Malachi 1:6-14 – Being honorable!
Malachi 1:6-14 – Being honorable!
By Pastor Lee Hemen
March 18, 2018
We can dishonor someone by not holding them in high regard. The people of Israel had done this with God. Within the Ten Commandments given most important instructed, “You shall have no other gods before me.” Yet the Israelites had dishonored God.
Malachi’s second burden therefore deals with the dishonor God’s people can have for the Lord. While it may be easy for us to point to specific religions today that make idols and worship them, Christians can fail to see the idols we fashion and impure worship in our lives. In this, Malachi’s burden is just as much a message for us as it was for the Israelites. We are to honor God with acceptable sacrifice. Let’s find out what Malachi teaches us about being honorable…
READ: Malachi 1:6-14
From the beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelation relationship is important to God. When God told the Israelites, “You shall have no other gods before me. (Exodus 20:3 NIV)” he meant it. Therefore, Malachi’s burden begins with…
I. Evidence of a dishonorable relationship! (V. 1:6)
“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?” says the LORD Almighty. “It is you, O priests, who show contempt for my name. “But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’
1. A relationship by any other name is not a relationship! Malachi spoke of proper relationships in his society. The Israelites understood that “A son honors his father and a servant his master.” People respected relationships and the structure they had. In fact one of the Commandments stated that a person was to honor their parents (Exodus 20:12). However, God asks the applicable question that goes to the heart of the issue, “If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect (fear) due me?” If God was seen as the Father of the Israelite people and also as their Master, where was the respect due Him? God did view Israel as his “firstborn son” (Exodus 4:22) and the Commandments stated very clearly that children were to honor their parents. Israel recognized that “O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand (Isaiah 64:8 NIV).” What had happened then to the relationship Israel was supposed to have with God? They had allowed false and perverted ideas of worship to creep into how they honored God. The absurd response of the people, especially the priests, proves the point God made through Malachi. So conceited and into themselves were the people and their spiritual leadership that they have no idea they had flagrantly and deliberately strayed from God! They act like they are the ones offended and arrogantly ask, “How have we shown contempt for your name?” (I can see Malachi stepping aside to get out of the way of the fire from heaven!) Fear of God does not necessitate being terrified of him; but rather having a proper respect and reverence for him, a reverence that leads his people to worship and obedience! They had deliberately followed their own selfish desires instead and dishonored their relationship. Malachi brings evidence of a dishonorable relationship!
EXAMPLE: America has become a nation of consumers. There is nothing wrong with this except where God is concerned. We consume God instead of offering him our sacrifice. We look for ways to get the most bang-for-our-buck. This is why many hardly give their time, talent, or treasure. Churches offer up bigger and better Sunday morning shows knowing that the consumers in the pews may shop elsewhere. It is contemptible when we continually want God to fill our plastic bag with goodies, but never sacrifice anything for his kingdom. Malachi brings evidence of a dishonorable relationship!
When folks give the Lord something that doesn’t really cost them anything, it is not a sacrifice. The idea of sacrifice demands that it cost the giver. The Israelites should have understood what it meant to sacrifice because they were required to give the very best they had to God in order to show that they truly honored the Lord. Malachi goes on to give…
II. The evidence of dishonorable sacrifices and worship! (Vv. 1:7-10)
“You place defiled food on my altar. But you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’ By saying that the LORD’s table is contemptible. When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the LORD Almighty. ‘Now implore God to be gracious to us. With such offerings from your hands, will he accept you?’--says the LORD Almighty. “Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the LORD Almighty, “and I will accept no offering from your hands.”
1. The proof was in the pudding and it contained a huge hairy fly! The priests were responsible to teach the people God’s covenant and turn their hearts to God! If the priests failed to honor God, what could be expected of the people? God tells them, “You place defiled food on my altar.” The “food” That God refers to here is the required sacrifices that were to be offered. They were warned against offering such sacrifices and thereby profane God’s name (Leviticus 22:2, 32). These offerings were symbols of obedience, trust, and the cost involved. By their actions they were literally “saying that the LORD’s table is contemptible”! God honors righteous sacrifice and they were bringing contemptible ones to his temple and table. Apparently they had become so hardened they rationalized their sin! They arrogantly ask, “How have we defiled you?” They had deliberately brought “blind…, crippled or diseased animals.” If they thought it was okay to do they should try offering them to their Persian “governor”! God sarcastically asks them, “Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” The answer is, “NO!” The people tried to get God to reconsider, “Now implore God to be gracious to us.” But his answer was: “With such offerings from your hands, will he accept you?” In our day and age we think that if we feel it then it must be sincere! God knows better. He isn’t “pleased” with half-hearted offerings—they are contemptible and he “will accept no offering from [our] hands”. Notice what God tells the Israelites: “Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you and I will accept no offering from your hands.” it would have been better if they had just “shut the temple doors” so they did not “light useless fires on” God’s altar instead of bringing their worthless sacrifices and worship! Can you imagine coming to worship only to find the doors nailed shut and a sign outside that read: “Closed because of unholy Worship”? Malachi gives the Israelites the evidence of dishonorable sacrifices and worship!
