Unworthy Hearts

Today's scripture reading is found in Malachi, chapter 1, verses 6 to 14.

Malachi 1:6–14

Please follow along as I read.

A son honours his father, and a servant his master.

If then I am a father, where is my honour?

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 favour, says the Lord of hosts?

And now entreat the favour of God.

That he may be gracious to us.

With such a gift from your hand, will he show favour to any of you, says the Lord of hosts?

O that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire upon my altar in vain.

I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts.

And I will not accept an offering from your hand.

For from the rising of the sun to its setting, my name will be great among the nations.

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.

But you profane it when you say that the Lord's table is polluted, and its fruit, that is, its food, may be despised.

But you say, what a weariness this is.

And you snort at it, says the Lord of hosts.

You bring what has been taken by violence, or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering?

Shall I accept that from your hand, says the Lord?

Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished.

For I am a great king, says the Lord of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations.

This is the reading of God's word.

Please be seated.

Good morning, everyone.

If you haven't met me before, my name is Alistair, and I'm one of the pastors here at Watermark Church.

But I've only been here for a short time, maybe three months now.

So if you haven't met me, then please come and say hello.

I'd love to come and meet you.

One of my cousin's kids, I asked her once, she went to school, and it was kind of before, it was like a preschool.

She was only four years old.

And I said, so, are there many friends at your preschool?

And she said, there are so many friends that I haven't even met them all yet.

And so that's kind of what it's like with you guys.

You're all friends, but I haven't met some of you yet.

So I hope that I will meet all of you as time goes on.

And we have a bunch of people here also that are from overseas and have come and joined us in the elite crowd.

So it's great to see you guys here.

When I visited Watermark last year, actually, you guys were here too.

So if you were here last year, I remember you from then.

24 hours ago, I was in Singapore, trying to get ready to pack and leave to come back to Hong Kong.

And I've been on it two weeks away in Taipei and Singapore with Aldrin and also with Eric.

And we were on the City to City Redeemer Church Planning Training and Assessment Program.

It was a four-week program, two weeks in Hong Kong, a bit in Taipei, a bit in Singapore.

And it was a fantastic time to get to know different church planners from all around the Asia-Pacific area,

to see different church plants, including Watermark, in action, in Taipei as well and in Singapore,

and to meet some trainers and people who had been church planners,

who had done it for maybe two years, five years, ten years, twenty years,

and to learn from these people.

It was a great opportunity.

And because I knew that I was preaching back here on Sunday,

I was preparing kind of during the week as I was away as well,

and I thought, oh, that's all right, I've got Saturday to prepare.

And, you know, I'd always wished when I was working in previous jobs

that I'd had one of those jobs which would send you flying all over the world, you know,

and you'd be able to, like, work from your laptop, and you'd go wherever you like,

and you'd see all these different places.

And so I was kind of experiencing this, and it was really great to be overseas

and to be learning from these guys.

But I've realized it's actually really hard work to try and work while you're on the go.

So, you know, it takes me about probably 15 minutes to really kind of get settled

and to think and to pray and to get ready to start the creative process

that's required to begin working on a sermon.

But when you're going from airport lounge to airport lounge to plane to off the plane,

you only really get about 20 minutes at a sitting.

So you just kind of just barely get started, and they're like,

okay, final call, Mr. Alistair Chu, kind of thing.

And then when you get on the plane, you finally have some uninterrupted time.

But if you happen to be sitting next to a 6'8 giant like Eric happens to be,

there isn't a lot of room to move and to put the laptop up and so on.

And it's just, yeah, it's just tricky.

So I really thank you for those who've been praying for today.

I really need it.

We all have things that kind of we wished for maybe when we were younger,

but that maybe didn't turn out quite the way that we expected them to.

You know, some kind of disappointment, like with me and the flying thing.

But what if we're disappointed in God?

What would that look like?

Suppose we doubted what God had to say and mistrusted him.

Or suppose that we had grown weary in serving God, or perhaps lazy,

and had a lack of devotion in our hearts.

Suppose that we thought that it was futile to serve God,

that there was this futility that we were questioning.

You know, is this worth it?

Like, what is the purpose of us doing this?

And so we end up dishonoring or disrespecting the name of God.

Well, that's the situation which we find ourselves here in Malachi,

the first few chapters,

where the Israelites have reached a stage

where they have grown weary of serving God.

And as a result,

they bring dishonor and disrespect to,

as it says,

the table of the Lord.

And as Alfie said before,

you can understand it.

Because it had been some time

since they had seen

kind of the great and marvelous works of God.

And when they came back,

so these Israelites have been away from the land in exile,

punished by God for their disobedience,

and they have come back

expecting to rebuild their land.

But somehow,

what they saw in front of them

didn't match up to the expectations which they had.

