Have you noticed all the sharp inspirational posters hanging around offices these days? "Perseverance: What the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve." "Determination: It’s the size of one’s will which determines success." "Leadership: Until you spread your wings you’ll have no idea how far you can fly."
You probably have one of these posters hanging up in your office or classroom. Each one has a bold, crisp statement about what we value and aspire to attain. Merely glancing at one of these posters can instantly transform an entire workplace. And don’t act like you don’t know what I am talking about. You’re tired, it’s the middle of the afternoon, but there on the break-room wall is a poster. Perseverance. You immediately become inspired!
Or it’s the beginning of a long week and your boss has just given you a tough assignment. You make a deep sigh, but then out of the corner of your eye you catch a glimpse of a new poster on his wall. Teamwork. You dig in for the long haul!
This past week I came across a whole new series of posters designed for workplace. "Motivation: If a pretty poster and a cute saying are all it takes to motivate you, you probably have a very easy job. The kind robots will be doing soon." "Indifference: It takes 43 muscles to frown and 17 to smile, but it doesn't take any to just sit there with a dumb look on your face." "Persistence: It's over man. Let her go." (source: www.despair.com) Of course, you all realize that we're kidding here, right?
Mediocrity: "Something that is adequate, but not very good."
What if we just started printing the simple truth on posters like these and began hanging them around our homes, offices, or schools? What would the posters say? Here's what one of the posters on www.despair.com said. "Mediocrity: It takes a lot less time and most people won't notice the difference until it's too late." Encarta dictionary defines mediocrity as, "something that is adequate but not very good."
In the book of Malachi we discover how mediocrity plagued the Jewish people. They falsely assumed that God would be pleased with "adequate" and "good enough." So they would only exert the absolute minimum energy necessary to get a job done. No more and no less. They were looking to see what they could get by with, instead of doing what God deserved.
The signs of mediocrity.
If you have your Bible, I want you to find Malachi. It's the last book of the Old Testament. You won’t find the word mediocrity anywhere in the book of Malachi, yet the signs of mediocrity are everywhere in it. In your outline take note that mediocrity always begins with a cynical attitude.
First sign of mediocrity: a cynical attitude.
The cynical attitude behind mediocrity is that God doesn’t care what we do or how we do it. The problem revealed in the opening verses of Malachi is that the Israelites didn’t think God cared about them. "God doesn’t value us. God doesn’t love us. He allowed our city wall to be destroyed, the holy temple to be leveled, and our families to be torn apart. He let our enemies conquer us. He took away our wealth, our land, and our possessions. In short, why should we care about God? He sure hasn’t shown concern for us."
If you don’t think someone cares or notices you, you’ll never give them your personal best. You'll only do what is "adequate" or "good enough." But in Malachi 1:2-3 (NIV) God says, " 'I have loved you,' says the LORD. 'But you ask, 'How have you loved us?' 'Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?' the LORD says, 'Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his mountains into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals." Before mediocrity is anything else, it is a snapshot of how we believe God sees us. When you are confident someone loves you, you spare no measure in what you do for her. When you think someone is indifferent, you hold back.
The Jewish people had no logical reason to doubt God’s love. They only had to look back through their history to see how God had blessed their forefathers, starting with Jacob, who was chosen of God out of all the nations to be blessed. And look what happened to Esau, who God had not chosen. When in doubt of God’s love, always go back to God’s track record in scripture. The destruction of Jerusalem wasn’t a result of God's love or indifference. The destruction was a direct result of Israel’s sin and indifference toward God. And now God was giving them a second chance. A fresh start. They had an opportunity to rebuild their lives.
Second sign of mediocrity: a blemished sacrifice.
But instead of acknowledging God’s love and giving him their best, they doubted God’s love and gave their very minimal effort. This cynicism overflowed into their worship. In your outline, take note that the people in Jerusalem offered blemished sacrifices to God.
