Thursday, April 13th | Cynical Towards God? (pt. 1)

Welcome back, everyone. Today is Thursday, April the 13th. I'm Ryan Hill. I'm John Galantis. You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abbadon Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com. If you have any questions for Dr. Shah or suggestions for new topics, send us a text at 252-582-5028. You can also email us at contact at ClearviewTodayShow.com. That's right. You guys can help us keep this conversation going by supporting this radio show, sharing it online, leaving us a good review on iTunes or Spotify, anywhere you get your podcasting content from.

We're going to leave a link in the description so you can do just that. Before we do anything else, I want to start today off right. Hey, hey, hey. I gotta say, before we play, it's time for the verse of the day. Oh, you made a fourth grade rhyme, man.

Let's do it. All right, so the verse of the day today comes from Colossians 1, verses 19-20. For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

Colossians is very thick. I remember Dr. Shah said that he hadn't preached all the way through Colossians for this exact reason, because there's so much and it's so dense. I mean, just in that one, that's two verses. For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell.

I mean, even right there in half a sentence. That's like two huge doctrines right there. The fullness of God dwelled in Jesus Christ to reconcile all things to Himself and then making peace through the blood of His cross. There's so much that can be said, but I think what's sticking out to me is that there's no longer enmity between us and God, between the descendants of the serpent and the descendants of the woman. There's peace, the blood.

And it's odd because this instrument of torture and of death and execution has brought peace. Yeah. We just did a couple weeks back, we did a spring retreat with our Illuminate students. And we walked through the entire book of Colossians over a weekend, which there is so much packed in there. It was tough to do. We had four small group sessions and kind of dealt with each one of those chapters. But the biggest focus for us, and I think the biggest focus of the book of Colossians, is that because of what Christ has done for us, it changes the way that we live.

That's true. It changes the way that we approach relationships, it changes the way that we see ourselves, it changes the way that we see our relationship with God. Because it's not what we're bringing to the table, it's what Christ has done for us and in us. Speaking of tables, this is painful to talk about, but I gotta talk about it. I wanted to take the kids out and the wife out for some good quality family breakfast. Sure.

We'd love to see that. I wanted to be a good father and a good husband. And Ellie gets sick of eating at the house all the time, being stuck there with two babies. It's fun to go out. Probably the most fun thing about going out is someone else does the dishes. That's right. And the cooking.

That's right. You just sit there and enjoy. So I said, hey babe, I'm feeling like a good husband. Let's go out. Let's go to First Watch.

I'm feeling like a good husband. Let's go to First Watch. Ellie loves First Watch. First Watch is good. They got avocado toast. I get me the trifecta. That's bacon, eggs, and pancakes.

First Watch is very good. A cup of coffee. Great breakfast.

And you know what? The kids are being good. The baby's not really fussing. He's just sitting around cooing, looking at the sun coming through the window. Gavin's eating his stuff. But Gavin's trying to do this thing where he's standing up in his booster seat.

Here's mistake number one. I didn't put him in a high chair. I put him in a booster seat. Why? I don't know.

I guess I just felt like courting disaster that day. So he's trying to stand up in his booster seat and say, hey, sit. Sit down. And he sits down, and then you do your thing, and you start talking to Ellie. And then he says, hey, I said sit. Sit down in your booster seat. He sits down.

What does a kid gain from standing up in the booster seat? Now, just for the sake of this story, for the sake of our listeners who maybe aren't as familiar, how old is Gavin? Gavin's two.

Yeah, he's two. And so he's like, this is it. I get to stand up. So he stands up in the booster seat, looks at the table behind him where people are trying to enjoy their meal, and something on the table he just decides, I want it. So he goes for it, and the entire chair just tumbles over, and I mean his face, his entire face collides with the wall. And right before it happens, I see it, and I'm like, there's no point in shouting.

It's going to happen. So I just sound like, ah, son, don't, no, please. And he just goes into a tumble. So now we've got people coming out. They're like, oh my gosh. Is he okay?

