Worship That Honors the Lord

Introduction

Good morning please open in your Bibles to Malachi chapter 1:6-14. That is Malachi chapter 1:6-14. If you are using one of the Bibles scattered throughout the chairs the passage is on page 753, that is page 753 as we look at Malachi chapter 1 verses 6-14.

Happy Labor Day weekend! We are glad you chose to spend this time with us. Next week marks the beginning of something new at RHC. Next week will be launching our Equip hour at 9:00 am before the worship service. We will have classes for children who are Nursery aged to 5th grade in the kids rooms across the hall, and an adult class happening here in the gym. It will be beneficial for everyone that comes as we learn how to read the Bible and see Jesus in every text. I have completed lesson one and I am just personally so excited to study this with you all. This change also means we are promoting our 1st graders and up into the worship service. So next Sunday, we will have a brief time of prayer for those promoting up and we will have small gift for them as well. And then those kids will join their parents in the service during our sermon. I know, personally, that can be an intimidating prospect. So, I want to set some expectations for you. It will be bumpy, kids will misbehave, and we will be adjusting to this together. No one will be looking at you and your family as much as you think they will, and if anyone does judge you… that is between them and God. We can do this!

And as we start something new that might require some sacrifice, that might make us anxious, or might make us snort or feel weary we, in God’s providence come to Malachi 1:6-14. As we consider how to worship as a church with our kids we want not just survive the worship service. We want to worship the Lord in a way that honors him. We want to come to our worship services as a church and give God the honor and praise and glory that He is due. Something that the priest and people of Malachi’s day were not doing. In this passage God makes an indictment against the priests and declares that the priests have despised his name? God makes clear that He demands worship that honors Him. Let’s Read Malachi 1:6-14.

God is Dishonored v. 6-8

Malachi 1:6–8 ““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?’ 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. 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.”

v. 6 In these opening verses God compares himself to a father, a master, and a governor. These are all positions held by men who the Israelites were naturally honor. They would know that fathers, masters, and governors deserve honor from their subordinates. Yet, God is receiving less honor than any of the men who would have held these positions of honor. The Lord is asking His people if I am like a Father to you, then were is my honor. Who know to give honor to earthly fathers shouldn’t I have more? I am your master, as my people you should serve me, and yet where is the my fear. God demands respect. The loving and affectionate respect that one gives to a father and a healthy reverential fear that slave would show to a master. He is a good father that deserves love and a just master who is to be respected. J. Gerhard says, “

Haggai, Malachi (1) Indictment against the Priests (1:6)

“The fear of God is to be united with the love of God; for love without fear makes men remiss, and fear without love makes them servile and desperate.

God desires both a loving respect and a reverential awe from his people, but instead the priests despise his name. And they ask, “How have we despised your name?” God explains in verses 7-8 that they despise his name and his altar or table by sacrifices polluted food. He explains that they are sacrificing blind, lame, and sick animals at the altar. He calls this act, evil! They are giving God the animals that they themselves don’t really want. Yet, God’s law commanded that they give the best of their flocks, and that the sacrifce is to be inspected by the priests at the entrance of the temple. Leviticus 1:3 ““If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without blemish. He shall bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the Lord.” The indictment is against the priest, because they are allowing the people to bring in these sub-par sacrifices. Yet, it includes the people because the sacrifices are theirs. This is a prophecy against all of Israel. In calling out the priests, the Lord is looking to begin with them as a means to reform the worship of all of Israel. If the priests disallow polluted sacrifices then their leadership will lead to the edifying of all the people. The priests are guilty because they are not exercising their God given authority to stop people from offering bad sacrifices. Yet, they are not the only ones who are guilty. Everyone who brings a polluted sacrifice will be cursed according to verse 14.

God looks at these despicable sacrifices and asked, would your governor accept this? If you brought this kind of a sacrifice to your governor would he should you favor? Yet, you would bring it to me and look for favor? I am the King of kings and the Lord of Lords over the entire created universe and yet you bring me a sacrifice that would not be fit for a governor of a small territory in the Persian empire? Judah isn’t even a big deal in the earthly kingdom of Persia and yet its governor deserves better than what they are offering God.

Now, before we get to far and start to throw shade at these Israelites we need to have inspective eyes when reading this passage. For the Christian today, we are not sacrificing animals by instead in Romans 12:1 we are told, “I 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.” When you walked into church this morning what kind of living sacrifice did you bring to the Lord’s table? Is the version we get of you on Sunday morning the same version that your Boss gets throughout the week? Did your heart stir with excitement to meet with the heavenly Father like it might if you were going to visit your dad? Did enter this place believing that in this worship service you would encounter royalty?

