The Worship God Deserves - Pastor Tom Loghry
In Malachi 1:6-2:9, the people and the priests are called out for offering less than their best to God.
Transcript:
Worship is a matter of justice. It is essential that we remember that. Worship is a matter of justice. Worship is not a compliment, something that might be said or left unsaid. Worship is something that is due, is more than giving credit, but it does have that sort of sense about it. If I presented something as my own work rather than giving credit to the one who created it, that would be wrong.
It would be unjust. Credit is due to the creator. Worship is of a higher magnitude exclusive to God. He deserves our worship. Denying him his, his worship would be like denying someone their credit only infinitely worse. We are the work of his hands. Every glory belongs to him and to no one else. To worship anyone or anything else would be as injust as adultery, giving yourself to another when you have exclusively pledged yourself to your spouse. You belong to God, you are not your own, you're not at liberty to give yourself to anyone or anything else without thereby robbing God, and this is the case for every human being, not just Christians. The fundamental injustice of our world, encompassing every other injustice, is the absence of worship. This truth is seen more clearly when we understand that worship cannot be reduced to singing songs or declarations of praise.
Nor can worship be reduced to animal sacrifices, as might have been supposed in the times of the Old Testament. These are tokens of worship. Now, if the tokens are corrupted or absent, that is certainly terrible, but the totality of worship is only filled out by the complete offering of our lives to God.
He wants our hearts, that his ways would be manifest in every facet of our lives, that there would be no mistake that we are his children. This is Malachi's concern for the people of Israel. Those before the exile had failed to worship God in the way that he's due and now on the other side of the exile, even as the people have returned and as they're trying to build again, the same injustice is emerging.
So we continue on in Malachi looking at verses six through eight.
Now as it's been read, God through his prophet addresses the people and by saying things that are true, saying a son honors his father and a slave, his master, and then he turns this reality upon the people of Israel by asking them this, if I'm a father, where's the honor due me? If I'm a master, where is the respect due me?
What God is calling upon the Israelites to do is to recognize that they owe this worship to God because he is their God and they are his people. And it, and actually kind of brings to mind the 10 Commandments, we think of in Exodus 20:12, the fifth command, honor your father and your mother so that you may live long in the, in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
There's a pattern that's set in honoring our parents. It sets a pattern for us also honoring God as our father.
God is their father, and yet they have not been honoring him. They've been showing contempt for him, and this leads into a bit of a back and forth again. Last week I said there's this whole kind of dialogical style to Malachi. In verse six, they say, how have we shown contempt for your name? God responds by saying, by offering defiled food on my altar.
And verse seven, they also say, how have we defiled you? And then in verse seven, it also says by saying that the Lord's table is contemptible. And the way in which they've implicitly said that the Lord's table is contemptible is by offering animals that are diseased and lame. They, they have not been offering the best of their animals to God and the sacrifices that they've offered.
This leads God to challenge them by saying, if you were to offer these sorts of gifts to your governor, would he accept them or would he be insulted by them, essentially.
Now, God is not dropping these expectations upon them out of thin air. This is something that they knew, something that they knew that they were supposed to do, that they were to offer their best unto God. In Leviticus 22 verses 18 through 20, says speak to Aaron and his sons, and to all the Israelites and say to them, if any of you, whether an Israelite or a foreigner residing in Israel presents a gift for a burnt offering to the Lord, either to fulfill a vow or as a free will offering, you must present a male without defect from the cattle, sheep, or goats in order that it may be accepted on your behalf.
Do not bring anything with a defect because it will not be accepted on your behalf. Now again, we wonder, you know, why does God want these animals? What is God doing here in making all these regulations about sacrifice? The thing that we have to understand about sacrifices, that these sacrifices are signposts, they're revelatory, they're revealing some certain truths.
God does deserve our best in, in the case of an agrarian society, they are offer, they are to offer the best of their animals as gifts unto God. They're offering what they have, what they could possibly give to God. But in offering these things, what it's actually supposed to lead them to consider is how really, truly, they're not only supposed to offer these animals unto God.
They are to offer them very selves unto God, the totality of their lives. And so if they are faithless and just simply offering these animal sacrifices according to the manner in which God expected them to be offered, where else are they being faithless? And as we go forward in Malachi, we'll see exactly the ways in which they've been faithless.
If we go back in time to the time of the prophet Isaiah, we see this pattern going on with sacrifices being offered, but these sacrifices being displeasing because God wants even more than just these animal sacrifices. In Isaiah one, verses 13, and 16 through 17, God says, stop bringing meaningless offerings. Your incense is detestable to me. New moons, sabbaths and convocations, I cannot bear your worthless assemblies. Then he says, wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.