I'm like, yes, guys, he's fine. That's the worst. In public, you're like, oh my gosh, okay, we got it. I can handle it. And so then the manager comes over and is like, hey, can we just take your information? And I was like, hey, it's fine. I'm just mad.

He's thinking lawsuit at this point. Exactly. And I'm angry, and I'm just trying to get out of there. So I'm like, hey, it's all good. He's fine.

It was his fault. So I was like, Ellie, get them out of here. I'm about to lose my stack.

And then finally I'm like, hey, here's my name, here's my number. He's like, okay, so he just slipped. He stood up in his booster seat. He's fine. I promise. We're going to take him to the doctor.

I'm not worried about anything at this restaurant. And then we took him to the doctor. We drove the whole way home, and he's whimpering. He hit me in my nose. We get in the doctor's office, and he does the exact same thing. And I took my eyes off of him again. It's my fault. I went up to the desk. He's in the little play area, stands up in the chair.

False. That's the hardest part about having a toddler. People think, what do you do with your kid? You just throw him down a flight of stairs?

No, they're a toddler. And they're like, well, why aren't you watching him? It's like, because I have to register him in the doctor's office because of what he did, because I'm trying to play the check. You can't watch him 24-7. It's impossible.

No one can do that. Sure enough, I heard a crash. And before I even turned around, I was like, yeah, he did it again. And I looked, and I see an overturned play chair.

I'm like, he's done it again. I understand. We've been there. It's not fun.

Y'all pray for me, because I don't know what I'm gonna do with this. And Gavin's fine. He's fine. Ellie was like, I think he might have broke his nose. I was like, if he broke his nose, his nose would be gushing blood. She found this little speck of blood. She was like, look, it's bleeding. I was like, you got me, babe. You got me. What I wanted to be a peaceful, fun morning turned into an entire day. So that was it. This wasn't a great fun, but it should have been. It should have been.

He's OK. Gavin's OK. Jon and Ellie might have lost a few years of their life. Don't go to First Watch. No, I'm just joking.

First Watch is good. Oh, man. If you do, don't stand up in the booster seat.

No, don't stand up in the booster seat at all. Don't do that. We have an exciting episode planned for you guys today. We're starting a brand new series on today's episode. A while back, Dr. Shah preached through a book of the Bible that we don't often read, but one that is action-packed and has so much for us to learn today. We're going to be talking through the book of Malachi. We're going to grab Dr. Shah in just a minute to begin that series with you. If you have any questions or suggestions for new topics, send us a text at 252-582-5028. Or visit us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com.

We'll be back after this. Good morning, afternoon, evening Clear View Today listeners. My name is Jon. And I'm David. We just want to take a quick second and let you know about another way that you can keep in touch with Dr. Shah's work. And that is his weekly podcast series, Sermons by Avidan Shah, Ph.D. As a lot of you may know, or maybe some of you don't know. If you don't know, you do now. And if you don't know, then maybe just hop off the podcast. David, hop off the podcast.

I'm just playing. Keep listening. Dr. Shah is actually the lead pastor of Clearview Church in North Carolina. Every single weekend, he preaches expository messages that challenge and inspire us to live God-honoring lives. One of the four core values of Clearview Church is that we're a Bible-believing church. So every sermon is coming directly from Scripture, which is great because that guarantees that there are timeless truths that are constantly applicable to our lives. This is a great resource because whether you're driving, whether you're cleaning the house, whether you're working out, you can always benefit from hearing the Word of God spoken into your life. And God's Word is always going to do something new for you every time you hear it.

Sometimes it's conviction and sometimes it's encouragement. But know that every time you listen to God's Word, you're inviting the Holy Spirit to move and work in your life. You guys can check out the Sermons by Abbadon Shah PhD podcast. First and foremost, check it out on our church app. That's the Clearview app. You can get that in the Google Play Store. You can get that on iTunes. But you can also find the podcast on the Apple Podcast app or on our website at Clearviewbc.org. And listen, if you've got a little extra time on your hands, you just want to do some further reading, you can also read the transcripts of those sermons.

