Have We Wearied the Lord? - Thoughts from Malachi 2

Malachi 2:10-17

Don't all of us have one Father? Didn't one God create us? Why then do we act treacherously against one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers? ¹¹ Judah has acted treacherously, and a detestable thing has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the LORD's sanctuary, which He loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. ¹² To the man who does this, may the LORD cut off any descendants from the tents of Jacob, even if they present an offering to the LORD of Hosts. ¹³ And this is another thing you do: you cover the LORD's altar with tears, with weeping and groaning, because He no longer respects your offerings or receives them gladly from your hands. ¹⁴ Yet you ask, "For what reason?" Because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth. You have acted treacherously against her, though she was your marriage partner and your wife by covenant. ¹⁵ Didn't the one God make us with a remnant of His life-breath? And what does the One seek? A godly offspring. So watch yourselves carefully, and do not act treacherously against the wife of your youth. ¹⁶ "If he hates and divorces his wife," says the LORD God of Israel, "he covers his garment with injustice,” says the LORD of Hosts. Therefore, watch yourselves carefully, and do not act treacherously. ¹⁷ You have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet you ask, "How have we wearied Him?” When you say, "Everyone who does evil is good in the LORD's sight, and He is pleased with them,” or "Where is the God of justice?”

Verse 10 - Don't all of us have one Father? Didn't one God create us? Why then do we act treacherously against one another . . .

•               The prophet Malachi boldly confronted the bad behaviors that were prevalent in his society.

•               One of those bad behaviors was that people treated each other treacherously.

•               The word treacherous came from the Hebrew word begad which referred to deceiving someone on purpose.

•               The Israelites were purposely deceiving each other in a variety of ways and it was destroying the fabric of their society.

•               Malachi reminded the people that each person was created by God in His image.

•               That means that all people deserve to be treated with respect because the image of God is stamped on each person’s soul.

•               We do not have to agree with all the choices other people make, but we do have to treat other people with respect because they are created in the image of God.

•               That image may be marred by sin, but it is still the image of God and that should mean something to those who follow God.

Verse 11 - . . . Judah has profaned the LORD's sanctuary, which He loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.

•               The word profane is from the Hebrew word chalal and refers to polluting something so that it no longer has value.

•               This verse has both a literal and figurative interpretation.

•               The men of Judah had literally married women who worshiped foreign gods. This was strictly forbidden by God in the Old Testament.

•               Marrying women who worshipped foreign gods was not an issue of ethnicity. Malachi had just made the point that we are all created by God in His image and therefore all people are equal regardless of their ethnicity.

•               The problem was that these ladies did not follow the true God of Heaven, but worshipped false idols.

•               The people of Judah had been swayed by the false religions that these marriages had exposed them too. Their faith in the true God had begun to waver as a result.

•               This ancient verse still applies to Christians in our modern time. Christians should only marry people who share our Christian faith.

•               Read 2 Corinthians 6:14 and summarize its teachings below:

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•               While there are some marriages in which a non-Christian spouse will decide that they want to become Christian, it does not happen often.

•               This puts tremendous pressure on a marriage because faith binds our hearts together. If we do not share the same faith, then we will be missing a key element in the bonding process.

•               If we are unmarried, we should only date Christians.

•               If we are already in a mixed faith marriage, we should earnestly pray that God will allow us to be one of those rare marriages where the non-believing partner will choose to believe.

•               We can also apply this same concept to any area of life, not just marriage.

•               Though it is fine to have non-Christian friends, we should be careful how they affect us.

•               When we allow non-Christian ideas and concepts to begin to influence us more than our faith, then we have figuratively married a foreign god and it can only bring pain and hurt into our lives.

•               The most miserable person in the world is the Christian who knows they are not living the way God wants them to live.

Verse 13 - And this is another thing you do: you cover the LORD's altar with tears, with weeping and groaning, because He no longer respects your offerings or receives them gladly from your hands.

•               Malachi also confronts the people’s attempts to manipulate God through false piety.

•               They would come to the altar and weep and groan over their problems, but they were not willing to actually change their bad behavior.

