Introduction
The Lord willing, we'll return to Joshua next week. Tonight, I want to look at the sin of careless worship. I know that we looked at Malachi in the not-too-distant past, so this might be a bit of review or refresher. It is Reformation Day-ish sort of material.
An emphasis at the time of the Protestant Reformation was on worship. In fact, in his tract, the necessity to reform the church John Calvin's primary goal, the first order of business, was to strive to recover purity in worship. And the second goal was to make known the way of salvation. So worship was certainly imperative or crucial for the reformers, and it certainly has been the case throughout the history of the world.
God obviously has mandated vis-a-vis the second commandment that he takes worship seriously. And here in Malachi's day, they were not taking worship seriously. Specifically, verses 6 to 14 deal with the issue of worship. I'll just pick up reading, however, in verse 1.
We'll read the chapter, and then we'll look at verses 6 to 14.
Scripture Reading: Malachi 1
The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. I have loved you, says the Lord. Yet you say, in what way have you loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother, says the Lord?
Yet Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated, and laid waste his mountains and his heritage for the jackals of the wilderness. Even though Edom has said, we have been impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places. Thus says the Lord of hosts, they may build, but I will throw down. They shall be called the territory of wickedness and the people against whom the Lord will have indignation forever.
Your eyes shall see and you shall say, the Lord is magnified beyond the border of Israel. 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, says the Lord of hosts, to you priests who despise my name?
Yet you say, in what way have we despised your name? You offered defiled food on my altar, but say, in what way have we defiled you? By saying, the table of the Lord is contemptible. 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.
But now entreat God's favor that he may be gracious to us. While this is being done by your hands, will he accept you favorably, says the Lord of hosts? Who is there even among you who would shut the doors so that you would not kindle fire on my altar in vain? I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, nor will I accept an offering from your hands.
For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, my name shall be great among the Gentiles. In every place, incense shall be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name shall be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts. But you profane it, and that you say, the table of the Lord is defiled, and its food is contemptible.
You also say, oh, what a weariness, and you sneer at it, says the Lord of hosts. And you bring the stolen, the lame, and the sick. Thus you bring an offering. Should I accept this from your hand, says the Lord.
But cursed be the deceiver who has in his flock a male and takes a vow, but sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. For I am a great king, says the Lord of hosts. And my name is to be feared among the nations. Amen.
Worship, the Regulative Principle, and Malachi
Well, not only the second commandment legislates and mandates acceptable worship unto God, the end of the book of Hebrews highlights this as well. In Hebrews chapter 12 at verse 25, the writer brings the exhortation portion of the letter to an end. Chapter 13 more is closing remarks and exhortations. In chapter 12, verse 25, He says, see that you do not refuse him who speaks.
For if they did not escape who refused him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth. But now he has promised, saying, yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven. Now this yet once more indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire." So the emphasis in both testaments on the worship of God is on purity.
We are to come to the Lord in the manner or in the way that He ordains or He prescribes. Call this the regulative principle of worship. We do that which is commanded by God Most High. but it's not enough to simply go through the motions, just to sing the hymns or to pray or to read scripture. We need to bring the heart as well.
And that's primarily the emphasis here in the book of Malachi, at least in chapter one. They were going through the motions. They were going to the temple. They were bringing sacrifice or animals to offer up.
The time that this book was written was probably the latter half or the latter portion of the 5th century BC, so in about 433 to 425 is when Malachi wrote, prophesied to the people of Israel. So the second temple was rebuilt by this time, so that was in place, it was in order, but we see that it didn't take long for them to fall back into patterns that were symptomatic of their life. prior to the destruction of the first temple or Solomon's temple. So we see here that the nature or the tendency of man is while we reform for a time, we tend to fall back into those patterns of lawlessness and heartlessness and that's what the prophet here is coming to condemn.
Sermon Outline Announced
You want to look at three things in verses 6 to 14. First, the accusation by God or the complaint offered by the Lord. Secondly, the response of the people. And thirdly, just some facts or some observations concerning careless worship.
We ought to desire careful worship, not careless worship. That is what is going on here in Malachi.
