About my post tonight, you know there use to be a time when a
man's handshake or his word was his bond. It sure is not that way now. It seems
that people are willing to forget or go back on a deal before the ink
is dry on the papers any more. But when we look at the Book of
Malachi we see that maybe nothing has really changed after all.
Jack
Canfield, writing in "The Success Principles", asks
participants in his seminars to agree to a list of 15 ground rules -
be on time, sit in a different chair after every break, no alcoholic
beverages until the training is over, and others. He makes them sign
a form in their workbook that says, "I agree to keep all these
guidelines and ground rules." On the morning of the third day,
he asks everyone who has broken one of the ground rules to stand up.
"What becomes apparent," he writes, "is how casually
we give our word - and then how casually we break it."
Cavett
Robert, author and professional speaker, writes, "Character is
the ability to carry out a good resolution, long after the
excitement of the moment has passed." Honoring your
commitments is part of your character. It's a quality that attracts
people to you and enhances your relationships and opportunities.
Failing to honor your commitments will tarnish your image and have a
negative effect on your reputation. It can create a barrier to
personal achievement and erects a roadblock against success. By
honoring your commitments you create a strong foundation that will
support you and your endeavors. As a result you will be recognized
as a person of integrity and character - someone others can trust.
Werner Erhard states, "Your
life works to the degree you keep your agreements."
Honoring commitments impacts all
dimensions of life. Let me ask: Do you honor commitments you make to
your team - to show up for them - even in tough or uncomfortable
situations? Do you honor the commitments you make to your family and
friends? Do you keep the promises you make to them? Do you honor
commitments you make to yourself? Do you honor the commitments you
have made to God?
The people of Judah, with the priests
leading the way, had failed to keep their covenant agreement with
God. They treated God with disrespect, dishonoring His name. They
treated sacred things as common. They turned away from God's Law,
disobeying His commandments. With the most egregious display of
dishonor, some men divorced their Jewish wives, breaking their vows
to marry pagan women.
Malachi provided a stern rebuke. He
presented several reasons why the Jewish people were to honor their
commitments. We should follow suit.
Malachi 2:1-2
2:1 "And now this admonition
is for you, O priests. 2 If you do not listen, and if you do not set
your heart to honor my name," says the LORD Almighty, "I
will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I
have already cursed them, because you have not set your heart to
honor me.
I. Responsibility: Respond in
obedience
God desires for you to listen and to
obey. "If you don't listen, and if you don't take it to
heart to honor My name" (Malachi 2:2). It's one thing to
say that you believe something is true. It's another thing to act on
it. It is kind of like the
fellow who was going to walk across Niagara Falls on a tight rope
while pushing a wheelbarrow. The man being a good showman worked the
crowed up. One man in the crowed was very vocal in agreement with
the tightrope walker that is until the tightrope walker called for a
volunteer to sit in the wheelbarrow. Suddenly the man who had been
so enthusiastic was no where to be found.
James reminds us: "But be
doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves"
(James 1:22).
Young Samuel provides a great model.
After hearing God's voice in the middle of the night on three
different occasions, "Samuel responded, 'Speak, for Your
servant is listening'" (1 Samuel 3:10). Can you say that
now? Are you listening to God? Are you obeying God's instructions?
Are you honoring your commitments?
The litmus test of obedience is
whether or not you are living what you know to be true.
Malachi provides the details:
Malachi 2:5-7
5 "My covenant was with him, a
covenant of life and peace, and I gave them to him; this called for
reverence and he revered me and stood in awe of my name. 6 True
instruction was in his mouth and nothing false was found on his
lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many
from sin.
7 "For the lips of a priest
ought to preserve knowledge, and from his mouth men should seek
instruction-because he is the messenger of the LORD Almighty.
A. Revere God (v. 5)
Stand in awe of God. We should live
with a high view and enormous respect for God's holiness. But truth
be told, many of us if we are honest with ourselves play games with
God. We compromise, disobeying whenever we feel like it. We say,
“God, as long as your ways agree with mine then I will follow
them.”
Revering our awesome God must inspire
obedience.
B. Receive truth (v. 6)
Accept God's instruction. Maintain a
steady intake of the Bible. God's Word should penetrate our lives
like a stake driven deep into the ground. A failure to teach and to
receive the truth from God's Word sets the stage for wrong doctrine
and shabby living. The crisis in many denominations demonstrates
this: that their leaders could approve homosexual clergy is due to
years and years of failing to teach and apply the Scriptures.
C. Righteous living (v. 6)
Walk in a manner that is good and
upright, and pleasing to the Lord. (Hebrews 13:20-21)
20 May the God of peace, who
through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead
our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21 equip you with
everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is
pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and
ever. Amen.
D. Represent God to others (v. 7)
The Levitical priests represent God
and revealed His will to the people. We, as a kingdom of priests in
the world today, bear that same responsibility. We are God's
messengers to a lost world. We guide people into the truth. We
are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his
appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled
to God. (2 Corinthians 5:20)
These are four commitments we should
make on a daily basis: Honor God, drink from His Word, live
distinctly as God's people, and to be His messengers in the world.
II. Warning: Recognize the downside
Malachi does not sugarcoat the
situation. He goes right for the jugular. He reminds his hearers
that if they fail to keep their commitments, God will curse them.
"'If you don't listen, and if you don't take it to heart to
honor My name,' says Yahweh of Hosts, 'I will send a curse among
you, and I will curse your blessings. In fact, I have already begun
to curse them because you are not taking it to heart'"
(Malachi 2:2).
The brain is the command center of a
person's life, it is where we collect and consider knowledge, where
we make decisions and plans that determine the direction of our
lives. But it is with our hearts that we determine to honor our
commitments, to keep our promises.
