Pastor, teacher, and author Adrian Rogers has introduced people all over the world to the love of Jesus Christ and has impacted untold numbers of lives by presenting profound truth simply stated. Thanks for joining us for this message. Here's Adrian Rogers. I want you to find the book of Malachi. That's the last book in the Old Testament.
What I want to talk to you about tonight is how to keep the wonder. in your worship. We're talking about giving God glory. And I believe one of the worst things in this world is half-hearted worship. No matter how many people are attending, How sad.
to see a full church of empty people. trying to overflow. Uh How do we have that wonder in our worship? One man had been missing church for a long time. The pastor went to see him and The man began to give one excuse and another excuse.
He'd been out of work, the children had been sick, he'd had difficulty at the farm animals. And then he said, it's been raining and raining and raining. Every Sunday. The pastor said, but it's dry at church. He said, yeah, and that's another reason I haven't come.
Well, what do we do about these dry services? How do we put some spiritual lubrication in our worship?
Well, we're going to see. Look now, and I'm going to read an extended passage of Scripture. I tried to shorten it. But it's all there and I just want to read it, beginning in Malachi 1, verse 6, and read right on through verse 14. Here's what God says, a son honoreth his father.
and a servant his master. If I then be a father, Where is mine honor? And if I be a master, Where is my fear? Saith the Lord hosts unto you. O priests.
that despise my name? And you say, Wherein have we despised thy name? Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar. And you say, Wherein have we polluted thee? in that ye say, The table of the Lord is contemptible.
And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And if ye offer the lame and the sick, Is it not evil? Offer it now unto thy governor. Will he be pleased with thee? or accept thy person.
Set the Lord of host. And now I pray you. beseech God that He will be gracious unto us. This hath been by your means. Will he regard your persons?
saith the Lord of hosts. Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for naught? Neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for naught. I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts. Neither will I accept an offering From your hand.
For from the rising of the sun and to the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles, and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name. and a pure offering, for my name shall be great among the heathen. Saith the Lord of hosts. but ye have profaned it. in that ye say the table of the Lord is polluted.
And the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible. Ye say also, Behold, what a weariness it is, and ye have snuffed at it, saith the Lord of hosts. and have brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick. Thus she brought an offering. Should I accept this of your hand?
saith the Lord. But cursed be the deceiver. which hath in his flock a male. and voweth. and sacrifice unto the Lord a corrupt thing.
For I am a great king. Saith the Lord of hosts. And my name is Dreadful. Among the heathen.
Now what is the key to all of this passage that I've read? It's in verse 13. Talking about worship and look at it. But ye said also, Behold what a weariness it is, and have snuffed at it, saith the Lord of hosts. I looked it up in the Living Bible in a paraphrase, and it says, and you turned up your nose at it.
Uh weariness in worship. Oh. What awareness it is. Are we going to church again? Are we going to have to sit there and be bored again?
What happens when the joy, the wonder, the thrill, the enthusiasm goes out of our worship, when it gets to be a weariness, when the joy goes out and the love goes out? like some marriages. They were before the marriage council. The counselor says to the man, what do you think is wrong with your marriage?
Well, he said, oh, what's her name says I don't love her anymore. Have you gotten that way about your love for the Lord?
Now notice he's talking to priests in this chapter. Go back again, if you will. And um He's talking about those of us who are priests. And he says in verse 6, a son honoreth his father. and a servant his master.
If I then be a father, where is mine honor? And if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the Lord of hosts unto you. O priest. that despise my name.
Well, you say, Adrian, that doesn't apply to me. I'm not a priest. Wrong. You are priest. 1 Peter 2, verse 9, but ye are a chosen generation.
A royal priesthood. Look at yourself sometime in the mirror and say, hello, priest. Or if you're a l A woman? Hello, priestess. We are priests.
Not only are we priests, we're kings, and we're to offer to the Lord. sacrifices Day by day, holy sacrifices and whole sacrifices we are to offer unto the Lord. And we're to do it with enthusiasm, not weariness. You know what the word enthusiasm means? It means in theos, in God, or God in you.
Say, Adrian, don't you ever get tired? Don't you ever get weary? Yes, I get weary in the work, but I have never, ever been weary of the work. What I want to do is talk to you about how to keep the wonder in your worship. I want to talk to you about how to keep the fire in your faith.
