Keep your Bibles open at Malachi, and it's great to be here on this day with Sam and
Sal and Bailey.
Let me say it's great to have him on team.
For those of you who are part of his family and friends, I'm Steve.
I'm on the ministry team.
I work with Sam and work with Sal there for a while, and very sad to get Sal's resignation,
but certainly joyful in the arrival of Bailey.
It's a good reason to resign, I think, here.
So keep your Bibles open.
We are in the middle, for those who are new here tonight, we're in the middle of a commitment
series, or second weekend, in fact, of the commitment series going through Malachi.
So that's the context of what we're looking at.
We do it every year as a church, and so we're up to number two.
So I want to pray, and then I'm going to look at that passage.
Father God, help us.
We pray to look at this passage, which has got so many difficult bits in it, and even
grates against our hearts in it.
You are the sovereign ruler of this universe.
And so help us now, we pray, so that our heart and our treasures might align with yours.
And we ask it for your sake.
Amen.
Am I on the air?
I am.
Fantastic.
Okay.
Last we discovered, as we entered into Malachi, first five verses, the glorious foundation of
this relationship between God and his people Israel.
It's right there in verse two of chapter one, in four words, I have loved you.
And we unpack the implications of that little statement.
God's love is an electing love because he chose Israel over Esau.
His love for them is an unconditional love because he chose them to be his.
He chose to love them before they'd done anything good or evil, before they'd met any conditions,
before they were even born.
His love for them is a sovereign love because he was under no constraint whatsoever.
He didn't have a gun held to his head in order to love his people.
He was not forced to do it.
He wasn't tricked.
He wasn't manipulated in any way.
And his love for them is free because it is the abundant overflow of his immeasurable
grace that can never be bought.
It can't be repaid or earned in any way.
And so my first challenge for us last week was for us to make a commitment to know this
God.
Don't conform God to the size of our finite minds, but to actually know the God, the infinite
God has revealed himself so that we can understand something about him.
So go deeper than just the size of your head in understanding God.
And why do that?
Well, because you cannot worship, adore, love what you don't know.
You cannot treasure Jesus if in fact you don't know the Jesus who has revealed himself.
We also know from the very same verse in verse 2 of chapter 1 that Israel failed to see and
feel the greatness of God's love.
But that's not the only thing that they failed to see and feel.
We actually see here in verse 6, beginning of today's text, that they failed to see and
feel the greatness of God's majesty.
So have a look at it there.
A son honors his father and a slave his master.
If I am a father, where is the honor due me?
And if I'm a master, where is the respect due me, says the Lord Almighty?
And so there are two aspects there of the fatherhood of God.
It means that he loves me, that he will care for me, that he will guide me and forgive me
and take me home to be with him forever someday.
And those things are all wonderfully true.
Don't want to dismiss those in any sense.
But the fatherhood of God in this text also implies that God is to be honored and revered
and venerated.
The majestic fatherhood of God implies that his children should honor him and respect him
and pay him reverential esteem.
And that is Israel's failing in this text.
That's their problem.
And so what Malachi does for us, he helps us to see and to feel the majesty of the heavenly
father by using a special name for God here.
Eight times in the verses from verse 6 to verse 14, God is called, he refers himself as the
Lord Almighty.
Or in old language, you'd call it the Lord of hosts.
So what Malachi wants us to see and feel is that our father in heaven has infinite authority
in the universe.
He can wield any and all armies on the earth to accomplish his purpose among the nations,
whether they like it or not, whether they know it or not.
He has a myriads of unstoppable angels who do his bidding fallously, who never fail on a
single errand that he sends them on.
He has appointed every star in the universe in its position.
He holds them in place, all trillion upon trillions of them by the power of his very
word, and he calls them by name.
That is the greatness, if you like, of God, the sheer majesty of God that the Bible reveals.
And that is what's missing here for these people of Israel.
It's the majesty, the greatness of God that's kind of slipped by them.
It's sort of like this.
You've got a dog, like Rin Tin Tin and Lassie and Benji or one of those dogs, and the dog
saved you a hundred times, and you might feel deep affection for that poor wretched animal,
and you may even cry when the animal dies, but you're never tempted to bow down and actually
worship the dog.
Or it's the same of a true friend.
The closest bond of friendship might develop, but you never think, even if you're closest
friend, that I need to bow down and worship them.
Even though you might love them, you don't actually bow down and worship them.
Why?
Because one indispensable element in worship is greatness.
It's majesty.
It's splendor.
It's the greatness of God that is missing here for God's people in this text.
And it's so evident in two areas as we're going to go through.
The greatness of God is missing for them, and it's evident in their worship, and it's evident
in their relationships with each other.
