Worthy Worship-Final

7/26/2025

Alan Bruns / General Adult

Worthy Worship: Malachi’s Second Disputation

Malachi 1:6–2:9

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. 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. 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. 1 “And now, O priests, this command is for you. 2 If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart. 3 Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it. 4 So shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may stand, says the Lord of hosts. 5 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. 6 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. 7 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. 8 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, 9 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.

Opening Prayer

Our gracious God, now we ask that by your Spirit, you would open our minds and hearts to receive your Word. As we come to this portion of Malachi, show us the majesty of your name, the weight of your worth, and the only path to worthy worship found in Jesus Christ. In His name we pray. Amen.

Introduction

Imagine the excitement of returning to your homeland after an 850-mile journey, filled with hope and dreams of a bright future. This was the experience of the Israelites coming back from Babylon, expecting God to restore Israel’s glory.  

Yet, reality fell short of their dreams: the temple was rebuilt, but there was no Davidic king and the Persians remained in power.

Now another generation has gone by, and God had not fulfilled their expectations of a peaceful and prosperous life in a new earthly Kingdom of Israel.

But a more important question was whether they were meeting God’s expectations during times of difficulty.

When our own expectations are unmet and life is filled with trouble, do we turn away from God, or are we drawn closer to Him?

Malachi confronted the Israelites’ spiritual complacency.

As a reminder, Malachi’s message is set out in six disputations—dialogues between God and His people—that reveal how they had forgotten their first love, YHWH.

In each disputation, God presents a charge, the people respond, and God explains further, often followed by a call to repentance or a promise of blessing or judgment.

In the first disputation from last week’s sermon, the people question God’s love for them, and God reaffirms His love for His chosen people.

The second disputation, our focus today, addresses corrupt worship that dishonors God.

The way we honor God in worship reveals how much we value Him. I am going to use Value and Worth as a close synonyms.

To honor means to recognize and affirm God’s worth.

The word “worship” comes from “worth-ship”—to declare someone’s value.

Proper honor leads to proper worship, dishonor results in dishonorable worship.

How do we know if we honor God in worship? What value do we place on Him in our lives?

Value has two components: intrinsic (the inherent worth) and extrinsic (what someone is willing to give to show worth).

For example, the intrinsic worth of a dollar bill—the value of its paper and ink—is less than a cent, but its extrinsic value is set by the government at $1. An old penny’s intrinsic and extrinsic values are similar since its copper content is worth 1-2 cents.

God’s intrinsic value is immeasurable—He is priceless, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe.

But what is the extrinsic worth we ascribe to God?

Do we value Him like the merchant in Matthew 13, who sold everything for the pearl of great value?

Or are we like the Israelites in Malachi’s time, living as if He has little to no worth to us?

This is called practical atheism: claiming belief in God and going through religious motions but living as though God does not exist.

God demands our whole heart every day, not just attending a Sunday worship service.

We will consider three truths from this passage in Malachi.

1.God Demands Honor in Worship

2.God holds spiritual leaders accountable

3. Worthy Worship is only possible through Jesus Christ.

Point 1. God Demands Honor in Worship (Malachi 1:6–14)

Imagine a child who is constantly disrespectful and doesn't honor their parents. How does that make the parents feel?

Now, reflect about on God’s response when we don't honor Him.

Malachi 1:6

6“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor?”

The people did not honor God—They did not give him the glory, respect, or high value due Him.

WCF SC 1. What is the chief end of man. To glorify (or honor) God and enjoy him forever.

In this verse, God appeals to the basic human relationships between a father and son, and a master and servant.

IThe 5th Commandment

Exodus 20:12

12“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

Children are called to honor parents.

God asks, If I am your father where is my honor?  

Isaiah 64:8

8But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.

If we are called to honor our father and mother, we must also honor God, our ultimate creator and heavenly father even more.

Malachi 1:6

6b“And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts to you...”

The Scripture presents God’s people as the Lord’s servant and he is to be feared.

Isaiah 49:3

3And he said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”

Isaiah 8:13

13But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear and let him be your dread.

What does it mean to fear the Lord?

For a covenant child, the fear of God does not mean being terrified of Him; it means having a proper respect and reverence for Him, a reverence that leads to worship and obedience.  

Micheal Reeves states in an article called Fear: An Indicator of the Heart.

“Now is a good time to ask yourself what things you fear. Our fears are highly revealing. What your fears show is what you really love. We fear our children getting hurt because we love them. We fear losing our jobs because of losing the security and identity our jobs give us. We fear rejection, becauase we love approval.

Which do you fear more. God or people? Being a sinner or being exposed as a sinner before others.”

But instead of reverence and fear, God received contempt.

Malachi 1:6–7ESV

6b“‘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.

Polluted means unholy. The priests and people offered unholy defective sacrifices to a holy God.

Polluted Worship reveals an underlying polluted Heart

Malachi 1:13

13b You bring what has been taken by violence (Stolen) or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering! Shall I accept that from your hand? says the Lord.

Now God was not adding new requirements to his Covenant people but reminding them of the original Mosaic Covenant established at Mount Sinai after God redeemed them from slavery.

Leviticus 22:19,20,22

It states that a sacrifice

19…shall be a male without blemish, of the bulls or the sheep or the goats. 20 You shall not offer anything that has a blemish, for it will not be acceptable for you…22 Animals blind or disabled or mutilated or having a discharge or an itch or scabs you shall not offer to the Lord or give them to the Lord as a food offering on the altar.

God deserved their best—yet his people gave him a defective sacrifice with no value.

The people knew they were wrong, and their excuse was:

Malachi 1:13

13a, ‘What a weariness this is,’ and you snort at it, says the Lord of hosts.

