We're starting this morning a series, a new series in the book of Malachi. We just finished up our series Kingdom Sexuality, and we are now building through this new series Malachi Reformation and Renewal towards the Advent season. So we have it set up that this series will conclude the Sunday before Christmas, which means the very last portion of the Old Testament will be our last sermon before we celebrate the incarnation of Jesus Christ. So I'm really looking forward to that.
Like I said, it's a new series. It's in the book of Malachi. If you're looking for that book in your Bibles, it's at the very end of the Old Testament. It's the very last book in the Old Testament. It's about probably a little more than two-thirds of the way through the Bible. If you find the book of Matthew, just go back one book and that's where you'll find it.
It's a book that's written to the people of Israel. As we'll see over the coming weeks, the book of Malachi is written for a specific reason. It's a book written to combat spiritual complacency. It's a book written to combat spiritual complacacy amongst God's people. Israel's relationship with God, we'll see in this book, had grown stale. It had really become perfunctory. We don't see outright idolatry like we do in some other prophetic books, like we see in books like Judges. Where the people are giving themselves to the worship of idols. We don't see that. What we have in Malachi is more understated. It's more understated, but it's an equally dangerous condition. We see spiritual lethargy.
The opening line of the book reads, Malachi 1:1, "The oracle of the Word of the Lord to Israel," by Malachi. There's two things to note here as we start this series. The first is the meaning of Malachi, the meaning of the prophet's name. Literally, Malachi is the Hebrew word for "my messenger." The Lord has given His prophet a special name, a name that signifies exactly what he's meant to do. This prophet carries a divine message.
The second thing to note is that the message is called an oracle. It's actually helped in preparation. Sinclair Ferguson argues it might be more helpful to use an alternative translation for oracle. Talk about this being read as a burden. Malachi as a prophet is mindful that he's been called by God. That's what it means to be a prophet. He's called by God to deliver a message, to deliver an oracle to the people. That's the prophet's role. Prophets in the Old Testament, they bring awareness to God's people. Oftentimes awareness to God's people about the nature of their spiritual condition. How do they stand before God? Sometimes they encourage them. Sometimes they warn them. Sometimes they rebuke them. Whatever was needed for the occasion, prophets were raised up specifically to deliver God's words to the people.
So the role of the prophet is that when the word of the Lord came to them, it would become a burden upon them. This oracle, this word of the Lord, you read again in the other prophets, the word of the Lord, the word of the Lord, it becomes a burden to the prophet. Now, it's not a burden so much in the sense they didn't want to share it, although there are some prophets like Jonah who don't want to share the message. But it's more a burden in the sense they feel compulsion. It's a burden in the sense that there's a fire in the pit of their stomach. The Word of the Lord has come through the prophet and now the prophet is burdened, feeling compelled. I must share the words of God to His people. That's what the Word of the Lord does to the prophet. The only relief to be found is when the prophet stands before God's people and delivers the full force of that message. Transfers the burden from the prophet to the people. That's the prophet's burden.
6 · Clarifies that Malachi's burden consists of hard words delivered through disputations, and though he must deliver them, he does not relish the task
This is what we read of Malachi, the messenger. He carries that burden, that oracle. Now we'll see as we go on in the next weeks to come, it's a hard message to deliver. Actually, Malachi is a collection of oracles, a collection of sermons, of disputations that the prophet gives before God's people. These are hard words. We shouldn't assume just because Malachi has a burden to share them that he relishes the task. We see nothing in the text that leads us to think he's really enjoying getting to bring this message. But it is a burden that he has to release upon the people because God has seen the state of His people and recognized they are in need of spiritual reformation and spiritual renewal.
7 · Signals the transition from introduction to the exposition of Malachi 1
So with that in mind, we're going to look today at the first chapter of Malachi.
8 · Full public reading of Malachi 1:1-14, presenting the primary text for exposition
Hear God's holy and authoritative Word. The oracle of the Word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. I have loved you, says the Lord. But you say, how have you loved us? Is not Esau Jacob's brother, declares the Lord? Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert. If Edom says, we are shattered, but we will rebuild the ruins, the Lord of Hosts says, They may build, but I will tear down, and they will be called the wicked country and the people with whom the Lord is angry forever. Your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, 'Great is the Lord beyond the border of Israel!' 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, 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.' The Word of the Lord.
