This is a seven-part sermon series I developed for the scorching
hot summer months while I was pastoring in Oklahoma City. Right up front let
me say this title has nothing to do with Richard Simmons. Actually there was
a Sunday-evening service in early June when the air conditioning in the sanctuary
was not producing as it should, the temperature outside had already hit the
century mark, and I was getting ready to preach a sermon from the Book of
Malachi! You talk about exciting! Thus, on a whim I got up to preach and announced
a timely sermon series, “Sweatin’ to the Oldies.”
The core values I identify in the Book of Malachi are relevant for our present generation. Many times in this writing, the prophet uses a negative reality to emphasize a positive core value and then presents it as an available possibility. For example, love has grown cold and worship is lifeless. That’s the hard truth.
Remember, the Book of Malachi begins with “An oracle”
(1:1), or “heavy burden.” But, “‘I have loved you,’
says the Lord” (1:2), and “my name will be great among the nations”
(1:11). The result is that we can now love God, because He first loved us,
and our worship is the result of our recognition of His great name.
Although the date of Malachi’s preaching is not certain,
we do know for a fact that he is addressing a sinful society who really did
know better. They had returned home from Persian exile, and after the proverbial
honeymoon of spiritual ecstasy and temple worship was over, they gradually
drifted away from their Deliverer. Apathy and complacency became the norm.
Worship was hypocritical at best. The problem was in the pulpit as well as
the pew. The priests and the people were guilty.
The danger of spiritual drifting is that it never happens suddenly.
The Bible is full of references that sound this alarm, even going so far as
to say, “How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?”
(Hebrews 2:3). What does come suddenly is Malachi’s rebuke and call
for repentance. “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” (1:10). This is typical of the style the author uses throughout
the book: a dialogue between God and His people.
The gospel of Malachi is in the coming Messiah. In chapters
3 and 4 the prophet gives hope for a people who would repent and renew their
covenant relationship with God, and be spared the coming judgment: “But
for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing
in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall”
(4:2).
That “love” is the first of the core values in this
sermon series is appropriate for a church who calls herself a Holiness denomination.
The love demonstrated by God is a perfect love that is comfortable with His
holiness. It is simply who He is. It is the essence of His being. There is
no conflict in “I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated” (1:2-3).
This holy love demands the punishment of sin: “They will be called the
Wicked Land, a people always under the wrath of the Lord” (1:4).
The first 5 verses of Malachi 1, our text, have been described
as a difficult passage. However, as we study this scripture and begin to communicate
the truth of God’s love, the message, although quite stern, is really
very simple: If you do not love the right way, and if you do not worship the
right way, I’ll find someone else who will! “You will see it with
your own eyes and say, ‘Great is the Lord—even beyond the borders
of Israel’” (Malachi 1:5).
(For the full manuscript
of this sermon go to www.preachersmagazine.org and click on “Sermons”)
It will be necessary to take some time in the opening sermon
of this series to give the historical context of the Book of Malachi. It will
also be helpful to make a practical application as soon as possible in preaching
this message to our contemporary day. Issues like spiritual apathy and hypocrisy,
money and materialism, broken relationships and divorce are certainly mainstream
in our culture.
The first core value is love. A popular song a few years ago
said, “That’s a Strange Way to Tell Me that You Love Me.”
Through this preacher named Malachi we are about to embark on a journey that
may seem a little strange at times, with all kinds of comparisons and contrasts,
as God dialogues with His people. In the end we will arrive at a place of
decision. We will have some choices to make. Are we willing to love with a
sense of eternity? Are we willing to love with a sense of morality? Are we
willing to love with a sense of accountability? Are we willing to love with
a sense of purity?
It’s worth noting that the answers given to these questions will be crucial. Once Malachi’s prophecy was proclaimed, there was silence from the heavens for a period of 400 years.
