Complacent Service to God

Introduction

I want to invite you this evening to open in your Old Testament to the book of Malachi. As the older preacher I worked with used to say, you just go to Matthew and take a hard left and you are there. The book of Malachi. And while you’re taking a minute to turn there, I want to I want to thank Mark and Sam for taking up enough time that the sun went further down and I’m not >> [clears throat] >> I don’t know if you know this or not, but we built this building a little bit like Stonehenge.

It marks the seasons. And when the sun shines upon the face of the person doing the announcements, we know that hurricane season has ended in Texas. The beginning of fall has become or has come and uh and you need to get your yearly eye exam. At least Mark does.

I mean, it’s blinding when you’re up here and that’s going on. The best-selling author, Jack Canfield, said that he asks participants in his seminars to list give a list of or he gives them a list of 15 ground rules to agree to as they proceed throughout whatever it is they’re going to do. And what he does, he says he makes them sign a form in their workbook that says, “I agree to keep all these guidelines and ground rules for however long the seminar goes, they agree to these 15 things.” And on the morning of the third day, he asks everyone who has broken one of these ground one of these ground rules to stand up. And he says, “What becomes apparent is how casually we give our word and then how casually we break it.” You know, we have a tendency as human beings to to make commitments that ultimately we do not fill fulfill.

And so we begin things that we have difficulty carrying through with, carrying them to their completion. And unfortunately, one thing that falls into that category for some people is faithful service to God. They may not quit altogether, they may not just walk away and never come back, but they quit giving God their best at some point. And if you were to ask them, they would claim to be servants of God, but it’s not really a faithful service to God.

It’s not a committed service to God. And so for every person who completely walks away from the Lord during the course of the year, I wonder how many people just become complacent or even apathetic about their service to God. They may still go through the motions of that, they they may still show up, but but there’s no true devotion in the things that they are doing. And so what we’re going to find is that the same thing was true of the people in Malachi’s day.

And so it helps if you’re, you know, telling other people to turn to Malachi and then you do that yourself. So give me half a second. There we go. Malachi chapter 1.

>> [clears throat] >> I want us to begin reading in verse 6. A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, if then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear?

says the Lord of hosts to you, oh priests, who despise my name. But you say, “How have we despised your name?” By offering polluted food upon my altar. But you say, “How have we polluted you?” By saying that the Lord’s table may be despised. When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil?

And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor. Will he accept you or show you favor? says the Lord of hosts.

And now entreat the favor of God that he may be gracious to us. With such a gift from your hand, will he show favor to any of you? says the Lord of hosts. Oh, that there were one among you who would shut the doors that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain.

I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, “and I will not accept an offering from your hand. For from the rising of the sun to to its setting, my name will be great among the nations. And in every place, incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord of hosts.

“But you who profane it, when you say that the Lord’s table is polluted, and it’s and its fruit that is, its food may be despised. But you may say, ‘What a weariness this is.’ And you snorted at it,” says the Lord of hosts. “You bring what has been taken by violence, or is lame, or sick. And this you bring as your offering.

Shall I accept that from your hand?” says the Lord. “Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. For I am a great king,” says the Lord of hosts. “And my name will be feared among the nations.” And now, oh priests, let’s go to chapter two.

“And now, oh priests, this command is for you. If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name,” says the Lord of hosts, “then I will send the curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I’ve already cursed them because you do not lay it to heart. Behold, I will rebuke your offspring and spread refuse on your faces, the refuse of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it.

And so shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may stand,” says the Lord of hosts. “My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name.

True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth. For he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.

But you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi,” says the Lord of hosts. “And so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways, but show partiality in your instruction.

There’s a a major premise that underlies what is said in this passage, and that major premise is found in the words spoken by God himself there in chapter 1 verse 14, “I am a great king.” And I want you to to keep those words in mind as as we go through our study this evening. The people of Malachi’s day were assembling, and they were engaging in acts of worship, but they were not giving God the kind of honor that a great king deserves. And so they needed to learn the significance of these words, the words he says in verse 6 of chapter 1, “A son honors his father and a servant his master.” The Lord was not being honored by his people in Malachi’s day. And it’s not that the people of Israel didn’t recognize the need to to give honor to whom honor was due.

They understood the principle, and yet they they still failed to live up to that, to give honor to the one who is worthiest of all. And the truly sad thing about all of this is that the people were not even aware that they had lost their respect for God. The Hebrew word for honor carries with it the idea of giving weight to something. And the people of Israel were doing just the opposite of that.

They were taking God lightly. They denied that they were doing that, but that’s exactly what they were doing. They were They were taking God lightly, and as a result of that, they were taking everything that was associated with him lightly as well. And the question we need to ask ourselves is, are we ever guilty of doing the same thing?

1. God Is Not Honored by Second-Rate Offerings

And so the first thing that I want us to do in our lesson this evening is I want us to notice several things that are mentioned in our passage that dishonor God. And there are three of them, and we’ll talk about them quickly. The first of them is this, God is not honored by second-rate offerings. You see, the people in Malachi’s day, they were offering animals as sacrifice to God that were sick, or they were lame, or they were blind.

