All In.
Read Time: 7 mins, 51 seconds.
“Isn’t it true that a son honors his father and a worker his master? So if I’m your Father, where’s the honor? If I’m your Master, where’s the respect?” God-of-the-Angel-Armies is calling you on the carpet: “You priests despise me! “You say, ‘Not so! How do we despise you?’ “By your shoddy, sloppy, defiling worship. “You ask, ‘What do you mean, “defiling”? What’s defiling about it?’ “When you say, ‘The altar of God is not important anymore; worship of God is no longer a priority,’ that’s defiling. And when you offer worthless animals for sacrifices in worship, animals that you’re trying to get rid of—blind and sick and crippled animals—isn’t that defiling? Try a trick like that with your banker or your senator—how far do you think it will get you?” God-of-the-Angel-Armies asks you. “Get on your knees and pray that I will be gracious to you. You priests have gotten everyone in trouble. With this kind of conduct, do you think I’ll pay attention to you?” God-of-the-Angel-Armies asks you. “Why doesn’t one of you just shut the Temple doors and lock them? Then none of you can get in and play at religion with this silly, empty-headed worship. I am not pleased. The God-of-the-Angel-Armies is not pleased. And I don’t want any more of this so-called worship! “I am honored all over the world. And there are people who know how to worship me all over the world, who honor me by bringing their best to me. They’re saying it everywhere: ‘God is greater, this God-of-the-Angel-Armies.’ “All except you. Instead of honoring me, you profane me. You profane me when you say, ‘Worship is not important, and what we bring to worship is of no account,’ and when you say, ‘I’m bored—this doesn’t do anything for me.’ You act so superior, sticking your noses in the air—act superior to me, God-of-the-Angel-Armies! And when you do offer something to me, it’s a hand-me-down, or broken, or useless. Do you think I’m going to accept it? This is God speaking to you! “A curse on the person who makes a big show of doing something great for me—an expensive sacrifice, say—and then at the last minute brings in something puny and worthless! I’m a great king, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, honored far and wide, and I’ll not put up with it!”
Malachi 1:6-14 MSG
The story of Cain and Abel is one of the best illustrations of true worship. In the days before the first advent of Jesus, individuals would engage in a ritual that would serve as a preview to the work He came to accomplish. That ritual was sacrifice. They would sacrifice by giving God the first and best of their produce and increase as a way of placing God at the forefront of their lives.
When it was time to sacrifice, both brothers came to church with the supposed intent of this ritual of worship. They both showed up. They both prepared offerings. They both brought sacrifices but only one of the brother’s offerings was accepted by God. God accepted the offering of Abel while rejecting the offering of Cain. Why? The difference lies in what they choose to offer.
The Bible says that Cain brought a gift but that Abel brought his best gift. Do you see the difference? Cain gave God just anything but Abel gave God his everything. Cain brought in the leftovers that were just lying around but Abel gave God his prized possession. Abel gave his best while Cain gave something that was easy. Abel treated God like a prince but Cain treated Him like a pet. This story lets us know that the offering God desires and accepts is one of quality.
While we don’t offer animal offerings today, Paul does tell us that our sincerest form of worship does involve sacrifice. Instead of sacrificing a spotless lamb, we are called to give ourselves as a holy and acceptable offering unto God. This is what worship looks like today. It’s not just singing or going to church, it’s living your life dedicated to God.
Now the issue lies in the fact that many of us are still like Cain. We are treating God as an appetizer and not an entree. We may read a little devotional or say a little prayer in the morning but our life isn’t surrendered to God. Our life doesn’t revolve around God. Like Cain, we aren’t giving Him our best. We aren’t giving Him the best of us.
Our passage today is sobering. Our text says that we are often like Cain. We give our best to our bosses or parents but give leftovers to God. In this passage, God is reprimanding the priests and leaders of that day for bringing worthless sacrifices. They are bringing offerings not because they want to give God their best, but simply because they want to get rid of the burdens in their lives. Isn't that crazy? They bring their blind and lame sacrifices not as a way of saying they value God fully but as a way of getting rid of undesirables. It was just something to do.
They did the ritual of service for personal gain and not true worship. They simply went through the motions. The question I have today is, are we the same way? You may not sacrifice animals now but my question is this. Are you truly surrendering your all to God for God and God alone? Is the main goal to give God your best because He deserves it?
If worship is about giving of yourself, who gets the best of you? Who gets the best of your time and energy? If your job or friends were to call, you’d jump up and give your all but when God calls do you drag your feet? You are on time to work every day but is church too early? You go and work out every day for a hoop dream you know won’t pan out but you can’t serve in church with the same dedication? You excel and create for your career, but can you excel for God? You study day in and day out to graduate with honors and multiple degrees. You make sacrifices for your academic achievement and advancements but you can’t study your Bible with the same intensity? Great minds and gifts are being used for selfish ambition and not being offered back to God for His use. You have been gifted beyond comprehension, but is your gifting used for you or for the edification of the body of Christ? Is your lifestyle more akin to Cain or Abel?
