“Distasteful Worship?" – FBC Morning Light (12/27/2023

Well a good Wednesday morning to you. We are in the middle of Christmas week. I hope your week is going well.

Perhaps you've had a little extra time this week. You know some companies they give their employees the whole week of Christmas between Christmas and New Year's off.

Well maybe that's not you. Not me either. Here I am at work. Well actually to be honest

I'm recording this before Christmas but I'm trusting that your week of Christmas is a good one and you've been able to keep your focus on Christ through the course of this

Christmas celebration. I want to help you with that. Yesterday we looked at the end of the age and the second advent of Christ and today

I want to look at the last book of the Old Testament. In our Bible reading plan we're in Malachi chapters 1 and 2.

We're reading half of that last book of the Old Testament today, the other half tomorrow. Then we're also reading

Revelation chapter 20. In Malachi chapter 1 the

Lord challenges us with our attitude toward worship and our approach toward worship.

I want us to think about that today. In verse 6 he says this, he says, a son honors his father and a servant his master.

He said, if I am a 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? Priests despising the name of the

Lord? How is that possible? That's what they want to know. What do you mean we're despising the name of the

Lord? If the Lord challenges you with this same kind of thing and he asks, where is my honor?

Where is my reverence or respect that I rightly deserve? You say, I reverence you,

I respect you, I honor you. Then he goes on to probe a little deeper, and with the sword of the

Spirit he's penetrating to the depths of the being. He says, wait a minute now, you offer defiled food on my altar.

But say, in what way have we defiled you? In this way. Here's how you defile the worship of the

Lord, by saying that the table of the Lord is contemptible. In other words, in some way you really kind of despise the

Lord's table. This is a reference not to the communion table, but to the worship of the

Lord. In the Old Testament time, of course, they were offering sacrifices and so forth. He goes on to talk about this.

He says in verse 8, when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, is it not evil? When you offer the lame and the sick, is it not evil?

Offer it then to your governor. Would he be pleased with this? Would he accept you favorably, says the Lord of hosts?

The Lord is challenging his people here with their attitude toward the worship of him, because what they're doing in their worship is they're giving him substandard.

They're giving him the stuff that they don't want. They're not giving him their best.

He goes on to deal with this further. He says, 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? Who is there even among you who would shut the doors so that you would not kindle fire on my altar in vain?

He says, I have no pleasure in you. The Lord doesn't have any pleasure in substandard worship, in second -fiddle worship, if you will.

He says, nor will I accept an offering from your hands. In verse 13 he says, you say, what a weariness it is.

You sneer at it. That is the worship of the Lord, offering the sacrifices to the

Lord. He says, you bring the stolen, the lame, and the sick, thus you bring an offering.

Should I accept this from your hand, says the Lord? It's a rhetorical question.

No. The challenge to us, we don't offer animal sacrifices and grain offerings and all the rest of that, as in the

Old Testament economy, but we do come before the Lord to worship him. What is our attitude in coming?

This coming Lord's Day, I trust you'll make it a priority to get up in the morning and go to church.

What's your attitude in doing so? Is it nonchalant? Is it relative indifference?

Is it just a matter of habit and routine and you just do it because you do it? Are you offering the

Lord your best? Think about that even in our very tangible giving of finances.

Is the Lord getting the leftovers, or is he getting the first fruits? Is he getting the top of our giving?

Or do we have an attitude that says, when I get to the end of the month, if I have anything left over, then

I'll give an offering to the Lord. Later on, he's going to deal with that as well.

He talks about how the people are giving their tithes and offerings and not doing a very good job of it.

I just want us to stop and think. What is our attitude toward the worship of our

God, of our Heavenly Father, of our Lord Jesus Christ, he who gave his all for us?

Does he not deserve our best? May the Lord deliver us from anything less.

Our Father and our God, we do thank you for this challenge today, because we realize we live in a world of so many distractions and so many things that can take priority and interest, and things that we see and hear all around us.

It's easy to allow our worship of you to degenerate into something very substandard.

Oh Lord, help us to be conscious of our worship and conscious of giving you our very best.

This we pray in Jesus' name and for his sake, amen. Have a good rest of your