SUNDAY MORNING GLORIES

“’A son honors [his] father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is [your] fear of Me? says Yahweh of Hosts to you priests, who despise My name.’ Yet you ask: ‘How have we despised Your name?’” (Malachi 1:6 HCSB)

Christianity is a lifestyle. It is not reserved for special occasions.

Maybe you heard of the Pastor who ended the Easter service with, “Merry Christmas!” because he knew that would be the next time he would see some of them.

Our faith isn’t just to be practiced on Sunday and ignored the other six days. The late evangelist, Vance Havner, used to say that a lot of church folk are like “Sunday morning glories”—they bloom at 11 AM and snap shut the rest of the week!

That kind of superficial spirituality is what Malachi confronted. The Old Testament and the New Testament end in similar fashion—with stern warnings and calls for repentance—and with the people of God nauseatingly lukewarm in their relationship with Him.

Are you a “Sunday morning glory”? There are several signs you may be.

The first one is A PROFESSION THAT IS EMPTY.

“’A son honors [his] father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is [your] fear of Me? says Yahweh of Hosts to you priests, who despise My name.’ Yet you ask: ‘How have we despised Your name?’” (Mal.1:6)

These people professed to be God’s sons and His servants, yet their performance was lacking—their confession and conduct did not match. Look at the facts.

THEY DID NOT HAVE RESPECT AS SONS.

“’A son honors [his] father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is My honor?’” (v.6a)

One of the basic commands is, “Honor your father.” I was far from a perfect son, but I knew better than to be disrespectful to my father. Yet, this is how the Jews of Malachi’s time were treating God.

I’ve found that we like the rewards of being God’s children, but don’t want the responsibilities that come with it.

Why were they disrespectful? They took God, “lightly.” He is this immense, infinite Being who is of the utmost gravity, but for many their attitude is He is just a cosmic buddy—a neighbor who is nice to have around when you need him, but most of the time, he’s just there. This is being like a grown child who never comes to visit Dad and Mom unless he needs something. We treat God that way. He doesn’t take lightly being taken lightly!

They did not have respect as sons and THEY DID NOT HAVE REVERENCE AS SERVANTS.

“And if I am a master, where is [your] fear of Me?” (Mal.1:6b)

The reason for a servant is that he or she might obey the master’s wishes. Otherwise, what good are they?

These Jews had lost the fear of God. We have also, I believe. Thus, we do God’s will, if it’s convenient and not costly. Yet, God’s will is not optional; it is mandatory!

Jesus asked, “Why do you call me, Lord, lord, and do not do the things I say?”

I will never forget what I heard a preacher, named Peter Lord, say many years ago, “We practice daily what we truly believe and all the rest is just religious talk.”

“Sunday morning glories” have A PROFESSION THAT IS EMPTY and A PERCEPTION THAT IS DULL.

“’A son honors [his] father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is [your] fear of Me? says Yahweh of Hosts to you priests, who despise My name.’ Yet you ask: ‘How have we despised Your name?’

‘By presenting defiled food on My altar.’ You ask: ‘How have we defiled You?’ When you say: ‘The Lord's table is contemptible.’” (Mal.1:6-7)

It is bad to be sick, but it is worse to be sick and not know it. This is one of the reasons cancer is such a dreadful disease. It can be working in your body for a long time undetected—no obvious symptoms—and when we become aware it may be too far spread to cure. The Jews had a spiritual cancer, yet were not even aware of it.

That was the spiritual dullness of the Jews in the period of Malachi’s ministry. Malachi put them into the spiritual MRI to look deep inside them. When the prophet told them their condition, they were shocked. They expected a clean bill of health—after all, didn’t they believe in God, pray, give an offering and so forth? That was good, but not good enough. Like the Pharisees of Jesus’ day, they were blind to the evil in their hearts.

That’s what a veneer of religion will do—it looks like the real thing, but it isn’t solid. If you go to a high-end furniture store you might gasp and say, “I’m not paying that kind of money for furniture!” So you visit another store and find a piece of furniture that looks nearly as good, but it is made of particle board—some composite material—and a veneer—a thin layer of wood on the surface. It is a surface easily marred and hardly repaired when you sit a glass of water on it, or spill coffee on it, or get it scratched in some fashion. Then you realize the difference in quality.

There are a lot of church attendees that as you look at them they look good on Sunday. But, let their thin layer of faith become challenged, let the world begin to scratch away at them on Monday and it becomes apparent that their faith is superficial.

“Sunday morning glories” have A PROFESSION THAT IS EMPTY and A PERCEPTION THAT IS DULL. We also find in them A POLLUTION THAT IS PRESENT.

“’By presenting defiled food on My altar.’ You ask: ‘How have we defiled You?’ When you say: ‘The Lord's table is contemptible.’

‘When you present a blind [animal] for sacrifice, is it not wrong? And when you present a lame or sick [animal], is it not wrong? Bring it to your governor! Would he be pleased with you or show you favor?’ asks the Lord of Hosts. ‘And now ask for God's favor. Will He be gracious to us? [Since] this has come from your hands, will He show any of you favor?’ asks the Lord of Hosts.

I wish one of you would shut the [temple] doors, so you would no longer kindle a useless [fire on] My altar! I am not pleased with you,’ says the Lord of Hosts, ‘and I will accept no offering from your hands.

For My name will be great among the nations, from the rising of the sun to its setting. Incense and pure offerings will be presented in My name in every place because My name will be great among the nations,’ says Yahweh of Hosts. But you are profaning it when you say: ‘The Lord's table is defiled, and its product, its food, is contemptible.’" (Mal.1:7-12)

If you go into a restroom at a restaurant, you should look for a sign that states the law that all employees must wash their hands after visiting the restroom. If you don’t see that sign, run as fast as you can! I don’t want food prepared with nasty hands!

