One of the more unfortunate by-products of success is that we can all-too-easily lose the sharp edge that brought us success in the first place. We can "rest on our laurels" all too readily—and that is something that God warns us about very strongly in the last book in the Old Testament, the Book of Malachi.

Malachi (which means "My Messenger" in Hebrew) gives us cogent advice and warnings that are just as relevant today in our global marketplace as they were to the 50,000 Israelites who returned to Jerusalem from Babylonian captivity. In 539 BC, King Cyrus issued a decree that the Israelites could return to the Promised Land, and inspired by Ezra and Nehemiah; around 50,000 of them rebuilt the temple and the city walls.

By all accounts, that was a stupendously successful enterprise. Yet by the time Malachi wrote his book some 2400 years ago, the returned remnant, even including the priests, had gotten over the excitement, and had settled down into a low-level life of gloom and cynicism. They were complacent and arrogant, jaded and apathetic, and just "going through the motions" of worshiping the God who had done great things for them.

How do we know this? By the very explicit warnings God, through Malachi, is handing out to them. Malachi is giving them a "wake-up call" in no uncertain terms, all the more significant because of the fact that it was the last message God gave them until John the Baptist burst on the scene four centuries later.

Giving Your Best

The Israelites Malachi was talking to were not fighting a war; they were actually enjoying the success of their reconstruction projects. But they had lost their fervor for God, and had become, in the words of Jesus Himself in the Book of Revelation, "lukewarm."

They were bringing animal sacrifices to the temple, but were bringing the tattered and sick, the injured and the crippled. The God who gives His best expects our best—but these people were disdaining the Lord, just giving him a contemptuous little "tip" instead of the full tenth (tithe) of all their increase.

Through Malachi, God thunders: "Where is the honor due Me? ... Where is the respect due Me? ... It is you, O priests, who show contempt for My name. ... You have placed defiled food on My altar ... You bring blind animals ... you sacrifice crippled and diseased animals ... Try offering them to your governor!" (Mal. 1:6-8). God even accuses the Israelites of robbing Him: "... You rob Me ... in tithes and offerings. You are under a curse, the whole nation of you, because you are robbing Me ... Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire, says the Lord Almighty" (Mal. 3:8 and 9; 4:1).

Philip Yancey, in his notes in the Zondervan Students' Bible, puts it this way: "Malachi, in this short book, tried to awaken Israel from slackness in relating to God. Years before, the people had optimistically returned to Jerusalem after a long exile. Their faith had grown deeper through difficulties. Despite fierce opposition, they had rebuilt the temple, the symbol of their hope in God.They had expected God to supernaturally fill it with His glory and make their nation the center of their world.

"By Malachi's time, Israel's hope had faded. In fact, life seemed to have passed them by. They could not see that God loved them (1:2) and they felt that serving God brought no reward (2:17; 3:14). The people of Jerusalem had become lukewarm ... apathetic worship ... going through the motions of their faith and doing the bare minimum."

Sound familiar? Sound like anyone you know?

The prophetic Book of Malachi is just as much a clarion call to us today, as it was to Israel more than two millennia ago. Do we worship "in spirit and in truth"? Do we bring the "whole tithe" into God's house, or do we also rob God in our tithes and offerings?

God not only gives warnings through Malachi, but great and incredible promises—He even, as far as I am aware for the first and only time in His Word, invites us to test Him as to whether He will keep His promises: "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" (Mal. 3:10-12).

Comfort or Convenience?

Half-heartedness and apathy are nothing short of anathema to God. In Revelation 3:15 and 16, He talks about the "lukewarm" church of Laodicea, and says he would rather they be hot or cold, than lukewarm. The lukewarm Christians will be spat out according to Revelation, and burned up according to Malachi. Neither outcome is very desirable.

Pastor Bob Leroe of Saugus, Massachusetts, as part of a series on Malachi, writes: "God's people were not honoring Him; in fact, they were showing contempt toward their Creator ... they were approaching worship with a bad attitude, which showed in their offerings ... Instead of seeking to glorify God, they wanted God to serve and satisfy them ... We express our devotion to God in worship; if we're only "going through the motions," we dishonor God ... For Malachi's readers, worship had become a tedious task. This was true even of the priests, who were regarding ministry as simply a job, not a high calling or sacred ministry."

In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul also warns us of the danger of complacency, apathy, and "lukewarmness." In 1 Corinthians 10:12, he says: "So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!" Just when you think you can settle back and relax in comfort, when you think you've "got it made," then watch out! That is when you are most likely to fall!

We are not called to comfort or convenience. As a "kingdom of priests" (Revelation 1:6), we are called to be enthusiastic and excellent ministers, whether our ministry is to the church or to the marketplace. It is a sacred call, and one that requires of us total obedience and total commitment.

It is all too easy to slip into a comfortable, ritualistic but meaningless faith. Harry Heintz, in a recent Intervarsity Ministry article "Going through the Motions," somewhat humorously but very tellingly illustrated what he called "Christianity Lite"—a religion in which we re-write the titles of some well-known hymns and choruses thus:

He goes on: "Following Jesus is not for the faint of heart. Jesus calls us not to half-hearted but whole-hearted faith. Jesus calls us not to convenient, but to costly faith. Jesus calls us not to lukewarm but to red-hot faith."

Serving God Wholeheartedly

The complacent, the comfortable and the fearful will never reach their full potential in God. To serve God wholeheartedly involves risk-taking, and reaching for the seemingly unreachable. If you can do it without God, then really, it's not worth doing.

The well-known parable of the talents underlines God's attitude to those who take the easy and comfortable way. To the servant who fearfully played it safe and just buried his master's talent, Jesus reacted with real anger: "You wicked, lazy servant ... throw that worthless servant outside ..." (Matt. 25:26 and 30). But to the servant who stepped outside his comfort zone, and took risks to double the five talents, Jesus says: "Well done, good and faithful servant ... come and share your master's happiness" (Matt. 25:21).

So don't be afraid to "have a go." If you have achieved some considerable success, think of the people Malachi is addressing. If you are in a state of comfortable complacency, and you think things are pretty stable and solid, "be careful that you don't fall."

We can do great things with money, but money must not be our security. Money is a means, never an end in itself. God, in Malachi, paints a vivid picture of our options when it comes to the handling of our finances and possessions, as does Jesus when he tells the story of the woman with the alabaster jar, who poured lavishly expensive perfume on His head.

The prudent, fearful attitude says: "Why this waste? This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor." But the extravagantly generous says: "Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to Me" (Matt. 26:7-10).

We often hear of the call to be "history makers and world shakers"—we won't shake the world or make much history if we follow the one-talent servant in his timid and pusillanimous fearfulness. And we won't like the report we receive from our Master either.

But we can take the road less traveled—the narrow but exciting way to excellence and true fulfillment and prosperity. The way that looks risky, but where we know that whatever and however we dare, "... with God, all things are possible" (Matt. 19:26) and always, "underneath are the everlasting arms" (Deut. 33:27).

The perfect love of God casts out all fear (1 John 4:18), and forgetting what is behind us, God invites us to embark on a thrilling journey of discovery and achievement as we push forward to what is ahead, pressing toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called us (Phil. 3:14).

If I had to put the message on a T-shirt, it would probably look something like this: NO FEAR—JUST DO IT!