Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] You have your Bibles. I'd ask you to find Malachi. Chapter number one.
[00:00:05] As you find that. Let me. Let me do a couple really quick things first, don't forget what Malachi is all about. There's some things going on here.
[00:00:15] I made a big case a couple weeks ago, I believe, in the introduction to Malachi, at how these people could easily feel justified in their complaints. It would seem to them. It would. It would seem to these folks that God had made them some promises that the temple would be filled with his glory, that the nations would be flocking to worship, that their king would be ruling, their priests would be acting well, and they would be a land of prosperity. And they would really, really be seeing God's hand of blessing upon them. And they're not seeing that. In other words, we might say in this kind of contemporary language that it doesn't seem to be that. It doesn't seem to be that the religious or Christian or Jewish life was living up to the promises of God. In that light, I can definitely just get right into the scriptures with these guys. I can. I can set foot in that and say, you know, some days, you know, God, I feel like I've done my stuff, but it doesn't feel like you're doing your stuff.
[00:01:20] And I'm like, you know, I work with teenagers, and so sometimes I learn to talk like them. I'm like, what's good, guy? I mean, you know, let me get my one. You know, let me. And you wrestle over this thing because I'm just not understanding why this life isn't what it seems. You promised me. And it's important to remember that last week we looked at this. It's like God gets after them and he says, hey, I love you. I have loved you. And you say, how have you loved us? Let me remind you, this week, the tables get turned. He says. He basically says to them, listen, you question my love for you? I have an answer. I question your love for me. I want an answer.
[00:02:09] I think. I think, just like he would say to them, he would say to them, hey, you guys know I chose you, right?
[00:02:16] And I have never forsaken my choice.
[00:02:19] You have forsaken the privileges of my choice, but I've never forsaken my choice.
[00:02:25] So, you know, show me the love.
[00:02:27] I think we can look at the cross and we can look at how revelation works. In other words, you're born dead in your trespasses and sins. If you ever come into the truth, that was God waking you up to truth. You could Say that's him choosing you.
[00:02:42] And he. And you might say, sometimes I don't feel like God loves me, but he might say back to you, let me see you love me.
[00:02:51] And then the accusation sort of sounds like this, well, how haven't we loved you? That's what we're going to get into tonight.
[00:02:59] Just like he says, I've loved you. And they said, how have you loved us? He says, I chose you, and I've picked you up over and over and over and over and over and over again.
[00:03:08] Now he says, but you haven't loved me. And they say, how haven't we loved you?
[00:03:12] Let me show you. Second thing I'd like to share very quickly is, you know, I was never one of those guys. I spent 25 and a half years of my life lost as a ball in high weeds, and I was never one of those guys who, when, you know, you might be at a family gathering or something and somebody would say, let's pray. I was never one of those guys rolling my eyes in the background like it didn't bother me. You know, I can't say I was always engaged, but I was. I was never offended. Does that make sense to anybody?
[00:03:45] I don't know whether it was, you know, growing up here and cultural Christianity and those kind of things, but it just never bothered me. Or somebody would say to me, I'm going to pray for you.
[00:03:55] You know, I wouldn't get offended, but I've run into people who would, who get offended by that. I'm going to pray. Don't pray for me. I'd be like, I'm going to do it anyway, Nanny Boo Boo.
[00:04:04] Just, you know, get a video of me. I'm gonna walk into church every week and pray for my lost friends. Nah, nothing you can do to stop me. But, but if you, you know, if you think about it, or I should say, when I think about it, after I got saved, my. My thoughts on. On prayer radically shifted, you know, and it began to appear to me, really, at meal time. It's funny. Right now I want to ask for some participation. Are you guys ready? Can you participate without falling to pieces? Can y' all do that?
[00:04:35] Okay. Because it's going to require a little bit of honesty.
[00:04:39] Okay, Tammy, I believe you. Some of these people, I don't believe.
[00:04:43] Have you ever just said the prayer at your meal time? Because it's what you're supposed to do.
[00:04:52] Okay? Now don't participate this time. Outwardly, just participate inwardly.
[00:04:58] Have you done that today?
[00:05:02] Lord, thank you for this Food.
[00:05:07] Well, God started to break through to me at mealtime because now I'm a Christian. That's what I was saying. I'm a Christian.
[00:05:15] I should be one of these people who thank God for my food, you know. And so in those days, I was a two meal a day guy and a 17 snack a day guy.
[00:05:26] And so I started, you know, not growing up in church. I would say to myself, well, am I supposed to thank God for this can of beanie Weenies right now? I mean, I'm just having a little snack, little snacky snack.
[00:05:36] And so I started doing it. God, thank you for this food.
[00:05:39] And I realized that I was doing the right thing, but I wasn't engaging in the right way. And that's where God started to break through to me. Like, I started to see things like pray without ceasing, give thanks in everything, give thanks for everything. I started to see that really these things that God seems to give us to do, like gratitude and petition and lament, they're really all standing invitations to come into his presence and seek to engage him.
[00:06:14] And it totally changed my prayer life. It wasn't. Now, do I still sometimes just say, thank you God for the food and start eating? Last night we went to some Asian place and I couldn't pray fast enough because they set their food in front of me and it was just, it was in the nostrils. Dear Lord, thank you for everyone in Asia in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:06:32] Munchy, munchy, munchy, munchy, munchy. You know, I just was.
