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Message For Christians
Malachi’s Message For Christians allows us to see God questioning His priests about their actions, and it points out to us some great truths of God.
God wants a sincere relationship with His people. Most of us rarely consider the book of Malachi in our Bible studies. It is a short book and seldom quoted.
The message for Christians is not just the most quoted verse in Malachi, chapter 3, verse 8, “Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me.” You might get the idea that all Malachi talked about was money. However, if we spent more time studying Malachi, we would find that he speaks to most of today’s issues.
Our destiny is in God’s hands
It is God who decides who He will bless and from whom He withholds blessings.
Malachi uses the two brothers Jacob and Esau as examples. It says in Malachi 1:2-3 NKJV,
2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord.
“But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’
“Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob, 3 but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his hill country into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”
He is speaking to the offspring of Jacob. God did not just decide to love one over the other. He knew which would serve Him and which would rebel against Him.
Esau had the opportunity to humble himself before God or choose to go his own way. He paid the price for doing his own thing, as we all do.
We can not choose to go against God and believe that He will ignore our actions because He is a loving God. He raises nations and destroys nations based on His judgment. God’s message for Christians is that He alone is in charge.
In the following few verses, He speaks of the Edomites. As they say, they will rebuild what the Lord has crushed. God is clear when He says they may rebuild, but I will demolish.
We need to accept that God is in charge and that He still judges nations. Nations that serve Him He honors and blesses. He will destroy the nations that choose to follow their corrupt ways.
Today our nation has decided to follow the way of Baal and self-gratification. God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for things we make laws to protect. The question is not if God will judge our sin, but when.
Just as He destroyed Edom, He will destroy our nation if we do not humble ourselves, confess our sins, and turn back to Him.
Special Note: God is always ready to forgive us through Jesus; however, sin still carries consequences. Every time Israel turned from God, another nation conquered them.
God calls us to honor Him
Malachi points out that sons honor fathers, and servants honor their masters. If we call God our Father and our King, is He not due our honor?
Malachi’s message to Christians is that God is unchanging. He wants our best and desires to be first in our lives every day. God will not accept second place, nor should He. We should not make the Creator of the world and all that is in it an afterthought in our lives.
As you read Malachi, you will notice that the book addresses the Levite priesthood.
Who are today’s priests?
Is it not you and I? Peter says in 1 Peter 2:9 NKJV, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
In Malachi, God points out that they are offering to Him only that which was unacceptable to market or pay their taxes. God does not want our second best! He wants our hearts and our commitment to Him.
If we are to please God, we must give Him our best. Giving God our best should always be our goal in life.
When we go before the Lord on Sunday, we tend to dress up and clean up a little. Not so much in today’s society, but still we try to put forward a good appearance.
So did the priests He was addressing. They put on their best robes and went through the act of sacrifice in the proper ceremonial fashion, but they offered less than their best.
Who does God call the cheat?
God not only wants us to honor Him with the best we have, but He wants us to be honest about what we do.
What we give to God should be our best. When we commit something to God, we need to fulfill that commitment. In Malachi 1:14 NKJV, God says, “Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For I am a great king,” says the Lord Almighty, “and my name is to be feared among the nations.”
The message for Christians is that our vows to the Lord are sacred. If you say in your heart that you will give a tithe or offering and fail to do it, God calls you a cheat.
Those are strong words but clear by the scripture. I confess that I have had this problem with sin. In 81 years, I have failed to keep my vows many times.
Did I think of it as being a cheat? No, but I was and have repented of my sins. Our tithes and gifts are holy to God.
In conclusion: God wants us to see Him for who He is and pay Him the proper respect. We can not fool God, and He wants only our best.
God wants to bless us, but He wants us to grow in our honesty and faithfulness toward Him. We can not fulfill our purpose in life without the right relationship with God.
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