9 · Brief prayer invoking the Holy Spirit to apply the truth of the text to the congregation's hearts
May He write its truth upon our hearts.
10 · Direct pastoral address acknowledging the weightiness of the text before continuing into exposition
We get a sense already in chapter 1 about how sobering a book this is.
11 · Establishes the theological structure of the book: God begins with comfort—reminding Israel of His electing love—before delivering hard words
But the first thing we need to see is that God in bringing this sobering Word to His people starts out by comforting them by pointing back to His electing love. Love. Malachi has hard things to say, but before he goes there, he begins by reminding Israel, by reminding God's people who they are. You are the people I've chosen. You're the people that I love. God prefaces the many difficult things to come with astounding grace.
12 · Provides historical context: Israel has returned from Babylonian exile with high hopes and expectations, but after decades in the land, they find themselves disappointed instead of restored
To grasp how truly merciful this beginning is, we have to get a sense of the situation into which Malachi is writing. He delivers this message to a people who've returned from exile. So they've been living in exile in Babylon, right? They were carried off for 70 years that they lived in exile. Some of the people were left behind in the land impoverished. But now in Malachi's context, a remnant has returned. So God's people are back in the land. Zerubbabel and Ezra and Nehemiah, they've helped to reestablish Israel. They've brought Abraham's descendants back into the land that was promised to Abraham. They've begun to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. There's been reunion for 70 years. Some people were far away in Babylon, some left behind to fend for themselves, and now families, cousins, uncles have been reunited. Hearing all that, you would think things must be going pretty well for Israel. They've finally taken a turn, right? Well, that was the expectation of the Israelites as well. They leave with fanfare. There's excitement and anticipation. They're going back to the land. They were expecting to be on cloud nine when they return, but now they're there, they've been in the land for several decades, and they're disappointed.
13 · Details Israel's disappointing circumstances: an impoverished land, no Davidic king, vassalage to Persia, and a modest temple that causes grief instead of joy
They've returned to the land, but it's actually impoverished. It's not a land flowing with milk and honey right now. They're in the land, but they have no king. There's no descendant of David sitting on the throne of Israel. Instead, they're vassals. They're sworn servants of the Emperor Darius I of Persia. Darius I is the reigning emperor. Persia is the big superpower at this time. It covers really the whole Middle East. Malachi is probably written shortly after the battle between the Persians and the Greeks at Marathon. So if you imagine how far Persia has extended, it's extended all the way up to the Greek Peninsula, and it's hit the Greeks, and the Greeks have stopped the Persian advance. So Malachi is written right around the zenith of Persia's power. But for Israel, that's really of little consequence. For them, they have more immediate concerns. Zerubbabel, the first governor appointed by Cyrus, the grandson of one of the last kings of Judah, they had hoped he would sit on the throne, that he would throw off the Persian rule, but they've been disappointed. They don't have a king. They're still under the yoke. They're not a free people. The lands they used to control in the time of David and Solomon have been shrunk and reduced to just the tiny hill country of Judah. Even the temple, the temple that Zerubbabel and Joshua the high priest have rebuilt, it's just a sad reminder of how far the people have fallen. The new temple. The new temple is just a shell of its former glory. Solomon's temple. Solomon's temple was a wonder of the ancient world. It was a spectacle to behold. Dignitaries and kings and queens traveled from the corners of the earth just to visit Israel, just to see Solomon's temple. To see the gold plating and the vast vaulted ceilings, to see the massive cedars of Lebanon throughout the temple. There was a sense of grandeur and wealth. The importance of Israel was on display in the temple, and that temple housed the glory of God. It was the pride of the people. The new temple, when they finished it, caused men to weep. They're not weeping tears of joy. It's the old men weeping because they remembered what Solomon's temple looked like. It's tears of sadness because this new temple, with all of its modesty, is a visible reminder. Israel is impoverished. Israel has lost so much.
14 · Applies Israel's forgetfulness to the congregation: when circumstances disappoint, we too can forget our identity in God by fixating on trials—financial loss, broken relationships, discouragement
And so in their disappointment, Israel has forgotten who they are. They're looking at their surroundings, they're looking at their circumstances. This is so easy to do, isn't it? You look at what's going on in your life, the various trials that are happening. James talks about them. Maybe your finances aren't going well. The former house that was foreclosed on is gone and now you're in a little apartment building. Or you've had to sell the big house and now you live in a small house. Maybe the job is gone. Maybe there's fractured relationships. But you look around and there's just discouragement everywhere. Well, in the midst of disappointment, we can be tempted like Israel to forget who we are.
