The Priests' Polluted Offerings
stephan challen
Malachi • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 41:02
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· 12 viewsEvening 19 November 23
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Order of Service
Order of Service
Welcome
Welcome
Prayer
Prayer
Hymn -
Hymn -
Notices
Notices
Prayer Meeting - 7:30pm
Friday 7pm - Online
Sunday Morning 11am & 6pm
Tithes & Offerings - £
Main Prayer
Main Prayer
Hymn - Lord, be my vision, supreme in my heart (732)
Hymn - Lord, be my vision, supreme in my heart (732)
Reading
Reading
“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, ‘How have we despised your name?’ By offering polluted food upon my altar. But you say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ By saying that the Lord’s table may be despised. When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favor? says the Lord of hosts. And now entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious to us. With such a gift from your hand, will he show favor to any of you? says the Lord of hosts. Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand. For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts. But you profane it when you say that the Lord’s table is polluted, and its fruit, that is, its food may be despised. But you say, ‘What a weariness this is,’ and you snort at it, says the Lord of hosts. You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering! Shall I accept that from your hand? says the Lord. Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. For I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations.
Sermon
Sermon
Reminder
The Lord’s Love for Israel
Reverence
Reverence
Compare love for God with when first became a Christian
God’s amazing love for Israel
Yet, Israel’s love for God is in dreadful decline
To easy to blame leaders and excuse ourselves
blaming leaders for our spirtual carelessness and laziness
Who were the Priests - Levites
Guardians of God’s Word
Spell out, teaching and applying God’s Laws
fulfil the sacrificial system
Christ died once and for all
We are in a position of spirirtual responsibility
Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
Priesthood of believers
direct access to God
We can only come to God through a knowledge of the truth
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
“Priestly” position - an example to others
Pastors, Elders & Missionaries
Youth leaders, sunday school teachers, house-group fellowship leaders
Fathers - spirirtual head of the household
Leaders & teachers, filled with self-importance - can easily become unteachable
There is always a terrible danger that the man who is so accustomed to ministering the Word of God may foolishly become closed to the Word himself and blind to his own sins
“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, ‘How have we despised your name?’
Malachi gets their attention
“A son honours his father, and a servant his master”
“If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear?”
“says the Lord of Hosts to you, O Priests, who despite my name”
Attitudes to God, especially as we come to him in worship, are the true monitor of spirituality. They are the true thermometer of our spiritual temperature.
Reverence is not the homage which weak minds pay to religious tradition and the status quo; it is rather the loving, sincere and practical recognition of the greatness of God.
They had stopped giving God his rightful honour
they had led the people into the same apathy
Symptoms of Irreverence
Symptoms of Irreverence
“But you say, ‘How have we despised your name?’”
verses 7-14 are a catalogue of offences to God
1) Painless Worship
1) Painless Worship
By offering polluted food upon my altar. But you say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ By saying that the Lord’s table may be despised. When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favor? says the Lord of hosts.
Sacrificial sacrifices were no longer sacrifical
They gave to God what they didn’t want
Sacrifice is the giving up of something we genuinely value in order to express our devotion to God
Giving a birthday present of something thrown out
Anything is Good Enough for God
He ought to think himself lucky I’ve given him that
My career comes first
My leisure comes second
and God has what’s left over
Our attitude towards God is often reflected in our attitude towards the local church
The Local church - for all its warts and faults - is the body of Christ
The Priests should have rejected the offerings (as gate keepers or guardians)
Either the priests had such a wrong view of God that they could not see how offensive and provocative such things were to the Lord.
Or they had the attitude of not wanting to upset the worshippers.
Lets not cause any trouble with the congregation
Lets not rock the boat - after all they pay my wages!
God is not pleased when pastors & elders see sin among the church and are simply prepared to let it ride
2) Thoughtless Worship
2) Thoughtless Worship
When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favor? says the Lord of hosts. And now entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious to us. With such a gift from your hand, will he show favor to any of you? says the Lord of hosts.
Sacrificing diseased animals
Picture the luxurious dining hall of the Persian Govenor’s Palace in Jerusalem
Long tiring day, bathed and dressed for dinner, awaiting his evening meal
Butler enters “with compliments of the chef”
Takes off the cover of the silver platter
Presents - stinking, festering leg of lamb crawling with maggots
He is not going to say “I’m a celebrity get me out of here!”
God’s people
would never be late for work
never fiddle their income tax returns
How can we have less respect for the King of Kings than we do for political powers who are appointed by him?
Imagine: asking the boss round for a meal as you are hoping for promotion - and give him the food waste on a plate
They were so thoughtless they had not even given this consideration
Sunday Ritual ?
heartless Hymns
heartless prayers
minds and affection on everything else except God
3) Contemptuous Worship
3) Contemptuous Worship
But you profane it when you say that the Lord’s table is polluted, and its fruit, that is, its food may be despised. But you say, ‘What a weariness this is,’ and you snort at it, says the Lord of hosts. You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering! Shall I accept that from your hand? says the Lord.
