honor

A Sheep Meanders Through Malachi 1:6-9

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Where Is the Honor Due Me?

Hello my dear friends,

Grab a cup of coffee or tea and settle in with me for a few minutes. I want us to sit together with a passage that can feel a little sharp at first—but if we listen closely, it sounds less like a scolding and more like a Father’s wounded tenderness. Here is the text:

“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, ‘How have we despised your name?’ By offering polluted food upon my altar. But you say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ By saying that the LORD’s table may be despised. 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 now entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious to us. With such a gift from your hand, will he show favor to any of you? says the LORD of hosts.”

The temple was standing again. The priests were still wearing the right garments and saying the right words. They still called God Father and Master. And yet the Lord of hosts looks at what they actually place on His table and asks, almost quietly, “Where is my honor?”You can hear the surprise in their reply: “How have we despised your name?” They were not shouting blasphemy. They were simply bringing what cost them least—the blind animal, the lame one, the sick one that no governor would ever accept as a gift. What they would never dare present to an earthly official they assumed the living God would smile over. Little by little the Lord’s table had become, in their hearts, contemptible. Not hated, exactly. Just… not worth the best.

Friend, does that land a little close? Because we still do this, don’t we? We keep the language of sonship and lordship. We still show up. And yet we can slide into offering God the leftover hour, the leftover attention, the leftover honesty, the leftover generosity—the parts of our lives we would never hand to someone whose favor we actually wanted. Weariness does that. So does the quiet suspicion that God will understand, that He is easier to please than the people whose opinions still sting.

The Lord’s question about the governor is almost kind in its sharpness. He is not trying to crush them. He is trying to wake them. If even a human official would refuse such a gift, how can we treat the Holy One as less worthy of honor? Verse 9 then turns the irony all the way around: go ahead, they are told, entreat His favor—but with gifts like these, will He receive you? They wanted grace while withholding honor. They wanted the Father’s face while treating His table as an afterthought.

And here is where the gospel comes near and steadies us. We do not stand before this text empty-handed, hoping to find a better lamb. Jesus is the unblemished Offering. He did not bring the Father a leftover life. He offered Himself wholly—without defect, without calculation, without holding anything back. At the cross the honor due the Father was perfectly given, and the favor we could never earn was freely opened to us. The ruins of our cheap worship do not have the last word. The Son who honored the Father in our place now invites us to the table not as bargainers, but as beloved children.

So the old question still searches us, but it no longer has to terrify us. Where is my honor? is the voice of a Father who has already given His best, now calling us to stop insulting His kindness with what we ourselves would never offer a governor. Honor is not first a feeling. It is the glad, costly decision to bring Him what is first and finest because He has already brought us Himself.

Personal Reflection Questions

  • Where in your ordinary week have you been quietly offering God what you would never present to someone whose approval still matters to you?
  • When you call Him Father and Lord, what would “honor” actually look like in one small, concrete place—your time, your words, your giving, your attention?
  • How does remembering that Jesus offered the unblemished life change the way you hear God’s searching question, “Will he show favor to any of you?”
  • Is there a weariness or cynicism that has made the Lord’s table feel small or optional? What would it look like to bring that weariness to Him instead of hiding behind a lesser gift?
  • What would it mean this week to treat His presence as worthy of your first and finest, not because you are trying to earn His face, but because His face has already been turned toward you in Christ?

I’m grateful we could sit with these words together. May the Father who asked for honor meet you with the mercy already purchased at the cross, and may your heart grow glad again to bring Him what costs something—because He first gave everything.

Your fellow sheep

A Heart Hungry To Worship Part 15

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This is the final installation in this series. Hopefully God has been able to use this to draw you into a closer relationship with Him.

Worship is not about us and how we feel; it is about giving God the honor due His name. His Word, not our feelings, define that “honor”, which is due Him.[1]

Chapter 14

In Spirit and in Truth

            At the end of the second chapter, a question was raised: “What does it mean to worship God in spirit and in truth?” Subsequent chapters have helped to lay the foundation for the answer to that question, which we will now consider. We will look at each of the terms Jesus used: worship, spirit, and truth, in order.