God's Complaint: Failure to Honor Him
But notice first, with reference to God's complaint, or the accusation offered by the Lord through the prophet, He speaks of them failing to honor Him. So when we come to the Lord in a careless manner, when we do not bring the heart, when we do not obey Him in terms of the prescribed manner to which we worship, it is a failure to honor Him. That is what is at stake when it comes to worship. This shouldn't just be something that is typical or something that was required by God in Malachi's day, but each and every Lord's day, every Sabbath day that we come together, we ought to seek to honor the Lord.
He gives this analogy in verse 6. He says, 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?
I think it's here that so often times we lose our way as the people of God or when it comes to church. Church has become a place where my needs have to be met. Church has become a place where my desires have to be fulfilled. Church has become a place where it is so man-centered And where it is so anthropocentric, that means man-centered, that God is forgotten.
And the primary emphasis in temple worship and in church worship The primary emphasis on the Sabbath day is the reality that we are to honor the Lord God Most High. That's the point of worship. We have been saved. We've been called out of darkness into marvelous light, according to Peter, to proclaim His excellencies.
That is precisely what Peter says in 1 Peter chapter 2. In fact, you can look there, just so you can see it for yourselves that I'm not making this up. There is a purpose for which we are saved, and it is to glorify, to honor, and to praise the Lord. Notice in 1 Peter 2, verse 9.
He says, you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people. All of these old covenant terms, all of these terms applied to old covenant Israel are herein applied to new covenant Israel, the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And notice there's a purpose in view. That you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. who once were not a people, but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy." So working around, working through this text, we're called out of darkness into marvelous light.
We once were not a people, now we are the people of God. We have obtained mercy. And the reason why we have been given these blessings and these benefits is not so much so that we can just sit around and say, isn't it wonderful to be the elect of God? No, isn't God wonderful for having called us out of darkness into marvelous light? reverence and honor and fear and acceptable worship is what the Lord God calls us to with reference to salvation.
The specific target in the Lord's complaint according to Malachi 1.6 is the priests. He says, if I am a master where is my reverence says the Lord of hosts to you priests who despise my name. The whole context here beginning in 1.6 all the way to 2.9 is primarily an indictment against the priests. The idea seems to be this, that when the leadership has faltered, when the priesthood is not doing what they're supposed to be doing, then surely the people of Israel are not following as they ought.
In other words, if they're being taught wrong, they are going to engage in a false worship. But having said that, they are not off the hook. Jesus condemns the Pharisees of his day. He says, let them alone, talking to the disciples, they are blind leaders of the blind, and if the blind leads the blind, both will fall. into a ditch.
So even though the priesthood was corrupt, that does not free the people. The people can't say, well it's this corrupt priesthood that you've stationed over us, that's why we're worshiping you without honor and without glory and reverence and those sorts of things. Certainly there was a faithful remnant even in the midst of Malachi's day, but the people as a whole following the priesthood was not revering, was not honoring, was not glorifying God. And in fact, what is the opposite?
If you're not honoring, if you're not revering, if you're not fearing and glorifying, the Lord says here it is, to despise my name. So when we come before God and we don't bring the heart, or we come before God in a manner not prescribed by Him, when we are engaged in a self-willed approach to God, it is not to honor Him at that point, it is to despise Him. Remember what Paul says with reference to the Lord's Supper. He basically says, I don't know what you all are doing, but it is not taking the Lord's Supper.
When you come to the house of God and you manifest disunity, when you manifest such a breach of the oneness of the Church of Christ, you're not engaged in the Lord's Supper. Even though you're going through the motions, even though you may be playing church, that is not what you are doing. So in Malachi's day, when they brought the sacrifice and they went to the temple, instead of reverence and honor, it was actually to despise the name of God Most High. So it's a very grave or a very serious issue that is being dealt with here.
Worship is one of the primary things, it is the primary thing or one of the primary reasons why we've been saved. God saves us from our worship of idols. He turns us to Himself as the true and living God and we are to give ourselves wholly and fully unto Him. So they did not honor him.
Perversion of Sacrifice
Secondly, they perverted sacrifice. You see that in verses 7 and 8, and then again in verse 12. You offer defiled food on my altar. Verse 8, and when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, Leviticus stipulated, chapter 22, verses 17 to 25, that defective animals were not to be offered as a sacrifice.
This is a no-brainer, isn't it? Sacrifice means it hurts, doesn't it? If there is no pain, and I don't mean we're cutting ourselves or anything strange like that, but it's just amazing to me that we've lost what sacrifice is all about. Sacrifice by definition costs us something, whether it be time, whether it be talent, whether it be money, whatever it may be.
