WORTHLESS WORSHIP
Copyright August 2010 by Rev. Donnie L. Martin. All Rights Reserved.
Text: Mal. 1:11-13
I. DISRESPECTFUL SERVICE
A. Israel Doubted And Denied God’s Loving Relationship.
B. Israel Was Showing God No Respect.
C. Israel’s Worship Was Without Reverence.
II. DISQUALIFIED SACRIFICES
A. God Was Offered The People’s Rejects.
B. The Spurious Worship Was Rejected.
III. DISDAINFUL ATTITUDES
A. This Sham Worship Did Not Meet God’s Demands.
B. The Sham Worship Was Seen Only As A Duty.
C. The Sinful Worshippers Were Only Deceivers.
Intro: Have you ever noticed how a child, who becomes tired of a particular toy, begins to neglect it for something new, shinny and exciting? That same plaything, that once gave them hours of joy and gratification, ends up discarded in some dark corner of their room, scarcely gathering a glance, but surely gathering dust.
We adults are hardly any different. Our toys may be bigger and more expensive, but as with children, when the new wears off, and the excitement factor diminishes, we tend to ignore those items that once held our attention firmly in its grip. For all practical purposes, those items become virtually worthless to us.
The tendency to devaluate things that, for us, have lost their sparkle and interest, is inherently human. One could even say that this trait is even inevitable with material things. The plain truth of the matter is that we humans tend to tire of things that become commonplace, and thus, we cease to value them as we once did.
But man’s penchant for losing interest is unfortunately not restricted to material things alone. This often carries over into the spiritual realm of life as well. Oh, we know it shouldn’t be this way; but we sometimes begin to view the things of the Lord, worship in particular, as unworthy of our full attention, devotion, and valued priority. And we may be rest assured that when worship becomes worthless and unimportant to us, it will of necessity be viewed as such by God.
“Why is that so?” you may ask. It is because real worship costs us something. Worship requires us to put aside ourselves and focus our time, energy, and all that we are, on God, Who alone is worthy of worship. King David once made an especially pertinent statement concerning worship. He said, “…I will not present burnt offerings to the Lord my God that have cost me nothing…” (2 Sam. 24:24—NLT). So if worshipping God holds little or not value for you today, God will see it for what it really is: “Worthless Worship.”
In the days of Malachi the prophet, God charged Israel, in general, and their priests in particular, with practicing worthless worship. What a sad state of affairs for a people for whom God had done so much. But then, that could be said about all mankind. We have all been blessed of God in countless ways, and all without merit on our part.
As we look into Malachi chapter one, we will examine some characteristics that should reveal to us where we stand with reference to worship. Let the Holy Spirit search your heart this morning.
Theme: Worthless worship is characterized by…
I. DISRESPECTFUL SERVICE
A. Israel Doubted And Denied God’s Loving Relationship.
Mal. 1:2 “I have loved you, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the Lord: yet I loved Jacob,
3 And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.”
NOTE: [1] It’s hard to understand how Israel could ever have questioned God’s love for them. But this they did in spite of all the miraculous acts of God to show His preference for them above all the tribes of the earth, to provide for them, and to protect them, throughout their journey from Egypt to Canaan. Not only that, but He continued to bless them with homes that they had not built (Jos. 24:13), and “…a land that floweth with milk and honey” (Deut. 26:15—KJV). As long as they obeyed the Lord, the Lord blessed everything they did. Isn’t it strange that the lost world still doubts God’s love in light of the fact that He sent His own Son to die on Calvary to pay their sin debt, so they could spend eternity with Him.
[2] In verse three, the words “I hated Esau” do not rightly express the meaning found in the original language. The idea of these words is that God rejected Esau, for in His foreknowledge, He knew that Esau would reject the rule of God in his life, and thus God’s plan of redemption could not be fulfilled through his lineage. The New Living Translation renders this portion of scripture as follows: “…I loved your ancestor Jacob, but I rejected his brother, Esau…” (Mal. 1: 2b-3a—NLT).
