Editor’s Note: This excerpt is the introduction from Blemished: How the Message of Malachi Confronts Empty Religion, the next short-term study from Threads.
Have you ever had an idea that you just couldn’t shake? You know the kind, right? Unshakable ideas are far from normal, everyday thoughts. Instead, these are the ideas that keep you awake at night. They’re the ones that make your heart beat quickly. These are the ideas that drive you out of your present-day mindset and delve you into a world of vision and discovery. They excite you and yet terrify you at the same time because they’re bigger than you are.
Some days you want to tell everyone about them, and other days you just need to process them by yourself. These are the ideas that send you beyond the grips of comfort and thrust you into the unknown. These ideas laugh in the face of apathy and combat the presence of mediocrity.
Well, I’ve got one, and this book is a dissection of that idea I just can’t seem to shake. The idea is this: What would happen if Christians actually made God preeminent in their lives? I guess that’s more of a question, so what about this: The greatest revival in the history of the world could occur if Christians were actually obedient to God. That’s not too complicated an idea, right? After all, isn’t that the entire concept behind Christianity-whole-hearted commitment to the God who made Himself available to His children through the redeeming blood of Jesus?
How have we managed to depart from such a clear calling? It seems like we’ve chosen to be selective when it comes to faith matters and the absence of such a revival is the result. Many Christians accept only certain parts of Scripture, primarily the ones that fit with their own desires and agree with mainstream culture. For others, a lack of beliefs is not the problem. Instead, the difficulty is found in the selective nature of what they’ll choose to actually apply to their lives. They adamantly stand for the inerrancy and infallibility of Scripture (as do I), but they still choose to disregard all the parts in it that demand things such as repentance and obedience. So while the idea is one that’s easy to understand, it’s also one that isn’t being executed.
This idea isn’t original; it certainly didn’t start with me. I’m the author of this book, but not this idea. It’s God’s idea, and so the purpose of this book isn’t to promote the ingenuity of me or anyone else. Both this book and the idea behind it are God-breathed and God-focused. The idea is supernatural in origin and its intent is His glory. Because of its nature, it surfaces in my intimate times with the Lord and yet goes noticeably silent in my times of distance from Him.
I think I’ve always felt that a revival could, and would, occur if we were to really start living in radical obedience to God. But I don’t think I’ve ever seen that idea described more clearly than in the pages of the Old Testament book of Malachi. Several years ago I taught a sermon series from this little prophecy that closes out the Old Testament.
Malachi wasn’t a book I spent much time in before that. Quite honestly, I’m not sure I had ever done anything besides zip through it in a Bible reading plan or an Old Testament course in seminary. But, for some reason, the Lord brought me back to it with a new interest during that time. I was fascinated by the nature of Malachi’s message and the thought of God’s silence toward entire generations of people.
And, ultimately, I was overwhelmed with conviction as I grasped my own responsibilities within a modern-day priesthood. As you’ll see in the following pages, Malachi had a lot to say about the people of Israel, the Levitical priesthood, and their shortcomings. And, sadly, the more I examined Malachi’s rebuke upon them, the more I saw myself in their lives. I not only saw my own life within their skewed proceedings, but I also saw a mindset toward the things of God and the church that looked dreadfully similar to much of what surrounded me.
Ever since that time, I’ve not been able to shake the rebuke of Malachi. I’m continually haunted by its parallels to our current state of spirituality. As you’ll see, Malachi is not for light and fluffy leisure reading. I hope this study isn’t either. In fact, I pray that the sting of Malachi’s message would capture you in such a way that your life would never be the same after studying it. I earnestly believe that God would be pleased if you made this much more than a pure academic exercise. Instead, I urge you to allow its teaching to penetrate the innermost parts of your soul. I pray that you would mature in your faith as you grow in understanding of what that means.
As you’ll see, it’s quite clear what God’s thoughts were of Israel and its priests. There was little room for confusion-God had laid out a framework of what He desired and they chose to distort it. He was displeased and He was direct. He was stern and yet He also continued to remind them of His love affair with them. In knowing that God is never changing (yet constantly relevant), we could conclude that He may have similar thoughts toward many of us today.
I hope you walk away understanding that pleasing God is as much about the presence of obedience in our lives as it is the absence of blatant disobedience. We all too often define our spiritual health by what we are doing wrong. But, as you’ll see in Malachi, an evaluation of what we are not doing right is also necessary.
I don’t know your circumstances or your shortcomings. Even if I did, it’s not my place to judge or criticize you. However, please let me make this very clear-God has that right. I know that as a society we often push back on this type of correction, but in this context, it should be welcomed. I doubt that the people of Israel welcomed the rebuke they received from God through His prophet, Malachi. But, unfortunately, they couldn’t see the motive behind it-God’s loving efforts to draw them into a deeper, more intimate relationship with Himself. Let’s not make this mistake.
Editor’s Note: This excerpt is the introduction from Blemished: How the Message of Malachi Confronts Empty Religion, the next short-term study from Threads.