15 · Expounds Malachi 1:2: God's opening words are "I have loved you"—not emotional affection but electing love
By the first words, the first things we hear, We see a gracious reminder. God reminds His people in the midst of all this disappointment and all of this heartache, all of this hardship. He reminds them of their identity. Verse 2, He says, first words of the oracle, I have loved you. I have loved you, says the Lord. But you say, 'How have you loved us?' 'Is not Esau Jacob's brother?' declares the Lord. 'Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated.' The love of Malachi speaks— it's not just talking about affection, it's not just about emotion. This is electing love. This is God saying, 'I have loved you. I have chosen you of all the peoples on the face of the earth.' You are the ones that I took for My treasured possession. You, the descendants of Abraham and Jacob. When He talks of hating Esau, He's saying, I rejected Esau. Esau and his descendants are not the people that I chose.
16 · Highlights the shock of grace: despite devastating circumstances and no visible hope, God's first words are not rebuke but electing love
In the midst of just this terrible— can you imagine? You're finally back. You're expecting, we're going back. It's going to be a homecoming. There's all this nostalgia built in. Oh, it's going to be so good to be back home! And you come back home and the cities are destroyed. The land doesn't bear crops. The livestock is gone. You don't have your own rulers. And there's no end in sight. In the midst of that disappointment, God's first words to them are, "You are the ones I have loved."
17 · Expounds Paul's use of Malachi 1:2 in Romans 9:13 to demonstrate God's sovereign mercy
It's the very text that Paul quotes in Romans 9:13. It's probably the part you recognize, right? Romans 9:13, to highlight the great mercy of God, Paul quotes this text. God has mercy, Paul says, according to His own sovereign prerogative. He has mercy on whomever He decides to have mercy. He doesn't choose Jacob, Paul's point is, because Jacob is superior. He obviously doesn't choose Jacob because he's the firstborn. Esau is the firstborn of the twins. The whole point of Jacob and Esau is that they're twins. Same father. Brothers. There's no difference between the two of them. God doesn't choose Jacob because Jacob's going to be special. Jacob's going to be honorable. Jacob's going to be righteous. No, Jacob's going to be devious. Jacob's going to be a liar. Jacob's not going to trust God the way that he should. In spite of all those things, God in mercy chooses Jacob and renames him Israel. You and your descendants are going to be the people upon whom My favor rests. It's astounding. It's inexplicable. It's electing love.
18 · Establishes the theological framework: Israel's lethargy stems from forgetting their identity, and the hard words to come must be heard in the context of God's unconditional love
Before God goes any further with the message from Malachi, He starts there. You, Israel, look up from your circumstances. Hear my voice. You are the ones I love. Israel's spiritual lethargy has come about because they've been distracted from their identity. More than that, in all the hard words that we're about to hear delivered, Malachi wants them to be heard in the context of God's extravagant grace. You are going to hear hard words from the mouth of the prophet, You're going to hear hard words from God against you, Israel, but you need to hear them in the context of God's unconditional love for you as His chosen people. Because He sovereignly bestowed electing love upon you, He requires obedience and heartfelt service.
19 · Pivots from God's electing love to the first disputation: Israel's worship has failed
So it's with the backdrop of that, that mercy that He highlights. That he now steps into the first disputation against the people. Remembering electing love is meant to renew worship. It's the first area where the prophet Malachi turns his attention. He wants to renew the worship of the people.
20 · Explains the literary structure of Malachi: disputations where the prophet acts as prosecuting attorney, presenting charges, quoting rebuttals, and marshaling evidence
Immediately after those encouraging words, the hard words start coming. The prophet— they say it's actually several disputations. That's kind of a big word, right? Disputations means Malachi is really acting like God's prosecuting attorney. Malachi is sent from God to act as a prosecuting attorney, and he's bringing charges. He's presenting charges to the people. So each of these oracles, each of these disputations, Malachi presents charges in front of the people, and then he quotes the people's rebuttal, and then he brings all the evidence to show that the charges are true. So he's prosecuting God's people.
