SLIDE #1
Introduction
• A loss of hope can do bad things to one’s focus and outlook on life. Last week as we began our look at the book of Malachi, Israel was at a point in history where they had come back from Babylonian captivity almost 100 years earlier.
• The nation anxiously waited for God to restore them to the former glory the possed before Babylon.
• As the Temple was rebuilt about 15 years after their return, they waited. Twenty years after the restoration of the Temple, they waited.
• Now they are some 80 years after the rebuild of the Temple, and boy, have things changed.
• The nation has descended from the joy and hope of returning to their homeland, to listless, lazy, and indifferent.
• The people of God are barely obeying God’s commands and are bringing a half-hearted effort to their worship of the God of the universe.
• What makes matters worse, the people are complaining that the act of worshipping God has become wearisome to them.
• They have ceased to enjoy and delight in the worship of God.
• What was designed by God to bring deep satisfaction and health to the nation has been reduced to religious platitudes and mechanical obedience, devoid of heart.
• The people have become self-centered, seeking self-gratification rather than pursuing the worship of God.
• When one loses their heart for God, it infects all they do.
• Last week we heard Malachi try to encourage the people to rekindle a fresh love for the Lord.
• Today, we see how the lack of love and heart manifest itself in the life of the people.
• Today we will focus our attention on the concept of possessing a sense of Fresh Worship.
• As was the case at many points in the history of the Nation of Israel, worship became something God never intended for it to be, void, burdensome, and empty.
• Worship was getting to a place where even God said enough.
• Worship is something that should bring joy, excitement, and expectation to those who are worshipping the Lord.
• The reason for this is by our worship, we are acknowledging to ourselves, the word, and God, that we know we are a part of something larger than ourselves, that we are a part of a bigger purpose for life.
• Yes, worship is about God, but it also is for each one of us to be blessed.
• In the passage, we will experience a great deal of negativity; however, I want us to see the negative so that we can learn from it.
• My prayer is that we can avoid the pitfalls pertaining to worship that can happen so easily if we are not careful.
• Let’s begin by turning to Malachi 1:6-7
SLIDE#2
Malachi 1:6-7 (CSB)
6“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is your fear of me? says the Lord of Armies to you priests, who despise my name.” Yet you ask: “How have we despised your name?”
7“By presenting defiled food on my altar.” “How have we defiled you?” you ask. When you say: “The Lord ’s table is contemptible.”
SLIDE #3
Fresh worship requires one to have a…
I. Refreshed respect.
• Just like in the first five verses we looked at last week, God starts with an assertion; then He anticipates the objects of the people, then He answers the objection.
• God asks the question of the people concerning the issue of respect. He asks the question:
• Malachi 1:6 (CSB) — “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is your fear of me? says the Lord of Armies to you priests, who despise my name.” Yet you ask: “How have we despised your name?”
• The people lost respect for God. God is specifically speaking to those who should have known better, the Priests.
• The priests were not showing God honor or respect.
• The word HONOR deals with acknowledging one’s WEIGHT, one’s importance, authority or position.
• The priests want evidence of what God is accusing them of doing.
• The predictable response from the people is, “How have we despised your name?”
• In verse 7, they want to know how they are defiling God.
• God gives them an answer.
• They were despising His name by presenting defiled food on the altar.
• Here “food” refers to the animal offerings (Lev 21:8, 21).
• The implicit allegation suggests that the animals had not been properly selected nor properly prepared as stipulated (Lev 22:17–25 and Deut 15:21), a sense represented by the NET’s rendering, “you are offering improper sacrifices on my altar.”
• The priests were getting lazy because they lost hope, they lost heart, and they lost faith in the God they were supposed to lead others in worship.
• Today we do not offer animal sacrifices, so what do we offer that would show God that we do not despise His name?
• Our life!
• God was saying that a son honors his father and a servant honors his master, how do they do this? By loving and faithfully serving.
• Today I do not have to bring a lamb, goat, or some bird to the church to offer in the altar. So, what do I bring?
• I bring myself.
SLIDE #4
Romans 12:1 (CSB)
1Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship.
• When I refuse to give myself to God as a living and holy sacrifice, I am telling God I do not honor Him, because he is not worth me giving my life to Him, and I do not respect Him enough to show the world that I love Him enough to try to live for Him.
• The priests were also accused of defiling the Lord.
• In verse 7, God tells the priest they are defiling Him by not preparing what went on to the alter properly.
• The priests were too lazy to follow the guidelines given to them so that they would not offer unclean sacrifices.
• We could go a long way with this, so let me ask you a simple question.
• Outside of personal appearance, how much time did we spend preparing to come to worship today?
• My prayer is that we spent all week preparing to come together.
• At some point, worship has to be something we are excited to prepare for.
• I get excited knowing I get to come together to worship the Lord with all of you.
• When I gave my life to Jesus, I never wanted to miss, I have always looked forward to coming together.
• Do you miss something, or skip something you are excited to do unless you are sick or have to be gone?
• If we are going to experience fresh worship, we need to make sure that we have a freshes respect for God.
• Let’s turn to verses 8-10
SLIDE #5
Malachi 1:8-10 (CSB)
8“When you present a blind animal for sacrifice, is it not wrong? And when you present a lame or sick animal, is it not wrong? Bring it to your governor! Would he be pleased with you or show you favor?” asks the Lord of Armies.