T/S- Brothers and sisters I cannot see into the condition of your heart, but God can. He demands His honor from His people and He knows when He is not getting it. And He responds to the dishonor we display towards Him in our hearts.

God Responds to Dishonor v.9-10; 12-14a

Malachi 1:9–10 “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. 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.”

These are hard sayings to hear. This is confrontational in an extreme way. God is calling for His priests to shut the doors of the temple if these polluted sacrifices continue. Imagine if I could somehow sense the devotion and zeal of those worshipping at RHC each Sunday morning. I can’t, but just pretend that I could. That I would be able to see where or not we are brining “polluted” sacrifices that is lack luster hearts into the worship of God. And if Kendall was in the middle of singing and I jumped up and yelled for him to stop. I told and the pianists to just quit playing. I looked out into the crowd and just said your honor God with your lips but your hearts are far from Him. This is unacceptable and despicable. I looked to Mark Welch and told him, “Mark go get the trailer, we are done here.” This worship is so despicable to the Lord it would be better for us all to just clean up and go home. That would be alarming, awkward, embarrassing… Imagine if there some kind of undeniable and tangible evidence of your sin like a blind lamb or a sick bull. You knew you were guilty of offering polluted gifts to the Lord and we just, we’re done. That’s what God is calling for here. He saying it would be better for you to just not even show up than to keep offering these sacrifices.

He even takes it a step further when he declares, “I have no pleasure in you.” Could you imagine if God actually said that to you? “I have no pleasure in you.” Have ever given a really bad gift to someone you love. And not because you thought it would be a good one, but because you procrastinated. You didn’t give time and thought into the gift and now the anniversary, the birthday, Christmas is here and you have to tell this person you love… your gift is still in the mail. I waited too long. Or you’ve give someone you really love, like a spouse, something lame like a gift card to Kroger. That’s what you get a co-worker not your lover.

Imagine you mess up the gift, and by accident but because of neglect and you know it. And then that loved looks to you and says, “I have no pleasure in you.” “I no longer love you.” You just clearly do not care about me. Now, this illustration can only be so helpful because your spouse is imperfect. They have failed to get you good gifts, maybe they have been short with you lately. But that is not true in this passage. The loved one is a holy God that has brought His people back from and Exile that deserved by means that did not deserve and now, they are offering to him the blind, sick, and the lame.

Just to stay on theme and to drive this point home we are going to skip to verse 12-14a listen… Malachi 1:12–14 “But you profane it [name, the character of God] when you say that the Lord’s table is polluted, and its fruit, that is, its food may be despised. 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. Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished… God is saying that they profane his name. They take what is holy the name and character of God, and treat it as ordinary. Their worship, their sacrifices are reflections of how they feel about God. They bring stolen, lame, and sick animals to His altar because they do not value Him. They do not believe that God deserves their best, so they bring Him their worst and pollute His table. And when confronted about this they complain.

The priests are being told to turn the bad sacrifices away. Do not let the people bring in their blind, sick, and lame offerings. I demand offerings that are honorable. God is saying, “Defend my honor!” And their response is to say, “What a weariness this is and to they snort at it. Or show contempt toward the Lord and his offerings. Doing what is right is just too hard. So, why even try? They sigh and complained about how tiring right worship is. God declares to those who bring their polluted sacrifces, “Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished….

Don’t even try, take it away, I have no pleasure in you… You are cursed. Have you ever been like these Israelites? Have you ever been asked to serve to offer your body as a living sacrifice and said, “O what a weariness this is…” “I can’t do that Lord, I got too much other stuff going on. The kids… school… work… I just.. and you “snort” or “sniff” at what God is asking you to do. You see sacrifice must hurt in order to be sacrifice… In baseball a homerun is never considered a sacrifice play. Homeruns are great. It is called a sacrifice fly when a batter intentionally hits a long fly ball to the outfield knowing it will get him out, knowing it will hurt his batting average, his personal stats will hurt, but his teammate with score. A man “takes one for the team” not when he hits double and the crowd cheers.. but when he steps into pitch takes a fastball to the ribs just to get on base. Sacrifice hurts.