That's what we're going to look at.
So what happens when you don't see or feel the majestic greatness of God?
Apathy, carelessness, fickleness, half-hearted devotion.
They are the results when you don't see God's greatness.
And it's there in verse 8 for us.
Have a look at it if you've got your Bibles there.
When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong?
When you sacrifice lame 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, Israel knew that the book of Leviticus condemned dodgy sacrifices like that.
And the priests, it also condemned the priests who offered those dodgy sacrifices.
So why was it so important to God to bring the best animals for sacrifice?
The perfect one, the unblemished animals for sacrifice.
The primary reason is that God was interested in teaching his people that a sacrifice for sin must be perfect for it to be effective.
These sacrifices, in the end, way back then, centuries earlier, were meant to all point forward to the sacrifice of sin that was to come in Jesus Christ,
the one who was called the perfect Lamb of God.
Hebrews 9 says this about Jesus,
that he appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.
Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people.
And Hebrews is at pains to point out the greatness and the majesty and the perfection of Jesus.
And so these sacrifices that these people were doing were meant to look forward to Jesus and his once for all perfect sacrifice.
And so if you offer a dodgy sacrifice, by implication, you were saying that my sin isn't that great.
It doesn't matter that much.
And it doesn't need anyone or anything perfect to die as a substitute for sin.
And so the horror of what these priests were doing here in offering these blemish sacrifices is that God says explicitly that he's turning away.
You come to the altar, you bring your blemished animal, your mangy broken legs,
you blind sheep and you put them on the altar and God says, I will not accept that.
And so what he does is he turns his back to it.
And when he turns his back to it, he ignores you, the person who brings the sacrifice.
And when you are bringing a sacrifice as a sin offering, what happens if it's rejected?
You are still in your sin.
And that's the horror.
All this religious activity that's happening in the people in Israel is of naught value to God.
They arrogantly assumed that they could approach God on their own terms rather than on God's terms.
And you only do that when God is small in your mind and you are big in your mind.
And so why offer these substandard sacrifices?
The origin of this careless worship is seen in verse 11 and 14.
So cast your eyes there in chapter 1.
Both verses give the reason God rejects this careless worship from his people.
Let's just look at verse 11.
It's connected, verse 10.
Logically, I know, but it's connected to verse 10.
It says, I am not pleased with you, says the Lord Almighty,
and I will accept no offering from your hands.
For, I want to inject a word in there.
For, my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord Almighty.
In other words, careless worship is unacceptable because it utterly fails to come to terms with the greatness of God.
And then God, what he does here is he quotes their attitude to worship in verses 12 and 13.
You profane it by saying the Lord's table is defiled and its food is contemptible.
In verse 13.
And you say, what a burden.
And you sniff at it contemptuously, says the Lord Almighty.
What's their basic attitude to worship?
It's a burden.
Or quite literally, it's wearisome.
It's boring.
And so they sniff at it with contempt.
When you become so blind that the maker of galaxies, the ruler of nations, the knower of all mysteries, the lover of all souls,
becomes boring, then there's only one thing that's left.
And that is the love of the things that he's created.
Love of the world.
When you give away the very best treasure, you will always pick up a lesser treasure.
Because our hearts are restless and they must treasure something.
And if it's not in heaven, if it's not God, then it will be here in this world.
If you cannot see the greatness of the sun, you'll be impressed by a streetlight.
If you've never felt the roar of thunder and seen the brilliance of lightning, you'll take photos of fireworks.
If you turn your back on the greatness and majesty of God, you'll fall in love with the world of shadows and short-lived pleasures.
And so when it's time to bring your sheep from the flock to sacrifice, what do you bring?
You bring the blind one with broken legs and the mange.
Or better still, you jump the fence and flog your neighbor's one.
Because the good sheep sell better and you love your money more than God.
And so this, I think, is what is happening here amongst these people.
Careless worship in this text is religious activity that illustrates how little I value God.
That's the sense of it there, I think, in verse 10.
Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors so that you would not light useless fires on my altar.
There's a little word behind the phrase useless fires.
And it's probably better translated vain fires.
The same word is used in 2 Samuel 24-24 in a very similar way to this passage here.
So back to 2 Samuel 24.
King David is trying to avert a plague.
And to do so, he needs to build an altar in order to make sacrifice on the altar.
And the owner of the threshing floor where he wants to build the altar says to him,
take it for free and I'll give you some animals to sacrifice on it for free as well when you build your altar.
And this is King David's response.
No.
But I will buy it from you at a price.
I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God which cost me nothing.
I will not offer to the Lord my God sacrifices in vain.
And that is the essence of careless worship.
