Church: Why Do We Go?

1.To Give an Offering

Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?" says the Lord Almighty.

A. Where Is My Honor ......... My Respect

"A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?" says the Lord Almighty. "It is you, O priests, who show contempt for my name. "But you ask, ’How have we shown contempt for your name?’

The thought that God would even have to ask this question shakes the very fiber of my being! This is not someone who walked up on the street demanding respect. Nor, is this someone who has yet to prove himself as one deserving respect. This the Creator of all that was created! He is the God who is in time and at the same time outside time! He is the Alpha and Omega! The great I Am!

God is asking the priest who he called to bring him praise, honor, glory ¡§A son honors his father¡KIf I am your Father where is my honor due me, In the Old Testament dishonoring your father and mother was dangerous,

Deut. 21:18-21 If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, [19] his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. [20] They shall say to the elders, "This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a profligate and a drunkard." [21] Then all the men of his town shall stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.

The priest whom God was speaking too claim that God was their Lord, but refuse to submit in no area of their lives. Jesus you could be my savior but you could never be my Lord. God is asking them if I you call me your Father and your Master ¡V where is it. I cant see it. Luke 6:46 "Why do you call me, ’Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?

Illustration: You think a slave would say to his master this is the list I have for you to do today. As a servant you ask your Master, what can I do for you. I am at you disposal. Paul the apostle in his letter to Timothy says¡¦

2 Tim. 2:4 No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs--he wants to please his commanding officer.

What kind of hideous thing could the people of Israel be doing that would cause God to even ask such a question?

B. They were giving anything but their best to the Lord! (v.7)"You place defiled food on my altar. "But you ask, ’How have we defiled you?’ "By saying that the Lord’s table is contemptible. 8 When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong?

The Law, as laid out in the book of Leviticus, was specific about the sacrifice before the Lord that had no defect. They knew the Law, and yet they still brought their blind, lame, defected sacrifices before the Lord, to offer upon His Altar. They sacrificed lambs with blemishes which was forbidden in the law.

The passage tells us 3 wrong ways to offer sacrifices to God

1.By being Expedient meaning being as cheap as possible.

2.By Neglect meaning not caring how they offered the sacrifice.

3.With Outright disobedience meaning sacrificing their own way and not as God commanded.

Do expedience, neglect, disobedience characterize your giving?

God was to get the best of the crop and flock. But they were giving second rate sacrifices. God was getting the leftovers. Let me give you guys examples of those who gave their leftovers to God and was judged because of it;

Cain ¡V Genesis 4:3-4 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. [4] But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering,

Nadab and Abihu - Leviticus 10:1-4 Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, contrary to his command. [2] So fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. [3] Moses then said to Aaron, "This is what the Lord spoke of when he said: " ’Among those who approach me I will show myself holy; in the sight of all the people I will be honored.’ " Aaron remained silent.