[3] The word “dragons” actually refers to “jackals,” which refers to the fact that “Esau’s heritage became a desert place, the home of jackals.”1
B. Israel Was Showing God No Respect.
Mal. 1:6a “A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? And if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the Lord of hosts unto you…”
NOTE: [1] In Exodus 4:22, and other passages, the relationship between God and the nation of Israel is spoken of as that of a Father and son. The point that God makes here in Malachi 1:6 is that even earthly fathers and masters receive respect that is rightly due their place of authority. So why should Israel’s heavenly Father and Master not receive the honor and respect that was due Him?
[2] Jesus, instructing His disciples concerning prayer, implied that they were to view God as their “Father…in heaven” (Matt. 6:9). As such, God is certainly worthy of honor and respect from His blood-washed children. Society displays very little respect for God in our day. Unfortunately, many children are no longer taught to respect their earthly father, much less respect for God.
C. Israel’s Worship Was Without Reverence.
NOTE: Our reverence and respect for God should be obvious all the time, but especially when we are in God’s house to worship. Only He is worthy of worship.
After the Battle of Agincourt in England, King Henry V had the chaplain read a passage from one of the Psalms. The chaplain read from Psalm 115. As he began, he read from verse 1, “Not to us, O Lord, not to us but to your name be glory, because of your love and faithfulness.” At the reading of these words, the king dismounted from his stallion. As he did, so all his men climbed down from their mounts. The king fell on his face to the ground and his men followed in like manner. The king of England was acknowledging that God and God alone was the King! Thus shall we all bow in that heavenly court someday. And, we shall cast our crowns at His feet—for He alone is worthy!2
1. The priests disrespected God’s name.
Mal. 1:6b “…where is my fear? saith the Lord of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name?”
NOTE: [1] The idea behind the words translated “despise my name” is to “…show contempt for my name.”3 But how were the priests showing contempt for God’s name? One writer answers that question by saying:
The priests conducted themselves as though God did not exist…The priests were hypocrites, feigning piety but going through the altar ritual without heed either to the letter or to the spirit of the Law!4
[2] Folks, I hate to say it, but sometimes God’s present-day people seem to forget that God is real, and that He beholds all that we do, not only upon the earth, but in our worship services as well.
[2a] For instance, we ought to come to church dressed appropriately. I’m not saying the men have to wear a suit. But you ought to be presentable. I’m not saying that the women have to look like Vogue models. But you ought to dress modestly. You ought to dress in such a way that you wouldn’t be ashamed to stand before Jesus, if He should come before the end of the service.
[2b] Another thing I notice is that we Baptist like to fellowship and have a good time at church; and that’s okay in its place. But folks, when the music service begins, that’s the time to get still and quiet, and make ready for God to speak to your heart. The Bible plainly tells us, “But the Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him” (Hab. 2:20—KJV). Perhaps we don’t mean to be disrespectful. But sometimes we act as though God isn’t even present.
[3] The problem with the priests in Malachi’s day was that they had begun to treat sacred matters with indifference. They were merely going through the religious motions of worship, but were devoid of any heart involvement. Too often God’s people do the same thing. We need to repent.
2. The priests defiled God’s altar.
Mal. 1:7 “Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the Lord is contemptible.”
NOTE: [1] Be aware that the word “bread” actually “…signifies the flesh of animal sacrifices.”5 The word “polluted” means, “to soil or (fig.) desecrate:—defile, pollute, stain.”6
[2] The New Living Translation is once again helpful here:
You have shown contempt by offering defiled sacrifices on my altar.
Then you ask, “How have we defiled the sacrifices?”
You defile them by saying the altar of the Lord deserves no respect.7
To bring this down to where we live today, let me paraphrase the idea found in verse seven. Simply put; to these priests, the worship of God was of little, if any, real importance to them. They saw the sacrifices as nothing more than a religious ritual, which had no connection to God Himself. In essence, the attitude of the priests’ supposed worship defiled the whole affair, making it a religious sham.
II. DISQUALIFIED SACRIFICES
A. God Was Offered The People’s Rejects.
Mal. 1:8 “And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the Lord of hosts.”
NOTE: [1] In laymen’s terms, these people were offering to God in sacrifice that with which they, or anyone else, would have been insulted to receive. They sought to offer in sacrifice to God what they themselves would not have. God stated the people’s attitude toward worship rather pointedly. He said, “Try offering to your governor the same type of gifts you’ve been trying to give to Me, and see how pleased he’ll be with you” (Mal. 1:8b).