How not to let it become weary? How not to snuff at it. What is that? What cools us down? Why are we not thrilled about the things of God?
How can you keep? The wonder. in your worship. Three ways. Number one, you need to recognize the nature of God.
Recognize the nature of God. Look at verse 6. A son honoreth his father and a servant his master. If I then be a father, Where is mine honor? And if I be a master, where is my fear?
Now, first thing. God is our Father and we are His sons. and fathers are to be honored. The word honor comes from a word which means weight. giving weight to, it means to be taking someone seriously.
Do you take God seriously? I mean, are you serious about your worship? That's the reason the Bible says over there, Jesus said in Revelation chapter 3, verses 15 and 16, to the church at Laodicea, because thou art neither hot nor cold, but lukewarm. I will spew thee out of my mouth. I've told you before, G.
Campbell Morgan said that lukewarmness is the worst form of blasphemy. Jesus had rather have you cold than lukewarm. He'd rather have you out and out against Him than lukewarm. Why? At least a person who's against Christ has the respect enough for him to be against him.
But a person who's lukewarm says, I believe it. I'm just not excited about it. Lord, you don't move me. We come to church sometimes and yawn in the face of God. God says, I'm a father.
Where is my honor? That's the reason when Jesus taught us to pray. How did He teach us to pray? How did we begin our prayer? Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed.
Be thy name.
So God is a Father. That's one way that we recognize the nature of God. And not only is God a Father, But God is a master. Look at it again in verse 6. And then he says, if I be a master, Where is my fear?
Now as God is a father. He deserves honor. And if God is our master, He deserves fear. You know, we have a generation today that does not fear God.
Now, the word here is a bondslave, it's someone who was bought in the marketplace. You and I were slaves of sin. And we've been bought by the Lord Jesus and we have become His slaves.
Some people say, I don't believe in a religion built on fear. All true religion is built on fear, not a filthy fear. The Bible says the fear of the Lord is clean. Not a dread, not a cringing horror of God. What is fear?
Listen to Exodus 20 verse 20. And Moses said unto the people, fear not, for God has come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that you sin not. Fear not. Fear God.
Now what is that? What he's saying is that there is one fear. That removes all other fears. The fear of God. is love on its knees and we need old-fashioned Reverence for God.
Somebody says, well, tell them, preacher, we don't want any more of that loud music. We want reverence. We don't want any more hand clapping. We want reverence. Friend, if you only understood how they praise God in the Bible, you'd get on to us for being too quiet.
I mean in the Bible, yes, there were quiet times and the Bible says be still and know that I'm God. But in the Bible there were drums and cymbals and leaping and dancing and praising God with all of one's might and shouting unto the Lord. That doesn't mean you're irreverent. It means that you're so full of joy that you cannot be still, you cannot be quiet. But there is this fear of God in our hearts.
How do we serve the Lord? God is a father, give him honor. God is our master. Give him fear. What a mighty God we serve.
So, the very first thing to do, if you want to put wonder in your worship, recognize the the nature of God. not only recognize the nature of God, But then right on the heels of that, you reverence the name of God. You reverence the name of God.
Now, begin in verse 6 again and listen to it. A son honoreth his father, and a servant his master. If I then be a father, where is mine honor? And if I be a master, where is my fear, saith the Lord of hosts, unto you, O priests?
Now watch this, that despise my Name. Hengy say, oh. Wherein have we despise thy name.
Well, he says in verse 11, for my name shall be great among the heathen. saith the Lord of hosts, but ye have profaned it. In that you say the table of the Lord is polluted, And the fruit therein, even as meat, is contemptible. And ye said also, behold, what a weariness it is. And ye've snuffed at it.
saith the Lord. Now remember, God's name stands for His character. What is His character? He is a father. And he is a master.
Now, how can we despise God's name? We can despise God's name by half Hearted. Worship. Look in verse 6 and go right on through with me now and don't lose it. The last part of verse 6.
If I be a master, where is my fear, saith the Lord of hosts unto you, O priests that despise my name? And you say, Wherein have we despised thy name? Now listen. Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar. And ye say, Huh wherein have we polluted thee?
Boy, these are smart elect questions they're asking Almighty God, almost insolent questions. God answers, though, in that you say the table of the Lord is contemptible. That is, I don't have to bring the best offerings and lay them on the table for our Lord. And if ye offer The blind for sacrifice. Is it not evil?
