Turning Our Hearts

Malachi 4:5-6.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Father’s Day, June 18, 2023.

Happy Father’s Day!  Today we want to encourage fathers. 

In order to do that, I want to remind us of Deuteronomy 6:4-9.  This is called the Shema Israel (“Listen, Israel).  Moses reminds Israel that the whole purpose of the words that he was giving them was to help them love God with all their heart, soul, and strength.  Yes, the heart of the Law of Moses was about loving God.

Yet, loving God would display itself in keeping the words of God.  Those who kept the word of God in their heart would then walk it out in loyal obedience.  On top of living it out, they would simultaneously be diligent in teaching their children these things.  This is not focused on transmitting words and history, but about igniting a love for God in the heart of the next generation.

We are not under the Law of Moses, but the principles found in Deuteronomy 6 are the same under the New Covenant.  In fact, they are still operative even if you are not a Christian.  We perish as a people and as an individual when we ignore, and then forget, the Word of God to us.

People come to ignore and forget the Word of God when their hearts have grown cold towards Him, whether that is done with a life that looks religious, or one that does not look religious.  Maybe you were born into a family where a heart for God had gone cold many generations ago.  Regardless, you end up in the same place, indifferent to the truth of God.  When our hearts are cold towards God, it affects what and how we teach our children.  It even affects our heart towards them.

Let me just tell you today.  God cares about you and your family.  No matter how much water is under the bridge in those relationships (and believe me there is plenty of water under the bridge for us all), God still has a heart for helping you with your family.  The question now is this.  Do you still have a heart for loving your family?

Let’s look at our passage.

God’s grace sends messengers to warn us (v. 5)

These are the last verses in the Old Testament.  Some have noticed that the last words of the Old Testament threaten a curse, but the last words of the New Testament end with the blessing of the Lord Jesus Christ upon all who follow him.  This represents the true heart of God, and we will actually find it in these verses of Malachi as well.

God in His grace is always faithful to warn us; He sends messengers to do so.  No one loves discipline when it is happening.  Kids do not thank their parents for disciplining them when it is happening.  Let’s get real; we don’t like it even more as adults.  Yet, God will always be faithful to warn us through messengers because He made us for a particular purpose.  He made us to take on His image, and to be His children.  He made us to dwell with Him throughout eternity in a loving relationship.

Your parents are the first messengers that God sends your way, whether they are good or bad.  Let’s dispense with the idea that parents need to be perfect.  However, some can become quite abusive.  Of course, God will be faithful to send other messengers throughout your life.  We need to learn to recognize God’s voice through others and listen to it.

In fact, it is never about the messenger.  They only represent God.  Therefore, what is important is the message that God has for us through them.  God can even use people who are not even trying to live or work for Him.  He one time used a donkey to speak to Balaam.  He used wicked nations around Israel to rebuke them.  Even Caiaphas was used of God to speak truth in the assembly gathered to wickedly crucify Jesus.

We can play the game of finding something wrong in a person, and use that to insulate ourselves from having to listen to them.  Maybe you found a speck in their eye, a little blemish somewhere, so now you don’t have to listen to them.  The problem is that you can also reject what God is trying to say to you through them.

Do parents have to be perfect for their kids to listen to them?  God put them in a child’s life, not because they were perfect, but because He could use it to teach you good things.  So, we can respect their place in our life, while looking to God to help us understand what it is that He wants us to learn.  “God, what are you trying to say to me through this?”  Of course, you will not figure that all out at three years of age, or at eighteen.

God’s messages are like that though.  There is the initial impact of the message, but it generally takes time to absorb the message, and even longer to work it out into our life.

From the Shema Israel in Deuteronomy 6 to Malachi the prophet, there is roughly 1,000 years of God dealing with Israel.  During that time, God was faithful to send prophets to remind them of their covenant with Him and His purposes for them as a people.

Malachi would be part of the last wave of prophets in the 400’s BC (425-400 BC).  Israel then went 400 years without a true prophet.  Don’t get me wrong.  There were people who were false prophets, but none that proved themselves like the true prophets.  Malachi had prophesied that the prophet Elijah would show up before the Day of the Lord.  However, it was John the Baptist who came from God to end this drought of messages through prophets.  “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”  Who was John?  Was he from heaven or not?  Israel was caught off guard by this man from God.

It is important for us to recognize that, though God is gracious to send messengers to us, He sometimes will go silent in order to see what we will do with His words.  Over time, Israel began to adopt Greek customs and compromise with the world around them.  Some were worse than others.  We know of the issue between the Sadducees and the Pharisees.  However, you may not be aware that in the way the Pharisees saw the Sadducees as sell outs and compromisers so the people in Qumran looked at the Pharisees.

