In the book of Malachi are described issues that the Lord has with His people. In Malachi 1, for instance, we learn that:
1. The people doubt that the Lord loves them (v.2);
2. The people do not honor Him as a Father should be honored (v.6);
3. The priests show contempt for His name (v.6);
4. They do this by allowing or even encouraging unacceptable offerings in the act of worship. That which is corrupted is offered instead of the first and the best that the Lord requires (vv.7-8);
5. The priests do not have their hearts in the right place for service to God (v.10);
6. The people show contempt for their offerings to God (vv.12-13);
7. The people offer corrupt sacrifices even though they have acceptable ones (vv.13b-14).
We see in all of this that all of the Lord's people have fallen into seeming apathy. The people have little interest in worshipping with hearts bursting with gratitude and love. The priests are little different. They do not guide themselves or the people into repentance.
In Malachi 2:1-9, the priests are again admonished. They need to listen to the Lord better. They are to re-set their hearts on the holy work of honoring Him (vv.1-2). In fact, the work of the priests is honoring, reverencing, and standing in awe of the Lord and teaching the people to do the same (vv.5-6).
The duration of Malachi 2 recognizes that idol worship and frivolous divorce within the community of believers causes the Lord to be slow to receive the worship of that community. We might say that sinful behavior amongst the Lord's people corrupted even the sacrifice of praise.
The time of Malachi reminds me of our day. Many of us have a really difficult time giving ourselves wholeheartedly to the Lord in our worship. Because of this, our offerings are corrupt.
Likewise, priests like me have been too slow to call us to account as a community. I have tiptoed around the issue of worship just hoping that the matter will take care of itself. I reckon I need to start with my own repentance so that I have a clear conscience. But then I need to lead the people of my congregation to contrition and confession as well. I must honor, reverence, and stand in awe of the Lord and teach others to do the same.
Finally, we must all continue to root out sin in our own lives. We cannot continue to believe that our attitudes toward the Lord are untainted when we constantly strive for worldly things and partake of worldly activities.
It is time for us all to get down on our knees and ask for forgiveness. The Lord will restore us when we do, give us hearts of flesh, and our cups will overflow with joy that will become spasms of praise to Him.
Amen.
4 comments:
I think worship comes easier for us after God has performed some great intervention in our lives and evidence of his presence is very real. During the times when we don't really *need* God for anything, I think our worship can become less spontaneous. When our worship does not emanate from gratitude and love towards God for what he has *already* done, I think it is easy for us to fall into the mistake of making worship about ourselves. And when it is about ourselves, these are the times when we complain about the worship service, the sermon, the singing, and we say we didn't really get anything out of the service.
Malachi 2:9: "It's the job of the priests to teach the truth. People are supposed to look to them for guidance." The Message
So we each have a part to play in this proper act of worship--you as pastor are to teach us the truth and hold us accountable for the lack of integrity in our worship. However, we as the congregation are also to look to you for guidance and what is truth. So that implies that we are to pay attention to what God is saying to us through you. This is where we sometimes fall short. It is so easy to filter out what we don't want to hear from you and continue to rely on our own interpretation of truth. You see, our own interpretation allows us to better justify what we strive for, what we chase after, and what we offer to God and what we keep for ourselves.
I've been thinking about the last 2 entries on Worship and this thought came to me tonight...
What would happen if the sermon (teaching the truth) was at a time separate from that of our worship.
What would happen if we came to worship with only that in mind, worshipping and praising our Lord God?
You asked about worshipping in relation to our culture or rather "if we were to strip it bare of anything that reeked of our culture".
It seems to me that from the very beginning, the culture of the day has played an enormous part in worship...from the time when only the high priest could enter the holy of holies until today when we all have the opportunity to enter the house of worship to present our offerings and our praise and worship...it is definitely different than in the early days and for that, I am grateful to Jesus for the gift of salvation that he made possible and that a personal relationship with Him is available to all who call upon the name of the Lord.
So what might happen if worship was about truly offering our praise and worship to God and the teaching...that which 'we get something out of...or not as the case may be' would be in a separate service.
I wonder about that tonight.
Why do we as God's people feel our Worship experience is an hour on Sunday Morning? If our God is half of what we claim how can we limit our worship time to and hour or two or for that matter rely on the imagination of a worship leader or minister to guide this personal communing with our Creator. No wonder we feel that something was missing. I wonder how God feels..
Is it possible that we can continually Worship and lift up our Creator? What does this look like in our day to day routine? Can we praise God with our occupations? I hope so. Can we praise God with our time with our families, this seems only natural. Can we praise him as we meet the needs of a single mother. What does this look like to praise and thank him in all things? We say this in our prayers, why not put life to it.
I am not diminishing the concept of corporate worship, there can be something unifying and fulfilling in meeting with those like minded Christians. I cannot often raise my voice in a praise song at work, nor does my single voice in a car have the same ring as the congregation sound on Sunday. But I view this hour as only one small aspect of my Worship Life, so I don't feel empty if the songs are not my favorites, or the praise band is too loud or the hymns are slow or...
We now longer have to meet God in the Temple, with the advent of the Holy Spirit we are free to Worship him anywhere and at all times. Worship is not about us it's about God and our relationship to Him.
Samuel,
I agree with you that our lives are to be worship and to orient ourselves in such a manner is pleasing to the Lord. To limit ourselves to corporate worship seems inappropriate.
That said, the Lord has a desire for us to lift our voices as one to Him. It is a moment in which there is no male or female, slave or free, Jew or Greek, and our differences melt away in our love for the Lord.
I hope we can continue to get at when you said that worship is not about us but God. In those moments when we do, I believe we are a pleasing aroma to Him.
Jeff
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