Sunday we dove in to Malachi 1. Here's the background on Malachi.
* He was an Old Testament prophet who wrote about 430 years before the birth of Christ.
* By the time Malachi wrote, the Jewish exiles had been back in their homeland for about 100 years.
After a long exile, the people of Israel had optimistically returned to Jerusalem… Under the leadership of some really gifted guys like Ezra and Nehemiah the temple had been restored and the walls of the city had been rebuilt… Miracles had occured! But things didn’t meet up to their expectations…
These people had the same idea about obedience that a lot of American Christians have… They had the idea, “If we do the right stuff… If we rebuild the temple, restore the sacrificial system, re-up our commitment to God, reconstruct the walls, restart our worship services, God will COME DOWN and blow us away… The temple will once again be filled with the glory of God… Israel will become the same kind of world superpower it was during the “glory days” of David and Solomon…”
The short version of a long story is that things didn’t pan out…
They were in an economic recession that had been going on for decades. Relationally things were a nightmare. Marriage and family relationships were taking a hit. The divorce rate was skyrocketing and infidelity was a huge problem.
Spiritually, the people had been lulled into complacency, apathy and indifference. They weren’t notorious sinners like the people before the exile… They weren’t into idolatry and child sacrifice… They weren’t guilty of worshipping other gods… In a lot of ways, these people were real “orthodox,” but it was DEAD ORTHODOXY. They had kept their religion, but they had lost their connection with God…
It was to this group of people that God appointed a courageous, straight-talking guy named Malachi to walk in, reestablish the standards and to challenge God’s people to HIT RESET.
In Malachi 1, this straight shooting prophet does two things.
First of all, he attempts to refocus the people on the love of God.
In Malachi 1, the prophets paints a picture of the mysterious, powerful, sovereign, electing love of God. He basically reminds Israel, "Hey guys. You are loved by God and you were chosen by God."
Second, in light of God's extravagant love Malachi challenges the people to extravagant worship.
The people had become bored with God. And Malachi basically says, "Are you out of your minds? After all God's done for you!"
Last week I read the following story. The Archbishop of Paris shared the story and reported it to be true.
He said that one night many years ago three young guys made a decision that they were going to going to live it up. That night they were going to throw caution to the wind, indulge their wildest fantasies, sample the best Paris had to offer and party like crazy. And they did…
They made John Daly look like a choirboy.
When morning finally rolled around they found themselves half drunk sitting on the steps of a huge cathedral laughing about everything they had done night before. All of a sudden one of them got an idea… Why not walk inside, find a confessional, and “confess” to a priest everything they had done the previous night?
They thought it would be a great joke, a huge laugh, a great way to top off a night of partying and sex.
One of the young guys volunteered to go see the priest. He walked into the confessional and started to confess his sins. He spoke loud enough for everyone to here… He even provided lurid details. His friends thought it was hysterical outside…
The priest realized what was happening, so interrupted the young man. Through the confessional, he said, “Okay. I’ve heard enough. You don’t have to confess anything else. If you want to be forgiven of all your sin, you only need to do one thing. Outside this confessional there’s an altar. And near the altar there’s a statue of Christ hanging on the cross. Here’s all you need to do to be forgiven...
“Kneel down at the cross, look up at Christ and say these words, ‘Lord Jesus, I know all you’ve done for me, and I don’t give a damn…’”
In spite of the fact that the young guy was stoned, He was shocked. He asked the priest, “What did you say?”
The priest said, “If you want to be forgiven, look at the cross and say, ‘Lord Jesus, I know all you’ve done for me, and I don’t give a damn.’”
The young man almost instantly became sober. He stepped out of the confessional, looking as if he’d seen a ghost. His friends couldn’t hear what the priest had said. They wondered what was wrong.
Without saying a word, the young man walked to the altar, knelt before the cross, looked up at the cross and said, “Lord Jesus, I know all you’ve done for me…and I ask you to forgive my sin.”
When the Archbishop of Paris told the story, he ended it with these words: “I know that story is true, because I was that young man.”
Here's the point: God's extravagant love for us demands an extravagant response! WORSHIP. TRUE WORSHIP. PASSIONATE WORSHIP. WORSHIP AS A WAY OF LIFE. Worship that reflects the attitude of Romans 12:1-2.
Romans 12:1-2 (MSG), So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life - your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life - and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. 2 Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God.
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