Sacrifice by definition has to cost us something. Now, when you looked out at your flock on the day before the Sabbath, and you saw the mangy animals, you probably thought, well, I can't sell them at the marketplace, so I'll just give them to God. That's not a sacrifice. That is to despise.
It is to engage in an evil act. You offer defiled food on my altar, and when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, God stipulated, God mandated that you bring the best of the animals. It is not your prerogative to say, well, I don't want to bring the best of my animals, I'd rather bring the worst of my animals. What we are saying then is that God is deserving of what?
Not our best, but God is deserving of our worst. When we come rolling out of bed at the last minute and we've got bed head and we've got bad breath and We're indicating to God, you know, that's all you get. If I was going on a date or I was going to meet some political figure, I'd certainly comb my hair, I'd certainly, you know, drag a toothbrush across my choppers, because I don't want to offend that person. Why don't we think that way when it comes to God?
In Malachi's day, the way around giving honor and praise to God was grabbing the worst of the animals. Verse 12 is an amazing thing too. Verse 12, he says, but you profane it in that you say the table of the Lord is defiled and its food is contemptible. And then in verse 13, you bring the stolen, the lame, and the sick, thus you bring an offering.
Now, to steal a sacrifice really undoes the whole thing. I mean, now you've compounded breaking the commandments exponentially. You're not only not honoring God vis-a-vis the second commandment, but you're also stealing from some person and you're breaking the Eighth Commandment. As a rule, as a general rule, to steal something and then to offer it up as a sacrifice really guts the whole concept of sacrifice.
Not only does it not cost you anything, but you're depriving someone else of something that belongs to them. When you look at this, it's kind of amazing to see how far that a people could fall. I mean, it's bad enough they pick the mangy one out of the flock, but then on the way to the temple, they steal one. I can't imagine a child saying, Dad, what are you doing?
I'm stealing an animal so that we can sacrifice it to the Lord. There's the father of the year in Israel for you. I mean, that guy is just a bad man. But this kind of thing happens today.
It's easy to look at Malachi 1. 6 to 14 and say, well, I would never do that. I would never withhold from God. I would only ever seek to give Him my very best. Well, what does Paul say in Romans 12?
We are to give our bodies as a living sacrifice. That's our rational, our reasonable, our spiritual service unto the Lord. In other words, God demands all. It is not our prerogative to give Him anything less than all.
So the Lord God here describes this activity as evil. So notice in verse 6 he says it is to despise his name and then here in verse 8 he says, is it not evil? You know how many of us see the evil of adultery? And we should.
How many of us see the evil of theft? Or we see the evil of murder? Or we see the evil of lying. How many of us see the evil of what is probably happening in many churches on a regular basis?
A worship that is not prescribed by God and a worship that is undergone simply in an external fashion. That's evil. It's wretched. It's unholy.
It's ungodly and the Lord is upset about it with reference to the people in Malachi's day.
Boredom in Worship
Notice thirdly, by way of the condemnation, they are bored in worship. Verse 13, you also say, oh, what a weariness. The idea is, I can't be bothered with this. It's a real pain.
It's real drudgery. It's a real chore for me to undergo this. Does not the Lord know my time? is valuable. My animals are valuable.
My life is valuable. I can't waste it, if you will, spending it in the house of God, giving him those hours that he demands on Sunday. What a weariness. I think this one, of all of them, probably touches closest to home in terms of New Covenant Christianity.
Now, I grant there can be boring preaching. I grant there can be boring elements or boring circumstances that may not be the most pleasing thing in the world. But when the Word of God is preached and songs of praise are offered up to the Lord and biblical prayers are rendered, that shouldn't be weariness to the people of God. The people of God who have been bought with precious blood, who have the Spirit of God do not need to be entertained.
They shouldn't need to be. They shouldn't need to be coaxed into approaching God. They shouldn't need to be bribed into approaching God. They shouldn't need to be coddled with reference to approaching God.
The blood-bought child of God who has the Spirit of God, when those elements of biblical worship are undergone, they find joy in it. It's not a weariness. It's not a drag. It's not boring.
It's not something that they can't stand. Now, when the ungodly or the non-Christian rolls his eyes and says, there's no way I want to sit through an hour-long sermon, that's still not right. God demands every man hear His Word. But when the children of God can't think past a 10-minute sermonette, when the children of God can't sing a top lady hymn or a Newton hymn or a heart hymn without saying, oh, what a weariness, I mean, those things are packed. with sound theology.
