A man and his wife had been married for 30 years when one day he came home to find his wife in the kitchen crying. “What in tarnation is wrong with you, Martha?” Through her tears Martha blurted out, “Henry, why don’t you ever tell me you love me?” Henry replied, “Martha when we were married, I told you that I loved you, and if I ever changed my mind, I’d let you know.”
How do you know somebody loves you? How do you show somebody you love them? Those are some very important questions in our relationship with our spouse, with our children, with our family, and with God. It is important for you and I to know that God loves us, and then to know how we should communicate our love for Him.
God loved the people to whom Malachi wrote, and they said that they loved God, but they did not show it.
Let me remind you of the situation that Malachi is addressing.
The people have returned to their land after living in the area that is now modern-day Iraq for 70 years. The Temple has been rebuilt and the worship of God has been reestablished. But times are not easy. Life is tough and there are still many fears and challenges. The times created a spirit of un-satisfaction in the people that effected their commitment to honor God.
As God’s spokesman at the end of the Old Testament, Malachi was to challenge them, and us, to continue to honor God with our best.
This morning we will discover that people should honor God because of His worth. His “Worthship.” If we love something it means we will honor, cherish, treasure and value it.
Let’s focus on a couple of ways to honor God:
1. We should Practice Reverence in our Faith (vv. 6-7)
“A son honors his father, And a servant his master. If then I am the Father, Where is My honor? And if I am a Master, where is My reverence?” – Malachi 1:6
The message that Malachi presented was not an illustration of voluntary behavior or a request for an attitude improvement. Notice it was the priests that this was addressed to because they should have known better. They were told that they were disobeying their Father and Master.
There are two important reasons that they should honor God.
- Their culture: In the ancient Hebrew culture a son would have no choice, but to obey his parents and a slave had no choice, but to respect his master, or indeed “fear” him.
- Their faith: The people knew that God referred to Himself as their Father back in
Exodus 4:22: “This is what the LORD says: Israel is my firstborn son.”
To “honor” someone is to consider them worthy. The word “honor” when used as a noun means: high respect; great esteem, an adherence to what is right, a conventional standard of conduct. When the word “honor” is used as a verb it means: regard with great respect, to fulfill an obligation, and keep an agreement.
In Malachi’s day, the people were in a covenant relationship with God. But, they were breaking their covenant and defiling GOD’s authority and disobeying His will. Ironically, they continued to argue with God in verse 6…
To you priests who despise My name. Yet you say, ‘In what way have we despised Your name?’ – Malachi 1:6
A name has a rich and substantial purpose in Old Testament Biblical theology. In fact, there is a discipline in itself called “name theology.” A name in Hebrew culture conveys a conceptual semantic range of meanings. A name meant character, significance, power, authority, presence, essence and representation. (our next bible hour topic we will be studying the names of God.)
The essential basis for the Old Testament names for God was the fact that God’s greatness is incomprehensible and immeasurable. We encounter the essence of God in the Old Testament through His names that He gives to us to help our understanding and knowledge of Him.
Now notice the name God gave in this context “The LORD of Hosts”. Impressively, we’ll read this title “The Lord of Hosts” 23 times in this short book. A literal translation of “the LORD of Hosts” is “Yahweh almighty.” But the name “Yahweh” was so sacred that the scribes would never use it. This name would end up being translated to “LORD.” These words “The Lord of Host” mean that God has all authority at His disposal. And importantly the name conveys that He deserves to be honored because He is the Highest!
Let’s come back to the text.
You offer defiled food on My altar, but say, ‘In what way have we defiled You?’ By saying, ‘The table of the Lord is contemptible.’ – Malachi 1:7
This word “contemptible” means “polluted” or “stale.” This description refers to the bread offering for the table of show bread, which was to be presented as an honor to God.
In our context, there were two ways that they dishonored God’s name in their worship.
- They defiled God’s name by bringing unworthy food offerings. Food offerings were to be a gift that indicated what they thought of the recipient.
Verse 8 has the second way they dishonored God’s name.
And when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, Is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and sick,
Is it not evil? Offer it then to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you favorably?” Says the Lord of hosts. – Malachi 1:8
- They defiled God’s name by bringing in blemished sacrifices. Animal offerings represented God’s blessings and provision for them.
(both of these offerings came to fulfillment in the sacrifice of Christ.)
So, in their offerings, they were defiling God’s name. Recall back in Isaiah 1:11-16 God told the people that it was better to have no sacrifices than vain ones.
“To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?” Says the Lord. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs or goats. “When you come to appear before Me, Who has required this from your hand, to trample My courts? Bring no more futile sacrifices; Incense is an abomination to Me. The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies— I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; They are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil.” – Isaiah 1:11-16
You might ask why would the priests would accept these types of offerings?
