Malachi 2:17-3:5, Psalm 73 - Listen to this message now in Real Audio or download as MP3

We often think that what upsets God most are our individual vices - swearing, getting drunk, illicit sex and so on...

But one of the grand themes of the Bible is that God is disturbed most by the way human beings suppress their hunches about his presence in favour of an approach to life that pretends he is not there after all: knowing we’re mortal but living as though we’re immortal; agreeing there’s more to life than material possessions but settling for them all the same; admitting God’s existence in the world but refusing his influence in our lives; having a sixth sense about God’s kingdom but preferring the taste, touch, sight, sound and smell of our own private little kingdoms. This, according to the tradition of which Paul was a part, is at the heart of what the Bible means by that unnerving theological term ‘sin’.