[00:06:36] And I was like, man, this is my sermon illustration. I didn't have one. Here it is. I just prayed an empty prayer.
[00:06:44] Rather than seeing that moment as an invitation to really regard what God has blessed us with and to really engage with God. I just wanted to eat the crab Rangoon appetizers fast. They brought me multiple sauces. I was so conflicted. What do I stick these in? It was a difficult moment in the flesh.
[00:07:08] Hey, brothers and sisters, what if we started to see part of authentic worship is constantly accepting God's invitation to commune with him, to abide, to dwell, rather than these religious duties that we do out of rote.
[00:07:28] Why can't we see them as a religious benefit that we get from the relationship?
[00:07:34] That's the question we need to wrestle with tonight. Malachi, chapter number one, or my standing joke that you will have to hear for at least several more weeks.
[00:07:43] The Italian prophet Malachi, chapter one, verse number six.
[00:07:50] A son honors his father and a servant his master.
[00:07:55] 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. Now, who's he addressed? Right here, y'. All. Do you see it, O priest?
[00:08:09] So we could say this is hyper focused to priests, but it's not only to priests.
[00:08:15] Amen.
[00:08:17] He says, listen, listen, Where. Where is my honor from you, leadership?
[00:08:23] Then he says, this horrible accusation. Do y' all see it?
[00:08:28] How you know? He says, oh, priests who have despised my name. You say, how? How have we despised your name?
[00:08:36] Now he tells them, by offering polluted food upon my altar. But you say, how have we polluted you? By saying, the Lord's table must not be despised.
[00:08:47] 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 the Lord 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. Can we just pause right there? Is there anything more scary for a believer to hear?
[00:09:29] Been a pastor 25 years. I've sat with multiple couples where one of them has said, I just don't love them anymore.
[00:09:37] And I've seen people crumble under those words.
[00:09:41] We should crumble to even have a thought that God would say to his people, I have no pleasure in you anymore.
[00:09:49] This just lands on my heart with such weight. God says, I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of Hosts. And I will not accept an offering from your hand.
[00:09:59] For from the rising of the sun to his 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 is this.
[00:10:23] 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 of Hosts. Or says the Lord, curse it be the cheat who has a male in his flock and vows it, yet sacrifices to the Lord. What is Blemished. For I'm a great king, says the Lord of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations. Would you pray with me, Father? God, in this long opening? I pray, Father, that you have use this to plow our hearts and open our minds. Lord, ready our spirit so that we might receive the implanted word and that it might be used of your spirit to work a work that leads us more fully into the law of liberty, that leads us to live in love and to walk out love. And I beg you that in Jesus name, amen.
[00:11:20] Now, if you're a note taker, you're already nervous. You've seen all the blanks. Well, blankety blank, hang on and buckle up and lick your lead. You ready?
[00:11:29] First, I'd like to share this offering. God. That which cost us nothing reveals indifference towards God.
[00:11:39] That's what he said. You don't love me. They say how you say that. He said, look at how you've been offered to me. You've been offering me stuff that don't. It's worthless. It doesn't cost you anything.
[00:11:49] And I'm really hesitating here. I really want to get into all the stuff in Deuteronomy and numbers and Leviticus and all the. Y' all do not want me to get into Leviticus. Everybody say amen.
[00:12:00] Leviticus will tear you up.
[00:12:04] Dale Ball don't want us to get into numbers because he have to read all them names.
[00:12:11] But there's all these laws that are about how you make your offering, okay? And some of them are pretty strict.
[00:12:20] And you can look at them one of two ways. You can say, like, it seems like God's going kind of hard here. Or you can see he's saying, I'm going to use these things to make you consider how worthy I am. That if you, you know, you bring this blemished animal, you'll say, no, no, no, no, no, no, I'm not going to do that.
[00:12:38] I got that one from the field. But now I notice that it's. It's limping. And I'm not going to bring this limping thing to God.
[00:12:45] You know, you can look at those laws in one of two ways as a burden. I have to go do my religion or a call that God is saying, our relationship is really different. I am really different. I want you. Every time you're gathering your things to worship me, to make an offering, to come, to sing, you wind up saying to yourself, oh, let me make sure that I'm bringing something clean and holy and pure as Whole, as valuable as it can be. And you know, those laws, which I'm not getting into them. Everybody say, thank you. Tim, you know, I want to. Right.
[00:13:23] You know, some of them, like, hey, if you're a rich dude, I want you to bring, like, a whole bunch of bulls because you got flow and this needs to cost you.
[00:13:31] And some of y' all are poor, so I want you to split a pigeon between two families.
[00:13:36] But it's got to cost you.
[00:13:38] And you can see that as, like, you know, this seems superfluous. I mean, isn't. Isn't God.
[00:13:44] Oh, wait a minute.
[00:13:46] I'm thinking of Michael Tucker right now. He would. He would have wrote that word down and texted me later. I looked it up, you know, that's what he would tell me. It's like, God, we might be tempted to think God's doing too much. Amen. Like, God, you doing too much. No, nothing is too much to honor this holy, transcendent God.