This kind of offering was being prepared for God. Hands that were soiled by sin were holding it out to the Holy One. He was not pleased.

Such moral pollution results in UNACCEPTED WORSHIP.

“‘When you present a blind [animal] for sacrifice, is it not wrong? And when you present a lame or sick [animal], is it not wrong? Bring it to your governor! Would he be pleased with you or show you favor?’ asks the Lord of Hosts.” (1:8)

They gave God the leftovers. His people set before him the dregs. They were expected to bring the first fruits, the cream of the crop, the pick of the litter, but no, what they gave to God was inferior.

The Lord challenged them that they would treat an earthly king better than that! They would have had more respect for a government official than for God. The trash they were setting before the Lord would never be put on the table for a man.

Are we guilty of giving God the leftovers of our life? We act like we are doing God a favor by occasionally giving Him an hour of our time. There is an expectation of a Divine pat on the back when we toss a few dollars into the offering plate—not a tithe, but a tip! Such worship is wasted. God only accepts worship which is offered in spirit and truth. The kind described in Malachi was passionless and a pious fraud.

Moral pollution also brings UNACCEPTED PRAYERS.

"’And now ask for God's favor. Will He be gracious to us? [Since] this has come from your hands, will He show any of you favor?’ asks the Lord of Hosts.” (1:9)

Their prayers rose no higher than the Temple roof. They went up and made a U-Turn. Years before, the Psalmist stated this principle, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” The weight of wicked ways and a worldly will is an anchor that prevents our prayers from sailing heavenward.

Moral pollution yields UNACCEPTED SERVICE.

“’I wish one of you would shut the [temple] doors, so you would no longer kindle a useless [fire on] My altar! I am not pleased with you,’ says the Lord of Hosts, ‘and I will accept no offering from your hands.’” (v.10)

They were showing up to do their duty—and grousing about it. God says, “Why didn’t you just stay at home?” Close the doors—it is a worthless effort when made with such a loveless attitude. God finds no pleasure in our service if what we do is grudgingly given. He is only pleased with what I do, if I find pleasure in doing it.

Moral pollution further leads to UNACCEPTED WITNESS.

“’For My name will be great among the nations, from the rising of the sun to its setting. Incense and pure offerings will be presented in My name in every place because My name will be great among the nations,’ says Yahweh of Hosts.” (1:11)

If the Jews would not offer sincere worship to God and magnify His name, He would seek out among the Gentiles a people who would. If our church doesn’t glorify Him and adore the Lord our God when we meet for worship, He will travel down the road and find a group of believers who will!

There is something more suggested here. God intended for the Jews to be a light to the Gentiles, but instead of being stepping stones, they were stumbling blocks. Their claims of belonging to the Lord were so contradicted by their conduct as being of the world, so as to make their witness unacceptable. I wonder how many have spurned Christ because of the iniquity of some in His church?

“Sunday morning glories” have A PROFESSION THAT IS EMPTY, A PERCEPTION THAT IS DULL, A POLLUTION THAT IS PRESENT and A PERFORMANCE THAT IS LACKING.

“You also say: ‘Look, what a nuisance!’ ‘And you scorn it,’ says the Lord of Hosts. ‘You bring stolen, lame, or sick animals. You bring this as an offering! Am I to accept that from your hands?’ asks the Lord.

‘The deceiver is cursed who has an [acceptable] male in his flock and makes a vow but sacrifices a defective [animal] to the Lord. For I am a great King,’ says Yahweh of Hosts, ‘and My name will be feared among the nations.’” (Mal.1:13-14)

Their performance was lacking due to LAZINESS.

“You also say: ‘Look, what a nuisance!’ ‘And you scorn it,’ says the Lord of Hosts. ‘You bring stolen, lame, or sick animals. You bring this as an offering! Am I to accept that from your hands?’ asks the Lord.” (1:13) Or as the New Living Translation renders it, “You say, ‘It’s too hard to serve the LORD.’”

What a lazy attitude!

I know you get tired. I do. But are we weary in well-doing, or too tired from pursuing our agenda that we have no energy for God’s?

After the agonizing prayer of Jesus in dark Gethsemane, and a sleepless night of beatings and being hustled from place to place to be tried, the brutal scourging that came in the morning, and then having a cross beam extended for Him to load on His shoulders, what if He had said, “I’m just worn out!”? We would be still without hope. Carrying the cross was hard for Christ. Thinking about all that He went through, why do we have to beg people to serve when Jesus sacrificed so much?

Our performance is lacking when there is LAZINESS, but also when there is LYING.

“‘The deceiver is cursed who has an [acceptable] male in his flock and makes a vow but sacrifices a defective [animal] to the Lord. For I am a great King,’ says Yahweh of Hosts, ‘and My name will be feared among the nations.’” (1:14)

God basically tells them, “I’m tired of your games! Who do you think I am?”

This is the curse on hypocrisy. A graphic illustration of this is given in Acts, where a couple named Ananias and Sapphira sold their property and gave a portion to the church—and that would have been acceptable—but they claimed to have given everything—and that was abominable. They dropped dead, judged by God. He hates hypocrisy.

It is a deadly sin. Such a spirit will kill a church! There are those congregations, once fully alive, that began to go through the motions, to give as little as they could, to do no more than they had to. They sang the songs but without any passion. They offered their prayers, but without any conviction. They began to die—and may as well have the doors shut today—and in some cases, that has literally happened.

Don’t think that can’t happen here.

So, what must I do?

I must measure my life by the plumb line of God’s Word. Where it is out of alignment, I can’t expect God to adjust His standard, but I need to straighten up.

I don’t want to be a “Sunday morning glory”!