When we are striving for success, the first thing on the chopping block seems to be our relationship with God and others. When our schedule gets busy, the first thing we cut is time with God. I'm not saying you can't have friends or a career. I’m not saying you can’t have hobbies or spend time and energy on other things. But I am saying that God shouldn't be prioritized under those other things. It doesn't make sense to say you're a follower of Christ while giving Him nothing but leftover time and energy. Add Him as a line item in your schedule as you would for other important things. Don't treat Him as something for you to get to when you get to.
Imagine a spouse that you made a covenant to love spending all their time and effort on everything but you. They put their all into work, health, and finances, but whenever you want to sit down with them they’re too busy. They say they love you but they sacrifice for everything and everyone else but you. You give your all and sacrifice for them day in and day out but it’s never reciprocated in the slightest. How would you feel? How do you think God feels?
There are some things you can’t do halfway. You cannot be half-married. You either are or you aren’t. There is no middle ground. You are either in or you’re out. Many of us treat God like a side chick. We hit Him up when it's convenient or when we need something.
Something I’ve learned from watching healthy relationships and trying to build one on my own is that they take intentionality. They take sacrifice. You have to put in effort if you expect to receive fruit and if you say it's important to you it should show. People in healthy relationships create boundaries around their relationships. They care enough to schedule consistent time for dates, affirmation, and conversation. Growing up, I saw my parents sacrificing and fighting so that they could have a consistent date night each week. They would put phones away, reschedule meetings, and get a babysitter so that they could prioritize what they said mattered. In addition to that, they would say no to outside events and opportunities so that we could have a family night every Monday night. They built boundaries so that they could prioritize what mattered. Can we say the same thing about our relationship with God? If someone were to look at your relationship with God, would they see prioritization?
A healthy marriage is a prioritized marriage. The same can be said about our relationship with God. Like it is in a romantic relationship, while it’s nice to have spontaneous moments of connection, you should also have something consistent. You have to plan this. What will your time with God look like? When will it be? How will you build around it? Don’t expect it to just happen. Worship done haphazardly or lackadaisical isn’t worship. Are you putting this at the top of your list? Is it getting the same energy, creativity, and motivation that the other areas in your life get? Worship, by its very definition, must be holistic. It must be intentional. Your life is either worship unto God or it isn’t.
The way you spend your time and effort says a lot about you. If someone were to look at the time and emotional energy this week, would it prove that your priorities are what you say they are? Do you prioritize worship like you prioritize rest? Do you prioritize God like you would an assignment or a workout? Do you prioritize the call God has given you like you prioritize your occupation? Who is respected more in your life, God or your earthy boss? Does your life really revolve around God, or is it just a “when I feel like it” thing? Have you given up opportunities, prestige, or potential prosperity for Him? Would you? These are real questions that must be answered and adjusted if we are to call ourselves worshippers. God says that a lazy and haphazard worship that is detestable to Him.
I’m not saying that nothing else matters but comparatively, it shouldn't look like it does. Jesus Himself said that to truly follow Him, you must hate your family in comparison. Your prioritization and love for Him should be so intense that it makes the love of your parents look like hate in comparison.
Many of you believe that a Christ-centered life isn’t worth it or possible. You think I’m telling you to be poor and lonely. You think I'm telling you to abandon everything else in life. However, the true secret to life is that seeking God fully is actually what opens the door to abundant life in every other lane. Jesus said Himself that He is the way and that His goal is to liberate and offer an abundant life. The reason you can’t seem to juggle both God and everything else now is because you’ve placed them as equals, but when God is truly the thing of greatest value, it makes room for all your other needs to be provided. That’s the secret. Seek ye first, and everything else will be added. Stop making the everything else equal with what you are called to seek first. What if I told you that a better romantic relationship, a more fruitful financial experience, and a more rewarding professional pursuit could be on the other side of true prioritization?
Be creative in your pursuit. There are different pathways that may work better for some spiritual temperaments than others. Whether you want to journal, sing, reflect, or study, schedule a specific time or moment for you to pause and connect with God. Think of when you're most alert or creative. For some it’s early in the morning before everyone gets up, for others, it’s during a lunch break or late at night. Find time when you can have an uninterrupted moment with God. Think of how you can give God some of your best time. Find a book you can connect to. Maybe start reading through one of Paul’s letters or one of the gospels with a chapter each day. That’s something that has worked for me. Start small, but make sure it matters. Don’t give Him the leftover time. Schedule it so that you can give Him something that matters.
Worship is about giving all of you and giving the best of you. True worship places Christ as the priority, passion, and axis from which your life revolves. It’s not clocking in and out when you feel like it. It’s truly allowing God to be the decision-maker when it comes to your career, finances, health, relationships, and recreation. It’s holistic. It’s all-encompassing. A life surrendered to Christ is a life in slavery to Him. True worship is allowing whatever your hand finds to do at any moment in time to be done with all your might as if you were doing it for the Lord. It’s giving all of you all the time. Do you want to truly be all in?
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