Some Show Contempt By Offering Crippled Sacrifices Of Praise
This page is directed to those whom the Lord has gifted with a good voice and have a physical body that is able to be used in praise movements to the Lord. It is not directed to those who can not sing well in the natural or those who are physically incapacitated. The Lord may have other kinds of sacrifices for you like a prayer ministry or giving etc. However, it is not impossible for the Lord to heal the voices of those who believe in faith for such a healing, and it is not impossible for the Lord to heal the bodies of those who are physically incapacitated.
In the book of Malachi the prophet rebukes the priests for offering crippled and diseased sacrifices to the Lord. He also rebukes them for treating the giving of sacrifice as a burden. when I read this portion of Malachi I could see the similarity in these Old Covenant people and their giving of crippled sacrifices with the New Covenant believers and the poorly done sacrifice of praises and the attitude they have that it is a burden to worship too long.
The Lord confronts the priests with a strong argument of logic: "A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me? says the Lord Almighty. It is you, O priests, who show contempt for my name" Their guilt was made greater because as priests, it was incumbent upon them to be spiritual examples to the people as worship leaders before their Lord.
The "contempt" for God’s name was shown in their attitude as evidenced in how they worshiped Him. The people were carrying blind, crippled, and diseased animals to the priests for sacrifice and the priests were accepting them. This practice was firmly forbidden in the law of Moses (see Lev. 22:20,25; Deut. 15:21). This kind of demonstration of contempt for the appropriate worship of the Lord was also a demonstration of contempt for the Lord.
The New Testament defines all believers as priests, so the responsibility of showing honor and respect to the Lord in worship is on the shoulders of every person in the congregation and not just the stage worship team because every person in the congregation as a priest
has the honor and responsibility to offer up to the King of the Universe sacrifices of praise.
Let us look at other parallels and how to encourage the congregation into proper worship.
We should examine our sacrifices of praise in worship to see if the Lord’s rebuke applies to us. "Wicked hypocrites think anything good enough for God; and pious men think nothing good enough for Him. Blind and ignorant services, lame and halting services occur when there is action without affection; the lips without the heart; double-mindedness and hypocrisy, sick or faint, and languishing services are, that come coldly from us, without any life or vigor of the inner-man, and these are all vile and odious." [From Westminster Divines].
Many people go to church in the same way they go to McDonalds. They come in looking for a fast meal that does not cost much and with an attitude to take. They should instead go to church prepared to give the best sacrifice of praises possible. But those responsible for the worship have not encouraged them to prepare and they have not provided the congregation with preparation tools so that the congregation can go to church with acceptable sacrifices.
It would be much better to have no worship service, than having a worship service which is contemptible to the Lord: "Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you, says the Lord Almighty, and I will accept no offering from your hands" (vs. 10). The Lord strongly states: He doesn't desire improper worship. It would be better to "shut the temple doors".
Even church buildings that once contained people who had a fire burning inside of them are now nothing more than holding facilities for people who are just going through the motions.. Every Sunday the same motions are a ritualism that has a semblance of the corporate fire that once burned brightly but is now reduced to nothing more than false fire lip service. It would be better to have empty church buildings than have buildings full of empty hearts.
In Malachi's day the people had also become bored with the worship of God: "And you say, 'What a burden!' and you sniff at it contemptuously, says the Lord Almighty" (vs. 13). If people become bored with worshiping God, this is evidence of a heart problem and lack of heart preparation. Ask the Holy Spirit to fill your heart with gratitude to God, so that you may worship and praise Him in Spirit and in truth with joy and using your whole person. More on preparing the heart will be on the page about curing the problem of crippled sacrifices.
Let me give you a couple of examples of people in our day and age who showed they were bored with worship. The first example is a visitor to the worshiping church I described in other places on this website. She was asked how she liked the worship service there. That person replied: "They worship for an hour and a half there." She said this in a tone of voice that exactly expressed this: "what a burden to take that amount of time to praise and worship the Lord." This attitude toward worship is exactly what Malachi was talking about.
Another example comes from the pastor of that worshiping church. I heard him talking in a sermon about people who come to the church and complain to him about the long worship and praise time at that church. The pastor told the congregation that we will be worshiping around the clock in heaven so how could these people not mind taking a long time on Sunday morning to praise and worship? How could these people not want to worship for an hour or for an hour and a half when they will be worshiping the Lord for an eternity in heaven?!!!
But Malachi presents the priests of that day and the universal priesthood of all believers with the medicine to heal the spiritual wound created by showing contempt for the Lord: "Now implore God to be gracious to us" (vs. 9). God is so good, and He is very very forgiving and gracious. Although we have become guilty of showing contempt for Him, we can come before His Throne Of Grace to receive the forgiveness he so graciously wants us to have. But let us also look at how to turn around a congregation so that this sinning stops.