And if he offer the lame and the sick, Is it not evil? Offer it now unto thy governor. Will he be pleased with thee? or accept thy person, saith the Lord of hosts.
Now what were they doing? They were coming to the Lord. And in that day, they would offer animal sacrifices. We don't do that in this day. But in that day they would offer animal sacrifices and they'd go out to the flock.
If they had some crippled sheep, Some lame oxen, some blind animal, something that was worthless, useless, something that had a scab, a scar, a blemish. Or something perhaps that even died in the field, they would bring it and offer it to the Lord.
Now the Bible absolutely Totally. is against that. I want you to keep your bookmark there in Malachi chapter 1, and I want you to go back to Leviticus chapter 22. We're talking about making an offering, a love offering to our God. Leviticus 22.
And I want you to look in verse 17. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron and his sons and to all the children of Israel, and say unto them, Whatsoever he be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers in Israel. that will offer his oblation for all his vows.
Now watch this. And for all his free will offerings, that's the closest thing we'd have to a love offering. which they will offer unto the LORD for a burnt offering, ye shall offer it At your own will. That is, nobody's going to force you to do it. You shall offer it at your own will, a male.
Now watch this. without blemish of the beeves. Of the beef, the cows, the cattle, that's what that means, of the sheep, all the cattle. or of the goats. That is, you take your choice.
But whatsoever hath a blemish, That shall ye not offer. for it shall not be acceptable for you. And whosoever offereth a sacrifice or peace offerings unto the Lord to accomplish his vow. or a free will offering in Beef or sheep. It shall be perfect.
be accepted. There shall be no blemish therein. Blind. are broken or Or maimed, or having a wind, that means a swelling, or scurvy, or scab, ye shall not offer these unto the Lord, nor make an offering by fire upon the altar unto the Lord. You say, well, they're going to be burned anyway.
God says, no. You don't offer them to the Lord, either a bullock or a lamb that hath anything superfluous or lacking in its parts, that is an animal that has any extra growth or something that's been severed. Uh Anything that is lacking in his parts, that mayst thou offer for a free will offering. But For a vow it shall not be accepted. Ye shall not offer unto the Lord that which is bruised, or crushed, Unbroken or We're cut.
Neither shall you make any offering. thereof in your land.
Now why were these offerings, why were they required to be perfect? Because every one of them was a picture of who? Jesus. And remember what Peter said about Jesus in 1 Peter 1, verse 8 and 9? He was a lamb without spot and without blemish.
He was the perfect offering, and all these Old Testament offerings were a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. And God says, don't bring to me. An offering that is Wounded. A week. or blind, are sick.
are blemished. And look in verse 8, chapter 1, Malachi verse 8. Go back. And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil?
And then he throws a challenge to them. Offer it now to thy governor. Will he accept it?
Now. If the governor were going to come and you say, Oh, governor, we're so happy to have you in our city, in our home, in our synagogue. in our temple. Here's a gift for you. And you bring out.
A sick cow. You bring out a A scabby animal of some kind. You bring out something that is blind and you say, there, this governor is for you. God says. Would you offer that to the governor?
Would he accept it? No. You would give your best. if the governor, the king, the prince, whoever it is, might visit. How does that relate to us?
Do we give God less? than we give to the government. I suppose now when April the 15th comes around, you just write the IRS and you say, you know, I know I should pay my income tax, but you know, I've kind of had a bad run of luck here lately. And things are not just what they ought to be, so I've decided not to pay my taxes this year. Yeah.
Have you ever heard anybody talk that way about making their offerings to the Lord?
Well, you know, there's things that happen. And so I've decided that I'm not going to tithe, you know, until I get back on my feet. Try that on the IRS. All right, let's try this. Try this on your boss.
Tomorrow morning. No, I didn't come into work. Oh. I had company that came. Or, you know, I've been going so hard, I just decided I'd sleep in today.
Try it on the boss. Try this on your wife. I bought myself a $300 suit and I got you a $10 dress and a rummage sale. Try that on your wife. No, listen.
Why is it that we eat the cake and give God the crumbs? That's what they were doing. They were not offering the best to Jesus. I'm telling you folks that God deserves the best of what we have. Don't give God that which is lame and sick and leftover.
Let me give you another verse here, Malachi 1, verse 13. And ye said also, behold, what a weariness it is. And ye have snuffed at it, saith the Lord, and ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick. Thus she brought an offering. Should I accept this of your hand, saith the Lord?
