Sermons by Ken Trivette from the Living Word

The Book of Malachi
HAVE I DONE MY BEST FOR JESUS?
Malachi 1:7-14

1. Ed Spencer was attending Northwestern University at Evanston, Illinois. Ed was a rather well known athlete of his day, for he was one of the first to win a gold medal for the United States in the Olympics. The campus of Northwestern is bordered on one side by Lake Michigan. One evening, as Ed was doing his studies in the library, outside a storm was raging. All of a sudden some fellows came running in shouting, "The Lady Elgin has just been thrown in the rocks and is sinking." Ed ran from the Library out to the lake and saw the situation was indeed serious. Without a moment's hesitation, he rid himself of any extra clothing that might hinder him and be dived in the rolling, chopping waves. He was able to reach the wreck and, fighting his way back, he brought the first person to safety. He had repeated this heroic effort several more times when those on shore said, "Ed, you've done all you can. You'll surely kill yourself if you try it anymore." Ed's reply was, "I've got to go my best." He plunged again and brought another one to safety, and another and another until he had rescued 17 people. He could go no further and fell unconscious on shore. All through the night, as he lay in the infirmary, he kept repeating, "Have I done my best, fellows? Fellows, have I done my best?" He had done his best but the experience cost him his health. Years later, inspired by the story, Ensign Edwin Young wrote the song, Have I Done My Best For Jesus? 

I wonder, have I done my best for Jesus,
Who died upon the cruel tree?
To think of His great sacrifice at Calvary!
I know my Lord expects the best from me.

2. When we think of what our Lord has done for each of us, we are reminded that the Lord deserves the absolute best from each of us. To give our Lord less than the best is unthinkable when we think of how He died upon the cruel tree and gave Himself as a sacrifice for us. 

3. The prophet Malachi now lays the charge before the people that they had given the Lord less than their best. What they were giving to God was far from the their best. Malachi speaks to the kind of offerings they were giving to God.  

1. OFFERINGS THAT WERE REPUDIATING TO THE LORD! 

1. We read in verse 7, "Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the Lord is contemptible."  

2. Malachi speaks of "bread" and the "table." Bread speaks of the animal sacrifices offered to God. The table speaks of the Brazen altar on which these sacrifices were offered. Twice Malachi uses the word "polluted." The word means, "repudiating, to soil, desecrate, defile." Malachi was saying, "You are offering sacrifices to God that is repudiating to Him." They were repudiating to the Lord for 2 reasons: 

A. There Was An Outward Desecration. 

1. Notice verse 7, "Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the Lord is contemptible."  

2. God said, "Ye offer polluted bread upon Mine altar" (Vs.7). The ideal of pollution was that of priestly contamination. They were offering sacrifices without observing the requirements of washing their hands or changing their clothes between offerings. This disqualified the priests from performing such priestly functions. To offer the sacrifices when personally defiled also defiled the sacrifices themselves.  

3. They were saying, "The table of the LORD is contemptible."  The word means they were treating the altar and the sacrifices with scorn and in disdain. 

4. In verse 8, God said, "Ye offer the blind for sacrifice...Ye offer the lame and the sick." God strictly forbade any sacrifice that was defective, sick, or lame. We read in Duet.15:21 "And if there be any blemish therein, as if it be lame, or blind, or have any ill blemish, thou shalt not sacrifice it unto the LORD thy God." 

5. They were offering polluted sacrifices in a polluted state. They were offering what God had condemned in a way God had forbidden. 

B. There Was An Inward Defilement. 

1. Whatever is in the warehouse, will sooner or later be seen in the showroom. Their polluted actions were the result of their polluted attitudes. The outward was but a reflection of the inward. 

2. Solomon said in Proverbs 23:7 "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he." The same thought is found in Matthew 15:18 "But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man." 

3. The outward is a mirror of the inward. When we are not right on the inside we will not be right on the outside. When we are right on the inside we will be right on the outside. 

4. In verse 7 they asked, "Wherein have we polluted thee?" God declares their repudiating actions and they deny them. 

5. God answered by saying in verse 8, "In that ye say, 'The table of the LORD is contemptible." They were not saying such a thing with their lips but in their lives. The actions of their hands only revealed the attitude of their hearts. The outward desecration was from their inward defilement. Their conduct was a result of their condition. 

6. Our actions springs from our attitudes. When we give less than our best to God it reveals that our heart is far from God and that our heart for God is not what it should be. 

7. G. Campbell Morgan said: "No polluted man can offer pure bread on God's altar." 

8. The condition of the heart is evident in our attitude to the House of God. We attend Church if it is convenient. We go to Church on a fairly regular basis but are not hesitate to go elsewhere if the opportunity arises. 

9. It is also seen in our attitude to the Word of God. We rarely pick up our Bibles. No time is ever given to reading and studying the Bible. At Church, we would rather be entertained than exhorted.

10. G. Campbell Morgan said, "Scores of people in our Churches today, who will hear an opera through and through - and not once only - will pull out their watches and become anxious and fidgety if a preacher exceeds, by a few minutes space, what is recognized as his allotted time." 