[00:14:04] And so these things are really an invitation to consider who you're approaching.
[00:14:10] Now, any y' all have a grandmother like my grandmother Bose, she insisted you take your shoes off. Does anybody do that right now? Okay, we'll talk on your porch.
[00:14:20] There's this whole thing about bending back over the time again. I just.
[00:14:24] Once a day is enough. Praise the Lord.
[00:14:29] But I get it. My grandmother. David's here somewhere. I don't know where David went.
[00:14:34] David will tell you. He's in the back. Oh, that's right. He said he was. A little coffee.
[00:14:38] David will tell you. Our grandmother, she mopped all her floors every day, I think, except Sunday. And she used vinegar and water every time I walked in her house. I wanted some greens. You know, I think of vinegar. I think of greens.
[00:14:52] And she vacuumed every day. And she would, you know, get the lines on the. You know, the 70s shag carpet would have to be. Right? And she. She dusted every day. She ironed our grandfather's underclothes.
[00:15:06] I'm talking about all of them. Y'. All. Y' all look like y' all understand what I'm saying.
[00:15:12] I even like to take mine out of the dryer in the dark. I don't even want to look at them.
[00:15:16] She up and out ironing them, Joker.
[00:15:19] How many of y' all wives are ironing your husband's underwears?
[00:15:22] Daniel, you're not married.
[00:15:26] Are you saying your mom does that? Way to go, Tammy.
[00:15:30] Can't beat them Midwestern women. Boy, I'm here to tell you.
[00:15:34] So now you know these little facts about My grandmother, right? And she was one of those ladies that always, you know, like, her hair was in order and her clothes were simple, but they were always straight. Y' all got a picture of this lady. So now you walk up to her house, she gonna let you know she don't care if it's the first time you ever been. Take your shoes off.
[00:15:53] Is this making sense to anybody?
[00:15:55] My grandmother was saying, okay, you might walk in your house like that, that's fine. This ain't your house.
[00:16:01] One of my dad's favorite jokes to pull on my friends. He would say, hey, come on in. Make yourself at home. Just remember, you ain't.
[00:16:09] And there's that tension.
[00:16:11] And it is a tension. God wants you to draw near, but you're not drawing near to just any old body.
[00:16:18] So when you think about these offerings, God's not doing too much. He's going give some thought about who you're approaching. Amen.
[00:16:26] I'm here to tell you, when you offer to God and name it, man, name it, name it.
[00:16:32] If it don't cost you something, you are going to be tempted to be indifferent about how it goes.
[00:16:39] Like when you sing, for example, you should be tired when you're done. I mean, you should sing like you working to sing.
[00:16:47] A couple people are sleeping. So you did it. Great job. You sang, and now you're exhausted.
[00:16:53] No one needs to hear this message like leaders.
[00:16:57] If you guys think about it, if I come up here preaching like I don't believe what I'm saying or I don't care what I'm saying, I. How are you going to receive it?
[00:17:06] All right, I know I actually set a stopwatch tonight. Y' all should pray for me because it's going fast.
[00:17:14] God is worthy of worship. Amen. He's worthy of it.
[00:17:21] Now, he says to him, he gives them two relational examples. He says, hey, listen, if you know, a son honors his father, ain't I yalls father, what's good?
[00:17:33] A servant honors their master.
[00:17:36] I'm your master, what's good?
[00:17:40] You know, if you would say that I'm the Lord, act like it. If you would say, I'm your father, act like it. If you. If you would say that, you understand, I'm the creator, act like it. That's what verse six does.
[00:17:54] Seven and eight tell us something else. Giving worthless gifts reveals a thoughtless, apathetic or scornful heart.
[00:18:02] Now, this is one of those points where I took a lot of stuff out of my sermon early this morning because I would like to talk about the dangers of each one of those, I'm going to leave you to discuss that at home and in life together. Group giving worthless gifts. It reveals something about you.
[00:18:22] Now care. I'd like to think I'm a pretty decent gift giver.
[00:18:28] I like to think I'm a pretty. But you know, I made a mistake one time. Somebody gave me something and I. I was never going to use it.
[00:18:40] Never.
[00:18:41] And I re gifted it. Anybody ever re. Gift it? Okay. I'm the only one.
[00:18:46] Y' all are all good people.
[00:18:48] Anybody want to guess, guess where I went wrong.
[00:18:53] I gave it to the person who gave it to me.
[00:18:57] I had forgotten.
[00:18:59] And they said, I gave you one just like this. And I went, ain't that something?
[00:19:08] Did you like it that much? I said, that's it.
[00:19:12] That's the one you gave me.
[00:19:15] I was so embarrassed.
[00:19:18] I mean, I really was.
[00:19:21] And so he says to him, he's like, guys, you give him worthless gifts. You're not. The law says you're not supposed to bring these jacked up animals, but you're bringing jacked up animals.
[00:19:31] And just for the sake of time, he says at one point, says some of y' all are doing some really publicly weird stuff, like you make a vow, I am going to give the Lord the best of my flocks.
[00:19:43] But then when the time comes and you see the best of your flocks, you go, I don't know. That kind of. That kind of one over there that's kind of limping. I believe that's good enough.
