Less Than Our Best

Intro

Last week we wrapped up our summer series on Philippians. at the end of this month we have a combined service and the first week in September we are starting our next big series which will carry us all the way to advent. So In looking at what to do this week and next I wanted to look at my favorite minor prophet. Malachi.

Malachi is one of those Old Testament books that at first glance you read it and say how could this apply to me as a Christian today. Its all about sacrifices, covenants with Israel, and priests. none of us have ever sacrificed a lamb, none of us are Israelites, and im pretty sure no one here is a priest. So what can we get out of the words of this prophet. The last prophet God sent before 400 years of silence. What was it about what they were doing that caused God to throw his hands up and go silent.

It wasn’t them worshipping other god’s they had been there and done that been exiled because of it. They were too scared of the consequenses to do that again. It was a sin that I believe we can relate to way more than going out and blatantly choosing another God.

This is what the book of Malachi says they were doing. They were giving God their leftovers while acting like they were giving him their best.

The question I want you to consider as we read about the attitude of the nation of Judah is this.

Am I giving God my leftovers?

Malachi 1:6–9 CSB

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

Verse 6 is the most scary verses in the book and one of the most terrifying in the Bible.

Here you have the priests who should have known better. offering lame, sick, and blind animals to God. The God who brought them from slaves to possession of some of the most valuable land on earth.

and for a sacrifice they are giving him the animals that they didn’t want anyway. and in verse 6 they say “how did we defile your name” they had not made the connection that their half hearted leftover sacrifices were an insult to the God they were meant to please.

So the first question we have to ask is: Why do we give God our leftovers? Well, I think Malachi shows us that often, 

1. We Drift

Heres what we need to pay attention to. There is no way the priests went from keeping the perfect standard for sacrifices to taking anything and everything overnight.

It had to have happened a little at a time.

Well Obidiah is bringing his lamb in. Looks like its got a little spot, but I know he’s a good guy God wont mind let it slide, then the next time well that lamb only has one bad leg and three good ones and Jethro comes from a good family so I bet God will accept it.

Well yeah Joshua’s lamb is sick its probably going to die anyway God wouldn’t want its life to go to waste, and Joshua is here every week so Im sure its fine.

Little by little. we can make compromise after compromise as we get more comfortable, and more familiar with God that we forget who it is that we are worshipping and we get complacent. the problem wasn’t that they had stopped worshipping the problem was they had made it casual and convienient.

We were in Tampa a couple years ago visiting my grandparents. and we went to a beach that had paddle boards. I took each kid out cause the water was super calm no waves at all. It was the perfect day for it. when I took Ayla out we went out a ways and then started looking down to see if we could find any fish. we did that for awhile, and I hadn’t looked up. but when I did I finally realized that we had drifted way farther out than I felt comfortable with a four year old on a paddle board.

I didn’t know I had drifted until I look up. Drifting never happens quickly. and in our walk with Christ as we get more familiar with Jesus and how much he loves us we should feel comfortable with him. but if we aren’t careful instead of being comfortable we can become complacent and forget just who it is we are in relationship with. And that is when we drift. Just like these priests in Malachi had drifted.

Malachi 1:10–13 CSB

“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. “My name will be great among the nations, from the rising of the sun to its setting. Incense and pure offerings will be presented in my name in every place because my name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord of Armies. “But you are profaning it when you say, ‘The Lord’s table is defiled, and its product, its food, is contemptible.’ You also say, ‘Look, what a nuisance!’ And you scorn it,” says the Lord of Armies. “You bring stolen, lame, or sick animals. You bring this as an offering! Am I to accept that from your hands?” asks the Lord.

Instead of giving their best to God. They were bringing their leftovers. The problem was not just the quality of the lambs. the problem was the quality of their heart. They were bringing sacrifices not to satisfy God. They were bringing sacrifices to satisfy their own conscious. They wanted to be able to tell themselves they checked the box without actually asking if the sacrifice was doing what it was meant to do. Please God.

So if we can drift without realizing it, the next question is: What happens when we drift? And Malachi shows us that when we drift we settle

2. We Settle.

We settle for giving God what costs us the least.

We agree to serve where its going to be the easiest and take up the least amount of time.

We throw a 5 in the plate so we can say we gave.

We pray with out family before meals so we can say are discipling our family

we come once a month to church so we can say we go.

We read our Bible for five minutes to say we had a quiet time.

and the reason behind all of it is not that we want to get closer to Jesus, its not that we want to please God by being a living sacrifice. it is so we can tell ourselves that we are doing ok.

while what we are actually doing is serving up to God low cost leftovers and then acting shocked when he’s not pleased by it, and we don’t feel his presence during, and we don’t see how he’s moving in our lives.

Well atleast we havent walked away atleast we havent chosen other gods.

In all the time that Israel was chasing after other gods he didnt ask them to shut down the temple.

But look back at verse 10 Malachi 1:10

Malachi 1:10 CSB

“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.

