Giving God Your Best

the date was April 21, 1996

I can’t remember exactly what my week had been like, but it was Sunday, and it was time for me to preach

and so I stood up in front of my tiny congregation, opened God’s Word, and began to do what I had done hundreds of times before: preach

I’m sure nobody else remembers this day

there were no angelic visitations, no audible voice of God; in short, nothing that would make that Sunday stand out from any other one, except for one thing: God convicted me of a dreadful sin that had been perpetuated in my life and ministry, and convicted me that from that day, it had to stop

what was this heinous sin?

was I secretly stashing money from the offering plate?

was I carrying out an inappropriate relationship with a member of the congregation?

was I secretly engaged in activities which would have caused scandal within if only known?

no, none of those things

in fact, my sin was a very public one

nobody would have been shocked, even though I think everyone there knew I was committing this sin

and yet I am convinced that it was every bit as wrong as stealing money from the offering or engaging in some illicit behavior

and God convicted me that morning in a way that remains strong to this day

let me tell you what my sin is, but I’ll warn you that it might seem like nothing at first

the sin I committed was delivering a bad sermon

I delivered a message that had little redemptive value

it brought very little glory to God and very little benefit to the listeners

now, I had preached many bad sermons before and I have probably preached many bad sermons since, but April 21, 1996 sticks out for another reason

I preached a bad sermon for no other reason than I was content giving God my second-best efforts

I can’t tell you what I did that week, but I can tell you what I didn’t do: prepare

it wasn’t a case of church emergencies that came up, or any number of legitimate reasons that might have prevented me from preparing adequately

I was merely lazy

and instead of giving God my best, I was content to give God my leftover efforts

and it showed

you see, that morning I got up and preached

I stood up, and instead of my usual six pages of notes, I had only one and a half

and right away I knew I was in deep trouble

I knew it; the congregation knew it

I managed to muddle through

I honestly believe that some in the congregation thought nothing of it

on the way home, my wife turned to me and said, "Tough crowd today"

and in my heart, I knew that the problem was not with the crowd, but with me

God and I met that week

and I vowed never again to stand in the pulpit unprepared

to never again insult God by giving him less than the best of my efforts

since that day, I have probably preached many sub-par sermons, but I vowed since that day that I will never stand again before God’s people and deliver less than my best efforts

I will never again offer God my second or third best efforts

now, I imagine some of you are rolling your eyes

but think with me for a moment

how many of us have experienced churches where sermons are prepared shoddily

where the worship is planned at the last minute, with little thought and little preparation

where Sunday School lessons are thrown together an hour before the Sunday School class begins

where people are appointed to committees and somehow never manage to show up

in short, how many of us have grown used to a culture where mediocrity is the norm; where it is acceptable to give God what is substandard rather than excellent; where we can pass off laziness and lack of commitment as our spiritual service to the God of the universe who gave his Son to die for us

and I began to think of another story that took place a long time ago

the story is found in the Old Testament book of Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament

the date was perhaps somewhere around 430 BC

the scene is Jerusalem

some years before, the people had returned from exile in Babylon to find the city of Jerusalem in pieces

and they began to rebuild: to rebuild the temple, and to rebuild the city walls, to make Jerusalem a place of worship once again

but there was a problem

as life settled down, and as generations forgot the exile, some drift between the people and God developed

the people began to neglect the worship of God and stopped living according to God’s will

even the priests were guilty

let me tell you what their sin was, and then give you three contributing factors to their sin

THEIR SIN WAS BRINGING DEFECTIVE SACRIFICES TO GOD

(Malachi 1:6) "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. "But you ask, 'How have we shown contempt for your name?'

(Malachi 1:7) "You place defiled food on my altar. "But you ask, 'How have we defiled you?' "By saying that the Lord's table is contemptible.

(Malachi 1:8) When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong?

God charged the priests with failing to honor him, of even showing contempt for his name, by conducting worship in a manner that was shoddy and disobedient

you see, God’s law required that only perfect animals be offered to God

(Deuteronomy 15:21) If an animal has a defect, is lame or blind, or has any serious flaw, you must not sacrifice it to the LORD your God.

(Leviticus 1:3) "'If the offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he is to offer a male without defect.

you may ask why the sacrifice had to be a perfect one

two reasons:

the first reason is that only a perfect substitute could stand in place of an imperfect offerer

what can we offer to God that would pay for our sins? surely not something imperfect, only that which is perfect

and we recognize this as a picture of Jesus Christ, called in 1 Peter 1:19 "a lamb without blemish or defect," offered for our sins

that’s one reason why the sacrifice had to be a perfect one

but the second reason, and the one I want to dwell on this morning, is this: only the best should be offered to the Lord

"How dare you," Malachi says, "offer a gift to the Lord which is less than the best"

only the best should be offered to the Lord

no animals with blemishes or defects; no blind or lame animals; only the best and the first

and yet Malachi 1:8 says that the people were bringing blind, crippled, and diseased animals for sacrifice

and Malachi makes the point in verse 8, "Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?"

the people were offering to God something they wouldn’t offer even to an important human being

they were offering to God something that, if they offered to another person, would have got them into a lot of trouble

God says in verse 10:

(Malachi 1:10) "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.

he said, "If you’re going to offer me the defective from your flock, don’t even bother. Don’t go to all that effort just to insult me"

and in verse 14 he says:

