This morning, I want to talk to you about Discovering Your Why for Life. One day a man walks up to Jesus and says, “Lord, what’s the most important thing in the Bible?” Jesus replied this way: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment” (Matthew 27:37b-38). Jesus said worship is your why to life.
Passion drives us and it makes us get up in the morning. Some people have a passion for literature, while others have a passion for travel. I wonder how many of us have a real deep, burning passion for God Himself? People have so many passions, from golf to hunting to gardening and fishing. Today, I want to reignite your passion for God.
Find the book of Malachi with me if you will (page 953 in your Black pew Bibles in front of you).
We are majoring in the minor Prophets this summer. These are the books tucked away at the end of the Old Testament that are little in comparison to the major prophets. Now, here is a major league message from a minor prophet. Malachi wants to help you worship.
Today’s Scripture
“And now, O priests, this command is for you. 2 If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart. 3 Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it. 4 So shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may stand, says the Lord of hosts. 5 My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name. 6 True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. 7 For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. 8 But you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts, 9 and so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but show partiality in your instruction” (Malachi 2:1-9).
As you can see from the passage, reigniting your worship for God is not automatic. It takes serious thought and discipline. Your worship of God has so many competing distractions.
It’s been about a month now, but we have a great celebration at our house for my son, Matthew. He had graduated from high school and we had family in town. Traci had purchased helium balloons for the celebration. And a few of the balloons had slipped up to the second floor, some twenty feet up in the air. We began to wonder how we would ever get these balloons down. But we realized they would come down in a few days. As they lose their helium inside them, the balloons naturally fall back to the ground. The truth is that many of us lose our passion for God. We come back down from our spiritual high fairly quickly like those balloons in our house. Some of you have really been enthusiastic about Jesus in your life, but you have lost your zeal for God.
1. My Life’s Purpose is to Worship the Lord
“If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it
to heart” (Malachi 2:2).
The Bible calls upon us to honor the Lord, to worship the Lord. My Life’s Purpose is Worship. Would you say that with me, “My Life’s Purpose is Worship.”
1.1 Your Life’s Purpose
My life’s purpose is to worship God. Worship comes from a heart. Worship is where God is treasured above all human property and praise. Worship is when you direct your praise to God. Worship is giving thanks to the Lord. The psalmist says, “Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker” (Psalm 95:6)! You owe worship directly to God and no one else. This is why God is upset with the people of God back in Malachi’s name – they are failing to worship. God commands us to honor the name of the Lord in verses 1 and 2. The name of God is serious – really serious business. He commands this because He knows what is best for us.
1.1.1 Moses and Pharaoh
There is such value in worship, my friends! Remember when Moses was sent to free Israel from Pharoah’s tyrannical hands, God commanded Moses to say this: “Release my people so that they may worship me.” God called a nation and formed a nation for the express purpose of worship. Worship is what you’ll do forever if you are a son or daughter of God.
The Bible pictures believers in Heaven worshipping the Lord (Revelation 4:9-11). Worship is your “why” in life. Worship matters and there is value in a life of worship.
1.1.2 Mary and Martha
When the sisters Mary and Martha had Jesus Christ in their home, Martha was distracted by going above and beyond in being a great host to their house guest, Jesus. So Martha did what sisters do – she complained about her sister!
I saw two brothers working at a nearby fast food restaurant and asked the second one, “Is your brother your boss?” He said to me, “He thinks he is.” Some things never change!
Jesus said to Martha: “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:41b-42). Worship is your life’s purpose; worship is your “why.” You are to have a passion for God above anyone and anything else!
1.1.2 Gideon
When Gideon was to fight the enemies of Israel, God said to Gideon, “You’ve got too many men. If you beat the Midianites with all these, you’ll think, ‘My own hand has saved me’” (Judges 7:2b). So God tells Gideon to command every fear-filled soldier to go home (Judges 7:3). And God said, “The people are still too many”(Judges 7:4a). So God tells even more of the people to go home. In the end, Gideon fights a vastly superior number with only 300 men. With just 300 men, Gideon goes down secretly at night to spy on the Midianites. The Bible says they filled the valley like locusts without number. They had so many camels they were like the sand on the seashore (Judges 7:12). In the middle of the night, Gideon overhears one soldier telling another soldier about a bad dream he had. The one soldier said, “I had this terrible dream about the sword of Gideon and how he defeated us all” (Judges 7:13-14). “As soon as Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped. And he returned to the camp of Israel and said, ‘Arise, for the Lord has given the host of Midian into your hand’” (Judges 7:15). Gideon discovered his life’s purpose; he discovered his “why.” Don’t be a hot air balloon from my son’s graduation party. Don’t be full of zeal for Christ one day but drop right back to the ground the next day.