[00:19:52] Because it's hard. It's easy when your mouth make. Makes the commitment, but it's hard when your time or your talent or your treasure actually gets put on the line.
[00:20:06] I can't remember which one it is, but. But somebody will help me. I think it's. I think it's. I think it's little. No, not Little Women. It's not little. It's one of these. These Jane Austen books. That's not Jane Austen. Where the dad dies and the son gets everything. Who is it? Help me.
[00:20:23] And the three daughters are left. They're hung out to dry. Three or four daughters. And their mom moves into the poor cottage. But they, they. They made this movie like nine times. I just can't remember what the name of it is. But one of the best ones is they keep showing the scenes where the, the. The half brother and his wife, she keeps talking him into doing a lesser share of the inheritance.
[00:20:47] Right? The dad on his deathbed tells his son, take care of your sisters. Yes, father I'll do it. And then the next scene is, well, do they really need £5,000 a year? Oh, wouldn't if we. If you gave them 2,000, wouldn't that make them a little haughty? I think they could live on a hundred.
[00:21:04] And, and, and there's this easy thing in the face of his dying father to say, I got this.
[00:21:09] But when you actually start doing the math and letting go of the dollars, he can't live up to it. I think we do that a lot.
[00:21:17] You say, not me, preacher. I never do that. Are y' all ready? Are you ready? Y' all got your big boy and big girl britches on. Just think about your New Year's resolutions.
[00:21:30] We make all these big things, like, I'm going to go to the gym five days a week.
[00:21:37] Then later on you go, well, three days is enough.
[00:21:43] One day. And then pretty soon you're seeing your credit card get billed your monthly membership and you go, why did I ever do that?
[00:21:51] You know what I'm going to do one year as an aside, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to join a gym and go in and just lay on the equipment all in January just to annoy the people who really like working out.
[00:22:02] Because I don't know if y' all know, they get really annoyed. That's what I'm doing. I'm just gonna go and I'm just gonna. I don't even, you know, drink alcohol, but I'm gonna make me like something with a little umbrella and the fruit on it and stuff. And just sitting there and just sit on the workout machines. That'll show those skinny people.
[00:22:17] Listen on and on and on. We could go, right? Giving worthless gifts reveals a thoughtless, apathetic, scornful heart. A world bound heart. Now I want you guys. I had to make this word up. A world bound heart understands the consequences of a world enforced requirement.
[00:22:35] Maybe I could illustrate it like this. You don't pay your taxes, you're going to get in trouble. You don't pay your car payment, they're going to come get it.
[00:22:41] Now, I don't know if y' all know this, I can't remember if I've ever told you all this, but one of my side hustles used to be a repo man.
[00:22:49] I didn't mind.
[00:22:51] I've got that kind of personality. I will come to your house, take a free bottle of water when you trying to talk me out of it, and drive away in your car drinking it.
[00:23:03] I just will I never repoed a car by mistake. I never took the wrong one. I never. There was. You know, you would hear people say, no, it's a mistake. Like, here's your payment record.
[00:23:14] You know, we can do this the easy way. You can give me the keys, or we can do it the hard way. I'm gonna haul it up on the back of a truck, leave, right? I didn't mind, right?
[00:23:22] We all understand.
[00:23:24] We all understand who and what we actually fear. And that's what God is saying to these guys. Like, listen, you wouldn't do your governors like that. You wouldn't do your bosses like that, because they wouldn't accept it.
[00:23:39] There are very few professions, for example, that I think and pray and wish and hope and dream that people go to work and do nothing.
[00:23:48] I want people. I want Brandon Fox to be the most bored guy in person county. I don't want that ambulance to come flying down that hill and go pick somebody up. I want the fire. Firemen to stay in the fire station all night long and dream up things they can cook together. And I want the police to be so bored that we reduce the police force. And, you know, y' all get what I'm saying, right?
[00:24:13] But you understand.
[00:24:15] Okay, y' all ready for another time? To be honest, have you ever gone to work and just existed during your work hours without doing your work?
[00:24:25] Okay, there's five of us who are telling the truth and the other of you who are better than us.
[00:24:36] Right?
[00:24:37] Why do you do that?
[00:24:39] Because you can get away with it. How long can you get away with it?
[00:24:43] If you're in a union for decades.
[00:24:50] Or government, most jobs, you can't bring in an offering of your labor and not actually make an offering of your labor. Am I right or wrong? That's the example Malachi is using. He said, try to turn in this stuff to your worldly leaders. And if it takes a worldly leader into scaring you to do the right thing, then you are are ruled by fear of a leader, not by love of God.
[00:25:25] And he's saying to these priests, y' all are the worst because you're supposed to be leading these people and you're not. Secondly, quickly. Oh, my Jesus, help me.
[00:25:34] Secondly, as God deals with his people, his confrontation is an invitation to turn again to him.
[00:25:42] Did you have y' all ever thought about God in this way? That his confrontation is an invitation? Now, if you really don't want to deal with somebody, what do you do? Come on, church, talk to me.
[00:25:52] Avoid them. Cut them off. Cut them out, don't you?
[00:26:02] So if God is confronting his people, what the confrontation is really about is an invitation.
