I once purchased a plastic ring for my girlfriend. I thought that it looked nice, but didn’t think about the implication of presenting a ring to a girl who I had only known for a few months. (She politely figured out my lack of insight at the time, though. A few years later, though, before I proposed to her for real, I asked a jeweler to make a “real” version of that original ring with actual gemstones. She said yes!)
While that example of my ignorance had a happy ending, have you ever received a gift that was so thoughtless that it would have been better to not give it at all? Have you ever given such a gift (not realizing the error until too late)? Ouch!
Similarly, one of the sentiments from Malachi 1:10-14 seems to be something like, “If you’re not going to make the effort to show respect to God, don’t even bother offering sacrifices at all!”
“Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the LORD Almighty, “and I will accept no offering from your hands. My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to me, because my name will be great among the nations,” says the LORD Almighty.
Malachi 1:10-11 NIV
In the days of Malachi, it would have been better to just close up the temple, rather than to go through the motions and offer “rejects” from the flock as sacrifices to God. These offerings did not honor God: instead, it was more like using the altar as a trash disposal for animals that weren’t worth the time and effort to herd them.
Trust me, if you showed up at a friend’s birthday party or wedding with a bag of trash from your kitchen or a sack of your cast-offs meant for recycling, and you put that on the gifts table, it would be better for you to have not shown up in the first place. That’s just offensive.
Just as you would have probably been asked to leave that party if you did something like this, God didn’t accept these insulting sacrifices, either, so it really was a waste of time for the priests to go through the motions.
Worse yet, in verse 13, it sounds like the priests consider their service in the temple to be a hassle.
And you say, ‘What a burden!’ and you sniff at it contemptuously,” says the LORD Almighty.
“When you bring injured, lame or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?” says the LORD.
Malachi 1:13 NIV
https://malachi.bible/malachi-1-13
Like little children who protest to their parents that they don’t want to go to church, but still comply when given no other options, the priests were showing up and doing what they had to, but they really didn’t want to be there doing the work.
This reminds me of two children who are forced to say that they are sorry to each other (when they clearly aren’t). They might say what the parent tells them to say, just to move on and get out of further punishment, but the action doesn’t really change their attitude.
In the end, following the steps of “religious piety” without having a heart for God is useless. Furthermore, God calls someone who promises a good animal and gives a lesser animal both “cursed” and a “cheat” (see Malachi 1:14, which suggests that people who were bringing sacrifices to the priests may also have been guilty of similar offenses against God).
God is sovereign over the universe, and His name will be respected. Every knee will bow to Him and every tongue will confess Him (see Isaiah 45:23, Romans 14:11). Anyone who thinks that they can get away with trying to trick God is only fooling themselves.
So, how about us? Are we going through the motions of doing what we think God will see and reward us for? Are we just checking a bunch of boxes for God because we think that we have to? Or, are we so amazed by God and grateful to Him that we want to share our best with Him, using the first and the best of what we have for His glory and His kingdom?
As God said to His people in the book of Malachi, He will be glorified. The open question is whether we will be the ones giving Him that respect, or if we will be revealed as simply pretenders.
From Sunday School lesson prepared for August 18, 2024
References:
- The Lookout, August, 2024, © 2024 Christian Standard Media.
- Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
- The College Press NIV Commentary – Minor Prophets Vol. 2 Nahum-Malachi, by Mark Allen Hahlen and Clay Alan Ham. © 2006 College Press Publishing Co.
Those Who Sin Differently 