Giving God Our Best...Sort Of
Notes
Transcript
What does it mean to be complacent? The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as “smug and uncritically satisfied with oneself or one’s achievements.”
So then what does it mean to be spiritually complacent? Spiritual complacency occurs when we get comfortable and satisfied with the way WE worship instead of how God wants us to worship Him.
The book of Malachi was most likely written in the mid 400 B.C. and the book is attributed to the prophet and is set in Jerusalem. Sacrifices were being made at the temple (2nd temple) that had been rebuilt by Zerubbabel and finished in 516 B.C. (Ezra 6:15) But since that time the priests had become lazy and corrupt. The people had also become lazy; going through the motions of the rituals…but growing further apart from God in the process. They were viewing the rituals and sacrifices as something they “had” to do, and had forgotten “why” they did them.
As God speaks to Malachi, he then addresses the hard-heartedness of God’s people, pointing them to God’s love and pointing out their attitudes and calls them to repentance. As we know, this did not work and with this book, God closed the OT canon historically AND prophetically.
John MacArthur states in his bible handbook that “Similar to Revelation 2–3, in which Christ writes about the conditions of the churches, here God writes through Malachi to impress upon Israel His thoughts about the nation.”
Two thousand years of OT history had passed since Abraham. None of the promises had been fully fulfilled. When looking at the reason, we must look no further than the attitude of God’s people towards God and His commands. They had forgotten all He had done for them, and as a result had gotten to a place where they were happy with what they were doing, even if it did not please God.
Malachi addresses these issues and speaks God’s Word to the priests and the Israelites. We are still waiting for the day God fulfills His promise to Israel because they did not take heed to God’s Word. They had corrupted their own mind and their worship.
Corrupt Worship
Corrupt Worship
6 “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, ‘How have we despised your name?’
7 By offering polluted food upon my altar. But you say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ By saying that the Lord’s table may be despised.
8 When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favor? says the Lord of hosts.
9 And now entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious to us. With such a gift from your hand, will he show favor to any of you? says the Lord of hosts.
10 Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand.
Let’s set the stage by looking at God’s words in the first 5 verses first.
1 The oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi.
2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you say, “How have you loved us?” “Is not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob
3 but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert.”
4 If Edom says, “We are shattered but we will rebuild the ruins,” the Lord of hosts says, “They may build, but I will tear down, and they will be called ‘the wicked country,’ and ‘the people with whom the Lord is angry forever.’ ”
5 Your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, “Great is the Lord beyond the border of Israel!”
The opening of the book of Malachi is to remind Israel that they are God’s people and that He deeply loves them. But notice the sentence afterwards “How have you loved us”. Malachi is using this as a way to point out Israels fault. They did not see nor did they seek understanding in how God loved and provided for them.
We continue to see the pattern of complacency leading to disobedience, disobedience leading to warnings, warnings being ignored leading to punishment, punishment leading to suffering, suffering leading to repentance, and repentance leading to restoration. The Israelites should have remembered that not nearly 100 years previous they had been released from the judgment of exile because of their sin. God had allowed them to return, rebuild, and be restored. Instead of seeing God’s divine hand in this, they again went into the cycle of complacency and disobedience.
Malachi goes from God’s love to their sin. They literally were acting clueless! Notice how he questions them about their approach to worship. A son honors his father, where is my honor? A servant honors their master, where is my fear? The people, and in particular the priest no longer feared God. My goodness, let me repeat that THEY NO LONGER FEARED GOD. Not a fear in the sense of being scared but a fear as in honor, reverence, knowing their position and power. Again Malachi uses the question and answer method. O priests, who despise my name. But you say, ‘how have we despised your name?’
Let me explain it this way. If a child chooses to ignore it’s parents request to do something…is that child showing respect to their parents? NO! God is pointing out that the priests and the people are ignoring His commands and point blank disrespecting Him. Doesn’t the fifth commandment state that children are to honor their parents?
12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
God points out, if the men of God, the priests, ignore God then HOW can the people be expected to follow Him? Unfortunately, they were so far away from God they didn’t even realize just how far away from God they truly were… As a result, they defiled the sacrifice and worship.
Look again:
8 When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favor? says the Lord of hosts.
9 And now entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious to us. With such a gift from your hand, will he show favor to any of you? says the Lord of hosts.
10 Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand.
Why does this matter, that they were sacrificing blind, lame, or sick animals?