And so they were disappointed.

They were weary.

They scoffed at God,

and they wondered whether it was worth it at all to serve Him.

And this is shown in their sacrifices,

when they were bringing unworthy sacrifices to God.

As it says,

they were bringing blind, lame, or diseased animals to God.

You can just imagine,

you know,

you've got a dinner party, right?

And someone's,

you know,

a friend is coming over.

And let's say you owned a farm,

and you had a bunch of sheep out there,

and you're going to sacrifice or slaughter one of them for the meal.

And, you know,

one of them got run over by truck.

And you're like,

oh, that one,

that'll do.

Let's grab that one,

and we'll take that.

I mean, he's dead anyway,

so, you know,

we can just clean it off a bit,

get the tire marks off it,

and then we'll be good to go.

We'll serve it for dinner.

What if,

instead of a friend,

it was, say,

the town mayor?

Or a sporting hero of yours?

Or perhaps the Queen of England,

for those of you who are from Commonwealth countries?

You show disrespect to your honored guest

by what you present on the table.

And in this case,

it's not just an honored guest,

but the God of the universe

that the Israelites are serving,

who saved them again and again,

who they are showing disrespect.

And they grumble and complain about it as well.

You know,

they say,

this is a weariness.

And is it worth it to serve God?

You see in chapter 3.

They question God's love for them

back in verse 2 of chapter 1.

And they felt like it's a burden,

a great burden to serve the Lord

down there in verse 13.

Why did they keep doing it then?

Why were they bringing these sacrifices,

which clearly their heart was not in,

out of a sense of obligation, perhaps?

A sense of duty.

You see,

verse 9 tells us that

they actually wanted acceptance from God.

They wanted to gain His favor.

And so they keep doing it

in such a way as to,

perhaps,

that God might show favor to them.

Warning something from His hand.

Or,

it could be that they do it

to gain approval from others.

To be seen to be doing the right thing.

Jesus talks about that

when He's talking with the Pharisees.

And He says,

He talks about them

loving to do their deeds before others.

To be seen by others.

You see,

their practices

revealed what is inside their hearts.

Their unworthy hearts.

Because ultimately,

there's a lack of love for God

in their hearts.

Sometimes my dad

would often clean up the table.

And when I say clean up,

I don't mean like into the bin.

I would mean clean up the food

left over by his kids, us,

and it would go into his mouth.

And often he would say,

you know,

I'm the laptop tongue,

the rubbish bin, right?

And that's what he'd call himself.

And, you know,

it was a joke and so on.

But what if,

you know,

say it's Father's Day

or it's birthday, right?

And we kids are like,

you know,

creating a card

and we pull out,

you know,

a bit of cardboard

from the rubbish bin.

It's got a bit of food

all over it

and kind of scrape it off

and we write on that

and present that

as a gift to him.

What kind of,

how would he take that?

What kind of dishonor

and disrespect

would that be to him?

What it would show

is that

we didn't really care

about God.

Sorry,

about,

we kids wouldn't have cared

about our dad.

We were just going

through the motions.

It was just an obligation.

And how do you think

God feels

about the way

that the Israelites

are going about

their sacrifices,

going through the motions

full of weariness

and laziness,

full of doubt

and mistrust

and a lack of devotion?

I'll tell you

how he feels.

In verse 10,

he wishes that

they would shut

the doors of the temple.

They would just

shut the doors

and close it all up,

put out the fires,

forget it,

go home.

Don't even bother coming,

he says,

because your hearts

are not there.

You haven't come

at all, really.

You've been,

you've left

your hearts at home

or wherever

they're desiring

and you're just

going through the motions.

A lack of love

for God

in their hearts

means that they're

disobeying

the greatest commandment,

that is to love

the Lord your God

with all your heart

and soul

and mind

and strength.

Well,

have you ever

felt like this?

Who are we serving?

If we're not serving God,

then we end up

serving ourselves.

There are many things

that we chase after

in the city

and in the city

where I'm from,

in Sydney,

people chase after

security

in the form of property

and they chase after

status and power

and position

as defined by wealth.

So the thing

that Sydney people,

Sydney scientists

talk about most,

more than anything else,

is property,

property values

and where's the best place

to buy

and all that kind of thing.

And I think

it's not that different

here in Hong Kong.

People chase after

these things

and they get enslaved

to them,

sacrificing their family

and friends

and relationships

and other things

on the altar

of success,

of wealth,

of status,

of power.

Who are we serving?

Because what we serve

is what captures

our hearts.

You might have a job

and you say,

I'm serving my boss.

But what holds you there,

binds you

to that position

with chains

that are stronger

than steel,

often it's the status

and the lifestyle

that come with that job.

Or perhaps

it's the dream

of a better life

that might come

in the future

from this job.