                                    Worship

            The word Jesus uses  for worship in John 4:24 is proskuneo in Greek (or shachah in Hebrew). It means to “bow down” or “prostrate” oneself. The connotation is to engage in an act of humility, submission and reverence toward God.

            In His conversation with the Samaritan woman, Jesus pointed out to her that the Samaritan’s idea of worshipping God was wrong. “You worship what you do not know, we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.”[2] The Samaritans worshipped God through ritual. For them, God was not personal. He was viewed as the Creator but not as their Father. Jesus was very deliberate in addressing God as Father (3 times in a row) emphasizing the personal nature of the relationship. He was trying to show her what was missing in her worship – a personal touch.

            The only way true worship of God can take place is for a person to enter into a personal relationship with Him. God has to become their Father and they His children. The Samaritans knew God’s name, but not His character, personality or purposes. This is true of many people today. They know of God, but they do not know God personally for they have never experienced His salvation.

            Unless a person accepts God’s salvation, he or she cannot enter into a filial (family) relationship with Him. Without this personal relationship, one cannot worship Him correctly. “In other words, one can know and worship God by experiencing His salvation which is in Jesus and which enables the worshipper to call God “abba”, Father.”[3]

            This is one reason why Jesus Christ came to Earth. He came to personalize God and to model the type of relationship with Him that God desires.

In Spirit

            Christ, in the statement He made to the Samaritan woman, makes worship a matter of the heart, not ritual or tradition. Worship has sincerity at its core. It is the response of one’s spirit to the Spirit of God, a communing of one to the other. While worship can be planned, most often it is spontaneous, a response to proximity with God.

            The New Testament uses different phrases to illustrate what it means when a person submits their life to the Lord Jesus Christ. Phrases such as “born again”, “born from above,” or “becoming a new creation” serve to convey the idea of what it means to become a child of God. The language of adoption is also used, with God the Father shown as adopting sons and daughters into His Kingdom, out of the kingdom of this world.

Those who have experienced this adoption, this being “born again”, are the only ones who can worship God in spirit because the spirit now in them is the Spirit of God. You see, at the moment of salvation a wonderful event occurs. God recreates us spiritually (we are born anew) which allows us to interact with Him intimately. This is what Jesus was telling the Samaritan woman. She did not need to worry about where to worship. She needed to understand how to be able to worship. She needed to experience a rebirth, spiritually. Jesus had a very similar conversation with a man called Nicodemus in John, chapter 3.

Intellectual, erudite, skilled in rhetoric and theology, Nicodemus came to Jesus seeking answers. Nicodemus was “the” teacher of Israel, their premier religious instructor. He had heard Jesus speak, he had seen the miracles Jesus had performed, and he accepted the truth that Jesus was a man sent by God, yet he was not a Christian. He did not accept that Jesus was more than a man sent from God, that Jesus was God in the flesh.

When Nicodemus approached Jesus, he gave him a very sincere compliment. He was met by a very confrontational reply, “Unless you are born again, you will not see the kingdom of God.”  Jesus tells the premier religious teacher in Israel that he is not going to be in God’s Kingdom unless he experiences a spiritual rebirth. The word Jesus uses for rebirth means a transformation so complete that it will allow a person to enter another world and adapt to its conditions. He is telling Nicodemus that he needs to undergo a complete metamorphosis in order to enter the Kingdom of God. He is saying to Nicodemus, “Unless you allow me to spiritually transform you, you will not be able to survive in the kingdom of God.”

Jesus is insisting that Nicodemus undergoes a spiritual change from who he is currently, to what he needs to be. To Nicodemus, this statement is staggering. He understands what Jesus is implying, that his religion was futile. Nicodemus was a Pharisee. Pharisees tended to be hyper-legalists who externalized religion. They pursued a form of godliness that had no basis in reality. They were fanatically religious, striving to obey over 600 laws. For a Pharisee, salvation was obtained by works, doing things that they believed were pleasing to God. Being born again is something Nicodemus cannot do. Being born is something that happens to you, not something you do for yourself.