21 But if it has any blemish, if it is lame or blind or has any serious blemish whatever, you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord your God.
If we look at the reference to the sacrifice being “without blemish” it was pointing towards and animal that was pure - without sin - that could be presented as a sacrifice FOR the sin of the giver.
20 You shall not offer anything that has a blemish, for it will not be acceptable for you.
Malachi even phrases it in the form of a question to the priests. Is it not evil? Of course, looking at scripture they HAD to answer yes. They brought shame on themselves AND it was not acceptable for the one in whom it was being offered for. He then goes on to further underscore the question - would the governor, the ruler, accept these animals for his banquet table? The answer would have been “of course not”, but… if it was not good enough for the earthly ruler, then HOW could they justify it being “good enough” for their Heavenly Father? He did not, and He would not find these sacrifices acceptable.
I love how Malachi closes this argument with dramatics: Malachi 1:10
“10 Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand.”
For heaven’s sake, just shut the doors to the temple if that’s the way you are going to act. It’s useless to even light the fires on the altar if you’re going to be this clueless. God is not pleased and would not accept the sacrifices as long as they continued to make a mockery out of the process and defile the offering. Why?
Why? Because, That’s Why.
Why? Because, That’s Why.
11 For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts.
For can also be be translated as “because” - and this next verse explains why God would not accept their offerings. However, Malachi points towards a future time “from the rising of the sun to the setting” that every place will worship Him. Thinking about this, it puts into perspective what was happening and how it was replaced. The sacrifice could only be offered in Jerusalem, and they had defiled the process. But there was COMING a day when that would change. When Jesus came to this earth, He left us with the Holy Spirit - and if we accept Him as our personal Savior then His name will be lifted and will be great among ALL nations, not just Jerusalem. This refers to the worship of the Gentiles!
But I want to challenge you with this question, what is different among the attitude towards worship of the Israelite believers (corrupt, complacent, unacceptable) and the attitude towards worship of Christians in the United States today? Have we become complacent in our worship? Do we give God our second best? Are we just as guilty of defiling worship as the Israelites were…and is God any more pleased with us that He was with them? I would submit to you that our complacency is worse, because we are able to see the scripture in full context, know the sacrifices made for us on Calvary, and we still yawn.
Change Needed Now
Change Needed Now
12 But you profane it when you say that the Lord’s table is polluted, and its fruit, that is, its food may be despised.
13 But you say, ‘What a weariness this is,’ and you snort at it, says the Lord of hosts. You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering! Shall I accept that from your hand? says the Lord.
14 Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. For I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations.
Malachi points out that, the attitudes that prevailed among the priests and the believer profaned God’s name. When we profane the name of God, then our actions are condemned. Here their attitude is put into check. They knew what they were doing was wrong, but they were too lazy to make things right. They were just going along with the actions. They continued to worship lazily, and God continued to reject their worship and their sacrifice.
When we accept Christ as our personal Savior, we make a vow that we understand we are a sinner, that only He can forgive our sins, and that we will turn from our sinful attitudes and actions and follow Him. In the Old Testament, if a person made a vow, they were required to do it. Moses had given the priests specific instructions of what animals were acceptable for payment of vows. To vow to give an acceptable animal for sacrifice and then to bring a blemished animal was wrong. Furthermore, if one would not try to cheat the earthly king or ruler out of fear of punishment, WHAT would be the rationale for cheating the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords? And as I close I again will ask this question, are we cheating God by giving Him our second best?
Closing
Closing
Church, this can be a dangerous place in life for a man or woman of God to be. If we ever think we are doing enough or have done enough and God will just have to like it, we are in trouble. We should all be seeking to worship God in the way He wants us to worship. Follow Him in the way He wants us to follow Him. Serve Him in the way He wants us to serve Him. You see, Christianity and service to God is not a sentence, but a privilege and an honor.
400 years of divine silence passed because of this attitude among the Israelites. It makes me wonder if we are not experiencing divine silence now because of the same attitude in churches across the United States. It is time we look closely at our attitude of worship, our approach to God, and weigh our worship with what He expects from us.
If it measures up, great! I congratulate you on your relationship with your Savior and can say He is pleased with you too. But, we have to be careful WHO we measure ourselves against.
12 Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding.
We cannot measure ourselves against our standards, but against God’s. Are we truly giving God our best? Or are we satisfied with giving Him our second best?