And underneath

all of that,

it's the approval

of man

that is driving us.

You see,

if these are the things

that have captured

our hearts,

the reason why

we get up in the morning,

then these have

effectively displaced God

as the number one desire

in our hearts.

Because if we're not

serving God,

we're serving our idols.

But you might say,

some of us are serving God

in our lives.

We're heavily involved

in church.

We've been following God

all our lives.

Well, I say,

like the Israelites,

we too may be

serving God

to gain approval

or acceptance

or out of a sense

of obligation

or duty.

Obligation means

that we're doing it

out of fear.

We feel a deep need

for acceptance,

which is why we continue

to go through the motions.

Or perhaps

our identity

is so wrapped up

in what we do

that we keep on doing

the Christian thing

even though

we might have lost

the heart for it

a long time ago.

This is my story,

actually.

I've been serving

as a minister

for five years

before I came here

to Hong Kong.

And before that,

of course,

I've been involved

in university ministry

and through Bible

College and so on.

And I think

over that time,

I just felt

my heart slipping

further and further

away from

where it should be.

But I was still

serving God.

I was still

going through

the motions.

I was still

continuing to do

all the things

which were

expected of me.

But it was

out of obligation.

Perhaps out of a sense

of identity

that this is who I am

as someone

who serves God.

But by then,

my heart was

no longer in it.

And approval,

I found as well,

that we might

try and serve God

to impress others

or perhaps even

to impress ourselves

to fulfill our own

need for self-fulfillment

in this world.

We serve God,

if we serve God

out of approval,

out of a motivation

to look good

in front of other people,

and we base

our self-concept

and our self-worth

on being the kind

of person

who is a good person,

a moral person,

a person who serves God,

then that can lead

to a couple of things.

First of all,

we can look down

upon those

who don't serve God

in as good a way

as we do,

who don't have

the compassion,

who don't meet

our standards of service.

We'll begin to feel

like we deserve

acceptance

and a better life

from God

because of what we do

and who we are.

You see,

we're actually doing it

to get favor

from God,

much like the Israelites

were.

Oh, and if,

somehow,

God doesn't favor us

as we think we deserve,

what happens then?

Well,

we get angry at Him,

deeply angry.

When trials

and hardships come

as God has said

that they will come,

we might say,

God,

it wasn't supposed

to be this way.

Didn't I do everything?

Didn't I give up

everything to serve you?

Why aren't you

blessing my ministry,

my life?

Our unworthy sacrifices

also reveal

something deeper

that is going on.

It is our hearts

which are unworthy.

So what do we do about it?

Or what do we try

and do about it?

There's two things we try.

First of all,

is we try harder

and then secondly,

we give up.

We try harder

and that's the path

of moralism.

We strap on our boots

and get out there

and think that we can

strive ourselves

back into service.

And that might work

for a while.

But what that leads to

is a joyless Christianity.

One where we've lost

the heart of it

and we're simply doing it.

We're simply forcing

ourselves to do that.

And it's a Christianity

that condemns others

as well because we look

down our noses

at those who can't meet

those standards

that we do.

But it's tiring

living that way.

And eventually,

we get tired

and we give up.

God hasn't given us

what we wanted

and so we walk away.

And what we're really

saying in our hearts

is,

God,

this thing that I wanted

from you,

this thing that I wanted

is greater than my love

for you

and if I don't get it,

then I will abandon you

and walk away.

because something else

has displaced God

in our hearts.

Whether it's the approval

of humans,

whether it's a certain status

that we wanted,

a certain lifestyle,

a certain friendship.

And we forget

that even though God

has given us everything

in our lives

and He's been generous

upon generous to us,

we feel that He's distant

and we feel that He's

withholding from us

and we feel that He's

not generous at all.

And like the Israelites,

we lose our sense of love

and thankfulness

and we think of God

as a miser

withholding from us.

And when we think that,

then we turn into misers too.

We keep things for ourselves.

I'm willing to share ourselves

with God and with others.

Well, I've gone down

both of these paths.

Trying harder

and then giving up.

And I started to think of God

as one who blessed other people,

but not me.

And so I turned away

from the God

who gave me life

and breath

and everything.

My unworthy heart

was shown

in my actions.

What will God do

about our unworthy hearts?

He will send one

who is worthy

to be the sacrifice

that we couldn't make.

He sent His Son

to redeem us

from our unworthiness.

You see,

Christ came to do

what we could not.

When He came,

He served God

fully

and wholeheartedly

without turning away,

without giving up,

all the way

to the end,

without self-seeking.

And He became

the truly worthy sacrifice

that covered all

of the unworthy sacrifices

that the Israelites made

and all of the unworthy sacrifices

that we make.

We're told

to look to Christ

as our sacrifice.

We're told

to look to Christ

where we have

full acceptance

from God.

