Malachi. Malachi is the last book in the Old Testament. I want to read beginning in chapter 1 at verse 6 to chapter 2 verse 9, but our focus this morning will be on chapter 1 verses 6 to 14. Malachi, the prophet, he was a post-exilic prophet.
So after the Babylonian captivity, when the people of Judah were allowed to return back to their land under the decree of Cyrus, the king of Persia. Persia, the empire in power at the time that Malachi writes. But Malachi wrote a bit later than Haggai and Zechariah, which were also post-exilic prophets. Malachi prophesied probably around 433 to 425 BC.
So I want to read beginning in Malachi 1 at verse 6. Yet you say, in what way have we despised your name? 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.
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 fruit, 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 curse it 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. And now, O priest, this commandment is for you.
If you will not hear, and if you will not take it to heart, to give glory to my name, says the Lord of hosts, I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have cursed them already, because you do not take it to heart. Behold, I will rebuke your descendants and spread refuse on your faces, the refuse of your solemn feasts, and one will take you away with it. Then you shall know that I have sent this commandment to you, that my covenant with Levi may continue, says the Lord of hosts.
My covenant was with him, one of life and peace, and I gave them to him that he might fear me. So he feared me and was reverent before my name. The law of truth was in his mouth and injustice was not found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and equity and turned many away from iniquity.
For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, and people should seek the law from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. But you have departed from the way. You have caused many to stumble at the law. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts.
Therefore, I also have made you contemptible and base before all the people, because you have not kept my ways, but have shown partiality in the law. Amen.
Opening Prayer
Well, let us pray. Father, thank you for the written Word of the living and true God, and we pray now for the ministry of the Holy Spirit to help us as we consider this passage of Scripture, help us to see its relevance to the church today, help us to see its relevance in our local church, and may it indeed cause us to reflect and cause us to contemplate and cause us to consider our place before a holy God. Again, we pray that You would forgive us for all of our sins and our transgressions, that You would help us to learn the lesson here of this condemnation of heartless worship. May we not enter into this sacred place with hearts that are divided or distracted or longing for things that are not of God.
Help us in this, we pray, by the power of Your Holy Spirit, and we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Introduction
Well, in recent sermons, I know that I have referred to this particular passage. I've certainly preached on this passage before. I think it is a most relevant passage to the church in the 21st century. Essentially, what we have is a condemnation of heartless worship.
Now, Malachi, the prophet, prophesied, as I said, around 433 to about 425. This is almost a hundred years after the second temple had been finished. Remember, under Haggai and Zechariah, they preached and the people built the temple. They started in 520 BC and they completed it in 516 BC.
So, not even a hundred years later, Malachi is dealing with the same sorts of problems that preceded the Babylonian captivity. In other words, bad habits are hard to let go of. And that is simply, or obviously, the case with reference to Malachi's contemporaries. Now, in chapter 1, at verse 6, all the way to chapter 2, verse 9, it's a specific condemnation of the priests.
He identifies that in verses 6 and 7. And he follows all the way through to chapter 2, verse 9. He cites the example of Levi as being a faithful and a good priest to him, but the people at Malachi's time had degenerated and they had engaged in wickedness. We could follow all the way up to chapter 2, verse 9, but I want to focus on the whole idea of a heartless worship in chapter 1, verses 6 to 14.
Now, there is a particular pattern employed by the prophet Malachi. Essentially, what you have is accusation by God Then you have question by the people, and then you have refutation by God. In other words, the Lord, through the prophet, accuses them or indicts them of something in particular. And then they essentially say, who, us?
Us? We did this? And then God produces the evidence to show where they have fallen short. For example, notice here in chapter 1, verse 6, the very end, yet you say, in what way have we despised your name?
Verse 7, in what way have we defiled you? Notice as well in chapter 1 at verse 2, I have loved you, says the Lord, yet you say, in what way have you loved us? They're constantly questioning God. Notice in chapter 2 at verse 17, you have wearied the Lord with your words, yet you say, in what way have we wearied Him?
Brethren, we're not supposed to question God when He accuses us or indicts us. We're supposed to repent. We're not supposed to get into some dialogue or debate with Almighty God and say, what do you mean when you bring this indictment to us? We need to receive the Word of God.
We need to be approved and rebuked by it. And we, by grace, are to be corrected. Notice in chapter 3, verse 6. For I am the Lord, I do not change, therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.
Yet from the days of your fathers you have gone away from my ordinances and have not kept them. Return to me and I will return to you, says the Lord of Hosts. But you said, in what way shall we return? You see that pattern.
God accuses or indicts them, and then they question God, and then God furnishes evidences as to how they have not returned, how they have not done what He calls them to do. Notice with reference to tithing in chapter 3, verse 8. Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me.
But you say, in what way have we robbed you? Brethren, it's really incredulous that they would respond in this manner. And I think it's incredulous that we respond in this manner. We get convicted by the Word of God.
The answer is not, Oh, no, that's not me. Or how did I offend you, God? We are to take that reproof and bless God for it. And by grace, repent.
That's the response of the godly man, of the godly woman, of the godly boy and godly girl. Notice in chapter 3 verse 13, your words have been harsh against me, says the Lord, yet you say, what have we spoken against you? You see the pattern involved in the prophet Malachi. Accusation by God, response by the people, and then the Lord furnishes evidences or proofs as to how they've fallen short.
The Prophetic Pattern in Malachi
So let's look at this whole condemnation of heartless worship.
