Malachi - Doing The Math
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good morning welcome if you're new here Among Us my name is Jean I serve here at C3 Church as your lead pastor and if you're not new you know that I like talking about nostalgic pop culture things it's my favorite it's not the Bible's my favorite thing to talk about but second to that would be this Nostalgia thing things from my childhood so we talked about Atari we talked about video games right I grew up in the video game generation it was first getting commercialized and so that's what I'd be asking for for Christmas if I was a kid so that thing has never changed some other things have so I started thinking more and more about gifts I'd be asking for for Christmas and one came to mind on the topic we're going to talk about today it was the Sony Walkman yes right so 1979 all right I was a kid then but I didn't think I got mine until about 82. all right that's important because certain albums came out then and that's what I would be listening to and it's quite different and at first I'm like ha I got the kids right you know because they're not even going to know what I'm talking about nowadays you just ask for a song from the air somewhere and then it just appears on some device in your house I don't know how it happens like every song known to man right back in the day though like it would be like asking Siri you know Siri play me you know whatever it is I'm afraid to name bands now because people like do you hear what they did but anyway everything's canceled so anyway just I'll name one whatever anyway so you know you ask ask for your favorite song and imagine Siri going nope that's it right and you asked for another song nope no you're like all I can give you is 60 Minutes of Van Halen you know and that's it that's what you got until you can save up money and buy your own tapes my parents would say like right and so you know my mom went on this kick for a while she's like I'm tired of the Iron Maiden and witchy witchy and all this stuff that you watch so they get thrown away so you're borrowing tape from the library and your friends but it's just 60 minutes right that's really all you get but it was useful in the car ride during the holidays right it lasted like about a half hour away to my aunt's house or my grandmother's house and a half hour back so it was about right it was kind of perfect and it would come in handy and I'll explain the situation to you maybe it's not just me but so we'd be driving to like my aunt's house for example for Christmas Christmas day we're driving there and my parents are going to engage in a conversation so it begins with my dad's mistake he says so what did you get my sister's kids you know my cousins I might name them mistake why here's how it starts well last year right so here we go we were gonna last year you know I got whatever it is I got Julie an Easy Bake Oven you know or whatever it was back then and you know what she got Gene sucks sucks you know like something like that so here we go they are the transactional gift givers right so they keep Italian I don't know if this is just my family or whatever but my mom's got the gift list and so here's the thing if you ever get a gift from me it's not for me my wife picked it out so that's just what's going on here right so just let's just be honest about that that's fine stuff I don't care you know I care but I do different things like pray she buys gifts and remembers what you all like so anyways you need that so this is what's going on here so we're in the midst of this very transactional conversation or maybe it's one-sided so now my mom will reveal the gifts but here's the thing so she'll she'll talk as if the car is bugged and it's really weird like so all of a sudden like and no but she has a loud whisper even if it was bugged like they can hear you what's the point of whispering when you do it loudly really weird so she'll be like well this year I remember last year the Easy Bake this year I got a My Little Pony and a Star Wars action figure from JB toys rinse they're worthless right so she thinks she's fooled or I scratched the price tag off and everything but she say it's a red one it's the clearance one anyway it leaves a mark and so you know she it's just the whole thing's weird like you don't think anybody else shops at KV toy and hobby by the way the Star Wars figures from the first movie it's worth it so now not now if I still had them in the box and she didn't sell them at the garage sale I'd be able to put my daughter through college anyway another resentment we'll take care of that in another time so this Hawkeye this whole transactional gift giving thing is going on right and so on the way back it gets worse because she does not learn the same thing happens right now she's mad she knows she got cheap toys it's like again this year sucks you know what I mean it's just you know my aunt's like winning like totally winning this whole thing and so they're going and so it's this horrible transactional conversation I'm thinking did you guys even listen in church at all and so I'm hearing Charlie Brown's Christmas now want enter Sony Walkman and if you've got too much won't wall in the mix you can just roll up that volume knob right until that turn that down you're gonna go deaf right so okay I heard that so he was right you will yeah you have permit what you know like all the time what it's not on purpose it's just yeah right rock bands that to walk man careful with your ears really yeah so indeed today we are going to talk about not my childhood the whole time although that could be funny uh we're going to