And yet, when you or I are asked to sacrifice for the Lord. When we are pushed to serve our fellow church members we say “O what weariness this is…” I will be the first admit there have been Sundays when I just look forward to making to my kids nap time… Where all of it seems like too much. When I do not enter into this place of worship with a heart ready to honor my maker. When I come here with a bad attitude, when I am here as a living sacrifice… but if I’m honest by sacrifice is blind, sick, and lame. And the text is clear… what happens to such men… cursed! Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished…

So, what are people like us supposed to do. We do not worship God in the way He deserves, we are cursed. This is the instruction of God’s law, but while the law tells us how to live it cannot give us the power to actually adhere to it. The law can make our sin known, but it cannot change us. But the Gospel can do what the law cannot. You are cursed because of your faulty worship, but listen to what Jesus did for you in the Gospel. Galatians 3:10–14 “For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them. [things like perfect worship] ” Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.” Verses 9-10, 12-14a give us the law of God which cannot live up to. No one is justified before God by the law, but Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming the curse for us, and in Him we can have the blessing of the Abraham.

When God looks on lawbreakers he has no pleasure in them. He tells them to get out of his temple, don’t kindle a fire here, your worship is despicable to me. You look at my righteous requirements of sacrifice, you see the call to live as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God, and you cry out, “O what a weariness this is…” If you are honest you have shown contempt or snorted at God’s desire for worship in your life. Yet, in Christ we are redeemed from our bad worship. We get to take part in the blessing of Abraham. In Christ, God does not say I have no pleasure in you. Instead, he says Zephaniah 3:17 “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.”

T/S- While the law is found in these verses in Malachi the Gospel is as well in verses 11 and 14b.

God Will Be Honored v.11; 14b

Malachi 1:11 “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.” Malachi 1:14 “…. For I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations.”

We deserve to be cursed, but Christ becomes the curse for us. And therefore we get the blessing of Abraham even though we are Gentiles. And what is the blessing of Abraham? In Genesis 12:3 God says to Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”” Through Abraham’s line all of the families, Gentiles included, would be blessed. God blesses us through Christ. We are justified before God and the blessing is the promised Spirit through faith. God, himself, is the blessing. And the blessing of the indwelling Spirit of God is for all of the families of the earth! That is the Gospel promise in Malachi 1:11. That God’s name would be great among the nations and he would be worshiped rightly through pure offerings. Those pure offerings are the bodies, the living sacrifices, of Christians who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit all over the world. He declares in verse 14 that he is a great King, and his name will be feared among the nations. This morning you sit in the middle of a fulfilled prophecy from the 5th century BC. We are a long way from Judah, and here in this place the name of the Lord is praised. You are living sacrifices holy and acceptable before God. Not because of what you have done, but because in Christ that which was polluted has be made clean.

I split the text to take it thematically this morning, but Malachi interweaves the law and gospel. The way the prophet presents these twin truths, that we are unworthy and yet will make his name great among the nations in itself illustrates our experience of worship in this life. You are despicable and worthy at the same time. You and I sin when we complain about the weariness of sacrifice, and yet even while still sinners God’s gospel does its work and changes us. He makes us pure.

The text is organized in such a way the indictment against priests is reversed in the promise of God in verses 11 and 14b. There is a great reversal happening in the text. In verse 6 the priest despise God’s name, but God makes his name great in verse 11, in verse 7 they offer polluted food, in verse 11 there is a pure offering, v. 6 God questions “where is my fear?” in verse 14b God proclaims, “my name will be feared among the nations.”

So are you weary, exasperated, you feel like you don’t have anything else to give? Can admit that there are times you show up to church and just want to go through the motions and get to the couch for nap time as soon as possible? Do you profane what is holy by not considering this singing, praying, and hearing God’s word as a privilege? Do you look at the church and think what do I get out of it? Rather than asking what should I bring to it?

The good news is that in Christ there can be a great reversal in your life just like there is in this text. That in Christ Jesus we can partake in the blessing of Abraham the reception of the promised Spirit through faith. And God’s spirit can empower us to obey.

Conclusion

We can be living sacrifices that are holy and acceptable to God. We can live in a way that is consistent with our status as children of God. We can be the worshipers that God tells of in verses 11 and 14. We can in Christ love God like a heavenly father, fear God as a just master who deserves our reverance, and we can offer sacrifices from a pure heart and conscience which has been cleansed by the blood of Jesus. It is a joy to render unto God the honor that He is due. Let us not look to the sacrifices that God calls us to and see them as wearisome and snort at them. Instead, let us run with endurance this race that has been set before us. Let us see the joy of sacrifice for the glory of God. He is so very worthy of all we have to give Him. Let’s pray.