God's Accusation: Lack of Honor
First, the accusation by God. Secondly, we'll notice the response of the people. And then thirdly, we'll draw out some implications concerning unacceptable or heartless worship. But note first this lack of honor.
Verse 6, God says, a son honors his father and a servant his master. Notice how that's an axiom. That's a first principle. That's the way life is supposed to be.
It is the case, kids, that you honor your father. It is the case, servants, that you honor your master. And God uses that axiom, God uses that first principle as an analogy to say, if that's the case in the created order, then why don't my sons honor me? Why don't my servants honor me?
That's the point of verse 6. The Lord has, and I say it reverently, an axe to grind with his professing people. 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. You see, brethren, this is axiomatic. We as God's creatures are supposed to revere Him.
We as God's creatures are supposed to honor Him. We as God's creatures are supposed to worship Him. So if you're not a believer here this morning, you can't tune out and say, well, this has to do with worship. I'm not a believer in Jesus Christ, so it's really not applicable to me.
No, there's something called the creator-creature distinction. The creator made you. The Creator brought you into being so that you would worship Him, so that you would honor Him, so that you would glorify Him, so that you would indeed ascribe good things to His great name. But with reference to the people of God, those who have been called out of darkness into marvelous light, those who are believers in Jesus Christ, the same analogy holds true.
If God is our Father, where is His reference? If God is our Father, where is the honor given to His name? You see, in church, reverence ought to be a priority. Not frivolity, not jokes, not hands in pockets, not slurping gum, not sucking down a latte, but reverence before the High King of Heaven.
That's what the text calls us to.
The Perversion of Sacrifice
Now, notice he highlights the specific sort of characteristic of their heartless worship. It is the perversion of sacrifice. Now, remember, sacrifice was stipulated by God. Israel is taught in the book of Leviticus that the only way sinful man approaches a holy God is through a bloody knife and a smoking altar.
That's thanks to Michael Morales. I think he summarizes the book of Leviticus excellently with that statement. The way of approach to holy God by sinful man is through a bloody knife and a smoking altar. That's what Leviticus is all about.
Remember, the book of Leviticus is the answer to the problem at the end of the book of Exodus. God's tabernacle is built. God's Shekinah glory is in the tabernacle. Moses himself, the holiest man in Israel, can't enter in because of the glory of God.
So how do we move from this place where God is to this place where man can meet with Him? Hence the book of Leviticus. It's the sacrifice. It's the bloody knife.
It's the smoking altar. This is the means by which God and men meet together. So sacrifice is stipulated all through the book of Leviticus. In fact, if you read the first nine chapters, most Christians today find it tedious.
Most Christians get to about chapter four and they say, I can't keep track of all of these sacrifices. But suffice it to say, God has identified the way of approach to him. At the end of chapter 9, the people offer up a sacrifice that is sanctioned by the God of heaven and earth, and they are blessed by Him. Fire falls down from heaven, consumes the sacrifice, and the people shout, probably for joy.
Chapter 10, Nadab and Abihu offer up strange fire. Fire comes down again, but it doesn't consume the sacrifice, it consumes Nadab and Abihu, because they offered up strange fire. But when we get to Leviticus chapter 22, Leviticus chapter 22 highlights the acceptableness of sacrifice that Israelites were to bring to God. You were to bring the best, not the worst.
See, that's what sacrifice is about. Sacrifice implies, necessarily, some pinch to the flesh. Sacrifice implies, necessarily, some deprivation to the one who's offering the sacrifice. Or it wouldn't be a sacrifice, would it?
This is why Jesus commends the widow's might. He condemns the rich man's might. There's no pinch, there's no hardship, there's no sacrifice involved, but that widow throwing in a couple of might, it's not the money, it's not the power, the ability to buy, it's rather what it represents. And so God stipulates that it must be a male from your flock, it mustn't be blind, it mustn't be lame, it mustn't be hindered, it mustn't be bad, it must be the best in the flock.
Now back to Malachi chapter 1, look at what they're doing. Chapter 1, verse 7, 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. I doubt that when these priests took the sacrifices, they audibly said the table of the Lord is contemptible.
It was their actions. It was their activities. Now remember, the priests here represent the people. The priests are accepting from the people these defective animals.
So everybody's guilty. It's not just the priests, it's priests and people. See, if you were a believer back then, or you were one of the covenant people back then, the way you would worship is you'd get up on Saturday morning, you'd go out to your flock, you'd find the very best in the flock, and you would walk to the tabernacle, or you would walk to the temple. You would present yourself and your sacrifice to the priest, you would cut the throat of the animal, then you would give it to the priest, who would then burn some, and offer it up to God, and depending on the sacrifice, he might eat some, and you might eat some.
You see, that was the way you did it. So I doubt these priests are saying, well, the table of the Lord is contemptible. I doubt any of us are saying, wow, worship is terrible. But our actions evidence otherwise.
Our conduct expresses something different. If we have to be pulled to the worship of God, if we have to be harangued, if we have to be nagged, we might just be saying, the table of the Lord is contemptible. If we are not a David, in Psalm 122, in one of those songs of the saints, when he says, I was glad when they said unto me, let us go to the house of the Lord. Now, you may be unhappy at a particular church.
You may be disillusioned with a particular church. Find a church where you can have a Psalm 122 experience, where you are glad when they said unto me, let us go to the house of the Lord. You see, these people were evidencing by their actions a statement that God's table was contemptible. And then he highlights, he describes, he evidences, he furnishes proof.
