“His Name will be great”
By Michael Ball
Malachi 1:11 is one of those verses that we love to quote in the prayer and missions worlds. It is a clear and profoundly inspiring statement that the greatness of God will be proclaimed in every place. It’s not a goal or an aspiration, it is a statement , His name will be great among the nations. This gives us great confidence in the value of what we do in our prayer rooms because He said it’s going to happen everywhere and the very existence of our prayer room is testimony to the fact that He is doing this, He is stirring up His people to worship and to pray.
““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.”
The goal and fuel of Missions
It also gives us a a clear picture of what the mission of God is. When Jesus commissioned the disciples to go make disciples of all the nations, it was unto His name being great everywhere and unto a pure offering of worship rising from every believer in every place. John Piper describes worship as both the goal and the fuel of missions. We’re quite comfortable with the concept that worship and prayer fuels missions. As we gather to set our hearts on Him, He shares His heart and His burdens with us, which become the topic for our intercession and often inspires to action towards those things. But missions isn’t primarily a justice issue, it’s a worship issue. Jesus’ inheritance is not simply land mass or political power, it is people who love Him and live for Him. He is looking for a people of devotion, a people who live lives of worship. So worship is the central issue. Jesus Himself talked about how the gospel is inextricably linked to the expressions of extravagant worship (Mt. 26:13). So when we talk about a convergence of worship, prayer, and missions, it’s not simply that we worship and pray to stir up missions, or to seek strategy, or to ask God to bless our endeavour - we worship and pray, we seek justice, we share the gospel and we invite believers everywhere to step into to this Malachi 1:11 mission statement, that His name will be great in the nations, that a pure offering of worship and prayer will rise from every place. And we know from Isaiah 42 that as worship rises from the nations the Lord will respond in power.
The Challenge of Malachi 1:11
The challenge of Malachi 1:11 is the verses that surround it! Much like in the gospels when Jesus uses the phrase “my house of prayer” (Mt. 21:13; Lk. 19:46; Mk. 11:17), the context is a priesthood and a worship culture that is completely missing the mark. Specifically here at the start of Malachi, God is calling out what was being offered to Him. The priests were only sacrificing the worst animals available, the lame, the blind, the blemished, which speaks to their heart and intentions towards sacrifice and therefore towards God, the one they’re making these offerings to. So whilst they understood the rites and rituals of sacrifices and they understood the religious context they had lost their conviction of the value of it and they had lost their fear of the Lord. This reality is not confined to these ancient contexts, but can very easily creep in to our current expressions of worship and prayer. If you’ve been part of the house of prayer for any period of time you’ll likely have experience periods of feeling like you’re going through the motions, like you know that the value of what we do but feel disconnected at the same time. Whilst these are perfectly normal, how we respond to it is important. We see the priest of Malachi 1 had allowed complacency to set in and they gave up on giving God their best and began to give that which they didn’t want themselves. God’s response to this was to tell them to stop. He’d rather receive nothing than these tainted offerings. Our response should be to remind ourselves of who He is and ask Him to help us respond well to that truth. This is why we love singing the bible together! It helps us remain focused on the truth of who He is, what He is doing, and how He invites us to participate in His redemptive plans.
Reflection
Take a moment to consider, am I just going though the motions? Am I giving God the best part or simply a part in my worship, in the way I live? Ask Him to identify any areas you feel you’re missing the mark. Set this verse not as a goal but a statement of what God WILL do and the privilege it is to be a part of this happening across the earth!
Back in 2010 Michael & Becci Ball founded Manchester House of Prayer. Last year, God called them to work with OneEleven Global to support the house of prayer movement across the nations. You can hear more from them here.