Those are available on Dr. Shah's website, AbbadonShah.com. And we're going to leave you guys a little link in the description so you can follow it. But for right now, David, let's hop back in.

Alright. Welcome back to Clearview Today with Dr. Abbadon Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com.

If you have any questions or suggestions for new topics, send us a text, 252-582-5028. That's right. And if you guys are tuning into the show for the first time, I want to let you know who's talking to you today. Dr. Abbadon Shah is a PhD in New Testament textual criticism, professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor, and the host of today's show.

You can find all his work at his website. That's AbbadonShah.com. That's right. Dr. Shah, welcome to the studio today. I am glad to be here. It's an exciting day.

It's a beautiful day. I have been looking forward to this for some time now. I'm not even going to lie. I'm very excited. He's not even going to lie. Every episode is great.

I mean, I don't want you guys to think that we have episode favorites, but we do. They're all 10 out of 10, if you can believe it. But this one might be an 11. These ones go up to 11. It's like, why not just make 10 louder?

They just go to 11. Because today we are starting a series talking through a book of the Bible that maybe people aren't quite as familiar with. We're diving into the book of Malachi today. Well, Malachi is sort of the last word that God gave to his people before the silence began, the silence of 400-some years of waiting for the coming of the Messiah. It's like you have guests coming, and so you run around the house cleaning things, putting things away, dusting and washing, and whatever you need to do, you get it done. And then you have to wait. It's kind of like this lull.

Yeah, you sit on the couch, you sit on the dining table, or you just kind of hang out or get ready in the bathroom or whatever. But Malachi is like that last word before that silence begins. It's funny because I remember always thinking before I started coming here to Clearview and before I met you, Dr. Shah, that the 400 years of silence was a punishment. I always just assumed in my head that this is, okay, you guys haven't listened, you guys haven't listened, you guys haven't listened.

I tell you what. I'm going to back off for 400 years, then I'll come back when you know how to act. I always just assumed it was punishment, and it wasn't. No, contrary to that, this was a time when Israel was no longer pining after false gods. It was no longer making the same mistakes that the kingdom of Judah made or Israel made or God's people collectively as children of Israel made. This was a time where they were focused on God, they were really against idol worship and false worship. They were no longer adulterating with other peoples who were not following God. I mean, they were preparing for the Messiah. Now, albeit, many of them took the wrong turn in their preparation because when Jesus came, they had changed some things and didn't want Jesus, but still wanted the Messiah.

So, anyways, the point is this. These years were some very deep, transforming years in the life of God's people. I'm excited to dive into this because a lot of times, these books toward the end of the Old Testament—Malachi is the very last one, but we gloss over them. We're like Isaiah, and then we just skip ahead to the Gospels because we're excited that Jesus is here. But there's something so important for us that I feel like people miss a lot of times with books like Malachi or books toward the end of the Old Testament. Well, this book begins with the question of God's people. What a weariness, or how tiresome this is, is what you're saying about me. Why are you saying this about me, says God?

Because these people had sort of become tired of God. I think about the old story, or it's a cartoon, actually, of an old farmer and his wife riding down the road in a pickup truck. The first frame shows the farmer sitting behind the wheel with his arm out the window, and the wife kind of sitting up against the door on the other side. The second frame shows a young couple passing them, and they were sitting so close to each other.

They're like in love. And so the old woman says to her husband, Pa, you remember when we used to ride like that? What happened to us? And in the last frame, you see the old farmer replies, Ma, I ain't moved. I'm still where I need to be. You moved over. So in some ways, if in your relationship with God, you feel like God is distant, you move.

Yeah, that's right. God hasn't moved. God hasn't changed. He hasn't suddenly become distant. I think that's something we tend to think is that God kind of quiets himself or backs off from us if we're distant. It's like, so God, I'm still walking, but you've chosen to back off from me.

I need you to come back. God's Word teaches us that he doesn't change. He doesn't change.