So even if they had been offering right sacrifices, the best of their animals, it's still possibly that they could have been offering meaningless empty sacrifices by the way in which they're living their lives.
But in the time of Malachi, they're not even doing that. They're not even offering the animal sacrifices in the way that they ought to. Now, this dialogue continues into verse nine with a plea that's followed by a reality check. Now again, it's important to remember here that God's addressing all, all the people, but he's addressing them by means of really putting his finger on the priests, because the priests have a particular responsibility here, and the priests are to be interceding for God's people.
So in verse nine, it seems as though they're making this plea before God. Now plead with God to be gracious to us. With such offerings from your hands, will he accept you? Says the Lord Almighty. Oh, that one of you would shut the temple door so that you would not light useless fires on my altar. I'm not pleased with you, says the Lord Almighty, and I'll accept no offerings from your hands.
My name will be great among the nations for, for where, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to me because my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord Almighty. But you profane it by saying the Lord's table is defiled, and, its food is contemptible. And you say, what a burden, and you sniff at it contemptuously, says the Lord Almighty. When you bring injured, lame, or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands? says the Lord. 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. For I am a great king, says the Lord Almighty, my name is to be feared among the nations.
So they have some desire here to make a plea for God to be gracious towards them. But God says, hold up. You're gonna ask for grace even as you continue to offer these second rate sacrifices, even as you continue to dishonor me in the way that you're supposedly worshiping me.
In verse 13, he says, when you bring injured, lame, or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands? Unspoken answer is, no, I shouldn't. And in fact, God says, rather than you offer these, these kinds of sacrifices, I'd rather you shut it all down. Shut the temple, end the sacrifices, end all pretense.
He's sick of their attitude, of how in the process of offering these sacrifices, they're sighing saying, oh, this is such a burden to have to offer these sacrifices, and how is they sniff, like contempt. Ugh, we gotta do this again. Now once again there's, there's a parallel for us to consider here, a parallel for us to consider between their time and our time because the offerings that they're offering are not only sin offerings.
Because when we think about sin offerings, we understand yes, Christ offered himself as our sin offering, as our offering of atonement. And so we no longer have to make any sort of sacrifice along those lines, we, Christ has made amends for us, but the Old Testament has other kinds of sacrifices, burnt offerings, offerings of fellowship, of thanksgiving, free will offerings that is, offerings that are just freely given to God to worship and glorify his name
That has carried on into the present. Not by means of animal sacrifices. The Apostle Paul tells us how this is manifest in our time on the other side of the cross as Christians. In Romans 12 verses one and two, he says, therefore, I urge you brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, wholly and pleasing to God.
This is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you'll be able to test and approve what God's will is-- his good, pleasing, and perfect will.
So we can continue to offer sacrifices of praise to God today. But the way in which we do it is by offering ourselves up to God. Again, not that we would justify ourselves or save ourselves by means of these sacrifices, but simply because this is the worship that God is due.
His due of everything that we have and all that we are. He's due our hearts now. Even here in Malachi, we see how there's anticipation of, of how we too. We who are outside of Israel would be included among the people of God and of how the worship of God would not be limited to Israel, but would spread across the globe.
In verse 11, he says, my, God says my name will be great among the nations from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place, incense and pure offerings will be brought to me because my name will be great among the nations. This is an incredible prophecy. Because for all the Israelites knew, the only place you could offer a right sacrifice to God was in Jerusalem.
And we see this debate go on between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. And Jesus says, there's a day coming when you'll neither worship on this mountain Mount Gerizim or on Mount Zion. But God's people worship him in spirit and in truth. This is what God's prophesying here, incense and pure offerings will be brought to him in every place because his name will be great among the nations.
And this is just, again, an incredible thing. You see this prophecy, you step back and what do you know? That is what we see on this earth today. The name of the Lord being worshiped across the world. In fact, we see elsewhere in the Old Testament of how this is anticipated in Isaiah two, talking about the Lord's temple, how all the nations will stream to it.
Isaiah 56 talks about how the house of the Lord will be a house of prayer for all the nations. In Isaiah 60, the nations will come to your light, the kings to, to the brightness of your dawn and Isaiah 66, even in anticipation of God sending out missionaries across the world, saying, I will send some of those who survive to the nations. They will proclaim my glory among the nations.