•               Acting sad is not the same thing as actually repenting of our sin.

•               Repentance is turning away from sin and turning toward God.

•               When we really repent, we can expect God’s blessings on our lives.

•               When we are just sad that we got caught, we should not be looking for a blessing.

•               God no longer received their offerings or prayers because they wanted the benefits of faith without the responsibilities of repentance that came with it.

•               If our prayers do not seem to be working, we should examine our level of repentance to ensure it is genuine.

Verse 14 - Yet you ask, "For what reason?" Because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth. You have acted treacherously against her…

•               Though there were many areas of the Israelites’ lives that did not please God, the one that most upset God was the way the men were treating their wives.

•               In that time period, Jewish culture was extremely male dominated.

•               Women were completely dependent on men for their livelihood.

•               When a man married a woman, he made a life-long commitment to provide for her.

•               He if broke that commitment, the woman was in a very difficult situation because she had no other means of support.

•               In Malachi’s day, men had made commitments to their wives when they were young, but as the women had gotten older, the men desired other women, presumably ones that were younger and prettier.

•               God said He would not honor the prayers of a man who treated his wife this way.

•               In our modern world, men and women are often considered equals.

•               In our modern world, both men and women are guilty of lusting after someone to whom they are not married. That lust often leads to sinful behavior.

•               Christians cannot expect to be blessed by God if we allow lust to control us in this way.

Verse 15 - Didn't the one God make us with a remnant of His life-breath? And what does the One seek? A godly offspring.

•               Not only are we created in the image of God, but God breathed into us the breath of life.

•               Read Genesis 2:7 and write a summary of it below:

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•               God’s breath is more than just oxygen. It refers to His spiritual nature which He breathed into humankind at creation.

•               The primary difference between humans and animals is that humankind has a spiritual nature.

•               What does God’s spiritual nature produce?
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•               People also have a spiritual nature.

•               What should our own spiritual nature produce?

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•               One “offspring” of our own spiritual nature should be other people who share our spiritual values. We should be sharing our faith and helping others embrace it.

•               When we fail to produce spiritual fruit in our lives, we fail in the very essence of our faith.

Verse 17 - You have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet you ask, "How have we wearied Him?” When you say, "Everyone who does evil is good in the LORD's sight, and He is pleased with them,” or "Where is the God of justice?”

•               Malachi tells his audience that they had wearied the Lord with all their talk which was not backed up by action.

•               God had grown tired of their bad behavior.

•               Ever ready with an excuse, the people asked how they had wearied God.

•               Malachi said they had done two things that wearied God.

•               First, they claimed that people who were doing evil were actually good.

•               Second, they accused God of not being just.

•               Make a list of bad things that our own society often calls good:

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•               Take a moment and reflect on whether current events might indicate that God has grown tired of our culture calling this list of bad things good.

•               Our society also often accuses God of not being just when He does not do things the way we wish He would.

•               If we were God, how would we respond to someone calling us unjust when we had done all the right things?

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•               We should be thankful that God has great patience.

•               We should be thankful that God has shown us love that we do not deserve.

•               We should be thankful that God has withheld judgment that we do deserve.

•               But we should never forget that at some point, God will decide that enough is enough.

•               When God decides that we have wearied Him enough, the Day of Judgment will come!

•               When the Day of Judgment finally happens, we had better be on God’s side and not still playing spiritual games.

•               None of us know when that day will be, but it is much closer for us than it was for Malachi.

Conclusion:

•               If we are purposefully deceitful of others, we should not expect God to bless us.

•               We should be careful not to let anything draw us away from God, even our marriages.

•               When we realize we have done wrong, we must repent of that behavior and change it.

•               If we are living right before God, we should be producing spiritual fruit in our own lives and in the lives of others.

•               Though we should be thankful for God’s patience, grace and mercy, we should not use them as an excuse to continue wrong behavior.

This is an excerpt from the book, Malachi: Finding Hope in the Midst of Adversity. The book can be found on Amazon.