Though I don’t remember the preacher who told the story, I definitely remember the shock with which I responded to it.
The preacher related to the congregation, to whom he was preaching, that someone once came to his door with a grocery sack full of frozen meat. At first he was thrilled, since he and his family had not been able to afford meat for quite some time. But his excitement quickly faded as the man at the door began to explain why he’d brought the bag of meat to him.
The man said, “Preacher, we were cleaning out our freezer this morning, and we found a number of steaks and roasts and so forth that were freezer burned. We hated to just throw it out. We thought to ourselves: ‘You know, I bet the preacher and his family could use this meat.’
So here it is, preacher. God bless you, and hope you enjoy it.”
The preacher thanked the man for his generosity, said goodbye, and closed the door. As he made his way to the kitchen with the bag of meat, he shook his head in disbelief of what he’d just experienced. He thought to himself, “This meat was not good enough for the man’s family, but he thought it was okay for the preacher’s family.”
The preacher then related that all of the meat had to be thrown away because none of it was edible.8
[2] We don’t sacrifice animals to God these days, but we should certainly worship God with acceptable offerings. Just as in the days of Malachi, many of God’s people of this age have the audacity to offer their leftovers to God (“the blind, the lame and sick”) as an act of worship. God will have none of it, for God says, “…I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth” (Ps. 46:10—KJV). God isn’t to be “tipped” like a waiter. He deserves our best; but the tithe (a tenth of your increase) is a good place to start. “Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase” (Prov. 3:9—KJV). The word translated “increase” in the above verse means, “income, i.e. produce (lit. or fig.):—fruit, gain, increase, revenue.”9
[3] God had given clear instructions to Israel as to what type of sacrifices were acceptable. “And if there be any blemish therein, as if it be lame, or blind, or have any ill blemish, thou shalt not sacrifice it unto the Lord thy God” (Deut. 15:21—KJV).
B. The Spurious Worship Was Rejected.
Mal. 1:9 “And now, I pray you, beseech God that he will be gracious unto us: this hath been by your means: will he regard your persons? saith the Lord of hosts.”
NOTE: Verse 9 is full of sarcasm. The idea of this verse is rendered well in the NLT, which translates as follows:
“Go ahead, beg God to be merciful to you! But when you bring that kind of offering, why should he show you any favor at all?” asks the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.10
III. DISDAINFUL ATTITUDES
A. This Sham Worship Did Not Meet God’s Demands.
Mal. 1:10 “Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for nought? Neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for nought. I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand.
11 For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts.
12 But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, The table of the Lord is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible.”
NOTE: [1] The rendering of the KJV in verse 10 above is somewhat misleading, in that it implies that the priests carried on their duties merely for what they could get out of it monetarily. Even though this idea was no doubt true of these ungodly priests, it seems better to view verse 10 as continuing the sarcastic tone of verse nine. The NIV translates verses 10-12 as follows:
10 “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 offerings from your hands. 11 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,” says the Lord Almighty.
12 “But you profane it by saying of the Lord’s table, ‘It is defiled,’ and of its food, ‘It is contemptible.’11
[2] Expositor’s offers this explanation of verse 10:
10 God, once again speaking of himself in the first person (cf. v.9), wished that the temple would go out of business. As long as it was not serving as a meeting place for God and man, why should any perfunctory and self-deceiving rituals go on in it? Not only were the sacrifices ineffective, but the priests and the people were lulled into thinking that their deeds were winning God’s approval. So why not shut the temple doors and be done with what was for the priests merely a nuisance? The thought may be applied to present-day churches that have ceased to be places where people worship in spirit and in truth and are merely meeting places and nothing more. It would be better for them to close down than to continue misleading those who think that what they are doing pleases God. He could hardly have spoken his mind more clearly than he did in the last part of v. 10: “I am not pleased with you,…and I will accept no offering from your hands.”12
[3] Verse 11 is basically a prophecy that there would be others in the future who would give God the proper honor and adoration in worship. However, “this prophecy would be fulfilled only when Christ would be received into Gentile hearts the world around.”13
[4] Rather than honoring God with their worship, and obeying God’s prescribed guidelines for worship, the priests, and the people of Israel were offering unfit sacrifices upon God’s altar. The strange thing was that it was the priests who complained that God’s table was polluted and contemptible, even though it was they who were responsible to insure the acceptability of the sacrifices to be offered to God on the altar.
