How To Dishonor God

Intro.

It’s been a couple of weeks since we sat together in Malachi.

About when was Malachi prophesying?

100 years after return from Babylon

What kind of prophecy is this?

“Burden” — talk of judgment and repentance

What was Israel’s question to God? His answer?

Mal. 1.2-3

What did we say it meant that God “hated Esau”?

Would not give favor to the nation of Edom for their iniquity, they were eternally judged and never to return while Judah (Jacob) was restored.

To what end would God show Judah His judgment on Edom?

That they would know God is mighty in all places of the world, and to be praised in all places.

Mal. 1.5.

Our Text this evening is now the next 5 verses: Mal. 1.6-10

Malachi 1:6–10 CSB

6 “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is your fear of me? says the Lord of Armies to you priests, who despise my name.” Yet you ask, “How have we despised your name?” 7 “By presenting defiled food on my altar.” “How have we defiled you?” you ask. When you say, “The Lord’s table is contemptible.” 8 “When you present a blind animal for sacrifice, is it not wrong? And when you present a lame or sick animal, is it not wrong? Bring it to your governor! Would he be pleased with you or show you favor?” asks the Lord of Armies. 9 “And now plead for God’s favor. Will he be gracious to us? Since this has come from your hands, will he show any of you favor?” asks the Lord of Armies. 10 “I wish one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would no longer kindle a useless fire on my altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord of Armies, “and I will accept no offering from your hands.

Despised by Priests

Father, Master

Notice this next question by our God, and also the recipients of this question.

Malachi 1:6 CSB

6 “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is your fear of me? says the Lord of Armies to you priests, who despise my name.” Yet you ask, “How have we despised your name?”

God identifies Himself here as both a father and a master to His people. Yet, He is not receiving from them the honor which is due Him.

But it isn’t the general public who is not honoring Him — it was the priests!!!

What were the priests supposed to do?

They vicariously represent the People to God and offer sacrifices as well as instruct the people

Leviticus 10:8–10 CSB

8 The Lord spoke to Aaron: 9 “You and your sons are not to drink wine or beer when you enter the tent of meeting, or else you will die; this is a permanent statute throughout your generations. 10 You must distinguish between the holy and the common, and the clean and the unclean,

2 Chronicles 17:7–9 CSB

7 In the third year of his reign, Jehoshaphat sent his officials—Ben-hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah—to teach in the cities of Judah. 8 The Levites with them were Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tob-adonijah; the priests, Elishama and Jehoram, were with these Levites. 9 They taught throughout Judah, having the book of the Lord’s instruction with them. They went throughout the towns of Judah and taught the people.

Malachi 2:7 CSB

7 For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should desire instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the Lord of Armies.

You’ll perhaps also remember that one of the basic functions of our Christian priesthood is to teach about the things of God!

The priests of this time in Israel’s history had come to think of God with very little regard.

How?

How does God say they had despised His name?

Malachi 1:7 CSB

7 “By presenting defiled food on my altar.” “How have we defiled you?” you ask. When you say, “The Lord’s table is contemptible.”

See what low regard these priests, men who are supposed to be holy and virtuous, are the very ones setting an example to disregard the Holy God.

What does “defiled food” mean?

Sacrifices were not up to the standard which God had set up for them!

Malachi 1:8 CSB

8 “When you present a blind animal for sacrifice, is it not wrong? And when you present a lame or sick animal, is it not wrong? Bring it to your governor! Would he be pleased with you or show you favor?” asks the Lord of Armies.

How much care did the priests take in offering to God what He wanted? You might be thinking that it had to also be up to the People, since they brought these sacrifices — right? However, the problem is in the fact that the Priests had the say on what they sacrificed, and they refused to correct the behavior of the People. Instead, they elected to off their pathetic and disingenuous sacrifices anyway — to the dishonor of God.

Can you think of a few examples of how God reacted to other people not offering to God correctly?

Uzziah: 2 Chron. 26.16-23.

Saul: 1 Sam. 13.

Nadab and Abihu: Lev. 10.

So we see that God is very serious about what He wants from His covenant people. That includes us, right?

If the priests were guilty of offering faulty sacrifices to God by holding a low view of Him, how might we fall into the same sin today?

Half hearted worship

Self-centered religion

Irreverence in speech and deed

Living in the flesh while claiming Christ

Give That to the Governor!

God’s challenge to them is striking: Give these sacrifices to your governor and see if even he would accept you!

Would the offerings we give be acceptable even to men? This is something that the people of God must wrestle with — if we are not giving to God what is the absolute best we can in attitude and affection and speech and deed, we need to reexamine ourselves and repent. Malachi calls the priests to repent in v. 9, saying they must plead for God’s favor, even though they don’t deserve it.

Give to God what is due Him — including a proper view of Who He is. Low views of God are unacceptable

Shut the Door!

Now for what God thinks about this: Mal. 1.10

Malachi 1:10 CSB

10 “I wish one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would no longer kindle a useless fire on my altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord of Armies, “and I will accept no offering from your hands.

Can you imagine God being so upset that He no longer wants to be offered any sacrifices at all? “Shut the door,” He says, “and no longer kindle useless fire on My altar!!”

Why was their altar fire “useless”?

Because it was not to the honor of God, and the heart behind it was wicked.

How would you feel if God told us that He was so sickened by our flippant, impure sacrifices, that He no longer wanted them?

Yet, how often to Christians come to church, smile for the assembly, sing, sit quietly, then go home again completely unaffected by presence and worship and Word of God?

Conclusion

Here again, I make no accusations on anyone. I cannot know the true reality of your heart, nor you mine. It is up to each of us to be vulnerable to the truth and honest enough with God and ourselves to say whether or not the way we give sacrifices to God is up to snuff.

Remember the lesson from a couple Sundays ago: the spiritual sacrifices we offer as God’s priests?

Song

Prayer

Generosity with one another

Our whole selves and all of life as an offering to Him

I only want to leave us with a question, to challenge us and push us to grow:

Are our hearts and attitudes towards God and His commands acceptable as we offer to Him?