I Don't Want to Go to Church

Don’t raise your hands because I already know the answer.

Are there Sunday mornings when you just don’t want to get up and go to church?

There are, right?

For me I think fall is the worst.

You wake up and it’s so cool.

Everything seems quieter and more still.

And you are always the first one up to get things going.

Everyone else is depending on you to wake them up.

And you think, “what would it hurt, I mean, just for today.”

What if I just slipped out of bed, made me a cup of coffee.

What if I sat down in my chair and covered up with my blanket.

And just sat, and didn’t move and enjoyed the quiet?

But then something nags you.

And you start to think that, it seems like when we don’t go to church, the week is all out of kilter.

My friends would wonder where we are and I’d have to admit I played hookie.

And I’d have to be honest with Hannah, that I wasn’t really sick, I just didn’t want to go to church.

And you know, that’s OK.

We all feel that way every now and then.

The question I’d like for us to consider is this one - is that the way we feel almost every Sunday?

And if it is, how did we get that way?

We’re in the book of Malachi 1:6-2:9, and God is talking to a bunch of folks who have gotten to the point that where they are so worn out, that they kind of think church just doesn’t matter much anymore.

Life for them is hard.

They had expected, since God got them released from exile and brought them home, that life would get easier pretty quickly.

God had blessed them - He was sure to keep blessing them.

And it simply wasn’t happening.

For 70 years they had been working hard, they had their own border crisis with Edom.

And having enough money was hard to come by.

So when it came to their offering at church, they skimped at little bit.

See, part of their church service was sacrificing an animal for their sins.

And God was pretty strict about that animal.

God specifically said about the animal, Deuteronomy 15:21

Deuteronomy 15:21 ESV

But if it has any blemish, if it is lame or blind or has any serious blemish whatever, you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord your God.

In fact, it was supposed to be the firstborn male of the herd and it was supposed to be as perfect an animal as you could find.

Now think about this for a second.

Times are hard, and a perfect animal will either be better breeding stock or will bring a better price on the market.

And did I mention times were hard.

So, little by little - there is no indication any of this happened all at once.

Because life doesn’t happen all at once, does it?

It happens to us little by little.

So, little by little, they brought animals that weren’t exactly perfect.

And the priests probably felt compassion for the people and they got a cut of it as well.

So the priests let it slip by.

And someone saw it when someone else did it, so they tried it to.

And over the course of 70 years, they still sacrificed the animals but really, the sacrifices became a way to cull the bad out of their flock.

But, they were still offering a sacrifice, they expected God to keep blessing them.

He wasn’t amused.

This is what He said: Malachi 1:6-2:9

Malachi 1:6–2:9 ESV

“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. 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. 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. But you profane it 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. For I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations. “And now, O priests, this command is for you. 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. 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. So shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may stand, says the Lord of hosts. 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. 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. 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. 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, 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.”

This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

He wails on priests, doesn’t He?

But, in wailing on the priests, He’s also wailing on the people.

The priests are letting them get away with it, which is a bad thing.

But the people are bringing sacrifices they know they aren’t supposed to bring - so there’s blame to share everywhere.

But there are some questions we need to ask.

Yes, God is aggravated, but why?

Yes, He is not amused by them simply going through the motions.

And we know they are going through the motions.

God quotes them as saying, “What a weariness this is,” and then God says, “and you snort at it.”

You snort at God.

You give a double eye roll and heave a heavy sigh.

Yeah, they were going through the motions.

Going through the motions means so little to God, that He said He wished they’d shut the church down and not waste His time.

But now think, why is God railing at them this way?

Here’s what I want us to see: it’s not that God is so angry for what they are doing that He wants to wipe them off the face of the earth.

It’s that God knows if they keep doing what they are doing, their lives will never get better.

God didn’t design life to run properly without Him being at the center.

It’s not an ego thing - it’s a perfection thing.

If God is perfect, then doesn’t it stand to reason the closer we are to God, the closer we would be to perfection?

If God is right, then doesn’t it make sense that the closer we are to God, the closer we would be to getting it all right?

God is not all over them because He is so angry He wants to annihilate them.

God’s all over them because He sees them like a sick child.

He knows as long as they keep doing what they are doing, they will stay sick.

And the Lord hurts for His people.

He hates what sin has done to those He has chosen.

God doesn’t want us to suffer, especially when it can be avoided.

God doesn’t abandon us.

God doesn’t destroy us.