21 · Shows the disputation structure in action: God says "I love you," and Israel's rebuttal—"How have You loved us?"—reveals a petulant heart that argues with God rather than receiving His word
We see it already in the opening section that we just looked at. Malachi presents God's electing love. And how do the people respond? There's rebuttal. "How have You loved us?" Do we really need to know anything more about their spiritual state? They don't know what Malachi is going to say. The first words out of him, "The prophet's coming." What does that mean? You look back through their history and it's like, This could be really bad. This could be a mix of— what's he going to say? The first words out of his mouth, "I love you." And then an inspired rebuttal. He knows what's going on in the hearts of the people. He knows in their hearts they're saying, "Pfft, you loved us? Look at what's going on around us." Israel responds like a petulant child. They yell back at God's face.
22 · Transitions to the charge about worship: forgetting God's mercy has made worship stale and perfunctory
So now Malachi brings the next piece of evidence. In forgetting God's mercy towards them, their worship has become stale. Their worship has become perfunctory. They're just going through the motions. But electing love, Malachi means to show them, is meant to renew their worship. Remembering God's mercy to them. Remembering what God has done to choose them and set them apart part should reform and renew their heart for worship.
23 · Asserts the theological principle: electing love should produce reverence for God
Because first, remembering that electing love, remembering who God is and who they are, should provoke reverence.
24 · Expounds Malachi 1:6: God challenges the priests for failing to honor Him as Father or fear Him as Master
Look at Malachi 1:6. "A son," Malachi says, "honors his father and a servant his master. If then I am a Father, where is My honor?" says the Lord. "And if I am a Master, where is My fear?" 'Where is my fear, O priests who despise my name?' Malachi looks at the leadership of the people. There's no kings, just the priests. They're the leaders. He says, 'Where's the reverence? Where's the awe? Where's the fear before the Lord?' 'If you know me as Father,' God says, 'how do you not honor me?'
25 · Uses John Newton's "Amazing Grace" as an illustration of the reverent posture Israel should have—awed gratitude for undeserved mercy that produces desire to magnify God
If you know the sorry plight of your life before God, if you know where you're at before God moves in mercy towards you, isn't there just that John Newton posture of amazing grace? My chains are gone. Oh, to be able to see it. It's amazing. That's what their posture should be like. There should be this desire in their hearts to magnify God's name, to glorify God's name, to find all different ways to praise Him and glorify Him.
26 · Continues exposition of Malachi 1:6, showing that awareness of God's majesty should produce joyful boasting in Him, but Israel spurns Him instead, revealing spiritual callousness
If you're aware of the majesty and renown of the One who now claims you, He's saying, "I'm your Father. You're my sons and daughters." You should be obsessing about bragging about your Daddy. And instead, you spurn Me. You don't offer Me reverence. Israel's spiritual callousness is on full display because they have no awe towards the Lord. There's no reverence towards their Father, their Master, their King.
27 · Highlights the disputation pattern: God charges them with despising His name, they rebut, and their combative posture itself reveals their spiritual condition—bratty defiance toward God
In verse 6, He actually accuses them. He says, "You despise My name." They rebut, "How do we despise Your name?" Before we look at God's answer to that, so far He said, "I love you." And they've said, "How have You loved us?" "You've despised My Name." "How have we despised Your Name?" Doesn't that really tell you all you need to know about their spiritual condition? God is speaking to them, and like a little brat, they're standing chest puffed up, talking back to God. That's what's going on in the hearts of the people.
28 · Expounds Malachi 1:7: Israel's polluted worship is not outright idolatry but half-hearted offerings
"How have we despised your name?" Verse 7. "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. Israel is not walking out outright idolatry. They haven't rebuilt the Asherah poles. They're not worshiping Baal in the high places. They haven't gone into full-blown idolatry and worshiping the gods surrounding them. It's not like some of the things their previous generations have done. And so they're kind of thinking, We're doing okay. We're worshiping the One we're supposed to. We're bringing offerings to this bummer of a temple. We're doing okay.
29 · Details the first failure: Israel brings secondhand offerings—lame, sick, blind animals—instead of the firstfruits God requires
Well, the first sin we see that shows us the sorry state of their hearts is that they're offering half-hearted worship. It's a national scandal. The priests and the people they represent, the people are complicit with the priests in this failure. The priests aren't requesting bad animals. The people are bringing bad animals and the priests are just kind of shrugging their shoulders. Okay. It's a two-fold failure. The first is they're bringing secondhand offerings. They're bringing what's second best to God's house. So it's lame animals. It's sick animals. Blind animals. You're supposed to offer the cream of your crop, the first fruits to the Lord. They're giving God the leftovers.