[00:26:12] One of my favorite passages, and I'm going to reference it, I'm going to read it. I'm not going to get on it, but I really want to, is in Lamentations, Chapter 3.
[00:26:21] It reads like this. Let us test and examine our ways and do what?
[00:26:25] Returned again to the Lord. Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven. We have transgressed and rebelled, and you have not forgiven if you keep on reading. This is not about God not forgiving. It's about them being fake. We've been fake.
[00:26:43] We've gone through these religious motions, but we've been fake. This is a mirroring accusation that God is using Malachi to say to Israel, and it could also be to the church.
[00:26:56] God's.
[00:26:57] Excuse me, his confrontation is an invitation. Do you hear it like that?
[00:27:04] Three things on this, very quickly. Number one, those who practice cheap, inauthentic worship must repent and seek God's forgiveness.
[00:27:14] Now, God wouldn't be pointing out something that's problematic if he wasn't pointing it out so it could be repented of so that we could turn again to him. That's why he points it out.
[00:27:25] Verse 9 says, Now I entreat the favor of the Lord. One translation uses the word implore.
[00:27:32] And I thought, man, I like implore better than entreat. Entreat sounds so official, because it is. But then I looked it up in the Hebrew.
[00:27:42] You know what it literally means in the Hebrew. This is one of these times I was studying, and I was just like, that's a firecracker right there.
[00:27:50] It means to soften the face.
[00:27:54] Now, I work with a lot of teenagers, and I can't tell you, one of my. My first tactic, even with my own children, is is this. If they're doing something I don't like, this is how technical. I get it. Y' all ready? I go, hey.
[00:28:09] Now, my daughters will tell you that means about 25 things, and they know what it means. Hey.
[00:28:16] Then my second thing is, like, I'll do just like this. I go, come on, guys.
[00:28:20] Come on, guys.
[00:28:22] And I'll say, like. Like, you know, I want to be here with you.
[00:28:27] I want this time with you. You know what I'm doing, right? I soften my face so that I can implore, I can treat. What's another word we might use?
[00:28:38] Begging?
[00:28:40] Can you see the Lord's heart? Like, come on, come on, don't be inauthentic. I'm worthy of more. You're worth more. This worship is a gift to you. I'm inviting you to come into my presence. You. You have no standing here.
[00:28:56] I want you to understand how holy and serious I am. So these rules aren't about weighing you down. It's about waking you up. Please, Please.
[00:29:06] This actually is so beautiful.
[00:29:10] God is not saying, I'm going to be so nice that I accept anything he's saying. I am so kind that I want you to come to me. But not everything is acceptable.
[00:29:24] And so in this. In this call to reject inauthentic worship and to repent, I think God would say something this simple. Stop it.
[00:29:38] Stop it.
[00:29:40] That's what the letter B should have. If the blanks are right. If I'd done it.
[00:29:44] Stop it.
[00:29:45] The ideal would be a full community of those fully committed to authentic worship.
[00:29:54] Can I say that again?
[00:29:57] The ideal would be what? Y' all, read it with me. A full community of those what? Fully committed to what?
[00:30:05] Now, how wild, for example, would East Rock Community Church be if there was a full community, fully committed people bringing authentic worship?
[00:30:22] You know, take. Okay, let me see if I can break it down like this.
[00:30:27] I'm going to find out who's honest in this crowd. Now, who actually hates cleaning your house?
[00:30:36] Okay, Most of us.
[00:30:39] Of the people who hate cleaning your house, how many of you also have other people living with you?
[00:30:47] Okay, now imagine this.
[00:30:50] What if, when it came to taking care of your house, you had a full community of those fully committed to authentic cleanliness?
[00:31:04] Somebody just said, praise the Lord.
[00:31:08] Silly illustration, but that just changed the whole thing.
[00:31:11] A lot of times you live in a house you hate cleaning, you sort of depend on the other people to clean it.
[00:31:16] I saw a couple people like, yeah, that's me. I'm the one getting. They depending on. Yeah, Praise the Lord. Not.
[00:31:22] All right. I think. I think in communities of worship, we'll take time off because we expect everybody else to hold us up.
[00:31:33] You name anything. Singing, giving, serving, cleaning.
[00:31:40] Am I making sense to any y'? All?
[00:31:43] I feel like I'm making sense.
[00:31:46] So, Malachi, he's. He's a lot more poetic, you know.
[00:31:52] Verse 10, what's he say, you know? Oh, that there were one among you, that it was somebody who would clean this house.
[00:31:59] There was one authentic worshiper. Right?
[00:32:02] Tim is less poetic. Stop. Stop it.
[00:32:08] Now. There are places all over Scripture. Isaiah 1, Jeremiah 6.
[00:32:12] Let me read one sample in Amos, chapter 5.
[00:32:15] This is scary to me. I hate. I despise your Feast. And I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
[00:32:21] Could you imagine if we got a word from God? He said to East Rock Community Church, I hate when y' all gather.
[00:32:31] I mean, I've been wrestling with this all week.
[00:32:35] Look what he goes on to say. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. And the peace offers of your fat animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs.
[00:32:46] Wow.
[00:32:47] Did y' all like. Like, he didn't say they were singing bad. He was saying he didn't like their singing. And it wasn't because it was bad singing. It was bad hearts.
