July 14, 2024 "Is God Fair?" (Malachi 3:13-18)

 

Is God Fair?
Malachi 3:13-18
 
Sometimes it seems that God is not fair. We see faithful Christians not get ahead or suffer. We often cannot see the fairness in the way God treats us or others. We might say that there are secret sins or some other reason to rationalize their misfortunes.  
 
Malachi 3:15 ESV
[15] And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape.’”  
 
We see that the wicked were prospering and the righteous were suffering. However, we see that God works in ways we do not understand.  
 
Malachi 3:16-17 ESV
[16] Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name. [17] “They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.  
 
God knows our pain and grieves with us. He has great plans and it is for us. The suffering we endure because of our righteousness. God sees all things and knows who fear him. He knows the difference between those who perform good deeds and those who want to have a relationship with God.
 
This relationship can be maintained through prayer, righteous worship and fellowship. It is not about just doing good deeds, it is to lead a life with a relationship with God.
 
God is not our tool but a person who wants a relationship with us. There are many who see God as an instrument to get what they want. Even when we do not sin and do what is right, there are times when life is not fair.  
 
One of the reasons we do not believe that God is fair is that we do not believe in Judgement Day. Historically Christians have been waiting for Jesus to return and look to disasters as omens to His return. Many Christians now think it will come but not in my lifetime.  
 
The anticipation is disappearing because so often we have tried to predict the day. Instead, we should live as preparing for it. We should live as if today was the last day.
 
The world can often seem unfair. If we truly believe God will come back, we will live with hope and not worry about the unfair world  

 

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2024 DOEM Summer Outreach

 

July 7, 2024 "Faithfulness" (Ezra 4:1-5)

 

In Ezra Chapter four we see that Judah's enemies are still in their homeland. The Israelites want to build a temple to God to establish a relationship with God.

 

Ezra 4:1 ESV

[1] Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel,  

 

The adversaries are the Samaritans. These foreigners were pagans and because they had lived there a long time wanted to be like them. One way to do this is to help build the temple. The Israelites refuse.

 

Ezra 4:2-3 ESV

[2] they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ houses and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria who brought us here.” [3] But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers’ houses in Israel said to them, “You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we alone will build to the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.

 

The Samaritans did not want to lose their land. They claim to serve God but they had many idols. To them religion, was a means to an end. When they could not get what they want on their own power, they went to their idols. They wanted a guarantee for their life.

 

Christianity is different from other religions because we live our life as a response to the Grace of God. We are not doing actions or serving God to get gain, but we are responding to His love.

 

Often times people take advantage of the church to get services, education or comfort. We can be like the Samaritans and try to use God to get what we want. Instead, we need to build our fellowship with God.

 

Like today, the Samaritans try to slowly separate us from God. They offer help, but God did not want them to help. Satan tries to little by little get you to fall into small temptations.

 

For a long time, King David prepared all the materials for the temple. Then when Solomon did build the temple, it took seven years. Now Israelites have to build the temple with very little. But the Samaritans had materials that they could give them. It was tempting to take their help, but the Israelites knew this was not what God wanted.

 

These days in Korea many Christians do not want to show they are Christians because they might be teased or treated differently. Christians have a bad reputation because of cults and high-profile cases of Christians being immoral.  

 

We need to live our faith in a resolute manner. Our enemies are any person, group, ideology, situation that keeps us from God. We must strive to keep our faith in God.

 

We must remain steadfast and maintain our fellowship with God and seek God first. We do this by keeping Him at the center of our lives.

• Before the throne of God above
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