talk about transactional gift giving and um today I'm going to step on everybody's so what did I do last week I ruined the manger scene for you that's fantastic it's ruined I just I don't ruin Christmas I'm ruining Christmas traditions right so that's the thing so now today I'm going to ruin gift giving for you if you don't feel cheap after today I didn't do my job and I don't mean like cheap worthless but like you're not very generous that's going to be my point really like we could just stop right there so we're gonna see the opposite of what we saw in the Magi so if you remember I had a crazy way of getting a magi I got there though you didn't know it yet but I got there and they're giving like really awesome gifts that's the point of the magic to the Lord now we're gonna see the opposite we're gonna see in the Book of Malachi and some of you are like oh no the Book of Malachi where they're not giving great gifts so I'll give you a little background here Malachi is a prophetic book of the Bible to like post-exilic people meaning fancy words for these are the people remember Ezra Nehemiah they're getting to go back right so they're building the wall building the Temple all this stuff and the restoring the worship and so Malachi is to them probably like 4 30 BC or something like that means nothing to most of you but anyway that's what it is and so the purpose here in this book is to ensure that these Jewish people coming back that their hearts are right in worship that's just the point right so don't do this transactionally don't do this ritualistically like you know this is you got to do this relationally and so this is basically the point so I'm not going to read every verse of Malachi I'm just going to point out different things paraphrase my way through we'll talk about it more at Bible study Malachi 1 1. this is the message that the lord gave to Israel through the prophet Malachi I have always loved you says the Lord but you retort really how have you loved us and so when I read this I kind of get this tone of uh correction maybe a little bit of sarcasm in there but it's kind of like a courtroom scene so the book is going to work like this you know really you know make a claim really and then back and forth now if you're not very familiar with the Bible especially the Old Testament you will get very confused by the next few lines because all of a sudden he starts talking about Jacob and Esau and so you kind of got to know that story to know what he's saying so Jacob becomes Israelites Esau becomes [ __ ] right so those two nations are kind of like enemies although they're you know cousins right so they come from the same brother so they're against one another so Obadiah is written to them short like you know one chapter book because the Israelites are getting it and they're like haha and God says don't gloat like that's not good so they're just against one another right from the beginning so you remember the stew so and then you remember the stolen blessing if you know these stories if you don't I don't want to take up too much time with it but Isaac is going to give the older one he saw his Blessing and Jacob with the help of his mom steals it so he wants to kill him he saw wants to kill Jacob but they kind of make up-ish but these nations don't ever really get along so God says right I've Loved Jacob but I've hated Esau Paul's going to quote this later in Romans and some people get confused and the meaning here is you've always been my chosen people I've loved you so you're gonna already setting up this very relational kind of feeling here if we continue Malachi 1 6 the Lord of Heaven's Army says to the priest the son honors his father and his servant respects his master if I am your father and master where are the honor and respect I deserve you have shown contempt for my name but you ask how have we shown consent for your name you have shown contempt by offering defiled sacrifices on my altar then you ask how have we defiled the sacrifices so to seem back and forth again how now I want to point something out to you uh that I I haven't heard maybe you've heard it but I've noticed since reading this all the way through a lot it's very relational see father to son so I want you to just pay attention to that just keep that in the back of your mind or in your back pocket as you read through the area as a father is to his son the book will actually close this way it end caps like this so the point is you pollute my all my altar right I'm not accepting these sacrifices he'll go on to say like I wish someone would just shut the doors to the temple just shut the doors stop it it's not worship I cannot accept your leftovers that's not good right so that's the point here he goes on to this theme that you're cheating the Lord you have robbed for me some versions say well okay it'll bring us to a point we have the corrupt priests we'll get back to that in a second but I want to get to something kind of interesting here so a lot of people say do you have a favorite verse of the day and then people like we've been here for a while like oh no like I'm out you know so you know because he's going to just like recite the Bible to this guy you know so the verse of the day has some problems but if I had to pick one this is it ready Malachi 2 3 I will punish your descendants and splatter your faces with the manure from your Festival sacrifices and I will throw you on the manure pile and that'd be great they just it's a great Standalone right there isn't it all right the Lord's promises to us inspirational Verse of the Day these are the Lords you know what I mean like this is great this is what the Lord