[00:32:57] Like, if you ever want to have a good time singing, sing with Brett Carver with your ears closed.
[00:33:05] Because he brings an element of honesty and joy to his worship.
[00:33:09] And I've told him it is a good thing that God filters that before it gets into heaven.
[00:33:16] Brett lifts his heart in sincerity. His voice sounds horrible.
[00:33:21] I tell him every chance I get, like, we'll be singing to each other. I'll be like, let me witness this without wearing it. You're too close.
[00:33:31] But that brother has. That brother has encouraged me in his worship so many times.
[00:33:38] You really want to see him in his element? Get him in front of 60, 70, 80, 100 kids and watch him teach them a Bible verse in song.
[00:33:46] The sound quality is horrible. The heart quality is.
[00:33:51] Could you imagine God saying to esro, you know, y' all sing real nice.
[00:33:56] Your hearts sound kind of stinky to me.
[00:34:02] But then he says in Amos, but let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever flowing stream. You'll see people quote this in civil rights movements and stuff like that. Isn't it interesting?
[00:34:13] Isn't it interesting? That's completely out of context. Although we should have justice everywhere. Let the church say amen.
[00:34:19] The context, though, is he's saying, y' all ain't right, and I'm gonna deal with you. And I want to see justice flow in my worshipers. What would be just you to be offering me? Honest worship?
[00:34:33] You know what he says through Malachi, I wish somebody would just shut the doors to the church and not even let y' all in. Now, that ought to land on us. Our official launch anniversary is Tuesday. Eighteen years since we launched this congregation. Does anybody know what was happening in this building before that?
[00:34:52] The doors have been shut.
[00:34:56] We're often concerned about things like church growth and evangelism and planting churches. Sometimes God pulls the wick out, removes the oil, and says, shut the doors because I don't want what's coming out of that place.
[00:35:07] And in my work with revitalization lately, I've learned while this could be a very valid desire of the Lord, but what is confrontation, y'? All, Come on.
[00:35:24] It's an invitation really quickly. Regardless of what God's covenant people are doing. God is raising up worshipers from among the nations. That's what he says in verse 11. Comes back to it again in verse 16.
[00:35:36] I mean, 14. Pardon me. God has a commitment to raise up people who will be faithful to him. And what's funny is, like, you should be faithful to me. And there's a lot of different thoughts about verse 11. What does this really mean?
[00:35:50] One view is that he's saying that the Jews would be dispersed and that the faithful in their dispersion would worship Him.
[00:35:56] Another view is that people everywhere are worshiping something. And that's true. And in their ignorance, what they need are true worshipers to call them into true worship of the true God.
[00:36:08] The Roman Catholic view is that this burning incense and stuff means that faithful priests would set up the Mass all over the world.
[00:36:17] And, you know, I don't know that, you know, Malachi was Roman Catholic, so that's funny.
[00:36:24] I would say that I can't prove to you exactly what he means by the incense will burn everywhere. But I think I have kind of a clue. I would say that this means that God is going to be faithful to Himself and he will raise up worshipers from every tribe and every turn. Let the church say Amen. As a matter of fact, we got to look into heaven in Revelation, chapter number seven. And he says he saw a multitude that no one could number. People from every nation, all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb clothed in white rose palm branches in their hand, crying, what y'? All Salvation belongs to our God.
[00:37:07] So how exactly is God going to manifest this? He's going to manifest it, Tim, give me the details. I just did. God's going to do it.
[00:37:16] We have a part in it. And I think part of God's confrontation is an invitation. He's saying, take up your role, Church. Be authentic worshipers.
[00:37:24] Let me go through this last point very quickly.
[00:37:27] Oh, my Jesus.
[00:37:30] Thirdly, inauthentic worship becomes a toil in the flesh and can become a curse to the souls who refuse to repent.
[00:37:39] Now, let's handle this in two pieces.
[00:37:43] None of you have ever just came to church because it was what you were supposed to be doing, have you?
[00:37:50] You've always Come full steam, ready to worship the living God, right?
[00:37:58] Can anyone relate to this confrontation here?
[00:38:05] He gets on these priests, but he's not leaving the people out. He gets on these priests. You know, he tells them. He tells them there in verse 12, he says, Listen, you profane it when you say the Lord's table is polluted and its fruit, that is his food, may be despised. Verse 13 slays me, he says, but you say, what a weariness is this.
[00:38:25] And I don't know. I tried to. I sat for a while this morning doing various sorts of snorts, trying to figure out what sort of snorting they did right.
[00:38:35] You know, one of my favorites is I can sound like a pig.
[00:38:41] It's cause I like bacon.
[00:38:43] I want to call it to me.
[00:38:45] Come here.
[00:38:47] You know, whatever it was, it was something like this, you know, flippant, dismissive.
[00:38:55] And he's saying, like, you have this spirit about your worship.
[00:39:00] You're doing it, but you're not meaning it.
[00:39:04] And if you mean it, it's under the penalty of the fear of man, not from a love of an inviting God. This is the accusation, you don't love me. They say, how you say, we don't love you.
[00:39:17] When worship is inauthentic, participation becomes drudgery.
