Day #138: Malachi 3:1-5

BACKGROUND:

After the preparation by God’s messenger, suddenly the Lord will come to His temple. The coming of the Lord in His day is a much-discussed theme among the prophets. Zechariah said He will come to Zion and dwell there (Zech. 8:3). Ezekiel predicted the return of the glory of God to the temple (Ezek. 43:1-5).

The title the messenger of the covenant occurs only here in the Bible. Most likely the messenger here should be identified with the Lord Himself. The word “messenger” can be translated “angel,” and the Angel of the Lord, a manifestation of God Himself, had been quite active in Israel’s earlier history (Judges 13:21-22).

The day of the Lord will be a day of judgment on the whole world, a day of disaster and death (Isa. 2:12; Joel 3:11-16; Amos 5:18-21; Zech 1:14-18). Later Malachi spoke of this day as coming like fire to burn up the wicked (Mal. 4:1). So the answer to both questions, Who can endure the day of His coming? and Who can stand when He appears? is that none of the wicked will endure. The Lord’s coming will purify Israel by purging out the wicked.

Often the prophets spoke of the day of the Lord in connection with the judgment that would be poured on the nations and would effect Israel’s deliverance. Malachi, however, made no mention of the other nations. He concentrated on this day as a time of judgment on Israel and especially on the Levites, her leaders and teachers.

The figures of a refiner’s fire (that burned out the dross from metal ores) and launderer’s soap emphasize the effectiveness of God’s spiritual purging of the nation (cf. Isa. 1:25; Jer. 6:29-30; Ezek. 22:17-22). The result would be a pure class of Levites. Refined like gold and silver, they will bring offerings in righteousness... as in days gone by. This will contrast with Israel’s unacceptable offerings of which Malachi wrote (Mal. 2:12-13). Following the return of the Lord and the judgment of Israel, offerings will be sacrificed in the kingdom (cf. Isa. 56:7; 66:20-23; Jer. 33:18; Ezek. 40:38-43; 43:13-27; Zech. 14:16-21).

The judgment of Israel will not be limited to Levites; it will include the whole nation (Ezek. 20:34-38). God will come near Israel for judgment. He will purge the nation of those who are involved in sorcery (Micah 5:12), adultery, perjury, depriving workers of their wages, oppressing widows and orphans, and mistreating aliens—all those who do not fear Him. All these crimes were prohibited in the Mosaic Law. God’s removing these sinners from Israel will be His answer to the nation’s question about His justice (Mal. 2:17).


SO WHAT? (what will I do with what I have read today?)

Every one of us needs to do a gut check from time to time. We need to re-dedicate our lives to the Lord and re-dedicate our hearts to Him. For me, I do this every morning. I re-deciate myself to God's purposes and God's plans. I re-dedicate to being the man of God and husnad and father He desires me to be. I'd like you to read through about the life of Joshua this morning to get a sense of how you might do this re-dedicating on a regular basis in your life.

You know the background. God gave Joshua an impossible assignment. In Deuteronomy 7:1 it tells us that the land that he was to go in and possess after Moses had died was inhabited by seven nations. Each of those nations were larger and each of them was stronger than Israel. I think the point to make here was that even the Promised Land has problems and even when God is blessing your ministry in a tremendous way there are difficulties that come along. The fact is God never asks us to do anything without His help. So in Joshua 1 He gives Joshua a five-point strategy for success. And if Joshua will just live by faith and follow these points, he will be successful. In fact the word “successful” is used twice in this passage.

Notice the guarantee for success here; I would say that it works today. We need to study this. We need to write it down. Whatever God tells Joshua to do in chapter 1, every pastor, every church leader needs to follow if he wants to be successful in the ministry. In Joshua 1:7-8 it says “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left that you may be successful wherever you go.”

In the first four verses of chapter one, we have the first principle. That is BE CLEAR IN YOUR DIRECTION. V. 1 “After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ aide, ‘Moses my servant is dead. Now then you and all these people get ready to cross the Jordan people into the land I’m about to give them [the Israelites]. I will give you every place where you set your foot as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon and from the great river the Euphrates to all the Hittite country to the great sea on the west.’”

Notice in this passage that God specifically outlines What, When and Where Joshua is going. Joshua has a very precise goal. He’s got a very specific target. He knows exactly what God wants him to do.

If you’re going to be a leader that God can use you must first be clear in your direction. I talk to pastors all the time who say, “I really don’t know what I want in my ministry.” They tend to be drifting along. They don’t know what they want for their church, what they want for their family. They’re frustrated with it. They say, “I’m tending to be a caretaker of a ministry. We’re just maintaining the status quo.” When I ask them, “What do you really want to do with your ministry? What is your vision? What’s your goal for the church? Your family?” It’s often very vague and I have to say, “Can you be a little bit more specific?”