God's Covenant of Life and Peace - Thoughts from Malachi 2

Malachi 2:1-9

"Therefore, this decree is for you priests: 2 If you don't listen, and if you don't take it to heart to honor My name," says the LORD of Hosts, "I will send a curse among you, and I will curse your blessings. In fact, I have already begun to curse them because you are not taking it to heart. 3 "Look, I am going to rebuke your descendants, and I will spread animal waste over your faces, the waste from your festival sacrifices, and you will be taken away with it. 4 Then you will know that I sent you this decree so My covenant with Levi may continue," says the LORD of Hosts. 5 "My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave these to him; it called for reverence, and he revered Me and stood in awe of My name. 6 True instruction was in his mouth, and nothing wrong was found on his lips. He walked with Me in peace and fairness and turned many from sin. 7 For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the LORD of Hosts. 8 "You, on the other hand, have turned from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have violated the covenant of Levi," says the LORD of Hosts. 9 "So I in turn have made you despised and humiliated before all the people because you are not keeping My ways but are showing partiality in your instruction.”

Verse 1 - Therefore, this decree is for you priests.

•               In the Old Testament, people did not go to God directly. They went through a priest.

•               The priests were supposed to be holy and set a right example for people to follow.

•               Unfortunately, priests often failed to set the example they should.

•               Malachi had a strong word of rebuke for those corrupt priests.

•               In the New Testament we learn that all Christian believers are priests before God.

•               Read Hebrews 10:19 and summarize it below:

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•               Read Ephesians 2:18 and summarize it below:

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•               Read 1 Timothy 2:5 and summarize it below:

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•               Read 1 Peter 2:4 and summarize it below:

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•               Read Romans 12:1 and summarize it below:

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•               Christians no longer have to go through a human priest to get to God. Through faith in Christ we gain direct access to God the Father.

•               This means that in our modern times each Christian holds the responsibility of being a priest. We often refer to this as the “priesthood of the believer.” As priests, all Christians must live right so that non-Christians can see Christ in our lives.

Verse 2 - If you don't listen, and if you don't take it to heart to honor My name," says the LORD of Hosts, "I will send a curse among you, and I will curse your blessings.

•               In the Old Testament, if the priests did not listen to what God was saying and take God’s Word to heart, they would be cursed.

•               The blessings they were supposed to give to others would become curses instead.

•               Since all Christian believers are now priests before God, that means that we must listen to what God says and take it to heart.

•               If we fail to do so, the blessing we are supposed to be in society will become a curse instead.

•               List ways in which we have been a blessing to our community:

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Verse 2 - . . . In fact, I have already begun to curse them because you are not taking it to heart.

•               Malachi goes on to say that the conversion of blessings into curses had already begun to happen. It was not yet full blown, but the process had started.

•               We have also started to see that happening in our own society.

•               As the church has lost its vision and purpose, people have begun to despise the church.

Verse 3 - I am going to rebuke your descendants, and I will spread animal waste over your faces, the waste from your festival sacrifices, and you will be taken away with it.

•               God said that not only would the priests themselves be cursed, but their descendants would also pay a price.

•               Descendants mean more than just our immediate children. This also applies to future generations.

•               List one action that our grandparents took that continues to impact our lives:

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•               List one action that we are taking now that may impact our grandchildren in the future:

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•               Children learn by our bad examples and then repeat our mistakes, which are then repeated by the next generation.

•               This cycle of pain will continue until someone determines to break the cycle and start living as God intended us to live.

•               But there is also a spiritual element to all of this. Some people refer to these types of things as generational curses.

•               Though the concept of generational curses can be confusing, the basic premise is that if we let a negative spiritual force enter into our lives, that spiritual force will cling to us and continue to cause spiritual pain until we cast it off in the name of Christ.

•               Read Exodus 20:5 and 34:7 and summarize them below:

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•               Read Numbers 14:18 and summarize it below:

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•               Read Deuteronomy 5:9 and summarize it below:

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•               Because those negative spiritual forces, which may also be referred to as demons, enjoy being attached to humans, they love to invade whole families and keep them in spiritual bondage.

•               They jump from generation to generation in joyful glee at keeping families enslaved.

