Revival Involves Brokenness

 

Revival Involves Brokenness

Mal 1:9

SUBJECT: NEGLECT OF WORSHIP

THEME: Honoring God in our Worship Must Be our Number One Priority.

RELEVANCE:  Have we succumbed to problems of neglect, expediency-convenience, and outright disobedience? Do we have a proper perspective of God, or do we doubt His faithfulness to His promises?  

Such opinions lead to widespread unfaithfulness, and it affects the worship of others. We need to renew our perspective, reestablish our hope, and promote a proper faithfulness to God. 

INTRODUCTION:

1. What sins were the priests committing as they carried on their duties in the restored temple? This showed in the way they kept up superficial religious behavior which actually insulted God.

2.  God calls his people to revival, repentance, and brokenness! Verse 9 of Malachi chapter one gives us some insight to this necessary condition of revival called brokenness.

MESSAGE:

I.  Give God the Honor Worthy of His Name.   (Mal. 1:6-9)

God focuses on the priests, who should have been the spiritual leaders of the land. The priests were not giving honor to God’s name; they were taking the best for themselves.

A.  THE ALLEGATION (Mal. 1:6)

B.  THE VERIFICATION (Mal. 1:7-8)

C.  THE INSTRUCTION (Mal. 1:9).

There must be a humbling of oneself before the Lord and a fresh acknowledgment of his greatness and majesty.  A believer should return to a right view of God!  This will afford him a right view of self.

Revival happens when God's people, real Believers, are prepared for it. Renewal occurs when we are ready for it with tender receptive hearts and humble submissive spirits. Neither preacher, churches, or Christians can manufacture, produce, or orchestrate widespread far-reaching revivals! Such work belongs exclusively to God Almighty. We may certainly come to sense our great need for revival…our need for God, but He alone must give it! Revival often begins with believers coming under deep conviction and crying out to the Almighty in confession and repentance for our sins.

   1.  Appeal to God with a Broken Heart—Seek Repentance Toward God. (Mal. 1:9)

      A.  Involves Returning:  Repentance is a change of mind that results in a change of heart and actions.  Repentance or a broken and contrite spirit can lead to “godly sorrow that worketh repentance” when we yearn for forgiveness for our sins.

There must be a return to respect and honor the Lord once we recognize we have departed from this high motivation in our living and service. We need to return to devoted living and service…to the True and living God with respect this. A revived life is the new reasons for our existence and meaning.

      B.  Involves Brokenness:  Call upon God with all Humility, Brokenness, and Contrition. “And now, I pray you, beseech God that he will be gracious unto us”; literally, the face of God.

APPICATION: Brokenness brings an intense regret for the things I've done to God and what I've done to his name. It’s a matter of say, “God, my sin is against YOU, I've done this…I've belittled your name - I've sinned against YOU.” Brokenness is not merely regretting the consequences of our sin, or the damage done to our lives because we messed up; it's understanding the real impact of our sin against a holy and generous God. This understanding is brokenness that involves a bottomless godward sorrowfulness for what has been done against God and his name, rather than just regretting the costs, extent, failures, circumstances, or magnitude of our actions.

Psalm 34:18, The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. 

Psalm 51:17, The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

Such spiritual brokenness can be a key to developing a strong relationship with God. It can involve:

              1.  Brokenness can lead to humility, which can allow God to use someone in new ways. A humble brokenness is the proper attitude posture before God.  Like Joshua and the elders, we should humble ourselves so that we will be able to hear his words (Josh 7:6).

              2.  Humility keeps us from depending on our own strengths. Only after Israel was defeated did they turn to God and ask what happened (Josh 7:3). Too often we rely on our own skills and strength, especially when the task before us seems easy. It’s not that our strengths and various abilities do not matter, they do; but God expect us to not only give ourselves but to count on Him for victory, triumph, and achievement.