(Malachi 1:14) "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.

six times in this passage, God refers to his name as being dishonored by the people on account of this

when God’s people bring less than their best to God, it brings dishonor to his name

it’s an insult to the very nature of God

as I look at this passage, some important principles stand out to me

and these principles, to this day, resonate within my soul and affect my ministry

I’ve applied this lesson to my life, with still a long way to go

but I wonder if you would look with me at four lessons I’ve learned from Malachi 1:

LESSON NUMBER ONE: THERE IS ALWAYS A REASON TO OFFER GOD LESS THAN OUR BEST

there is always a compelling reason not to give God our best

as I look at Malachi 1, it strikes me that the people

might have had a number of reasons for what they did

issue one might have been expedience – trying to be as cheap as possible

it was just a lot cheaper and easier to offer God a defective animal rather than a perfect one

things haven’t changed – people then worked hard for their money

when they would come to pick or buy their offering, why should they offer what is costly?

why not simply try to get by, offering God the leftovers

just like today, some of us ask, "Why can’t we give God our leftover time, money, and energy? Why bring something valuable to God when we can give him something that costs us nothing?"

issue number two might have been neglect

not really caring how they offered the sacrifice

listen to what the priests said, according to Malachi 1:13:

(Malachi 1:13) And you say, 'What a burden!' and you sniff at it contemptuously," says the LORD Almighty.

worship had become a burden to the priests

they began to neglect their duties, the act of giving God the best

their priorities had drifted, and other things – convenience, comfort, even contempt for God – had taken their place

when I stood on April 21, 1996, I was guilty of neglect

I had let my priorities drift to the point where I was neglecting my rightful duty to God

issue number three might have been that everyone else was doing it

why should I offer a perfect sacrifice? did you see that defective animal that the Jones brought in?

or today in the church – why should we offer God our best when the others are offering their leftovers

but the first lesson I have learned is that there is always a reason to give God less than our best

we can always offer up excuses

but these reasons, these excuses, just don’t cut it

LESSON NUMBER TWO THAT I’VE LEARNED: OUR SERVICE REVEALS OUR ATTITUDE TO GOD

the big issue in this passage, I believe, is that their choice to give God less than their best revealed the priority they had given God

their methods of giving revealed their real attitudes toward God

in short, the priests and the people treated God with less honor and respect than they gave parents or foreign rulers

they cared less about God than they cared about themselves and the people around them

when I stood and preached without preparing, I told God what place he had in my life that week

I told him by my actions that he wasn’t a priority in my life

I revealed an attitude of indifference and carelessness in my relationship with God

because our service, or lack of it, always reveals our attitude to God

LESSON NUMBER THREE THAT I’VE LEARNED: SERVICE IS MEANT TO BE COSTLY

it was meant to cost us something

when God told the people to offer the first and the best from the flocks, it was for a reason: so it would cost them something

and it’s supposed to cost us something today

shame on us for passing off time and effort to God that costs us nothing and thinking that it’s enough

shame on us for refusing to serve because it might cost us something

shame on us for giving God only that which costs us nothing

King David said in 1 Chronicles 21:24 (NLT), "I cannot take what is yours and give it to the LORD. I will not offer a burnt offering that has cost me nothing."

LESSON NUMBER FOUR THAT I’VE LEARNED: WE CAN GIVE GOD NOTHING LESS THAN OUR BEST

stop offering God contemptuous sacrifices!

stop winging it!

stop giving God your last minute, half-hearted, leftover and warmed-up efforts

don’t slap something together and pretend it’s okay

stop giving God what wouldn’t pass off to your spouse, your boss, or anyone else

stop passing off to God what you wouldn’t pass off to anyone else

and when it comes to talking about becoming lay ministers, and of every believer using their spiritual gift to glorify God by serving one another, let me tell you now: don’t even bother if you’re going to offer God defective sacrifices

if you’re only planning on offering God your leftover time, money, and energy, you’ll be no different from those in Malachi who didn’t want to bring anything valuable to God

and so in the week following April 21, 1996, I had some business to do with God

I made a vow never to come to the pulpit again and offer God a defective sacrifice

I was never going to sacrifice excellence in what I offered to God on the altar of convenience, expedience, or neglect

I would no longer dishonor God by bringing injured, crippled, and diseased service as my offering to God

I don’t know where you’re at

I don’t know if you’re rolling your eyes thinking that I’m taking this a little too seriously

but I’m done with feeding into the culture of a church that it’s okay to be sloppy and shoddy when it comes to serving God

I’m done with passing off to God what we wouldn’t offer to God, just because it’s church and just because many of us are volunteers

what we do for God matters most because it’s done for God, who’s worth so much more than anyone else

so are you with me?

I’m not going to ask you to walk the aisle today, and I’m not going to even ask you to stand or to raise your hand

I’m going to ask you to do what I did

I’m going to ask you to go stand before God and say, "No more. Never again do I offer less than my best to you"

I wonder if you would bow your heads with me

(Malachi 1:14) "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.

Lord, whatever it is that we do to serve you, may it never be less than our best

may we honor you in our service, not giving you leftover energies, but giving you first place in our lives

may October 25, 1998 be to somebody here what April 21, 1996 was for me: the day that we say "Enough! From now on we only give our best to our God"

Amen.

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Giving God Your Best