Sunday night at the quarterly meeting that I attended, it's the Southern California churches, the Reformed Baptist churches, the months that have a fifth Sunday, they have a quarterly meeting. And all those churches, all those people, not every single one, but a good deal of people gather together. We sang a Baxter hymn. I would have preferred a top lady hymn, but a Baxter hymn.
Now, it was a pretty decent hymn. Nevertheless, the words were good. The words were reverent to the Lord. And even though I might prefer a top lady hymn for theological reasons, nevertheless, it was a good thing to be with the people of God and singing the praises of God.
So I just don't get this mindset. I've heard people come to our church and say it's boring. Again, yeah, I'm not saying we're the most exciting group that's ever been, but the idea that psalms and hymns are somehow boring, I just don't get it. I guess because I was reared in a Reformed Baptist context, I don't know how droning on 15 times about, Jesus, I love you, How that's exciting, but singing 440 or singing a top lady or a Newton hymn, how that's unexciting.
I mean, that doctrine grips the soul. That doctrine resonates with the child of God. When you sing back to God his great redemptive truth, there's something exhilarating that the soul should find in that. Or the singing of the Psalms, the singing of the Psalter.
When we sing of the righteousness of God and the wickedness of sin, I mean, yeah, I guess To some people that doesn't seem that exciting, but to the child of God it really should be something that encourages our heart and we don't say, oh what a weariness. This is drudgery. This is a rejection of God. The Lord says, should I accept? and offering from your hands?
Should I receive such things from you?" Notice God then pronounces judgment upon this sort of a situation. Verse 14 indicts. Verse 14 is a promise of condemnation. He says, Cursed be the deceiver who has in his flock a male and takes a vow, but sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished.
You see what he says there? Cursed be the deceiver. You have in your flock a male, a fit male, one that is worthy of sacrifice. You even take a vow to that, and yet you end up sacrificing to the Lord what is blemished.
God says that's not okay, that's not alright. It isn't acceptable that you bring the last or you bring the least or you bring the worst to the living and true God. Curse it be the deceiver. How is it that we have more energy for other activities?
How is it that we have more fire in our hearts for hockey or for football or for basketball or for you know, knitting or whatever your particular, you know, enjoyment might be. I get that all the ladies aren't into hockey and football and basketball, but I don't know who would get fired up about knitting, but I think you follow the trail here. Or cooking. Oh, you're so delighted about this cake that you're making.
And yet, when it comes to God, it really doesn't matter. I think Malachi 1, 6-14 is a lot more applicable to us than we sometimes realize. Is Sunday just attack on? Is Sunday, you know, just what we have to do?
Or is it something that we are thrilled about? I mean, that's what God says. God says, cursed be the deceiver. who has in his flock a male and takes a vow, but sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished." I think a high view of church, a high view of corporate worship goes a long way to instill in us an excitement for the things of God. You've probably heard Kam and I quoting Psalm 87, verse 1.
His foundation is in the holy mountains. And then verse 2, the Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Is it Richard Steele that wrote that sermon? Is that the name?
I don't think it was Richard Steele. The sermon that public worship is to be preferred over private worship. Pietism says it's all about me. Biblical Christianity says it's all about God.
And God loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. There is something that God delights in. I mean, it's not that he's mad at you when you read your Bible in your closet. He loves that.
But there is something great to God when the people of God gather together in corporate worship to call upon him. The Puritans saw this, that public worship was to be preferred over private. Now, by that, they didn't mean don't worship privately. But what they wrote against and what they militated against was this privatized individualism that the Bible really doesn't sanction.
I heard a sermon recently or a study on the rise of pietism in America, and Pastor Ron Baines says that familiar maxim that has been popularized today by a certain preacher, God is most glorified in me when I am most satisfied in him. Baines asks, where's the church in that arrangement? Where's the corporate people of God? You see, there's something more important than us as individuals.
It is the bride of Christ. It is his people. The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Again, it doesn't mean he hates the dwellings of Jacob.
He hates you privately. He hates you. No, no, that's not it at all. But in terms of a comparison or a contrast, it is the corporate place of God. or the Church of God that the Lord delights in.