Nicodemus and Jesus did have something in common. Both were Jewish teachers. Jewish teachers taught spiritual truths in symbols. Nicodemus understands Jesus’ symbolism and answers back in kind. “How can a man, whose habits and ways of thinking have been fixed for so long, really be expected to change radically? Physical rebirth is impossible so is spiritual rebirth any more feasible? I can’t start over again. It’s too late. I’ve gone too far in my religious system to change now. I’d have to start all over again. My case is hopeless.”

Many people feel that way. Unlike Dinah, from chapter 3, they are too steeped in their religious tradition to be willing to change. They feel trapped and hopeless by beliefs that they have held all their lives and yet they are unwilling to change. It is not that they cannot change; it is that they will not change unless they allow God’s Spirit to convert them.

In order to satisfy the hunger of their hearts, in order to worship God correctly, they must allow God to transform their life spiritually. The new birth must come from the Holy Spirit of God. A person needs to be spiritually purified and spiritually reborn, and only the Spirit of God can only accomplish this.

We aren’t told how Nicodemus reacts to what he is told. He understands that Jesus is telling him that the new birth must be experienced in order to be understood. None of his scholarly wisdom will explain it. Only by immersing himself in Jesus will he be able to understand salvation.

Nicodemus knew about Jesus, had listened to Jesus, admired Jesus and complimented Jesus, but he did not know Jesus. He needed Jesus to transform his life through being born again.

Those whose hearts hunger to worship God must allow God to transform their life first. Then, they will be able to worship Him spirit to spirit. They will be able to hear Him and understand Him when He speaks. They will experience closeness, a sense of belonging, a kindred-ness with God that surpasses anything they could have imagined.  This is what Jesus means when He tells us we have to worship in spirit.

                        In Truth

            The second criteria Jesus says is necessary to be able to worship God is found in the phrase, “and in truth.” Knowing whom to worship, Jesus, is of supreme importance. To worship in ignorance makes a sham of religion.

            Truth, in biblical terms, is whatever is in harmony with the nature and will of God. The essence of true worship must be on God’s terms and He has revealed that the only worship He will accept is that which is based through Jesus Christ. The revelation of God in Christ is absolute truth.

            The issue is not where a person worships, but how they worship and whom they worship. The how is in spirit. The who is Jesus. Worship is more than just emotion. Too many people confuse the terms praise and worship. Praise is rooted in emotion. Worship is grounded in knowledge – the knowledge of God’s Word and the knowledge of God’s Son.

            By gaining a proper understanding of what Jesus said to the woman at the well, a person can come to worship God properly. A person can no longer sustain the argument that the format or form of worship does not matter. Jesus clearly states that it does. It must come from the spirit and it has to be rooted in God’s revealed truth. Not truth as a person feels it should be (subjective), but as it actually is, measured by divine revelation via the Bible (objective). When knowledge of God is deficient, worship of Him will also be deficient.

            Since God has decreed that He will only accept worship that is grounded in and which flows through Jesus, this makes Christianity the only religion accepted by God. No other form of worship is accepted. A person cannot decide to worship God in whatever way he or she wants to. They did not make the standard. No religion can develop rules that make worship to God possible, because worship is rooted in and through the person of Jesus. Truth cannot be found in the Koran, Baghivad Gita, Pearl of Great Price or other religious works, because they do not contain the historical record of Jesus Christ and the truth of His life. Truth is not perception. Truth is an absolute.

            To worship God in spirit and in truth requires a person to come to God on His terms, surrendering their life to His Son Jesus, accepting His forgiveness and cleansing from sin. At that moment, the heart is renewed, God’s Spirit comes in, and fellowship begins with God that will last for an eternity.

            It is a wonderful thing to experience the transforming person of Jesus Christ. Just ask the Samaritan woman and her neighbors.

Conclusion

The common denominator in each person’s story is the Holy Spirit. Through the Spirit’s power, people were drawn to the truth of Jesus Christ, had their spiritual eyes opened, their minds illuminated to understand Scripture and experienced forgiveness and cleansing. Though each of them came from different backgrounds, cultures and experiences, the same Spirit drew them into a relationship, or deeper into a relationship, with their Savior.

