Sermon Video: God curses unfaithful priests - Malachi 2:1-9

After warning the priests and the people about offering blemished sacrifices, Malachi's prophecy turns toward the priesthood in Israel itself, and admonishes them with dire warnings of blessings being turned into curses because of their failure to accurately teach the Law of God to the people and apply it impartially.  What happens when the leadership of the people of God fails to champion God's Truth?  They lead the people of God astray and stumble into error.  The warning of Malachi against this danger rings true throughout the history of the Church as well, when the priesthood/pastorate fails through a failure to preach the truth and/or a failure to maintain a morally upright example, it is the people of God who suffer.

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Sermon Video: Sacrifices Worthy of God - Malachi 1:6-14

Following up on his explanation as to how God has loved his people, Malachi examines the way in which God's people have shown love, devotion, and honor to God in return, and the results are not good.  The priests in Israel had been offering animals for sacrifices with significant defects, in violation of the Law of Moses.  The implications of this violation are very serious, not only is it a sign of great disrespect for God, it will also result in sacrifices which are not accepted by God, causing a rift to develop between God and his people.
Now that Christ has fulfilled the sacrificial system, the equivalent of Malachi's warning for the Church age is the ongoing need for God's people to show respect and gratitude to God by giving God acceptable offerings of love, worship, prayer, and service, offerings that reflect our best not our leftovers.

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Sermon Video: Jacob I Loved, Esau I Hated - Malachi 1:1-5

The last of the prophets before the 400 years of silence preceding John the Baptist, Malachi brings a message to the people of Israel reminding them of their covenant obligations.  The Word of the LORD through Malachi begins with a hypothetical conversation between God and his people in which the people question the validity of God's statement of love for his people.  In response, God replies with, "I have loved Jacob, but Esau I hated".  The use of the example of Jacob and Esau, Abraham's twin grandsons, serves as a stark reminder of the nature of the relationship between God and his people, for it is a relationship founded entirely upon grace.  Esau was the older brother, but God chose to make Jacob the heir of Abraham's promise, before the boys were even born.  It was not a question of which brother was superior, for Esau displayed greater character than Jacob, but of the choice of God.  Because God's love is an act of grace, not obligation, those who receive it have no basis to demand anything of God, and ought to simply respond by praising the goodness of the Lord.

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Sermon Video: Paul tries to make peace with his critics - Acts 21:15-26

Having returned to Jerusalem, the Apostle Paul finds renewed controversy there as false rumors being spread about him have antagonized the Jewish Christian community against his work among the Gentiles.  In response, James encourages Paul to make a public demonstration of his own ongoing personal commitment to the Law of Moses by sponsoring the completion of the Nazarite vows of several of his fellow Jewish Christians.  Despite having done nothing wrong, Paul accepts this advice and takes on the sponsorship expense in order to foster peace within the Church.  In the end, it will be a futile attempt, as fresh lies against Paul will result in his arrest, but the willingness of Paul to act as a peacemaker is an example of the humility required of a servant of the kingdom, and of the sacrifices that may prove necessary to preserve unity within the Church.

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Mt Everest vs. Space: Why we can never reach God on our own.

When trying to explain why our own righteousness, that is the morally upright things that we do, can never be sufficient to please the holy God who created us, I hit upon an analogy that might help some understand what Jesus is trying to say in Matthew 5:20 "For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven."  Given that those two groups were believed to be the most righteous people in Israel, the words of Jesus seem like an impossibility.  Later on Jesus would explain the failures of the religious leaders of his people, focusing on their pride, failure to care about those in need, and the shallowness of their devotion, but the point about righteousness remains.  The statement by Jesus is intended to invoke a sense of despair, about our ability to please God on our own, hence setting aside our pride and allowing us to lean upon the grace of God.

So, how high can we climb on our own, and why isn't that good enough for God?  Let's suppose that you make it to the pinnacle of human moral achievement, climbing higher than anyone else.



That seems like a tremendous accomplishment, especially with so many other people falling far short of your lofty achievement and others not even trying.  But what is the goal, have you reached it, simply because you can't possibly get any higher?






But God is holy, perfect, without flaw; we are not.  Our highest possible ascent toward God, on our own, leaves us far, far short.  Could Sir Edmund Hillary have climbed from the summit of Everest into space?  Of course not, the gap is too wide, and there's nothing left to climb.  Our righteousness, whatever it might be, is equally hopelessly insufficient when compared to the holiness of God.

So, what is left for us to do, give up?  In a way yes, to come to God, we need to give up trying to fix ourselves and instead trust that the righteousness of Christ, who died and rose again on our behalf, will be applied to our account by God because of our faith in him.  So go ahead and climb the Mt. Everest of morality, doing the right thing is always the right thing, but not because it will make God accept you, do it because you wish to honor the sacrifice of Jesus and be as much like him in this life as possible.