And not only did that go what against what was said in the law of Moses about that, about what they were to offer, but it seems to me that it went against common sense, as well. They wouldn’t have offered animals like that to their governor, to, you know, in in a in a situation where they were trying to impress somebody, and I suspect deep down they knew better than to offer them to God, but their hearts were not right. And so, if there’s one principle that comes through in the Bible, it’s that God has always expected the very best that a person has to give, and nothing less than that. He wants what people offer to him to come from the top, rather than from the leftovers at the bottom.

And and isn’t that really what scripture tells us time and time again? In Matthew chapter 6 and verse 33, for example, Jesus would talk about seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Make that priority one. And the reason God has always expected the best that a person has to give is because he knows that second-rate offerings are never the result of first-rate devotion.

Just doesn’t work that way. And so, when people offer second-rate offerings, that is always a sign that there is something that is being placed before God. And so, let me ask you this evening, do we bring the very best that we have to give to God? And it doesn’t matter what aspect of our service we may talk about, we need to give him the very best that we have.

2. God’s Not Honored with Half-Hearted Worship

Malachi tells us that God is not honored with the leftovers. But second, I want you to see that God’s not honored with half-hearted worship, either. You see, the priests were acting like service in the temple was a a a tedious obligation, rather than an awesome privilege. In fact, it seems to me that they were uh complaining about everything.

You know, their food came from the animals that were being offered, and they were saying things like this this food is contemptible, and concerning their daily obligations as priests to offer those sacrifices, they’re saying, “This is wearing me out. I’m getting tired of this.” in essence. And you can see that this was kind of just a burden to them. They were still going through the motions of worship, no doubt about that, but they were doing so, you might say, with a have-to kind of attitude, rather than a want-to attitude.

You know, there’s a there’s a passage in the book of Micah where the Lord would ask his people, Micah chapter 6 and verse 3, he would say to his people, “O my people, what have I done to you? How have I wearied you?” And the Lord, of course, hadn’t done anything to weary them. That wasn’t the problem. The problem with the people in Micah’s day was that they had the wrong attitude about things.

And the the same thing could be said about the people or the priests in Malachi’s day as well. I find it interesting that the Lord primarily addresses the priests in this passage. Uh these men were in charge of the worship services. They not only offered the sacrifices, but also instructed the people.

And so, it’s really no wonder that the people were in the condition that they were in. The men who were teaching them and the men who were offering sacrifices the sacrifices that they brought were part of the problem here instead of being part of the solution. And so, the Lord had given them this great honor of standing before the people to instruct them and to help them in in in in giving their offerings to God. But they were acting like this was a tremendous burden.

Shouldn’t be surprising that the people therefore followed their example, the example set by the priests themselves. And so, people like this uh passages like this one should make us take a serious look at ourselves, I think. Do we ever act like serving God is a a burden that we are forced to bear? I mean, are we ever guilty of offering God half-hearted worship because of that, because of the way we choose to see things?

We need that God would rather have no worship at all than to accept our half-hearted worship. I think that’s the point there in Malachi chapter 1 and verse 10 where he says, “O that there were one among you who would shut the doors that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain. I have no pleasure in you,” says the Lord of hosts. And I will not accept an offering from your hand.

Did God not want them to offer? No, he did. Just not the way they were doing it. If that’s how you’re going to do it, if that’s how you’re going to worship me, the Lord was saying to them, “Just stop doing it all together.

I’m not going to accept it anyway.” And I’ll tell you what, that ought to make us think. How how often do we measure spiritual success in terms of how often the doors are open? But if you look at what the Lord said here, you might have to come to terms with the fact that there are times when God would just as soon have churches close their doors. They’re going to worship him in in a half-hearted kind of way.

3. God Is Not Honored by Watered-Down Teaching

And we need to see worship and service to God as a great privilege that we enjoy rather than as a great burden that we have to bear. God is not honored by half-hearted worship. And then third, God is not watered Our God is not honored by watered-down teaching. The Lord said in chapter 2 verse 7, that the lips of a priest should guard knowledge and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.

Now, were the priests in Malachi’s day doing that? Apparently not. As I said earlier, they were part of the problem here. And their teaching had caused Israel to stumble.

If you If you want to know why the people were bringing animals that were sick and lame and blind, it’s evidently because the priests were accepting them. They were allowing them to do that. And so you go back to the law of Moses, Deuteronomy chapter 17 and verse 1. The law said, “You shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep in which is a blemish, any defect whatever, for that is an abomination to the Lord your God.” It really just couldn’t be clearer.

And yet the priests had apparently watered down the standards that God had set for his people, and as a result of that, the people began off offering sacrifices that were in keeping with the instruction they received. And I suppose there’s always been a temptation for those who preach or who teach to to water down what God has said. Preachers and teachers want to be liked. That doesn’t always seem that way, I grant you that, but they do.

Believe it or not, you know, most of them don’t want to cause trouble or or turmoil or anything like that, but there are times when we have to say things that are uncomfortable for people. And there is always a temptation to to water down those things so that more people will be pleased with what we say. Always that temptation. And so I think that we, all of us really, but especially those of us who preach and teach, we have to ask ourselves some questions.