My whole life is to worship the Lord! This takes discipline. This takes thought.
1. My Life’s Purpose is to Worship the Lord
2. My Life’s Aim is Honor the Lord
“If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it
to heart” (Malachi 2:2).
My Life’s Aim is to Honor the Lord. Say that with me, “My Life’s Aim is to Honor the Lord.”
Again, I am talking about reigniting your passion for Christ. Again, we are to honor the Lord, and specifically, we are to honor the name of the Lord. The name of God is serious – really serious business. God commands us to honor the name of the Lord in verses 1 and 2. He commands this because He knows what is best for us. Since God is so serious about it, what does it mean to honor the name of the Lord?
2.1 What is the Name of the Lord?
Why does the Bible say we are to honor the name of the Lord? The name of God is a stand-in for all of God Himself. Again, God’s name signifies His very essence. An example of this is Jesus’ name. Jesus’ name wasn’t given at random. Instead, it was given because His name means “Yahweh saves” or “God saves.” “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
You are to value the name of God. You are to really value His great name. God is serious about you honoring His name. You owe God your worship.
2.2 Trademarking the Name of God
Think of all the products that are trademarked, if you will: the soft drink, Pepsi, Fort Worth’s American Airlines, or even McDonald’s, the fast food restaurant. You cannot manufacture a soft drink and call it Pepsi. You cannot start an airline company and call it American. And you cannot begin a fast food restaurant and call it McDonald’s. Trademark laws are intended to protect any name, logo, or phrase used in commerce to distinguish one manufacturer from another.
Now, think of God’s name as trademarked, if you will. Did you know that Harley Davidson attempted to trademark the famous sound their motorcycle engine makes some years ago? And 92-year-old actor Clint Eastwood recently won $2 million when a company used his name to sell CBD gummies. Like Eastwood’s image and Harley Davidson’s sound, God says, “Don’t be messing with my name!” God loves His name and He wants to protect the value of His great name. Every day and in every way, you are to protect the name of God in your heart and in your life. Let me repeat that: Every day and in every way, you are to protect the name of God in your heart and in your life.
2.3 If You Do vs. If You Don’t
“If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it
to heart” (Malachi 2:2).
Notice the language of verse 2 again. God says, “If you do that, then I will do this.” This is a conditional. God is so serious about you taking His name seriously that He threatens to send a curse upon those who fail to cherish His name. God threatens us when we don’t take His name seriously. Why does God do this? Again, because He knows what is best for us. His punishment is for our protection.
“Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it” (Malachi 2:3).
God says, “If you don’t honor me, I’ll do two things. First, I’ll diminish your descendants and I’ll spread dung on your faces.” Now, the Bible gets graphic here. Remember, the Temple was rebuilt in Malachi’s day. When the people came to the Temple, they brought an animal to sacrifice for worship. So when the Bible mentions the dung of the sacrificial animals, it is talking about the animals that were slaughtered in connection with the annual feasts. God says, “I will spread this upon your faces.” This would cause the priests to become unclean and, therefore, incapable of performing their official duties. If the priests do not stop polluting worship, then God will take them out of the rotation of serving the newly rebuilt temple. Again, God is really serious about His people honoring the name of the Lord.
Worship matters. There is real value in a life of worship.
2.4 Dropping Out of Church
Having been a pastor for a while now, I’ve seen a lot of people continue with their passion for God and a lot of people lose their passion for God. For those that lose their passion for God, there’s a predictable pattern. You can see it the same way almost every time.
I’ll tell you where the pattern begins. The first thing that happens is the person stops coming to church. I’m not talking about the ritual of coming to church. I’m talking about they draw back from the relationships of being around other believers. There are a lot of reasons we tell ourselves that it’s ok to miss worship. “Summer is here and I’ll watch it on the internet.” “I’ve got so many things to do.”
Whatever the reason, you stop spending time with people who have a desire to have passion for God. The next thing that always happens is your heart starts to turn cold. You start to feel far from God. You start to feel like God’s far from you. What you really need is to be around other people who can warm up the love that you have for God in your life. It’s a need in all of us to be around other people to have this passion for God. If you have no inspiring contact with other believers, your heart will grow cold. Remember, you don’t want to be the helium balloon that goes up to only come down. To really engage in worship with the Lord takes discipline and thought.
Worship is your “why” in this life.
1. My Life’s Purpose is to Worship the Lord
2. My Life’s Aim is Honor the Lord
3. My Heart’s Purpose is to Fear the Lord
“My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name” (Malachi 2:5).