And so God pronounces judgment upon them in verse 14. Cursed be the deceiver who has in his flock a male, takes a vow, sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished, and then the reason that underscores this is for I am a great king says the Lord of hosts, and my name is to be feared among the nations. That's the axiom. That's the given.
That's the presupposition. God is a great king. His name is to be feared among the nations. That's the unalterable truth that we need to reconcile with.
With or without us, God is going to be glorified and he's going to be feared. We know that he turns from Israel. Romans 11 indicates this very thing. There's a partial hardening that takes place to Israel as an ethnic people until the fullness of the Gentiles be brought in.
Because Israel refuses, God then goes, or Christ calls us to go to the Gentiles. So it's truly a serious thing that the Lord indicts them for in this instance.
The People's Response
Notice their response. Notice the response of the people.
How Have We Dishonored You
They first ask, how have we dishonored you? Verse 6, a son honors his father, and a servant his mother. If then I am the father, where is my honor? If I am a master, where is my reverence?
Says the Lord of hosts to you priests who despise my name. Yet you say, in what way have we despised your name? It's a common way of dealing in the book of Malachi. God, through the prophet, indicts the people, and then they basically say, what are you talking about?
What do you mean? I mean, as a general rule, if you're offering up blind, lame, and stolen sacrifices, you really shouldn't have to ask, in what way have we despised your name? It should be pretty evident and it should be pretty obvious. But precisely, sin and the deceitfulness of sin casts a shadow over the soul.
It happens to be the case that our whole life is affected by this sort of a practice when we don't worship God accordingly. So they ask, how have we dishonored you?
How Have We Defiled the Altar
They then say, secondly, how have we perverted sacrifice? 7b. 7 says, you offer defiled food on my altar, but say, in what way have we defiled you? It's just amazing, isn't it? I mean, if God says through a prophet, look, this is wrong, Hopefully, with the Spirit of God in us, we'll say, you're right, Lord, please forgive me. This is a bad sign.
When people fall into this sort of a rut, or fall into this sort of a practice, and the prophet of God, when he comes to issue the indictment of God, is met with this sort of a resistance. We ought to be open to reproof. We ought to be open to correction. We ought to be open to the faithful wounds of friends that love us and care for us and say, look, the path you're going in is not right.
Don't always be prepared to say, what do you mean it's not right? What are you talking about? We want to hyper-defend ourselves at every step of the way. I always assume that whatever anybody has to say, it's probably a whole lot worse than any of us even know.
That's probably a safer bet in most instances, not always. I'm not saying you should never defend yourself. But in this instance, them seeking to defend themselves by asking these questions is absolutely insane. Sin has deceived, sin has hardened, sin has cast a shadow over their hearts and they don't even see it.
And of course, after saying, how have we dishonored you and how have we perverted sacrifice?
Demanding Blessing While in Rebellion
Verse 9, they ask, how come you don't bless us? Isn't that amazing? But now entreat God's favor. I think this is what they said to the prophet so that he would call upon the Lord on their behalf or they would say this to the priests.
But now entreat God's favor that he may be gracious to us. Isn't that the case? Even though we are in sin and in rebellion and bringing lame and defective animals to the Lord, we still got our hand out and say, bless me, give me, multiply me, make me happy. It's almost as if these things are simply the means to the end.
And the end isn't the honor of God, it isn't worship of God, it isn't reverence for God, it is rather what can I get from God. I read, I think it was G.K. Beale or, no, it was this other book I've been reading, and the fellow makes this interesting observation. Most of the idolatry that took place in the Old Testament, they didn't just bow before Baal because he was so wonderful and so glorious and so awesome that when you're in his presence, you just want to worship.
They bowed before Baal as a means Right? They were using Baal, manipulating the system to get what they wanted. Now, before long, that does end up in just this false ungodly worship. But see, the true and living God, just because someone says they worship Him, isn't necessarily the case.
If He's simply a means that we employ to get what we want, that's really not worship. If we come to God saying, Lord, here's what I'm going to give you, and in return, I'd like for you to give me, that's not worship. We're not coming to God to manipulate Him. We're not coming to God on the Sabbath day to worship Him so that we'll have a happy Monday through Saturday.
Now God's good and He's kind and He's nice and oftentimes He gives us good Mondays through Saturdays. But it's not because we did our duty or we pulled the handle and out popped the blessings. You see, we can turn the worship of God into something that is, again, very man-centered. Why do we come on Sunday?
