diff --git a/PENDING.md b/PENDING.md
index 331d1fc85200..1acffb10abc3 100644
--- a/PENDING.md
+++ b/PENDING.md
@@ -97,6 +97,7 @@ IMPROVEMENTS
     * [x/stake] [x/slashing] Ensure delegation invariants to jailed validators [#1883](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/issues/1883).
     * [x/stake] Improve speed of GetValidator, which was shown to be a performance bottleneck. [#2046](https://github.com/tendermint/tendermint/pull/2200)
     * [genesis] \#2229 Ensure that there are no duplicate accounts or validators in the genesis state.
+    * Add SDK validation to `config.toml` (namely disabling `create_empty_blocks`) \#1571
     
 * SDK
     * [tools] Make get_vendor_deps deletes `.vendor-new` directories, in case scratch files are present.
diff --git a/server/util.go b/server/util.go
index 04c539eb4220..6aff52965128 100644
--- a/server/util.go
+++ b/server/util.go
@@ -51,6 +51,10 @@ func PersistentPreRunEFn(context *Context) func(*cobra.Command, []string) error
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
+		err = validateConfig(config)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
 		logger := log.NewTMLogger(log.NewSyncWriter(os.Stdout))
 		logger, err = tmflags.ParseLogLevel(config.LogLevel, logger, cfg.DefaultLogLevel())
 		if err != nil {
@@ -96,6 +100,14 @@ func interceptLoadConfig() (conf *cfg.Config, err error) {
 	return
 }
 
+// validate the config with the sdk's requirements.
+func validateConfig(conf *cfg.Config) error {
+	if conf.Consensus.CreateEmptyBlocks == false {
+		return errors.New("config option CreateEmptyBlocks = false is currently unsupported")
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
 // add server commands
 func AddCommands(
 	ctx *Context, cdc *wire.Codec,