Sermon Audio: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ministrybymail

A son honors his father, And a servant his master. If then I am the Father, Where is My honor? And if I am a Master, Where is My reverence? Says the LORD of hosts To you priests who despise My name. Yet you say, ‘In what way have we despised Your name?’ ⁷ “You offer defiled food on My altar. But say, ‘In what way have we defiled You?’ By saying, ‘The table of the LORD is contemptible.’ ⁸ And when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, Is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, Is it not evil? Offer it then to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you favorably?” Says the LORD of hosts. ⁹ “But now entreat God’s favor, That He may be gracious to us. While this is being done by your hands, Will He accept you favorably?” Says the LORD of hosts. ¹⁰ “Who is there even among you who would shut the doors, So that you would not kindle fire on My altar in vain? I have no pleasure in you,” Says the LORD of hosts, “Nor will I accept an offering from your hands. ¹¹ For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, My name shall be great among the Gentiles; In every place incense shall be offered to My name, And a pure offering; For My name shall be great among the nations,” Says the LORD of hosts. ¹² “But you profane it, In that you say, ‘The table of the LORD is defiled; And its fruit, its food, is contemptible.’ ¹³ You also say, ‘Oh, what a weariness!’ And you sneer at it,” Says the LORD of hosts. “And you bring the stolen, the lame, and the sick; Thus you bring an offering! Should I accept this from your hand?” Says the LORD. ¹⁴ “But cursed be the deceiver Who has in his flock a male, And takes a vow, But sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished—For I am a great King,” Says the LORD of hosts, “And My name is to be feared among the nations.”

Do you know what the punishment for patricide (a child killing their father) was in ancient Rome? It was to be put in a sack with a monkey, a snake, a dog, and other animals, and then thrown into the river to drown. There are certainly worse ways to die, but the strangeness of that punishment was meant to show just how contemptible killing your father was. A child should honor their father. This was especially true for Israel, who were adopted sons of the great King of heaven and earth. He had adopted them in love and made them His very own, showering them with every blessing. But did they revere Him? Did they honor Him? No, they defiled His name and polluted His worship.

God sent the prophet Malachi to call the people, the priests, and the Levites back to true worship of the Lord. Malachi’s message was that the Lord would come suddenly to His temple. That knowledge was meant to invigorate them to clean up the temple and their worship, for the Lord would come either with a curse or a blessing, depending on their actions.

Let me ask you—is the temple of your heart and the worship of your heart ready? Is it ready for Palm Sunday, to cry out with a true heart, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord”? Is it ready to stand at the foot of the cross with a broken and contrite heart, sorrowing over the extent of our sinfulness and marveling at the extent of His love? Is it ready to hurry with Peter and John to the tomb and see it is empty, for He is not there—He is risen, as He said?

Lent should get us ready for that. The Lord whom we seek, even the Messenger of the Covenant in whom we delight, is coming. Each week of Lent, we will look at a different section of Malachi to prepare our hearts to offer true worship to His name.

The first thing Malachi addresses is the need to cleanse the temple for the Lord’s coming, which the people had polluted with their offerings. They defiled His name because, instead of giving the best they had as a joyful offering of thanks to the Lord, they gave their worst. Their worship was so bad and polluted that God wished someone would shut and lock the doors of the temple so that no one would worship at all rather than give the kind of worship they were offering.

Is the same true of us? Are we worthy of the name of sons and daughters of the Lord, the great King of heaven and earth? No. Simply and categorically, no! We are not. But if we know that, we are on the right path to be ready for Good Friday and Easter—the right path to offering worship the Lord loves.

No, we are not worthy of the name of sons and daughters of the Lord. For one thing, like the people Malachi admonishes in his text, we have profaned the altar of the Lord. In the Old Testament, God was very specific about what and how much the people were to give in offerings. The people Malachi addressed were filled more with greed than love for the Lord. They broke all those rules.

Here in the New Testament, God has not instructed us on what to give, but He has instructed us on how to give: Give joyfully, give as you prosper, give of your first fruits. And it is not just our offerings for the offering plate that God wants given this way but also our praises of Him and our service to Him. Our praises are the offerings of our lips. Our service to Him is the offering of our hands.

So, tell me—are the offerings you put in the offering plate, the offerings of your lips, and the offerings of your hands always given joyfully, as you prosper, and of your first fruits? Or are they merely what you have left over?

If we are giving what is leftover to God, those offerings are polluted. If we are just giving God what is leftover of our money at the end of the month after paying everything else, we are saying those things are more important. If we just give the bare minimum each week to pray and read His Word, we are telling God that the salvation He has granted us is not that important to us. Can’t you hear Jesus saying to us, as He did to His disciples, “Could you not watch with Me one hour?”

If we find worship wearisome, it reveals something about the condition of our hearts. Do we come before the Almighty with reverence, recognizing that He is the Creator of all things, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords and most of all our gracious Savior? Or do we come with complacency, as if He owes us something? We must remember that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10). It is a holy and reverent fear—a fear that recognizes His majesty, power, holiness, and grace.

God deserves our awe and respect. When we approach Him half-heartedly, we show that we do not truly understand who He is. The Israelites found worship wearisome because they lost sight of the greatness of God. They dishonored Him by bringing blemished offerings. They gave God what they did not want, what was of no value to them. Is that not the same as when we give God our leftovers—leftover time, leftover energy, leftover attention? Should we not instead fear Him and bring our best, knowing that He is worthy of everything we have and more?

Our offerings should not be burdensome because they are given to the One who gives us everything. When we in faith recognize that every good and perfect gift comes from Him (James 1:17), most of all His own Son given unto condemnation in our place, giving back to Him becomes a privilege, not a chore. Whether it is the offerings of our lips, the offerings of our hands, or the offerings of our resources, they are meant to honor the One who is worthy of all honor and glory.

Is our worship polluted? Most assuredly! But knowing that is a step toward being ready for Good Friday and Easter. Notice how the people in Malachi’s time kept arguing with God. They excused their sin and rejected God’s admonitions. They refused to admit they had done anything wrong. They did not love God’s grace or fear His wrath. They despised God’s Holy Name—the only name under Heaven by which we may be saved—and so God wished the doors of the temple shut.

We could never succeed in making our hearts or a congregation clean for Good Friday and Easter. We cannot clean out the temple to make it ready for Jesus’ coming. But that is why Jesus came—so that the temple filled with sin might be destroyed with all our sin, uncleanness, and polluted worship. And so that a new, holy temple might arise.

The temple that was destroyed was Jesus. For He is God made flesh, God visiting man for our redemption. In His body, all our uncleanness, sin, and polluted worship were placed, punished, and destroyed. But as we shall see on Easter morning—He arose, glorious and holy. As Jesus promised, the temple was rebuild. He is our living way to God. “Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."” (Jn. 2:19 NKJV)

Yes! Our Temple is ready. The veil of the temple is torn, and we are made God’s sons and daughters with free access to our Father, the great King of heaven and earth. Our sin is forgiven and we are reconciled to God. And in this Temple (Jesus) and by this Temple (Jesus), even our worship is a sweet-smelling incense.

Behold, the Messenger of the Covenant, in whom you delight—He has come into His Temple. It is Jesus, our salvation. Is our temple ready? Yes and His doors are open!

Amen.

—Pastor Aaron Ude

Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
Rapid City, SD

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