Malachi 1:1-5 (MSG) 1 A Message (an oracle or burden). G OD ’s Word to Israel through Malachi: 2-3 G OD said, “I love you.” You replied, “Really? How have you loved us?” “Look at history” (this is G OD ’s answer). “Look at how differently I’ve treated you, Jacob, from Esau: I loved Jacob and hated Esau. I reduced pretentious Esau to a molehill, turned his whole country into a ghost town.” 4 When Edom (Esau) said, “We’ve been knocked down, but we’ll get up and start over, good as new, ”G OD -of-the-Angel-Armies said, “Just try it and see how far you get. When I knock you down, you stay down. People will take one look at you and say, ‘Land of Evil!’ and ‘the G OD -cursed tribe!’ 5 “Yes, take a good look. Then you’ll see how faithfully I’ve loved you and you’ll want even more, saying, ‘May G OD be even greater, beyond the borders of Israel!’“

When they were born, Jacob was grabbing the heel of his brother Esau. Jacob continued his grasping scheming ways by obtaining the family’s birthright and the father’s blessing, which was really Esau’s. Genesis 27:29 (Voice) A portion of Isaac’s blessing to Jacob… Isaac: 29 May many peoples come and serve you, and may nations bow down to you. May you be the master of your brothers, and may your mother’s sons all bow down before you. May anyone who curses you be cursed, and may everyone who blesses you be blessed!

In the next section God accused the people of dishonoring him with shoddy, disgraceful worship. Malachi 1:6-8 (MSG) 6 “Isn’t it true that a son honors his father and a worker his master? So if I’m your Father, where’s the honor? If I’m your Master, where’s the respect?” G OD -of-the-Angel-Armies is calling you on the carpet: “You priests despise me! “You say, ‘Not so! How do we despise you?’ “By your shoddy, sloppy, defiling worship. “You ask, ‘What do you mean, “defiling”? What’s defiling about it?’ 7-8 “When you say, ‘The altar of G OD is not important anymore; worship of G OD is no longer a priority,’ that’s defiling. And when you offer worthless animals for sacrifices in worship, animals that you’re trying to get rid of—blind and sick and crippled animals—isn’t that defiling? Try a trick like that with your banker or your senator—how far do you think it will get you?” G OD -of-the-Angel-Armies asks you.

Leviticus 22:20-25 (NLT) 20 Do not present an animal with defects, because the L ORD will not accept it on your behalf. 21 “If you present a peace offering to the L ORD from the herd or the flock, whether it is to fulfill a vow or is a voluntary offering, you must offer a perfect animal. It may have no defect of any kind. 22 You must not offer an animal that is blind, crippled, or injured, or that has a wart, a skin sore, or scabs. Such animals must never be offered on the altar as special gifts to the L ORD. 23 If a bull or lamb has a leg that is too long or too short, it may be offered as a voluntary offering, but it may not be offered to fulfill a vow. 24 If an animal has damaged testicles or is castrated, you may not offer it to the L ORD. You must never do this in your own land, 25 and you must not accept such an animal from foreigners and then offer it as a sacrifice to your God. Such animals will not be accepted on your behalf, for they are mutilated or defective.”

Deuteronomy 15:21 (NLT) 21 But if this firstborn animal has any defect, such as lameness or blindness, or if anything else is wrong with it, you must not sacrifice it to the L ORD your God.

God’s Response: Malachi 1:9 (MSG) 9 “Get on your knees and pray that I will be gracious to you. You priests have gotten everyone in trouble. With this kind of conduct, do you think I’ll pay attention to you?” G OD -of-the-Angel-Armies asks you.

 Are you offering to God that which you would not dare offer a lesser person?  Are you offering to God that which even a pagan would not offer to their gods?  Do you honor God by the life you live? The offering you give? The service you render?  Do we spend as much time studying God’s Word as the cults spend studying their “bible”?  What God said to Israel becomes a challenge to us today to give our highest and best to him.