- Indifference: Sick animals were the ones chosen for whole burnt offerings since it was not allowed for anyone to eat any of them.
- Scandal: Bribes accompanied submission of a lower animal.
- Greed: Large numbers of lower quality animals were accepted over one unblemished.
- Pride: By making the offerings easier the priest received a higher income. Both the priest and the worshipper received a portion of many sacrifices to eat or sell in the market.
- Competition: Neighboring nations and tribes allowed loose standards for sacrifices. (especially the Canaanites & Philistines)
- Heart: Ultimately, it was a private decision between the worshipper and God. Only the person knew what they had to offer from their livestock.
The judgement is directed to the priests because they knew better not to allow that behavior to go on in worship, but the people were to blame also.
The Old Testament perspective on all possessions is that the best and first never belonged to the owner, but always belonged to God. See, the offerings represented the worth of God from the people. The offerings were symbols of their dedication to God and the offerings were repeated to remind them of the nature of His holiness, and means of His forgiveness and blessing.
Exodus 23:19: “The best of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God.”
Our worship (offering) reveals our attitude towards God. He is worthy of our best. He is the Lord of Hosts! He is almighty! And because He is so great, He deserves the best that we possess.
To honor God; we must be reverent with our faith. The 2nd way that we honor God is to…
2. Make God our Priority and not our Possessions (v. 8)
We could sum up Israel’s problem by saying that they were suffering from SARS – Severe Acute Religious Syndrome – and it was highly contagious. Look again at v. 8
And when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, Is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and sick,
Is it not evil? Offer it then to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you favorably?” Says the Lord of hosts. – Malachi 1:8
What’s going on here? What was happening was that the priests were accepting not just the second best from the people. It was much worse than that. They allowed people to bring God sick sheep and gross goats. They were offering the ones that weren’t worth anything to them! God tells them to try and offer these to the governor and see if he would accept them.
Imagine if we were invited to visit an important political leader and brought him a gift of a used and broken object we had laying around?
Imagine the parade of blemished animals limping and stumbling blindly toward the Temple. What did that tell the other nations about their view of God or God’s worth?
God says, “is that not evil?” twice in this verse because certainly the priests and the people knew better. The Priests knew these sacrificial laws by heart, it was a requirement for the job. That conveys that the problem was not accidental it was purposeful.
In Leviticus 22:19-20, God made it very clear that He was not interested in blemished sacrifices.
“Tell Aaron and his sons to treat with respect the sacred offerings the Israelites consecrate to me, so they will not profane my holy name. I am the LORD…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.” – Leviticus 22:19-20.
It is a wonder why people would hold back on their offerings, but we still do this today. I was part of a church that had a monthly “pot luck.” There were people that were proud to tell others that they would bring a bag of chips or some unwanted pantry food they received or bought and then happily feast on the food that others brought.
A New Testament principle that explains how God is to be worshipped is in how we take care of His people, “His body”. ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.” – Matthew 25:40. I know you might think of this verse in giving to others in need but have you thought of this verse in this context?
The question: Why do people hold back from God? Maybe because they value themselves more than God and His name? Our passage reveals that the people in Malachi’s day were more concerned with keeping what they had, in place of honoring God.
- Their hearts weren’t dedicated to God and His name.
- They still came to worship, but it was just a ritual to them.
- They had accepted mediocrity in their lives and their leaders did nothing about it.
The main idea is that God and anything done in His name deserves our priority.
I hope that you and I are challenged by this passage because God held the priests accountable. In the New Testament, we are called priests.“But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” 1 Peter 2:9. A priest has a heavy responsibility, are we setting the example, are we showing to others God’s worth!
One example of “worthship” is in the account of Mary of Bethany, found in John 12.
She loved Jesus so much that she owned a precious gift that she could give that would be the most appropriate expression of her devotion. She had been abundantly forgiven and so she wanted to give greatly. She took an alabaster jar of expensive perfume, which was worth almost a year’s salary for a common working person. She went to Jesus with the jar, broke it, and spilled it out on His feet. The whole house was permeated with perfume and the aroma went up to God in recognition of His weightiness. She gave God His worth to her.
Are you giving God his worth?
God should never get our seconds or be given less priority than first place! He should receive what is right, not what is left! When the Israelites did give to God, it helped them to remember that everything they had was a gift from Him and He was greater than their possessions.
Are you giving God your best?
Are you striving to give Him first place?
Is your offering a sacrifice for God?
Are you giving Him priority over your possessions?
One of the best ways to monitor how you’re doing spiritually is to take a look at your worship to Him.