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Giving God Our Best: Embracing an Authentic Faith

Malachi addresses the Jews who have returned to their land after years of captivity, challenging them to give God their best. This dialogue reveals God's love for us and the importance of honoring His authority in our faith. It also emphasizes the need to prioritize God over our possessions and give sacrificially.

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Giving God Our Best: Embracing an Authentic Faith

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  1. GIVING GOD OUR BEST Malachi 1:6-14

  2. Malachi is Addressing • Jews returned to their land after 70 years of captivity. • The Temple has been built and the worship of God reestablished. • A cancer of complacency is eating away at their commitment. Malachi comes on the scene to challenge them to give God their best.

  3. IN THIS DIALOGUE GOD WANTS US TO KNOW God loves us with a tender affectionate, and unconditional love. Because the Jews did not respond to God’s love their worship became wimpy, their leaders became lightweights, their relationships ruptured, their offerings were anemic and they stopped serving. “I have loved you.” 1:2 “But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go and leap like calves released from the stall.” 4:2

  4. I. WE GIVE GOD OUR BEST WHEN WE EMBRACE AN AUTHENTIC FATIH Malachi 1:6, 7

  5. A. OUR FAITH HAS TO HONOR GOD AND HIS AUTHORITY “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…” “We should have a childlike security in His care for us and we should have a childlike reverence for His authority.” John Piper

  6. GOD IS THE FATHER OF ISRAEL “This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son.” Exodus 4:22 “Honor your father and your mother…” Exodus 20:12 “Honor” “Consider them weighty or heavy” “Lord Almighty’ “Yahweh” – too holy to be spoken by human lips. Spoken once a year by the high priest in the most holy place.

  7. THE TITLE “ALMIGHTY” “HOST” A great number of armies. The Lord Almighty has infinite authority in the universe. He has myriads of unstoppable angelic armies who do His bidding flawlessly and never fail in their errands. Seven times in Malachi 1:6-14 God calls Himself -“The Lord Almighty” Twenty three times in the book of Malachi God calls Himself - “The Lord Almighty”

  8. B. OUR FAITH CAN’T ALLOW THE EXTRAORDINARY BECOME THE ORDINARY Malachi’s message was difficult to deliver because he was not a priest. The priests were showing contempt for God. “How have we shown contempt for your name?” v. 6 God answers, “You place defiled food on my altar.” v.7 The priests persist in their questioning “How have we defiled you?” God replies, “The Lord’s Table is contemptible.”

  9. THE EXTRAORDINARY CAN BECOME THE ORDINARY “When man is bored with God even heaven does not have a better alternative.” Ravi Zacharias If God bores you nothing else is going to satisfy you either. Cain and Abel made sacrifices to God. God accepts Abel’s offering and rejects Cain’s. God accepts or rejects an offering based on the attitude of the one making the offering.

  10. THE SACRIFICE The reason Cain’s sacrifice was not accepted was that he had a heart full of evil. I John 3:12 The reason Abel’s offering was accepted was that he had a heart of faith. Hebrews 11:4 God looked at the sacrificer and then at the sacrifice. God looked at the offerer and then the offering. God was looking for authentic adoration; not a sacrifice that was in essence a spiritual sham. NOT A FAN – WEEK 5 SERMONETTE

  11. II. WE GIVE GOD OUR BEST WHEN WE GIVE GOD PRIORITY OVER OUR POSSESSIONS Malachi 1: 8, 9

  12. ISRAELS PROBLEMS SARS – Severe Acute Religious Syndrome “When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice crippled 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.” v. 8 The priests were accepting the second best from the people, and the worse that they had. God is not interested in substandard sacrifices. Leviticus 22:2, 19, 20

  13. A. THESE PEOPLE WERE MORE CONCERNED WITH KEEPING WHAT THEY HAD THAN THEY WERE IN GIVING GOD THEIR BEST The people had accepted mediocrity in their lives and the leaders did nothing about it. The people thought God didn’t care what they did. God holds the priests accountable for what they bring.

  14. B. THEY NEEDED TO MAINTAIN A PROPER STANDARD FOR SACRIFICING • GIVE THE BEST – find the one animal without defect or blemish to sacrifice Mary of Bethany John 12 Expensive perfume worth a years salary. She spilled out the fragrance on Jesus feet.

  15. STANDARD FOR SACRIFICING • GIVE TO GOD FIRST – God never gets the leftovers. “As soon as the order went out, the Israelites generously gave the first-fruits of their grain, new wine, oil and honey and all that the fields produced. They brought a great amount, a tithe of everything.” II Chronicles 31:5 When the Israelites gave God 10% right away, it helped them to recognize that everything they had as a gift from Him. The Widow who gave all she had Mark 12:41-44

  16. STANDARD FOR SACRIFICING • GIVING SHOULD COST SOMETHING – Giving should be sacrificial. David came to the recognition that his own sin had led Israel astray, and God’s judgment had come in the form of a plague on the people. David interceded in prayer and offered a sacrifice to God. David built an altar to the Lord and Araunah offered to give the oxen for the offering and the wood for the fire, but David refused this shortcut, and discount. II Samuel 24

  17. III. WE GIVE GOD OUR BEST WHEN WE GRASP THE GREATNESS OF GOD Malachi 1: 10-14

  18. A. DON’T ALLOW GOD TO REPRESENT A LIFELESS RELIGION God does not need our sacrifices. God is saying… “Don’t you dare allow me to be represented as some lifeless religious icon. I’d rather you shut everything down than have you continue in a phony religious ritual. If you’re not prepared to give me every inch of your life, then you can’t play church because I’m closing the door.” No worship at all is better than halfhearted sacrifice.

  19. EVERYTIME GOD MENTIONS SACRIFCE HE SAYS, “I will be great” or “I will be feared.” “My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, says the Lord Almighty.” Malachi 1:11 “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.” Malachi 1:14

  20. SACRIFICE IS DIRECTLY LINKED TO THE GREATNESS OF GOD. When we offer God little or nothing, we are really saying that God doesn’t matter much to us. When we fail to celebrate God’s greatness by giving Him our best, our priorities go out of whack, and we become bored with God and excited about the world. The priests in verse 13 exclaimed, “What a burden!” The priests “sniffed at it contemptuously” – “puffed”

  21. GOD’S QUESTIONS “My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Micah 6:3 “When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me…” Isaiah 1:12, 13

  22. GOD DOES NOT WANT TO BE CHEATED “When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it. He has not pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow.” Ecclesiastes 5:5 God’s name will be great, whether we acknowledge it or not. There will be a time when every knee will acknowledge His supremacy.

  23. B. DON’T ALLOW OUR WORSHIP TO BECOME WEARISOME • INADEQUATE PREPARATION – this touches what happens before the service begins. • HALF-HEARTED PARTICIPATION – this speaks of what we do when we finally get to church. We are not the audience, God is. • IMPROPER MOTIVATION – this touches the reason we come to church in the first place. Did I meet with God, and did I grasp His greatness?

  24. THE ARCHBISHOP OF PARIS If you ever get a glimpse of the greatness of God, and what Jesus has done for you, you’ll never play church again and you’ll give God your best for the rest of your life.

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