God says, You're giving me these castaway things. You're giving me things that you don't really want anyway.
Sometimes we have a mission house and so they take furniture. That people don't want it's broken or bent or scarred or A settee with a hole in it or something says, hey, you know, let's give that to the missionaries. Why not let them have the best and you have the settee with a hole on it? Taking up food. A food offering.
What do we do? We look under the sink and we find that box of oatmeal that the water's dripped on down there. And we don't want that, take that out. And you get those 13-year-old cans of uh tamales you've had back then. Let's get rid of these.
Get these out. What else is scabbed and blind and scarred? Let's give that to God. Let's give of our best to the master. Let's not just give him something that we don't want anyway.
That's what he's saying. God says, hey, Try that on your governor. Would you do that for the governor? Listen, let me give you a verse I found. I was amazed when I found this verse: Exodus 22, verse 31.
God says, and ye shall be holy men unto me. Neither shall ye eat any flesh. that is torn a beast in the field.
Now he says if you find uh For example, a deer that's been killed. In the field. Don't eat it. Don't eat it. He says this: listen to it.
Ye shall be holy men unto me, neither shall ye eat any flesh that is torn a beast in the field, ye shall cast it. to the dogs. Don't you eat it. Cast it to the dogs.
Now he's talking about animals now. that have been torn. Don't eat it. Give it to the dogs. Do you know what some folks are doing?
They're giving God dog food. Giving God dog food. They're saying here it's not fit for us Ha ha ha. We give it to God. Offering God that sort of a thing.
By the way, I heard of a woman. who went into the grocery store and bought a case of dog food. And the grocer said, What kind of dog do you have? She said, I don't have a dog. I said, you're buying this dog food.
Is it for a cat? I said, I don't have a cat. He said, well, what are you going to do with it? She said it's for my husband. Oh, he said, lady, no.
You don't give your husband dog food, do you? She said, Well, look at the can here. See that? It's vitamin-en-rich, it's clean, it's sanitary. And said it's kind of like corned beef hash.
He likes it. I give it to him. It's very cheap. What's wrong with that? Why can't I give my husband this dog food?
Yeah. He said, lady, I I don't know what to tell you. I just don't think you ought to do it. But week after week she'd come in and buy a case of that canned dog food. One day she stopped buying it.
He said to her, What's the matter? Your husband won't eat that dog food anymore? She said, No, my husband is dead. He said, see, I told you. She said, it's not what you think.
Uh he was hit chasing a car. Kant says, look, take that stuff and give it to the dogs. Don't eat it yourself.
Now Uh what was happening was this. Why was there worship awareness?
Well, because they were offering to God half-hearted, unworthy sacrifices. Listen, when you bring your gift next Sunday, If it means little to you. It'll mean little to him. Let me say that again. If it means little to you, It will mean little to him.
Give of your best. to the master. I was reading about David when David wanted a place to put the Ark of the Covenant. And now David is the king, and here's what it says: 2 Samuel chapter 24, verse 20. And Arunah looked.
and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him. And Arunah went out and bowed himself before the king on his face to the ground. And Aruna said, Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, to buy the threshing floor of thee. to build an altar unto the Lord, that the plague may be stayed from the people.
An Aruna. I said unto David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him. Behold, here be oxen. for burnt sacrifice. and threshing instruments and other instruments of the oxen for wood.
All these things did Aruna as a king give unto the king. And Arunah said unto the king, The Lord thy God accept thee. And the king said unto Aruna, Nay, but I will surely buy it of thee at a price. Neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing. Nothing.
So David Bop. the threshing floor and the oxen. for fifty shekels of silver. And David built there an altar unto the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace. offerings.
Now, Aruna was a good man. David said, Look, I want to make a sacrifice to God. There's a plague in the land, and I want the plague to be stopped. And Aruna said, oh king, that's wonderful. You just come.
Here's my oxen. Sacrifice them. You need wood? Here are the instruments for plowing. Take that and burn it.
It's all yours. David said, Runa. Thank you very much. But I'm not going to let you give it to me. I want to make an offering.
To God. And God forbid. that I should offer to the Lord of that which cost me nothing. You know, some of our giving make no difference at all in our lifestyle. God forbid.
That I should offer to the Lord of that which doth cost me nothing. God's name. can be defiled by our sacrifice. And God's name can be defiled by our service. Notice in verse 11.