So that when we pray we can be healed of our maladies or we can have, you know, riches given to us? No. We come to worship God because God is worthy to be worshipped. You see, on the Sabbath, and with reference to worship, God is the end.
He's not a means that we employ or utilize to get something else. You see, God is everything. Once we have Him, we have all. We don't use Him as somehow, or use Him as our slave to get what we really want.
That's what they're doing. But now, entreat God's favor that He may be gracious to us. Then through the prophet, while this is being done by your hands, will he accept you favorably, says the Lord of hosts? When you bring the lame, when you bring the blind, when you bring the stolen, and then you say, bless us, Lord, are you serious?
Do you actually think if your child came to you and spit in your face and said, oh, can I have five bucks? I want to go to the store and buy a candy bar? I hope five bucks would cover a candy bar. What would you say to that child?
Oh, sure, here's five pots. You'd say, why did you spit in my face? Actually, you probably wouldn't even say that. That's what they're doing, right?
They're coming, they're spitting in his face and saying, oh, could you bless me, Lord? Could you give me what I really want? See, I really don't want you. You're just a means to the end.
I want water for my crops. I want gold in my safe. I want a happy wife. I want healthy kids.
I don't want any pains. Just give me what I want. While this is being done by our hands, will He accept you favorably, says the Lord of Hosts? And then the Lord's response, through the prophet, verse 10, who is there even among you who would shut the doors so that you would not kindle fire on my altar in vain?
You know what he's saying there? Is there anybody going to man up and shut the temple down? It'd be better to board up the temple than to go through this. It would be better to just seal the building and not let anybody in, because if you're going to use it for this purpose, you have misused it, you have abused it, and is there one among you who would shut the doors so that you would not kindle fire on my altar in vain?
I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts.
Observations on Careless Worship
So then thirdly and finally, some facts or some observations concerning careless worship.
Careless Worship Is a Major Sin
It is, first of all, a major sin. It is to despise the name of God. It is something that he deems as evil. Calvin says, few think that they pollute God and his name when they worship him superstitiously or formally, as though they had to do with a child. but we see that God himself declares that the whole of religion is profane and that his name is shamefully polluted when men thus trifle with him." It's a very serious thing.
Remember Jesus in John chapter 2. What does he do when he sees that the house of God has become a den of merchandise? No, that's okay. No, he drives those animals out.
And the disciples apply Psalm 69 in this instance. Wow, the psalmist was writing about Jesus. Zeal for your house has consumed me. The disciples had a messianic consciousness and they see when Jesus drives out these animals.
Wow, Psalm 69. We interpret that with reference to our Lord Jesus Christ. It is a major sin.
Careless Worship Is a Deceptive Sin
Secondly, it is a deceptive sin. We can fall into it and not even realize that we have done so. Verses 6 and 7. In what way?
How have we done this? How have we messed up? It's something that paralyzes the soul. Stuart says the priests knew these sacrificial laws by heart.
You think they were oblivious to the book of Leviticus? I mean, come on, Leviticus was everything. That was the priest's manual. You've got to, you know, you have these manuals of church order.
Well, the book of Leviticus was that for the Levitical priesthood with reference to temple worship. He says, the priests knew these sacrificial laws by heart as was required for their job. Ignorance was not the problem. God was not advising them of considerations that were not their thinking.
Malachi, like all the Orthodox prophets, was not calling his audience to new standards, but back to old ones. So it is a deceptive thing. I think this is important that we examine our hearts. What do we think of church?
What is the worship of God like? Is it something that we enjoy? Is it something that we look forward to? Is it something that we find delight in?
Call the Sabbath what, according to Isaiah 58? Call it a drudgery? Call it boring? Call it a drag?
Call it a headache? Call it a hardship? No, in Isaiah the prophet, chapter 58, call the Sabbath a delight. It's supposed to be a happy day.
The Sabbath was made for the man and not man for the Sabbath. If it's drudgery, if it's terrible, if it's something that's absolutely mind-numbingly horrible, yes, it could be a bad church or it could be a bad heart and an approach to this whole idea of worship.
Concerned with Externals Only
Thirdly, this kind of worship is concerned with externals only. Again, they went to the right place, They brought animals. Now, these animals were certainly not fit for sacrifice. But if you were a casual observer looking down on Israel in that era, you would have at least seen the externals.