God’s Response cont. Malachi 1:10 (MSG) 10 “Why doesn’t one of you just shut the Temple doors and lock them? Then none of you can get in and play at religion with this silly, empty-headed worship. I am not pleased. The G OD -of-the-Angel- Armies is not pleased. And I don’t want any more of this so-called worship! Offering God Something Hand-Me-Down, Broken, or Useless.

Malachi 1:11-14 (MSG) 11 “I am honored all over the world. And there are people who know how to worship me all over the world, who honor me by bringing their best to me. They’re saying it everywhere: ‘God is greater, this G OD -of-the-Angel-Armies.’ “All except you. Instead of honoring me, you profane me. You profane me when you say, ‘Worship is not important, and what we bring to worship is of no account,’ and when you say, ‘I’m bored—this doesn’t do anything for me.’ You act so superior, sticking your noses in the air—act superior to me, G OD -of-the- Angel-Armies! And when you do offer something to me, it’s a hand-me-down, or broken, or useless. Do you think I’m going to accept it? This is G OD speaking to you! 14 “A curse on the person who makes a big show of doing something great for me—an expensive sacrifice, say—and then at the last minute brings in something puny and worthless! I’m a great king, G OD -of-the-Angel-Armies, honored far and wide, and I’ll not put up with it!”

In a nutshell, God’s purpose is to promote His glory, and He wants to use His people to do that.

So our aim as God’s people should be to glorify God by loving Him above all, by loving one another (the two Great Commandments), and by proclaiming the gospel among the nations (the Great Commission) so that all peoples will glorify His great name.

Honoring the Lord means giving Him the best of our lives. Giving God what we really don’t need anyway is not giving at all. If we only serve when it’s convenient and we don’t have anything better to do, we aren’t really serving.

WE SHOULD GIVE GOD THE BEST IN TERMS OF QUALITY. “If something is worn out or useless to me, I’ll give it to the church or to missions.” So the Lord’s servants limp along with outdated, broken-down junk, while the Lord’s people fill their homes with the good new stuff!

WE SHOULD GIVE GOD THE BEST IN TERMS OF PRIORITIES. The only way to keep your priorities in line is to be consistently in God’s Word. It confronts wrong attitudes and values. It gets you back on course when you start to drift. It confronts you when you are valuing things over God Himself. It reminds us that our aim should be to glorify Him.

WE SHOULD GIVE GOD THE BEST IN TERMS OF PERSONAL INTEGRITY. Here we’re talking about motive—why you do what you do. In 1:14 it says: 14 “A curse on the person who makes a big show of doing something great for me—an expensive sacrifice, say—and then at the last minute brings in something puny and worthless! I’m a great king, G OD -of-the-Angel-Armies, honored far and wide, and I’ll not put up with it!” This guy wants to look good in public, so he makes a grandstand vow to give the best to the Lord. But when it comes time to give, he slips in an inferior animal and keeps the best for himself. He wasn’t really offering his sacrifice to the living God, who sees the motives of the heart. He was doing it to be seen by men.

With that in mind, so that we don’t fool ourselves, take the following short test based on this passage. There are five questions:

1. IS YOUR SERVICE FOR GOD LESS THAN YOU WOULD OFFER A HUMAN DIGNITARY?

1 Cor. 15:58b – “Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord…” 2 Tim. 2:15 – “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed…”

2. IS GOD ANSWERING YOUR PRAYERS?

3. ARE YOU PLAYING CHURCH?

4. ARE YOU BORED WITH WORSHIP AND/OR CHRISTIAN SERVICE?

5. IS YOUR PASSION IN LIFE TO PROMOTE GOD’S GLORY AMONG THE NATIONS?

1 Cor. 10:31 – “: “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” Ps. 145:3 – “ Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; His greatness no one can fathom.: Rev. 4:11 – “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”

Why should we give God our best? --Because He gave us His best. Rom. 8:32 – If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us?

References GIVING GOD YOUR BEST -- Ed Wood Serving God the Leftovers – Steven Cole