SERIES: “GOD-GIVEN GUIDELINES FOR GROWING A GREAT CHURCH”
(Idea and some material from Bob Russel’s When God Builds A Church)
TEXT: MALACHI 1:6-14 (announce but don’t read)
TITLE: Guideline #4: “DO EVERYTHING WITH EXCELLENCE”
INTRODUCTION: A. On October 13, 1962, a little boy was born in Starkville, Mississippi. His name
was Jerry and his father was a bricklayer. As the young boy grew and matured, he
and his brothers would go with their father to the job-site to help out. As he
continued to grow, Jerry joined his father on the platform while his younger brothers
would throw bricks up one-by-one for Jerry to stack for his dad.
Jerry never dreamed that in catching brick after brick he was preparing for one of
the most prolific football careers that any receiver would ever experience. The Jerry
I’m speaking about is the great Jerry Rice, 19 year veteran of the NFL – 15 years with
the San Francisico 49ers and now in his fourth season with the Oakland Raiders.
Jerry Rice graduated from high and attended tiny Mississippi Valley State on a
football scholarship. Out of college he was drafted in the first round as the 16th
overall pick of the 1985 draft by the S.F. 49ers. He wasn’t even the first receiver
chosen. There were two other receivers drafted before him: the NY Jets drafted Al
Toon and then the Cincinnati Bengals chose Eddie Brown before Jerry was ever
given the nod. Anyone know where those guys are now?
In his 19 years in professional football, Rice has always been known as the hardest
worker in his chosen career. A good example of his dedication to excellence comes
from several years ago while he was still with the S.F. 49ers. He arrived at training
camp five days early – the time when the rookies were to report. Why would he do
something like that? Jerry Rice is a champion who strives for excellence in what he
does.
The S.F. Chronicle reported this phenomenal work ethic. 49ers coach Steve
Mariucci was quoted as saying, “Jerry Rice was not invited to the rookies and
selected veteran camp. But he shows up anyway. He’s been here since Monday. Is
there any wonder why the guy is the greatest. We’re going to have to tell him, ‘Jerry,
get out of here. Let the other guys get some work, please..’” (S.F. Chronicle, June 6,
1997)
B. What is excellence?
1. “Excellent” – outstanding; exceptional, better;
2. The Sciptures teach us that excellence is something that honors God
a. Col. 3:23 – “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart…”
b. Ecc. 9:10 – “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.”
3. Compare that with “mediocre” – of middle quality; not
good enough
a. Have you ever heard anyone say, “It’s just church. What difference does it
make?”
b. That type of thinking can certainly be dangerous in a spiritual sense.
c. Rev. 3:15-16 – “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish
you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm – neither hot
nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”
d. Mediocrity makes Jesus sick!
C. God says something about this subject in our text
1. TEXT: Malachi 1:6-14
2. God is displeased with mediocre, less than excellent service.
a. He deserves the best we have
b. He is displeased when we try to cheat Him
c. He despises offerings of inferior quality.
3. Want to share with you four important lessons I learned about giving God our
best from this passage:
I. Lesson #1: THERE IS ALWAYS A REASON TO OFFER GOD LESS THAN OUR BEST
A. We need to understand what was happening when the events we read in our text occured
1. The approximate date was around 430 BC
2. The place is Jerusalem
3. Some years before, the people had returned from exile in Babylon and found the city in ruins
4. They began to rebuild the temple and to rebuild the city walls.
5. However, as the people began to settle into their lives, they forgot the lessons of the exile and they
began to put their own priorities in front of God’s priorities.
6. They began to neglect the proper worship of God
--Even the priests were guilty
B. Their reasons for doing so were problem similar to our own reasons
--These reasons generally fall into three categories:
1. Category number one is usually expedience – doing things cheap and easy.
a. It’s just a lot cheaper and easier to offer God a defective animal rather than a perfect one
b. Things haven’t changed much
(1). We think it’s okay to just “get by” in our Christian lives.
(2). We think leftovers are good enough for God.
(3). We try to give Him our leftover time, our leftover money, and our leftover energy
--Then we wonder why God doesn’t bless our lives
2. Category number two is simply possessing a bad attitude
a. We really just don’t care about what we offer and how we offer it
b. Cain’s problem
(1). God blessed Abel’s sacrifice because he gave out of the best he had and gave it the way God
prescribed
(2). Cain just grabbed whatever was convenient
c. His desire was not to honor God but to get the offering over with and move on to something more
important.
3. Category number three is what is called the “popular argument”
a. It’s the thinking that says, “Everyone else is doing it.”
b. Since everybody else is doing it, why should I hold to a higher standard?