•               When a generational curse attaches itself to our family, we often feel so bad about ourselves and our families that it seems as if we have animal dung smeared all over us.

•               We feel useless and like a pile of trash that needs to be hauled away.

•               The devil loves it when Christians feel like trash!

•               If we are feeling like trash then we will be emotionally and spiritually paralyzed and be ineffective in our Christian walk with God.

•               The good news is that Christ did not come so we would continue to feel like trash. He came to set us free of generational curses and give us abundant life!

•               It is important to understand that though Christians cannot be demon possessed, they can be demon oppressed. Being oppressed is a terrible experience.

•               A word of caution: We should not think that every time we have a bad day we are being oppressed by a demon.

•               The devil is not THAT strong. Sometimes, we are just having a bad day.

•               To know if negative experiences are really spiritual warfare we must first eliminate all the “normal” things that might cause negative experiences. For example, if we lost our driver’s license because we were driving under the influence of alcohol, the loss of our license is not a demonic attack. It is the normal result of our sin. If we stop driving drunk, the issue of losing our license will go away naturally.

•               Once we have eliminated all the normal possibilities, if the negative experiences and feelings of bondage continue, then we may conclude that it is a spiritual attack.

•               Christians need to claim the freedom they have been given from generational curses.

•               We should find a spiritual mentor to help us deal with the behavioral issues we are facing.

•               Read Galatians 3:13 and summarize it below:

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•               Read James 4:7 and summarize it below:

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•               Read 1 John 1:9 and summarize it below:

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Verse 5 - "My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave these to him; it called for reverence, and he revered Me and stood in awe of My name.

•               God reminded the Old Testament priests that His original covenant with them was one of life and peace.

•               Life means being connected to God and to other people in a healthy wonderful way.

•               Peace means having a calm, happy life of purpose and meaning.

•               God made this covenant of life and peace with the Old Testament priests, but to keep it they had to honor God and follow Him.

•               When they failed to do that, they lost the benefits of the covenant.

•               The same thing has happened to Christians today.

•               Through Christ, God the Father has made a covenant of life and peace with us.

•               To receive the benefits of the covenant, we must honor God and follow Him.

•               When we fail to do that, we do not receive those benefits.

•               There is no benefit without responsibility.

Verse 6 - True instruction was in his mouth, and nothing wrong was found on his lips. He walked with Me in peace and fairness and turned many from sin.

•               The priest who honored the covenant spoke the truth and did not say things that were wrong.

•               The priest who honored the covenant treated people fairly.

•               The priest who honored the covenant turned many people away from sin.

Verse 7 - For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the LORD of Hosts.

•               The priest who honored the covenant guarded the knowledge of God so that it did not get watered down through the generations.

•               How we are guarding the knowledge of God and passing it to our children and grandchildren?

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•               People came to good priests to ask for spiritual instructions.

•               When was the last time someone asked us for spiritual guidance?

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Verse 8 - You, on the other hand, have turned from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have violated the covenant . . .

•               God rebuked the Old Testament priests harshly because they had done the exact opposite of what they were supposed to be doing.

•               Since we are all now priests before God, have we caused people to stumble?

•               List some behaviors in our lives that may cause others to stumble and what can we do to begin to change those behaviors:

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Verse 9 - So I in turn have made you despised and humiliated before all the people because you are not keeping My ways . . .

•               The punishment for not keeping the covenant of life and peace was to be despised and humiliated before others.

•               If we are not really living the way a Christian should live, it can be a terrible thing when people begin to find out what we are really like.

•               Are we happy with what we have become?

•               Do we need to repent and return to God?

Conclusions to Lesson Two:

•                                    We should recognize that God wants us to accept a covenant of life and peace with Him.

•                                    To receive the benefits of that covenant we must honor God and live as He wants us to.

•                                    When we fail to do that, our blessings becomes curses instead.

•                                    We can pass those curses on to our families if we do not repent of them.

•                                    When we repent of our sins and determine to break the cycle of sin that grips our families, we can renew the covenant of life and peace that God wants between us and Him.

This is an excerpt from the book 

Malachi: Finding Hope in the Midst of Adversity.