He says, For from the rising of the sun, even unto the going down of the same. My name. shall be great among the Gentiles. And in every place incense shall be offered unto my name for a pure offering for my name. and shall be great.
Among the heathen, Saith the Lord of hosts. But ye have profaned it. in that you say the table of the Lord is polluted. And the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible. And you said also, behold, what a weariness it is.
Now, God says, you profane my name. What do you think of when you think of profanity? Do you think if someone in a bar room Using swear words. Do you know what profanity is? Profanity is when you use the name of God and don't mean it.
when you're not enthused. When you stand in a church like this, and sing, oh how I love Jesus. and you're not even thinking about what you're singing. And your mind is off somewhere in some business deal, or what you're going to do, who you're going to eat with after church. The worst profanity happens in the house of God.
God says you have profaned my name. How? by half-hearted worship. By half-hearted worship. Think what an insult that is to Almighty God.
Boy, when will this service ever be over? The same people, you get excited when a ball game goes into overtime. When souls are being saved and people are coming to Jesus, and we say, sing one more stanza. Friend, listen to me. We're in business for the king.
We need to keep the wonder in our worship. And we cannot come and offer to God That which doth cost us nothing. and offer castaways to God. And then profane his name. His name is to be great.
Not to be clockwatchers. You know, God's name is not to be defiled, it is to be declared. Look in verse 11. Here's what God wants done with his name. Look at it.
For from the rising of the sun even to the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles, and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name for a pure offering in my name. for my name shall be great among the heathen. Saith the Lord, but ye have profaned it.
Now Let me tell you the greatest name that I know. as Jesus. Every attribute of God. Every quality of God. is summed up and magnified in that name Jesus.
Pastor, are you sure about that? Absolutely. For the Bible says God hath given him, Jesus, a name which is above every name. There is no other man. That takes precedent.
Over that name. Jesus. And oh, how we ought to honor the name of Jesus Christ. Friend, think of Jesus. There's salvation in that name.
Acts chapter 4, verse 12. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there's no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. There's worship in that name, for Jesus said in Matthew 18, verse 20, Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. There's authority in that name in Colossians 3, verse 17, and whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks unto God and the Father by Him. There's prayer in that name, John 15, verse 16.
You've not chosen me, but I've chosen you, Jesus said, nor danger that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain. And whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, He will give it to you.
Now what we need to do, friend, is to remember the nature of God. reverence the name of God. Offer a worthy sacrifice. I use his name. With a sense of awe and wonder.
And then the third and final thing. Respect the nobility of God. Look in verse 14. But cursed Be the deceiver. that hath in his flock a male and voweth, and sacrifice unto the Lord a corrupt thing.
That is, he has a worthy offering. But he makes a vow and a promise. and he offers some unworthy offering. God says, a curse is upon him. for I am a great king.
Saith the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen. That speaks of the nobility of God. God is a king. A king. I've told you before of a preacher.
out in Arizona. He had some things he wanted done around the church. And the church is kind of getting run down. And so he told his people: I have received word that the President of the United States wants to come to our church and worship. This preacher friend of mine.
More buzz went through the congregation. And he said, now we need to get some things done around here. He said, these carpets that. That are unrivaled. You need to be bound up.
And we need these rugs shampooed. And we want to have some beautiful flowers in choir. I want you to be at your very best and so forth. And boy, they were all thinking, man, the president's going to be here. And after a while he told them all these things that he wanted done.
And then he said, now folks, I want to be honest with you. The President's not coming. All that was make-believe. But you were so excited about getting everything ready. because the President may come to our services.
He said the King of Kings will be here every Sunday. Look folks, when we remember his nature, he's a father. And we're his sons, we'd honor him. He's a master. We're his servants.
We're to fear him. We need to reverence His name. Not to profane his name. Just remember the name of Jesus every time we sing or praise or pray. Again, don't profane his name.
And then finally, Respect his nobility. He is The king. The absolute king. in these verses that I've shared with you. Here's what God is: He is Father.
He is master. and he is king. As sons, God deserves our love. As servants, He deserves our labor. and as subjects.
He deserves our loyalty. If you would like to learn more about how you can know Jesus or deepen your relationship with him, simply click the Discover Jesus link on our website, lwf.org. For a copy of this message or additional resources, visit our online store at lwf.org. or call 1-800-274-5683. Thank you.