The sacrifice of blind and lame animals, verse 8. When you offer the blind as a sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? See, brethren, I think this underscores something else, and I have this in the notes for later.
We're just going to put it in right now. I guarantee that if you or I went out and committed adultery, we would feel evil. If you or I embezzled money from our employers, we would feel evil. If you or I told a lie in a courtroom, we would feel evil.
How many times do we go through the motions on a Sunday and offer up heartless worship to God and never feel evil? How is it the case that we can come, not sing, not pray, not enter in, be thinking about a million other thoughts, and then somehow conduct ourselves as if we're just as spotless, holy, and pure as the driven snow? I'm not trying to lay a guilt trip on you, but I'm trying to suggest that we've kind of lost the focus of the church. The focus of the church is what?
To fix the world? Not necessarily. The focus of the church, is it to ameliorate the downtrodden and the poor? Not necessarily.
The focus of the church is the worship of the triune God. That's what we're about. That's what Peter says. He called you out of darkness into marvelous light.
Why? To proclaim his excellencies. What's Paul say concerning the church in Ephesians 3? The way I read Paul is that angels are looking at churches like this and scanning in awe of the God who saved them.
That's what we're about. We're to reflect glory. It's not supposed to be about us when we come in here. So it's a fundamental problem in the church today.
It's not what does God get, not how do I serve Him, how do I glorify Him, but what's in it for me? It's that mercenary attitude, and that's probably what's behind the lame and the blind. You send the lame and the blind to the priest because the ones that are fit and healthy are going to garner more money when you sell them, right? See, what's in it for me?
What do I get out of my flock? Do I get reasonable, acceptable worship that is pleasing to God? Or do I get more money? Well, if I can grab the mangy one from the back of the flock and pawn him off on the priest, and the priesthood is so corrupt that they're going to take it, then I'm going to sell the good ones for even more money at market.
You see, it's all this, what's in it for me? Churches exist to answer that question. We have this for you. We have that for you.
We have this for you. We have that for you. Now brethren, I don't wake up on a Sunday morning hoping everybody has a miserable day. I really don't.
I have never in my life woken up on a Sunday morning and prayed to God Almighty that everybody would be bored, everybody would be miserable, and it would just be a terrible experience. Reformed theology is not against emotions and experience. Reformed theology is against emotions and experience untethered from the truth of God's Word. That's the problem.
That's the issue. These people were mercenary. Their priests were mercenary. They were corrupt.
They took these mangy animals, and they took the worst of the flock, and they said, here you go, God. That's what we think of you. You see how they didn't need to say the table of the Lord is contemptible? They didn't need to audibly convey that because their actions demonstrated that.
So the Lord God has a controversy with that.
God's Challenge to the Priests
Notice God's challenge in verse eight. Offer it then to your governor. Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you favorably?
Says the Lord of hosts. Commentators are divided. Is this Zerubbabel, the governor of the Jews? Remember, they don't have a king anymore.
They've been in Babylonian captivity. Now they're basically under Persian control. It's a little bit nicer, but nevertheless, they don't have a king. So it could have been Zerubbabel.
Other commentators said, no, it's probably the Persian governor. Persian governor demands tribute. Persian governor demands taxes. Persian government demands that you pony up every year, or maybe every month.
I don't know specifically. And what's God's point? You pay this kind of stuff to your pagan governor and see if he's going to accept it. You go ahead.
You just offer that up. In fact, do this. This coming, is it April or May? I always get mixed up between the US and Canada, but in April or May, you got to pay your dues, right?
You got to pay the man. You got to pay the ferryman. Tell him, you know what? Here's all you get.
I know I owe a thousand, but I'm going to give you 400. Now those are modest calculations to be sure, but would he accept that? Would Prime Minister Trudeau say, good on you. That's a fantastic job that you've done.
You've slighted me $600. You seek God's point, pay that to your governor and see if he accepts it. See if he's pleased. Remember, if I'm a father and I'm a master, what does the reverence do for my name?
Now notice, this is escalated, verse 13. You also say, oh, what a weariness, and you sneer at it, says the Lord of hosts, and you bring the stolen. If you have the King James, that says torn. torn. And some would suggest the idea being it was torn in a fight with another animal, it was torn in the sort of daily rigors of earth life or farm life, but it means rather to seize by force.
It means rather to rob. And so the new King James, I think, glosses well. You bring the stolen, the lame and the sick, thus you bring an offering. So he's already dealt with the blind and the lame.
He's already dealt with those that are mangy. He's already dealt with those that are less than optimal. But he's escalating here to the point where he says, you bring the stolen. You know my illustration, Saturday morning, you're on your way to the tabernacle of the temple, and Junior says, Dad, we don't have a sacrifice, and we're going to the house of God.
Well, that's OK. We'll steal one on the way. See, that whole idea is absolutely, utterly, positively wrong. You don't do that.
You get that, right? There's no sacrifice in stealing someone else's property and giving it up as your own. We're all agreed there. You see what's happening at Malachi's day?
The priests are indicted, but the people are right there alongside of them. They're bringing the stolen. They're bringing the lame. They're bringing the blind.
They're presenting them to the priests, and the corrupt priesthood is all too willing to take them. Perhaps there's a quid pro quo going on. The priests are getting something in return for accepting these mangy beasts. But that's the problem, and the Lord God is opposed to them.
The People's Response
Now, note the response of the people. First of all, how have we dishonored you? Verse 6b. Yet you say, in what way have we despised your name?