What David is saying there in 2 Samuel 24 is,
I value God so much.
The sovereign freedom, unconditional love and the majesty of his fatherhood are so satisfying to my soul
that I cannot bring myself to worship in a way that looks as if I value money than I value him.
I won't do it.
It must cost me something.
It must say that he, the holder of galaxies, is my greatest treasure.
And so the essence here of careless worship is empty religious activity.
It doesn't express the worth of God.
It doesn't cost anything.
In fact, what it does is it expresses that our treasure is on earth
and that in actual fact I really love this world that he's made rather than him.
And so if we worship God when it is convenient
or it's the eighth most important thing on the list
without bothering to repent of any sin,
then we are in the end revealing our view of God.
And friends, as I said this morning, I've got to say it here again.
I'm concerned because it is so easy for careless worship
just to filter in amongst the people of God.
And I've seen it filtering here.
A carelessness that worships when it's convenient.
A carelessness that isn't on time.
A carelessness that only sings the songs that I want to sing.
A carelessness that fits the worship of the majestic God of this universe
around sport and travel and entertainment and family gatherings
and school and TV and work and my own sleep patterns
and around anything.
A carelessness that reveals that some of us are more impressed
with the street light than we are with the sun.
A carelessness that doesn't treasure the sacrificial, electing, sovereign, free love
of this majestic, great Lord Jesus Christ.
That he's not in fact the greatest treasure.
True worship comes from a heart where the Lord Jesus is treasured above all human property and praise
and it aims to inspire the same Christ-centered passion in the hearts of those that are gathered.
Now I'm not talking about a particular form of worship here.
Don't get me wrong.
I'm not batting for Anglicanism or anything nutty like that
when I talk about true worship.
What I have in mind is worship
that really comes from feeling and seeing the greatness of God.
It seeks humbly to express and to inspire that same intensity for Jesus
without the distractions of theological lightness or errors or superficiality
or carelessness or flippancy or pride.
So my friends, we need Jesus to open our eyes to his greatness
so that we never offer him in the pew or in the pulpit
or in the singing or in the prayers or whatever it is,
the leftover of our lives.
That's the first evidence that they haven't seen the greatness of God.
The second evidence they haven't seen the greatness of God
is in the way they treated one another.
The failure to treat each other correctly
was another sign that in actual fact their worship was empty.
I'm just going to be really brief.
Have a look at chapter 2, verse 10.
I'm not going to pick all this apart,
but there's a few things I want to show you.
Do we not have one Father?
Did not one God create us?
Why do we profane the covenant of our ancestors
by being unfaithful to one another?
Judah has been unfaithful.
A detestable thing has been committed in Israel in Jerusalem.
Judah has desecrated the sanctuary of the Lord,
the Lord loves by marrying women who worship a foreign God.
As for the man who does this,
whoever he may be,
may the Lord remove him from the tents of Jacob,
even though he brings an offering to the Lord Almighty.
Another thing you do,
you flood the Lord's altar with tears,
you weep and wail because he no longer looks with favor
on your offerings,
accept them with pleasure from your hands.
You ask why?
It is because the Lord is the witness
between you and the wife of your youth.
You have been unfaithful to her,
though she is your partner,
the wife of your marriage covenant.
Has not the one God made you?
You belong to him in body and spirit.
And what does the one God seek?
Godly offspring.
So be on your guard
and do not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth.
The man who hates and divorces his wife,
says the Lord,
the God of Israel does violence
to the one he should protect.
says the Lord Almighty.
So be on your guard
and do not be unfaithful.
The will of God in those verses
is really plain.
He wills that we be faithful to each other.
And the word unfaithful there
is used three times
in the three different sections.
So in verse 10,
why do you profane the covenant of our ancestors
by being unfaithful to one another?
That's referring to a general untrustworthiness
in relationships.
Verse 11,
Judah has been unfaithful
by marrying women who worship a foreign God.
That's reference to the marrying of unbelievers
who don't trust Jesus.
In verse 14,
the Lord is the witness
between you and the wife of your youth.
You have been unfaithful to her
is in reference to
what I would call careless divorce.
The sin that runs through
each of these areas of life
is the failure to keep a commitment.
It's the breaking of an agreement
or a covenant
or a contract
or a promise.
It's that they're not true to their words,
is what he's saying.
And so what Malachi does
with this key word
is to show that community life
of the church
is supposed to be ordered
by the faithful promise
of fulfillment
of promises and contracts
and oaths and covenants
and commitments.
We had one of them up here
just a moment ago.
I promise
to bring Bailey up
in the life of the church.
To know, to love
and to serve the Lord Jesus.
That's a covenant.