And so bringing ourselves back now to this confrontation that God is giving to the people of Israel. This idea of the injustice and the sort of worship that they're offering is brought all the more to the surface in verse 14. It says, cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, and then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord.
So this is especially unjust because at certain times, the Israelites would make a vow to the Lord saying, I vow that I will do, I'll give you this offering. And then later on, the offering that they would follow through in giving was not the best that they had to offer. So it's not even just a free will offering where in a moment, where they might say, you know, I really wanna offer the Lord a sacrifice today and they're just grabbing what they have. They have time to think about what they're going to give to the Lord because they've made a vow and they, they said, I'm gonna follow through in giving this offering to the Lord.
And yet the time comes and they're still not offering their best to the Lord.
It's a travesty because God is due honor and respect and worship because of who he is, what he says in verse 14. For I am a great king. My name is to be feared among the nations. Again, not just Israel, but all the nations. In Zechariah 14:9 it says The Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day, there will be one Lord and his name, the only name.
This word is given to all of Israel, but again, we see here that the priest bears special responsibility. Malachi two, reading verses one through nine. It says and now, you priests, this warning is for you. If you do not listen, and if you do not resolve to honor my name, says the Lord Almighty, I will send a curse on you, and I'll curse your blessings.
Yes, I have already cursed them because you have not resolved to honor me. Because of you, I'll rebuke your descendants; I will smear on your faces the dung from your festival sacrifices, and you'll be carried off with it. And you will know that I have sent you this warning so that my covenant with Levi may continue, says the Lord Almighty.
My covenant was with him, a covenant of life and peace, and I gave them to him; this called for reverence and he revered me and stood in awe of my name. True instruction was his, was in his mouth and nothing false was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace, and uprightness, and turned many from sin. For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, because he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty and people see construction from his mouth.
But you have turned from the way and by your teaching have caused many to stumble; you have violated the covenant with Levi, says the Lord Almighty. So I have caused you to be despised and humiliated before all the people because you have not followed my ways, but have shown partiality in matters of the law.
There's something to understand about the priests they cast in Israel is that they were of the tribe of Levi. Now the tribe of Levi included more than just those that were priests. They included also those who were attendants in the priests, in the temple sanctuary. But for the tribe as a whole, and I guess you could say especially for the priests, right, as the, for the tribe as a whole, they had this covenant with, with God as to who they were supposed to be and what they were supposed to be doing as priests for the people. Now this covenant that seems, that seems to be recalled here, is one that was made between Phineas of the tribe of Levi, at the time in which the men of Israel be, were being led astray to go after foreign women. And the problem wasn't that they were foreign. The problem was is that they were foreign women who were tempting them to go and worship false gods.
And so again, a matter of worship of corrupting the nation of Israel, and Phineas struck down a man and a woman who were engaged in this. And God blessed him because he stood up with great zeal for the honor of the Lord, for the sanctity of his people. That's the sort of zeal that should fill the hearts of the tribe of Levi.
The zealousness for the holiness of the Lord in his honor and worship. And we see in Deuteronomy 33, later on verses eight through 11, when Moses is giving blessings to the various tribes. He says in verse 8 about Levi, he said, your Thummim and Urim belong to your faithful servant. You tested him at Massah; you contended with him at the waters of Meribah. He said of his father and mother, I have no regard for them. He did not recognize his brothers or acknowledge his own children, but he watched over your word and guarded your covenant. He teaches your precepts to Jacob and your law to Israel. He offers incense before you and whole burnt offerings on your altar.
Bless all his skills, Lord, and be pleased with the work of his hands. Strike down those who rise against him, his foes till they rise no more. So we see there in this blessing from Moses how there was this expectation that they would be teachers of the people. They would be leading the people of God in the ways of God, and they enjoyed a blessing for this role that they, they were given by God, but the blessings that they enjoyed it said that is turned to a curse because they've been unfaithful in instructing the people. Before, beforehand, they had been faithful. They enjoyed this covenant of life and peace with God, and they were filled with true awe. They stood before God with awe and respect, and they properly instructed the people. In verse six, it says, true instruction was in his mouth and nothing false was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness and turned many from sin.
And then in verse seven, we see this explicit teaching mandate for the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge because he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty and people seek instruction from his mouth. Now what had happened was that these priests were not teaching the people what they were supposed to be doing.
