 BIBLE PASSAGE: Malachi 3:6-18; Lesson prepared by: krisha of Solomon FB page
APRIL 21, 2019 Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not. -
Malachi 3:18 -
INTRODUCTION: Do we need spiritual revival? How often do we need spiritual revival? These are examples of questions we need to answer in our mind. With individual believers, as with the church, the need of spiritual revival is frequently not recognized until exceedingly low levels of spirituality has reached. Actually, however,
the need is almost continuous.
Physically, most of us need to be revived at least three times a day. Hunger and weakness soon overtake us, and we feel the need of food to renew our strength. Spiritually it is not less so, for “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4). Sad to say, however, we are by nature prone to neglect our spiritual welfare and lapse into carelessness and sin, so that repeatedly the need for spiritual revival and
restoration becomes acute. Many feel that lack of prayer, failure to live separated lives, indifference (lack of interest or concern) toward the lost, etc., are the real causes of spiritual decline. These, however, are the effects, not the causes. The cause of spiritual decline today is always our departure from the Word of God in general and from the Word of God to us in particular. There lies the root of our spiritual ills, though comparatively few as yet recognize or acknowledge it. Even from the days of people’s fathers they were already gone away from God’s ordinances. They have been disobedient that’s why in the last major section of Malachi contains God’s invitation for His people to return to Him. 7 Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return? The people said, “WHEREIN SHALL WE RETURN?” (SA ANO KAMI MANUNUMBALIK?). The
lesson has three points to consider: Wherein shall we return?
LESSON POINTS: 1. IN GIVING OUR TITHES AND
OFFERINGS The Israelites were asking wherein shall they return; they didn’t realize and remember the commandments of the Lord. Based from the verses, Israelites were literally robbing God of what was rightfully His. It was a failure in their stewardship of His material property. God reminds us
through these verses:
8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein
have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. 9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this
whole nation. 10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be
meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven,
and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
In the next verses we can see that God owns everything and He doesn’t need our money. Let’s understand the truths about money.
Deu 8:18 "But thou shall
remember the LORD thy God: for it is He that giveth thee power to get wealth…
Hag 2:8 'The silver is Mine and the
gold is Mine,' saith the LORD of hosts.
Psa 50:10-12 10 For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a
thousand hills. 11 I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of
the field are mine. 12 If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine,
and the fulness thereof.
God’s invitation to the people is to return unto Him in giving
their tithes and offerings and there’s spiritual blessing waiting for them if
they just return unto Him. If we don’t respond to God’s invitation there’s a
potential that money will be your master because Bible says, “No man can serve
two masters…” (Matt.6:24). Let’s fulfill the purpose of money by
using it to turn to Him. “Remember
this—you can’t serve God and Money, but you can serve God with money.” — Selwyn Hughes
2. IN GIVING OUR PRAISES TO GOD Though Malachi 3:13 has different meaning in some commentaries, we will this verse as an example of some attitude of
Christians in speaking “harsh” words against God. “Your words have been stout against me, saith the Lord. Yet
ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee?” Ang inyong mga salita ay naging lapastangan laban sa akin, sabi ng Panginoon. Gayon ma'y inyong sinasabi, Sa ano kami nangagsalita ng laban sa
iyo? In our own words, we can see that our view in life has been distorted by the world. Malachi 3:14 says, “Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of
hosts?” “Inyong sinabi, Walang kabuluhan ang maglingkod sa Dios; at anong kapakinabangan nito na ating iningatan ang kanyang bilin, at tayo'y nagsilakad na may pananangis sa harap ng Panginoon ng mga hukbo?”
Let’s be careful with our mouth, it should proceed blessings and praises to the Lord. James 3:10 says, “Out
of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things
ought not so to be.” Wherein shall we return? Let’s return in OUR PRAISES TO OUR LORD GOD ALMIGHTY. Let’s ask ourselves, when was the last time you praised God?
3. IN OUR SERVICE TO THE LORD If we were asked, “Are you serving the Lord?” what would we answer? Most of us will say a shout “AMEN” but like what we have said in our introduction Christians need spiritual revival daily and to the most three times a day like spiritual food; this means we are
weak and lazy to fulfill the mandate given to us if we are not aware of eating
our spiritual food to be strong. Let’s accept the fact that we are not always
spiritual therefore we need to be fed spiritually. The question is how often we use and read our Bible compare to our
cellphones?
Like the Israelites said in
Malachi 3:14: Ye have said, IT IS VAIN TO SERVE GOD: and WHAT PROFIT IS IT THAT WE HAVE KEPT HIS ORDINANCE, and that WE HAVE
WALKED MOURNFULLY BEFORE THE LORD OF HOSTS?” The Israelites’ attitude toward their service to the Lord changed: vain to serve the Lord, what profit of keeping God’s commandments and
walking His will makes you unhappy.
Discernment of what is right and wrong does not exist to those
who are not returning to the Lord or those who are gone away from Him. Malachi
3:18, our memory verse today says, “Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him
not. “ yaong naglilingkod sa Dios at yaong hindi naglilingkod sa kaniya.”
This verse answers why Christians are sometimes can’t discern the right and wrong in some situations in life. This lesson point urges us to focus and be serious in serving the Lord. Most of us think that worship and service just happen on Sundays. This could be possible at some point, but the question is how we can prepare ourselves in worship and service on Sunday if our weekdays are full of unimportant routines. For example, how can you share the Sunday School Lesson if you don’t do anything about your lesson during weekdays like reading your Bible and many things. Let’s remember we are not strong; we are just strong by the grace of
God.
CONCLUSION: One of the good lessons we can see in this lesson is the urgency of revival in our lives and like the physical food that we need three times a day, spiritual food is the same to make us strong and revive from spiritual declining. We need to be observant in our ways and thoughts so that we can see if we are starting to have a stony heart and then move away from spiritual atmosphere. Let’s remember that having a spiritual decline is not instant situation of our spirituality; it’s gradual. When Israelites asked, “Wherein shall we return?” it’s a question which we can see that they don’t have the discernment of their present situation; they were already far from the Lord. Some Christians when asked about considering going back to church, they would answer, “I’m on that way or darating din tayo diyan” But this answer is hard to lean on; most of the times months and years would take before a Christian realize they need to go back. Don’t wait for the time to have miserable, full of pressures, struggles, entangled situations of life before we realize that we can’t live in this world without God. Let’s remember it’s hard to go back, the enemy would give everything to hold us not to serve the Lord and let our light shine.
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