30 · Expounds Malachi 1:8: Israel brings God leftovers but gives their best to the Persian governor, revealing that they fear human authority more than God
And the priests are letting them do it. They dishonor God when they do this. They disrespect Him. They despise the great and holy name of the Lord when they enter His house and they come with leftovers. With the least of what they have. Worse than that, you see the rebuttal God gives them in verse 8? You bring me the leftovers, but when the Persian governor demands things, you give him the best. Would you give these things to the Persian governor? He asked. No, absolutely you wouldn't, because you know there'd be consequences. You fear the consequences of the governor. You don't fear the consequences of the true and living God. So first we see they're offering secondhand offerings.
31 · Expounds Malachi 1:13: The second failure is lethargy and boredom
Second thing we see is it's not just that everything's secondhand, it's just they're lethargic. They're lackadaisical in the way they come to worship. Their attitude before the Lord when they enter the temple is of a people that are just going through the motions. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Do we have to keep singing? Can I just mouth along? Listen to the impudence you see in v. 13. They enter worship saying, "What a weariness this is." Translation: This is so boring. We've got to come again. We know what they're going to do. They're going to take the calf. They're going to kill the calf. They're going to say some words. They're going to burn it on the altar. Can we just go home and get this over with?
32 · Establishes the theological diagnosis: the shocking sins in later chapters are fruit, but the root problem is defiled worship in chapter 1
The people are spiritually sick. We can make the mistake of thinking that the really shocking sins get listed in the chapters that follow. And there's going to be some stuff that's scandalous. There's some shocking stuff. But the root problem happens right here in chapter 1. The root problem is an issue of worship. All the other scandalous things that are happening later in the book, those are fruit of this root.
33 · Articulates the sermon's core biblical-theological principle: the barometer of spiritual health is the priority and quality of worship
Malachi presents us with a succinct biblical theology for taking our spiritual temperature. Want to know biblical theology for taking your temperature spiritually? How are you doing? Here's how you do it. How much do you value fellowship with God? How much do you value fellowship with God? Go all the way back to Genesis. Adam and Eve. How much do they value it? Not as much as eating from that tree. This is always the great issue with God's people. It's the barometer of our relationship and fellowship with God. The barometer of your relationship for how you're doing with God, how you measure that is by looking at the state of your worship before God. That's what Malachi is saying. I'm measuring your spiritual temperature by looking at the attitude and the quality and the character of the worship You're bringing before Me.
34 · Applies Israel's defiance to the congregation: we repeat their sin when we bring second-rate worship, enter casually, or treat worship as wearisome and boring
And here we have to be careful not to repeat Israel's defiance. When presented with the charge against them, they respond, "How have we despised You? How have we polluted You? How have we profaned You? You're making too big a deal out of this. We're here, aren't we?" We do it, Malachi shows us, whenever we bring second-rate sacrifices to God. God in our public worship. We do it whenever we enter corporate worship with careless, cavalier attitudes. We do it when we're casual in the presence of Almighty God. We do it when we act wearisome and bored We'll be worshiping God in the same old way His Scriptures tell us to do it. Same songs again. More of those prayers. I knew they were going to pray there. They always do. Another Scripture. Man, is the sermon almost over? We have to ask ourselves, have we ever mumbled in our hearts, This is wearisome.
35 · Applies Israel's mistake to the church: we must not let facility disappointment or professional polish determine the quality of our worship
Israel has made the mistake of thinking a second-rate temple implied they could enter as second-rate worshipers. Does disappointment with the facilities impact how we approach the Lord of Hosts? If we were in a basilica, Would we worship differently? If the acoustics of this room were impeccable and there were 2,000 of us present and it just sounded amazing, would we sing louder? Does the professionalism of the musicians— Chris Tomlin is leading our worship— does that affect the passion with which we sing praises to the Most High God? Does the cleverness of the preacher really determine the attentiveness you give to the awesome responsibility and privilege of sitting under the authority of God's Word?
