The Great Name of God

Malachi 1:11 ~ "For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts."

During the days of Malachi, after Israel had returned to the land of promise and the practice of temple worship was restored, something happened that set them, once again, at odds with the Lord Almighty. The practice of offering the required sacrifice was in full force. The priests were in the temple and the fires were once again lit to the glory of God. Or, were they?

Consider what is written in Malachi 1:8, "When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favor? says the LORD of hosts." And then, in verse 10, God told the priests to shut the doors to the temple and quit lighting useless fires on His altar--the Lord God, the Almighty, took no pleasure in them. Why? Because their perfunctory effort at worship had no heart in it. They were willing to go through the motions, but the priests were not willing to truly honor the LORD. 

As the sacrifices during the days of Malachi were nothing more than the dregs of an offering, how much of our lives are offered as living sacrifices? Romans 12:1 teaches us, "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship." Is what we do as believers in Christ all done for the glory and honor of the Savior? Or do we offer to God the "leftovers" of what remains of our life? We are to offer ourselves as a "living sacrifice." We must not offer the half-hearted dregs as they did during the days of Malachi, but lay before God in every aspect of our life a testimony of His greatness and goodness to us.

And that is ultimately the target of worship--that the name of God will be great. Do you know the greatness of God? Do others see through your life that God is great? So much of what is called worship, today, is built to the honor and acceptance of the worshiper rather than the One who is worshiped. God's name is to be "great among the nations." That is, through His people, the world at large will see in us that we hold His name and His honor as the highest standard of our lives.

For the people of Israel, it was through their willingness to bring the very best of their crops and herds to the temple in order to offer them before God as an acceptable sacrifice. Two things occurred when they refused to honor God as He required. First, they displayed a lack of trust that God would provide for them, so they needed to keep the best for themselves (see Malachi 3:10-12). Second, they testified that God was not worthy of their worship (see Malachi 1:12-14). 

For the church, today, we are to show through our lives that God is both able to be trusted and worthy to be honored in the way we lay down our lives for His glory. Consider what 1 Peter 2:5 states, "You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." We are to show that we honor the great name of the LORD and lay down our lives in sacrificial obedience to the Savior. 

So... a simple question... do you hold the name of the Lord Jesus as the highest and most holy? Is His name great in your understanding and thus in your actions? Can you say, as John the Baptist, that even His sandals you are not worthy to untie (see Mark 1:7)? Oh, beloved, hear the words of the Apostle Paul as you enter this day: "Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:9-11).

Let us bow our knees today and exalt the glorious name of Jesus.

In His Grace,
Pastor Michael

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