[00:39:24] I don't know. I know my daughter's notice. I don't know if anybody else notices. I don't plan it. It's not in my ser notes. But does anybody ever notice what I will do sometimes when we're singing, Anybody notice?
[00:39:38] What will I do?
[00:39:42] One of my favorite things about standing in the front is having everybody behind me.
[00:39:51] I cannot tell you how many times the people of God have sung me out of a funk, have awakened in my heart to worship. I don't mind begging the people of God to help me sing church.
[00:40:06] But that's mostly not about me. I think we've come into this place to make all kinds of offerings and our worship through song, through giving, through fellowship, all of this is very important.
[00:40:17] I might need to say sometimes after church, fellowship, church, I might, as you pass by the offering plate, need to yell, give church.
[00:40:28] I might send you into your workplaces and say, witness, church.
[00:40:34] I want to tell you the truth. I need you worshiping behind me.
[00:40:38] But God's worthy of your worship even when no man is urging you on.
[00:40:46] Is your worship a drudgery? Hmm.
[00:40:49] Secondly, worship is a gift that becomes a curse to those who despise the giver or his gift. He actually tells them in the first part of verse 14, he says, Listen, cursed be the cheat.
[00:41:03] Did anyone just sort of hear in the back of your mind, the prophet Scooby Doo?
[00:41:10] I did. What would he say?
[00:41:15] All right, now, curse. It isn't saying, darn those teenage kids.
[00:41:23] This is not a simple lament.
[00:41:26] He is saying, no curse. Like, I am against you.
[00:41:31] Nothing frightens me more than God going silent in my life.
[00:41:36] Nothing. Nothing. Nothing frightens me more than God going silent in my life.
[00:41:42] As long as God is wrestling with me, he's dealing with me.
[00:41:47] Is anybody with me?
[00:41:49] As long as God is wrestling with me, he's dealing with me. I don't want God to go quiet. You know what he's saying? I am fixing to go quiet on y'. All.
[00:42:02] Now, this isn't the kind of thing where a husband turns to a wife and say, could you use the silent treatment for a while, please?
[00:42:08] I would like some of your silent treatment.
[00:42:11] We don't want God's silent treatment.
[00:42:14] And what's interesting to me. What's interesting to me is this is a twofold thing, and this is where the people come in. The people are bringing the bad offering, and the priest is accepting it.
[00:42:26] Hmm.
[00:42:28] Can your pastor be too demanding on your offering to the Lord?
[00:42:33] Most of us would say, yes.
[00:42:35] You're doing too much. You're asking too much. You know, why do you want me to do these things? Why? You know, why are you yelling at me to sing? Why are you begging me to give? Why are you telling me to witness? I mean. I mean, come on. I've got to live my life. You're doing too much.
[00:42:50] Would it be too much for a congregation to ask their pastor to preach the word faithfully, to be compassionate and loving?
[00:42:59] Would it be too much for me, for you to demand of me to fulfill my calling?
[00:43:07] Whoever realizes that something ain't right should be the first one to repent.
[00:43:13] To renew.
[00:43:15] To do what?
[00:43:16] Repent and what?
[00:43:18] Repent and then renew.
[00:43:25] Repent and then renew before you rebuke and restore.
[00:43:36] Repent and renew.
[00:43:39] You before you rebuke somebody. Want me to tell you that in country boy terms, when something ain't right amongst the people of God, what do we usually do? We start telling other folks, get right.
[00:43:50] Now, who needs to get right here? The priest say, amen.
[00:43:54] Who needs to get right here? The people.
[00:43:57] And whoever gets right, first, they better tell the other one to get right.
[00:44:01] But they better get right before they start telling folks to get right.
[00:44:04] That's the country boy version. The apostle Paul would say it like this. Ye, who are Spiritual restore one another.
[00:44:13] I did good by not putting that on the screen.
[00:44:16] Lastly, and quickly and super quickly, the great king will be feared among the nations.
[00:44:21] I find so much comfort in this. Okay, let me just say that wherever God's name has been proclaimed, there have been people who have come to fear him. I just perused some examples in the Bible.
[00:44:36] I did until about 2 o'. Clock. Have them all on the screen.
[00:44:42] Offer thanks to God.
[00:44:44] Rahab.
[00:44:46] Rahab heard of God and began to honor him. Ruth, the Moabitess. Rahab the Jerichoan woman of the night. We believe Ruth the Moabitess, the Moabites, who God called his trash, right? They were Middle Eastern trash.
[00:45:07] That was the trailer park nation, The Ninevites. Jonah walked through the city with a one sentence sermon and turned a city of over 100,000 to the Lord.
[00:45:24] The sailors who threw Jonah in the sea.
[00:45:28] Babylonian and Persian rulers. Pharaoh even gave honor to God. Not, I don't think ultimate honor, but honor to God.
[00:45:37] In other words, God's going to make his name known and people are going to respond. Let the church say Amen.
[00:45:43] I am not going to turn there. But I think of Psalm 67, where in that psalm they say, hey, Lord, bless us, bless us so that the peoples praise you.
[00:45:55] Right? And God will say, I have blessed you.
[00:45:57] I have blessed you. I have loved you. Do you love me now? Most of you have heard this story. I'll tell it very briefly. How many of you guys went to school in the 70s or 80s? How many of you guys? Anybody?
