Honoring the Name of the LORD

The Charge: The Israelites were Despising the Name of the LORD

In this second section of the book, the prophet’s theme is Reverence for the name of the LORD. He begins by discussing two types of relationships which involve honor and respect, that of a parent and a master. The people readily understand that a child is to honor his father, and that a servant is to honor his master. (v. 6a). The LORD then reminds the people that He is their Father and their Master, but that the Reverence He is entitled to and deserves is missing.

As Malachi levels this charge of despising God’s Holy Name, the people are indignant. They do not accept this charge. Even though they respond with a question instead of outright denial, they don’t accept the charge. They don’t really believe they are guilty. So they ask “How” they have despised the Name.

The prophet takes steps to reveal their guilt:

The people despised God’s Name through polluted worship (Malachi 8a)

These people were the covenant people of the LORD. These were the ones who had God’s law and knew His commandments. The Law governed all aspects of their lives, and their weeks and months were patterned after the sacrifices and feasts of the LORD. 21st century believers who read through Leviticus are often left puzzled and confused, but these folks knew the Law very well.

Leviticus 22:19–22 ESV

if it is to be accepted for you it shall be a male without blemish, of the bulls or the sheep or the goats. You shall not offer anything that has a blemish, for it will not be acceptable for you. And when anyone offers a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering from the herd or from the flock, to be accepted it must be perfect; there shall be no blemish in it. 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.

The knew

When the Law was repeated before the People entered the Promised Land Moses repeated this requirement and even added that a sacrifice with blemish or defect was actually “an abomination to the LORD your God” (Deut 17:1)

The people despised God’s Name by showing a preference to the secular over the sacred (Malachi 8b)

Even though the Israelites were back in their own land, they were still a subject people. The Persians were the world power at this point in history, and the Israelite’s were under the rule of a Governor. The prophet points out that they weren’t giving the same inferior quality of tribute to their earthly Governor.

Malachi is calling them out. He is calling them hypocrites. They were showing preference to the earthly power at the expense of the Heavenly power. They certainly weren’t giving the Governor blind and mangy culls, nor were they presenting him rotten grain. In essence, they were showing the Governor the Reverence that should have gone to the LORD

The people despised God’s Name by failing to honor Him before the world (Malachi 1:11)

The Israelites were failing in their role as being showcases for God’s glory. They were not honoring His Name to their neighbors. God’s plan was for the world to know Him in His fullness and His power. They had already been told this, but He tells them again: “My Name will be great among the nations.”

Because God made this declaration it was going to take place. God desired for them to have part in revealing His glory to the world through their love and obedience. Instead, the Israelites were treating the LORD God of Hosts like He was any other household god (little “g”).

Summary of the Charges:

Malachi demonstrated that the Israelites were in fact guilty of despising His great name. The were in direct violation of the sacrificial requirements by offering polluted offerings; they were preferring the secular over the sacred, and they were failing to honor God before the watching world.

Can the same charges be made against us as Christ-followers in the 21st century?

When the charge is directed towards us, do we come out any better than these Israelites? Do we bring “polluted offerings” to the Lord, do we favor the secular over the sacred? Do we fail to honor God’s Name to the lost world around us?

Bringing “polluted” offerings to God

Explanation: Let’s start by discussing whether modern believers can even be guilty of this first charge. The Israelites were living under the Law; we are living under Grace. Paul declared the Christians at Rome that they were no longer “under law but under grace” (). so, does this even apply to us?

The short answer is NO in the literal sense. Modern believers are not required to bring sacrifices to the Temple because Christ entered in to the Holy of Holies on our behalf and paid our sin debt. Through His own precious blood, and without being even touched by the blemish of sin, Jesus secured our Eternal Redemption on the Cross (). At the death of Christ, the veil of the Temple was split in half from the top to the bottom which signified that He had opened a way for sinful man to approach a Holy God.

Before we consider ourselves good on this first charge, let’s look at why God set up the sacrificial system in the first place. Even though God knew that the blood of animals would never satisfy His holy wrath against sin, He still required sacrifice - and He required that the sacrifices be without blemish.

The veil of the Temple was split in half from the top to the bottom

The act of bringing one of your own animals, one of your best animals, to the altar and watching it be killed on your behalf was a vivid reminder of the cost of sin. Bringing your best, and not the mangy cull, was an act of faith - If I give God my best, will He provide for me without it? Bringing the best was an act of worship - it showed that God is worthy of our best

Argument: We are not under the law and we are not required to bring specific animal sacrifices, but we are told to “present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy acceptable to God, which is your reasonable act of worship” (). Under grace, WE are the sacrifice and we are to present OUR best selves to God in worship.

Application: so what does “polluted” worship look like in our lives:

We offer polluted worship by attending God’s house only when we don’t have anything better to do

We offer polluted worship when we come with a “do I have to go to Church today? instead of a “wow, I have the privilege of attending worship today!”