does yeah so I think are we seeing the problem with the verse of the day yet all right so I could not help myself he promises to rub poop in our faces okay moving on we'll get back to that in a minute in a minute just to sarcastically make my points so you aren't like the Levites he says to these corrupt priests you've corrupted the Covenant is what he's saying here and then again back to relation relational are looking at all children of the same father and then he'll move into more relational issues going on marital relations you've married women who worship idols so this Old Testament thing we've seen this in Ezra Nehemiah remember that so they marry these foreign Brides they're not supposed to do that in this context in the law of Moses it's not for us we'll get to that point again today too but they have they shouldn't be and we saw in Ezra Nehemiah you need to divorce those women and then just love your Israelite Brides but here we're going to see another side of it Malachi 2 14. you cry out why doesn't the Lord accept my worship another theme well because you've been unfaithful to the wife of your youth you've covered my altar with tears it says so here is what you have is the other side of the coin now the Injustice of divorce and this is kind of what's underneath what Jesus is saying like he gives a reason like if you know you broke the Covenant there's adultery okay you can get a divorce but what's the real issue going on here maybe in this case because wife of your youth wife of your youth over it maybe your wife is older now right and so you kick her to the curb and she got a fend for herself how is she gonna do that it's cruel and that's the point here that's the context here which leads to I hate divorce so that's why that's the context of this kind of like cruel divorce he hates that then we turn the page Malachi 3 1. look I'm sending my messenger and he will prepare the way before me then the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his Temple the messenger of the Covenant whom you look for so eagerly is surely coming says the Lord of Heaven's Army so this here is going to sign into like the last few lines this is a prediction really cool of John the Baptist and he's Paving the way he's making the way for Jesus he's The messiah's Herald and we're going to see that when we get into that section of the New Testament so this year is a prophecy about that then Malachi 3 8 should people cheat God and this comes up again yet you have cheated me but you ask here's the conversation what do you mean when did we ever cheat you you have cheated me of the tithes and offerings do to me now continues Malachi 3 9. you are under a curse for your whole nation has been cheating me bring all the ties into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my temple if you do says the Lord of Heaven's armies I will open up the windows of Heaven for you I will pour out a blessing so great you won't have enough room to take it in try it put me to the test your crops will be abundant for I will guard them from insects and disease your grapes will not fall from the vine before they are ripe says the Lord of Heaven's Army so we're going to get back to this of course I'm just going to keep going through I want to finish the book just so you can see the whole picture but take note of the context they are a people cheating God also remember poop in face so just keep those things in mind as we move on but the Lord he goes on will be merciful to those who obey him and again this is like the father it'll be like a father it says to an obedient son so to those who are disobedient and rebellious it's going to be transactional right you're going to be judged to those who are obedient okay it's going to be relational I'll be like a father to you so then the book concludes here so you have the coming of the Lord's judgment in chapter four and then it concludes Malachi 4 5 look I am sending you the Prophet Elijah before the great and Dreadful day of the Lord arrives his preaching will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers otherwise I will come and strike the land with a curse who Jesus tells us that John the Baptist is the spirit of Elijah who has come back so that's what that's all about if you remember Elijah was taken up so comes back as the messiah's herald in the form of John the Baptist but here I hope you can see just kind of overviewing the book right from the beginning until the last few verses relationship like a fun like a father too that's Father and Son put together we go a little Trinity there but anyway so like a father to an obedient son and you're seeing this theme interwoven throughout the book by looking at the whole thing as a whole that's very very important when you do the verse of the day you can see what happens right you should really understand what's going on in the whole book so let's get to the application I'll point out some things here last week we looked at bringing gifts to God I mentioned this like the Magi good gifts but here in Malachi the people are doing the opposite of what they did they're giving their like lame and blind sacrifices and if I hadn't mentioned that that's what's going on here right you're just giving these awful leftovers that's what's happening so sacrificial system the Sheep you're supposed to give your fur the best all right give God the best spotless lamb nope they're given the lame and blind ones so in our context it's like giving the leftovers I'm set first then you God so that's kind of what's Happening so we see this contrast in these two books you know it should bring us to the question what kind of gifts are we