9“And now plead for God’s favor. Will he be gracious to us? Since this has come from your hands, will he show any of you favor?” asks the Lord of Armies.
10“I wish one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would no longer kindle a useless fire on my altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord of Armies, “and I will accept no offering from your hands.
SLIDE #6
Fresh worship requires one to have a…
II. Refreshed actions.
• God says, do you want more?
• The two rhetorical questions in verse 8 (Is presenting substandard animals for sacrifice, and would you bring that junk to your governor) aim to establish the guilt of priests and insist on the need to present animals without defects for sacrifice.
•
• The conditions of blindness, lameness, and sickness all point to defective offerings and render animals unacceptable for sacrifice (Lev 22:17–25; Deut 15:21).
• To offer such a sacrifice brings one under the curse of God (Mal 1:14).
• Because the priests did not respect, honor, or love God, they were allowing most anything to be put on the altar.
• These men knew better.
• This was a massive failure of leadership on their part.
• Do you think the common person would argue with the priest over this if they could get away with riding their herd of substandard animals and still do their religious duty? I bet not!
• God asks the priests if they would bring such things to their governor? The expected answer is NO!
• The actions of the priests revealed their heart or lack of heart for God.
• These people failed to give God their very best.
• King David understood the inherent principle of sacrificing in all worship, saying, when he might have received the threshing floor of Ornan as a gift upon which to build the temple, chose rather to pay for it
SLIDE #7
2 Samuel 24:24 (CSB)
24The king answered Araunah, “No, I insist on buying it from you for a price, for I will not offer to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for twenty ounces of silver.
• Are you willing to give the best you have to the Lord? Our actions speak louder than our words.
• I can sing praises to Jesus all I want; however, if all He gets is not “B” game, then what does that say?
• God then says, if you offered this to your governor, would you expect him to be pleased with you and your actions to the point of blessing you?
• the answer is no, and the priests should expect nothing from God as they have worked hard to insult Him.
• God concludes in verse 10.
• “I wish one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would no longer kindle a useless fire on my altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord of Armies, “and I will accept no offering from your hands.
• The actions of the priest do not impress God, He can see right through it.
• God can see through me also.
• Their RELIGIOUS deeds were called USELESS.
• Let’s turn to verses 11-14
SLIDE #8
Malachi 1:11-14 (CSB)
11“My name will be great among the nations, from the rising of the sun to its setting. Incense and pure offerings will be presented in my name in every place because my name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord of Armies.
12“But you are profaning it when you say: ‘The Lord’s table is defiled, and its product, its food, is contemptible.’
13You also say: ‘Look, what a nuisance!?’ And you scorn it,” says the Lord of Armies. “You bring stolen, lame, or sick animals. You bring this as an offering! Am I to accept that from your hands?” asks the Lord .
14“The deceiver is cursed who has an acceptable male in his flock and makes a vow but sacrifices a defective animal to the Lord. For I am a great King,” says the Lord of Armies, “and my name will be feared among the nations.
SLIDE #9
Fresh worship requires one to have a…
III. Refreshed heart.
• The priest had a heart problem.
• This helped the people of Israel to develop a heart problem.
• In verse 11, God tells the priests that the GENTILE world would one-day offer worship and praises to Him.
• Malachi 1:13 (CSB) — 13 You also say: ‘Look, what a nuisance!’ And you scorn it,” says the Lord of Armies. “You bring stolen, lame, or sick animals. You bring this as an offering! Am I to accept that from your hands?” asks the Lord.
• The priests basically said what they were doing was a waste of time. This is why they say, LOOK, WHAT A NUISANCE.
• The priests had lost their heart for God.
• As a result, they would bring stolen, lame, and sick animals to “OFFER” up to the Lord.
• God asks, AM I TO ACCEPT THAT FROM YOUR HANDS?
• Then God speaks of one who has acceptable animals to sacrifice and makes a vow to sacrifice them to the Lord, yet when it comes time, the person brings their defective animal to “OFFER” to the Lord.
• If we are going to experience the joy we can have in the Lord, we need to get back our hearts for Him.
• Jesus tells us Matthew 6:21, where your treasure is your heart will be also.
• Another way to state it, where your investment is, there your heart will be.
• If you want to have a refreshed heart for God, you need to invest yourself in Him. Do you have a marriage that is falling apart? Invest yourself in your spouse.
• If some folks invested half the time in their spouse as they do chasing another person, all would be well.
• Malachi implores the people of God to offer gifts to the Lord that match his greatness.
• Half-hearted responses will never produce the level of worship that is due to God, nor the joy that is meant for the worshipper.
• However, offering God the best of all that we have, including our hearts, time, money, and energy will bring about a satisfaction that surpasses all other joys this world promises.
Conclusion
• People often attend church, give, serve, and worship based on what they get out of the experience, hoping that their return on investment is appropriate to their level of commitment.
• This type of self-focused religion reduces God to a cosmic vending machine.
• What he offers is so much more satisfying and profound, a life that appropriately places God at the center and offers him the very best of all that we have as an act of worship for all that he has done for us.
Application
• We must approach God with appropriate reverence and adoration; this befits him and provides great comfort and joy for us.