Now, I think there's a point here that we need to appreciate so that we don't fall prey to it. I'm going to argue that this particular sin is common to sinners, even redeemed sinners. We can fall into it and not even really be aware of it, right? What do you mean we're not worshiping you properly?
We come in, and we read a psalm, and we sing a hymn, and we pray, and we read the scriptures, and we preach. But are our hearts here? That's the fundamental object with reference to worship. If your heart's still in the car, or the heart's still in the office, or the heart's still even at home, and it's not here, it doesn't matter what the former structure is, if it's heartless, it's become external, it's become ritualistic, it's become formalistic, and that is what's happening here.
Well, what do you mean? We brought animals to the tabernacle. What do you mean? We brought animals to the temple.
What do you mean? We've gone through the motions. It doesn't matter how good the liturgy is if the people of God have no heart. Does that make sense?
The liturgy is only as good as the people of God's hearts. No matter what, we can move things around if we wanted. We're inclined to do that, or we have the freedom to do that. There's elements of worship, those things that are absolutely crucial and commanded by God to be done, and then there's circumstances.
We can meet at 11. We can meet at 10.30. We can meet at 10.45. I think it's weird to meet at 10.48, the way some churches do, because they're being so countercultural.
Now, but they're still free to do that. You see the point, brother? If we have the ritual, we have the form, we have the external, but we haven't got the heart, we have fallen prey to what these people have. They don't even know it.
They're shocked. What do you mean? You ever done that with your kids? You ask them, what do you mean?
That's how they are. Again, petulant children. What do you mean? How have we defiled your altar?
How have we ripped you off? How have we robbed God? Because you don't give to God, chapter three. You don't do what you're supposed to do based on God's holy law.
So that's the point. How have we dishonored you? How have we perverted sacrifice? Verse 7b, 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. And when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, is it not evil? You see, accusation or indictment, questioned by the people, and then proof. See, brethren, if you try to act against God in a defensive manner, He'll always be able to pony up the proof.
Those indictments don't come without omniscience. Those indictments don't come without absolute knowledge. Those indictments come to us by His grace, ultimately. So I think we're messed up in that, too.
Somebody tells us something we don't want to hear, we get mad at them. Praise God, people tell us things we don't want to hear. Now there's things we don't want to hear that we can't control. Boy, your hair's gray, or you're too short, or you're too...
We can't control that. But brother, sister, husband, wife, son, daughter, father, mother, you've sinned, and the Bible says you need to repent. Why do we get so mad at people? What's David say?
David was happy when the righteous smote him. David was happy when he was rebuked by those who loved him. What's one of the purposes of holy writ? All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
Do we think we're already in a place of perfect instruction and performance? That we don't need the reproving function of scripture? That we don't need the correction of scripture? Have we actually gotten that proud where we don't see our need for the Word of God to reprove us and to correct us?
Instead of getting upset that God would reprove us and correct us, we should be thankful. What's Jesus say to the worst of the seven churches in Asia Minor? As many as I love, I rebuke. He says that to the Laodiceans.
As many as I love, I rebuke. That's the character of our blessed Savior. And brethren, we ought to be open to such things. And then notice, this is just an incredible sort of escalation.
Verses 9 and 10 go a bit of different ways in terms of the commentators. Here's what I think is going on. In verse 9, they are actually saying, why doesn't God bless us? And again, I think this is so typical of us.
We, you know, half-hearted. in our service to God, divided in our devotion to God, lacking completely in our attention to God, and then we have the gall to say, why doesn't he bless us? Why isn't he just opening the channels of heaven and flowing down nuggets upon us? We have that kind of gall, don't we? And I think that's what verse nine is all about.
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? You think you always bail? You think that just putting the animal in the proper place is going to affect the deity in such a way that he pours out blessings?
You are really thinking like bailists, and you are not thinking like those who bow before the God of heaven and earth. And then verse 10, I think, is God, through the prophet, speaking ironically. Again, it's tough. There's at least one other popular interpretation that could be the case.
But in my understanding, I think verse 10 is God, through the prophet, saying, 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." I think this is consistent theologically with the church in Laodicea, that Jesus promises, or threatens rather, to vomit out of his mouth. They're neither hot nor cold, they're lukewarm. And some say, well, it's better to be a rabid atheist.
I don't think that's what it means. Cold water is pleasant. Hot liquid coffee is pleasant. Lukewarm, bad.
That's the analogy. That's the specifics. That's what's going on. Jesus is not saying to the Laodiceans, it's better to be an all-out atheist.
You please me more. No. Be hot or be cold. But if you're lukewarm, if you've got that sort of namby-pamby, in-out sort of a mindset, I'm going to vomit you out of my mouth.
And that use of irony is consistent in scripture, and I think that's what's happening here. God, through the prophet, is saying, is there anyone in Israel that'll take two-by-fours, that will take nails, that will take hammers, and go to the door of the temple and slam it shut so that these people will not continue to go through this charade, this perversion, this sort of sacrifice, I'm not going to accept that. I'm not going to deal with that. God says I refuse it and reject it.
Gentile Inclusion as Indictment
Now notice verse 11 is an interesting statement. For from the rising of the sun even to its going down, my name shall be great among the Gentiles. Now, we as Gentiles have come to grips with Gentile inclusion in the covenant of grace. We as Gentiles appreciate the promise made to Abraham as involving all the nations of the earth.