EXAMPLE: How do you think people would feel if they came to an Ash Wednesday Worship and were greeted by having human waste spread across their foreheads instead of ash? Later God would tell the Israelites, “Because of you I will rebuke your descendants; I will spread on your faces the offal from your festival sacrifices, and you will be carried off with it. (Malachi 2:3 NIV)” Even today there are those who have taken the holy out of worship. They do not bring pure sacrifices yet they think God should bless them. Jesus related that, “by their fruit you will recognize them”. Is there evidence of dishonorable sacrifices and worship in God’s church today? Malachi’s words should give us pause. Malachi gives the Israelites the evidence of dishonorable sacrifices and worship!
The Israelites had forgotten that their whole existence was to be God’s witnesses in a sin-fallen world. I believe that much of Christianity has forgotten this spiritual truism as well. We see that it often begins in what we are unwilling to sacrifice for the Lord. He wants our best and we give him what we think we can afford. Like us the Israelites were guilty and Malachi give them…
III. Evidence of spiritual hypocrisy! (Vv. 11-14)
My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the nations,” says the LORD Almighty. “But you profane it by saying of the Lord’s table, ‘It is defiled,’ and of its food, ‘It is contemptible.’ And you say, ‘What a burden!’ and you sniff at it contemptuously,” says the LORD Almighty. “When you bring injured, crippled or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?” says the LORD. “Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For I am a great king,” says the LORD Almighty, “and my name is to be feared among the nations.
1. The Hebrew word “because” actually begins verse 11 and is not found in the NIV. It was “because” God’s name would be “considered great among the nations” that the Israelites needed to make “pure” sacrifices. It was a matter of the Israelites witness to the world! When “In every place incense and pure offerings [were] brought to [honor God’s] name, [then his] name will be great among the nations”! Notice how God says the people responded: “But you profane it by saying of the Lord’s table, ‘It is defiled,’ and of its food, ‘It is contemptible.’ And you say, ‘What a burden!’ and you sniff at it contemptuously”! They not only profaned God’s table, worship, by bringing the worst they had but they contemptuously turned their noses up to being God’s witnesses to the world! Levitical law stated they were to get a share of the meat sacrificed to eat themselves, but they didn’t want the diseased food they had originally brought God! They were blatant hypocrites. God bluntly asks them, “When you bring injured, crippled or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?” They didn’t want their own sacrifices why should God want them? God tells them, “Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord.” No one likes a cheater. Cheaters try to gain an advantage by rigging the rules. These hypocrites tried to garner God’s favor with worthless offerings and they knew it. God reminds them that he alone is is “a great king”, in fact he is the Creator of everything and his “name is to be feared among the nations”! The idea of “fear” is held in awe and reverence, but it wasn’t because of their contemptible sacrifices. Are there evidences where Christians “cheat” God with their blemished sacrifices and then say that God’s church is a “burden”? I suspect there is just like the Israelites did and this is why Malachi gives evidence of spiritual hypocrisy!
EXAMPLE: In a typical hypocritical fashion a woman in Oregon was caught driving 103 miles per hour with her 10-year-old grandson in the car. When she was stopped by the police, she told them that she was only trying to teach him never to drive that fast. I suppose she wanted him to do as she said, not as she did. Sadly we can see this in the worship of the Israelites during Malachi’s day and we find it in the lives of Christians as well. Malachi gives us evidence of spiritual hypocrisy!
Conclusion:
What is disrespect? The dictionary defines it as “a lack of respect or esteem.” We can disrespect something or someone by not holding them in high regard. Malachi gave the evidence of dishonorable relationship, evidence of dishonorable sacrifices and worship, and evidence of spiritual hypocrisy!
---
This article is copyrighted © 2018 by Lee Hemen and is the sole property of Lee Hemen, and may not be used unless you quote the entire article and have my permission.