Their worship was defiled, profane and polluted
Polluted by the attitude of the mind
They ‘snort/smell at it’
They ‘turned their noses up’ at God
Despised the work God has given them to do
The Pastor who has done theological college training and feels that the small congregation in an inner-city church is beneath him.
shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly;
Bad examples of Christian thinking:
What a consuming drag to be an elder
How wearisome being a deacon
A Christian parent who just cannot be bothered to pray tenderly wuth the chuldren
The Christian, who would never say it out loud, “How dull and tiresome it is to have to give Sundays to the Lord and get up and gather with God’s People”
Leaders not just weary in the work (legitamate) but weary of the work
A Foul smelling offering to God
4) Hypocritical Worship
4) Hypocritical Worship
Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. For I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations.
People cry out to God when they hit problems
In time of stress and desperation
Promises “I’ll sacrifice to you the very best ram of my flock”
God helps him
But when trouble passes
“Oh well, I’m sure it would have all worked out anyway! I don’t really have to ive my best because of some foolish promise I made to God during a time of stress”
“It wasn’t really that bad, I’ll give the Lord this old thing to keep up appearances”
Hypocrisy
It is cheating God !
Summary of Israel
Sacrifices came from people who did not really want to give God anything
Animals used were blemished
The priests despised their work
And the whole thing was a mindless ritual
symptoms of hollow, heartless, hypocritical religion
adds up to a lack of respect and reverence for God
Israel prided themselves on their father-son relationship with God
No wonder God said “If I am a father, where is the honour due to me?”
The Cause of Irreverence
The Cause of Irreverence
How do churches fall into the barren religion so graphically described?
For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts.
v14 “For I am a great King .... and my name is to be feared among the nation”
They had forgotten...
the GREATNESS of God
their God, their Master, was none other than “The Lord Almighty”
They had failed to realise the Glory of God
God was God over all the nations, the soveign King of the universe
Forgotten the responsibility they had through their life and worship to cause God to be feared among the nations.
Lost sight of the unspeakable majesty of God
Subconsciously they took on the attitude that the temple was primarily for their convenience rather than for God
The sad decline naturally followed.
They thought that it was “Their church”, which existed for their benefit frather than the praise of the all-glorious God
When Moses had had some dealings with God he found an all-consuming desire spinging up within his heart ....
Moses said, “Please show me your glory.”
Not long after Moses had an awe-inspiring experience of God as he stood in the cleft of the rock and was allowd to catch a sight of the Lord.
The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped.
Such was the his experience Moses’ face shone will the brilliant holiness and fulfilment of it all.
True reverence is not stranger to joy!
Psalmist expresses the same great passion for the sight of God ...
One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.
“Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?
When we realize that in the person of his Son Jesus, this same glorious God became man for us, and went to the death of the cross for our sins, because of his love for us, then we stand with our hands upon our mouths in holy astonishment. How great is our God!
God confronts the priests of Malachi’s day with the need to recognise his greatness
Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand.
Man acts as as if God needs him
It is a privilege for people to be called to engage in His worship
But if people will not worship him in sincerety and truth then God’s message is that he would rather they shut down the church
Hollow empty “worship” brings more harm to God’s reputation than good!
Unless somthing changes
Unless set their hearts to worship that is fitting
He will forsake them and raise up other people who will
This is what God did in the New Testament, departing from the hypocrisy of Pharisaical Judaism and went to the Gentiles
Let this be a warning to us, God is not tied to one church
We must not think that because we take a certain doctrinal stance that God’s blessing must continue
Yes, Doctrine is vitally important, but without love to God it is nothing
God will not allow empty worship to go on.
Today:
Do not forget the greatness of God
Do not take your eyes off the Glory of God
Do not forget your privelege of being called to worship Him
Final points
Reverence is heartfelt, sincere and practical recognition of the greatness of God
Did our spiritual activity give me a felt sense of the majesty and greatness of the Lord and so renew a reverent determination within me to serve him with all my heart?
Spiritual leaders have an enormous responsibility to convey a sense of the greatness of God to the people for whose souls they care
Practical sermons, challenging exhortations, evangelistic messages, warnings against error are all very necessary and all comparatively easy to preach. But a real measure of a preacher is whether he is able to preach from his heart a graphic sermon which lovingly, simply extols God and sends people away thinking, ‘How great God is!’ No man can do this unless he is personally close to God. No wonder Robert Murray M’Cheyne said, ‘My people’s greatest need is for my own holiness.’
Barren silence, sternness and stoicism are not to be equated with reverent awe.
It is a profound recognition of the distance that exists between the Creator and the creature, between the holy God and the sinner, mixed with a marvellous knowledge that God loves us.
Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe,
Satan wages war of true reverence.
Satan does by suggesting that all reverence is thoughtless homage to the past, it is all hypocrisy, it is all falsely dramatic, it is all insincere.
Only the BEST is good enough for God
The very best of our lives, our hearts and our devotion.
Hymn - Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord! (628)
Hymn - Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord! (628)
Q&A
Q&A
Hymn -
Hymn -
Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer
Doxology
Doxology