We as Gentiles praise the God of Israel for having sent his son as Messiah, for engaging in that work at Calvary to save not only Jews, but Gentiles. But remember, in Malachi's day, they weren't quite as advanced in their covenant theology. especially the unbelievers. Believers would have been seeing, they would have known, they would have had in their mind, there's a day coming when the nations of the earth will come to Israel's God. But when the Lord says that to them in this context, it's probably more indictment upon them.
For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, my name shall be great among the Gentiles. Now, remember Jonah. What was Jonah's problem? We know him as a preacher on the run.
Jonah was called to go to Nineveh, so he goes the other way, right? Don't dare to be a Jonah. Jonah's not a great model. I preached this message one time, and somebody, this was way back, somebody came up afterwards and said, man, I don't know if we should have named our boy Jonah.
Jonah's a good name. Jonah was a prophet of God. He was the real deal. But he was like all of us.
He's got issues, just like all of us. So God calls Jonah to go to Nineveh. Jonah goes the other way. Then Jonah actually goes to Nineveh, and he preaches the word of God.
And the Ninevites repent. It's a massive revival of true religion. It's an awakening of true religion. Jonah saw glorious things from the hand of a glorious God, and at the very end, Jonah's upset.
He's angry. He's mad. Why? Because Jonah was a nationalist.
Jonah didn't want non-Jews coming into the covenant mercies of God. Jonah didn't want men from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. Jonah wanted Jews safe. Thank you very much.
He didn't want these rotten, treacherous Ninevites to come to know Israel's God. That's kind of what's happening there at the end of Jonah 4. God teaches him a lesson, to be sure. God shows very clearly his mercy, should I not pity Nineveh that has this many people and animals as well?
I mean, of course God should, right? See, Jonah's upset. So there was this nationalistic spirit within Israel. Oh no, no, you can't come to our God.
You can't have the mercies of Yahweh. Now, again, there were proselytes, there were people that did come in, Ruth the Moabitess, we have some that did enter in, but by and large, You know, the religion of Israel in the Old Covenant wasn't really evangelistic. They didn't really go out conquering the nations for King Jesus. They did let some in, but there was this nationalism.
So perhaps Malachi, when God, through Malachi, highlights this, it's a bit of a provocation, perhaps. Gentiles are gonna serve me. Gentiles are gonna offer up sacrifice. Gentiles are gonna come to Israel's God.
Gentiles are gonna bow. And you, Jews, are not? See, this is a terrible thing. Matthew Henry made this observation.
This is a plain prediction of that great revolution in the kingdom of grace by which the Gentiles, who had been strangers and foreigners, came to be fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God and as welcome to the throne of grace as ever the Jews had been. So this idea of Gentile inclusion in the covenant promises of God are not isolated to Genesis chapter 12. The rest of the Old Testament amplifies, expands, and expounds upon that promise made to Abraham in terms of Gentile inclusion in the covenant promises of God.
Implications of Heartless Worship
So there's our accusation or indictment by God and the response of the people. Let's just draw out, as I said, some practical implications concerning heartless worship.
Heartless Worship Is Evil
In the first place, and I touched on this previously, but it bears repetition, we need to understand this is evil. This is evil. It's just bad. Now, I understand, brethren, the tendency.
I understand the difficulty. There was a Puritan author that wrote either a book or a treatise on the subject of dealing with wandering thoughts during the worship of God. I understand that. I understand.
I understand, you know, we come in after a long week and the urge to perhaps close our eyes. I get that. And I'm not here to upbraid you. I'm not here to say, you terrible specimens of human beings.
You're just the worst. I can't believe it. I'm not saying that at all. But I'm suggesting that the common garden variety struggles that we as creatures have is one thing.
But heartless worship of God. I'm not entering in. of putting in the time, but not doing so from the heart. That's not just a small thing, that's evil. It's identified by God twice as evil in our text.
Verse 8 says, and when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, is it not evil? This is an evil thing. Verse 8 continuing, and when you offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? So earlier when I said if we committed adultery, if we perjured ourselves on the stand, if we murdered somebody, we would feel evil.
By all means, feel evil. By all means, let that conscience, you know, brutalize you, because you deserve to feel evil if you commit one of those particular sins. But the same is true with heartless worship. It's evil.
Getting up on a Sunday morning and grabbing the mangiest from the flock and bringing it to the house of God and just going through the motions so that you can just go through the motions. That's not pleasing to God. God's not saying goody on you. And I think all of this ought to make us revel in the one who said, my meat, my food, is to do the will of him who sent me.
What's Jesus say? What did the disciples interpret in John chapter 2, after Christ drives out the money changers from the temple? They think Psalm 69, zeal for your house has eaten me up. That's what they saw when they saw Christ.
Why does Christ have that kind of zeal? Because none of us do. I'm not justifying it, I'm not saying it's okay, I'm not saying dare to be a better worshiper, but I am suggesting that a survey like this ought to make us revel in the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, which cleanses us from all sin. It is evil.
John Calvin made the observation, 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 evil.
It Is Common Among Sinners
Secondly, as mentioned before, it's common with sinners. You notice that Malachi is not bringing new information to them? Oh, let me just re-instruct you in the things of the tabernacle, or rather the temple worship. Let me just give you some new information.
They had this in Leviticus. Chapter 22 specifies what animals are acceptable and what animals are not. So the problem isn't that we need new information in order to achieve this place of the worship of God. No, we need to act upon the information we already have.
