Oct. 09, 2022

HOW TO HONOR GOD      Malachi   10-9-22

Malachi 1:6 "A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?" says the LORD Almighty… 

Deuteronomy 15:21 21 If an animal has a defect, is lame or blind, or has any serious flaw, you must not sacrifice it to the Lord your God.

Malachi 1:8–14 8 When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the Lord Almighty… 13 “When you bring injured, lame or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?” says the Lord. 14 “Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. 

HOW TO HONOR GOD:

1.) GIVE HIM YOUR BEST!

Romans 12:1-2 I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship.

Malachi 3:8–10 8 “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings. 9…you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. 

HOW TO HONOR GOD:

2.) GIVE HIM WHAT’S HIS!

WHY Christians Should Tithe:

Because God COMMANDED it.

Leviticus 27:30–33 30 “A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord… 32 Every tithe of the herd and flock—every tenth animal that passes under the shepherd’s rod—will be holy to the Lord.”

Deuteronomy 14:22–25 22 Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year... 24 But if that place is too distant and you have been blessed by the Lord your God and cannot carry your tithe… 25 then exchange your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the Lord your God will choose. 

Because Jesus COMMANDED it. 

Matthew 23:23 (NLT) 23 “you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.

Matthew 22:17–21 17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?” 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” 21 “Caesar’s,” they replied. Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

HOW TO HONOR GOD:

3.) GIVE HIM YOUR HEART!

Malachi 2:2 2 “If you do not listen, and if you do not set your heart to honor my name,” says the Lord Almighty… “I will curse your blessings… because you have not set your heart to honor me. 

Malachi 1:13 13 “you say, ‘What a burden!’ and you sniff at it contemptuously,” says the Lord Almighty. 

Romans 12:1-2 I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God- this is your spiritual act of worship.

        - GRACE = is getting something you don’t deserve. 

        - MERCY = is Not Getting something you do Deserve. 

Ephesians 2:1–9 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins… 3 we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions… 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

Proverbs 4:23 23 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

          - EVERYTHING you DO FLOWS from it!

Notice the Jewish Expectation of the Messiah…

Malachi 4:2 But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. (Hems, borders, corners or fringes) 

There is a woman in…

Matthew 9:20-21 (NASB) 20 And behold, a woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years, came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak; 21 for she was saying to herself, "If I only touch His garment, I shall get well." (How could she make a statement like that?)

If Jesus was who He said He was… then He is WORTHY of my WORSHIP! (Praise & Adoration)

Then, He is worthy of the very best I had to offer!

Don’t you give Him a blemished lamb as Malachi would say!

Friends, I’m not trying to be hard… I just want Malachi to rock your world like he rocked mine!

God’s best for my best! The best of who I am for the One who has never given less than His best for me.

One day you & I will stand before the best God had to offer…

And you will NOT be disappointed that you gave your prized lamb (the best of your Life in Worship) to the Lamb who is worthy to receive all honor and glory and praise!

I beg of you = do not give Him a blemished offering!

Worship God with the very best your life has to offer!

Matthew 6:21 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Mindset, Mentality)

- Henrietta Mears = Faggot Fire – cigarettes – “God doesn’t want your cigarettes…he wants you!”

-GOD WANTS ALL OF US! Not just a PART of us…

PROBLEM I wrestle with = when we hear of someone who has made cart blanch commitments like that… we think they are NOBLE -- COMMITTED!

But, you know what Malachi would say, “If you’re living with a commitment to God that is less than a FULL commitment, then you’re WORSHIPING with a BLEMISHED LAMB!

Some of us pat ourselves on the back for a 50% commitment to God. (or 80% - 90%)

BUT, Malachi would say that a 90% commitment to God is 10% SHORT! (A blemished Lamb – better you offer nothing at all!)