Whom are we trying to please? Whose opinion of our work is most important to us? You know, the Apostle Paul would say in 2 Timothy 4 and verse 3 that the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions. And one thing that is implied in that is that there will be teachers who are willing to accommodate people who want that.

4. God Is Worthy of Honor

But God’s not honored when we when we water down his word. When we when we change the standard, that doesn’t bring honor to him. And so despite the fact that there were those who dishonored God in the days of Malachi, just as there are those today who do the same thing, God is worthy of honor. And the people of Malachi’s day may not have may not have been serving God faithfully and giving him the kind of honor that he deserves, but I want you to notice what God said to them in chapter 1 and verse 11.

He said, “For from the rising of the sun to its setting, my name will be great among the nations. And in every place incense will be offered to my name and a pure offering, for my name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord of hosts. God deserves to be honored. And what he was telling the people of Malachi’s day is that it would be.

And when he said that, I think he was looking toward the future, at least from that point in time. And although he was talking primarily about the future here, he does kind of look back for just a moment, and he talks about a time when his name was honored the way it was it deserves. In verse 5 of chapter 2, “My covenant with Levi,” he says. My my covenant was with him, a covenant of life and peace, and I gave them to him.

Uh this called for reverence, and he revered me and stood in all of my name. That’s the way one translation puts that. In other words, there was a time when the practice of the priests matched their calling. And the Lord never forgot that.

And what the Lord was telling the people in Malachi’s days that there would come a time when some would be zealous for God’s honor once again. And and look again at what he says there in chapter 1 and verse 11. But from the rising of the sun to its setting, my name will be great among the nations, not just great in Israel. He said it would be great among the nations.

And at that time worship would no longer be attached to the temple, but rather he says in in verse 11 also that in every place pure offerings will be brought to my name. In every place. I think that’s again looking down to the point in time in which we live. The prophecy that ultimately talks about the church.

And it seems to me that he was at least in part referring to the same kind of thing that Jesus was talking about when he met the woman at the at the Samaritan woman at the well. In John chapter 4 and verses 21 and following. Jesus would say to that Samaritan woman, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain or in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know.

We worship what we know for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming and it’s now here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” That’s what God wants from us. The Apostle Peter would say in 1 Peter 2 and verse 9, he’d say about Christians, “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” God raised up a new priesthood to replace the one that had become bored with him.

But I want to ask you this question tonight. Are we living up to our calling? Are we doing our part? Are we doing what we are supposed to do?

5. Take It to Heart: Make the Choice to Honor God

It may be that we need to listen to the appeal made by the Lord to the priests in Malachi’s day. He appealed to them to take it to heart to give honor to his name. Look at the way he words that. In verse 1 and 2 of chapter 2.

And now, oh priests, this command is for you. If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I’ve cursed them already because you do not lay it to heart. We serve a God who is worthy of honor, and that’s something that we, as his people, have to take to heart.

And one thing that I think is at least implied in those words is that honoring God is a deliberate choice. We need to recognize that it’s not something that just occurs naturally. It’s not going to happen by accident just because we’ve gathered together at a particular time and in a particular place. In fact, if the history of God’s people tells us anything, it’s that there is a constant danger of us slipping into complacency and indifference.

We see that same pattern repeated time and time again in the scriptures, and we have seen that same pattern repeated time and time again in the lives of God’s people today. Make the choice to honor God. The way we honor God is by giving him our best. Not just giving him something, but giving him our best.

And in Mark chapter 12 and verse 13, Jesus quoted from the Old Testament, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, with all your strength.” And whatever else you might say about those words, one thing is clear, God expects for us to give everything we have to give in our service to him. The point is that we are to love God with all that we are. And in practical terms, what that means is that we give him our best in every area of our lives. And so, the question, have you been giving him your best?

You know the answer to that question. You may be the only person other than God who knows the answer to that question, but you know it. I can assure you that I I don’t speak this evening as someone who doesn’t struggle with the very things that we’ve been talking about. I think we all struggle with this.

We struggle with giving God our very best at times. But the point of this lesson is that our best is not only what God deserves, but it’s also what he wants and what he expects as well. In fact, anything else will not do. He is a great king and his name will be honored among the nations.

Conclusion

He is worthy. And so, if you haven’t been giving God the kind of honor that he deserves, I hope this lesson’s help you to recognize that. And I hope it’s encouraged you to to I hope it’s made you want to do better in that regard. And if you’re here tonight and we can help you along those lines, we want to do that.

We may have some of the audience this evening who’ve never obeyed the gospel of Christ. We want you to want you to think seriously about doing that. Don’t put that off anymore. If you know what God expects of you, why not follow through with that?

If you don’t know what God expects of you, then come and talk with me. We’ll talk about that. We’ll open our Bibles and we’ll just look at what the scriptures say along those lines. But maybe at some point you obeyed the gospel of Christ and and somewhere along the way you quit giving God your best.

That’s true, then why not tonight make the decision to change that? If we can help you along those lines, we ask you to come as we stand and as we sing. >> Here is