Giving Our Best
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Greetings…
The book of Malachi is all about reminding the people of Israel who their God is and why they should repent and serve him again.
Ezra, Haggai, Zechariah, and Nehemiah had all spurred the completion of the temple and it was completed in 516 B.C., however, the Israelites had it in their mind the Messiah would come afterwords and this hadn’t happened and not long after the Zechariah’s call for repentance the people had become cold to his words.
Malachi is another call to repentance because…
The priesthood had become corrupt.
Israels worship had become routine.
Divorce had become widespread.
Social justice had been ignored.
Tithing had been neglected.
It’s no wonder God asked in Malachi 3:8, “Will man rob God?”
What had happened to Israel was that they had stopped giving God their best.
When this happens it only takes a moment in time for us to stop giving him our second and third best.
In fact Israel had been giving God their “worse” which is where I want us to focus today.
Notice what God said, through Malachi, to his people.
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.
With this in mind let’s examine our lesson on what it means to “Give Our Best” to our Creator.
To “give our best” we must first understand God’s idea of…
Authentic Faith
Authentic Faith
Two Sides To God’s Love.
Two Sides To God’s Love.
There is no doubt, like with any good biblically sound parent, there are two sides to God’s love for his creation.
There is the tender and gentle side as seen in Malachi 1:2.
2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you say, “How have you loved us?” “Is not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob
There is also the disciplinary side as well.
2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you say, “How have you loved us?” “Is not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob 3 but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert.”
Had Esau and his lineage followed God this wouldn’t be the case but God knew, through his omniscience, that this would not be the case.
It’s this supreme fairness that makes us see the necessity of obedience to…
God The Father.
God The Father.
I say God the father here because our God in the Old Testament often refers to himself, whether talking about the Father, Son, or Spirit, as “father.”
22 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn son,
God also clearly details in the Old and New Testament how parents ought to be respected and honored.
12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise),
This is significant because it points to the necessity of honor and respect which God deserves.
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.
Authentic faith recognizes and understands our God is the Holy One (Job 6:10) and deserves admiration, respect, and honor; after all he is our “LORD of hosts.”
I mention LORD of hosts because God refers to himself that way in seven verses in Malachi chapter one.
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?’
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.
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.
The description “LORD of hosts” describes God has having an army at his whim and as such suggests his authority over all things.
Summary
Summary
Now as Matthew 1:6-7 points out the priests here were corrupt.
They despised God’s name.
That word “despised” here holds the idea of “looking down upon with contempt.”
In other words they so despised their duties that they were no longer taking their responsibilities to the LORD of hosts as important.
The words of Jesus ring out “This people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me” (Matthew 15:8).
If we want to give God our best we must embrace authentic, biblical faith that strives to know God through his word.
This means we must put…
Priority Over Possessions
Priority Over Possessions
Scale From One To Ten.
Scale From One To Ten.
Like many in the church today the Israelites were good at putting their prized possessions ahead of what should have been priority in their lives.
The Israelites knew they were to worship and make sacrifices but on a scale of one to ten with ten being their best or most prized animals they would pick out their worse one and give it.
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.
This of course was the complete opposite of what God desired.
19 if it is to be accepted for you it 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.
21 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. 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.
The reality as God’s children today we can get caught up in giving our worse instead of our best to God as well.
The reality is, when it comes to pleasing God our Father, there are…
Standards For Sacrifice.
Standards For Sacrifice.
In fact there are three standards required to being a living sacrifice for God (Romans 12:1).
First, to give our best to God we must be willing to sacrifice our best i.e. give him our very best.
Israel had been taught by God to go through their flock and find the best, the one without any blemish that would typically be used for breeding, and give that to God.
We see the same principle throughout the New Testament as well and a great illustration of this is Mary of Bethany who wiped Jesus’ feet with that expensive ointment to show here gratitude to her Savior.
Secondly, we must give God our first.
I love Israels joy at giving to God found in 2 Chronicles 31:5.
5 As soon as the command was spread abroad, the people of Israel gave in abundance the firstfruits of grain, wine, oil, honey, and of all the produce of the field. And they brought in abundantly the tithe of everything.
Notice this was the “firstfruits” not the leftovers.
Thirdly, we have to understand giving our best and giving God our firsts in our life will cost us something.
The widow’s offering is a great example of this.
41 And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. 42 And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. 43 And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. 44 For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”
King David also illustrates this idea perfectly.
24 But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
Summary
Summary
When it comes to “giving our best” and being a living sacrifice we must give God our best, give him our firsts, and be willing to count the cost.
Conclusion
Conclusion
If we give our all and best to our God it is only then that we can begin to see a glimmer of the greatness of our God.
God does not need our sacrifice (Malachi 1:10) but does desire it for our lives to be fulfilled in him.
Invitation
1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