For example, instead of offering their very best lambs to God, ones that would win a ribbon at the Illinois State Fair, they would offer animals that were blind or maimed! In Malachi 1:6-8 (NIV) God says, " 'A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?' says the LORD Almighty. 'It is you, O priests, who show contempt for my name.' But you ask, 'How have we shown contempt for your name?' 'You place defiled food on my altar.' But you ask, 'How have we defiled you?' 'By saying that the LORD’s table is contemptible. When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?' says the LORD Almighty."
And look at God’s offense in Malachi 1:10-14 (NIV). " 'Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you,' says the LORD Almighty, 'and I will accept no offering from your hands. My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the nations,' says the LORD Almighty. 'But you profane it by saying of the Lord’s table, 'It is defiled,' and of its food, 'It is contemptible.' And you say, 'What a burden!' and you sniff at it contemptuously,' says the LORD Almighty. 'When you bring injured, crippled or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?' says the LORD. 'Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For I am a great king,' says the LORD Almighty, 'and my name is to be feared among the nations.' "
In our relationship with God, mediocrity is a grave a miscalculation. Our God is a great king. He loves us. He deserves our absolute best. Not our seconds or thirds. Not our hand-me-downs. Not our leftovers. Not the minimum. Not what’s diseased, crippled, broken, blind, and pathetic in the eyes of men. Not what’s left at the end of the day. Not what we don’t need after we’ve had our fill.
Third sign of mediocrity: a compromised example.
Mediocrity cheats God out of what he rightfully deserves. It dishonors God before a watching world. Our sacrifices to God should signal our respect and reverence for God. A cynical attitude. Blemished sacrifices. Take note in your outline, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Mediocrity spills over into their character,evidenced bytheir compromised example.
In Malachi 2:5 God describes his spiritual covenant with Levi, who was a priest. But instead of setting an example of godliness, the priests in Jerusalem were turning away from true instruction. They were compromising their own integrity. In Malachi 2:5-9 (NIV) God says, " 'My covenant was with him (Levi), a covenant of life and peace, and I gave them to him; this called for reverence and he revered me and stood in awe of my name. True instruction was in his mouth and nothing false was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many from sin. For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, and from his mouth men should seek instruction—because he is the messenger of the LORD Almighty. But you have turned from the way and by your teaching have caused many to stumble; you have violated the covenant with Levi,' says the LORD Almighty. 'So I have caused you to be despised and humiliated before all the people, because you have not followed my ways but have shown partiality in matters of the law.' "
Fourth sign of mediocrity: an abandoned covenant.
Another area where mediocrity shows up in the book of Malachi is in the family structure. The people abandoned their sacred marriage covenants before God. In Malachi 2:10-16 (NIV) God says, " 'Have we not all one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our fathers by breaking faith with one another? Judah has broken faith. A detestable thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the LORD loves, by marrying the daughter of a foreign god. As for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the LORD cut him off from the tents of Jacob— even though he brings offerings to the LORD Almighty. Another thing you do: You flood the LORD’s altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer pays attention to your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. You ask, 'Why?' It is because the LORD is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant. Has not the LORD made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth. 'I hate divorce,' says the LORD God of Israel, 'and I hate a man’s covering himself with violence as well as with his garment,' says the LORD Almighty. 'So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith.' "
Isn’t it remarkable how mediocrity has a way of spilling over into all of life? At first we say, "I’m not going to live all out for God, glorifying him in every area of my life. I am only going as far as I absolutely need to." But soon we’re not just saying "no" to God in the little things, we’re also saying "no" to him in the big things! God wants us to honor him with our attitude, sacrifices, godly example, and our vows to our marriage and families.
A fifth sign of mediocrity: an unrefined heart.
Toward the end of Malachi in Malachi 2:17, you’ll notice that the cynical, questioning attitude of the Israelites persists. In this verse they actually accuse God of being pleased with evil and injustice! In Malachi 2:17 (NIV) God says, " 'You have wearied the LORD with your words.' 'How have we wearied him?' you ask. By saying, 'All who do evil are good in the eyes of the LORD, and he is pleased with them' or 'Where is the God of justice?' "
In your outline, I refer to this as the people having unrefined hearts. Immediately after this verse God turns right around and describes how he is going to send John the Baptist as a messenger, and then send the Lord Jesus Christ himself into the temple to rectify matters. The Holy Spirit would convict the world of sin and like a launderer’s soap or a refining fire, Jesus Christ would purify their hearts so that they’d offer excellence to God instead of mediocrity.
