Malachi 1:1-14

The prophet Malachi wrote at a time when the nation of Israel faced a major problem. The people of God had grown complacent in their worship, falling into the trappings of religion rather than walking in a genuine relationship with God.

Do you prefer leftovers or a fresh cooked meal? Fresh cooked would probably be everyone’s answer. Imagine being invited to dinner but instead of sitting down to a fresh meal, you are served a bunch of leftovers. What message would that send to you?

The fact is that the people of Israel are giving God their leftovers and people today fall into that same snare.

God desires a genuine relationship.

In a book that is primarily a heavy rebuke, God still shows reminds of his love for the people in verse 2. In verse 6, He even compares the relationship to that of father and child. God desires a relationship over religion. Our lives should be a response to God’s great love for us. When God has shown us such an amazing love, our response should be to love him back and honor him with our lives. If He is our loving Father, then we should respect him as his children. If he is a loving master, then we should serve him with genuineness and reverence, rather than simply going through religious motions.

God is uninterested in empty religious motions.

Think of a time in your life when you had to do something, but your heart wasn’t in it. How difficult was it to continue what you were doing? This is were the people were in life. They were giving God their leftovers, (crippled and maimed animals) rather than giving their best. God is a relational God who desires sincere, heartfelt worship from his people. Israel was going through all the motion of worship – the people were going to the temple, they were offering sacrifices, and they were praying, but their hearts weren’t in it. They were focusing more on the acts rather than on loving and worshipping God. As a result, their worship had become mediocre and their lives had become hypocritical. God told them that he doesn’t accept halfhearted worship and that he doesn’t answer prayers coming from a hypocritical life.

God is great and worthy of great worship.

God reminds Israel of his greatness. God is a great king who is famous in all of the nations. God is seeking to be honored and worshipped by all people. Israel, however, was dropping the ball. Rather than honoring God with the best sacrifices they could offer, the people were content giving God the baseline minimum and their sloppy leftovers. The people had professed faith in God and worshipped him with their words, but their actions did not sync up. As a result, God did not accept their worship.