Everybody needs a dream. Everybody needs a goal. But those goals must be clear, very specific. Nothing becomes dynamic until it becomes specific. And the more specific you are in your direction, the more you know where you want to take your church, the more it has a magnetic pull to pull you along. Daily re-dedicate yourself to that dream. You must be clear in your direction. When you get specific, people get excited.

There’s a second truth. That is you must BE CONFIDANT IN YOUR DESIRES. Once you know the direction that God wants you to take, you must have the confidence to move ahead. You cannot doubt what God’s called you to do because doubt is the opposite of faith. The Bible says, “Whatever is not of faith is sin.” The Bible says “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” So once you’ve set a God-given goal, then you move forward confidently.

What happens is once your goal is set, typically the devil gets you to start questioning your goals – for your church or for your ministry or your life or your family. Questions like, “Is this really God’s will?” Or, “What if I’m wrong? Do I really deserve this? Am I just being selfish or prideful?

I saw a Peanuts cartoon a while back that was talking about double mindedness and instability. Charlie Brown is standing on the pitcher’s mound. He says, “A pop fly. I’ve got it. It’s all mine. If I catch this ball, we’ll win the first game of the season.” Then he starts praying, “Please let me catch it. Please let me be the hero. Please let me catch it. Please.” Then as the ball’s coming down he says, “On the other hand, do I think I deserve to be the hero, the kid that doesn’t want to be the goat? Is the baseball game really this important?” The next frame he says, “Lots of kids all over the world have never heard of baseball.” Next frame: “Lots of kids don’t get a place to play at all or have a place to sleep.” Finally the ball hits into his mitt and bounces out onto the ground. Linus comes up and says, “Charlie Brown! How could you miss such an easy pop fly?” Charlie Brown says, “I prayed myself out of it.”

I know there have been times I’ve prayed myself out of great goals and dreams. You have to have confidence in God and that God wants to work through you. That “He who is in you will complete it unto the day of Jesus Christ.” and He who is in you will give you the strength to do what He’s called you to do. You need to believe that God wants to bless your life.

Evidently this was a real problem for Joshua. He lacked confidence. He felt inadequate in his leadership. Many of us have felt that way so that’s why I think this is a good lesson. I’ve identified with Joshua many times. God had to keep giving Joshua a pep talk. He had to keep saying, You can do it. Four times in this chapter He says, “Be determined and confident.” V. 6, v. 7, v. 9, v. 18. “Be determined and confident.” And He keeps giving him a pep talk.

Why is He doing that? Because fear is what keeps you in the desert, not problems, not difficulties, not obstacles. It’s fear that keeps you in the desert, fear that keeps you from being all that God wants you to be. It’s fear that keeps your church from growing how God wants it to grow. You must be confident in your desires.

There’s a third step in the strategy that God gave to Joshua in order to be a man of faith. That is BE COMMITTED TO YOUR DECISIONS. That means once you’ve started, don’t look back. Luke 9:62 says “No one having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” In the second part of v. 9 it says “Do not be discouraged for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” God says stick with it, don’t cop out, hang in there, be persistent, be diligent, don’t give up. The way you get to be a success in life is if you outlast your critics. Some of you have heard me says before the way you get to be an oak tree is a little nut who refused to give its ground. If you just hang on, the tide goes out but it always comes back in. Commitment is a key to accomplishment. If you don’t have commitment to your ministry, you’ll never finish anything.

So my question to you is, What are you committed to? What are the things that you’re willing to die for? What are the things that you’re saying, There is no way that I’ll give up on this! Many people in your church are afraid to commit to anything. They begin to one job and when it gets tough, they switch to something else. Or they get committed to a marriage and then they move in and out of relationships because it’s difficult. Or they flirt with one project and then move on to another project, from one goal to another. Today we’re seeing in a lot of our churches how so many Christians float in and out of churches; they never finish anything.

One of the things you can find in high achievers that when they make a decision and then they die by it. Notice what Joshua did in 3:1, 5 “Early in the morning, Joshua and all the Israelites set out from Shittam and went to Jordan where they camped before the crossing over. … Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.” The phrase “consecrate yourself” – they’re getting ready to cross over the Jordan River. This is graduation day. This is the point of commitment, the moment of truth, there’s no turning back now.

This is the most significant day in the history of their lives. Joshua says, “Consecrate yourselves.” That is an act of total unreserved commitment. In other words he says, “I want you to make the decision of ‘God, we’re going to go for it, even if we fail. We’re going t go for it!’” That’s what it means to be committed to your decision, to be consecrated.

You can’t just jump across a canyon with several baby steps. You have to commit yourself. You can’t just say, “I’ll take it a little bit at a time.” If you’re going to cross a canyon you’ve got to go for it with gusto. I’d say that’s true in a marriage, in a job, in your ministry. It won’t work until you commit to making it work. Whatever it takes. Your marriage doesn’t work unless you commit to making it work – whatever it takes.

