Find out what separates true worshippers from posers.
Malachi 3:16-17 (NIV)
CONTEXT: God speaks through the prophet Malachi to confront Israel's spiritual apathy and corrupt worship. We looked at an earlier part of chapter three last week to see that our unchanging God spares His disobedient people because He stays faithful to His covenant with their fathers.
Yet God continues to lodge accusations against His people for robbing God by withholding offerings and arrogantly ignoring the "mournful" way God had commanded them to worship and instead following their more entertaining ways of 'worship.'
In today's passage, Malachi describes how the faithful few heard God's accusations and repented.
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.’ ”
16 Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honored his name.
17 “On the day when I act,” says the LORD Almighty, “they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him. 18 And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.
Canons of Dordt
Point 1 - God's Unconditional Election
Articles 1-11
Article 12: The Assurance of Election
Assurance of their eternal and unchangeable election to salvation is given to the chosen in due time,
though by various stages
and in differing measure.
Such assurance comes
not by inquisitive searching into the hidden and deep things of God,
but by noticing within themselves,
with spiritual joy and holy delight,
the unmistakable fruits of election pointed out in God’s Word—
such as
a true faith in Christ,
a childlike fear of God,
a godly sorrow for their sins,
a hunger and thirst for righteousness, and so on.
Summary
It's somewhat ironically refreshing to see that the same old accusations that people make now against God and Christianity - that worshiping Him is a boring waste of time that doesn't really matter since evildoers prosper even though they put God to the test, all while true believers seem to suffer as much, if not more, than everybody else - this same argument has been made now for thousands of years. It's nothing new.
Commentator Iain Duguid captures well the attitude that drives this tired complaint:
Those who had hard words against God in Malachi’s day [and today as well] viewed religion as a fundamentally commercial transaction, just as Cain did before them. They gave something to God—sacrifices, offerings, and a variety of religious activities—and they expected a return on their investment: the blessings of prosperity and welfare. As a result, if their religious efforts didn’t materially benefit them in measurable ways, it meant that the Lord had not kept his end of the bargain. God owed them something in return for their obedience.
In other words, these serial complainers are only interested in worshipping God if they feel they're getting more back than what they're putting in.
Malachi helps us see what it is that defines faithful worshippers of God: it's those who feared the LORD. Duguid goes on to describe them (and hopefully you as well!):
The God-fearing group, however, viewed religion fundamentally in relational rather than commercial terms: they truly feared and honored God as their Father. They trusted him, loved him, and, yes, at times could be really angry at him. Through good times and bad, though, it was God that they longed for, not merely what he could do for them. They were his children, not his customers or investment partners.
Dig Deeper
This week we're focused on how it is you can be absolutely assured of God's election in your life. The Canons speak of four unmistakable fruits of election that you can begin to notice more and more within yourself. Today we're coming to understand the second of these four fruits: a childlike fear of God.
That's an interesting juxtaposition of words - childlike and fear. We've looked often at what the common expression fear the LORD means as we've read the Bible together these last few years, coming to understand that not only must we honor, respect and revere God, but also that we must also be afraid of Him, knowing that we owe our very existence to Him.
But the Canons remind us to experience this fear in a childlike way. That is, with a humble, trusting, dependent attitude that sees the LORD Almighty as our Father who has compassion on us, His treasured possession.
When you notice that it's this childlike fear that drives you to worship God rather than the selfish desires of those that continually complain against God, you can be certain that this godly attitude comes as an unmistakable fruit of your election.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father who has compassion on us, His treasured possession;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you will exercise the childlike fear that God has instilled in you in your election;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year! Today: Hebrews 11
