The people in Malachi’s day had grown indifferent to
God’s great love. The theme of Malachi is, “I have loved you,” says the
Lord. But the callused response of the people was, “How have You loved
us?” (1:2). The prophet seeks to show them that the problem was not on
God’s part. It never is. The problem was their sinfully selfish,
temporal perspective. They needed to see things from God’s eternal
perspective and serve Him by faith.
Behind their wrong attitude was the age-old subject
that we covered in 2:17: Why do the wicked prosper and the godly suffer?
You may wonder, Why bring it up again so soon? The answer is, this
problem doesn’t get put to rest once and for all. It keeps creeping back
into our thinking. God knows that we wrestle with it, and so He
graciously addresses the subject repeatedly, so that we will maintain
His perspective when we are tempted to think that it is vain to serve
Him. The prophet shows us:
We should serve God because He notices and cares deeply for all who serve Him.
There are two groups in our text. Group A (3:13-15)
is the group to Avoid. This group grumbled against God, complaining that
there is no reward for serving Him; you may as well be an arrogant,
wicked person who tests God and escapes. Group B (3:16-18) is the group
to Be in. These people feared God and esteemed His name. They encouraged
one another to continue serving God in spite of the seeming prosperity
of the wicked and suffering of the righteous. God takes special notice
of them and promises that He will spare them in the day of judgment
because they are His special treasure.
1. Group A: Avoid being among those who complain about serving God (3:13-15).
This group spoke arrogantly or harshly against the
Lord, but when the prophet confronts them, they ask, “What have we
spoken against You?” As verses 14-15 show, they weren’t directly shaking
their fists at God. Rather, they were complaining to one another, but
God was eavesdropping! He always does, of course! He notices all that
we think or say. But these people were not God-oriented, and so they
spoke brazenly to one another, voicing their common complaints as if God
were deaf or non-existent.
Their complaint was, “It is vain to serve God; and
what profit is it that we have kept His charge, and that we have walked
in mourning before the Lord of hosts?” (3:14). They went even farther,
probably in sarcastic mockery. They called the arrogant blessed, and
said that wicked people are not only built up, but also they test God
and escape (3:15). There are four characteristics of this group to
avoid:
A. These people were sitting in judgment on God, rather than submitting to His dealings with them.
Whenever we grumble about our circumstances or the
wrong treatment that we have received, we are really elevating ourselves
above God. We are saying, in effect, “God, I could run this universe
better than You are running it! I’m just trying to serve You, and all I
get is unfair treatment and trouble. But the guy who arrogantly defies
You is living a happy life. I’d fix this problem if I were in charge!”
What arrogance, to think that somehow I’d do a better job of running the
universe than the Lord of hosts!
One of the most prevalent sins of the Israelites in
the wilderness was their spirit of grumbling and complaining against
God. They rather would have returned to slavery in Egypt than to trust
God and endure hardship in the wilderness! He had delivered them from
bondage in a dramatic and miraculous way through the Red Sea. From
there, they went three days into the wilderness, found no water, and
began to grumble (
Exod. 15:22-27).
Later they grumbled about the boring manna that God faithfully supplied every day, and so the Lord graciously provided quail (
Numbers 11).
They grumbled at the report of the spies about the giants in the land,
and talked about appointing a leader to return to Egypt (
Numbers 14).
God was displeased with their grumbling. That entire generation, except
for Joshua and Caleb, who trusted God, died in the wilderness (
Num. 14:26-38).
Whenever we grumble about our circumstances, we are
impugning the character of God and exalting ourselves above Him. We’re
saying, “God doesn’t really love us, or He wouldn’t let us be in this
difficult place.” And, we’re saying, “I know better than God what is
good for me.” John Calvin observes, “But in the service of God the chief
thing is this— that men deny themselves and give themselves up to be
ruled by God, and never raise a clamor when he humbles them” (
Calvin’s Commentaries [Baker reprint], on
Malachi 3:13,
pp. 595-596). As Paul exhorts us from his prison cell, “Do all things
without grumbling or disputing; that you may prove yourselves to be
blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a
crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the
world” (
Phil. 2:15).
B. These people had a self-centered attitude.
They ask, “What profit is it that we have kept His
charge …?” (3:14). What’s in it for us? The Hebrew word translated
“profit” was a technical term for a weaver cutting a piece of cloth free
from the loom. The idea here is that these people expected their “cut”
or percentage, much as a gangster would demand his cut for his dirty
work (Walter Kaiser, Malachi, God’s Unchanging Love [Baker], p. 98). They were grumbling that God hadn’t given them their fair share.
Be careful here! The flesh is inclined to self-pity,
self-focus, and self-centeredness, and the world feeds this. If there’s
nothing in it for you, why do it? If the church isn’t meeting your
needs, bail out. You deserve some happiness. You can’t worry about the
needs of others! God understands. Your needs come first!