There’s a fourth step that we find in the life of Joshua. That is BE CORRECTED BY YOUR DEFEATS. In Joshua 1:7 God tells Joshua, “Be strong and courageous. Be careful to obey all the law. Don’t turn from it to the right or to the left that you may be successful wherever you go.” He’s saying don’t get sidetracked. When you have a defeat, when you have a failure, get back on track. Use the word of God to help you reorganize your ministry and your priorities, to get your eyes off the people who are criticizing you, get your eyes off the impossible situation, the difficulty. Mistakes are a part of life. The Bible says “all have sinned.”

And just because you are man’s God or woman doesn’t mean you won’t make mistakes. You’re not perfect. The pencil eraser industry was built on your mistakes. If there weren’t such things as mistakes we wouldn’t have any need for erasers.

The difference between successful and non-successful people is not that successful people don’t fail. They do. It’s just that successful people learn from their failures. I heard a story one time about an executive who was asked, “What is the secret of success?” and he told the young man, “The secret of success is right decisions.” The young man said, “How do you learn to make right decisions?” Answer: “By experience.” Question: “How do you get experience?” Answer: “From making wrong decisions.”

Corrections of defeats are the key to the future. Edison said, “Don’t call it a failure; call it an education.” I want to tell you, I am highly educated! I’ve done more things that didn’t work than did. You know what? I’m not afraid to admit it when I’ve made a mistake and to learn from it. The road to success is paved with failure. But you learn from those failures.

A good example of that is in Joshua 7. Remember the story of Ai, the little dinky town that the Israelites came upon after their great victory at Jericho. They’d just taken on the greatest, most fortified city in the land and God had given a tremendous victory. They were getting a little confident and a little cocky because they thought, “We can take on anything. God is on our side.” And they began to presume upon God’s grace. They actually became overconfident after Jericho. When they had to take the little city of Ai, Joshua said, “Go out with a small battalion of troops.” They went out and were absolutely wiped out. When the news came back to Joshua that they’d had this humiliating defeat by just a dinky town, Joshua throws himself onto the ground. He’s praying and says, God what happened? Why did You allow this? Did You bring us out here just to die? V. 6 “Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell face down to the ground before the ark of the Lord remaining until evening. The elders did the same sprinkling dust on their heads. Joshua said, ‘Our sovereign Lord, why did You bring these people across Jordan to deliver us in the hands of the Amorites to destroy us? If only we’d been content to stay on the other side of the Jordan. O Lord, what can I say now that Israel has been routed by its enemies?’” Joshua is complaining, saying, “What’s up?” and he’s having a pity party. “Why is this happening?” he’s embarrassed.

The solution to this was to discover the cause and take appropriate action. God says, “Joshua, there’s a time to pray and a time not to pray. You need to get up and instead of praying, dust yourself off and go get the sin out of the camp.” Which they later found was the problem of Aiken who had stolen three things when God had said “Don’t take any spoils of war,” and he did. And because he had hid those things, his sin was causing the entire camp to suffer.

The solution is to discover the cause and take appropriate action. That means to be corrected by your defeats.

There’s a fifth step and final step that we see in the life of Joshua. That is BE CONSCIOUS OF GOD’S DEPENDABILITY. God promises enormous benefits in the word of God when we trust Him and when we follow His promises. This chapter, Joshua 1, is full of promises of God. God says, You can depend on Me, You can count on it. There are four things that God promises if we follow His instructions as leaders.

1. He promises power. Inv. 5 He says “No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses so I will be with you. I will never leave you or forsake you.” He’s saying “You’re going to be invincible. Nothing will be able to stop you. If you trust in Me, if you’re conscious of My power, then I will put My power within you.”

2. He offers us protection. He says nothing can harm you. “I will never leave you or forsake you.” He says, I will be with you all the time. You’ll not only have power but you’ll have protection.

3. God promises prosperity if we follow His instructions. V. 8 “Don’t let the book of the law depart from your mouth. Meditate on it day and night. Be careful to obey everything written in it. Then you’ll be prosperous and successful.” If you’re daily studying God’s words, you’ll follow His success principles. I’m not saying that God wants every church to be a mega-church. I would say that prosperity is being everything that God wants me to be. And having God’s blessing in my life and using the talents He’s given me. God guarantees that you’ll have more than you need if you trust in Him. Notice in v. 4 He says, “Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon and from the great river Euphrates to the great sea in the west.” Did they need that much land? Not a chance! They didn’t need it all. But God gives an abundance if we trust in Him.

4. God guarantees His presence. That’s the best of all. In Joshua 1:9 and in other places also He says, “I will be with you wherever you go.” Many times when I’ve felt lonely as a leader, lonely in the ministry, I’ve got a new sense of God’s presence as I’ve trusted in Him.

That’s quite a guarantee: power, protection, prosperity, presence. The condition is obedience to everything God tells you to do. In v. 7 He says “obey it all.” In v. 8 He says “obey everything.” You don’t get to pick and choose the rules that you like and throw out the rest. So as a leader God says there is a reason for each of these principles in His word and I am to obey them.