Today's passage begins of the second disputation of Malachi.

God says the sins of a believer are bad because they grieve the Father's heart, not just because they're breaking some abstract rule. Though they are. James 1:22... It's a relationship AND a religion.

Don't assume that God doesn't care how we live, act, treat people, and worship him!

A son honors his father... Jesus taught people to pray, "Our Father"...

The best chance your son has of growing up well is through having a strong father. We should love and nurture, but we are to be men, different from women!

Deuteronomy 6:7 - the shema... Teach biblical principles diligently to your children! One way to fill the world with believers is for strong believers to have lots of children.

To be a good example to your kids, be a good husband and a good father. Your children are your mission field! They need to see you die to your flesh. And they need to honor you, and have a degree of reverence for you. This is how they learn to respect their heavenly Father!

We must learn to honor and respect our heavenly Father. He is holy!

Numbers 6:27... God wanted his priests to bring him glory, but they despised his name in front of the people... not very priestly!

V7... When they profane his altar, they profane him.

Moses as Israel's leader was meant to make himself holy unto God for the sake of his people. It's an honor to be asked by God to do anything! But it's not to be taken lightly. To represent God, you must be separated unto him! Live above reproach, lest God be poorly represented!

Press onward toward the upward call of God! There's a calling on your life. Be a living epistle... People are reading your life. Represent our God well!

The altar, the table... Table means altar here.

V8... The priests were offering polluted food... Here we see it was that they were not offering their best animal sacrifices, with no blemish or defect! They were offering their worst, not their best.

And they knew better! So God was calling them to change their ways.

We can tend to do the same. We put God last.

God isn't making up a new standard here; he's calling them back to his original requirement!

If we've left the old paths established by Christ, we need to return! We need to submit to and honor him! We must obey and follow the Lord Jesus Christ.

Bribing the Almighty... they believed God would owe them if they gave him something. They expected God to honor his end of the bargain... This is not worship!

We are no longer under the law... We don't serve him to manipulate him or earn his favor... We do what we do out of a worshipful, grateful and thankful heart! So we don't give him our minimum-- we give him our best!

Ephesians 6... Do things as a service unto the Lord! He knows your motives.

Focus on the cross, learn who he is through his word, and learn to love him. As you grow, continue to give him your best, because he is worthy!

All glory and honor and power unto him!