We need to be careful about how we present the
gospel. If we approach it as, “Come to Jesus and He will meet all your
needs,” we aren’t giving the full picture. It’s true, of course, that
Jesus satisfies the deepest longings of every heart that trusts in Him.
But He is not Aladdin’s Genie, waiting to grant our every wish. While
following Christ brings us deep and lasting joy, the path to that joy is
daily self-denial and the cross (
Luke 9:23-24), which are not immediately pleasant experiences!
I always chuckle when I read about the time Peter
said to Jesus, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You.” Jesus
affirmed that whatever they had given up to follow Him, they would
receive a hundred times as much in this present age. Then, while I’m
sure the disciples were nodding in approval, Jesus added almost
offhandedly, “along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal
life” (
Mark 10:28-30).
What’s in it for you, if you serve the Lord? He
gives abundant blessings, both in this life and in eternity. But don’t
forget the persecutions! “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus
will be persecuted” (
2 Tim. 3:12). Self-centered people don’t last long in serving God.
C. These people had lost the motivation for holy living.
They asked, “What profit is it that … we have walked
in mourning before the Lord of hosts?” (3:14). Outwardly, they went
through the motions of fasting and humbling themselves before God. But
they were not doing these things out of a heart of love and devotion for
God. Inwardly they were thinking, “This religion stuff is a drag! We
want some fun out of life!”
Motivation is everything when it comes to obeying
and serving God. I read about an elderly Christian lady who was a
shut-in. She had two daughters, both Christians, who came by to clean
and help out. Both made everything shine, but the first daughter left
the impression that her task was an awful burden. The second daughter
was cheery and made her mother feel loved. Both daughters did the same
task, but the first did it out of duty alone. The second did it out of
love for her mother. Her motive made all the difference.
Jesus rebuked the church at Ephesus. They were doing
many good things. They had persevered and endured for Christ’s sake.
But they had left their first love for Him (
Rev. 2:1-4).
When Jesus restored Peter to service after his fall, He asked three
times, “Do you love Me?” With that as a foundation, He said, “Tend My
sheep” (
John 21:15-17).
Paul said, “… the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in
the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me” (
Gal. 2:20). Love for the Lord Jesus, who gave Himself on the cross for me, should be the motive behind everything that I do for Him.
So this group to avoid was sitting in judgment on
God, they had a self-centered attitude, and they had lost the motivation
of love as the basis for holy living and service.
D. These people had focused on the seeming prosperity of the wicked, but had lost the eternal perspective.
While saying that it is vain to serve God, they were
calling the arrogant blessed. From all that they could see, there was
no reward for following God, and there were many rewards for defying God
and seeking your own prosperity.
Whenever we start thinking that way, we have lost
God’s eternal perspective and adopted the world’s temporal perspective.
Asaph wrote about this in
Psalm 73.
He contrasted the prosperity of the wicked with his own trials and
concluded that he was following God in vain. This was troublesome in his
sight
until he went into the sanctuary of God. There he
considered the end of the wicked and the reward of the righteous. I
encourage you to meditate on that Psalm whenever you’re tempted in this
manner.
Also, read Paul’s great resurrection chapter,
1 Corinthians 15.
He states (15:19), “If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we
are of all men most to be pitied.” Why serve Christ if this life is all
there is? Rather, “eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” (15:32). But, if
Christ is risen and if we will be raised from the dead also, Paul’s
conclusion is, “Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of
the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord” (15:58).
So avoid Group A. But there’s a second group:
2. Group B: God notices and cares for those who fear and serve Him in spite of hardships (3:16-18).
This is the group to Be in! They were probably the
minority group, numbers-wise. But God always has a faithful remnant that
serves Him in spite of many difficulties. Note that Group B, those who
serve God, are called righteous, whereas Group A are called wicked
(3:18). That is not to say that serving God earns the label of
“righteous.” We can do nothing to commend ourselves to God. Our
righteousness is in the Lord Jesus Christ, whose righteousness is
imputed to us as a gift of God’s grace through faith (
Rom. 3:21-26).
But serving God is a distinguishing mark of the righteous person,
whereas not serving God marks the wicked, who live for themselves. There
are two, and only two, groups here. Either you have not trusted in
Christ and you live for yourself, or you have been justified by faith in
Christ and now you live to serve Him. Make sure that you’re in Group B,
not in Group A! Three characteristics mark Group B:
A. These people fear God and esteem His name above the opinions of others.
Twice verse 16 emphasizes that these people feared
God, and it further adds that they esteemed His name. “Esteem” (KJV =
“thought upon”) means to meditate, to regard, and thus to set value on
something. Isaiah (13:17) uses the word to describe the Medes, who “will
not value silver” when they invade Babylon. In other words, they would
not be bought off with silver, because they did not value it above
victory. (See also,
Isa. 53:3.)
In our text, this group valued the Lord and His
character (“name”) above the majority opinion. They didn’t go with the
prevailing flow of their day, because they looked to God in His majesty,
and they feared Him and valued Him above everything else.