36 · Uses a scene from The Social Network as an illustration of divided attention—Zuckerberg gives the attorney the minimum possible attention, just as we might give God the minimum in worship
I don't use this illustration to promote the movie, but I do think the illustration is helpful. In the movie "The Social Network," it's the movie kind of fictionalizing but showing you the rise of Facebook. There's a really poignant exchange. They're in a deposition. It's the lawyers of the men who are suing Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, and they're having the back and forth. And there's this exchange between the lead attorney and Mark Zuckerberg. And the attorney asks, "Do I have your full attention?" Zuckerberg says, "No." The attorney comes back, "Do you think I deserve your full attention?" "you have part of my attention," Zuckerberg says. "You have the minimum amount. The rest of my attention is back at the offices of Facebook, where my colleagues and I are doing things that no one in this room, including and especially your clients, are intellectually or creatively capable of doing. So no, you do not have my full attention. You have the minimum amount I can possibly give you. My massive brainpower is back there. I'm offering you just a smidgen of it."
37 · Applies the Zuckerberg illustration to worship: Does God have our full attention or the minimum amount? Are we distracted by fantasy football, lunch plans, cell phones, or arriving late with coffee?
I wonder if we're as honest and forthright as Mark Zuckerberg. Would our answer before Malachi differ? Does God have our attention on Sunday mornings, or does he have the minimum amount? The rest of our attention Most of our attention is preparing for a trade in fantasy football. It's going through the mental checklist of Sunday lunch because you're having people over and I gotta remember when to take that out and when to put this in. Or is it casually pulling out the cell phone and you're checking Twitter feeds? Maybe you're actually tweeting something or you're responding to a text and sending a text. Maybe you've got the phone out and you're checking the score of the game. Does God have our attention? Malachi would ask, does God have our best? Does He have our passion? Does He have our hearts? Or are we in the habit of strolling in 10, 20 minutes late, latte in hand, because when it came down to it, caffeination on Sunday morning was a higher priority than showing reverential punctuality and worship before the presence of the holy and almighty God.
38 · Expounds the sobering warning of Malachi 1:10: God wishes someone would lock the temple doors to prevent half-hearted worship
May we never hear the warning of verse 10. Verse 10 is so sobering. God says to them, "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. Oh, that there were one— may He never say this about Providence— oh, that there was one among you who would go and lock the door to the church. Keep them in the parking lot rather than coming in half-heartedly to worship Me.
39 · Illustrates the intensity of preparation athletes give to game day—carbo-loading, rest, focus, rituals—showing how priority determines preparation
Compare how we prepare for Sunday worship with how we prepare for sporting activities or our kids' school. Athletes, as they prepare for game day, they monitor themselves in the days building up. They carbo-load, right? They drink plenty of fluids. They want to be in peak condition for the athletic contest. They spend hours in the cold tub after practice each day. Building up to game day. On game day, they made sure the night before they went to bed early. Now they get up on time, they eat a good meal, they listen to music, some of them noise-canceling headphones on, because they have to get their mind right. I got to get in the mode, in the zone for the competition to come. They go into a media blackout. I'm not watching things. I need to be focused. I need to be ready. Hours before they start their pregame rituals, they get taped, they get stretched. If the tape doesn't feel right, they get retaped. They get themselves psyched. They get themselves motivated. And all of this is just the buildup to the game. It's just preparing to step on the field. You know what we see? We see how important the game is to the athlete. We see the priority it has.
40 · Illustrates the priority parents give to children's education—bedtime routines, clothes laid out, homework checked—showing how value determines preparation
You can say the same thing about parents and the way we schedule around our children's schooling. We get them to bed on time when it's a weeknight, right? Because what's a weeknight really called? It's a school night. The kids have to be in bed. We set their clothes out the night before. We make sure the homework is done. Make sure they're up on time to start the day. Whether they're going to class in the kitchen or they have to catch the bus or they have to make it to Classical Conversations or to the virtual classroom, we make sure they're there on time because it matters. We do all this because we value our children's education. We schedule and structure and plan around it because it's a priority. And it should be a priority.
41 · Applies the illustrations to worship: Can we say the same about our preparation for corporate worship? Does God get our best or our leftovers after prioritizing everything else?
Malachi's question for us this morning is simple. Can the same thing be said about our approach to corporate worship? Can the same be said of the way we prepare to come before the true and living God gathered with his people? Does God get our best or our leftovers? Does God get our first fruits or the fumes after we've prioritized family and job and hobbies and leisure and 100 other competing interests? Does God get our hearts and our passion? Or does He get our weariness and our boredom?