We offer polluted worship when we come with a “do I have to go to Church today? instead of a “wow, I have the privilege of attending worship today!”

We offer polluted worship by physically being here, but not paying a lick of attention to what is going on.

We offer polluted worship by consistently arriving late

We offer polluted worship when we go through the motions instead of engaging in genuine authentic worship

We offer polluted worship when we come to Church on the way to lunch. Worship is just a short stop on the way to the main event

We offer polluted worship when we come in with a “I dare you to bless me” attitude of defiance

If you are guilty of bringing “polluted” worship to the LORD you can repent. Ask God to restore to you the joy of your salvation. Look to worship as a privilege, not a dull obligation, prepare your heart for public worship through private worship throughout the week.

Honoring the secular over the Sacred

Ways we fail to honor God’s Name

Ways we honor the secular over the Sacred

The issue of preferring the secular over the sacred involves the amount of time we devote to each category. Now it is obvious that some of our time is scheduled for us, and doesn’t involve a choice. Most of us have jobs, and jobs are good. We need to have jobs to provide for our families. Most jobs (not all), have set times for work. Likewise, students who are in school are also subject to unwavering time schedules.

This is a given and God understands these time boundaries. And He expects His people to follow them. Believers should be on time for work and for class. Believers should be model employees and prepared students. We should stand out in our categories because of our faith.

The preference shows up by the value we place on these necessary things. Yes, we need jobs, but we aren’t to live and breathe work and be “workaholics.” If you have a job that Requires you to work 80 hours a week, involves neglect your family, and prevents you from being in worship on a regular basis, you may want to consider another job. If you work yourself into a heart attack, your company isn’t going to stop - it will just replace you and keep going. Don’t believe that you have to give your all to climb the ladder. If you do, when you get to the top you may find you have been climbing the wrong building.

While “workaholics” do exist, the area that most likely highlights the modern Christian tendency to favor the secular over the sacred is that of recreation. Whether golf, softball, dirt bikes, camping, or basketball, recreation has shown itself to be the god that a lot of moderns worship. In and of themselves there is nothing inherently wrong with any of these pursuits. The issue for us is the importance and the time we devote to them.

We need jobs, and jobs are good. Nothing wrong with having a job. And Believers should be good employees; we are to have integrity and we are to be hard workers. Being a good worker includes coming to work every day, getting their on time, and doing

Application: A biblical principle is that we reap what we sow. Do not be surprised when your older teens / young adults quit coming to church altogether whey they get to choose. After all, the pattern that is set by many Christian parents today is that ball is more important than being in God’s House. When parent’s consistently model worship as a low priority it is a form of polluted worship.

Failing to Honor God’s Name to the World

The prophet proclaimed a powerful truth when he declared the promise of God whereby God stated, “My Name will be great among the nations” (v. 11). This is a future promise from God and it will come to pass. In the NT, this truth is emphasized again when the Apostle Paul writes that “at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and one earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, the the Glory of God the Father” ().

We are consistently late

We can’t even focus on worship for 1 hour - we have to get up and go in and out

This is a future reality and it will come to pass. The question that applies to us is this: How are we doing in bringing glory to His Name right now? Yes, because God is Sovereign, this future Glory will take place. But we have been given a mission to shine for His glory NOW.

This is the crucial part of everyday worship. When we limit worship to what we do here in this room from 11 to 12 on Sundays, we fail to Honor God’s Name before the world. God would have us to live all of our days to His glory; all of the week is His, not just Sunday!

The current world system is seeking to limit our “God talk” to only what we do in the walls of our Church buildings. The world system pressures us to avoid public discussions of Jesus, but if we are going to meet the approval of Him who called us out of darkness we should boldly and unashamedly live to make the Name of Jesus known.

As we bring this message to a close I want you to imagine what it would be like if all gathered in this place were to offer God only pure worship. What might that look like in our congregation? Can you imagine the results if we stopped “playing church” and became the Church? I think the results would be staggering! I believe that the One who “is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think” () would shower His grace among us and we would be amazed at what a great God we serve!

For those among us who belong to Christ: Be Honest with God because He already knows the motivations of your heart. If you have drifted in your worship, own it and repent of the sin of bringing polluted worship to a Holy God. Our tendency is to justify our actions and rationalize the very legitimate reasons we have for allowing Worship to be such a low priority. God is not fooled, nor is He deceived. Resist the tendency to justify yourself and surrender to God that which you owe Him.

There may also be some present who do not know Jesus in His fulness. You may know about Jesus, but you have never repented of the sin of trying to be in control of your own life. If the Holy Spirit is convicting you of the need in your life to repent and surrender to the Lordship of Jesus you can trust Him today.