Sunday Morning Service, 11/29/09

Songs

• [ This Is How We Overcome]
• [ Great In Power]
• [ How Great Is Our God]
• [ Glory In The Highest]
• [ Let This Christmas Be]
• [ I Have A Hope]
• [ Sing, Sing, Sing!]
• [ Power Of Praise]

Message: Wherein Have We Robbed God?

Pastor Ulysse

This morning we are going to talk about praise and worship.

God’s people at the time of Malachi were lukewarm, and it was manifest in many ways: spiritually, socially, and materially. They had lost their fear and reverence toward God. There was no more respect. We can see that even in the scripture that I just read. It happened eight times in this book that God told them what they had done, and they said, “Where?”

You can see that in personal relationships when you start losing respect for each other.

I lived that a couple of days ago when I babysat my little girl. We were cleaning the house, and she was about to touch something, and I said “Hey! Don’t touch that!” The noise was too loud for her, and she ran like crazy to get away. I felt really bad. But if it had been Junior or Esther, they would probably have stayed right there and kept doing what they were doing. The older they get, the less quickly they act on your command.

So we see that the people had lost their respect for God.

When you lose respect, and people talk, and you want to justify yourself, you basically tell them that they’re lying. This is what they said to God, and God said, “You want proof? I’ll give you proof.”

So you see, God didn’t even have to go into all of that. When I read this scripture as a father, I think a lot about having your kid argue with you. They’re telling you back, and it’s just a mess; you know what I’m talking about. This is how it was with God, and yet God is telling them that he loves them.

Their disrespect was manifest by their disregard for God’s institution of marriage. They got married to whomever they wanted to, and they got divorced whenever they wanted to. Divorce was quick and easy. We understand that marriage represents the union between Christ and the church. Marriage is something special, and shouldn’t be taken lightly. Of course, today, marriage is like a game. If you don’t win the first time, you try again and again.

Their lukewarm-ness was manifest in their love for money and material things, and by their failure to pay tithes. Finally it got to the point where God said, “You have robbed me.” This is an expression of astonishment. When you look at it, it is a daring thing to rob God. How can we dare rob God? Think about it! It is shamefully ungrateful; robbing God is like robbing your father. If you think about how he raised you all your days, and now you’re robbing him, it is senselessly self-destructive. If whatever your dad has is yours, and you’re robbing it just to waste it, you are destroying your own self. Also, it is certainly foolish to think you can rob God and get away with it.

If I sin against you, I can go to Pastor Thomas to judge between us. But what if you sin against God? He is the judge; there is no one else you can go to.

Stealing is different from robbery. Stealing is like when you break into somebody’s car and take it away. The punishment is less than for robbery. A robbery is taking directly from somebody; it is pointing a gun to somebody and putting their life in danger. This word is not to be used lightly.

We have just read about the time of Malachi, but we are still robbing God, in praise and worship. We really do. You may ask, “Where are you going? How can we steal from God in praise and worship?” You are rebelling, just as they did in Malachi’s day. Just sit still and listen.

In ourselves, when the music is playing, for example, we feel it. This morning, the music was beautiful. I felt like jumping. But something deep in me was telling me, “Wait a minute, Hubert. Is all of that praise and worship just for you?” You say “The music is great! I really enjoyed it!” But you are not the one to judge whether it is great or not. It’s like someone would say “It’s a nice day; the weather is wonderful,” and you say “Thank you.” It should not be you; it should be God.

Now, when the music is playing, God doesn’t have a problem with you enjoying it, but the thing is that it’s not yours; it’s his. When we get excited and clap and shout, we are enjoying it for ourselves. But we should be asking whether God is enjoying it. When we worship him with our lips and our hearts are far from him, then God doesn’t enjoy it.

In Haiti we have carnival music, and it’s really worldly. After the carnival, you look to see how many people were killed and how many girls got pregnant. That’s what you look for. And you come out of church, and you hear the music. Do you think that just because you are a pastor, you don’t feel the music? Of course you do!

