Remembering

OPENING PRAYER:

Gracious Father, I pray today for your presence and guidance, your patience and love, your forgiveness and grace.

READ: MALACHI 1

1 A prophecy: The word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi.[a]

Israel Doubts God’s Love

2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord.

“But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’

“Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob, 3 but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his hill country into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”

4 Edom may say, “Though we have been crushed, we will rebuild the ruins.”

But this is what the Lord Almighty says: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Wicked Land, a people always under the wrath of the Lord. 5 You will see it with your own eyes and say, ‘Great is the Lord—even beyond the borders of Israel!’

Breaking Covenant Through Blemished Sacrifices

6 “A son honors his father, and a slave 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.

“It is you priests who show contempt for my name.

“But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’

7 “By offering defiled food on my altar.

“But you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’

“By saying that the Lord’s table is contemptible. 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.

9 “Now plead with God to be gracious to us. With such offerings from your hands, will he accept you?”—says the Lord Almighty.

10 “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. 11 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.

12 “But you profane it by saying, ‘The Lord’s table is defiled,’ and, ‘Its food is contemptible.’ 13 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. 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. For I am a great king,” says the Lord Almighty, “and my name is to be feared among the nations.

Footnotes

[a] Malachi 1:1 Malachi means my messenger.

MALACHI 1

REFLECT:

Savor this amazing truth declared in Jeremiah 31:3: ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love.’

God loves his people. Despite their flaws, God’s covenantal love is unconditional – as the Israelites’ story reminds them (vs 2,3). But his people are forgetful. Discouraged and disillusioned, shockingly, Israel doubts God’s love – and their worship shows it.

It‘s clear from the priests’ questions in verses 6 and 7 that they have become apathetic and ritualistic in their offerings; they don’t even realize their worship is unacceptable to God. Three times we are reminded that God’s name is great (vs 11,14). Yet the people of Israel have lost their awe and wonder of God; their damaged offerings reflect their indifference and lack of reverence. In our consumerist society, we can also easily forget that worship is about what we bring to God, rather than what we receive.

Although the sacrificial death of Jesus means that worship is no longer defined by animal offerings, God still examines the motivation of our hearts. As Jesus said to the woman at the well: ‘true worshippers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth’ (John 4:23). We too are called to worship God with our minds and hearts, bringing our best, however small an offering that might be. How might we respond to his love today?

APPLY:

Remember, as you come to worship, these words from Isaac Watts’ hymn, ‘When I survey the wondrous cross … Love so amazing, so divine, /Demands my soul, my life, my all.’*

*’When I Survey the Wondrous Cross’, Isaac Watts, 1674–1748

CLOSING PRAYER:

Mighty One, you are a covenant-keeping God! You are faithful, but I can be so fickle. Lord, please increase my faith and faithfulness.

WORSHIP:

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