Ambassador Presbyterian Church

Please note: this is the manuscript to Pastor Harvey’s Sunday morning sermon preached on November 27, 2011. The podcast is unavailable.

Malachi 3:16-18 God’s Treasured Possession 11/27/11

For this morning’s message, we’re going to skip over the middle section of Malachi 3 which we will return to next week, and we’re going to look at the end of the chapter in particular verses 16-18. One reason I want to turn there today is that coming off of the thanksgiving holiday and moving into the Christmas season, God gives us a reminder in this passage of several blessings of his grace that we have to be truly thankful, blessings that ultimately result from the gift of his Son, Jesus Christ. A second reason is that the blessings promised here by God, are in some manner visibly represented for us in the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, both of which we celebrate here this morning.

So I am going to read this passage from Malachi, beginning in verse 13 to help set the context, and then we’re going to look at four promises God makes in this passage for those who fear him and honor his name.

READ MALACHI 3:13-18

Remember that Malachi is preaching to God’s people who have resettled in the promised land after returning from exile in Babylon. Their love for God has grown cold, their worship has become ritualistic and their lives have comformed to the ways of the pagan people around them. As you read through God’s response, you begin to wonder if there are any among them who have remained faithful to the Lord when you come to this breath of fresh air at the end of chapter 3. Malachi speaks in these verses of two different groups within the people of God, and they are distinguished by the way in which they speak to one another. Jesus reminds us in Luke 6:45, that “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” In other words, the words of your mouth will ultimately reflect the true attitude and belief of your heart. And here we see that the way you talk about God reveals what you think and believe about God. And the reason that is important is that there are no private conversations in relationship to God. He hears everything we say, he knows everything that flows from our hearts to our lips and nothing is hidden from him.

Thus God points to two different kinds of people here in these verses: those who grumble and complain about God to one another and those who fear and esteem the name of God to one another.

The first group, we already looked at a little bit last week. They are those who look around and see that people who don’t know and serve God seem to be doing pretty well, and their own worship and service to God has become boring and monotonous and seems to yield little benefit. So they question God’s goodness and his justice. They view their worship of God as a chore, a duty, an empty, vain task that is pointless. They relate to him like a servant or slave to a master.

This should serve as a warning to us. When you talk to others, do you complain and grumble about God and serving him. Do you feel as if all this going to church and bible study and serving in ministry seems in reality pretty pointless? It doesn’t really pay dividends. Do you talk as if God is not really fair or that he owes you somehow? And do you look at those who don’t know God and in some ways you envy them? God says be careful. Such words are “hard against him” or spoken in prideful arrogance.

But there’s a second group: This group is described in verse 16 as those who fear the Lord. They have a humble, respectful, reverence and awe for God, and when they talk about him, they don’t complain and grumble, but rather they honor and esteem his name. They recognize that he is God, and he is just, and just because things aren’t so great right now, it doesn’t mean God has changed, he is still God. They serve him, but not as a slave serves a master, but as a son serves a father. They recognize and remember God’s covenant love which he spoke of back in chapter 1, and when things don’t seem to be going well it’s not because God doesn’t love them. Or when they see the wicked prosper, it’s not because God is soft on sin. The believe God’s mercy and his justice and they encourage one another with that truth. In essence they speak the gospel, the good news, to one another.

When you talk about God, do you fear and honor his name and do you look at those who don’t know God and not envy them, but rather have compassion on them because they don’t and desire for them to turn from their ways and know the love of God as Father? God knows and he hears those words as well.

And where I want to focus our attention the rest of the time is on the promises God makes to those in this group, those who fear him. These promises that God gives to the people of Malachi’s day, promises that would begin to come true to some extent in the arrival of the messenger of the covenant, Jesus Christ, are promises that he still has for us today who have put our faith in the refining fire of Christ’s grace. And my hope is that if you find yourself in the first group spoken of here, that these promises will draw you away from grumbling against God and draw you to esteem his name in faith. And if you find yourself as part of this second group, my hope is these promises will encourage you to press on in confident faith and hope in Christ even in the face of the trials and struggles life brings.

God hears and remembers!

The first promise is that God hears and remembers us! When we fear him, when we honor him, when we trust him and speak to one another about him…God hears and he takes note. Vs. 16 says, “The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name.” The fear of the Lord spoken of here is that reverent, respectful, healthy awe of knowing and trusting in God as the creator and ruler of all things. And evidently there weren’t many in Malachi’s day who truly feared the Lord. Most of God’s people had grown hardened and skeptical in their faith and were many just going through the motions. But there were those among them who did fear the Lord and when they spoke to one another, God took note. He not only overhears the grumbling and complaining of the arrogant, but he also hears the conversation of the godly.

