09WK9 - WHAT IS ACCEPTABLE WORSHIP? – THE PLACE OF SACRIFICE

WHAT IS ACCEPTABLE WORSHIP? – THE PLACE OF SACRIFICE

KEY VERSE: ‘When you bring injured, crippled or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands? Says the Lord MALACHI 1: 13B

SCRIPTURE LESSON: MALACHI 1:6-14
MALACKI 1: 6 “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am 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. “But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’
7 “You place defiled food on my altar. “But you ask, ‘How have we defiled you? “By saying that the LORD’s table is contemptible.
8. When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you? “says the LORD Almighty,
9. “Now implore God to be gracious to us. With such offerings from your hands, will he accept you?”_says the LORD Almighty.
10 “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.
11 My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun. In very place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the nations, “says he LORD Almighty.
12. “ But you profane it by saying of the Lord’s table, ‘It is defiled,’ and of its food, ‘It is contemptible.’
13 And you say, ‘What a burden!’ and you sniff at it contemptuously,” says the LORD Almighty.” When you bring injured, crippled or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?” says the LORD.
14 “ Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the lord. For I am a great king, “says the LORD Almighty, “ and my name is to be feared among the nations.


For The teacher
BACKGROUND
The main focus of our study today is acceptable worship of God. Worship in one form or another has been practiced wherever men and women have lived throughout recorded history. While many Christians think that true and acceptable worship is found only in the singing of some special songs, the definition of the worship is found only in the singing of some special songs, the word worship shows that true worship is man’s response to God’s goodness. The word worship comes from an old Anglo-Saxon word “Weordhscipe, ‘which can be translated ‘ Worthship’, something that is full of worth or value. According to Dr. Collier worship is ‘any experience in which we ascribe value to the thing we worship, and Muriel Lester regards it as ‘the practice of seeing deep down into the heart of things and finding their real worth.

Why do men and women worship? They do because God has endowed them with a need to worship, that which is unsatisfied without worship. This universal practice is based on some deeply fundamental fact about God and man. It has been expressed by St. Augustine in his Confessions, in words which will live for all time: Thou has made us for Thyself, and the heart of man is restless until it finds rest in Thee.’ Every human being is so made that (s) he must worship something or someone, mammon or God, but within the Christian context (s) he cannot sincerely worship mammon and God (Mt. 6:24). The true object of worship for the Christian is God alone and there are valid principles for acceptable worship to him

IN DEPTH
MALACHI 1: 6 Turning from the people (ion previous verses) to the priests, God asks, why even though his love for the people was so great, where their love was towards him? If the priests, as they profess, regarded him as their Father (Isa 63:16) and Master, then they should show the reality of their profession by love ought to be leaders in piety to the rest of the people, whereas they were foremost in “despising his name”.
VERSES 7-8 You place defiled food – The priests took rejected animals – blind, crippled and diseased, and offered them to God; and thus the sacrificial ordinances were rendered disgraceful. The sacrifice of such animals was expressly forbidden in the Law (Dt. 02:00). God challenged the priest to offer these animals to their political masters and see whether they would not be rejected.
VERSE 9 Now implore God – There were evident marks of God’s displeasure in the land, and it was occasioned by these pollutions through the priests. Referring to the petition of the people through the priest, God points out that if their dishonorable practices were persisted in he will not accept any offering made by them.
VERSE 10 There was not one sincere or honest priest among them. They were all selfish and worldly.
VERSE 11 My name will be great among the nations – The Lord was, as it were, saying since the Jewish priest and people despise my name, I shall find others who will magnify it, those very peoples whom you look down upon as abominable’ (Mt 3:9). Do not think I shall have no worshippers because I do not have you. Pure offering – not “the blind, the lame, and the sick,” (Mal 1:8). The incense is figurative of prayers (Ps 14:2; Rev. 8:3).
VERSE 12 This is a renewal of the charge in Mal 1:7 They did not literally say, The Lord’s table is contemptible; but their acts virtually said so. They did not act in such a way as to lead the people to reverence, and to offer their best to the Lord. The people were poor, and put off God with the worst offerings.
VERSES 13:14 You bring injured, crippled or diseased animals – There had never been such abominations in the Divine worship before. The priests brought what was of no worth in itself, and what could not be used by its owner. This was brought to God’s altar, and offered as sacrifice.
Cursed is the cheat Those fraudulent, hypocrites, and deceitful dealers who make a show of one thing whilst intending another cannot elude God’s notice, they shall not escape his curse.