 You can find the book on Amazon.

Tough Love - Thoughts from Malachi 1

Malachi 1:1-3, 6-9, 14 (HCSB) 

An oracle: 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?” "Wasn't Esau Jacob's brother?” This is the LORD's declaration. "Even so, I loved Jacob, ³ but I hated Esau. I turned his mountains into a wasteland, and gave his inheritance to the desert jackals.” ⁶ "A son honors his father and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is your fear of Me? says the LORD of Hosts to you priests, who despise My name.” Yet you ask: "How have we despised Your name?" ⁷ "By presenting defiled food on My altar.” You ask: "How have we defiled You?” When you say: "The LORD's table is contemptible.” ⁸ "When you present a blind animal for sacrifice, is it not wrong? And when you present a lame or sick animal, is it not wrong? Bring it to your governor! Would he be pleased with you or show you favor?" asks the LORD of Hosts. ⁹ "And now ask for God's favor. Will He be gracious to us? Since this has come from your hands, will He show any of you favor?” asks the LORD of Hosts. ¹⁴ "The deceiver is cursed who has an acceptable male in his flock and makes a vow but sacrifices a defective animal to the Lord. For I am a great King," says the LORD of Hosts, "and My name will be feared among the nations.

Verse 1 - An oracle: The word of the LORD to Israel through Malachi.

•               Malachi was the last prophet in the Old Testament. When Malachi finished his ministry, the Lord did not speak through another prophet for 400 years.

•               Very little is known about the man Malachi. He might have been a priest. What is known is that he lived in a time in which people had begun to fall away from their faith.

•               The word “oracle” is from the Hebrew word “masa” and literally means “a burden.”

•               Malachi was burdened by what he saw in his society and felt compelled to try to help people see the error of their ways.

•               Though sometimes prophets are seen as being judgmental, they are actually motivated by a deep burden over the pain they see in the lives of those who chose a lifestyle of sin.

•               What sins do we observe in our culture that burdens us?

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•               What have we done to address those burdens?

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Verse 2 - I have loved you, says the LORD. But you ask: How have You loved us? Wasn't Esau Jacob's brother? This is the LORD's declaration. Even so, I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau.

•               The message that God told Malachi to give to Israel was one of love.

•               Though Malachi was going to be showing “tough love,” it really was God’s love that Malachi was trying to convey.

•               List one example of tough love we have had to show someone else: ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

•               Most of us do not like tough love. But real love compels us to do what it takes to actually help others, not just what makes them (or us) feel good for the moment.

•               The Israelites were struggling to hear God’s message of love because of the difficulties in their lives, so they asked Malachi how God had demonstrated His love for them.

•               When we go through a hard time in our own lives, it is easy to begin to feel like God no longer loves us.

•               It is easy to focus on the negative things in life and forget all that God is doing.

•               What are some difficult experiences we are having right now in our lives?

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·               What are positive things God might be doing through the difficulties we listed above?

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•               Malachi used a unique illustration to point out to the Israelites how God had loved them.

•               Malachi said that God loved “Jacob” but hated “Esau.”

•               To understand this illustration we must know a little about history. The Jews descended from Jacob and though they were having a hard time, they had been able to return to their land and rebuild their temple and have a somewhat normal life. This was a demonstration of God’s love for them, even in the midst of their struggles.

•               The Arabs descended from Esau, whose daughter had married Ishmael, and at that point in history had been utterly decimated as a people. They had not yet been able to rebuild their nation. It lay in ruins no matter what they had tried to do.

•               Were the Jews better than the Arabs?

•               Did the Jews deserve to be blessed more than the Arabs?

•               No. Both groups had done wrong and both groups had received the punishment they had deserved.

•               But God, in His mercy and grace, had chosen to help the Jews rebuild their nation.

•               God demonstrated His love to them in this way.

•               Life may not have been perfect for the Jews, but it was far better than many of the people around them.

•               We have all done a lot of stupid things in our lives.

•               We have all received the “rewards” for our mistakes and carry certain burdens as a result.

•               But sometimes God chooses to bless us in spite of ourselves as a demonstration of His love.