We need to sing the Bible. We need to pray the Bible. We need to preach the Bible. We need to see the Bible in the sacraments of the church.
We need to read the Bible. It's all supposed to be scriptural. So the information is not new that the prophet brings to him. In fact, one commentator named Stewart says the priests knew these sacrificial laws by heart as was required for their job.
Be similar to the prophet coming to you, and you're a mechanic, and you're supposed to change the spark plugs, and the prophet's leaning over your shoulder. Take that wrench, and turn that plug, and pull that. You're looking at him like, I know this is my job. This is what I do.
Well, the prophet has come to these priests and said, look, this is what you're supposed to do. It's been specified. This is the spirit of Micah 6, 8, one of the most popular verses in all of the Old Testament. He has shown you, oh man, what's the context?
Israel's actually saying, would God be pleased if we sacrificed our children? Would God be pleased if we brought all this oil? And the prophet's response is, he's shown you, you know what it is. This makes it even worse.
You're culpable, you're responsible, you're liable to God's wrath because you know better and you're too lazy to do it. Stuart says, the priest 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 new to their thinking.
Malachi, like all the Orthodox prophets, was not calling his audience to new standards, but back to old ones. That's important for the church today. You think maybe we should listen to the Bible to tell us how we to worship God? Yeah, I think so.
As I've said before, brethren, a lot of us have a tough time getting out of bed, figuring out what to make for dinner, figuring out specific things. Are we such that we can put together worship of the living and true God? Or are we better just to listen to what He says and do what He says? I opt for the latter.
Listen to what He says and do what He says. This has been enshrined in the Reformed tradition as the regulative principle of worship. Albert N. Martin describes it, I think, very helpfully when he says, with reference to worship, we do nothing more, nothing less, and nothing else than God has commanded in His Word.
It's a great compendium, a great description. Terry Johnson uses that idea of pray the Word, preach the Word, read the Word, sing the Word, see the Word. The regulative principle of worship. God regulates how we are to approach Him.
In Hebrews chapter 12, we're told that our worship must be acceptable. Acceptable to who? To us? Is that really the emphasis by the Apostle of Hebrews 12?
Or is it supposed to be acceptable to God? See, today it's what's acceptable to us, what makes me happy, what tunes my emotions, what caters to my experience. That's not the proper way to figure out whether worship is successful or not. It's about God.
Just as I've been pondering this passage over the last couple of days, the Southern Baptist Convention, one of their, I think the leader of the Southern Baptist Convention, told people to stay home today. It's been a busy season, you know, it's the, you know, between Christmas and New Year's, holidays, you know, these big churches have big production teams and, you know, just worship at home today. Are you kidding me? You're going to just say no to the Sabbath day?
You're going to say no to the public worship of the living God? Maybe you should say no to your production team. Maybe you should say no to having more in place than God's ever commanded to begin with. Brethren, it is the privilege of the people of God to have that Psalm 122 experience every Sunday morning.
I was glad when they said unto me, let us go to the house of the Lord. Again, we may be sluggish. We may be tired. We may need some grace to pray that.
We may say with that man, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. But brethren, the root of the matter is in the hearts of the people of God. They don't have to be harangued. They don't have to be nagged.
They don't have to be browbeaten. They want to be where God's people are. It's just a fundamental, I just praise God that in my Christian life, when my brother discipled me, he said, not just my physical brother-in-law, Matthew, true, but there was Richard Barcelos. I was a brand new believer, didn't know anything.
They told me some very good advice. Whenever the church is open, go, read your Bible every day and pray. Okay. That's just axiomatic, that's first principle stuff.
When I started to grow as a Christian, I became a pastor, I realized everybody didn't get that same advice. So I'm gonna give it to you right now. Read your Bible every day, pray every day, and never miss church, never. I remember the experience of Jeff Gilmore, just using a few names here.
I remember when he was at Trinity Western University. He was an RA. And I remember a fellow one time said to him, you know a lot about theology in the Bible. Did you go to seminary?
He said, no, I go to church. Now, I don't say that because it somehow touts Jim Butler. No, the truth is there. 1 Timothy 3.15, the church is the pillar and ground of the truth. Why don't God's people want the truth?
Why do people say, if not verbally, in their actions, the table of the Lord is contemptible when they don't come to where his truth is? You see, brethren, it is common with sinners. It is concerned with externals only, formalistic, ritualistic. We got the externals in place.
We read, we prayed, we sang, but our hearts were still in the car.
It Reveals Boredom with God
Fourthly, it reveals boredom with God. I mean, that's what verse 13 tells us. Notice, you say, you also say, oh, what a weariness. It's just, I can't be bothered.
I got these good animals to go out and sell, right? I can't be bothered with, you know, offering these things up to the Lord. I can't be bothered with the time necessary to actually grow in the grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. That means demands on my time.
People will put up with a lot, but see, God goes right for the juggler. He says, I want your time, I want your money. Wait a minute. We don't like that.
You can have the worst in my flock. You can have that old car, but by time? See, that's what the emphasis there is in verse 12. I'm sorry, verse 13.
You also say, oh, what a weariness, and you sneer at it. I wonder if that's why all the innovation exists in churches today. Well, people will be bored if we just preach to them. People will be bored if we just sing psalms.
People will be bored if we just sing those old hymns from the Trinity. I mean, brethren, that's the complaint I've heard. I haven't heard it so much lately, but what do you think was the complaint I would hear when people, specifically out of charismatic backgrounds, would visit our church? They'd have no problem telling me, your church is boring.
