Malachi 3 - Who Are We Really Before God?

 Introduction:  

• Reputation is what others think or believe about you. Integrity is what you know or believe about yourself. 
• We can look good before people, but how do we look like before God?  

100 years after the people have settled back in Jerusalem from exile, God's people have once more forgotten him.   They were far away from God spiritually compared to the time when they just arrived in Jerusalem from Exile (Neh 7-9).   In Malachi 3, not only did they not see their sin, but they questioned God when they sinned.  

The Sin of Man

How were God's people blinded?  Examine these verses in Malachi and see how they saw themselves before God.    

1. Mal. 1:6-7, They have dishonored God but they asked, "In what way have shown contempt (defiled) for your name?"
2. Mal. 2:17,  God was ever patient, but they kept on disobeying enough for God to just give up but they insisted, "How have we wearied you (run you down)?" 
3. Mal. 3:8, God saw the gifts but they were impartial and they questioned, "How do we rob you?
4. Mal, 3:13, God heard their complaints and yet they acted innocently, "What have we said against you?" 

Ignoring sin leads to deceit and shamelessness

When men are left in their own sin, they become shameless.  We have turned a blind eye on things that we have done and pretended they were not there in the first place.   You might say, "what's the big deal, that's not a big sin?"   Or we even argue, "but it all eventually did a good thing?"  It's like the end justifies the means.   Look at James 1:23-25 and see how he characterizes this kind of behavior.  

The reason we don't see our sin, that we see ourselves better, and that we don't need God is that we have a warped view of sin.   We base our standards on someone or something that is below us.   Compared to them we are better.   As Christians however, our standard is God.   If we want to be with God, we have to meet the standard.  Hebrews 12:14, 

The Standard of God 

God rehearses his standard to His children in Malachi.   Let's look at God's response to their complaints: 

1. Mal. 1:6-8, Did we defile your name?  How have we shown contempt for your name?’ 7 “By offering defiled food on my altar. “But you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’ 8, “By saying that the Lord’s table is contemptible. 8 When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the Lord Almighty.
   
   
2. Mal. 2:17,  "Did we ever weary you?" 17 You have wearied the Lord with your words. “How have we wearied him?” you ask.  By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and he is pleased with them” or “Where is the God of justice?”
   
   
3. Mal. 3:8-9, "Have we robbed you?"  Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’  “In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse,
   
   
4. Mal.  3:14-15, "What have we said things against you?  14 “You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? 15 But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.’”

Two words I want you to remember:  GUILT AND SHAME.  "Guilt refers to the objective status of someone being found guilty for a wrong committed.  Shame is the feeling of regret for some aspect of who are we."  

The reason all these times you never needed Jesus.  You always have an answer as to why should stick with your own beliefs, your own experience, and your own perceptions because you have not understood that basis for your life is God and his perfection.   And unless you see his holiness - you will never see your sin.   

Look at the cross.  The cross is perceived by people by people in many ways.  There are two prevailing concept.   Some see the cross as an ideal sacrifice.  It is an example to follow.  It is an icon to worship, it is a magical charm.  Because of that - your response to the cross is to study it (intellect),  to hold it, to hang it, to kiss it.   But the cross, the bible said is viewed very differently.   

In closing, examine Isaiah 53:6 and reflect on what this passage means to you?