God’s saying be real if you aren’t going to worship sincerely than stop.

stop continuing going through the motions pretending that you are fully committed, while giving me leftovers.

be honest with yourself and with me, repent so then we can go forward together.

Malachi 1:14 ESV

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.

God reminds Judah and us who he is and why is worthy of total devotion.

Why should we give God our Best?

3. He Deserves Our Best

what do we do when we realize that we have drifted and we have settled we remember who’s we are.

Judah had forgotten who’s they were. They had forgotten how big of a deal the being they were in fellowship with Is. And he’s reminding them. I am THE Great King not a great king. I am The Lord of hosts, not a lord of host. and there will be a day when my name and my name alone will be feared among the nations. and you bring me leftovers.

There are lots of people that I feel comfortable enough with that if they came over I would be ok with giving them leftovers. They are friends and family and I wouldn’t feel bad about serving them some reheated pasta out of the microwave. but there are just certain people that serving them left overs would embaress me. If I was hosting a president, a king, even one of my favorite athletes like Luka Doncic. People who are used to eating. really well. If I knew a head of time they were coming and instead of going out and getting the best steaks food city had to offer. I pulled out the kids left over kraft mac and cheese. That would be an embarressment based on who it is that I was hosting. They would deserve the best meal I could make. They would deserve my best.

and yet I look at my life and I think about God THE great King, The Lord of hosts, the one every nation will fear and bow down to. and if I am honest there are so many times I offer him left overs.

If the morning goes perfect I’ll give my left over time to God.

If I have no unexpected expense this month, which never happens I will give

If the kids don’t have a game on saturday I will serve.

If the movie ends early enough we will pray and have a devotion as a family before bed.

Are you giving God your leftovers? are spending all your time, all your money, all your social battery on other things and whatever is left in the fridge that you were probably going to throw out anyway you say God i guess you can have that. Aren’t you proud of me?

That’s what Judah was doing and through Malachi God had to tell them, did you forget who I am? He said in verse 8 you wouldn’t give your governor what you give me? you know it wouldn’t impress him and you expect to impress the one who made the governor?

God is not interested in your leftovers, he expects whole hearted devotion and he deserves it based soley on who he is.

But then you get to what he has done. and we know he deserves it even more.

Because THE Great King, THE Lord of hosts, THE one that every nation will bow down to.

he saw us, he saw you in desperate need. He saw you dead in your sin. meaning you had chosen to live the opposite way that God commanded and your own choice had given you an incurable disease. that nothing on earth could cure.

The Great King looked down and he didn’t offer us leftovers to ease our pain. He gave us his best. His one and only Son, the only thing that could cure the disease we chose for our self.

He gave us Jesus. Before we even knew we needed a cure. He gave us Jesus, so we could be cured. and not only cured but be brought into the family of the king.

A king like that deserves so much more than leftovers.

I ask you again to look at your life and answer the question. Are you giving God your leftovers?

I want to be clear about something we can never bring a good enough sacrifice to God to earn our salvation. The cure for the disease of sin can only be paid for by the perfect sacrifice that God gave us in Jesus’ death and resurrection. We bring imperfect offerings, but Jesus became the perfect sacrifice we could never offer.If you have never recieved it this morning that is what you must do. not try harder to be better. That will get you nowhere.but he can be your perfect sacrifice to cure you of the disease of sin once and for all.

but for those of us who have the cure through the perfect sacrifice of Jesus. We are called to a life of total devotion to him. not a life of giving him leftovers.

Conclusion

this is a two part series next week will talk about what it looks like to return to God.

But today my prayer is that you get the wake up call that

Malachi was trying to give to the nation of Judah.

That your eyes have been opened where you have been giving leftovers without realize it.

Because The greatest danger isn't outright rebellion—it is slowly giving God less than He deserves while convincing ourselves everything is fine."

Look up this morning and realize how far you have drifted.

Wake up and stop pretending that you are all in with Jesus when everything else gets your best and God gets leftovers.

He is THE great King, He is the Lord of Hosts, he is THE one the nations will bow to. He is THE way, He is THE Truth, He is THE LIFE.

He is worthy of all praise, all honor , all glory, he is worthy of your best. because he gave you his best.

Are you giving your best this morning or just whatever you have left over.

The invitation is clear this morning.

If you have never given your life to Christ. and you have just been bringing blemished sacrifices after blemished sacrifices wondering when it will be enough. It will never be enough. thats why you need Jesus. come and accept the sacrifice of Jesus this morning let him wash you clean and give your full devotion to him .

If you are here today and you are a believer but your eyes have been oppened this morning, like they were for me in my study time this week. that I may not be in outright rebellion but I have certainly drifted without realize it. There are so many areas I have not been fully devoted and God has been getting my leftovers.

I know that’s been true of me I ask you one more time. Have you been giving THE High King, The Lord of Hosts, THE one the nations will bow to, THE way, THE Truth, and THE Life. your left overs?

If the answer is yes come down and confess it to Jesus. Don’t wait. you can’t come back until you realize that you have drifted. Confess it to the Lord this morning.