How you see God will determine how you respond to God.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. —Proverbs 9:10
1.Obligation
2.Frenzied
3.Forged
4.Genuine
God’s Love
A pronouncement:
The word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi.
2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord.
Yet you ask, “How have you loved us?”—Malachi 1:1-11
God’s Sovereignty
“Wasn’t Esau Jacob’s brother?” This is the Lord’s declaration. “Even so, I loved Jacob, 3 but I hated Esau. I turned his mountains into a wasteland, and gave his inheritance to the desert jackals.”
4 Though Edom says, “We have been devastated, but we will rebuild the ruins,” the Lord of Armies says this: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called a wicked country and the people the Lord has cursed forever. 5 Your own eyes will see this, and you yourselves will say, ‘The Lord is great, even beyond the borders of Israel.’—Malachi 1:1-11
God’s Rebuke
6 “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is your fear of me? says the Lord of Armies to you priests, who despise my name.”
Yet you ask, “How have we despised your name?”—Malachi 1:1-11
I am not as important as I should be
7 “By presenting defiled food on my altar.”
“How have we defiled you?” you ask.
When you say, “The Lord’s table is contemptible.”
8 “When you present a blind animal for sacrifice, is it not wrong? And when you present a lame or sick animal, is it not wrong? Bring it to your governor! Would he be pleased with you or show you favor?” asks the Lord of Armies.—Malachi 1:1-11
I am not getting your best
9 “And now plead for God’s favor. Will he be gracious to us? Since this has come from your hands, will he show any of you favor?” asks the Lord of Armies.—Malachi 1:1-11
I am a means to an end
God’s Response
10 “I wish one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would no longer kindle a useless fire on my altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord of Armies, “and I will accept no offering from your hands.
—Malachi 1:1-11
Useless Worship is Worship that Withholds
11 “My name will be great among the nations, from the rising of the sun to its setting. Incense and pure offerings will be presented in my name in every place because my name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord of Armies. —Malachi 1:1-11
When We Withhold, We Miss Out
If We Say God is Worthy of Our Worship and Sacrifice, Then Start Worshipping and Sacrificing
Stop Trying to Bribe God