I am very thankful that God is not like me. I am very easily distracted, and I can be in a conversation with someone or trying to listen to someone speak, but then I realize that I’m not really paying attention. All of sudden you realize that a few minutes have gone by and you can’t remember a word that was said. Some of you are probably feeling that right now? God isn’t like that. He is always paying attention. And no word you utter, no deed you do, no small service you render, no matter how insignificant it may seem, will go unnoticed. The Lord will pay attention and hear.

And not only does he hear, but he remembers. In fact, it says here it’s written down in a book of remembrance. We hear talk at Christmas about Santa Clause making a list and checking it twice. Well God truly does take note of those who fear him and esteem his name. He has it written down. Every kind word you’ve spoken, every note of encouragement you’ve written, every smile you’ve given and hello or thank you you’ve spoken, every door you’ve held and car you’ve waved into traffic. Every bible story you’ve shared with little ones and small deed of grace you’ve done for God’s glory is being written down in a book of remembrance before the Lord. Each year over the past 21 years of our marriage, my wife has written down all the highlights of the past year in a Christmas book. We treasure this book because it records those special, important moments so that we can go back and remember those significant events. Now, God is not prone to forget things like us, but he records those things that are important, significant and this is God’s way of saying, it’s all important to me. It’s all recorded and will be remembered. God remembers not only the names, but the works of all who fear him and esteem his name.

God treasures us as his own.

Not only does God hear and remember us, but God also treasures us as his own. He says in verse 17, “They shall be mine, in the day when I make up my treasured possession.” In the book of Deuteronomy, God speaks of Israel as his treasured possession out of all the nations of the earth. In the New Testament, Paul tells us, echoing the language of Malachi earlier in this chapter that Jesus has come “to purify a people for his own possession,” and Peter reminds us that in Christ, “We are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession.” Here God says, those who fear him and esteem his name will be among that treasured possession.

Think for a moment. What do you have that you consider a treasured possession. We all have something that we would likely call a treasured possession. Maybe it’s an heirloom of some kind, a piece of jewelry or furniture or picture or letter that is very special because it has been passed down to us from those we love. Maybe you’re a collector and you have in your collection a special edition or a prized piece that is very valuable. Maybe it’s a relationship with a spouse or your children or a special friend that you treasure. When you have a treasured possession, what do you do. You go out of your way to protect it. You seek to preserve it, to treat it with care. You spend time admiring and enjoying it, you want to tell others about it, to provide for it’s well being in whatever way necessary.

God says, those who fear him and honor him are like precious jewels to him. He pays the necessary price to make us his, and he gathers us in, he protects and provides and admires his people. Those who fear and honor him belong to God, not as a slave, but as a treasured possession, a special, precious jewel. You are a priceless work in his creation, and God says when he gathers that treasured possession all together, you will not be left out. There will be no missing pieces in God’s treasure collection.

He spares us as a father spares a son.

Which points to the third promise here. God not only hears and remembers us, he not only treasures us as his own, but he also spares as a father spares his son. From what will God spare them? From what does a father spare his son, that he doesn’t spare others from? From losing all his rights as a son. An employee might be fired. A slave might be sold. But a son, though there may be consequences for sinful or rebellious action, he will always be a son, he will remain an heir to the kingdom. He will be spared the wrath of rejection and alienation.

This is illustrated so beautifully in Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son, who scorns his father and squanders away his inheritance until he resolves to return to his father and hopefully just be accepted as a slave in his household. But the father will have none of that and he not only spares his son the embarrassment of his return, but he spares no expense in welcoming him home and restoring his full rights as a son.

When the wrath of God falls upon those who are sinful and rebellious and deserving of his judgment, God says I will spare those who fear and honor me as a father spares his son. They will not be disinherited. They will not lose my love. They will remain my child. God spares us! When the day comes for judgment, when it’s time to look at things and settle accounts, he treats us like sons, not slaves.

God vindicates those who serve him.

Which leads to the last promise which is that God will vindicate those who serve him. In Malachi’s time, the people were having a hard time seeing the benefit of serving God. The wicked seemed to always prosper and those who served God seemed to be on the receiving end of continued hardship and oppression. And as noted earlier Malachi, even within the people of Israel, many who claimed to serve God were only going through the motions and their lives were not really any different than the surrounding culture.