By Pastor Lee Hemen
March 18, 2018
We can dishonor someone by not holding them in high regard. The people of Israel had done this with God. Within the Ten Commandments given most important instructed, “You shall have no other gods before me.” Yet the Israelites had dishonored God.
Malachi’s second burden therefore deals with the dishonor God’s people can have for the Lord. While it may be easy for us to point to specific religions today that make idols and worship them, Christians can fail to see the idols we fashion and impure worship in our lives. In this, Malachi’s burden is just as much a message for us as it was for the Israelites. We are to honor God with acceptable sacrifice. Let’s find out what Malachi teaches us about being honorable…
READ: Malachi 1:6-14
From the beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelation relationship is important to God. When God told the Israelites, “You shall have no other gods before me. (Exodus 20:3 NIV)” he meant it. Therefore, Malachi’s burden begins with…
I. Evidence of a dishonorable relationship! (V. 1:6)
“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?” says the LORD Almighty. “It is you, O priests, who show contempt for my name. “But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’
1. A relationship by any other name is not a relationship! Malachi spoke of proper relationships in his society. The Israelites understood that “A son honors his father and a servant his master.” People respected relationships and the structure they had. In fact one of the Commandments stated that a person was to honor their parents (Exodus 20:12). However, God asks the applicable question that goes to the heart of the issue, “If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect (fear) due me?” If God was seen as the Father of the Israelite people and also as their Master, where was the respect due Him? God did view Israel as his “firstborn son” (Exodus 4:22) and the Commandments stated very clearly that children were to honor their parents. Israel recognized that “O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand (Isaiah 64:8 NIV).” What had happened then to the relationship Israel was supposed to have with God? They had allowed false and perverted ideas of worship to creep into how they honored God. The absurd response of the people, especially the priests, proves the point God made through Malachi. So conceited and into themselves were the people and their spiritual leadership that they have no idea they had flagrantly and deliberately strayed from God! They act like they are the ones offended and arrogantly ask, “How have we shown contempt for your name?” (I can see Malachi stepping aside to get out of the way of the fire from heaven!) Fear of God does not necessitate being terrified of him; but rather having a proper respect and reverence for him, a reverence that leads his people to worship and obedience! They had deliberately followed their own selfish desires instead and dishonored their relationship. Malachi brings evidence of a dishonorable relationship!
EXAMPLE: America has become a nation of consumers. There is nothing wrong with this except where God is concerned. We consume God instead of offering him our sacrifice. We look for ways to get the most bang-for-our-buck. This is why many hardly give their time, talent, or treasure. Churches offer up bigger and better Sunday morning shows knowing that the consumers in the pews may shop elsewhere. It is contemptible when we continually want God to fill our plastic bag with goodies, but never sacrifice anything for his kingdom. Malachi brings evidence of a dishonorable relationship!
When folks give the Lord something that doesn’t really cost them anything, it is not a sacrifice. The idea of sacrifice demands that it cost the giver. The Israelites should have understood what it meant to sacrifice because they were required to give the very best they had to God in order to show that they truly honored the Lord. Malachi goes on to give…
II. The evidence of dishonorable sacrifices and worship! (Vv. 1:7-10)
“You place defiled food on my altar. But you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’ By saying that the LORD’s table is contemptible. When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the LORD Almighty. ‘Now implore God to be gracious to us. With such offerings from your hands, will he accept you?’--says the LORD Almighty. “Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the LORD Almighty, “and I will accept no offering from your hands.”
1. The proof was in the pudding and it contained a huge hairy fly! The priests were responsible to teach the people God’s covenant and turn their hearts to God! If the priests failed to honor God, what could be expected of the people? God tells them, “You place defiled food on my altar.” The “food” That God refers to here is the required sacrifices that were to be offered. They were warned against offering such sacrifices and thereby profane God’s name (Leviticus 22:2, 32). These offerings were symbols of obedience, trust, and the cost involved. By their actions they were literally “saying that the LORD’s table is contemptible”! God honors righteous sacrifice and they were bringing contemptible ones to his temple and table. Apparently they had become so hardened they rationalized their sin! They arrogantly ask, “How have we defiled you?” They had deliberately brought “blind…, crippled or diseased animals.” If they thought it was okay to do they should try offering them to their Persian “governor”! God sarcastically asks them, “Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” The answer is, “NO!” The people tried to get God to reconsider, “Now implore God to be gracious to us.” But his answer was: “With such offerings from your hands, will he accept you?” In our day and age we think that if we feel it then it must be sincere! God knows better. He isn’t “pleased” with half-hearted offerings—they are contemptible and he “will accept no offering from [our] hands”. Notice what God tells the Israelites: “Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you and I will accept no offering from your hands.” it would have been better if they had just “shut the temple doors” so they did not “light useless fires on” God’s altar instead of bringing their worthless sacrifices and worship! Can you imagine coming to worship only to find the doors nailed shut and a sign outside that read: “Closed because of unholy Worship”? Malachi gives the Israelites the evidence of dishonorable sacrifices and worship!