For the Student
THE WORD IN OUR LVES
If you ask different members of your congregation why they come to worship, there will be a wide range of answers. Some will say they come to be inspired, to have their faltering faith renewed and revived; others would want to feel God’s presence, or to receive a helpful message, enjoy the music, or be encouraged by meeting friends. All these answers are good but they lack the true essence of worship. Worship is ascribing worthship to God, an acknowledgment that leads praise and thanksgiving and a joy that only proceeds from the human heart. In some congregations they have developed the participation of the whole congregation quite remarkably whereby they engage in individual and corporate prayers, clap, shout out their own praises and give testimonies as the Holy Spirit leads. Worship in a Methodist chapel is built around the reading of scriptures, the preaching of the word, the singing of the hymns and canticles and the offering of fervent prayers and substance (money) with the singular aim of encountering God. Not one aspect of the service is more worthy than the other, hence every aspect must be pleasing and acceptable to him.

An acceptable worship is not just a physical act or material offering, but an attitude of mind and heart. The best sacrifices for God are a broken spirit and a contrite heart as well as sacrifices of praise, with which God is well pleased. They are not the service of form in an outward sanctuary and the presentation of slain animals, but the services of love in a life Paul reminded the church, “Present your bodies a living sacrifice “(Ro. 12:1). He did not ask for material sacrifices on altars of wood or stone, but spirituals.

Unfortunately many unacceptable worship practices abound I n our churches today. Many worshippers think that jumping and sweating mere shouting and dancing and many other mechanical activities constitute true and acceptable worship of God. Such activities without an acceptable heart only lead to perspiration instead of inspiration in the presence of God. Just as the lord cautioned the people that their continued sacrifice of injured, crippled and diseased animals would bring curses, the Church today must realize that the saying is true that ‘blind is the sacrifice of the worship of the soul which is not illumined by the light of Christ and lame is the sacrifice of his prayer who comes with a double mind to worship the Lord’. The words are a reproof to the negligent Church that goes through worship without fear, attention, and reverence.



TEST YOURSELF
1. According to God which people despised his name? (verse 6)
2. What type of animals were offered to God in sacrifice by the Israelites? (verses 8,13)
3. Why should God stop the people from kindling the fire on the altar? (verse 10)
4. Quote Malachi 1:13)
5. What did the cheating worshippers sacrifice to the Lord instead of the ‘male in their flock’? (verse 14)

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Mention some of the unacceptable or ‘polluted’ acts of worship in the Church today. What measures can the Church adopt to address the situation and have a purposeful worship?
2. Read Matthew 15:8-9. Explain the statement that true worship is an encounter with God that involves the heart, intellect and encounter with God that involves the heart, intellect and emotions.
3. a. What new trends in worship can you identify in (i) the Christian Church in Ghana (ii) the Methodist Church Ghana in the Past 5-10 years? B. Discuss the ways by which these new trends of worship are positively or negatively impacting the spiritual growth of churches and individuals.
4. Do you agree that a Church only worships the Lord during the period normally termed Praise and Worship time? Explain your answer.
5. In what way does Malachi 1:14 come alive in Christian worship today?





BIBLE LESSON APPLICATION
Reflect on Matthew 15: 8 and share with the class how Christians have honoured the Lord with their lips and kept their hearts away from him. Before you do this, however, find out whether this is a description of your own worship style and take steps to do better.

DAILY BIBLES READING
Monday Deuteronomy 26:1-10 Offering our first fruits to the Lord
Tuesday I Chronicles 16:26-34 Worship the Lord in the Splendour
Of his Holiness
Wednesday Isaiah 56:1-7 Acceptable Offering
Thursday Romans 12:1-4 Offer your Body as a living Sacrifice
Friday Philippians 4:14-18 Gifts as a Fragrant Offering
Saturday Hebrews 13:11-16 Sacrifices that Please God