Meaningful Worship

Notice, also, that the people disgraced God’s table in verses 10-11. In emphasizing how great His name will be among the nations, God is indicting Israel for her lack of esteem for His name. In essence, the Lord says, “Apparently My name is no longer great to you, Israel, but it will be great among the nations.”

He moves His attention to their lack of commitment in verse 12. Their service to the Lord was monotonous. It was a job to them. The priests were merely going through the motions in the temple, and God wanted to shut them off from His presence because of it. He was sick and tired of their heartless rituals and routines. He wanted no more of their prayers and hymns. He was done with their sacrifices and feasts. His desire was for heartfelt devotion, which, judging by their commitment to His worship, was absent.

Because of their actions, God would not accept their offerings. We know the full realization of this condemnation to be in AD 70 when the temple was utterly destroyed and not one stone was left upon another. It is very difficult for modern Christians to comprehend the force of this event in Israel’s history. It would be roughly similar to God saying, “Shut the doors to every church in the world. No more church. No more meetings. It’s over.” But that analogy doesn’t really convey the whole picture, because the Israelites were dependent upon the temple for everything—for their sacrifices, for the forgiveness of their sins, and for their festivals, feast days, and offerings. The temple was even the center of national banking and Jewish political power. Without the temple, the nation would cease to function.

Why would God call for such destruction? In the New Testament we find that the temple is no longer needed because Christ is the fulfillment of everything the temple offered in the life of the Israelites. But in Malachi 1, the reason is that the priests, the socio-religious leaders of Israel, were playing games with God. And when the leaders possess a lackadaisical attitude toward God, the people adopt the same mentality. But now, Malachi reports, the games are over.

We should resolve decisively today to cease the spiritual farces. Let’s be through with casual Christianity once and for all. Let’s be through with worthless worship. Let’s be through with selfish service that we give in order to get, and let’s come before the One who knows all. We can’t hide from this God. You can fool your husband. You can fool your wife. You can fool your kids. You can fool your co-workers. You can fool your Sunday school class. You can fool your pastor. But you cannot fool God. In our offerings of worship and in our commitment to obedience, may we give to the God of Israel meaningful, heartfelt worship.

Malachi proves that when there are listless actions, at the root is always an apathetic attitude. When your actions are tedious toward the Lord, when you’re monotonous in your rituals, it’s always stemming from an apathetic attitude. We have seen the actions; verses 13-14 reveal the attitude.

The priests had become tired of the sacrificial system. It was a burden to them. The word nuisance is used five times in the OT. It’s the same word that’s used to describe the weariness of the Israelites as they walked through the wilderness (“hardships” in Exod 18:8; Num 20:14). They were just burdened by the process. The priests had viewed their service as a system of checking boxes or punching cards and they just wanted to get their work done in order to return home to relax.

Up to this point, we’ve seen two forms of unacceptable sacrifices: the people were offering both lame and sick animals (1:8). Now God introduces a third category: those that are “defective.” They were stealing animals without paying for them. They weren’t offering the best animals they owned. Obtaining them in an illegitimate manner, they offered them up secretly. It didn’t cost them anything. And because it cost them nothing, it was no sacrifice at all. In fact, we might say that if there’s no sacrifice in your sacrifice, it’s not a sacrifice.

Worship is more than words. It’s an attitude of the heart. I believe someone’s offering and actions are connected to their attitude and, in particular, to their view of God. For when you see God for who He is and what He’s done, your worship will be affected.

This reminds me of the Archbishop of Paris. Many years ago he told the story of three young men who were traveling around Paris indulging in all the sensual appetites that the city had to offer. They sampled all the delicacies of sin, if you will, and at the end of their night, parading and carousing through the city, they found themselves on the steps of the cathedral, sprawled out in a drunken stupor. As the sun rose, the partygoers relived their escapades from the night before.

One of the men had the bright idea, “Why don’t we go inside and find a confessional booth. We’ll ask the priest to forgive us of all of our sins that we just committed by confessing them out loud.” They were going to do this in a blasphemous manner, not seeking true forgiveness from God, believing this act would be the crowning glory of a night to remember.

Invigorated by the laughter of his friends, one young man volunteered to do it. He walked into the chapel and requested the attention of a priest. He sat in the confessional booth and confessed his sins loudly one after the other in lurid detail. The confession was concluded with these words, “I know all that You did for me, and I don’t give a @!#!”

The priest, realizing what was happening, stopped him and said this to him: “Young man, I have heard enough. You don’t need to confess anything else to me. If you would like to be forgiven of your sins, you only need to do one thing. Outside of the confessional are steps leading up to an altar. On the altar is a statue of Jesus on the cross. Simply go to the statue, kneel down at the steps, look at Christ on the cross, and say these words: ‘Lord Jesus, I know all that You’ve done for me and I don’t give a @!#!’” The boy, if you can imagine, was shocked. So the priest repeated those words again to him. “You will be forgiven if you go outside, look at the cross, and say to the Lord Jesus, ‘I know all that You’ve done for me and I don’t give a @!#!’”

At this point the boy, now surprisingly sober, stumbled out of the confessional booth and into view of his friends. Wondering how the priest had responded to the vulgar confession, his partners in crime watched their friend walk toward the steps. He knelt down on the stairs, looked up to Jesus hanging on the cross, and said, “Lord Jesus, I know all that You’ve done for me. Would You forgive me of my sins?”

The Archbishop of Paris said, “I know that story is true because that story is of me.”

As long as the boy was playing games, his sacrifice and his worship meant nothing. When he was forced to take a serious look at Christ, he responded in worship. The same happens to us, too.

When you get a glimpse of the greatness of God, when you gain a proper perspective of who Christ is and what Christ has done for you, you’ll never again play games with God. When we see Christ as the image of God, clearly presented to us as worthy of worship and praise, we must respond with loving worship and heartfelt obedience. And because of Christ, we are able to offer these sacrifices from a pure heart. In Romans 12:1 Paul says as much:

Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship.

Malachi was talking about Aaronic priests, a class that does not exist today. Paul says that every believer in Christ is a priest, called to offer spiritual sacrifices of worship. You don’t need an outfit. You don’t need a white collar. You don’t need a black robe. First Peter 2:5 confirms this:

You yourselves, as living stones, are being built into a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

So you and I, as priests, offer up sacrifices to the Lord. Living sacrifices, as opposed to dead sacrifices, regularly crawl off the altar on which they are laid. So we must continually recommit ourselves to God.

Now what do we offer up? Let me briefly list five things. First, you offer up your body (Rom 12:1-2). You also offer up your finances to the Lord as a spiritual sacrifice (Phil 4:14-18). Third, you offer up your praise to the Lord (Heb 13:15). Fourth, you offer up your good works (Heb 13:16). Finally, you even offer up those who have accepted the gospel as a result of your sharing (Rom 15:16). By God’s grace, may we offer meaningful worship to the only One who is worthy of all honor and glory and praise, even among all the nations (Mal 1:11).