It’s like in the Navy when jokes were going around, and they are really dirty jokes. Of course you don’t want to laugh, but sometimes the jokes are really funny. Sometimes I had to run to the bathroom or something to laugh.

Just because your are enjoying the worship and the music doesn’t mean that God is enjoying it.

The Bible says that the builder is greater than the building. If we have talents for God, whatever we are is from God. But we tend sometimes to look at the person playing or singing and say “Wow! That person can play! That person can sing!” And the person playing or singing may say, “That’s nothing. I practiced.” But they should say, “Thank God.”

You hear a lot of messages about worshiping the creator instead of the creation. But you see a building or great things and you say, “Wow! That is amazing!” You basically want to worship that thing, but you forget about the engineer who designed it; you forget about all those who worked to build it. This is what happens in our life. God is the builder of everything: every thing we do and every gift we have. If man went to the moon, it was God who gave him the ability. If we are beautiful, it is God who made us beautiful. So if someone says, “You are beautiful,” we should say “Thank you, God. You are great.”

So when we come to worship, we should say, “Oh, Lord, glory to your name. You gave them the gift to make beautiful music.” God loves glory. He does. The Bible says that we are created in the image of God, and no man wants to be put down. No one really wants to be told they are worthless. God is the same thing. We don’t need to lie to God, like men lie to women. They say, “You are …” (such-and-such), because they feel like they have to say it. But God deserves it.

Everything, whether tree or animal or person was made by God. Even the little tiny ant that I probably can’t see anymore because my eyes aren’t as good. God deserves glory, because he is God.

This is a passage that has a lot of meaning to it. From the beginning, if you read, Paul was telling them “It is a light thing if I were to be judged by you.” The people were puffed up so high that everybody else was nothing. They put themselves up high and special, and put down everybody else. But Paul said, “Who maketh thee to differ? And what do you have that you did not receive?” You can’t say that that you have anything that you didn’t receive, because you were born with nothing, right? So whatever you have, you have it from somebody else. We need to know that so we can humble ourselves and give the glory to God. If we don’t do that, we rob from God.

This is ironic; he is saying “You are rich; you reign as kings.” But looking at them, it is not true. He says, “I wish it were true.”

The Bible says that we need to worship God in spirit and in truth. Though the music is a help, you should come from home with a spirit of worship in your heart. Every worship song that you hear comes from someone who was pricked in their heart. You and I may not have the gift of singing, but that’s why the Bible says for us to make a “joyful noise” unto God. No matter who you are or where you are, you can raise your hand and say, “Thank God.” And if a song comes to your heart and you are not a singer, you should still make that joyful noise. If you do not, then you are robbing God, because you making that joyful noise may be a sign unto others. There may be others who want to make a joyful noise, but they are afraid. They don’t want to disturb the schedule or the way things are. Maybe the fire is burning inside, but they are waiting for someone else to start.

Everything, the whole earth is of God. When Jesus met the Samaritan woman by the well, and he asked the lady for water, the lady said, “What communion, what relationship do you have with me?” And Jesus said, “You just don’t know. If you knew who I was, you wouldn’t wait for me to ask you; you would ask me, and I would give you water that would not end.” It’s amazing how we rob God in our praise. But the more we praise him, the more reason he gives us to praise him. He says, “Prove me now, and see if I will not open up the windows of heaven. Prove me, and see if I will not bless you more, and give you more reason to praise.”

This message maybe wasn’t for you this morning, but I would advise you to take it as a shield, as a safety net. Every day, in everything you do, in your relationship with everyone, wherever you go and whatever you look like, you are not praising him for that; you are praising him because he is God. That’s why the Hebrew children said, “We understand the danger we’re in, but whatever happens, we will worship God.” I don’t know how God is treating you, but he is telling you that he loves you. He wants you to worship him, that he may be your father, and you may be his son.