God says, a day is coming when the distinction between the righteous and the wicked will be made clear. When the line is clearly drawn between those who serve God and those who don’t. That dividing line became clear in the person of Jesus Christ. Christ came to purify a people for himself. He came to bring righteousness to the people of God, and those who serve God are those who believe in the one whom God sent. Paul was very clear that we have a righteousness that comes not from obedience to the law or from our own ability to please God, but a righteousness that is from God, by faith in Jesus Christ. Christ came as a refining fire, purifying us through his sacrificial work on the cross, so that we might now be able to serve him with clean hearts and with a willing spirit.

Now, even today, the church is still made up of wheat and tares. Like in the days of Malachi, there are still those among God’s people who worship God with their lips, but their hearts are far from him, who serve God on Sunday, but serve themselves the rest of the week. Jesus himself acknowledged that many would claim to serve him, but in fact would not know him at all. Sometimes, it is hard to tell. But God promises that one day, that distinction will be clear. Those who have put their trust in Christ and who are living their lives by faith and trust in his grace and truth, will be those who stand with him in his kingdom, who will inherit eternal life and the blessings of salvation.

Conclusion:
These are the promises that God has for those who fear him, who honor his name, who serve him as a son serves a Father. And God has fulfilled those promises in the person of his Son, Jesus Christ. The book of Revelation tells us that on the final day of judgment, the books will be opened and the dead will be judged according to the deeds they have done. In other words, God’s notes of our lives will one day be reviewed. Unfortunately, if that were the sole criteria for heaven, then we’re all in trouble, because in Revelation 21:27, it says that “nothing unclean will ever enter (heaven), nor anyone who does what is detestable or false.” But God’s book of remembrance is not the only book opened. According to the end of that verse, the only ones who will enter heaven are those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. Whose names are in the Lamb’s book of life? Those for whom the Lamb of God was slain. In other words, those who fear the Lord are those who put their faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation. He came to pay the price for our sin, he came to ransom us from death and hell and to purchase us as a a precious possession for God. He came to spare us from the wrath of God and to make us sons of God. He became sin who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God. He came to serve us in order that we might be able to serve God.

God’s word through Malachi to those in Israel who feared and esteemed his name was a promise that they would indeed be remembered and they would be his treasured possession and they would be spared his wrath for sin and they would be among the righteous as they trusted and believed him and the messenger of the covenant who would come, namely Jesus. And his promise is the same to you and me who stand on the other side of the cross. God has remembered his promise, he has purchased us for himself and spared us as a father spares his son and has made us righteous in his sight. And he did it by not sparing his only Son, but paying the price for our sin on the cross.

In the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, God has given us great reminders of these truths. In the waters of baptism he sets us apart and marks us as his treasured possession. He points us to the cleansing work of Jesus’ death on the cross and his resurrection to new life which we share as children of God, born again to eternal life by faith in him. And in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, he reminds us of the price that was paid for us, the body and blood of his own son, shed for our sin in order that we might be made righteous and be welcomed into intimate fellowship with God.

So I close with this question? Are you here today as one who complains and grumbles against God because you feel he is unfair or injust or you just don’t really believe he loves and cares about you. If that’s the case, then I plead with you to hear these great and precious promises of God who remembers his people, who treasures them as a precious possession, who spares them as a father his children, and who will one day vindicate the righteous forever, and humble yourself before the Lord. Call out in repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, whom God sent to fulfill the his promise of redemption on our behalf. All who call on the name of the Lord will be saved.

And if you’re here today as one who fears the Lord and honors his name, be encouraged. It may at times appear that your faith is futile, that your service is in vain, that the wicked prosper and that the service of God’s people goes unnoticed or unrewarded. But such is not the case. God pays attention and remembers, you are his treasured possession, he has saved you by grace and you can freely and boldly serve him with all your life.

As we come to the table, to celebrate the wonderful gift of God’s covenant love in Christ, let us give thanks and rejoice in his great and precious promises given to us.

Hebrews 13:3 reminds us to remember those who are in prison and mistreated as if we were in their shoes.  There is more persecution of the church in our world today than ever before, and as we remember our persecuted brothers and sisters in prayer, God is turning what is meant for evil into good.  Check out the video at this link: Extraordinary

ACTs groups are more than affinity groups or social clubs. They are small groups of people ready to come and wrestle with the realities of living in a broken, sinful world. As you come to study and apply the Word of God, you will grow in your faith and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you ready to GROW in this kind of gospel community? Sign up this Sunday!

When you join an ACTs group, you are given the opportunity to meet and share life with other believers outside of the context of Sunday morning worship.  As genuine Christian fellowship takes place, you will find that relationships are given room to develop and flourish.  Are you ready to CONNECT with this kind of gospel community?  Sign up this Sunday!