John came forth because it was time for Messiah, and Israel as a nation was not ready.  God’s grace sent a man who proclaimed a message, “Get ready for Messiah!”

There is some conjecture that Malachi may not actually be the prophet’s name.  Malachi means “my messenger.”  The book does open with a classic statement telling us who the author is.  “The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi.”  However, it doesn’t use the “son of so-and-so” formula along with it.  This isn’t necessary.  Regardless, both would tell us the same thing.  This is God’s messenger.

We should also note that this is the word that is used for angel, and could be translated “My angel.”  It seems quite clear that this is a human messenger and thus it is translated as my messenger.  Hebrew did not use a separate word for a human “angel” or a heavenly “angel.”  They were both messengers.  However, English has always reserved the term angel for heavenly messengers.

The book of Malachi opens with two chapters from Malachi to the people of Israel regarding rebuilding true spiritual worship of Yahweh.  They had rebuilt the temple, but their worship of God was lacking.

In Malachi 3:1, the word messenger is used twice of two different characters.  It first refers to one who would come as a messenger to prepare the way for another.  It is then used of the one who would come (“whom you seek”) who is called the Lord, and the Messenger of the Covenant.  This is clearly Jesus and his forerunner John the Baptist.

The last chapter is a warning to Israel regarding the ministry of Messiah.  The proud and the wicked would not survive his ministry.  They would be like stubble in a fire and be destroyed.  However, those who fear God will “go out like stall-fed calves.”  This is a good picture of Israel going from the first century AD into the second century AD.  Many of Israel were destroyed, but those who put their faith in Jesus went forth like well-fed calves who didn’t have to work hard for their food.

It is here that John mentions Elijah coming to warn Israel before the Day of the Lord.  So, let’s talk about Elijah and John the Baptist.

Many religious Jews still look for Elijah the prophet to this day.  However, in Matthew 11:14-15 Jesus says this about John the Baptist.

“14 and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. 15 He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”  (ESV)

It is interesting that Jesus uses the conditional “if.”  It would be hard for them as a society to accept that John “is Elijah” because it would be hard for them to accept that Jesus was Messiah (especially after his death and resurrection). 

The angel that speaks to Zechariah (John’s soon to be father) in Luke 1:13-17 tells him that he is going to have a son.  Notice that the angel quotes from Malachi 4:6.  The angel says this of John.  “[H]e will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

The angel uses this passage, but gives two critical clues.  First, John would minister in “the spirit and power of Elijah,” rather than actually being Elijah.  Second, the hearts of the fathers to the children, can be literal, but is clearly intended to be taken metaphorically also (fathers to children…disobedient to the wisdom of the just).

This sets up a parallel.  Both the angel and Jesus connect John to this passage, which also connects to Isaiah 40 and the voice crying in the wilderness.  God knew that Israel would reject Messiah and, therefore, He did not send Elijah, but an Elijah like prophet.  Just as John was the forerunner for the First Coming of Jesus, so the book of Revelation chapter 11 pictures two prophets who exercise the power of Moses and Elijah before the Second Coming of Jesus.  The whole point is God helping His people to have the best opportunity possible to be ready for the coming of Messiah Jesus.

It is also interesting that Moses and Elijah both show up on the Mount of the Transfiguration.  Yet, they only spoke to Jesus.  They were not ready to hear from Elijah yet.  It appears to be a nod, and a hint, that it could have happened, but would happen later.  A pause is placed on operation Elijah.

Let me say this.  Israel is right to be expecting the prophet Elijah because God’s word says he will come.  However there is a problem.  When you are in the habit of rejecting true prophets, you tend to embrace false ones. 

What about the Church of Jesus?  It has become vogue among some to talk about prophets, seeking them out to receive a word, taking classes to learn how to become one, etc.  However, please listen to me.  There are real prophets today, but there are even more false prophets.  There are prophets who have been made by the Lord, and there are prophets who have made themselves.

You and I are responsible before Christ to know the difference.  If you are a true believer, then the Holy Spirit of God resides in you.  If you have a solid relationship with the Lord where you are in the Word and wrestling with God over it in prayer, if you have come to know the heart of Christ, then his Spirit will help you to avoid such false prophets.  Don’t look to a prophet to help you know Jesus.  You are to go directly to Jesus in response to his Holy Spirit.

