malachi - Hate here simply means God chose Jacob, and not Esau to be his covenant people.
why did he choose Jacob and not Esau—aren’t both twins, with the same genes.
was one better than the other.
Paul in the NT—Romans 9 answers this:
10 Not only that, but Rebekah’s children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac.
11 Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand:
12 not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”
13 Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
Paul quotes Malachi...
God chose Jacob not because Jacob was better than Esau—in fact, both Esau and Jacob had lots of problems—but simply because He is God.
This is troubling....to us....
you keep reading Romans 9.
look at this
14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all!
15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
16 It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.
17 For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”
18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
yikes....
for the longest time—in my teen years and 20’s, I strongly disliked passages like these because this gets into controversial doctrinal waters that we wade in.
Doctrines like—God’s sovereignty—God in control, and sub-categories of doctrines beneathe it—election and predestination.
--election is the doctrine that God chooses people for salvation. and if he chooses some for salvation, there are some who are not. so why doesn’t God choose everyone? why Jacob not Esau?
--or predestination—the idea that if any of us are saved, God had to choose beforehand—he pre-determined.
and this brings up questions like—what about free will? what about those that He didn’t choose—like Esau. that doesn’t seem fair to Esau. why doesn’t God choose everyone? (BTW—book of Amos does say a remnant of Esau will be saved—)
and why would God use this to back up his love to Israel in this passage?
how do we answer such a troubling doctrine...
Let me answer briefly:
The Bible teaches these doctrines at some level. (even if we dislike them…)
not just here in Jacob and Esau, but also in the dynamic of salvation....
4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love
5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—
if you are a Christian, the bible clearly teaches it’s because God chose you. He picked you for his team!
it’s meant to be encouraging…not divisive.
in fact, God did not have to choose anyone of us—in fact, Jacob, shouldn’t have been chosen either-but God chooses out of his grace....
were God’s choosing based on our performance or works NONE OF US would get picked…we deserve his judgment for our rebellion but God’s choosing is based on his grace and mercy...
44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.
Though God is absolutely sovereign we are responsible for our decisions.
there is great mystery in this.
Jacob and Esau both were help responsible for their horrible choices…(Esau for selling his birthright, Jacob for deceiving him)
and yet God was not surprised. God planned their freely made choices…that will make your head hurt....
in other words—the doctrines of God’s sovereignty and human responsibility—are compatible. and there is great mystery in that.
the cross is the supreme example--
22 “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.
23 This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.
This was God’s plan; you are responsible. they are compatible.
These doctrines motivate us to evangelism and prayer.
If God really is that in control, why do anything or pray anything.
b/c when it comes to evangelism it’s like fishing…you want to fish where you know the fish will bite…if God is choosing people for His team—you can have confidence that people will actually respond to the Gospel.
and when you and I pray—we pray very much as if God is in control “God move in their hearts so they will accept you.”
God’s sovereign power is mean to motivate us—the hardest of hearts can change, keep witnessing. the hardest of hearts can be softened—keep praying, because I have ordained that through your freely spoken prayers, I will save them.
These doctrines are meant to lead to worship and awe.
part of what God is doing here in Malachi—is changing their perspective. it may not feel like I love you right now, but let’s zoom out in history.
look in your past..I chose Jacob, not Esau. I chose you to be my people.
and look at what I am doing now—Esau will experience my judgment. It may have seemed that they were prospering and you are not--
but the day is coming.
same with us—widen your perspective—God chose you! It may seem like the wicked are prospering—but their day is coming...
how God’s choosing, and our freedom, and God’s glory all intersect is mind-boggling. we will never master them fully---but as we wrestle with the Biblical text—I am in awe of a God who though I don’t deserve it, He’s chosen me and you. If you feel God moving in your heart today, He’s knocking,. He’s choosing you--”let me in.” “quit resisting...”
when I think of these things—I realize I am small and humbled and serve a big God…who can do whatever He wants to do for his Glory
How do we know GOD REALLY LOVES US;
God chose us. if you are a Christian, consider the bigger perspective—God wanted you to be a part of his team. remember that. remember this life is short—and you will see Him face to face.
BTW—if you are really troubled by what I said—remember, the Bible is meant to push back on you. God’s Word doesn’t have to fit into our neat categories, we have to fit into God’s Word.
but this Wednesday night, I am actually going deeper into this topic—6:30 - 8:00pm in the fellowship hall east.
the 2nd way—is the cross
#2. The cross.
If you are struggling with the idea—Does God love me—the cross is God’s biggest answer ‘YES!!”
you see we have way more proof than Malachi and his people had.
we have a God who didn’t stay away from us in an ivory tower pronouncing judgment.
He sent His Son Jesus Christ—to live among us.
humble and poor.
He chose His Son—and His son never disobeyed like Jacob and Esau did, or like we do.
(we read that Jesus fasted from food for 40 days, and was tempted by the devil to doubt God’s love but He never did---and He did not waver.
God chose his beautiful Son to live on our behalf and die the death you and I deserve on the cross. If we are struggling with this idea of God choosing, we should be thankful that God chose His Son to die for us.
even on the cross when Jesus became the sin offering for us—and cried out “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me...” Jesus still clung tightly to the idea God loved him. (Jesus called Him “My God”
If God is willing to enter our world and die for us—I can trust that kind of God, I can submit and surrender to that kind of God—even if I don’t understand it.
Does God REALLY LOVE YOU--
8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Let’s pray.
“pray that this would trend in our lives...”
ripples:
Alpha Marriage...
Deep and Wide Ripples...