Next, look at steps to turn a congregation around so that they desire to worship in Spirit and in Truth by offering acceptable sacrifices of praise unto the Lord. Click on red wording above to read the page devoted to helping a congregation offer acceptable sacrifices of praise to the Most High. Remember, the priesthood of all believers means the worshiphood of all believers so get the congregation involved offering acceptable sacrifices of praise to God.
In the book of Malachi the prophet rebukes the priests for offering crippled and diseased sacrifices to the Lord. He also rebukes them for treating the giving of sacrifice as a burden. when I read this portion of Malachi I could see the similarity in these Old Covenant people and their giving of crippled sacrifices with the New Covenant believers and the poorly done sacrifice of praises and the attitude they have that it is a burden to worship too long.
The Lord confronts the priests with a strong argument of logic: "A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me? says the Lord Almighty. It is you, O priests, who show contempt for my name" Their guilt was made greater because as priests, it was incumbent upon them to be spiritual examples to the people as worship leaders before their Lord.
The "contempt" for God’s name was shown in their attitude as evidenced in how they worshiped Him. The people were carrying blind, crippled, and diseased animals to the priests for sacrifice and the priests were accepting them. This practice was firmly forbidden in the law of Moses (see Lev. 22:20,25; Deut. 15:21). This kind of demonstration of contempt for the appropriate worship of the Lord was also a demonstration of contempt for the Lord.
The New Testament defines all believers as priests, so the responsibility of showing honor and respect to the Lord in worship is on the shoulders of every person in the congregation and not just the stage worship team because every person in the congregation as a priest
has the honor and responsibility to offer up to the King of the Universe sacrifices of praise.
Let us look at other parallels and how to encourage the congregation into proper worship.
We should examine our sacrifices of praise in worship to see if the Lord’s rebuke applies to us. "Wicked hypocrites think anything good enough for God; and pious men think nothing good enough for Him. Blind and ignorant services, lame and halting services occur when there is action without affection; the lips without the heart; double-mindedness and hypocrisy, sick or faint, and languishing services are, that come coldly from us, without any life or vigor of the inner-man, and these are all vile and odious." [From Westminster Divines].
Many people go to church in the same way they go to McDonalds. They come in looking for a fast meal that does not cost much and with an attitude to take. They should instead go to church prepared to give the best sacrifice of praises possible. But those responsible for the worship have not encouraged them to prepare and they have not provided the congregation with preparation tools so that the congregation can go to church with acceptable sacrifices.
It would be much better to have no worship service, than having a worship service which is contemptible to the Lord: "Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you, says the Lord Almighty, and I will accept no offering from your hands" (vs. 10). The Lord strongly states: He doesn't desire improper worship. It would be better to "shut the temple doors".
Even church buildings that once contained people who had a fire burning inside of them are now nothing more than holding facilities for people who are just going through the motions.. Every Sunday the same motions are a ritualism that has a semblance of the corporate fire that once burned brightly but is now reduced to nothing more than false fire lip service. It would be better to have empty church buildings than have buildings full of empty hearts.
In Malachi's day the people had also become bored with the worship of God: "And you say, 'What a burden!' and you sniff at it contemptuously, says the Lord Almighty" (vs. 13). If people become bored with worshiping God, this is evidence of a heart problem and lack of heart preparation. Ask the Holy Spirit to fill your heart with gratitude to God, so that you may worship and praise Him in Spirit and in truth with joy and using your whole person. More on preparing the heart will be on the page about curing the problem of crippled sacrifices.
Let me give you a couple of examples of people in our day and age who showed they were bored with worship. The first example is a visitor to the worshiping church I described in other places on this website. She was asked how she liked the worship service there. That person replied: "They worship for an hour and a half there." She said this in a tone of voice that exactly expressed this: "what a burden to take that amount of time to praise and worship the Lord." This attitude toward worship is exactly what Malachi was talking about.
Another example comes from the pastor of that worshiping church. I heard him talking in a sermon about people who come to the church and complain to him about the long worship and praise time at that church. The pastor told the congregation that we will be worshiping around the clock in heaven so how could these people not mind taking a long time on Sunday morning to praise and worship? How could these people not want to worship for an hour or for an hour and a half when they will be worshiping the Lord for an eternity in heaven?!!!
But Malachi presents the priests of that day and the universal priesthood of all believers with the medicine to heal the spiritual wound created by showing contempt for the Lord: "Now implore God to be gracious to us" (vs. 9). God is so good, and He is very very forgiving and gracious. Although we have become guilty of showing contempt for Him, we can come before His Throne Of Grace to receive the forgiveness he so graciously wants us to have. But let us also look at how to turn around a congregation so that this sinning stops.
Next, look at steps to turn a congregation around so that they desire to worship in Spirit and in Truth by offering acceptable sacrifices of praise unto the Lord. Click on red wording above to read the page devoted to helping a congregation offer acceptable sacrifices of praise to the Most High. Remember, the priesthood of all believers means the worshiphood of all believers so get the congregation involved offering acceptable sacrifices of praise to God.