Does it matter how I worship

Intro

a couple of days ago I bought a book to read. I was looking to grow and love my wife better. and in the introduction The author recorded an argument between He and His wife. where his wife said to him a statement that rocked his world and sent him on a path of repentance and instruction.

and that was: You are being so selfish.

That cut my heart just reading it.

because it was not unlike an arguement that me and Lizet have had where indeed I was selfish. at that pronouncement I because very aware of my own selfishness and how it was affecting y marriage with someone I love so ferociously.

How could I have treated her this way?

I was grateful for her calling me out, and I was grateful that I wasn't the only one. and because of God’s word tonight I hope that you feel confronted too. but I also hope are grateful as well.

Background

if you’re just joining us, we have started a series in the last book of Old Testament. which is the book of Malachi.

just a quick moment of recap:

Malachi is the last prophetic word given to the Israelites before the intertestamental period. that was a period of about 400 years of silence.

not a single spoken word from God for 430 years. and it wouldn’t be broken until John the Baptist starts preaching and baptizing in the wilderness.

and its not as if we’re putting extra importance on the book of Malachi. it’s as equally inspired as the rest of the 66.

However, I do believe “last words are important” and the last word that God gives to Israel is a message about their worship.

specifically, God is calling them to return to true worship. The overall theme is that God is calling his people to return to covenant fidelity. instead of their religious hypocrisy.

Just like a courtroom, as the charges are read off, God reads off six disputations, or six charges against How and in what manner the Israelites, and the priests, are worshipping Him.

The first charge was that the Israelites looked at their circumstances and doubted God’s love for them.

the second charge, which we only covered about half in chapter 1, is that the priests have betrayed God by letting polluted sacrifices be offered as an offering

in Chapter 2, we will finish the second disputation, and also cover the third.

we will look at the series title again and ask “Does it matter how I worship? “

and we will see, yes it does because a betrayal of God in worship leads to also betraying of what God loves.

and our main point that I want us to see is that:

Selfishness corrupts the covenants of God. He alone wants your heart. Read the text

Continuation of the 2nd Charge

Covenant in Chaos

Do you remember my very first sermon here on a Wednesday night?

we covered the first chapter of Nahum and before we did, I gave you 4 categories that are in the major and the minor prophets. Indictment, judgement, instruction, and aftermath. even with the different writing style of Malachi, these categories are still helpful

because the first thing we see is instruction, and judgement of the priests

God asks them to return even though he knows their hearts and their wills, He still tells them return to me.

But I want you to see the three areas of the curse

I rebuke your offspring

so that this line of people that thinks it’s ok to profane God in worship and get away with it is over.

spreads refuse on faces

be carried away with their offerings

When you slaughter an animal, there is still dung in its bowls that gets released.

If the priests were doing their jobs correctly, this kind of thing is discarded and thrown away outside the temple.

with these three in mind, I also want you to see three areas of the covenant

Malachi 2:5–9 “My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name. True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. But you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts, and so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but show partiality in your instruction.””

the covenant of Levi was one of peace and uprightness

it was a covenant of fear and awe

and it was one that had true instruction, and guarded knowledge.

What the priests are doing are living out a sick and twisted, reversal of the covenant.

And God says this is what you’re supposed to be. and this is what you are. you may think this is harsh but This is an example of what a good judge does. they judge rightly based upon their crime

and he says if you don’t change I’m going to bring your selfishness to light so that whats hidden on the inside is now visible on the outside.

effectively it’s already visible on the outside because of the next charge that God reads off.

which is disputation 3

a Covenant Seen Carelessly

Malachi 2:10–16 (ESV)

Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers? Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendant of the man who does this, who brings an offering to the Lord of hosts!

Judah, in this sense the people left in the land, are marrying spouses that worship pagan Gods.

does this sound familiar? It’s essentially the same thing that Israel at least in part as to why they were exiled in the first place! They’re marrying people from other nations.

and it’s not a racial issue. God has worked throughout the old testament to keep his people SPIRITUALLY pure.

And why Does this matter?

Malachi 2:14–15 “But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth.” “But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.”

The same language that’s used in reference to profaning the covenant is used here for the profaning of marriage through divorce and remarriage to unbelievers.

God doesn’t see these issues as separate but directly linked.

Marriage is a creation of God that is holy - set apart for a special purpose in the life of God’s people.

and we’re not talking about the provisions for divorce that the law gives. During this time there arose the practice of divorce for no reason. our culture would call it the no fault divorce.

There’s no wonder God isn’t hearing your prayers and your offerings because you

Application

let’s move into a couple of points of application because this chapter warrants it

Believers are absolutely forbidden to marry unbelievers.

if you are a in a relationship or even engaged to someone and you know they are an unbeliever: run.

Malachi teaches us that your true worship is tied directly to not just your heart but who you are married to.

2 Corinthians 6:14–16 “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

If you are married to an unbeliever please see the seriousness that God places on the covenant of marriage.

1 Peter 3:1–6 ESV

Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct. Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.

But this goes beyond marriage. and really centers back on our worship.

Why are the priests so obsessed with their outward appearance? Why is God going to reveal their sin publically? Why are they upset and are even entertaining the idea that God doesn’t love them or blessing them? It’s because the God they’re truly worshipping is their self.

and it matters how we worship because we cannot worship God and ourselves at the same time.

and that is heart behind the priests, that the heart behind divorce, and that’s the heart behind us as well.

Despite the nature of this indictment there is hope.

We can’t worship God and ourselves but God is so jealous of our worship that He will do everything He can to bring your selfishness to light.

He takes his covenant with Levi seriously enough to send this word to Malachi that the priests might repent and truly return to worship him.

how much more so does God care about his new covenant? Where the blood that was shed for our forgiveness was the blood of His own son?

The reality is that in the same way as he refuses the worship of the priests, God will not share the throne of your heart.

He won’t share it with your spouse.

He won’t share it with a job

He won’t share it with an image or reputation that you have to hold up

he won’t share it with you.

What are you or who are you trying to put on the throne of your life?

it might be the thing that God in his mercy is making you suffer for and rubbing it in your face right now.

and that’s all because in his goodness, in his grace for you, he refuses to accept less that your entire being. your true worship.

Selfishness corrupts the covenants of God. He alone wants your heart.