B. The Sham Worship Was Seen Only As A Duty.
Mal. 1:13 “Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the Lord of hosts; and ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye brought an offering: should I accept this of your hand? saith the Lord.”
NOTE: [1] Rather than performing their ministry at the altar of God out of devotion, the priests saw it merely as laborious duty. “Despising the altar, and performing their duties without heart or faith, the priests found the services an intolerable burden.”14
[2] The meaning of the words “…ye have snuffed at it,” is that “…they had treated the sacrificial system with contempt.”15
[3] What’s your attitude toward worship? Do you come to church expecting anything from God, or do you come expecting nothing. You’ll likely come away from the worship service with whatever you were expecting.
What Are We Looking For?
Both the hummingbird and the vulture fly over our nation’s deserts. All vultures see is rotting meat, because that is what they look for. They thrive on that diet. But hummingbirds ignore the smelly flesh of dead animals. Instead, they look for the colorful blossoms of desert plants. The vultures live on what was. They live on the past. They fill themselves with what is dead and gone. But hummingbirds live on what is. They seek new life. They fill themselves with freshness and life. Each bird finds what it is looking for. We all do.16
C. The Sinful Worshippers Were Only Deceivers.
Mal. 1:14 “But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, saith the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen.”
NOTE: The Amplified Bible translates verse 14 as follows:
14 “But cursed be the [cheating] deceiver who has a male in his flock, and vows to offer it, yet sacrifices to the [sovereign] Lord a blemished or diseased thing! For I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts, and My name is terrible and to be [reverently] feared among the nations.”17
Theme: Worthless worship is characterized by…
I. DISRESPECTFUL SERVICE
II. DISQUALIFIED SACRIFICES
III. DISDAINFUL ATTITUDES
End Notes:
1 Charles F. Pfeiffer, Editor of the Old Testament, and Everett F. Harrison, Editor of the New Testament, The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, Copyright © 1962 by The Moody Bible Institute, Chicago, Illinois; pg. 914.
2 Source unknown. Acquired from pastorlife.com, Dr. B. Pate, Editor.
3 Frank E. Gaebelein, General Editor, and Richard P. Polcyn, Associate Editor, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 7, Copyright © 1985 by The Zondervan Corporation, Grand Rapids, Michigan; pgs. 710-711.
4 Charles F. Pfeiffer, Editor of the Old Testament, and Everett F. Harrison, Editor of the New Testament, The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, Copyright © 1962 by The Moody Bible Institute, Chicago, Illinois; pg. 914.
5 Ibid, pg. 914.
6 James Strong, S.T.D., LL.D., The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, published by MacDonald Publishing Company, McLean, Virginia; #1351 of the Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary, pg. 25.
7 Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. All rights reserved. Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois; pg. 1114.
8 Rev. Donnie L. Martin, story paraphrased from a sermon preached at a revival meeting.
9 James Strong, S.T.D., LL.D., The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, published by MacDonald Publishing Company, McLean, Virginia; #8393 of the Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary, pg. 122.
10 Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. All rights reserved. Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois; pg. 1114.
11 Holy Bible: New International Version (North American Edition), Copyrighted © 1973, 1978, 1984, by The International Bible Society.
12 Frank E. Gaebelein, General Editor, and Richard P. Polcyn, Associate Editor, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 7, Copyright © 1985 by The Zondervan Corporation, Grand Rapids, Michigan; pgs. 712-713.
13 Charles F. Pfeiffer, Editor of the Old Testament, and Everett F. Harrison, Editor of the New Testament, The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, Copyright © 1962 by The Moody Bible Institute, Chicago, Illinois; pg. 915.
14 Pulpit Commentary, as recorded in AGES Software Rio, WI USA; Version 1.0 © 2001.
15 Charles F. Pfeiffer, Editor of the Old Testament, and Everett F. Harrison, Editor of the New Testament, The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, Copyright © 1962 by The Moody Bible Institute, Chicago, Illinois; pg. 915.
16 Steve Goodier, Quote Magazine, in May 1990 Reader’s Digest.
17 The Amplified Bible, copyright © 1965 by the Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506; quote taken from The Amplified Old Testament, pg. 1074.