It was as though the people were bringing these sacrifices that were diseased, broken, lame and they're like, I guess that'll do, rather than correcting the people and teaching them what they ought to be doing and offering correct worship unto God. And so consequently, they're no longer honored, these priests, now they're despised and humiliated because they've been partial in giving instruction to the people. Now, we understand that today Jesus Christ is our great high priest and he intercedes for us. This gets back to the idea of atonement. He is the one who provides the covering for our sins. But there is again, another parallel here between the priests of the Old Testament and leaders in the church, because the role of pastors and elders is to teach the people of God.
My responsibility is to teach you how you should live your life in worship to God. And it's for this reason that the writer of Hebrews in Hebrews 13:17 tells believers this, have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account.
Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be no benefit to you.
I can tell you that's the reality that stands before me as your pastor. The reality that I'm going to have to give account to God and, and this is what spurs me to say and to do difficult things at times. Things that in my own personality and and whatnot, I would not otherwise want to do. But what it comes down to is the fear of God, and also as the Father is teaching me and conforming me, it comes down to me loving you with the love of Christ. It is a matter of upholding justice. Honoring the holiness of God. And so if I can speak a difficult word at this time, I think it would be this, which is that regular participation in the worship services of this church and other churches is not what it should be.
Now, of course, I want to emphasize this with the entirety of my heart. As a pastor, of course, from person to person, we must not jump to conclusions. I'm talking about the thousand foot view here.
There's more space in our pews here and elsewhere, not merely because of deaths, because of health circumstances, or because there are fewer converts to the faith, or even today as it just so happens to be Memorial Day weekend, pews are more empty today than in years gone by because Christians have different priorities than worship. Does this mean a service can never be skipped? Of course not, absolutely not, even Sara and I were went away a couple weeks ago, but I've been doing this long enough and I've spoken with enough pastors to know that we're not imagining that regular participation and worship has declined, and even statistics bear this out. Every generation shows a decline, a general decline in weekly attendance since 2008. That's some statistics from Ryan Burge.
So we must consider this. What would Jesus say to us? Would he say what he says in Luke six forty six? Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say? Of course we understand that all of scripture is the word of God, and Christ is the word incarnate. So all of the word, all of the Bible belongs to Christ.
Why do you call me Lord, Lord and do not do what I say? Whatever we might say, our actions speak louder than words.
We are called to offer up our lives as living sacrifices to God and worship services are the launching point for a life of worship. He is due nothing less than our best. Anything less is cheating the Lord. And let me be clear, you can still be cheating the Lord by offering mere lip service. Muddling through the motions of showing up for worship every Sunday, and I'm sure that that was likely a sin of past generations.
But we must understand this, that worship is a matter of justice, even if it is not just a matter, it's not a matter of superficial compliance. The first and greatest command is to love God. If we love God, worship is not a burden. We do not hold it in contempt. When we love the Lord, we stand in awe of his name and desire with all our heart to worship. This is the kind of people we were created to be.
So what do we do when it's clear that we're coming up short in some regard? Well, what we don't do is deny it. As we see here in this exchange of Malachi, we own up to it. We tell the Lord, you got me. We are free to do this because Jesus has offered himself up as the perfect sacrifice. He held nothing back.
He is who we are supposed to be. And because he has offered himself for our sakes, we can be forgiven and made right before God. The apostle John reminds us of this in first John one verses eight through ten. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we can confess our sins, he's faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. When we have sinned, there's no use denying it. Time to own up to be forgiven and in Jesus Christ, begin living our lives in a way that God gives God His due, a life that is worshipful inside and out.
And you can expect me to help you to do that. God expects me to help you to do that, to teach you the way that you need to go, to both challenge and encourage, so that together we will glorify God, giving unto him the worship that he is due. Let us pray.
Father, when we read a passage like this, it is very easy for us to quickly judge the Israelites and the sacrifices that they offered Father.
Father, please humble us, humble us father to consider in what ways we might be offering you second rate sacrifices. Help us to consider Father, the ways in which we might not be offering all of ourselves to you.
Father allow this to weigh upon us as a matter of justice, not so that we would comply as as this being something, okay, I’ve just got to do it, father and it being burdensome, but Father, so that it would spur us to become the people that you're desiring us to be. A people consumed with love, awe, and zeal for you.
I pray that you would make us that sort of people, father, that you would make your church in America filled by people of that kind, that we would be consumed with a passion for worshiping you. Giving you the glory that you are due. We ask this In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen.
Intro/Outro Song
Title: River Meditation
Artist: Jason Shaw
Source:http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jason_Shaw/Audionautix_Acoustic/RIVER_MEDITATION___________2-58
License:(CC BY 3.0 US)