[00:46:13] That's the 1970s, Joe, not the 18.
[00:46:19] We used to pass notes.
[00:46:22] Now people text each other, right? They don't. They still pass notes. I didn't even know kids could write. Um, and I told you guys my, my favorite tactic when I liked a girl. Like, if you like a girl, don't give her options. Don't say, do you like me? Yes. No, maybe I would just say, do you like me? One box. Yes, you like me? You, you really. I'm like Stuart Smalley.
[00:46:51] I'm nice. I'm kind of doggone it. You deserve it. You like? I, I got so many self imposed answers back. I did.
[00:46:59] My, my most damaging one was a girl wrote a box and she marked it like, like deep. Like broke the paper with her check and wrote beside it. Ew.
[00:47:12] I didn't say, do you like me? I said, you like me? Yes, you.
[00:47:19] I sent it back.
[00:47:20] Is that your final answer?
[00:47:25] How about now, Brothers and sisters? What if I say to you, God is worthy, he's not asking us, is he worthy?
[00:47:45] You're here tonight.
[00:47:47] They were there when Malachi gave this message. We're here because God has given it to us in the canon of scripture. I think he would say to us tonight, I am worthy.
[00:47:58] I am. And I'm confronting you because it's an invitation.
[00:48:03] I am worthy. Stop being inauthentic. If you are, if you're not, hit the gas, baby.
[00:48:10] Pour some high octane stuff on it. Flame on, let's go.
[00:48:14] Don't let up.
[00:48:17] But if you find yourself in drudgery, it's not God. He is worthy.
[00:48:25] It's not a question. Amen.
[00:48:27] Please don't hear this big, strong, mean voice of mine being big, strong and mean to be big, strong and mean. I'm saying God is softening his face, saying, you know, I'm going to be worshiped.
[00:48:39] And the reason I'm saying this to you is I want you in the worshipers.
[00:48:44] I am worthy.
[00:48:50] Our worship must be genuine. Now, somebody might say, why don't you just say that?
[00:48:55] Because I wanted to use this overtime to say it. Now, listen, the more we understand the nature of worship and the one we worship, the more likely it is we'll be triggered into worship.
[00:49:10] The more we understand our symbols.
[00:49:13] If your symbols don't have substance, like, nothing galls me more than to see somebody wearing a big cross and cussing and carrying on and, you know, popular music or talking about chasing women and getting drunk and got a big cross on.
[00:49:29] When I was young, I loved Hank Williams Jr. Unashamedly, you know, And I would sing Heaven Ain't a Lot Like Dixie. I don't wanna go.
[00:49:39] I got saved. And I was singing that song one day. I was singing it like I had sung it as a lost man. Right? Heaven ain't a lot like Dixie I hope heaven's better. Heaven's better than this.
[00:49:52] I don't care if heaven's nothing like Dixie. It's got God there. I want to go, and I realize you can't sing everything.
[00:50:01] And not everything that sounds spiritual is holy.
[00:50:05] Not everything that comes limping along is worth offering to God.
[00:50:12] If our symbols don't have substance, we're in trouble.
[00:50:15] Those symbols don't trigger the substance.
[00:50:19] It's empty.
[00:50:22] I think the last thing I would say is, you got to practice your worship.
[00:50:28] I bet right now my wife knows what I'm going to say because I say it and I sing it all the time.
[00:50:37] Count your blessings Name them one by one Count your blessings See what God has done Count Your blessings, name them one by one.
[00:50:50] Count your many blessings. See what God has done.
[00:50:56] I think we have to have the discipline of recounting God's worthiness, even if our circumstances don't ignite our feelings.
[00:51:09] And if you'll practice being a worshiper all week until you get in this room, then a community of worshipers who are giving authentic worship is more likely to happen.
[00:51:21] But I have to ask you tonight, how do you know if you're even qualified to be an authentic worshiper?
[00:51:27] Jesus said this.
[00:51:29] John 14:6. Jesus was speaking, I am the way, the truth and the life.
[00:51:33] No man comes to the Father except through me. That's a confrontation. But do you know what it also is?
[00:51:41] He's saying, I'm the one. So hey you, I'm the one.
[00:51:46] Not your works, not your perceived self goodness, not your traditions, not your culture. You have to come through me.
[00:51:53] Great news. I'm pointing this out so that you could come.
[00:51:56] Would you come? The Bible would say, if you believe in your heart and what?
[00:52:01] Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, you will be saved. The first step into authentic worship is authentic submission, authentic belief.
[00:52:14] Are you authentic worshiper?
[00:52:17] Father, as we stand and sing together, I thank you for the offering that these folks have made of their attention to the word.
[00:52:27] Lord, I thank you that you confront us that you're not apathetic toward your people. You're not apathetic toward your name, you're not apathetic toward your glory. You're not apathetic toward our good.
[00:52:39] Thank you that you would confront us.
[00:52:42] Praise you that you would invite us as we stand to sing. I humbly ask you to continue to plow our hearts so that the seed might find good soil, take deep root and bear great fruit for our good, for your glory and so that we're part of those nations that come in Jesus, I pray. Amen. Let's stand together and sing.