bringing to Jesus natural we are always to bring our first fruits it's the idea here there's some Concepts that remain not the leftovers we're always to use our material gifts to worship Jesus and build his church that's the point here in today's context yet so many fail to respond to God's grace with their material possessions and then there are those who do but they do so out of ritual or compulsion we give our material gifts how can we keep our attitudes and actions from becoming mere ritual mere compulsion transactional maybe going through the motion so what we're going to do today is I want to look at Malachi 3 10 and show you some features of that verse uh that have been really taken out of context and abuse there's going to be both sides of this there's going to be I think for a lot of people who've had this pressed on them maybe a little healing or like oh you know thank you for telling me the truth about that verse and then on the other end I'm going to kind of um yeah I'm going to talk about the pastors who use this wrongly this is used wrongly so I want to just kind of get under this a little bit and then work our way through so let's think about the context again now you understand Malachi right so it's this very relational thing Malachi 3 10 bring all the ties into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my temple if you do says the Lords of Heaven's armies I will open up Windows of Heaven for you I will pour out a blessing so great you won't have enough room to take it in try it put me to the test okay so let's just take the last few words we'll start there and work our way back and I'll show you what's wrong with this first first problem is that people I've seen pastors do it and it's not right they will use this transactionally you see if you give your tithe and it's pretty much been said for many you know many of pulpits you know if you tithe God's Gonna bless you try it it's the only verse of the Bible the only time when God says test me well that should make you question that wait a minute so it's the one and only time and that's what we're going to hang our hat on right yeah it's transactional thinking it's the wrong way to think it's the wrong attitude and so that should not be encouraged at all so what's going on here all right I'll just show you kind of some other sides of it and we'll work our way in so look just remember the context for a second poop and face you're you're it's fine you can laugh you're robbing me you're cheating me right if we keep reading by the way look at this Malachi 3 15 just five verses later and now we are calling the Arrogant blessed not only do those who do wickedness prosper they also test God and Escape what think about it the evil doers these Wicked people some virgin say evilders the wicked people say what do they do they test God what's going on here okay first I want to point something out and then I'll explain it to you did you know that Jesus was tested he was tempted I want to kind of go over his response here so we can kind of understand this a little better because here's the thing if you don't understand the way the Bible Works old testamentality builds up and then the New Testament is like the best commentary we have on the Old Testament so some things are said and done in the Old Testament and then Jesus will clarify Paul will clarify that's how it works right Jesus said himself I fulfilled the law so just that so here we go so if we're in Luke we're in Luke 4 and uh a lot of people don't like to talk about this either Jesus initiates his ministry by fasting yep so anyway fasting so he goes out to the Wilderness and then the devil sees an opportunity I'm gonna test him tempt him right so first of all you're fasting you must be hungry so if you're really the son of God turn that stone into bread Jesus Resorts with scripture man does not live on bread alone but every word that comes from the mouth of God okay devil let me try this he says look take him to the high point shows them all the kingdoms and says look if you'll just Bow Down and Worship me I'll give them to you right Jesus said no you only worship God then we get to the third thing Luke 4 9 and he brought him to Jerusalem and he had him stand on the highest point of the temple and said to him if you are the Son of God throw yourself down from here for it is written he will command his angels concerning you to protect you and on their hands they will lift you up lest you strike your foot against a stone and Jesus answered him and said to him it is said you are not to put to the test the Lord your God interesting so a little side note the devil can bless us without every blessing is a good one the devil can bless us do you see that Jesus didn't say you can't do that Satan nope the devil can bless us and the devil can and will use scripture out of context yes so what's going on here do we test God or not to test me yeah it only occurs once for good reason not Jesus clarifies this real clear let's keep it in mind hyperbole remember that like the overthrow exaggeration so think about it while the poop in the face could be literal I'm kind of thinking it's a little hyperbole correct I hope so so it's a little gross right so you know it's it's kind of an exaggerated form of speech he means it but it's more to get your attention instead of being literal especially when you have two different things being said evildoers test but test me hyperbole so it could be a little bit like Jesus saying pluck your eye out cut your hand off if they cause you to sin he doesn't want us to do that but he wants to get your attention wake up that's what it's about also Paradox remember