•               List some blessings God has given to us in spite of some mistakes we have made:

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•               We should never doubt the love of God in our lives even when things are not going well.

•               We do not have to look far to find someone in far worse shape than we are.

•               Whatever we have, as little as it may seem at the moment, is a gift of love from God.

Verse 6 - A son honors his father and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is your fear of Me?

•               God calls those of us who believe in Him, His children.

•               Read John 1:12 and write the main thought of that verse below:

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•               Children are supposed to honor their parents.

•               Read Ephesians 6:1-2 and write the main thought of those verse below:

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•               Unfortunately, the Israelites had forgotten to honor God as their Heavenly Father.

•               List one example of a time we forget to honor God? What was the result?

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•               God calls Christians to reorder our priorities and to follow Him.

•               Read Luke 9:23 and write the main thought of below:

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•               The Israelites had left God off their priority list and were following their own ways, not God’s.

•               Do we ever follow our own way instead of God’s way? Do our priorities get messed up?

Verse 8 - When you present a blind animal for sacrifice, is it not wrong? And when you present a lame or sick animal, is it not wrong? Bring it to your governor! Would he be pleased with you or show you favor?

•               The Jews protested Malachi’s strong words.

•               They did not see their failure to love God nor did they see their failure to follow God’s ways.

•               Malachi points out just one example of how they had failed to love God the way they should have.

•               The Old Testament had very strict guidelines about what the people could bring to sacrifice when they worshipped the Lord.

•               They were supposed to bring a healthy lamb or goat that was at least a year old and looked perfect.

•               The whole point was that it was supposed to cost them something. After all, a sacrifice is not supposed to be free.

•               Instead of doing that, they had been bringing sick animals that they could do nothing else with anyway and giving that as a sacrifice to the Lord. This was really not a sacrifice at all.

•               Malachi points out that if they had tried to pay their taxes with such a sickly animal, the governor would have rejected it. Yet they thought such a sickly animal would be good enough for God.

•               We often think we can give God our leftovers and that it will please Him. List an example of how people in our modern times try to give God leftovers:

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•               We should be offering God our best because we love Him and we want to serve Him.

•               If we gave our spouse or our best friend the kind of love we give God, how long would that relationship last? If someone offered that kind of love to us, how would it make us feel?

Verse 14 - The deceiver is cursed who has an acceptable male in his flock and makes a vow but sacrifices a defective animal to the Lord.

•               God was not trying to be mean and demand more than the people could give.

•               God would not have been upset if they had given their best, and their best was not as nice as someone else’s.

•               God was sad because clearly they could have done better but they tried to deceive God.

•               God knows our hearts and sees through all our motivations.

•               God knows when we have given our best and when we have given just enough to try to look good in front of others.

Verse 9 - And now ask for God's favor. Will He be gracious to us? Since this has come from your hands, will He show any of you favor?” asks the LORD of Hosts.

•               Malachi was trying to help the Jews understand that if they did their least for God, then they should not expect God to bless them.

•               God does often bless us in spite of our behavior, but we should not think we “deserve” those blessings.

•               Too many people think of God as a cosmic ATM machine. They want to drive by the Lord and make a withdrawal anytime they want to.

•               That is not how spirituality works. But even if it did work that way, why would we think we can withdraw something from an account that was already empty!

Verse 14 - . . . For I am a great King, says the LORD of Hosts, and My name will be feared among the nations.

•               Malachi explains that the Lord is a great King.

•               The Lord’s people are supposed to be a great people.

•               If God’s people do not act great, it makes God look bad too.

•               Sometimes God has to give His people tough love so that they can get back in line and live right. But it is still love.

Conclusions from Lesson One:

•               God always loves us, even when we are going through difficult times.

•               God expects us to give Him our best. God knows our inner motivations and whether our effort really is our best or not.

•               We cannot live in ways that do not honor the Lord and still expect God’s blessings on our lives.

•               We must live in a way that proclaims God’s greatness to those around us.

          

         This is an excerpt from the book Malachi: Finding Hope in the Midst of Adversity. You can find the book on Amazon.