I hope you see through all of this that it was God’s Father-heart that caused these messages of warning to be sent to Israel through His messengers.  A father speaks up when they see their son or daughter heading in the wrong direction and doing that which isn’t good.

I remember as a kid that my dad was always prepared.  If something was needed, he would generally go to his truck and pull out what was needed.  However, there are some things for which the only preparation is to know Jesus for yourself, and really well.

The whole purpose in these prophets is to affect not just our family experience, but to demonstrate the Father-heart of God.  He knows what is coming if we don’t turn around.

Yet, hardness of heart had separated them from God and from one another.  What do you do when your children become so hard towards you that they won’t listen to a word of wisdom from you?  In our humanity, we often sulk, lash out in anger, or simply write them off.  If you have never done this, it wasn’t because you didn’t feel it.  It was because you took hold of those feelings and said, “No! This is my kid and I am not giving up on them!  God give me strength and wisdom to reach them.”

I’m sure this is what the Prodigal Son’s father was thinking when his son asked for his inheritance early.  He knew the son was not thinking or living rightly.  He knew it would be wasted.  However, how could he reach the heart of his son?  Withholding the money would end up being one more grievance and one more barrier to the son seeing the error of his ways.  The father laid down his ego and let his money be wasted for the hope of a son who would come to his senses one day.

God knows what it feels like to have obstinate children.  He sometimes goes silent in order to give us space to discover the end results of the false wisdom that we have been embracing.  The 400 years of silence for Israel was to see what they would do with the powerful message of the prophets pointing back to the Torah.  Even then, God is always faithful to come back around and speak the words of loving truth to us again, i.e., “Repent before it is too late!”

God’s purpose is to change our hearts so that He can bless us (v. 6)

I know that this verse does not use the word blessing, but that is what it is all about.  God does not want to strike the earth, the land, with a curse.  He wants to do the opposite of that, which is why He is warning them.

The opposite of a curse is a blessing.  We see this in Deuteronomy 28.  There Israel has listed for them the blessings that will come upon them for loyal obedience to God, and yet, the curses that would come upon them for disloyal disobedience.

This promise of sending Elijah is all about changing hearts so that blessing will come rather than cursing.  Some of that blessing is the natural result of doing what is good and right.  God has hard-wired the universe in such a way that the things that He calls good will bring blessing, but the things that He calls bad will bring a curse. 

If you fight how God has wired you as a human being, and if you do things that He calls sin, then you bring a curse upon yourself that comes right out of your own nature.  You weren’t designed for sexual immorality.  When you fight against God’s instructions by giving yourself to those things, you are actually harming yourself psychologically, physically, and emotionally.  Your own nature and body will manifest rebukes to your way of life.  That’s how God designed it.

What about doing drugs?  God did not design humans to be using drugs all of the time, whether to relax, be more creative, or to cope with life.  When you fight against that nature, problems will rise in your life.  You can call them curses, but if you will listen to what they are saying, you will recognize them as the grace of discipline.  You choose whether these things are a curse or a discipline in your life.

Yet, some blessings and curses are directly from God.  They are more than an outflow of the natural processes of good and evil.  They really are a supernatural touch from our heavenly Father.  We should desire both of these, and it isn’t important whether we can distinguish between them or not.

Verse 5 says that the prophet would “turn” the hearts of the fathers to the children.  It actually has a sense of causation.  The ministry of Elijah would cause them to turn their hearts.  That is God’s intention, to wake them up to action.  This idea of turning is part of the greater concept of repentance.  It is focused on the heart, but can also be used of the direction in which we are walking.  I have been following my desires and dreams, which have a particular direction that is generally away from God.  This is not an external show, but the truth of the arrow of our heart.  God knows if we are going towards or away from Him.  In short, we go away from God towards satisfying self and away from His good towards “our good.”

The other side of repentance that is not mentioned here is the mind.  It is implied, however.  To affect our heart, we have to also have a change of mind about God’s wisdom versus ours.  When we come to our senses, have a change of heart, and a turning of our heart’s desires, we will then have a change of how we live.

How do you get hold of a child’s heart so that they will know that you love them and want what is best for them?  I’ll tell you what God did. He sent His only Son to die on a cross that you would know His intention towards you is true, faithful, and loving.  Will not this even now turn your heart back towards Him?

The hardest part of being a parent is to discover from God through prayer all the ways that you need to die to yourself in order to reach your son, your daughter.  This is generally a metaphor.  Part of it is letting go of our ego and dying to self.   Instead of trying to hide their problems or deny them, we say, “Yes, that’s my child.  Will you pray with me for them?  I need your help because I am fighting for their soul!”