              3.  Humility makes our prayers direct and honest. Imagine praying the way Joshua prayed to God. Joshua poured out his real thoughts to God. Hiding your needs from God is ignoring the only one who can really help. God welcomes your honest prayers and wants you to express your true feelings to him. Any believer can become more honest in prayer by remembering that God is all-knowing and all-powerful and that his love is everlasting. So, it is okay to admit when we are depleted of zeal, our commitment is wanning, our devotion is periodic, or our service is perfunctorily. It is right to ask God to renew our strength, increase our discipline, and help us to stay the course! The Lord already knows these things and can help us experience revival in these areas.  Isaiah 57:15, For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

Isaiah 66:2, For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

Brokenness is being so crushed by our sin and the darkness of the world that we recognize there is no place to turn but to God. This comes when our desire to be cleansed from sin is so consuming that our hearts ache with sorrow and we yearn to feel at peace with our Father in Heaven.  

      C.  Involves Faith:  Regarding brokenness, trust God to deal with you in grace (Ex 32:11; Jer 26:19; Lam 2:19). Repentance and faith are the ways we response to God’s grace and initiative. Many fail to realize that brokenness is really a tremendous gift from God that demonstrates His remarkable and unfailing love.

APPLICATION: Keep in mind that God uses brokenness to deepen our understanding in at least three ways: 1) We gain a new perspective of His mercy and provision and learn to depend on Him more. 2) We develop a more complete comprehension of ourselves. 3) Our compassion and understanding for others' suffering grows. Beloved, embrace brokenness and trust God alone to bring you through the difficulties, challenges, and persecutions.

   2.  Approach God Seeking to Please Him.  (Mal 1:9)

Regarding the person, “Will he regard your persons?” The idea seems to be this: “You are expecting that God will accept you just because you are priests, on account of your official standing alone. You think that it does not matter to him what you are morally, so long as you go through the routine of his service according to the standards;” It is intimated plainly enough that their intercessions on behalf of the people must be in vain so long as they are acting unworthily. -W. W. Wiersbe

Certainly the governor (peḥâh, a Persian title) would not have been pleased with the meat of blind, crippled, or diseased animals; in fact he would not have accepted it. How much more absurd it was to expect the favor of the Lord Almighty (cf. Mal. 1:4) with such offerings. He did not accept such sacrifices, nor did He accept (vv. 8–9) the priests. ^[1]

      A.  The Sense in Which God Does Regard the Person.

            1. He deals with everyone individually, never loses the one in the many; each person stands out distinctly before him as if there were no other. We need to dwell on this truth, because people readily hide themselves from their own view, and mistakenly perceive thy are hiding themselves from God’s view, in the class, group, church, or ethnicity they belong to. Such actions do not prevent God from dealing with individuals or a single person.

             2. He deals with a person’s moral condition. That belongs exclusively to the individual. This is the matter of supreme concern to God.

      B.  The Sense in Which God Does Not Regard the Person.

He is no “Respecter of persons.” This enlarges the idea, and we may see:

             1. That God takes no account of attractions, appearances, or stature. “Man looketh on the outward appearance, but God looketh on the heart.”

             2. God takes no account of social rank. He pays no attention to the rich; he shows no special attention to the poor. His supreme interest is in the individual, not the status of the person. This does not imply any failure in our appreciating the value of social status and influence; it only emphasizes that these are not the matters of Divine consideration.

             3. God takes no account of official position. No one has special favor with God because he is a king, and no one has any special ground for pleading with God because he is a preacher. A believer’s power of intercession with God depends on his personal relations with God! No matter what our office may be, if there is not a correct state of mind and heart, God does not acceptance the person bases on their ministry or office.

The prophet urges them to repent of their sins so that God’s wrath might be averted.^[2]

CONCLUSION:

QUOTE: “The consideration of God's universal dominion, and the universal acknowledgment of it, should restrain us from all irreverence in his service.”   — Matthew Henry's Commentary

The priests were treating God in a way that they would not dare treat a human leader (1:8). The priests were listlessly going through the motions….  Malachi called on them to repent (1:9)! How can we avoid making the same mistakes?

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^[1] Craig A. Blaising, “Malachi,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 1578.

^[2] William MacDonald, Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments, ed. Arthur Farstad (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995), 1175.