Isn't this what Jesus does when he upbraids the Pharisees? He says, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith. You see, they've got the externals down so much so they're weighing out tiny seeds so that when they show up on the Sabbath day and they bring their tithe, they can measure out what they've apportioned and fulfill the external requirement. But all the while, they've neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith.
You see, what, and then Jesus says, these you ought to have done, the externals even, without leaving the others undone, blind guides who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. It is concerned with externals only. Again, Stuart says, why would priests accept defective animals, including, as Malachi states specifically, some were blind, crippled, and sick? And why would worshippers bring such animals, knowing that they themselves would be eating part of them?
The answer has to be quite simply that aside from some of the sick ones, they all tasted the same and thus priests were cutting deals with worshippers to receive such animals with some sort of this for that arrangement. It indicates a more or less equal exchange or substitution of goods or services. He says, farmers have always eaten blind and lame animals, and Israelite farmers were certainly used to doing so. The point was that God would not accept them as offerings.
An offering is more than just a meal. It is a symbol of one's dedication to God, a constantly repeated lesson in the nature of His holiness, and a means of atonement for sin. Just going through the motions without regard for worship of God.
Careless Worship Reveals Boredom with God
Fourth, we've already seen this, it reveals boredom with God. It reveals boredom with God. One more quote. This is Piper.
Piper says, a failure to see and feel the greatness of God makes a person bored with God and excited about the world. Isn't that right? We worship what is thrilling to us. I mean, the guy bows to Baal because Baal makes him happy.
A guy worships his gold because gold makes him happy. A guy worships sex because sex makes him happy. Guy worships crack because crack makes him happy. It's just the way it is.
A failure to see and feel the greatness of God makes a person bored with God and excited about the world. If you don't see the greatness of God, then all the things that money can buy become very exciting. That's why so often in their polemics against idolatry, what do the prophets do? They set up the majesty of God.
It's not just your idols are bad, but look at how glorious the God of Israel is. I mean, it shows the contrast between how bad the idol is and how good God is, but perhaps there is this function involved. You are foolish to turn to that rather than the living and true God. As Lewis put it, it's like a child who turns down a holiday by the seaside so that he can play with mud pies in the gutter.
I mean, we'd look at that kid and say, what are you doing? You're crazy. Well, that's what it is when we turn to our idols. We're settling to play with mud pies in the gutter, then go to Hawaii or whatever place you like to go.
He says, if you can't see the sun, you will be impressed with a street light. If you've never felt thunder and lightning, you'll be impressed with fireworks. And if you turn your back on the greatness and majesty of God, you'll fall in love with a world of shadows and short-lived pleasures. What a weariness this is.
And when you become so blind that the maker of galaxies, and ruler of nations, and knower of all mysteries, and lover of your souls becomes boring, then only one thing is left, the love of the world. For the heart is always restless. It must have treasure, if not in heaven, then on the earth. And so when it is time to bring sheep from the flock to sacrifice, what do you bring?
You bring the sheep with diseased and broken legs. or you steal a sheep to bring. Why? It's obvious the good sheep sell better and you love money more than God. That's pretty powerful stuff but it really does capture what's going on here in the prophet Malachi.
It probably captures a lot of what's going on in terms of worship in the Church of Jesus Christ on a regular and ongoing basis. It's about the Lord, it's not about us.
Careless Worship Provokes God's Wrath
And then ultimately, fifthly, and finally This sin provokes the wrath of God. We have seen that in verse 14. Cursed be the deceiver, for I am a great king, says the Lord of hosts, and my name is to be feared among the nations. Well, may God spare us from a heartless worship, and may God put in us the spirit so that we'll come with joy and thanksgiving and delight on the Sabbath day to worship this great king.
Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Our Father, we thank you for your word, and we thank you for your grace and mercy, and we know, Father, that we need your Spirit. The Lord Jesus said, apart from Him we can do nothing, and this includes worship. We pray that on the Lord's Day you would pour out your Spirit upon us, that you would give us zeal, that you would give us desire and a joy to be in the house of God, to be with the people of God, to sing the praises of God and to hear from you. how we bless you and how we praise you and how we thank you for your mercy and your kindness and for calling us out of darkness into marvelous light. Help us truly to proclaim your praises, to proclaim your excellencies.
And we ask this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.