Insincere, Impure, and Dishonoring Offerings

Malachi 1:6-14

6 "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.

The charges laid against the rebellious people of God through Malachi exposed their sacrifices of worship to be Insincere, Impure, and Dishonoring offerings.  They did not honor the LORD as God and Father, failing to demonstrate reverence from the heart in their religious motions they half-heartedly went through.  Even the priests who ministered the sacrifices and offerings had contempt for the LORD’s table with irreverence in offering the blind, lame, and sick animals instead of the unblemished as required (Exodus 12:5, 1 Peter 1:18-19) for atonement and that honored God by giving their best instead of the undesirable and unwanted leftovers.  He told them to offer those defective offerings to their earthly governor to measure his response; of course he would not be pleased and they would not gain favor from him for offering such worthless gifts, yet they imagined it was alright to do that with the supreme Sovereign!  This is a lesson and warning for us not to offer less than our all to the Lord because we are to be living sacrifices (Romans 12:1) who have counted the cost and count ourselves dead to us and living for Him with the best we can offer, our lives, as we die daily by crucifying our selfish desires (Galatians 2:20, 1 Corinthians 15:31) that we might sincerely honor and reverence Him.  That is our acceptable spiritual worship.  Those of Israel in the time before a four hundred year silence from the prophets until Christ came among us, their corrupt worship turned the ear of God away from them as He stopped accepting such meaningless and insincere offerings.  He had no pleasure in them because of their irreverence of the heart and self worship as if they were idols themselves.  God proclaimed with a divine decree that His name would be magnified among the nations whom Israel despised because they would offer pure sacrifices to Him which they failed to do.  Those who profaned the table of the LORD and were weary of worshiping with their best to offer were no longer accepted along with their offerings.  Their deceit was as that of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-10 who lied to God and held back part of their sacrificial monetary offering while publicly claiming it was all they had to give as their best, merely to put on appearances with selfish gain.  They were taken from this life as a consequence of their lies because the Lord’s name “is to be feared among the nations.”  We who are the people of the Lord are to live as if He truly is our Sovereign and Father who gave all in His Son so we can give all of ourselves in return out of willing and grateful obedience of acceptable worship.  This witness to the world of the fearful and awesome greatness of our Lord honors His name and glorifies Him.  May we seek to offer sincere, pure, and honoring offerings of our crucified souls to Him by faith as we live no longer for ourselves but for Him who gave all of Himself for us!  How can we offer Him anything less than our best?