Being Cheap With Jesus

Imagine you were a student and you had a History oral report due. You have been told that you are permitted to use any visual and audio props you wish to include. The teacher says "Knock my socks off with what you can do". You brag to all your friends how fantastic your report is going to be. You build up great expectations for your teacher. To great fanfare it comes to your turn. You stand in front of the class and read from your miserably boring PowerPoint slides. You receive a lousy grade.

Imagine your boss has given you a major project. You get paid a six figure salary to produce excellent work. You receive a great budget for the project because the boss does not want there to be any excuses. With each progress update you build a sense of anticipation for the boss. The buzz is happening throughout the company as everyone looks forward to the results of the project. Finally the due date has arrived. The boss and all employees gathering in the warehouse for the unveiling. After all that time, money and anticipation you present some tooth pick models and children stick figure drawings. You are fired.

Of course these are not things we would offer to people in authority over us. We would do our best to honour their authority. Offering less than our best reveals the condition of our heart and shows great disrespect for the authority. If we can understand this concerning temporary things, why can't we also understand it for the more important permanent spiritual things?

Malachi the prophet records some of Yahweh's complaints against his nation Israel. It was not so much their action as it was what their action revealed about the condition of their hearts. It seems that the attitude Yahweh saw was exactly as described above. The people would make a big show of honouring him with their sacrifices but what they offered was second best. They offered the animals that they could not sell. Whatever was left over is what they put on the altar. Yahweh reminded them, in a very simple but direct manner, who he is:

"For I am a great King", says the Lord of hosts, "And my name is to be feared among the nations." (Malachi 1:14)

The Message puts it in a way we might more readily appreciate:

"I'm a great King, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, honoured far and wide, and I'll not put up with it!"

The people of Israel had moved away from Yahweh and had lost their respectful reverence of who he is. Have you read Revelation recently? Do you know who Jesus is? Do you draw close to him to allow the Spirit to keep alive your reverence of the Name above all names? Do you realize who the Father is and what we owe him? For most people the answer is no. We have tried to make him so user friendly that we have reduced him to best friend and chum. Although there is an element of that familiarity to our relationship, he is so much more than that.

Many of us are just like the Israelites, keeping ourselves at a distance, offering our second best, our left-overs. Instead of offering our first fruits we offer what we think we can afford after everyone else has had a go at our harvest. We usually give to him whatever is left offer of our time, when we are already tired and just wanting to sleep, if we offer any time at all. As for service, it's whatever we can fit in when and if we can fit it in.

Look around at other people's devotion to their gods which are no gods at all. Look at the effort of the Muslims to a god who offers no hope or love. Look at people's dedication to their health or education. Look at the effort people put into their causes. You would think that the Christian who understood who Jesus is and what he has done for us and what he expects from us, would give all that they have to him.

Be hot or cold, said Jesus, just don't be lukewarm. If you are I will spit you out. And that is exactly what most of us have become, lukewarm. Very few are filled with the knowledge, wisdom, power and passion of someone who knows Jesus. We are more the religious type who read their Bible before going to sleep, dutifully say their cold prayers, stoically attend church, pay their tithes and are satisfied with their "sacrifice". It looks good but Father knows our hearts. There is a lot of spitting going on.

We need to re-capture the vision of who Jesus Christ is, after the resurrection. We need to hear those words, "For I am a great King, and my name is to be feared among the nations", and understand who it is we serve. We need to lay it all out on the altar, our very best. Don't harbour the altitude that you can offer something less than you would offer a person of authority on this earth. Our best belongs to Yahweh. Our lives belong to Yahweh. Our time, talents, possessions, relationships all belong to Yahweh. Our lives should reflect our reverence for our Lord. Nothing less will do.

What Is The Purpose Of Your Today?

What is your purpose? Why are you alive today? Why have you been given the gift of life for this specific day? Sometimes we wake up and start to move through our day without giving much thought to it. We get up, grab a shower, eat breakfast, get dressed and walk through our front door into the world without giving any thought to purpose. We think about what we need to get done. We think about our complaints. We think about what we want to do for pleasure. We think about friends and family. We think about stuff but we do not ponder the question, why?

You belong to Jesus Christ. He bought you. You didn't have to accept that purchase. You could have remained a slave to sin but you made the decision to accept the price that Jesus paid for you, so now you belong to him. But for what purpose? Are you just someone for him to throw blessings at, like a pet dog? Hardly. You have become his brother, his sister, a child of Father. You and I are now part of this incredible family. But is there purpose in it?

There is purpose for our life and for each moment of our day and I want you to see it through one simple verse found in Malachi. The context of this verse is interesting. Yahweh is chastising Israel for her neglect of their relationship. She took her relationship with Yahweh for granted and abandoned him and her purpose, to live a life she chose. But in the midst of the chastisement we find this gem of a verse which sheds some light on our relationship with Yahweh:

For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down,
My name shall be great among the Gentiles;
In every place incense shall be offered to My name,
And a pure offering;
For My name shall be great among the nations,”
Says the Lord of hosts. (Malachi 1:11)

Israel had rejected Yahweh and Yahweh was about to reject the people of Israel. But the Lord will never be without praise and worship. His name will never fail to be lifted up. Israel's purpose was not to become great for her own sake; she was to become great by the hand of Yahweh so that all nations would see the glory of Yahweh through Israel. But he could not bless her as he intended because of her disobedience. Yet, he had a plan that would still allow the nations to discover his glory and enter into relationship with him. That plan was Jesus.

What Yahweh stated through Malachi the prophet has come to pass. Consider the Church, a people who were not a people, the Body of Christ spread around the globe, found in every nation. Wherever you find a Christian you find the Church and you find the Spirit of God. Wherever you find the Church you find praise and worship, the lifting up of the name of Jesus. The sun never sets on the Church. The praise of Yahweh never ends, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, around the entire globe. While we are sleeping, brothers and sisters on the other side of the world are lifting up the name of Jesus. His name is great among the Gentiles.

It is interesting to study and investigate the incense offering but let us simply say here that it represents prayer and worship. The offering of incense was an act of worship in ancient days and was combined with prayer. Often incense was mixed with other types of offerings. What are the fundamentals of our relationship with Yahweh? Prayer and worship. And these are offered up in the name of Jesus all around the globe, in every country, all the time, as the saints seek the face of Yahweh.  His name is glorified among us and it comes from sincere hearts, completely possessed by the love of Jesus. It is our purpose today and every day.

As you open your eyes today I pray you will realize that you have a great purpose and responsibility: To bring glory and honour to Jesus. It is not a secondary thought after your 'To Do' list. It is the purpose of the air in our lungs. We worship him in prayer but also in our actions and words throughout the day. We have the same purpose of Israel, to allow Yahweh to bring glory to himself through us; through our strengths and weaknesses, our victories and defeats, in the sunshine and rain. Yahweh will never be without worship; all praise is due him. If you do not understand anything else about your purpose today understand that you have purpose and it is to worship Jesus in all your living so others will see his glory.