Oh, I'm sorry. Maybe we can spice it up a bit for you. Maybe we can bring in some ponies. Maybe we can bring in a trapeze." See, that's what some churches are doing.
They're responding to the goats, trying to entertain and amuse them, rather than obeying the God who has said, preach to them. but they won't endure it. Preach to them. They don't like sound doctrine. Preach to them.
They want ponies. Preach to them. They want puppets. Preach to them.
They want trapeze. Preach to them. They want clowns. Preach to them.
You see, that's the mandate for the people of God. We are not supra-wise. We are not better than God. We are not more knowledgeable than God.
And we don't have the right to be innovators or creators when it comes to worship. We're not marketing a product. We're not selling a thing. We are preaching the gospel of the everlasting God.
We are calling sinners to believe and repent. We're calling men to worship God aright through Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. Whether their emotions are on the hot rise, whether their experiences are completely satisfied, that's not our concern. Again, I hope you have good emotional experiences, both emotional experience.
I hope you have that, but I hope it's driven by the truth. I say that a man who goes to the emotions, who goes to the experience without going through the brain is a man to be guarded against. Anybody can get up and manipulate a crowd. Anybody can get up and say enough rah-rah sorts of things.
Anybody can be a motivational speaker. If it is devoid from the truth of God's holy word, I would say run from that place. Run fast from that place. But if it's exposition of God's Word, you're being instructed in the truth of God's Word, however that Word may come, that's what's important.
That's what's supposed to stir the emotions. That's what's supposed to drive the experience. Otherwise, you get the sorts of nonsense and madness that we have witnessed pervasively within what's called the Church over the last couple of hundred years. Stuff that is just full of contempt for the table of the Lord.
It Provokes God's Judgment
As well, it provokes the judgment of God. This is the final implication. It provokes the judgment of God. The suggestion in verse 8, offer it to your governor.
What does that suggest? It suggests that God is provoked. It suggests that God is angry. It suggests that God is going to visit them with retribution.
Go ahead and offer it to your governor and see what he does with it. He'll probably send a band of troops to gun you down because you are stealing from the government. That's how they deal. I don't know how bad it is in Revenue Canada, but IRS?
An agent once told my mother, if you hide money in your backyard, the IRS will find it. I've never doubted that at all. That's how your governor deals. That's what verse eight is.
Give it to your governor, see if he accepts it. Verse 10, is there one among you that'll board the doors closed so that we don't go through this rigmarole anymore? And then verse 14, a straight out pronouncement of curse upon deceivers. Notice verse 14, cursed be the deceiver who has in his flock a male and takes a vow.
You see, that was the stipulation. It's not saying female animals are bad. It doesn't say men are better. None of that stuff that would aggravate the snowflakes of our day.
The stipulation for acceptable worship was a male from the flock. Again, sacrifice. A male at the market would garner more money. You need to pinch the flesh.
You need to feel it. So he says, Cursed be the deceiver who has in his flock a male and takes a vow, but sacrifices to the Lord who is blemished. Why? For I'm a great king, says the Lord of hosts, and my name is to be feared among the nations.
I am a great king, and you're going to bring me this pathetic offering? I am the God of absolute sovereignty and majesty. I'm the God who brought you out of darkness into marvelous light. I freed you from Egyptian bondage and captivity, and you're gonna deceive?
You're gonna swindle? You're gonna be that kind of person that takes the mangy and the lame and the blind and the stolen and present it up to me? God says, no way. This provokes the very wrath of God Most High.
Application
Well, in conclusion, we need first good theology. So you can't have good worship without good theology. It's what we believe about God that moves us to worship God. Remember, He called you out of darkness into His marvelous light so that, purpose clause, you may proclaim His praises.
You may proclaim His excellencies. You have to understand the system of redemption is biblically defined to fuel worship. We need to know God. We're going to look at that tonight in John 17.
Jesus says, this is eternal life, that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. If we don't know this God, we're not going to revere him. If we don't know this God, we're not going to fear him. If we don't know this God, we're not going to present ourselves as living sacrifices, which Paul says is our reasonable or our rational service unto God.
A couple of brothers in a book they wrote called With Reverence and Awe. It's a book on worship, Daryl Hart and John Meather. It says, because of the close connection between good theology and appropriate worship, corporate acts of praise and devotion that conflict with reformed theology must flow from unsound doctrine. In effect, our worship provides a barometer of our theology.
Now, that may a bit be confusing, I kind of took it out of context, but I think their point is this. With this sort of resurgence on Calvinism or Reformed theology, why don't our churches look like there's a resurgence of Calvinism or Reformed theology? Whence the disconnect? We say we worship the God of absolute sovereignty, power, majesty, and glory, and we dare to cancel services on the Sabbath day?
We dare to tell people, you don't need to really come to church today. We dare to introduce strange fire into the worship of God. We are Calvinistic or we are reformed. Our worship will evidence that fact.
There will not be a disconnect between the theology and between the worship of God. What is Calvinism or reformed theology except the exaltation of God? What should our worship be? It should be a rehearsal and exaltate the God of heaven and earth.
I'm getting what is ours and again, I don't wake up saying I hope everybody leaves defeated and and unhappy and And let down and that there's nothing for them. So I have this zany idea that the Word of God always helps the people of God They may not recognize it immediately, but they will the Word of God always helps you That's another sort of piece of advice I can give you. Always, you'll never be let down by knowing more Bible. Oh boy, I spent all that time memorizing scripture.
