Don't give God your leftovers - Dec 31, 2023

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Traditionally on the Sunday after Christmas I like to do a sermon that is New
Years focused, as we look back at the year that was and look ahead to the coming
year. This year, I want to share a passage from Malachi 1:6-14.
Malachi was a prophet who lived around the year 450 BC. The historical context is
that Israel has been conquered by the Babylonians and taken off into captivity in
what is known as the exile. Under King Cyrus, they are allowed to return and
rebuild Jerusalem, which we read about in the books of Nehemiah and Ezra. As
you might imagine, hopes were very high in Israel upon their return. They rebuilt
the wall of Jerusalem, rebuilt the temple, and expected that the promises of the
prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah would come to pass, that the Messiah would come
and there would be a time of peace and justice in the land. But it didn’t happen that
way, at least not as quickly as they expected, and the community fell back into
rebellion against God, into injustice and spiritual complacency. And that’s when
God raises up Malachi to be his prophet.
Old Testament prophets were known as covenant mediators. What does that mean?
Remember that when God led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, he led them to
Mt. Sinai, where he made a covenant with the people. A covenant is like a contract,
an agreement between two people or parties, but with greater intimacy. Think of a
marriage covenant – in one sense it is a contract, in that two people are coming into
agreement with each other about their relationship in a binding way before God
and the government, but there is much greater intimacy in a marriage covenant
than say an agreement between you and the Honda dealership when you buy a new
care. Anyways, God made a covenant with Moses and the Israelites at Mt. Sinai,
which was called the Mosaic covenant. I will be your God, and you will be my
people. This is what it means to be my people – don’t kill, don’t steal, worship in
these ways, care for the poor among you, and so on. And after these laws, or
stipulations, would come the blessings and curses. If you follow these laws, you
will experience blessings: prosperity, good crops, good health, peace, long life, and
so on. If you disobey, you will bring upon yourself curses: famine, pestilence,
plague, warfare, and so on.