We're told

to look to Christ

where we have,

where we see

divine approval

from God.

As Christ

is the one

who sacrificed Himself

on the cross,

so we see

that we can

come to Him

and be accepted

by God.

No longer

do we have to fear

God's anger,

God's punishment.

No longer

do we have to fear

the approval,

gaining or not gaining

the approval

of our fellow human beings.

Because in the cross,

God declares that,

God declares His love

for a people

that have walked away

from Him.

For a humanity

that has turned

their back on Him,

God reaches down

and rescues us.

It's not enough

that God has created us,

created the world

that we live in,

created the stars

and the heavens

and the trees

that we see,

the air that we breathe.

It's not enough for us.

We're still turned away.

And so God came

into the world,

became one of us,

died for us

to win us back.

That's the kind of God

that we serve.

The kind of God

who wins us,

whose acceptance

we don't need to

try and achieve.

What that means

is that we can now

be free.

Freed from that sense

of obligation,

of duty.

Freed from that sense

that I had before

of feeling like

I had to go

through the motions

to just continue

doing this thing

because this was

my identity.

My identity

is now in Christ.

And what that means

for me

is that

I'm free

to worship Him

regardless of

whether

I'm a pastor,

regardless of

whether I'm teaching

or not,

regardless of

of what I'm doing.

I'm a child of God

first and foremost.

We can now be free

to offer our sacrifices

whether it's time,

money,

gifts,

labor,

even our families.

We can offer it

to Him

without fear.

We can offer it

to Him

without fear

of missing out

because in Christ

we see that

God is

generous.

we don't need

to worry

or fear

about missing out

of what God

gives to us.

As Jesus said,

those who follow me,

those who have given up

much for me

will receive many times

in this world

and then eternal life

in the world to come.

And we don't need

to fear punishment

because in Christ

we see that God

is forgiving.

And these were the things

that the Israelites

were worried about.

They were worried

that they would miss out

if they gave

more of what they had

to God

because they saw God

as somebody

who was holding

stuff tight

and they were afraid

of punishment.

You see,

it's a totally different

way of relating to God.

I call it thankfulness

and it's kind of

like a jealousy.

A jealousy,

a kind of a,

what kids do,

you know,

when they snatch things

away from one another.

They say,

this is mine,

this is mine.

We do that to God

because we feel like

He hasn't provided for us.

If He hasn't given us enough,

then we have to,

with our own two hands,

take what is ours.

Instead of being

like the Israelites

who grumbled

and complained about God,

bringing their diseased

and crippled sacrifices

to God,

having hardened hearts

that lost their love

for God long ago,

we can see afresh

the love of God

for us.

We can realize

that He has given us

everything

and withheld

not even His own Son.

And what happens is

that as our vision

of God changes,

as we see God

who He truly is,

as we turn away

from seeing God

as some kind of miser

who holds on to things

and refuses to give them

to us,

to being one who

abundantly and generously

and overflowingly

gives us of His love

and His acceptance

and His favor,

then we too

can change

from being miserly

to overflowing

with thankfulness,

to being generous

of spirit.

And we won't hold on tight

with clenched fists

the things that we have

to protect ourselves,

but instead we'll be open,

open-hearted

with our friendship,

with our relationships,

with our service,

with our wealth,

regardless of whether

we have much

or little.

Will we open

with our very hearts

because our very hearts

will have been captured

by the wonder

of the heart of God

who came,

who sent His Son

to come and die for us.

And I need to hear this

as much,

if not more,

than any of you.

And it's a journey

that we're all on together.

And one of the great things

that I love about

our church here at Watermark

is that we are on

this journey together.

You see,

we learn the gospel

in community

and we help each other on

knowing that

none of us have yet made it,

but that we're all heading

towards the same goal

and that is Christ.

And so,

won't you join me

in heading towards Christ,

in giving up

the loves

that take us away

from God

and in following

after the things

of our own hearts

instead of having

our hearts captured

by the wonder of God.

Let's pray.

Father God,

we thank you so much

that even though

we come to you

with unworthy hearts,

you are one

who is worthy.

And we pray

that you would help us

to be captured

by your love,

your worthiness,

and your son.

We thank you

that Jesus came

to sacrifice himself

for us.

We thank you

that we

are people

that even though

we bring nothing

to you,

you've done everything

for us.

Father,

we know that even

the sacrifices

that we make

are not worthy

of you

and our hearts

are often mixed

in their motivations.

But Father,

we ask that you

would purify us,

that you give us

such a vision

of who you are

that would never

leave us,

that would encourage

us when we're feeling

the things

of this world.

Father,

help us instead

to overflow

with thankfulness

as a response

to who you are

and what you've

done for us.

we pray that we

would also reflect

that love

towards one another

and to this world.

Amen.