Historic First Lutheran Church of Pasadena

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

We began this four-week series, studying the Book of Malachi, last week. And last week I emphasized the opening words of the book, spoken from the very mouth of God, which serve as the basis and foundation for everything that follows. I remind you of those words again this morning, the words, “I have loved you,” spoken by the Lord God Almighty.

This morning I tell you something that I don’t believe I have ever told anyone, except for the Board of Elders at a point or two in time. Almost 17 years ago, a day or two after 26 June 1994, when I was installed as your pastor, when Dr. Lee Settgast had moved all his stuff out of the pastor’s office, one of the first things I did was to place a piece of paper in my top desk drawer. There that paper has sat there ever since until I removed it this morning to bring it with me to church. This piece of paper, which very few of you have ever seen, is my “call document.” It is the paper you issued to me when you as a congregation were led by God to ask me to serve as your pastor. It defines the relationship between you and me. But, more than that, it also defines the relationship between God and you as His people gathered here in this place while also defining the relationship between God and me as His minister. His messenger, here in this place.

Like I said, I placed this piece of paper in my desk drawer almost 17 years ago. I don’t really remember at first why I did that. I think it might have been because 17 years ago all this seemed to good to be true and I needed this piece of paper to remind me that all this was really true. But no matter the original reason for me placing this piece of paper in my desk drawer, I have found it to have been very important for me to have done because I have found myself often looking at this piece of paper, especially during times of crisis, during times of conflict, during times of sadness and even a few times when I as your pastor was in despair and wondered if this is where God continued to want me to be.

Well, this seems to be “Relationship Weekend.” It seems to be all we’re hearing about this weekend, with tomorrow being Valentine’s Day and all the emphasis upon love and gift giving and card sending and expensive dinners together with the one you love. It also seems to be all we’re hearing about this weekend with the events that unfolded this past week in Egypt, the resignation of one of the last of this world’s dictators and a nationality of people, scattered around the entire world, being courted for the first time with concepts known as freedom and democracy.

With all this emphasis this weekend upon “relationships,” maybe it’s a “God thing” that today we study Malachi, chapter 2, because a forensic, objective overview of this chapter reveals it to be all about relationships, the relationship between God and the priests who served in the temple, the relationship between the priests and those who brought sacrifices to the temple, and, ultimately, the relationship between God and His people, the relationship between the people of God and the important people in their lives and the relationship between the people of God and their God.

This morning, we work from the greatest to the least.

Out of all the people in the entire world, God chose for Himself a specific group of people. During the time of Malachi, that specific group of people was known as the Children of Israel. Today, in these years following the revelation of Jesus Christ, that specific group of people is known as Christians. Upon that specific group of people, God has abundantly showered His love and His blessings. Remember the first words God spoke in this oracle that set the basis and foundation for everything that follows? “I have loved you,” declares the Lord God Almighty.

It’s important to remind ourselves that God’s choosing had – and has – nothing to do with the status of the object of His affection. God’s choosing has simply and solely everything to do with His love. God’s people are not the numerous on the face of the earth. God’s people are not the wealthiest or the smartest or the most talented or the most perfect. But they are His because of His love.

The same goes for the smaller group that’s mentioned. Out of all the people within the Children of Israel, out of all the tribes and clans and families, God chose for Himself a specific group of people, the tribe of Levi, to be set apart for special service, for full-time ministry, regularly being in close contact with God and being God’s very representative to His people. Again, God’s choosing has simply and solely everything to do with His love and is not based upon anything within the specifically chosen people.

BUT – and you had to know that was coming – within any relationship there are responsibilities.

Think of when a couple stands here at the altar to be joined together as husband and wife. What usually brings them to the altar is not that they’ve had a meeting of the minds and have developed a marriage plan that says “I do this” and “You do that.” What usually brings that couple to the altar is their love for each other – love that sometimes cannot be explained or understood by anyone else. But, within that relationship of love, there are responsibilities, responsibilities that are summarized at the altar as “to have and to hold from this day forward, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish until death do us part.” The responsibilities follow the relationship.

The same goes for parental relationships. Parents love their children and children love their parents, but within that relationship there are responsibilities. The children are responsible for certain things and the parents are responsible for certain things and each can hold the other to their responsibilities, but the responsibilities do not establish the relationship.

In Malachi, chapter 2, there are examples given of how responsibilities have been broken. The priests, called out of all God’s people, set their hearts against God and led others down that dangerous path as well. They failed to be the very representative presence of God in the midst of His people. They failed to be the message of God’s law. They failed to be the message of God’s Gospel. And the very people of God, called out of all the people of the entire world, did the one thing that God set as their responsibility – that He would be their God and they would be His people [Ezekiel 36:28]. Instead, they made their own rules. They married and they divorced as they pleased and no one would tell them otherwise.

Sounds like the way of the world today, doesn’t it? Sounds like you and me, doesn’t it?

“But I have loved you,” declares the Lord God Almighty. And those are more than just empty words. Those are the actions shown on Calvary’s Cross.

Unlike the ways of the world that allow broken responsibilities to affect and even sever relationships, God’s relationship with us remains intact. We don’t understand the depths of God’s love for us that as many times as we break relationship with Him, He remains faithful. No matter how many times we break His heart – and don’t be deceived into believing that God doesn’t really care whether or not we keep our responsibilities within our relationship with Him – He never goes away. He never finds a new object of His affection. He never stops desiring you and me.

Remember this piece of paper I told you about – my call document? Each of us have something just like this. We call it the Bible. It tells us what’s expected of us. It defines the relationship between us and God. But most of all, it tells us of God’s love for us, the depth of that love so unfathomable that He would come to earth in the person of Jesus Christ so that you and I could forever be His precious, chosen people.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Pastor Christopher Schaar
Historic First Lutheran Church of Pasadena