11. The condition of our heart is also seen in our attitude to the Service of God. We say, "I would get involved if I had time," when in reality it is an issue of making time rather than having time. God looks on the heart and not the life. The life is the tattletale of the heart. God doesn't treat symptoms. He deals with the cause. God is concerned about what we do, but more concerned with why we do it. 

12. They were not giving their best. They were offering sacrifices that repudiating to the Lord. The reason was because they were not where they should have been with God. 

1. Offerings Repudiating to the Lord! 

2. OFFERINGS THAT WERE REJECTED BY THE LORD!

1. These offerings that were repudiating to the Lord were also offerings that were rejected by the Lord. Malachi challenges them with two propositions to show that the Lord rejected such offerings. 

A. A Presentation That Would Be Displeasing To The Governor. 

1. Notice verse 8, "And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the Lord of hosts."  

2. In verse 8 Malachi asks, "Is such offerings not evil? If you don't think so, why not make such a presentation to the Governor. Do you think he would be pleased with this kind of offering? Do you think that he would accept such an offering?" The answer is obvious. Of course not! The argument of Malachi is, "If the governor would not accept such a offering then why do you think God would be pleased with this kind of offering?" 

3. An analogy that we might better relate to would be concerning our jobs. Do you think our employer would be pleased with work that is inefficient? Do you think our boss would be pleased if we halfway did our jobs? Do you think our employer would be happy if we showed up part of the time or only came to work when we felt like it? Do think that our employer would tolerate indifference and slothfulness. Why do we think that God feels any different and deserves anything less? If we treated our work like we treat God's work, we wouldn't last a week. 

B. A Prayer That Would Be Denied By God.

1. Notice verse 9, "And now, I pray you, beseech God that he will be gracious unto us: this hath been by your means: will he regard your persons? saith the Lord of hosts." 

2. In verse 9 Malachi was saying, "Why don't you call on God that He will be gracious and bless you. Do you think He will regard you and answer your prayer?" Again the answer is obvious.  

3. Why do we think that we can do anything we want and live anyway we please and think that God is going to overlook it all and bless us as if nothing was wrong and everything was right?  

4. Notice verse 10, "Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for nought? neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for nought. I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand." 

5. As far as God was concerned it would be better that the doors of the Temple were shut and the fires on the altar put out, and the whole system stopped than offer such as they had been offering. 

6. God said, "neither will I accept an offering at your hand" (Vs.10). God was saying, "I will reject that which is not your best." They were giving, but they were not giving their best. God said this would not do. He deserved the best and accepted nothing but the best. 

7. God will not accept our offerings to Him if they are not our best. A ill-prepared, half-prepared sermon does not please God. A Sunday School lesson that has not be thoughtfully, carefully, prayerfully prepared will not be acceptable to God. A song that has not been practiced, rehearsed, and learned will not be acceptable to God. A position that that is not fulfilled, served, and done properly and well will not be an offering that God will accept. A ministry that is not been given the best by those who serve is not acceptable to God. 

1. Offerings Repudiating to the Lord!
2. Offerings Rejected by the Lord!

3. OFFERINGS REQUIRED FOR THE LORD!

1. Notice verse 11, "For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts."  

2. In verse 11 Malachi reaches into the future when God's name and person will be exalted and worshipped through out the earth. He will be offered only that which is pure. The point Malachi makes is that God deserves our best. Malachi words in effect say: 

A. Give God What He Properly Deserves. 

1. His name is great! He is great! He deserves only the best. 

2. Raymond Calkins in "The Modern Message of the Minor Prophets" and his section on Hosea writes; "Irreligion is at the root of all our trouble today as truly as it was in the days of Hosea. And in order to reinstate religion it is necessary to have an intelligent, and a competent, and a courageous and devoted ministry. This is perhaps is the greatest need of the Church today." 

3. I think of II Sam.24:24 "And the king said unto Araunah, 'Nay, but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing." 

4. In a graveyard beside a Church in England stands a monument with this epitaph: "Here lies Robert Shirley who died in 1657. He did the best of things in the worst of times." 

5. Notice verses VS.12-13, "But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, The table of the Lord is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible. [13] Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the Lord of hosts; and ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye brought an offering: should I accept this of your hand? saith the Lord."  

6. Malachi again reiterates the way they had treated God. He adds how they had looked at God's service. The word "weariness" means "irksome, vexatious, burdensome, tedious, drudgery." 

7. One commentator said they pretended to puff and pant under the sacrificial lambs weight.  

8. To them, giving God the best was a burden. They were weary of giving God what He deserved. But the point is, He deserves the best and we should never weary of giving Him our best. 

B. Give God What We Personally Declare. 

1. We read in verse 14, "But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, saith the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen."  

2. They had made vows to God and were breaking those vows. The participles used her indicate they were continually breaking those vows. God calls them a swindler, a deceiver. 

3. It is not known what the vow is that is alluded to here. But in keeping with the context I would assume that it was a vow to serve God and give Him what He deserved and desired. 

4. There have been times in all our lives that we told God we would love Him, serve Him, and do our best for Him. God says, "Pay me those vows." 

5. WHAT KIND OF OFFERING ARE YOU GIVING TO GOD?