Their offerings exposed a deep spiritual apathy towards God.

They gave God what they would never dare present to a human governor as noted in 1:8

Suppose you had a beautiful vase in your home that was accidentally knocked of the end table resulting in a large chip. The value would diminish considerable.

If you decided to give the blemished vase to your employer as a Christmas gift. Would you employer feel respected and honored?

Similarly, God deserves our best offerings.

God values sincere and genuine worship over mere external rituals. When our offerings and worship are polluted or insincere, they reflect a deeper issue within our hearts and our relationship with God.

It's a call to introspection to ensure that our worship truly honors and glorifies Him.

Malachi 1:10, 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.

God would rather see the temple shut down than receive insincere worship.  

Worship without heartfelt devotion that does not reflect God's worth is offensive to Him.

Malachi then moves from speaking of sacrifices in general to discussing the payment of vows. Making a vow to the Lord was not mandatory, but if a person did so he was required to pay it

Malachi 1:14

14Cursed 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.

The cheat is the person who promises to do something and fails to do it.

Certainly, no one would try to cheat a king or governor, for fear of being reprimanded and punished.

Nor should one try to cheat the great King, the One whose name is to be feared among the nations.

Let us look now at

Malachi 1:11

11For 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.

This eschatological view is expressed throughout the OT.

Psalm 22:27-28 "All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations."

This prophetic message promises that in the future His name will be great among all nations—true worship and honor for God will come from everywhere.

In a later verse,

Malachi 3:1

1“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.

This prophecy points to the ultimate fulfillment in Jesus, the God in man who personally came to earth, lived, died and was resurrected and will someday return again. 

Poit 2. God Holds Spiritual Leaders Accountable for worthy worship (Malachi 2:1–9)

Consider a coach who ignores the rules of the game—how does that affect a team’ performance?

Similarly, when spiritual leaders fail to honor God, it harms the congregation.

Malachi 2:2ESV

2If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them because you do not lay it to heart.

Their job description is in

Leviticus 10:10–11

10You are to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean, 11 and you are to teach the people of Israel all the statutes that the Lord has spoken to them by Moses.”

The priests had instead become an obstacle to worthy worship.

Spiritual leaders are to held to a higher standard.

Those who lead God’s people must uphold the purity of worship and teach the covenant faithfully.

This admonition does change for those ordained spiritual leaders in the NT.

Preaching elders, Teaching elders, deacons and all who teach, or lead must take these words seriously.

James 3:1

1Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

God gives a graphic warning to his spiritual leaders,  

Malachi 2:3

3Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it.

Malachi 2:9b

9and so I make you despised and abased before all the people,

This is the most graphic image in all of Malachi.

Like a hunter dressing the deer in the field,  the priest was tasked in removing and discarding the internal organs of digestion with the feces.   This part of the animal was unclean literally and spiritually.

 God viewed the whole unholy sacrifices offered by the priest as dung.

And because the priest allowed the people to offer unholy sacrifices that shame him, they too would be publicly shamed and made unholy by having dung spread on their faces.

This would make them ritually unclean so that they could not perform their duties.

C. The Example of Levi

Malachi 2:5

My covenant with (Levi) 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.

The ideal priest, the prototypical Levi, was faithful.  

 Malachi 2:6–8

6True instruction (Torah) 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. 7For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction (Torah) from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. 8 But you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction (Torah). You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts,

Side note: The word Torah is often thought of as just the 5 books of Moses, but has a deeper meaning of personal and guided instructions about the ways of God.

By contrast, the current priests had turned many to sin and corrupted the covenant.

Malachi 2:9 ESV

9 … inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but show partiality in your instruction (Torah).”

God requires reverence, honor and truth in all spiritual leaders. God’s Spiritual leaders are the gatekeepers to ensure our worship remains holy.

Matthew Henry said, “Nothing profanes the name of God more than the misconduct of those whose business it is to do honor to it.”

3. Worthy Worship Is Only Possible Through Jesus Christ

Picture a person who sacrifices everything they have to help another.

How does that reflect their love and devotion? 

In the same way, Jesus sacrificed everything for us.

Hebrews 10:11–18 ESV

11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. 15 And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, 16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,” 17 then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” 18 Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

Unlike the priests of Malachi’s day, Christ fulfilled the entire sacrificial system as a pure and perfect sacrifice and now intercedes as a high priest for his people. In Christ our sins will be remembered no more.

In Christ the sacrificial work is complete, but what is to be our response?

Romans 12:1

1I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

If we are in Christ, our bodies, thoughts, finances, relationships are to be laid before God as a holy offering.

Hebrews 13:15–17 ESV

15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. The next verse in this passage reminds us thats God has blessed his Church with spiritual leaders and we are called to encourage our Paster. 17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

In Christ we can draw near to God and Worship with confidence.

Conclusion: What Is God Worth to You?

Just like Israel, we are tempted to bring God our figurative crumbs—what is left over from our time, energy, and resources.

But Christ is the great King whose name is to be feared among the nations and deserves our best.

Revelation 5:12 reminds us that,

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”

Our worship on our own will never be worthy, but we are found acceptable to God through His grace and by faith in Jesus..

Let us then worship not out of obligation, but in reverence and joy—because Jesus, who is called the Christ, Messiah, and Anointed one, is the great King is worthy of our best. 

Final Prayer

Lord, forgive us for every careless act of worship. Forgive us when we treat you lightly. Restore in us a holy fear and joyful love for your name. Let our lives be worthy offerings—not because of what we bring, but because of what Christ has done. May His name be great among the nations—and in our hearts. Amen.