The warning is clear: Failing to honor
your commitments will damage your personal testimony, impact your
success in life, and strain your relationship with God.
III. Reason: Remember the benefits
Malachi provided several spiritual
benefits to honoring commitments with God. He wrote, "My
covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave these to
him; it called for reverence, and he revered Me and stood in awe of
My name" (Malachi 2:5).
Life and peace was the Lord's covenant
promise. Life speaks of a qualitative, satisfying life known only to
those who are recipients of God's grace. Peace is more than a quiet
soul, it is also welfare of every kind.
When a person honors their commitments
they reach out into an unpredictable future and make one thing
predictable: they will be there, they will follow through, and they
will be true to their word. With one simple commitment, a person
creates an island of certainty in a sea of uncertainty. When you
honor your commitments you take a hand in creating your own future.
And that is a good thing, a healthy thing.
IV. Failure: Resorting to
unfaithfulness
Malachi 2:8-14
8 But you
have turned from the way and by your teaching have caused many to
stumble; you have violated the covenant with Levi," says the
LORD Almighty. 9 "So I have caused you to be despised and
humiliated before all the people, because you have not followed my
ways but have shown partiality in matters of the law."
10 Have we not
all one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the
covenant of our fathers by breaking faith with one another?
11 Judah has
broken faith. A detestable thing has been committed in Israel and in
Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the LORD loves, by
marrying the daughter of a foreign god. 12 As for the man who does
this, whoever he may be, may the LORD cut him off from the tents of
Jacob-even though he brings offerings to the LORD Almighty.
13 Another
thing you do: You flood the LORD's altar with tears. You weep and
wail because he no longer pays attention to your offerings or
accepts them with pleasure from your hands. 14 You ask, "Why?"
It is because the LORD is acting as the witness between you and the
wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though
she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.
The priests failed in their
responsibility to teach the people God's Law. The people in turn
failed to revere God, receive His Word, and live distinctly from
their non-believing neighbors. The result was their disregard for
God's standard concerning marriage. Five times in this passage
Malachi used the word faithless. Some translations use the phrase
"breaking faith" or "deal treacherously." Simply
speaking, they did not honor their commitments. They failed to keep
their promises. They broke their vows.
The word faithless has the idea of
pillaging something intended to remain protected and is tied very
closely to another word that is used in this section - covenant (v.
10, 14). A covenant was a solemn and binding mutual agreement
between two parties. When one party failed to fulfill his covenantal
obligation, the covenant was said to be "broken" in that
the other party was no longer obligated to fulfill his obligations.
The Jews had broken that agreement. God no longer had to fulfill his
side of the obligation.
The Jewish men had violated the
covenant agreement with their wives (v. 10). They had failed to keep
the commitment to their spouses. But this was only a repercussion of
the larger issue stated in verse 8: "'You, on the other
hand, have turned from the way. You have caused many to stumble by
your instruction. You have violated the covenant of Levi,' says the
LORD of Hosts" (Malachi 3:8). The word corrupted means to
damage something as to render it useless.
Many a marriage, friendship, or
business partnership has been rendered useless because one person
failed to honor a commitment.
V. Action: Erecting boundaries
Malachi 2:15-16
15 Has not
[the LORD] made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why
one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in
your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.
16 "I
hate divorce," says the LORD God of Israel, "and I hate a
man's covering himself with violence as well as with his garment,"
says the LORD Almighty.
Malachi provided some needed action
steps: "So watch yourselves carefully, and do not act
treacherously against the wife of your youth . . . Therefore, watch
yourselves carefully, and do not act treacherously" (Malachi
2:15-16). The word watch means "to hedge with thorns" or
"to protect by attending to." He was speaking to marriage,
saying there are some things we can do to promote and protect our
marriages. But the principle applies to all our commitments.
Here are a few boundaries to consider
setting up to protect the commitments you make:
- I alone am responsible for my life. I will stop blaming, rationalizing, and excusing my failure to honor my commitment.
- I can't do everything, so it's okay to say no.
- I will speak with purpose.
- I will only make commitments I intend to keep.
- I will write down all the agreements I make.
- I will clear up any broken agreement at the first opportunity.
- I will follow through on the commitments I have made even though it may require sacrifice, work, and cost.
Conclusion
We have a God who honors His
commitments. He keeps His promises. He fulfills His word. When you
choose not to quit when the going gets rough, stick to lost causes
because you said you would, hold on to a love grown cold, stay with
people who have become pains in the neck, then you are most like
God.
The book, "A Promise Kept",
is the story of Robertson McQuilkin, a former missionary and
seminary president who gave up his post because his wife Muriel had
Alzheimer's disease. He dedicated himself full-time for as long as
the Lord deemed necessary to take care of his wife. He wrote of
traveling with his her: Once our
flight was delayed in Atlanta and we had to wait a couple of hours.
Now that's a challenge. Every few minutes we'd take a fast-paced
walk down the terminal in earnest search of what? Muriel had always
been a speed walker. I had to jog to keep up with her.
An
attractive woman executive type sat across from us, working
diligently on her computer. Once when we returned from an excursion
she said something without looking up from her papers. Since no one
else was nearby I assumed she had spoken to me, or at least mumbled
in protest for our constant activity. "Pardon?" I asked.
"Oh," she said, "I was just asking myself, Will I
ever find a man to love me like that?"
McQuilkin
turned to the woman and said, "Oh yes, you can find a man like
that. You can find a man like that, because I've found a man like
that. The only reason I love my wife the way you see me loving her
is because the man Jesus first loved me. The only resources I have
to draw upon to love my wife the way I do are the resources he gives
me. Mirrored in my relationship here with my wife you can see the
faithful love of God for me."
When we honor our commitments we are
like God.
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