that two seemingly contradictory statements but when reconciled by context they make sense right that's probably what's going on here as well both sides of the coin I'll show you again last week it happens in two verses Proverbs 26 4 don't answer the foolish arguments of fools or you become as foolish as they are five be sure to answer the foolish arguments of fools or they become wise in their own estimation both sides of the coin there's a time for I said this last week almost almost everything not everything so you have the fools and the Y's and that's probably what is at play here so the fool go test them to the wise do not like Jesus says do not do not test God and so as a note if you're familiar with the New Testament just I won't get into this too much you see it in second Corinthians if you're really familiar with these books right they're very childish people Paul's called them babies first Corinthians three infants in the faith and so he gets to Second Corinthians eight and nine they're dragging their feet on an offering they're not giving they're not being generous right and he uses a similar kind of tactic here so he's appealing to their transactional nature so it's not not that he really ideally wants to teach them that way but this is how you talk to people who are being childlike they're not being generous so he'll apply this transactional logic it's how the Lord speaks to people whose hearts are in the wrong place people who give because they're hoping to get something back all right so this is what Paul says like he gives this like if you solve a lot you'll reap a lot kids you know like come on so these are the people in Malachi and the Church of Corinth and you got to remember these things are said in the midst of a rebuke it's not an ideal situation there are people they're like spiritual children like chores so that's how you're going to talk to your kids right you know you're going to give money to do stuff but what you're hoping is they grow out of that right someday you know you should know better you're going to say something like that to them I've trained you up now and so on my next point Malachi 3 10 the use of the verse entirely this is how Paul Likens the law that the Israelites are under this is his logic and Galatians this is what Galatians is all about really the law we're not under it anymore and so he calls it like a pedagogue like somebody who would take you to back and forth to school someone who's in charge of taking care of you and Paul make the point look you don't need that now faith has come so we don't need that the guardian anymore some versions will say and so that's the law it's over here Jesus fulfilled it we're not under it and so that's the big point and that is the other problem with using Malachi 310 it's a part of the law of Moses it's not a part of what we are under and so Jesus fulfilled that you should not be using it in a Christian Church to apply it to Christians is something we should do and so just really quick I'm not going to get into this for I'm not actually even going to read all the verses just give you the point and then you can go check it out on your own it's this is actually the first heresy yes heresy of the early church and it makes sense right because they're all Jews at first and then the Gentiles come in so the question comes up and you have these Jewish Pharisees uh they're they become Christians and they do what they do best right so they're going to say no the Gentiles coming in they've got to follow all the rules they've got to get circumcised but it's like 613 commands it's a lot it's not like the Ten Commandments or anything like that it's really imposing right if you're a male it might hurt a little bit right so they have this counsel to decide and like everybody's there like Paul and the Gang Peter James Jesus's brother and so they're kind of debating it Peter makes a great statement right this is a yoke right something you put over an animal's neck to get them to go to the same direction that even like we and our fathers couldn't bear like why are we going to do that to them Peter has the right heart you know so James inspired by the holy spirit says no you're you're right we're going to do just four things and that's it you know they don't have to do the 630 you know just four basic things this goes back to like the noahide laws and you can do a study on it they're going back to the Covenant with Noah that's what that is right there and remarkably even Paul First Corinthians 8 through 10 Romans 14 he says even those think don't worry about it don't worry about it it's not gospel so it's people saying you got to go back to the law is crazy it's way off and so if you read Galatians I'll just point out a few features here Galatians 2 you can't read Galatians and Come Away with the takeaway that we should ever be under the law it's so ridiculously redundant Paul talks about what happens in Acts 15 in this book and then he goes to for example for no one will ever be read right with God by obeying the law pretty clear right not for some Galatians 2 21 I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless for if keeping the law could make us right with God then there was no need for Christ to die big one right Galatians 3 10 but those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse you're cursed if you go back to the law for scriptures say cursed is everyone who does not observe and Obey all the commands that are written in God's book of the law James make that makes his point partiality James 2 10 for the person who keeps all the laws except one is as guilty as a person who's broken all of God's