Scripture Reference: Malachi 1:2-5
Henry Ward Beecher began his ministry in a small church. Week by week he preached those noble Christian virtues that he felt would lead his people into responsible Christlike living. But nothing seemed to happen. The people continued on in their low level Christianity laced with apathy. Discouraged and defeated he shared his frustration with an older minister. The wise old pastor said, “Son, you are starting at the wrong end. Telling them what they should do will get you nowhere. Start with God. Tell them of the love of God in Christ for each of them. If that doesn’t lift them up, nothing will.” Beecher went back and lifted up the Lord. He pointed them to Calvary and they were drawn upward by the pull of God’s love. Remember that the Lord Jesus had told others that if He was lifted up, He would draw all men to Him (John 12:32). Malachi took this approach as we shall see as we continue to study these verses.
I. God’s Love Declared
“I have loved you,” says the LORD.
Malachi, wisely, began in the right place. He, too, wanted to lift his people out of their apathy and rebellion. And he began with the love of God. His first words were the words of God, “I have loved you, says the Lord.” God’s love as the motive for service is found throughout the Bible. Paul told the Corinthians about his beatings, troubles, hardships, distresses, etc. (2 Corinthians 6:3–5). And he also told them why he did it, “The love of Christ compels us . . . [for] One died for all” (2 Corinthians 5:14). John said, “We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). In essence Malachi is saying, “I make all my appeals from a God who loves you.”
II. God’s Love Doubted
“Yet you say, ‘In what way have You loved us?’ “
So . . . the people had their doubts. They essentially asked God for proof. The all-important thing about a question like this is how it is asked. It can rise from the anguish of a suffering person who wants to believe. Or it can rise from the anarchy of a selfish person who wants to justify their wrongdoing. The real culprit may not be our circumstances but our carnal nature. Like Adam, who said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me” (Genesis 3:12), we want to blame God for our evil.
Whatever the reason, the basic problem with Malachi’s people, the reason they disobeyed, dishonored, and even disliked the Lord (Malachi 1:6–2:9) was that Satan had convinced them that God did not love them. He put their eyes on their burdens and blinded them to their blessings. The promises of the prophets about a glorious future had not yet been realized. They saw themselves as a puny people, in a puny land, worshipping in a puny temple, and so they offered their “puny” God their puny service. Their repeated disappointments gave birth to doubt and even to anger. In essence, their reply to Malachi was, “If God loves us we’d sure like to see the evidence of it.”
To answer their prideful denial, God points to the evidence, His love activated, working, blessing, making a difference in their lives. God’s love is well defined as “active good will.” I’ve saved a little poem from the past that is so right:
A song is not a song until we sing it
A bell is not a bell until we ring it
Love wasn’t put in our hearts to stay
Love is not love until we give it away
And God did give. He gave and gave and gave again until that day on the cross He gave His Son. The Bible does not say, “God so loved the world that He sent a committee or a messenger with a note saying ‘I love you.’ ” It says very straight-forward, He gave His only-begotten Son.
To Be Continued
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD 
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