II. Lesson #2: OUR SERVICE REVEALS OUR ATTITUDE TOWARD GOD
--The big issue is that our choice to give God less than our best reveals several things:
A. It reveals the priority that we place on our relationship with God
1. It shows that our desire to grow in our relationship with Him is less than we profess
2. It shows that we are more interested in things other than what please God.
B. It also reveals that we treat God in a way that is dishonorable.
1. We show God less honor and respect than we give our parents or governmental leaders.
2. We’re more concerned with ourselves and the things that please us.
III. Lesson #3: SERVICE IS MEANT TO BE COSTLY
A. It was meant to cost something when God told His people to give of the best of their flocks and their
fields.
1. Prov. 3:9 – “Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops.”
2. We forget that God has given us far more than we deserve
3. God has never cut corners or taken the short cut or found a cheaper or easier way.
B. The cost of serving God with excellence:
1. Excellence Takes Hard Work
a. There’s a big difference between a “pretty good job” on something and doing it with excellence.
--Excellence takes a lot more time.
b. I usually spend about 12 to 18 hours a week preparing for each sermon. I’ve discovered the
difference between a good sermon and an excellent sermon is about six hours. I could be
satisfied after 12 hours with a pretty good sermon; but if I want it to be excellent, I’ve got to work
harder. Excellence takes time and effort.
2. Excellence Is Evidenced in the Details
a. A commitment to excellence (or the lack of it) often shows up most clearly in the way we do the
“little” things.
b. Jesus taught us that we have to be faithful in the small things before we can receive the bigger
blessings.
3. Excellence Takes Daily Diligence
a. Suppose you build a new house. When the house is finished, you plant a flower garden and
landscape your yard. You might do all those things with excellence, then step back and say,
“That’s beautiful.”
But it’s not long before your work begins to deteriorate. The walls need repainting, the grass
has to be cut, the weeds have to be pulled from the flower bed. You can’t relax for long. If your
home is going to maintain that look of excellence, the work must be ongoing. You can lose the
edge really fast.
b. The same thing is true in our lives and our churches.
--We can get used to just getting by.
4. Our duty is to live as stewards of what God has blessed us with.
a. Stewardship should not be slipshod.
b. Someone once said, “Mediocrity is excellence in the mind of the mediocre.”
c. Jesus taught that unfaithful stewards were both wicked and lazy.
IV. Lesson #4: GOD EXPECTS AND DESERVES NOTHING LESS THAN OUR BEST
A. One church has a slogan that I think sums up this thought:
--If it bears His name, it deserves our best.
1. 1 Cor. 10:31 – “: “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
2. 1 Cor. 15:58b – “Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord…”
B. Our “best” doesn’t mean perfection or superiority
1. Charles Swindoll: “Excellence is a difficult concept to communicate because it can easily be misread
as neurotic perfectionism or snooty sophistication. But it is neither. On the contrary, it is the stuff of
which greatness is made. It is the difference between just getting by and soaring – that which sets
apart the significant from the superficial, the lasting from the temporary.”
2. Striving for excellence simply means making every effort in preparation and execution to do the very
best you can.
C. Our God is worthy of our best efforts
1. Ps. 145:3 – “ Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; His greatness no one can fathom.:
2. Rev. 4:11 – “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you
created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”
D. If you’re someone who has been cheating God, please stop!
1. Stop offering God contemptuous sacrifices.
2. Stop giving God your last-minute, half-hearted, left-over, and warmed-up efforts.
3. Don’t slap something together and pretend it’s okay.
4. Stop giving God what you wouldn’t give to your spouse, your boss, or anyone else.
5. 2 Tim. 2:15 – “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not
need to be ashamed…”
CONCLUSION: A. David Livingstone was one of the greatest missionaries who ever lived. He moved to
Africa, married his wife Mary in Africa in 1845, and never stopped pursuing
excellence for the Kingdom of God during his lifetime.
There was a time when Dr. Livingstone was approached about the possibility of a
missionary society sending some more men to help him in his efforts to reach the people
of Africa. They wrote him a letter that read, “Have you found a good road to where you
are? If so, we want to know how to send other men to join you.”
Livingstone wrote back, “If you have men who will come only if they know there is a
good road, I don’t want them. I want men who will come if there is no road at all.”
B. Why should we give God our best?
--Because He gave us His best
1. Rom. 8:32 – “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how
will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”
2. God gave the best He had – His own Son, Jesus Christ – to suffer and die in our place
for our sins
