What does it look like when God speaks to a people who have wandered far from Him? In Malachi chapter 1, we find ourselves standing at a remarkable crossroads in history. The people of God have returned from exile, rebuilt the temple, and yet something is deeply wrong. They are questioning whether God even loves them at all. And what does God say first? Not a list of failures. Not a stern rebuke of their disobedience. His very first words are simply this: I have loved you. This sermon draws us into that stunning moment and asks us to sit with it. What does it mean that God leads with love, even when we have done nothing to deserve it? We explore the ancient tension between Jacob and Esau, and discover that God’s choice to love Jacob had nothing to do with Jacob’s merit. That same sovereign, unearned love is extended to us. We cannot do anything to earn more of it, and we cannot do anything to earn less of it. That truth alone has the power to reshape everything about how we approach our faith, our obedience, and our relationship with God.