In my opinion, the Christian world today needs a
revived emphasis on the proper fear of God. We rightly emphasize God’s
love, because “God is love” (
1 John 4:8). But we are out of balance if we emphasize God’s love to the neglect of the fear that is due to His holy name.
I wish that many of God’s people today, who view God
as their Good Buddy, would read John Bunyan’s excellent “Treatise on
the Fear of God” (
The Works of John Bunyan [Baker], 1:437-491).
He writes, “When God comes to bring a soul news of mercy and salvation,
even that visit, that presence of God, is fearful” (p. 438). In God’s
presence, he says, “even our best things, our comeliness, our sanctity
and righteousness, all do immediately turn to corruption and polluted
rags” (p. 439). The proper fear of God causes us to hate evil and turn
from it (
Prov. 3:7; 8:13; 16:6).
Too many pastors today fear what people think of them more than they
fear what God thinks of them! Fearing God gives us the courage to
confront sin, even if people don’t like us for doing so.
B. These people encourage one another in the face of surrounding evil.
“Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one
another” (3:16). “Then” refers to verse 15. when the wicked called the
arrogant blessed. Group B had to counter the evil talk of Group A. They
had to be as bold for God as Group A was bold for evil. They did it by
getting together and talking. We are not told specifically what they
said, but they probably encouraged one another by saying, “Don’t listen
to these scoffers. Don’t give up serving the Lord! He will reward all
that serve Him and He will judge the wicked scoffers.”
The point is, we need fellowship with like-minded
believers in order to stand firm against the wrong ideas that come at us
from the world, the flesh, and the devil. If all you do is attend
church and leave, but you don’t fellowship with other Christians during
the week, you will struggle to maintain a godly perspective in the face
of the evil around us. That’s why
Hebrews 10:24-25
commands us to think about how to stimulate one another to love and
good deeds, and not to forsake assembling together, but to encourage
“one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”
Group B fears God and encourages one another. Finally,
C. These people are especially noticed and cared for by God.
“The Lord gave attention and heard it, and a book of
remembrance was written before Him…” (3:16). The Hebrew word translated
“gave attention” means to prick up the ears, as an animal does when it
hears something. The word “heard” means to bend over so as not to miss a
word. The picture is that of a parent, eavesdropping on the
conversation between his children (Charles Simeon,
Expository Outlines on the Whole Bible
[Zondervan], 10:620-621). The book of remembrance probably refers to
the record book that Persian kings kept with the names and favorable
deeds of those who had helped the king (
Esther 6:1-2).
God hears and remembers everything said by everyone
at all times, of course. But these human pictures applied to God remind
us that He is not forgetful of His children when they take a stand for
Him or when they pay a price to serve Him (
Heb. 6:10).
God promises that they will be His on the day that
He prepares His own possession, or treasure. He will spare them when He
judges the earth, as a man spares his own son who serves him. So God is
assuring His people that He hears and takes notice of that which the
world overlooks or despises. The world notices the powerful, rich, and
famous. God notices those who fear Him and serve Him out of love. They
are His special treasure. And so we should not despair at the seeming
prosperity of the wicked or at our own trials. When God judges the
earth, the line between the righteous and the wicked, between the one
who serves God and the one who does not, will be clear (3:18).
Conclusion
Years ago, an elderly missionary couple who had
served for years in Africa, was returning to New York City to retire.
They were feeling discouraged, defeated, and afraid. Their health was
broken and they had no retirement pension. When they got to the wharf to
board the ship, they discovered that they were booked on the same boat
as President Theodore Roosevelt, who was returning from a big game hunt.
No one paid any attention to this old couple, but they watched the
fanfare as the President arrived. A band was playing and the crowd was
waving and straining for a glimpse of the great man.
As the ship crossed the Atlantic, the old man grew
more and more depressed. He said to his wife, “Something is wrong. Why
should we have given our lives in faithful service for God in Africa all
these years, and yet no one cares for us? This man comes back from a
hunting expedition, and everyone throngs to see him. It doesn’t seem
fair!” His wife tried to comfort him, but he couldn’t shake his
depression.
As the boat docked in America, more bands were
playing and more crowds had turned out to greet the President. Many
dignitaries were there, and the papers carried the story on the front
page. But no one noticed the missionaries. They slipped off the boat and
went to hunt for a cheap apartment and for jobs.
That night, the man’s spirit broke. He felt that God
had abandoned them. He complained to his wife, “We don’t have anyone to
help us and no where to go. Why hasn’t God met our needs?” His wife
wisely replied, “Why don’t you go in the bedroom and talk to the Lord
about the whole thing?”
Some time later, he came out of the bedroom, but his
face was different. He was happy now. His wife asked what happened. He
said, “I went in and told the Lord the whole thing. I told Him that it’s
not fair. I told Him how I was bitter because the President received
this tremendous homecoming, but no one met us as we returned home. And
you know, as I finished, it seemed as
though the Lord put His hand on my shoulder and said simply, ‘My child,
you’re not home yet.’” Why serve God? Because He notices and cares for
all who serve Him!
