TUESDAY, 23 February, 2021 “Fallacy”

Good morning my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends around the world,

Have you ever given much thought to how very different we human beings are, from each other? Our skin colors, our faces, our hair? And what about our languages, oh my, we speak thousands of different languages and they are so very different from each other! And how about differences in the foods we eat, the music we listen to, the clothes we wear, the types of houses we live in?

It is true we are all ‘made in God’s image’ (Gen. 1:26,27) but these differences between us prove this creation phrase does not mean that God looks like us, but rather, it is the deep within us things which are identical in all of us, which show that we are made in God’s image. I don’t mean our vital organs like kidneys and spleens, nor bones and muscles. No, rather it is our soul and spirit which is made in the image of God. Our soul and spirit give us the ability to know there is a Creator God who made us, and learn how to build a worshipful, love relationship with that God. Our soul and spirit give us the ability to understand sin and be repulsed by our sin, and both confess and repent of our sin, and then be forgiven by God so we can have a reconciled relationship with Holy God. (2 Corinthians 5:17,18)

I’m sure you’ve heard people say things like this: ‘Oh, God loves everyone He made, and we will all end up in heaven with God regardless of how we’ve lived our lives, because God is a God of love.” Is that true? Once again we turn to the last voice of the Old Testament, Mr. Malachi. We’ve come to his chapter 2:17, listen: “You have wearied the LORD with your words. ‘How have we wearied Him?’ you ask. By saying, ‘All who do evil are good in the eyes of the LORD, and He is pleased with them’, or ‘where is the God of justice?”

Very often in “Walking with Jesus” I challenge us to consider how well we are filtering what we hear in the news or music or normal conversation, so that we can distinguish truth from lies, or especially truth from distortions of truth.

I’m sure you’ve noticed a common theme in Ezra, Nehemiah and now Malachi. God was challenging His people Israel, who were rebuilding and repopulating Jerusalem. These people were moving back to Jerusalem from distant places where their ancestors had been taken as captives, in the invasions of Jerusalem, many decades before. Many of these Jews had grown up speaking the languages and living in the cultures of far away, heathen lands. So as they rebuilt and repopulated Jerusalem, while they were biological descendants of many generations of Jews, they themselves felt and lived more like Persians or Babylonians or Egyptians than Israelis.

Ezra, Nehemiah and now Malachi were bringing God’s strong challenge, especially to the younger generations of foreign born Jews, calling them to give serious consideration to their moral and spiritual identity. “Jewish” was not simply a blood line, nor was it simply a ‘cultural way of life’, it was a distinctive RELATIONSHIP with Almighty, Holy, Creator, God whom Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, Solomon, Daniel, Jermiah, Ezra, Nehemiah and now Malachi had all known, worshipped, and served in that special relationship which God uniquely offered to Israel. But these younger generations of foreign Jews weren’t so sure. They looked at the world similarly to how the younger generations in our day look at our world… one, big, global, human family.

As these younger Jews debated life with their parents and grandparents, and as they discussed the ancient stories of Jewish heritage, which was so important to their unique identity in the world, of course God and His constant reach, His invitation to relationship with His people Israel, was a common thread in their story through the generations. Equally common was the drift or even rebellion of the people of Israel turning away from God.

Additionally, younger generations, just like today, had a strong desire for success and affluence, and as they looked around their world, they noticed many very successful, very wealthy people who were not at all religious or at least did not have any interest in the Jewish God. So they wondered… why was God blessing people with affluence who had no interest in God and even lived wicked lives? Do you hear anyone asking those types of questions today? And what is your answer?

Malachi makes no mention of it in his writings, but I wonder if he pointed the people of Jerusalem to Psalm 14, a song of truth written by David? “The fool says in his heart, ‘there is no God.’ They are corrupt, their deeds are evil; there is no one who does good. The LORD looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.”

Do you see three themes here, my friends?

First, it is a fool, a mindless person, an idiot who claims ‘there is no God’!

The evidence for the existence of Creator God is all around us, in fact the person who says such a foolish thing is themself evidence of God! They didn’t make themselves, nor did they make their brain or tongue with which they speak intelligible words! End of discussion.

Second, there is everywhere and always the great contrast of Good and Evil, Right and Wrong, Holy and Corrupt.

Let’s not allow ourselves to be deluded into thinking that all is relative and truth or good is whatever you want it to be. God, who is Creator, has defined TRUTH and RIGHT for that which He has Created... the Universe, the Angelic world, and the Human world. Isaiah 45:18,19 make that abundantly clear.

Third, all humans are born with a natural, evil nature. Wrong, evil, corrupt is our NATURAL tendency.

It requires effort to resist the wrong and do right, to not lie but tell the truth, to reject corruption and live holy lives. But that is possible ONLY because of God who gives us understanding of sin, recognition of sin in our lives and a repulsion for our sin. God gives us a desire for a holy relationship with Him, and God alone makes that relationship possible. We cannot achieve holiness nor that relationship with God on our own. Evil cannot produce Holy. The Apostle Paul wrote about this a great deal and he writes Romans 3 built on Psalm 14.

Psalm 14 continues: “Will evil doers never learn – those who devour My people as men eat bread and who do not call on the LORD? There they are, overwhelmed with dread, for God is present in the company of the righteous. You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor, but the LORD is their refuge. Oh that salvation would come out of Zion! When the LORD restores the fortunes of His people, let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!”

Once again notice several themes which were also repeated by many other spokesmen of God:

First, it is true evil people seem to never learn. They repeat the same mistakes, the same wrongdoing over and over, doing great harm to themselves, their families and the people their lives impact.

Second, there is, or at least should be, a great and obvious contrast between how wicked people live their lives and how ‘righteous’ or God honoring people live their lives.

Third, “the LORD” cares deeply for the most vulnerable in every society… Widows and widowers, orphans, handicapped, poor, the elderly, children etc. God works in special ways on their behalf, especially when they are being taken advantage of or harmed by healthy, wealthy, prideful people. God defends the defenseless and calls His people to do the same.

Fourth, the Spirit of God is present with and even IN God’s people. I see that in Exodus 29:45 when God says “I will dwell among My people” and in John 14-17 when Jesus explained the Holy Spirit of God who would live with and in God’s people after Jesus returned to heaven.

And finally fifth, do you see God promising “Oh that salvation would come out of Zion! When the LORD restores the fortunes of His people…” Zion is another name for Jerusalem, the city of God’s special attention and which He loves in a special way. The Salvation Malachi spoke of is none other than Jesus Christ Himself, who in Jerusalem accomplished the greatest deliverance, rescue, salvation for the entire world through His atonement death and resurrection. In days ahead we’ll look more closely at this as we ‘walk with Jesus’ toward Easter 2021.

So in closing we today have looked only at one verse in Malachi 2:17, but we’ve looked at it’s fallacy. God rejects the notion that all people are essentially good. NO, we are essentially evil and only through God’s miraculous, saving and regenerating and sanctifying work do we become righteous in God’s sight. NO, all people are not ending up in heaven after death, but rather only those who have trusted in God according to HIS formula for Salvation. NO, we should not interpret the affluence of wicked people to be evidence of God’s blessing of their evil.

Tomorrow, we will dig more deeply into this as Malachi makes some very powerful truth statements. For today may I invite you to contrast Psalm 14 with Psalm 33 and then spend a moment in worship with this wonderful, powerful song that I’m sure you’ll recognize…

Today’s Scripture is Malachi 2.

Choose below to read or listen.

Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.

Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.

Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)

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