Malachi 1:10-14

“¹⁰Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you,” says the Lord of hosts, “and I will not accept an offering from your hand. ¹¹ For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord of hosts.

“¹²But you profane it when you say that the Lord's Table is polluted, and its fruit, that is, its food may be despised. ¹³ But you say, ‘What a burden this is,’ and you snort at it contemptuously,” says the Lord of hosts.

“You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering! Shall I accept that from your hand?” says the Lord. “¹⁴Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. For I am a great King,” says the Lord of hosts, “and my name will be feared among the nations.”

Previously, we saw that while God loves His people and has blessed them when they did not deserve it, they continue to live faithless lives and only follow some of the covenant laws, rather than pursuing holiness. Now, we see that both the priests and the people are corrupt and living in disobedience to God. Before the exile, they lived in disobedience, but continued to worship and perform other rituals in order to maintain the status quo. Now, however, they aren’t even performing the worship and rituals correctly!

Check out Amos 5:

²¹ “I hate, I despise your feasts,
    and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
²² Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
    I will not accept them;
and the peace offerings of your fattened animals,
    I will not look upon them.
²³ Take away from me the noise of your songs;
    to the melody of your harps I will not listen.
²⁴ But let justice roll down like waters,
    and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

Sound familiar? The people of God are back at it again: they are despising God by just going through the motions of what it means to be holy, rather than truly pursing holiness. To put it in a modern day context, they are going to church on Sunday, raising their hands during worship, maybe giving a little money when they feel guilty about it, and then leaving and forgetting about God, the sacrifice of Christ, and their commitment to follow God until the next Sunday.

Let’s look at Exodus 19: 4-6, “You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Wow. The Creator of the Universe has just offered to make you his favorite if you will just obey Him. God didn’t give the law to the Israelites (starting in Exodus 20 with the 10 Commandments) so that they would just be good people, He gave it to them so they would know how to live as kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Scripture isn’t just nice stories about how we ought to love each other, but God’s manuscript for how we are to live in right relationship with Him and others.

Malachi 1:10 is saying that God would rather there be no worship than halfhearted and vain worship. Then, to add insult to injury, He says that the Gentiles—the despised, dirty Gentiles—will worship His name and know Him. As seen in Malachi 1:2, the people don’t really know the love of God anymore, because they don’t know God. If they did know God, they wouldn’t dare bring impure animals as offerings and sacrifices to Him. Modern day interpretation? The people are using the offering basket to get rid of money they have stolen, ripped in half, or gotten filthy dirty. As we saw in Malachi 1:8, the Temple, or the offering basket, is not meant to be a place to get rid of our undesirable animals or dirty money.

The crux of the chapter occurs in verse 14. God says, “For I am a great King, and my name will be feared among the nations.” The people aren’t treating God like a great King. He is reminding them that he is not to be trifled with. In a battle of power and control, He wins every time. Furthermore, the word translated as “feared” also carries the meaning of “reverenced.” The people are showing contempt to God in their sacrifices, when they should be showing Him reverence with their holy lives.

Is this true of us today? Do we just go to church on Sunday because that’s what Christian’s do, or because we truly wish to commune with our Lord and Savior? Do we give our tithes and offerings begrudgingly because it is easier to drop money in a basket rather than devote large amounts of time to pursing holiness and righteousness? Do we really want the life that God has promised us, or do we want “fire insurance” and all the luxuries of the world as well? God says we can’t have a foot in each camp. We have to choose one or the other, and He is a great King. Do you really want to despise Him?

Let’s make sure we take this whole chapter in context though. God begins by saying, “I have loved you and I still love you, even though you haven’t kept up your part of the bargain.” The book of Malachi makes it pretty clear that the people of God are missing the mark, by a lot. But we also need to remember, that just as God is angry here at His people, He still loves them. He is still watching over them as a loving father does to His children, even after they have spilled all the eggs on the floor. That’s because His love is unconditional. He doesn’t love us because we pursue holiness, do good deeds, and go to church. He loves us because He chooses to, regardless of our actions, behavior, and broken promises. Then He says to us, “See how I have loved you? I died for you. Won’t you come dwell in my arms?” And what do you say in return?