Only God can orchestrate those moments of laying our life down for our children.  You should also prepare yourself.  This does not generally result in them waking up.  It is usually later that something gets their attention, and then they see it.  They see your sacrificial love trying to help them.  It will be a witness to them in that day that God grants repentance.

When I change my mind about the way in which I am living, and turn my hearts toward God, He will be faithful to speak to us about our actions towards others.  Thus, to turn towards God is by definition to be turned towards people, and to turn towards them for the right reasons.

This world will turn towards people in an attempt to plug into them and suck life out of them.  God is left out of their thought process, and the desires of their heart.  God is calling us to a loving connection with others that is done in a right way, in a good and healthy way that He intended.  It won’t be perfect, but it will be good.

Did you notice that Deuteronomy 6 gives the Greatest Commandment, “Love God with all your heart, soul, and strength”?  It then mentions a father living a life that cares about what his kids take to heart, which is the Second Commandment.  Yes, your kids are your closest neighbors.

In the first century AD, the message and life of Jesus raised up a remnant of repenting people whose hearts were toward God.  This then turned their hearts towards their own people.  They did things that brought persecution, jail, and even death, upon themselves.  Yet, they did it because they had God’s heart for their people. 

How do you get a heart for people who are dragging you off to jail and trying to kill you?  You can only do it out of a loving relationship with God that is surrendered to the leading of the Holy Spirit.  You have to get in touch with God in a deep and intimate way.

Perhaps you are not sure that you want to be that intimate with God.  Of course, not all Christians were and are killed to show God’s love to the lost.  However, this is the heart of God.  Peter wanted desperately to protect Jesus or die with him trying to do so.  Yet, his flesh was too weak to do it.  Just as God helped Peter to get to the place where he could lay his life down, God can get you there.  The martyrs are not the cursed of God, but the more blessed of God because they enter into the most intimate knowledge of what it took for Jesus to pay the price for our sins.

I believe that, just as Jesus spoke of the Gospel rippling out from Jerusalem because of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the effect of repentance is to ripple out from our soul.  My family is my Jerusalem, and it is to ripple out from there.  To the ends of the earth becomes a picture of the scope and sphere of God’s work through me.  Our primary ministry to others is within our family, but it scopes out from there.

To wrap this up, let’s focus on those last words.  If their hearts didn’t (our hearts don’t) turn, then God would strike their land with a curse.  There would be difficult times ahead if they didn’t listen.  This is not just true for Israel, but for every individual, family, nation, and even the world.

Like Moses telling Israel that he had put life before them and that they should choose life (Deuteronomy 30:19) so the word of God comes to us as fathers and as children.  What is true spiritually for all humanity is also true in our homes.  You can’t ignore God and have a blessed life too.  God, life, and blessing go hand in hand.  I can’t cancel God and then still find life and blessing.  Instead, I will find death, and cursing because I won’t respect the reality that He isn’t going anywhere.

I may never do anything to help make a difference for the world, but that is God’s business.  There are many today trying to fix, to save, the world, and yet, they are losing themselves, their families, and those closest to them.  The leaders of this world will sacrifice hundreds of millions of humans for the sake of “saving humanity.”

Yet, they problem is that God cares about each and every human.  He will require an accounting of us.  And, that is why He has put you in the life of some humans.  He cares about them.  That’s why He became human Himself in Jesus.

We can all make a difference, but the number of people is not what is important.  It is not the scope that is important, but the stakes.  The stakes are just as great for one human as they are for all humans.  To save one person is an infinite thing upon which no price can be affixed.

Do we want life or death?  Do we desire blessing from God or cursing?  In Jesus, God speaks a word of blessing to the world, but we too are like a prophetic voice calling to wayward children (literal and metaphorical).

Let us honor the fathers in our lives, and let us be good fathers that represent and live out the Father-heart of God to our own biological children, but also to those with whom He has given us influence.  May our hearts be turned to Him today so that we might have an impact that turns the hearts of others.

Let me just recognize those who have not married, or are unable to have children.  It is a wonderful thing to raise a biological child.  It is even more wonderful to lead them to faith in Jesus.  However, the beauty of the Lord is that he enables us to become spiritual parents to children and adults alike who are not our biological children.  Paul spoke of himself as a spiritual father to many Christians of his time.  His ministry was marked by the Father-heart of God, rather than by a power-hungry, tyrannical authority.  So, take heart.  God has a purpose, and a work, for you that is even more important than raising a biological family.  Let’s turn our hearts towards Him and towards one another!

Turning Our Hearts audio