In Malachi 3:1-5 (NIV) God says, " 'See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,' says the LORD Almighty. 'But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the LORD, as in days gone by, as in former years.' 'So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me,' says the LORD Almighty."
Sixth sign of mediocrity: an empty storehouse.
Malachi touches on one final matter of mediocrity. And this is perhaps the most well-known portion of Malachi’s prophesy. It relates to an empty storehouse. In Malachi 3:6-12 (NIV) God says, " 'I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,' says the LORD Almighty. 'But you ask, 'How are we to return?' 'Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me.' But you ask, 'How do we rob you?' 'In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse— the whole nation of you— because you are robbing me.' 'Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,' says the LORD Almighty, 'and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit,' says the LORD Almighty. 'Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,' says the LORD Almighty."
I don’t feel a need to elaborate on these verses further, as we will come back to them in a few weeks when we begin a new series of messages. What is important right now is that we diagnose the symptoms of mediocrity in our lives and in our church.
Moving beyond mediocrity.
What evidence of mediocrity is in your sacrifices, life example, families, hearts, orgiving? The first step to overcoming mediocrity is to acknowledge that there is a problem. So take the six examples of mediocrity in Malachi and do a spiritual inventory!
Are you honoring God with your attitude and the quality of your sacrifices?
Are you robbing God of the honor he deserves because you have a rotten "God-doesn’t-care-so-I-don’t-care-either" attitude? God does care. God does love you.
Are you cheating God with blemished sacrifices? Are you really giving God your best? When you serve God, are you doing it with all your strength? When you teach, do you give careful preparation or just wing it? When you have a responsibility, do you come early, prepared to give your best? Or do you show up at the last minute, hurried and frantic and ill-prepared? When you see a need or opportunity, do you rise to the occasion or wait for someone else to take care of it?
Here is a tough one. Do you show as much care when doing things for God as you do when you care for yourself, your family, or the people you love? No one would probably care if our governor came to Lakeside. But what if someone you respected came to this place? Would the attention we’ve paid to our building, worship center, property, parking lot, organization, Sunday school, and nursery be adequate? Would the sum total of all we do in the name of Jesus Christ honor the name of Jesus Christ or embarrass us? Is your home better kept than your church?
Are you dishonoring God with a compromised example or a broken covenant?
Are you dishonoring God in your marriage or as a parent? It is clear in Malachi that God wants us to honor him with faithfulness in marriage. He wants us to honor him by raising godly offspring. Husbands, are you loving your wives fully, exclusively, and selflessly? Wives, are you respecting your husbands? Parents, are your children becoming more godly through your influence? Are they every bit as godly as they are an intelligent student, or a good athlete, or a hard worker?
Is your heart being refined by God's Holy Spirit?
Are you keeping in step with the Spirit, inviting his work in your life, and pursuing opportunities for growth? Are you in God’s word? Are you in Bible school? Are you taking advantage of classes? Are you getting connected into a Life Group?
Are you bringing your whole tithe into the storehouse?
It’s very interesting to read Malachi. The people actually thought they would get ahead by shortchanging God. In Malachi 1:13 the people actually say that giving to God is a burden! We never get ahead by giving less to God. Every time the people thought that they would get ahead by giving less, they came under a curse and God withdrew his blessing.
The steps to overcoming mediocrity in our lives.
Mediocrity is more than an attitude. It is a decision to decline God’s blessing. Once we have acknowledged our mediocrity, our next step is confessing it to God. Take your outline and go through each of the six areas, confessing your mediocrity. Then take another step! Repent! Invite God’s Holy Spirit to change your heart. Next, trust in Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ, God forgives us of our mediocrity. But finally, pledge yourself to live for God and offer your whole life to him— first in baptism, but then daily in obedience. God isn’t bringing all these things to our attention to crush us. He is bringing them to our attention to redeem us! He isn’t interested in what is adequate or good-enough.He wants all of us.