My life is to worship the Lord! My Life’s Aim is to Honor the Lord. My Heart’s Purpose is to Fear the Lord. Say that with me, “My Heart’s Purpose is to Fear the Lord.”
3.1 Fear of the Lord
My time is nearly through, but I would be amiss to neglect an important part of today’s text. The Bible says we are to fear the Lord. Yes, worship includes even fearing the Lord. The word in verse 5 that the ESV translates as fear can also be translated as “awe” or “reverence.”
3.1.1 Only Old Testament?
You say, “That’s the Old Testament. In the New Testament, God is love. There’s no fear in New Testament Christianity!” “Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor” (1 Peter 2:17). As soon as the Apostle Paul was converted from hating Jesus and murdering Christians when the word spread about his conversion, here was the reaction: “So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied” (Acts 9:20–31).
All the Bible talks about the fear of God. “The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant” (Proverbs 25:14).
When you fear the Lord, God offers you His friendship even. Fear doesn’t mean cowering in the corner like God is some kind of North Vietnamese dictator and you are a prisoner of war. Fearing the Lord means taking God seriously and not casually. Fearing the Lord means knowing what the Lord is capable of doing. Let me repeat that: Fearing the Lord means knowing what the Lord is capable of doing. You are to stand in awe of Almighty God.
3.1.2 Worship, My Centerpiece
Worship is the centerpiece that governs everything in your life, my believing friends. A centerpiece is where the presence of one thing governs everything else related to your life spiritually. The Bible says every little piece of our lives is to honor the Lord.
Have you noticed that all is written to priests? My life is to worship the Lord! My Life’s Aim is to Honor the Lord. My Heart’s Purpose is to Fear the Lord. Is worship your centerpiece? Can you say, “Worship is my centerpiece?”
3.2 A Covenant with Levi
Back in verse one, the command is to the priests. Malachi is speaking to the priests, the people who were responsible for coordinating worship in the rebuilt temple. God says He made a covenant with Levi in verse 5 and again in verse 8. Levi was a tribe of people in Israel and the entire tribe was to serve as priests. The tribe of Levi was all the way back in Moses’ day, around 1,000 years before Malachi’s day. God says, “I was there when the priesthood started with Levi and this is the covenant I made with Him: It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name” (Malachi 2:5b). Now, what’s a covenant? Think of a contract but only upgraded. “And now, O priests, this command is for you” (Malachi 2:1).
3.2.1 Terry Barton
Terry Barton wanted to be alone in the forest that day. She was emotional and she simply wanted to burn a letter from her estranged husband. Only Terry Barton started the largest forest fire in Colorado history. Known as the Hayman Fire, Terry ended up burning 137,000 acres and 133 homes during a serve drought in June 2002. In addition to serving jail time right here in Fort Worth, she is paying around $150 per month until she pays off $42 million in damages. If all that isn’t noteworthy, get this: Terry Lynn Barton was a Full-time fire spotter with the Forest Service. At the moment she set Colorado’s worst forest fire, she was being paid to extinguish fires. The priest is the one who should cherish the name of God. If anyone is worshipping God, it’s the priest. And yet, the very one who was to extinguish fires was starting Colorado’s worst. And the very ones who were to lead in worship were cheapening the name of God. The Old Testament had a special class of people, the priests.
3.2.2 You Are a Priest
But in the New Testament, Jesus makes every believer a priest (1 Peter 2:5). You, Mr. Believer, are a priest. You, Mrs. Believers are a priest (Revelation 1:6). I am a priest. Say that with me, “I am a priest.” Jesus has given you the privilege of being a priest. This means that Christ has opened the way for all of us to come directly to God through him. We do not need any human mediator.
But don’t be Terry Barton, my believing friend. Don’t be the one who is made to worship but fails to do the very thing you were created for.
My life is to worship the Lord! My Life’s Aim is to Honor the Lord. My Heart’s Purpose is to Revere the Lord.
3.3 Satan Wants Your Worship
Here, I need a word about the evil one. My friend, there is such value and purpose to worshipping the Lord. And Satan knows this. You may not believe Satan exists, but Jesus did. You may be too intelligent to think Satan exists, but I will trust Jesus’ mind on the supernatural. If you remember, Satan found Jesus alone in the desert. Somehow, Satan took Jesus up to a high point where he could see everything and it was there that Satan offered Jesus all the authority of the glory of this entire world (Luke 4:5-7). “All this is yours if you but bend the knee and worship me,” the evil one said to the Son of God. I am so thankful that Jesus Christ fended off Satan and devoted His worship to the Father. I want you to join me in honoring the name of the Lord. I want your whole life to be dedicated to honoring the Lord God.