Those who had given up on life found a new purpose. Those who were lonely and afraid experienced a Savior who will never leave or abandon them. Those searching for spiritual answers found their answers in Jesus Christ. Those who saw life as a duty to be fulfilled instead found life as an adventure to be enjoyed and experienced.

The God of the universe created each individual. He knows our personalities. He knows our life, the choices we make and the struggles we face. In fact, you cannot disappoint God. Disappointment comes from unmet expectations. Since God knows everything that will ever happen, since He knows everything you will ever say or do before you say or do it, you cannot disappoint Him. He knows all about you and still reaches out to draw you into a relationship with Him.

There is no one so bad, so evil, so immoral that He cannot redeem him or her. There is no one so tainted by sin that He cannot cleanse. There is no one so far away, so lost, that He cannot find. God made people with both the capacity and the desire to worship Him. His Holy Spirit calls to people and will guide them into a knowledge of how to worship the Living God if they will submit to Him.

St. Augustine of Hippo said it most eloquently. “You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and drawn us to You. Our hearts are restless until they find rest in You. “[4]

Do you have a heart that is restless? Does your heart hunger for God? Perhaps you might echo St. Augustine’s cry:

“My heart is listening, Lord. Open the ears of my heart and say to my soul – I am your salvation. Let me run towards this voice and seize hold of You.”[5]

Satisfy the hunger of your heart by opening yourself up to the Spirit of God.

[1] Dean G. Thomas

[2] John 4:22

[3] Jey Kanagaraj: Worship, Sacrifice and Mission:Themes Interlocked in John, Indian Journal of Theology V.40.1&2 1998

[4] Confession of St. Augustine, Book 1, Chapter 1

[5] Ibid

Hymn Devotions Day 3 – O Worship The King

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DAY 3 O WORSHIP THE KING 

This majestic song lifts you up in praise to the One seated on the Everlasting throne. The use of adjectives such as shield, defender, friend, maker and redeemer tell us of God’s character.

Here is no aloof God, watching from way off in space. Here is a God intimately involved with His creation. This is, make no mistake, a hymn about the Creator and His creation. It was based on Psalm 104. In a day where evolution is held to be absolute truth, this hymn helps us to unashamedly sing out our belief in a personal Creator God.

The third stanza unapologetically states that God formed the world. The writer has in mind both the Genesis account of Moses and the book of Job, where God tells Job that He put boundaries on the waters.

God’s love and providence for His creation is evident throughout the song. It is because He cares and desires so deeply for us to have a relationship with Him, that we are able to sing of His glory and might.

God is our shield, an ever-present help in times of trouble. He defends us against the slanderous attacks of our adversary. He is our friend as well as our Lord, a mind-blowing concept is ever there was one. Most of all, He is our creator and our redeemer. He made us for Himself and redeemed us for Himself. All praise to the King of Kings, who is worthy of all glory and honor.

As you pray today, thank God for the ways He manifests Himself to you – a shield, defender, redeemer. He is not only your maker, but He will be your friend if you would yield your life to Him.

 

Thank you Lord, for creating us and the beautiful world we live in. We worship You, King of the Universe, and give you all glory and honor and praise.

 

O WORSHIP THE KING by Robert Grant

O worship the King, all glorious above

O gratefully sing God’s power and God’s love

Our Shield and Defender, the Ancient of Days

Pavilioned in splendor and girded with praise

O tell of His might, O sing of His grace

Whose robe is the light, whose canopy space

Whose chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form

      And dark is His path on the wings of the storm

      The earth with its store of wonders untold

      Almighty Thou power hath founded of old

      Hath established it fast by a changeless decree

      And round it has cast like a mantle, the sea

      Thy bountiful care, what tongue can recite

      It breathes in the air, it shines in the light

      It streams from the hills, it descends to the plains

      And sweetly distills in the dew and the rain

      Frail children of dust and feeble as frail

      In Thee do we trust, nor find Thee to fail

      Thy mercies, how tender, how firm to the end

      Our Maker, Defender, Redeemer and Friend