He doesn't move. Right. And so right before the silence begins, and it's not a punishment silence.

This is a preparation silence. God tells the people that they have lost their first love. So let's read that. Malachi chapter one, verse one, the burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. I have loved you, says the Lord. Yet you say, in what way have you loved us? The question people are asking.

In what way have you loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? Now God is questioning them.

So it's kind of, if you don't see the text, it's kind of hard to understand where it's going. The people question God and God questions them back. Was not Esau Jacob's brother, says the Lord?

Yet Jacob how have loved, but Esau I have hated. You also say, Oh, what a weariness. And you sneer at it, says the Lord of hosts. This is verse 13. And you bring the stolen, the lame and the sick. Thus you bring an offering.

You got to read it with a sneer. Thus you bring an offering. Should I accept this from your hand, says the Lord? There's a question God is asking. So a lot of question answering happening here. Yeah. They're bringing their, not their first fruits, but they're bringing like, like you said, the stolen and the lame and the sick.

And it's kind of like you were saying too. They've become tired of it. They're like, let's just, let's just do it. They're exhausted.

Just give it to them. The people had become tired of serving God. They they're back in the land, right? They came back in the land. They rebuild the temple under Zerubbabel. They rebuild the walls of the city under Nehemiah.

They reinstituted the worship and all the things under Ezra. But now it's kind of like, oh, isn't it funny what time will do to people? Like they've like they've come back into the land after they've been taken out for this exact attitude, this exact heart problem.

They come back and they're like, OK, just just give him the offerings, get him what he wants. We'll do it. We'll do it. There you go, Lord.

Is all yours. As tired of serving God, right? As we're talking about this, I am just like, I feel like the the proverbial finger is pointing closer and closer to me because I'm like, how many times am I like, oh, OK, we'll do this again.

All right. But so quickly we forget that God is the one who has blessed us and put us where we are. How how quickly our hearts turn back to just kind of go through this again, this monotony. Let me ask the listeners, the viewers, I mean, has the Christian life become a burden for you?

Have the things of God become a drag for you? If so, what you need is a revival. That's right. That's right.

You know, and what we titled this series, a counter shock. You know, before you can be revived, you need to be vibed. Right. OK. Right. So for those of you who, you know, revival is not your thing.

Viable is for you. For you. You need to get saved. That's right. But let's go back to the Book of Malachi for a few moments. OK. Last book of the Old Testament. It belongs to a collection known as the Twelve Prophets or the Minor Prophets.

But don't misunderstand this. They're called minor, not because they're less important, but because compared to the bigger writings like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, they're shorter books. And so minor prophets.

But just keep in mind, even though Malachi is small, it has a big message. Yeah, I think that's kind of what you were saying earlier is they get they get glossed over. Yeah.

And because maybe it's because we call them minor prophets. Yeah. Yeah.

Minor doesn't mean less important. Right. So where do you drop it in the chronology? Like when did this happen? I believe it happened.

The Book of Malachi was probably written during the end of Nehemiah's ministry. OK. So just kind of let me give you a quick background.

Can we do that? Yeah. Let's get a quick background. 538 BC. God raised up Cyrus, the king of Persia, to free the Jewish people. He came, he took over Babylon, as you know, and and and he frees the people. He tells them, go back home. And if you remember, Nebuchadnezzar had brought them there.

He had taken them into exile and and he had destroyed everything back in Judah. But Cyrus says, go home and rebuild. Right. And so some returned. They're like, OK, we're going to do it. And by 515 BC means twenty three years later, the Jerusalem Temple was rebuilt. Even that is a little too long.

They should have done it right away. But we get it. You've been taken away. You're the second generation. You don't know what things were like. I mean, you were a little kid when you left, maybe. Or maybe, you know, you were born in exile.

Who knows? So I get it. It took took them a little bit of time. And then God sent prophets like Haggai and Zechariah to sort of motivate them to build the temple. That's why you need, you know, some, you know, Sunday morning messages are to motivate people to get out of the comfort zone.