God doesn’t hide behind every bush to play gotcha and punish us.

But God does call out to us and like a good Father, He disciplines us.

Because, you see, God wants to give us at least 12 things that we can see right here in these verses.

12 things - I couldn’t believe there were that many.

12 good things - that we pray for all the time - that He wants to give us.

He simply wants to make sure that we realize that to have a perfect life, we have to be near the one who is perfect.

Let’s look real fast at those 12 things.

Number one - God wants to show us favor.

In verse 8, God tells them to cook up one of those blind and deformed animals and feed it to the governor and God asks them, “What do you think he would say?”

Every have to go to a business meeting where you knew everyone was wearing business dress attire?

Ladies and gentlemen in appropriate business suits and you’ve got to make a presentation to them.

Did you show up in your sweats and your “stealing staplers is my superpower” t-shirt?

That’s kind of the idea here.

You’d dress like them to hopefully curry a little favor and have your presentation received well.

Favor means good will.

It means the person showing the favor wants to do good things for you.

I saw a Facebook post, so this is fair game, where someone sent someone else a gift for no apparent reason other than to send them a gift and make their day a little bit better.

That’s favor.

Someone is showing you favor when they WANT to do something good for you.

Guys, don’t let this slip past you.

God WANTS to do good things for us.

He WANTS to show us His favor.

Number two - acceptance.

Same verse, verse 8, God asks, “Will [the governor] accept you....”

Listen to what the Lord is telling you here - God WANTS to accept you.

These people were getting chastised because they were taking the Lord’s blessing for granted - they could do God just any which of way and He’d keep blessing them.

And that’s not the way this thing works.

But think this through - these people were SINFUL.

Their sacrifices were unacceptable - they were wearing their sins - wallowing in their sins - they were sinful, and what?

God told them He wanted to accept them.

You might try to make the argument that they had to do something to be accepted, but do you realize that that something is?

To be accepted by the Lord, your task is to simply follow Him.

He wasn’t asking them to change or be something they weren’t or hadn’t ever been.

The Lord asks them, and us, to follow Him, and when we do, when we trust Him enough to follow Him, we are acceptance.

Number three - blessings.

Do you know what you are praying when you pray, “Lord, please bless so and so?”

You are asking the Lord to give them the power to be healthy.

Now stop before you to word-of-faith on me here - it doesn’t mean that the Lord is going to grant all of us perfect health all of the time.

We live in a fallen world - ain’t going to happen.

But think about what we said earlier, the closer we stand to perfection, the more perfect life will be.

The Lord is the only one who has health giving power - we are asking the Lord to draw close to them and make them healthy in every since of the world.

Listen, someone dying can be healthy.

Their mind can be focused on the Lord.

They can be content in their affliction and they can be assured of whose hands they are in.

And the Lord wants to give us His blessings.

Number 4, Life.

Look at Malachi 2:4-5

Malachi 2:4–5 ESV

So shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may stand, says the Lord of hosts. 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.

God made a covenant with Levi - He was one of the patriarchs - one of the 12 sons that ended up being the 12 tribes of Israel.

God chose Levi’s people to be the priests for Israel and God made a covenant with Levi.

His covenant was to give him life.

Life in all of its fullness .

To stay alive, you need food and water and shelter.

You need a wife and a husband and they need to make babies.

If any of that ends, life ends.

And God promised to Levi that he and his descendents would be guaranteed life by God Himself.

Ok, so we aren’t Levites, are we?

According to Ancestry.com, I have not Jewish blood in my body so I can’t be a Levite.

But the Bible does say this about all of us, 1 Peter 2:9

1 Peter 2:9 ESV

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

The Church is the new Israel and each of us are priests before God.

And God wants to give each of us life.

He wants to give us the provisions we need to live.

Number 5, are we going to do all 12, I’m going to give it my best shot, number 5 is peace.

What are these things - listen to me - these are the things God wants to give you and the closer we draw to Him, the more we experience these things.

Peace with God is a relationship of love and loyalty with Him.

Loyalty, we’ve talked about that right?

That God won’t abandon us - even when we lose our minds and do crazy things?

Even when we do really crazy things, like these people did.

Listen, I so want some of you to hear this and maybe you are watching by live stream and you are the one that needs to hear this.

God isn’t mad at you.

In fact, however you are hurting right now, God is hurting with you.

He hates what sin has done in our lives and He yearns to draw you close.

And to help us understand that He really will never leave us or forsake us.