42 · Cross-references Romans 9-12: Just as Malachi reminds Israel of electing love before calling for renewed worship, Paul does the same—Romans 9-11 establishes God's mercy, then Romans 12 calls for living sacrifice worship
In a similar appeal in Romans, after Paul has regaled us with the glories of God's sovereign electing love, Romans 9-11 telling us the amazing way God has chosen Israel, the way God has grafted in the Gentiles Gentiles. He then comes to chapter 12 and he says, I appeal to you therefore, therefore in light of God's amazing mercy to us, in light of His beautiful, astounding, sovereign electing love, I appeal to you brothers, by the mercies of God, present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. This is your spiritual worship. Don't be conformed to this world. Be transformed by the renewal of your mind.
43 · Synthesizes the theological claim: the most important barometer of spiritual health is the priority, character, and quality of our worship before Christ
Consider God's mercy to you, one who didn't deserve that mercy. And then offer your bodies, offer everything that you have as an act of spiritual worship to the Lord. Is there a more important barometer of your spiritual health than the priority, the character, the quality of your worship before the risen Christ. There's no more insightful analytic of our hearts than what can be said of the way we enter the house of God.
44 · Issues direct pastoral appeal to the congregation: present your bodies as living sacrifices, give God your best, make much of Christ in worship so the nations will see and worship Him
I appeal to you, Providence, by the mercies of God, present your bodies as living sacrifices. Present your best. Give him your hearts and your attentiveness and your passion and your praise. Holy and acceptable to God. I appeal to you, church, make much of Christ in your worship for the same reason Malachi tells Israel to. Make much of the Lord your God so that the nations will make much of Christ in their worship.
45 · Expounds Malachi 1:11 to show God's global purpose: His name will be great among the nations, and He is committed to His glory
Do you see that in the passage? This is why God cares so much about how we worship. Because the world is watching. And because God is committed to the glory of His name. Look at verse 11. "From the rising of the sun to its setting, My name will be great among the nations. 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. God is committed to his glory. He has said it. He has promised it. He is putting all of his omnipotence behind promoting his glory in the nations. Israel is his chosen possession. The church as the fulfillment of Israel. Is God's chosen people. Why? So that there would be a horde of sovereignly elected worshipers sent to the ends of the earth, declaring the glories of Christ and Calvary, proclaiming the good news of the gospel, and offering rescue. God is committed to His glory. He will be worshiped. He will raise up worshipers, as Luke says in his Gospel. If we fail to praise Him, will not the rocks cry out? His glory demands praise. And so Malachi stands before the people of God and he says, take measure of your spiritual temperature. Take measure of where you are. Are you in need of spiritual reformation and spiritual renewal this morning? Begin by looking and considering. How do you come to worship the Lord?
46 · Transitions to the conclusion by setting up Psalm 99 and 100 as the model for how the church should enter worship
May we come like this. I love how Psalm 99 and Psalm 100 portray worshipers entering God's house. I want this to be how we come as a church.
47 · Concludes with a doxological charge by reading Psalm 99 and 100, modeling the reverence, joy, thanksgiving, and praise that should characterize worshipers entering God's presence
The Lord reigns, let the people tremble. He sits enthroned above the cherubim, let the earth quake. The Lord is great in Zion, He is exalted over all the peoples. Let them praise your great and awesome name. Holy is he! The King in his might loves justice, and you have established equity. You have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob. Exalt the Lord our God, worship at his footstool. Holy is he! Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his holy mountain, for the Lord our God is holy. Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come into His presence with singing. Know that the Lord, He is God. It is He who has made us and we are His. We are His people. The sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and bless His name. For the Lord is good. His steadfast love endures forever and His faithfulness to all generations.
48 · Closing prayer asking God to transfer the prophetic burden to the congregation's hearts, to raise up generations of reverent worshipers, and to guard against the temptation of half-hearted worship
Lord, we ask that You would transfer the burden of Your prophet to our hearts. Raise up generations at Providence who fear Your name. Raise up a horde of worshipers. Help us to fight against the temptations that are so easy and so common and so deceptively simple to fall into. Lord, we don't want to be wearisome. We don't want to go through the motions. We want to give you our hearts. We want to give you our best. So we ask now, transfer the burden of your word to our hearts. Change us. Transform us. Raise up a people to praise the name of Jesus. In his name we pray. Amen.