Monday Reflections...sermon post...by, from, and for

The stretch of 18 days of no Stephanie is coming to a close.  It will be a great reunion to be under the same roof again.  We are so thankful for God's provision to make this happen so she could care for her parents.  

My Monday's Reflection centers on the words "by, from" and "for."  I heard these three words this week in this way.

We are saved by God.

We are saved from God.

We are saved for God.

We are saved by God through the act of His mercy and the gift of His grace given willingly and fully through His Son, Jesus Christ.  We are saved by God through salvation.  

We are saved from God in reference to His wrath against sin.  The wrath of God is upon us and ahead of us if we are not saved from it.  The all sufficient sacrifice of Christ on the cross paid the price for those who respond to the call of God with repentance, confession, submission, and obedience.  The wrath of God is satisfied and does not rest upon us.  Therefore, there is now no condemnation...

We are saved for God to be His ambassadors.  We are to be salt and light to this world for God.  We are trained up to make disciples of all nations through the teaching of God's word.  We are not to be pew sitters only but pavement pounders with His gospel for the glory of God.

Posted below is the first sermon in the book of Malachi.  I gave a long introduction to give the historical backdrop so that we could have some context to who this prophet is speaking to, to help us apply properly to "our time."  Malachi has a pattern and it is to give a statement from God, a rhetorical question from the listeners and finally an answer from God.  Sometimes the statements and questions go back and forth a bit and sometimes the answers are short from God with a follow up that is lengthy and soul piercing.

Chapter 1 outlines as such.

God makes the statement that He has loved these exiles who have come out of Babylon and back to Jerusalem to rebuild what was destroyed by King Nebuchnazzenr 70 years prior.

The rhetorical question addresses that this doesn't look much like love.  Love would mean not being taken away in the first place.  Love would not include all this work of starting all over again.  This love of God looks very odd.

The short statement from God is that the exiles need to remember that they are of the line of Jacob and not the line of Esau.  From Jacob would come the Israelites and the line of the coming Messiah.  From Esau would come the Edomites and those who would revert to idol worship.  

The exiles are loved by God for the sheer fact that they are back in their homeland.  How did that happen?  Who orchestrated the events for them to be sent back with all the provisions they would need?  It was the God who loved them.  The God who spoke through the prophets hundreds of years prior not only of the outsiders coming in to take them away because of their disobedience and disloyalty to God but also how long they would be in captivity, 70 years, and even the king's name, Cyrus, who would make the decree for them to return.  

Now God turns it around and says to the exiles, "I have loved you but you have not loved Me."

The rhetorical question back is to quiz God on how they are not loving Him and God responds first by looking at their obedience in worship.  God gave them very specific rules on the animal sacrifices.  What is to be brought is to be without blemish or spot.  These animal sacrifices would be a picture of the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who was the Lamb without sin.  The animal sacrifices that were coming into the temple were lame, blind, and defective.  A clear violation of what God had said.

It is not that they were not able to obey God in this matter.  They had acceptable sacrifices in their herds and they even said that they would give them but they did not.  Animal sacrifice is not something we practice today because Christ is the fulfillment of the sacrificial system but we still come together in worship.  Is their full obedience to what He has said that applies to us?

Worship = Full Obedience

What hinders our worship of God?  Here are some of my observations and personal admissions.

1.  Too tired - Many use Sunday, the day of dedicated worship of the God who gave His very Son for us, to catch up from a long week, investigation needed.

2.  Wrong focus - Many times we come together with a focus on self rather than loving God and loving others, servanthood needed.

3.  Lingering sin - As long as there is a bump under the rug where we have swept sin rather than confessed it, worship will be less than it could be, confession needed.

4.  1 hour 15 minute event - "We get our worship on" as a popular song says and treat it like a light switch in your house, surrender needed.

5.  We don't know Him - We culturally go to church and receive the common graces of a church family but we do not have the saving grace of being born again, salvation needed.

God, through Malachi, will continue on in chapter 2 to give some more ways that they, the exiles, and us today are not loving God back.  Stay tuned.

Pastor Adam