My life's a mess. That's not typically what people say. I'm so thankful that I spent all that time memorizing scripture, because my life's a mess. And it's that scripture that's the buoy.
It's the scripture that's the stabilizer. It's the scripture that's the security for me in the mess. See, theology drives worship. Secondly, we need responsible leadership.
Look at chapter 2. Remember I said it's an indictment of the priest that goes from 1.6 to 2.9. 2.6. The law of truth was in his mouth. This is when Levi is initially called as sort of the priestly office in Israel.
And injustice was not found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and equity and turned many away from iniquity. Verse 7. For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, and people should seek the law from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.
Helps you to understand the qualifications for elders in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. Helps you to understand Peter's emphasis in 1 Peter 5. You need a qualified leadership. You need men that aren't going to look the other way when somebody brings this blind or this mangy beast and says, oh, this is my sacrifice for Yahweh.
Responsible leadership would say, that's not acceptable for Yahweh. Go back home, find the best, and bring it to God. You don't sanction this because you might get something out of it. You certainly don't need CEOs.
You don't need the power sort of guys. You need faithful preachers of the Word of God. It's another lesson I wish the church corporately, not just ours, but the church in general, would just get. We don't need celebrities.
We don't need people fawning over leaders. We just need guys that get up in the morning and do what they're supposed to do. Is that so hard to act for? Guys that get up and just do what they're supposed to do.
I think it's getting more and more difficult. Guys that just get up. That would be a great sort of way to examine a fellow for ministry. Are you going to just get up every morning and do what you're supposed to do?
Yes. All right. Good. Welcome.
Welcome to pastoral ministry. It'll be a little bit more involved than that, but That's it. We don't need celebrities. We don't need book tours.
We don't need cups. We don't need t-shirts. We just need men that will take seriously Paul's final admonition to Timothy on the corporate level. Preach the word.
Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. So Timothy, preach the word.
Preach sound doctrine to them. We need as well biblical worship. The Bible is filled with references to biblical worship. Deuteronomy 5, 7 to 10.
You all know what Deuteronomy 5, 7 to 10 is. Deuteronomy 5, 7 to 10 is the first and second commandment. Defines the God we are supposed to worship and defines the manner in which we're supposed to worship. Deuteronomy 12, God says, nothing more, nothing less, and nothing else.
Do not add to my word. We see it in 1 Timothy 3, Paul writes to Timothy, so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God. I already referred to Hebrews chapter 12 in the reference to acceptable worship. As I said, this principle is enshrined in the great confessions of faith from the 17th century.
Aaron says, the acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by himself and so limited by his own revealed will that he may not be worshipped according to the imagination and devices of men, nor the suggestions of Satan under any visible representations or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scriptures. That makes perfect sense, doesn't it? If we ask the question of the Bible, how do you want us to worship you? The Bible has a very clear and candid answer.
God doesn't say you need to be innovators, you need to be creators, you need to be the most creative sorts of people so that you can figure out how to come to God. Praise God He didn't leave it to us to figure it out because we wouldn't have figured it out. John Calvin makes this observation with reference to this principle of worship. two advantages to worship regulated in this manner. He says, first, it tends greatly to establish God's authority that we do not follow our own pleasure, but depend entirely on His sovereignty.
And secondly, such is our folly that when we are left at liberty, all we are able to do is go astray. And when once we have turned aside from the right path, there is no end to our wanderings until we get buried under a multitude of superstitions. You see, that establishes the authority of God and it keeps us in check. We need both of those.
We need to know and understand the authority of God, and we need to be kept in check. Now, if you're not a believer here this morning, my encouragement to you is not show up next Sunday with brighter disposition. Show up next Sunday earlier. Show up Sunday, you know, with more of a desire to sing louder.
My emphasis to you is to look to the sacrifice provided by God for sinners. Get that? I'm not telling you this morning to fix your life, to get better at worship, to put on better clothes. I think all those things are helpful.
I think a good night's sleep on Saturday. I think dressing up. I think all that. Those are all good things.
I mean, if we went to visit the Prime Minister, we would probably shave, we'd probably do certain things, right? The point for unbelievers this morning is not fix up the externals, but to look by faith to the sacrifice provided by God. John says, John 1.29, not John the Apostle who wrote the book, but John the Baptist who saw, said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The answer for unbelievers this morning.
The answer for sinners this morning. Now that may offend you. You may not like being called an unbeliever or a sinner. Guess what?
I'm a sinner. Everybody in here is a sinner. Most everybody in here was an unbeliever at one time. I'm sorry if the identifiers of the labels are offensive, but the counsel, listen to the counsel.
The emphasis is not try to fix yourself up, get better at worship. The emphasis is on look to the Lamb of God. Believe on him who alone can save to the uttermost all who draw nigh to God through faith.
Closing Prayer
Well, let us close in a word of prayer. Father, we thank you for your word, and we thank you for the clarity of the prophets, and for this passage in particular. And we pray that you would help us as we enter into a new year to be committed to the truth of Holy Scripture, to be committed to the things that you've ordained for our good. We know these means are calculated for our good, for our conformity unto the image of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I do pray that all over the earth today, people would behold the Lamb of God, that all over the earth today, people would believe on Him who takes away the sin of the world. And I pray specifically for sinners here that they, by grace, would look unto Him and find salvation through Christ. We bless you and we thank you for this time together, and we pray that you would go with us now, and we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
We'll close with a brief time of meditation.