EXAMPLE: How do you think people would feel if they came to an Ash Wednesday Worship and were greeted by having human waste spread across their foreheads instead of ash? Later God would tell the Israelites, “Because of you I will rebuke your descendants; I will spread on your faces the offal from your festival sacrifices, and you will be carried off with it. (Malachi 2:3 NIV)” Even today there are those who have taken the holy out of worship. They do not bring pure sacrifices yet they think God should bless them. Jesus related that, “by their fruit you will recognize them”. Is there evidence of dishonorable sacrifices and worship in God’s church today? Malachi’s words should give us pause. Malachi gives the Israelites the evidence of dishonorable sacrifices and worship!
The Israelites had forgotten that their whole existence was to be God’s witnesses in a sin-fallen world. I believe that much of Christianity has forgotten this spiritual truism as well. We see that it often begins in what we are unwilling to sacrifice for the Lord. He wants our best and we give him what we think we can afford. Like us the Israelites were guilty and Malachi give them…
III. Evidence of spiritual hypocrisy! (Vv. 11-14)
My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the nations,” says the LORD Almighty. “But you profane it by saying of the Lord’s table, ‘It is defiled,’ and of its food, ‘It is contemptible.’ And you say, ‘What a burden!’ and you sniff at it contemptuously,” says the LORD Almighty. “When you bring injured, crippled or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?” says the LORD. “Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For I am a great king,” says the LORD Almighty, “and my name is to be feared among the nations.
1. The Hebrew word “because” actually begins verse 11 and is not found in the NIV. It was “because” God’s name would be “considered great among the nations” that the Israelites needed to make “pure” sacrifices. It was a matter of the Israelites witness to the world! When “In every place incense and pure offerings [were] brought to [honor God’s] name, [then his] name will be great among the nations”! Notice how God says the people responded: “But you profane it by saying of the Lord’s table, ‘It is defiled,’ and of its food, ‘It is contemptible.’ And you say, ‘What a burden!’ and you sniff at it contemptuously”! They not only profaned God’s table, worship, by bringing the worst they had but they contemptuously turned their noses up to being God’s witnesses to the world! Levitical law stated they were to get a share of the meat sacrificed to eat themselves, but they didn’t want the diseased food they had originally brought God! They were blatant hypocrites. God bluntly asks them, “When you bring injured, crippled or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?” They didn’t want their own sacrifices why should God want them? God tells them, “Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord.” No one likes a cheater. Cheaters try to gain an advantage by rigging the rules. These hypocrites tried to garner God’s favor with worthless offerings and they knew it. God reminds them that he alone is is “a great king”, in fact he is the Creator of everything and his “name is to be feared among the nations”! The idea of “fear” is held in awe and reverence, but it wasn’t because of their contemptible sacrifices. Are there evidences where Christians “cheat” God with their blemished sacrifices and then say that God’s church is a “burden”? I suspect there is just like the Israelites did and this is why Malachi gives evidence of spiritual hypocrisy!
EXAMPLE: In a typical hypocritical fashion a woman in Oregon was caught driving 103 miles per hour with her 10-year-old grandson in the car. When she was stopped by the police, she told them that she was only trying to teach him never to drive that fast. I suppose she wanted him to do as she said, not as she did. Sadly we can see this in the worship of the Israelites during Malachi’s day and we find it in the lives of Christians as well. Malachi gives us evidence of spiritual hypocrisy!
Conclusion:
What is disrespect? The dictionary defines it as “a lack of respect or esteem.” We can disrespect something or someone by not holding them in high regard. Malachi gave the evidence of dishonorable relationship, evidence of dishonorable sacrifices and worship, and evidence of spiritual hypocrisy!
---
This article is copyrighted © 2018 by Lee Hemen and is the sole property of Lee Hemen, and may not be used unless you quote the entire article and have my permission.
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