“Cursed 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.”
– Malachi 1:14
What a picture of God indicting his people for offering a sacrifice to him that was not worthy of him, for thinking they could deceive God.
Malachi 1:14 Teaches that God is Worthy of Costly Sacrifices
The picture is an animal in a house that is a fit sacrifice, what God has prescribed in the Old Testament. Someone says, I vow I will sacrifice this animal. Yet instead, sacrifices a blemished animal that would be more convenient for them to sacrifice, less costly for them to sacrifice. And God basically says, who are you worshiping? I’m a great king, says the Lord of hosts and my name will be feared among the nations.
God is worthy not of convenient sacrifices that work well for you. God is worthy of costly sacrifices that express, honor and fear and glory to his name. Can I say that again and just make sure we make the connection? Obviously, we don’t offer animal sacrifices in the same way as we see in the Old Testament, but think Romans 12 verse one, therefore, in view of God’s mercy, let us offer to him our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to him for this is your spiritual act of worship.
God, by his mercy in our lives calls us to present our bodies like not an animal, us, everything we are and everything we have, and there’s nothing more costly than this to us, ourselves on the altar as a living sacrifice. And yet aren’t we prone to only offer to God that which is convenient for us to offer to God, that which is not costly to us.
Malachi 1:14 Teaches that God is Worthy of Our All
We are all tempted every day and especially when we think about cultural Christianity to offer God that which is comfortable for us, church attendance, maybe read the Bible some, pray, give some money and make some sacrifices in our lives. Small here or there. But what has God called us to give him and worship? Everything. Everything we have, everything we are, our whole heart, our whole mind, our whole soul, our whole body, a living sacrifice before him.
So we pray, God help us to give to you that which is pleasing before you, our entire lives, our whole heart, our whole mind, our whole soul, our whole body and worship to you. God, please keep us from convenient compartmentalization in our lives where we offer you this over here, but not that over there. God, maybe not to use language from the old hymn, not surrender. May we not surrender some.
I surrender some to you. No God, may we surrender all to you, all of our possessions, all of our plans, all of our preferences, all of our dreams, all of our desires, all of our thoughts, everything, everything. We pray that you would take it all and lead us to steward it all for your glory, that you would be pleased oh God with the sacrifice of our lives before you, and that you would spend our lives for the spread of your glory among the nations. You’re a great king, the Lord of hosts, and your name will be feared among the nations.
Praying for the Baten People
So God, may it be clear in our lives that we fear your name and may we live for the fear of your name among all the nations. God, we pray for the Banten people of Indonesia where three million of them farmers, merchants in Indonesia, living mainly in the island of Java.
God, we pray for the spread of the gospel to the Banten people, that they might know you are the great king whose name is worthy of worship among all the nations, that they might experience the joy of being a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to you. Oh God, even as we pray that for them, we say to you, we are so thankful that our lives are on the altar before you. You’re worthy of our trust. Lord, you’re worthy of every facet of our lives. You’re worthy of our whole hearts. You are a great king and you are worthy of all of our worship. So help us, we pray, to worship you today in a way that is pleasing and glorifying to you. In Jesus name, we pray according to Malachi 1:14. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder and Chairman of Radical, an organization that helps people follow Jesus and make him known in their neighborhood and all nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, and Don’t Hold Back.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