Maybe you are that person that someone in a church has hurt you badly in the past.

Listen, that wasn’t the Lord and that wasn’t His church that did that.

The Lord’s heart’s desire, is for you to have peace - and the only way you can have peace is to be drawn close to Him.

Remember what we said, He is perfection and the closer we draw to Him the more perfect our hearts can be and the more peace we can feel.

Number 6, uprightness.

In verse six, the Lord gives props to Levi by saying, Malachi 2:6 “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.”

Uprightness - Character.

That’s knowing right from wrong and always trying to do what’s right.

Sometimes that’s not so easy.

Life isn’t always black and white - there’s a lot of gray and there must be a billion shades of gray.

But listen to what the Lord says, Ezekiel 36:26-27

Ezekiel 36:26–27 ESV

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

The Lord wants you to know what is right and wrong so much so that He changed your heart and He put His Spirit in you so the Spirit can cause you...

Do you hear those words, He will CAUSE YOU to walk in His statutes and obey His rules.

Now listen, God is not telling you that you have to straighten up and fly right before He can do anything with you.

Oh No, no, no, no, no - He’s telling you to trust Him enough to follow Him and HE will make you upright.

And anyone in this room who is a Christ follower - and the older they are the more they can see this - we will all testify that once we trusted Jesus and followed Him, He has made magnificent changes in our lives that we didn’t initiate.

We hear His Spirit - we know it is Him - and the longer we listen and the more we try, the more He makes us upright.

Let’s do 7 and 8 together - He wants to give us (7) Truth so that we know how to live and He wants us (8) give that same instruction to others so they will turn from sin and follow God.

I know you’ve caught how I cleverly slip in Find Jesus, Give Jesus every now and then - well, here is it.

The Lord gives us the truth - that’s part of Finding Jesus.

We understand the scripture for what it is - the very God-breathed Words of God.

We come to understand as the Holy Spirit teaches us that the Word paints a picture of who God is and the closer we draw to Him, the more we know the right way to live.

And once we start understanding - well, once you understand the first thing - it’s time to give that first thing to someone else - that’s part of Giving Jesus.

Why is that important?

Because God - not me, not the church and not you - but God wants everyone who will to turn from sin and follow God.

And right here, we have 12 really good reasons why we would want to follow God.

Number 9 - God wants to teach everyone how to treat each other fairly.

In Malachi 2:9 we hear, “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.””

God wants us to treat each other fairly.

Now listen, especially those of you who work for corporations and educational organizations.

Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality will never teach us how to treat each other fairly.

In fact, by stressing the man-made divisions among people, we end up showing more partiality instead of less in everything we do.

Because we are pulling further and further away from God.

The closer to perfection we walk, the more perfection we will see.

The further away we walk - you get to see what we are seeing now.

Jesus said the greatest command is to love God and the second is to love your neighbor as yourself.

When we when draw near to God and see His heart for people, it opens our hearts to people and it allows us to deal with people without partiality.

What is being preached from our government now is headed as far from God as you can get.

The closer to God the more perfection, the further from God the more chaos.

Numbers 10, 11 and 12 can be crafted into a single sentence, “God’s heart desire is for (10) His followers to walk in awe of Him and His goodness, (11) so the who earth will recognize His name as great and (12) His name will be respected everywhere.

And see, number 10 is what caused the book of Malachi to be written.

God’s people drifted - it was a slow drift - it took 70 years - but they drifted - just like we do.

They started out in awe of God.

Just like He delivered the Hebrew children from slavery in Egypt and took them through the Red Sea and brought them through the wilderness - giving them the 10 commandments along the way so they could know Him better - He delivered them into the promised land.

A land He said was flowing with milk and honey.

Just like He did that, He delivered them from the Babylonians and brought them home.

They were SAVED, oh happy day.

But life happened.

Happy days turned into normal days.

Normal days turned into hard days.

Hard days felt like they were getting harder and harder.

And maybe they were.

Or maybe each day was filled with sticker bushes and they seemed harder simply because we got tired of getting stuck.

And when we look up, all we can see are sticker bushes as far as the eye can see.

But God is saying, look up.

Don’t look within yourself for the strength to make it - you don’t have enough juice in your tank to do it.

Don’t look around at everyone else - they don’t have it together either.

Look up and listen to your heavenly Father saying, let’s start with these 12 things that I want you to have.

That God the Father wants you to have.

All you have to do is follow.

Let us pray.