laws you cannot treat this like a buffet you have to obey all of it so I'll make the point I've talked about the Sabbath right so it's one of the Ten Commandments people are prideful about breaking right so they're good ideas you know like you wouldn't break any of the other ones why do you break that one well I got to that already so we'll move on but anyway anyway Sabbath's a really big deal I'm talking with friends about it in the church they notice they're like whoa it was given before the law and it's like really redundant right throughout the law the Sabbath's a big deal so big of a deal that if you went out and picked up sticks on the Sabbath you would die they would Stone you death why God knows better basically you're a bunch of prideful people and you're going to work yourself to death so I'll just kill one of you as an example so maybe the rest of you will accept and he says God's gift to you what's wrong with you prideful people and so that's what would happen to you so important the Sabbath you don't imagine this right so you don't take I want to be under law pastor G and there are people out there like we're pretending to do this you can't because there's no priesthood the animal sacrifices and by the way I think I'd get arrested if I stoned one of you to death like so how am I going to keep and that's a commit you know the piece of me maybe but it's a joke hyperbole remember so I saved myself from that one so anyway you know can't do it because that remember the think the command to Stone someone to death is a command too think about that and so you have to obey all those too what does Jesus say the woman in adultery drop the stone right he was about Sin Caster he does away with that no more of that but you would have to in order to follow the law of Moses broke the Sabbath die that's it that's a command you have to kill them the people are ordered to do it so that's the first problem with trying to apply as a modern Pastor Malachi 3 10 when pastors abuse this verse they are putting their people under the Yoke of the law it's wrong you are not under that hear me this is the truth and I've just seen it done too many times and so there's two categories and neither one of them are right where the pastor knows this like if you went up to him and you said are we under the law of Moses you'd be like no but then the same sermon Malachi 3 10. little shower blessings on you what knew better what he did was wrong and manipulative it's incorrect or he doesn't know better and should not be teaching anyone so this is wrong so you are relieved yoke lifted you're under grace and you're like oh here he goes but speaking of being under it all of it or not people will ask the question okay I don't have to give 10 percent yeah so what should we give in the church pastor well if you know us here at C3 Church like we're always looking to the Bible to find what did they do in the early Church in context like what can we still do you know what does the culture look like here let's look at what they did Acts 2 42 and they were devoting themselves to the teaching of the Apostles and to the fellowship to the breaking of bread and the prayers we were talking a lot about this next year so it sounds like C3 Church right yes so you're gonna hear more about how we break the bread we are a church that prays we let the teachers devote themselves to the word so it's in here and fellowship really important to us so that's a great key verse we're going to walk into that verse a lot next year and really try to get that down and fear came on every soul and Many Wonders and signs were being performed by the apostles and all who believed were in the same place and had everything in common and they began selling their possessions and property and distributing these things to all to the degree that anyone had need if we jump to acts 4 32 now the group of those who believed were one heart and soul and no one said anything of what belonged to him was his own but all things were theirs in common and with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace was on them all for there was not even anyone needy among them because all those who were owners of plots of land or houses were selling them and bringing the proceeds of the things that were sold and placing them at the feet of the Apostles and it was being distributed to each as anyone had need that is what was happening in the early church so 10 sounds pretty good doesn't it I just I laugh when pastors do it I just laugh because I'm like what you shortchanged yourself pun intended why didn't you just point to that you know what I mean you guys are greedy you know what I mean like in the early church they're inspired to sell everything you could have gone there ten percent it's kind of low so but to those who argue even against That Base that 10 percent the argument comes with the wrong heart the lack of faith it comes with that transactional attitude of what's in it for me where am I going to get from this and you have people that do that what am I going to get if I give the church it's a transaction right wrong they come with that attitude rather than an attitude of gratitude holy cow I get to keep 90 percent of something that I wouldn't have unless God had given it to me in the first place that's correct thinking in Malachi they're thinking this way transactionally but it's the wrong way to think the correct response to what Christ did who gave it all should be take it all let me keep what you allow me to keep and thank you thank you thank you that's it that's what the Holy Spirit inspired in the early church and it's really funny we talk a lot about Revival