Have you ever heard a person say, perhaps accompanied with a wistful voice, “How come we don’t have the presence of God in our services like we used to?” Perhaps you have even been the person who asked the question. Praise and worship is part of the New Covenant version of animal sacrifices. We don’t offer sheep; rather, we offer the fruit of our lips giving thanks to Him. But with every sacrifice or offering, there is a giver and a recipient. And gifts can be given with very impure motives at times.
That was the problem here in Malachi’s day. People were getting together talking about the good old days no doubt. To put it in our words, they had a great praise and worship band. They had educated clergy. They had a history of God’s intervention in their church and families. They had great testimonies. Hey, they even had prophets to declare the Word of Jehovah to them. They had everything going for them except God’s presence and His favor. And this was because they had everything except purity.
Holiness of heart, mind and body is not optional. You can sing, dance, shout, jump, holler, speak in tongues, prophesy and — to be quite biblical — cast out demons. But if you have not been through the refiner’s fire, your offering is not and will never be acceptable to God. Period. (Lest someone jump to New Testament terminology to defend, let’s jump to verse 6 here for a moment and remember that HE is the One who said, “I am the LORD, I change not.”) Because of His grace, we are not consumed, but that same grace is a cord pulling us ever toward the refiner’s fire. Jesus, your Lord, desires to baptize you with the Holy Spirit AND fire. When you have been through that fire, your offering will be acceptable and pleasant to God, the true recipient of worship.