That's an oath
that was declared here
and promises were made
in full view of us all
and God.
But this order
has been given way
to the disorder
that comes when people
give in
to the power
of self-centered
emotional impulses.
See, what happens?
Remember it?
What happens when you fail
to see and feel
the greatness
of God's love
and the majesty
of the Fatherhood of God?
You live
for disappearing shadows
and short-lived pleasures
for self-centered
emotional impulses.
And Malachi reveals
two alternative ways
here for people
to live in a community.
One way
is what you might call
covenantal order.
All relationships
are made
peaceful and pure
by the fulfillment
of covenants
and promises
and oaths
and contracts
and commitments.
Children to parents,
parents to children,
husbands to wives,
wives to husbands,
employer to employee,
employee to employer,
state citizen,
citizen state.
probably other ones
as well.
The peace
and prosperity
and joy
of the community
is held together
by the deep,
strong spirit
of covenant
keeping
that pervades
the community.
We are true
to each other.
The very fabric
of the community
is the trustworthiness
of its people.
that they do
what they say
not just because
of the person
they're eyeballing
but because
Jesus is true
to them.
They want to
honor him
and obey him.
And so we
follow through
with our commitments
to each other.
And the big one
here that he mentions
a couple of times
is marriage.
we follow
through with
commitments
such as
I Steve
in the presence
of God
in the presence
of God
take you
Natalie
to be my wife
to have and to hold
from this day
forward
for better or for worse
for richer for poorer
in sickness and in health
to love and to cherish
as long as we both
shall live
this is my
solemn vow
and promise
to you Natalie
but my solemn
vow and promise
to God
and I stick
to that promise.
The other way
for people to live
together in community
is the opposite
of covenantal order
is what you might call
the disorder
of self-indulgence
and in this community
the spirit of
commitment making
and commitment keeping
has been replaced
by the spirit
of emotional
and physical
impulse
and so when my wife
doesn't please me
anymore
I abuse her
or I just
replace her
and that's what
the carelessness
is what Malachi
is speaking about here.
He's not talking
about a genuine
divorce
he's talking about
careless divorce
and the moral
fabric of faithfulness
to covenants
and promise keeping
and contracts
is unraveled
and what's left
are individual
strands of private
gratification.
I think friends
that Malachi's message
to us today
could hardly be
more relevant.
He warns against
the pseudo freedom
of individualistic
self-indulgence
our worship
of God
is not
a deeply
private matter
it is
intimately linked
with our relationships
with other people
our horizontal
relationships
with one another
testify
either for
or against
the reality
of our vertical
relationship
with God
God
and that is
why our
core value
here as a church
treasuring Jesus
together
is so essential
this is what it
says
having been led
individually
by the spirit
of God
to receive
Jesus Christ
as the Lord
Saviour
and supreme
treasure
of our lives
we now
most solemnly
and joyfully
enter into
covenant
with one another
as the one
body in Christ
in an age
of individualism
we value vigilance
and accountability
in treasuring
Jesus together
and then
after that
that's the
introductory statement
there's a few
things that come
in after that
in terms of
what it might
look like
in practice
and here's
one of the
points
we are committed
to making
corporate worship
a weekly
priority
now that's
not just
because of
our relationship
with God
that's because
of our relationship
with one another
it's treasuring
Jesus together
as John 4
20 says
if anyone
says I love
God
and yet hates
his brother
he's a liar
for anyone
who does not
love his brother
whom he has
seen
cannot love
God
whom he has
not seen
the love of God
must show itself
in the interaction
with one another
if we are so
self-righteous
that we don't
allow other
Christians to speak
into our lives
and to correct
our injustices
we cannot
be a church
together
so reality
check
God is the
one who holds
the galaxies
in its place
that's him
perfect
all-knowing
sovereign
you on the
other hand
are sinners
and I
am a sinner
and it would
be really good
if we took
ownership of
that very
basic fact
and in
humility
admit our
own sin
before God
and approach
one another
in brokenness
rather than
in self-centeredness
rather than
in self-righteousness
this is the
kind of worship
that is acceptable
to God
it's the kind
of worship
that treasures
Jesus by offering
him
our best
and our
all
and it is
faithful
to one another
where we also
offer ourselves
to one another
our worship of God
involves how we
treat God
and how we
treat others
if we think
that we worship
God
because we
attend church
tonight
we've sung
some hints
and we've read
the Bible
and we've done
some praying
and stuff like
that
and yet our
lives move
out from here
and the rest
of the week
self-indulgent
impulse is what
I live for
then the only
person who's
being fooled
is you
the majestic
Jesus requires
that his
treasured
possessions
treasure him
above all
else
Amen