May I ask all the fathers to please stand up? Happy Father’s Day! Let me pray for you…
Have you ever wondered, “What’s the difference between father’s day and mother’s day?” A boy answered, “Well, Father’s Day is just like Mother’s Day… only you don’t spend so much on Father’s Day.” That’s why somebody wrote, “Calls on Father’s Day are not as high in number as calls on Mother’s Day… and most of the calls on Father’s Day are collect.”[1] Just imagine. How would you feel if your children give you an old, worn-out towel for Father’s Day? My mentor, Pastor Philip Tarroja, posted this comment on my Facebook. “I believe what a father gets on Father’s Day is truly his worth to his children.”
Open your Bibles to Malachi 1:6-14.[2] Our passage this morning starts with the right way to treat fathers: “A son honors his father, and a servant his master.” So, children must honor their fathers. But this morning, I would like to talk to you about another father… God the Father. What would God the Father get from us? What would it say about His worth to us?
So, let’s look at worship. Our present-day word “worship” evolved from the Old English word “worth-ship.”[3] Worship is WORTH-SHIP. That’s why, “How we worship shows how much WORTH we give God.” Read verse 6 again: “‘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.” Here in our passage God is compared to a father. We are to honor God just as we are to honor our fathers. In fact, in the Old Testament, we would suffer the death penalty if we dishonor our parents. Exodus 21:17 tells us, “Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.” If honoring our parents was that serious, then imagine how much more serious it is when it comes to honoring God. In Hebrew, the word “honor” can also be translated “glory.”[4] It means “to be heavy” or “to give the proper weight of authority.”[5] We are to recognize His full authority over us. Note that God is also compared to a master. We are to respect God just as we are to respect our bosses. That’s why we worship God. He deserves our honor and respect. He is worthy of our worship.
When we fail to honor and respect God, it shows that we don’t recognize Him as our father and master. That was the problem of the priests during the time of Malachi. “It is you, O priests, who show contempt for my name.”[6] And like priests, like people. The entire nation has shown contempt for God. The word “contempt” means “to look down on something as if it is worthless, to despise”. [7] When we fail to honor and respect God, we are saying that He is not worthy of our worship, that He is worthless.
At this time, we may be patting ourselves on the back. We may be saying, “I honor and respect God. I don’t despise Him.” In fact, even during that time, the priests were questioning that accusation. Malachi quoted them. “But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’”[8] Like them, we could not imagine that we could actually show contempt for God.
But look at the Lord’s answer: “‘You place defiled food on my altar.’ But you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’ ‘By saying that the LORD’s table is contemptible. When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?’ says the LORD Almighty.”[9] Supposedly, they should give God the best from their flock. Actually, they promised the best for God. But instead, they gave Him the animal that they could not even sell. Malachi called that cheating! “Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord.”[10] They even offered Him that which was stolen or mutilated by wild animals. They offered to Him what they would not even dare offer to their government official. They would not give that to people that they looked up to. So the fact that they gave it to God means that they looked down on Him. God lamented, “And when you do offer something to me, it’s a hand-me-down, or broken, or useless. Do you think I’m going to accept it?”[11] It is as if they were saying, “Worship of GOD is no longer a priority”.[12] They think God is not worth it.
How about us? For example, there are people who give clothes to missionaries or to the poor, they end up giving clothes that they would not even wear themselves. If they try selling those items in a garage sale, people would laugh and say that it’s a garbage sale. It’s like giving them this worn-out towel. If we would be offended by receiving this, something that we could not even call a gift, then imagine how much God would be offended when we don’t give Him our best. So, when we give, let us give in such a way that it is as if we are telling Him, “You are so worthy of honor and respect. You are valuable to me. I really care about what You think or feel. I look up to You. You are my priority.” We should not give God the left-over. We should give God the first and the best. It is because how we worship shows how much worth we give God.
Let’s talk about our time. Last week, Brother Jun encouraged us to be on time for service. That’s one issue. Another issue is, “How do we spend our time here?” Look at verse 13: “‘And you say, ‘What a burden!’ and you sniff at it contemptuously,’ says the LORD Almighty.” It goes like this in The Message version: “I’m bored—this doesn’t do anything for me.” What does it mean to sniff or snort contemptuously? The Contemporary English Version translated it this way: “You get so disgusted that you even make vulgar signs at me.” It is like giving God the finger out of disgust for Him. Their action was a result of an attitude problem.
Let us look at this video [Play “Worship Hater” video.] Can we see ourselves in that video? When we find worshipping God a duty or a burden, then we have an attitude problem. People tend to blame the worship leader or the moderator or the preacher when they get bored in church. But before we even do that we must first look at the mirror and see if the problem actually lies on the person we see in that mirror. When we treat our worship service as something that we have to get over with so we can go on with our lives, we are showing contempt for the Lord. So, let us really seek to please God when we praise Him. We should sing to the best of our ability. We should participate to the max. We are to make the most of our worship service. We should even join the Sunday school. For how we worship shows how much worth we give God.
So, God would not even answer their prayers. Malachi challenged the people, “Now implore God to be gracious to us. With such offerings from your hands, will he accept you?”[13] Why? Because their worship is not acceptable to Him. God rejected their so-called worship. “‘Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you,’ says the LORD Almighty, ‘and I will accept no offering from your hands.’” God would rather close the temple than accept their sacrifices. What about us? Would God demand that we just close the doors of our church building than listen and watch us worship Him? Would He be pleased with the kind of worship we are giving Him?
Of course, worship goes beyond the worship service. It calls for our entire lives. We are called to a life of worship, not just a worship service. Romans 12:1 exhorts us, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.” When we offer Him everything, that is, our entire being, we show how much we value God. We are called to a worship commitment, not just a worship event. So, let us ask ourselves, “How can I show God that He is worth my worship? How can I give Him my first and my best?”
Why? Because God is worthy of our worship. In verse 14, He declares, “For I am a great king… and my name is to be feared among the nations.” His name means His person and His power, that is, God Himself. In fact, in the future, there will be worshippers everywhere. Verse 11 tells us, “My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the nations”. I pray that we would be among those who would offer acceptable and pleasing sacrifices to God. I believe that truly what God the Father gets from us reveals His worth for us His children. So, what would He receive from us? What would it say about His worth to us?
Brothers and sister, worship is worth-ship. How we worship shows how much worth we give God. Let us pray…
[1]Illustration from http://www.gty.org/Resources/Sermons/80-71
[2]Unless otherwise noted, all Bible verses are from The Holy Bible: New International Version, electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996, c1984).
[3]“Etymology: Middle English worshipe worthiness, respect, reverence paid to a divine being, from Old English weorthscipe worthiness, respect, from weorth worthy, worth + -scipe -ship.” http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/worship
[4]John F. Walvoord, Roy B. Zuck and Dallas Theological Seminary, The Bible Knowledge Commentary : An Exposition of the Scriptures (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1983-c1985), 1:1577.
[5]Allen Ross, Worship that God Rejects. http://bible.org/page.php?page_id=4009
[6]Malachi 1:6b
[7]Ross.
[8]Malachi 1:6c.
[9]1:7-8.
[10]1:14a.
[11]1:13, The Message Version.
[12]1:7, Ibid.
[13]1:9.