Right. I mean, that's what you do in the youth time. That's what you be doing Sunday school, motivate people. And then 60 years later, 458 BC, God sent Ezra the scribe to come and read the law of God. And he called the people to immoral, spiritual and even his social renewal. But it's not over because 10 years later, 444, 445 BC, depends on how you see that historical timeline.

I don't want to get into that right now. God sent a cup bearer by the name of Nehemiah. Nehemiah, who comes and he is burdened because the walls are run down. People are terrorizing God's people. There is no safety.

There is no security. So he comes back and he rebuilds the wall in how many days? Fifty two days. That's right.

Fifty two days. But then he has to go back to Persia. You know, remember, he made a covenant with the king, you know, commitment to the king. He said, look, I'm going to go do this and then I'll be back. So he does it and he goes back.

When he goes back, what happens? Things go uphill or downhill? I think things go downhill. That seems to be the pattern. Think about it for a moment.

You know, that's pretty much how things happen. You know, I'm looking at our lives, I'm looking at our church, the impact we're making in this community. And I pray to God that if Jesus doesn't return soon, which seems kind of, you know, seems like any moment he can come. But if he doesn't return soon, I'm praying that the work we're doing is going to last for a long time.

Way beyond our times. And people will look to this place as a lighthouse. But it's the nature of things to go down. It's the nature of the fire to die out. It's true because you think about it and you think about God bringing them back into the land and helping them, like, rebuild their lives. And telling them, sending Haggai to tell them, rebuild the temple.

He's encouraging them. Come on, rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. You can have your home and your land back. And you would think they'd be like, yes, let's do it.

We can reclaim it. But they're like, oh, I don't want to. What a drudgery. Yeah, I don't want to. I'm tired.

I'm bitter. Let's just, let's just, like, what's the goal in that? Just live out the rest of your life in misery, I guess?

I don't know. Pretty much. It's like, just make your living, get some wealth, and then it is what it is. And so this is a time in which God sent Malachi the prophet to the people. And it was God who brought them back. It was God who helped them rebuild. It was God who was about to revive them. And because they had become ungrateful, bitter, cynical towards him.

You know, just, just kind of like, yeah, serving God. What is their beef? What is their beef? I mean, they were still angry. Still angry over the fact that God had messed their world up. Like allowed them to go into exile? Yeah. Oh, that makes sense. They're like serving all these, because it was idolatry, right? And so he's like, okay, you're going into exile. They're like, God, this is on you. This is not on me. It's not even that bad.

You didn't even tell us we couldn't do it. It's like, I have for centuries. Yeah. The problem with most Christians, I may be wrong in saying this, but I think many Christians, because of life and circumstances and injustice or unjustifiable behavior of others towards them, they have become bitter. And they love God.

Okay. They're saved. But the most believers are operating from a place of just not discontent, but just, just cynicism, bitterness towards God. Like there's a rebellion on the inside. Like a passive aggressive.

Yeah. Like you see people coming to church and they're like, I'm checking the boxes. I'm here. You can't say I didn't come to church. You can't say I didn't sit through that long, boring Sunday school class at the same time and the inside I'm rebelling.

When people almost wear that, I feel like a badge of honor. Like, look, I'm more worldly. I'm more exposed to the things of the world. You little Christians in your bubble, you don't understand how the real world works.

So I'll be here and I'm checking it out, but I understand how life actually works. And it's because of health problems. It's because of financial problems. It's because relationships fell out. It's because their prayers have not been answered.

It's, it's because, I don't know, myriad of reasons that they feel like, you know, God has not been that good to them. Well, you said something when you were doing the, when you, when you actually read the passage in the, I think it was the very first thing in Malachi that says it's the burden of the Lord or the burden of the word of the Lord. Is that the, is that like an English translation or is that actually what it says? It is, the word there is almost like the oracle of the word of the Lord. Some people have translated that, but the, but burden is a better translation because the word masa in this context has a sense of heaviness. So the words that God is about to speak to his people are heavy.

I got you. So it really is, I mean, that is what the author intended. Is there this heaviness, there's this, hey, this is not going to be pleasant.

Yeah. This is, has a sense of urgency behind it. This has a sense of, you know, let's talk. Do you, you are so far off in your heart, in your mind, in your spirit.

This is not going to be a slap on the wrist. You really need to talk. And many times people are like, ah, I got, I got things to do, or I'm, I'm, I'm good. I'm good. I'm good. And it's like, no, you're not good. Yeah. You're not. Yeah. You're everything.

Everything that you're doing, everything that you're behaving is not good. So it's a charge versus counter charge format that is happening. At the start of the show, I talked about the question answers. So it's a charge versus counter charge. So God speaks, Israel speaks. I have loved you, says the Lord. The word for love is Ahav, which has the idea of his sovereign, unconditional, personal love. It represents a covenant. And yet you say, God is like charging them.

Yet you say, in what way have you loved us? Yeah. That's, that's the, the, the, the charge.

And then the counter charge is there kind of answer. Well, his, his, not interpretation, but his saying of what they said back. Yeah. He's kind of restating their grudge or their beef, I guess. There's a sarcasm and scoff in their tone. Yet you say, in what way have you loved us?

The bottom line is they were doubting the character of God. Right? What was the thing about, what was, what was the very next line where he talks about Esau? Like, I think this is something that trips people up when he says Esau, I've loved.

Jacob, I've hated. That's right. Yeah. Right.

What is, what is meant by that? I mean, does God hate people? God hates people.

That's the thing that people always, they always quick to jump to that. Right. I mean, Jacob and Esau were brothers, as you know. God in his divine sovereignty had chosen Jacob and his descendants to fulfill his plan of redemption in the world.

Right? So there was nothing special about Jacob, but God had chosen him. It's divine election, but it was election, not, not unto salvation as much as election unto service. Right. Okay. So God chose Abraham.

Why? Because he wanted to choose him. He picked this man and his wife who were childless. And if you read some parts of the Old Testament, it even says that Abraham was worshipping other gods.

Prior to coming to God, he was worshipping other gods on the other side of the river. So what God was saying to them is, don't you remember that I chose you to be my people? Don't you remember that I am the reason for your existence?

He's using, he's using them illustratively. Like he's not saying, hey, remember, for some reason, I'm going to let you know I really hated this guy. He's saying, no, I chose you.

You're right. You, you're the reason you've been chosen. I'm the reason.

Yeah, I chose you. Yeah. But the question is, why did God say Esau have hated? The descendants of Esau were the Edomites. They were cousins, but they hated the descendants of Jacob, the people of Israel. And in fact, when Babylon came up against Jerusalem, the Edomites actually helped them destroy their city. So, you know, this whole Nebuchadnezzar coming against Judah and Jerusalem and taking people away, the Edomites were part and parcel of that.

Esau's descendants? Yeah. Wow. Sometimes God, I mean, God is kind of that father figure who's trying to remind his children, like, look, I fought for you and I won. You know, these people came against you. Look what I did to them. And yet you're turning against me.

You're tired of me. Yeah. I would love to extend this in the next show and maybe talk a little bit more about how God addresses them. I love it. I love it.

Absolutely. Stay tuned for the next episode. If you guys enjoyed today's content or you have questions or suggestions for new topics, send us a text to 252-582-5028.

Or you can visit us online at ClearlyTodayShow.com and you can partner with us financially on that same website. We're grateful to all of you, those who have given, those who are praying with us, praying for us, and standing with us as we reach the nations with the gospel of Jesus. Amen. We've got a quick quote from a guy named Adrian Rogers. I've heard of him before.

Maybe you've heard of him before. A little funny. He said this, grace is God's acceptance of us.

Faith is our acceptance of God's acceptance of us. That's a great way to put that. Very cool. Love it. We love you guys. We'll see you tomorrow on Clearview Today.