Big Picture Service (OT Prophets LM5)

Good morning, it is so wonderful to be able to join you as a guest speaker at this conference! What a unique opportunity to speak to my fellow pastors. At first, I wasn’t sure what I was going to say, but it was suggested to me that a passage out of Malachi might be fitting when speaking to a group of the clergy. So today we’ll be reading from Malachi 1:6 to 2:9, but before we get to that, I want to ask you a question. When you are getting tired of ministry, when your heart is heavy and you are tired at a soul-deep level, how do you approach God? Do you maintain your reverence and pure heart before Him, despite your weariness, or do you come to Him with disrespect? I know that personally, I struggle with this.

My husband and I were applying for several churches and had one that we thought was definitely the right church. We were in process with them for 5 months, and then just as they were about to hold the congregational vote, we found out some information that made it clear this was actually not the right church for us. We had spent a week in the town, staying with some board members, and getting to know the congregants. Having to say goodbye really hurt, and suddenly the whole process of applying for churches became exhausting for me. My interactions with God really suffered, I tugged away from the closeness that we had had, and it wasn’t until a while later that I realized that I could no longer talk to Him the same way that I had. I had allowed my frustration and anger to come between us and blamed Him for my disappointment. Was this the right way to interact with the God of the Universe, my Lord whom I serve? No, He wasn’t to blame for my disappointment, He hadn’t changed His mind about the church, I had just realized later than I wanted what it was that He was trying to say.

So, while I leave you to ponder my story and my question, let’s open to Malachi 1:6 – 2:9 and read our passage for today. I’ll be reading from the NASB.

“‘A son honours his father, and a servant his master. Then if I am a father, where is My honour? And if I am a master, where is My [a]respect?’ says the Lord of armies to you, the priests who despise My name! But you say, ‘How have we despised Your name?’ 7 You are presenting defiled [b]food upon My altar. But you say, ‘How have we defiled You?’ In that you say, ‘The table of the Lord is to be despised.’ 8 And when you present a blind animal for sacrifice, is it not evil? Or when you present a lame or sick animal, is it not evil? So offer it to your governor! Would he be pleased with you, or would he receive you kindly?” says the Lord of armies. 9 “But now, do indeed plead for God’s favor, so that He will be gracious to us. [c]With such an offering on your part, will He receive any of you kindly?” says the Lord of armies. 10 “If only there were one among you who would shut the [d]gates, so that you would not kindle fire on My altar for nothing! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord of armies, “nor will I accept an offering from your hand. 11 For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, My name shall be great among the nations, and in every place frankincense is going to be offered to My name, and a grain offering that is pure; for My name shall be great among the nations,” says the Lord of armies. 12 “But you are profaning it by your saying, ‘The table of the Lord is defiled, and as for its fruit, its food is to be despised.’ 13 You also say, ‘See, [e]how tiresome it is!’ And you view it as trivial,” says the Lord of armies, “and you bring what was taken by robbery and what is lame or sick; so you bring the offering! Should I accept it from your hand?” says the Lord. 14 “But cursed be the swindler who has a male in his flock and vows it, but sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord, for I am a great King,” says the Lord of armies, “and My name is [f]feared among the [g]nations.”

Priests to Be Disciplined

2 “And now, this commandment is for you, the priests. 2 If you do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to give honor to My name,” says the Lord of armies, “then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings; and indeed, I have cursed them already, because you are not taking it to heart. 3 Behold, I am going to rebuke your [h]descendants, and I will spread [i]dung on your faces, the [j]dung of your feasts; and you will be taken away [k]with it. 4 Then you will know that I have sent this commandment to you, [l]so that My covenant may [m]continue with Levi,” says the Lord of armies. 5 “My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him as an object of [n]reverence; so he [o]revered Me and was in awe of My name. 6 [p]True instruction was in his mouth and injustice was not found on his lips; he walked with Me in peace and justice, and he turned many back from wrongdoing. 7 For the lips of a priest should maintain knowledge, and people should seek [q]instruction from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of armies. 8 But as for you, you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble [r]by the instruction; you have ruined the covenant of Levi,” says the Lord of armies. 9 “So I also have made you despised and of low reputation [s]in the view of all the people, since you are not keeping My ways but are showing partiality in the [t]instruction.”

Now, before you get all up in arms, I am not reading this passage to you because I believe you are offering defiled sacrifices to the Lord and need to be severely scolded. Though I suppose it is possible that some of you are not approaching the Lord with your hearts as they should be, I want us to look at this passage and see the big idea that we can take away from it today. Looking at this passage, I see three elements to what God is revealing. Through these three elements, we see God leading up to one big picture of how His dedicated servants should serve Him. We’re going to take a look at both the elements and that big picture together today, but the big idea that I want you to take away is this: Those set apart to serve the Lord must honour Him with pure hearts.

The first element that we’ll look at takes up the majority of this section – from verse 6 of chapter 1 to verse 14. This section covers the charges against the priesthood of Israel.

The Charges

This is a longer section, but much of it covers the same major charge against the priesthood of Israel. In verse 6, God calls the priests “O priests who despise My name”. This is quite the blow to the professional pride of the priesthood, and they would not have been happy to hear Malachi convey this message. One commentary that I read suggests that they were not even necessarily aware of this sin[1], since they then ask “How have we despised Your name?”. My question for you with that possibility is this: can they still be held accountable for a sin they didn’t know they were committing?

In answer to their question, God is more than willing to explain how exactly they have despised His name, and goes on to do so. He explains that they present defiled sacrifices to Him, and their choice to disregard His altar by doing so is also despising His name. They approached sacrifices with incorrect hearts, without reverence and without honoring the covenant that God had set in place.

This misuse of sacrifices calls to mind another very famous sacrifice that was done improperly. In 1 Samuel 13:1-15, we see Saul offering a sacrifice not only in an improper method, but also with the very wrong heart posture. He offered the sacrifice because as he and his army waited for the prophet Samuel to arrive and perform the sacrifice, the men grew scared and began to abandon him. In order to prevent the whole army from leaving, out of fear, Saul himself made the sacrifice and in doing so, forfeited the throne. His heart was in the wrong place, and he disobeyed the covenant that was in place with God. What are the charges that God could level against us today? Are our hearts in the right place? Are we being obedient to the covenant that is in place between us and Him now?

The Curse

Moving on from the charges against the priesthood of Israel, God lays out the curse against them because of their actions. As with all things in life, there are consequences for the actions of the priesthood, and these consequences sound rather unappealing. Chapter 2 verse 3 says, “Behold, I am going to rebuke your offspring, and I will spread refuse on your faces, the refuse of your feasts; and you will be taken away with it.” I don’t know about you, but I don’t particularly feel like having refuse or vomit, as a footnote indicates, spread on my face… or my children to be rebuked by God! The severity of the consequence indicates just how God feels about this… the priesthood has defiled His table and His name, and so He will defile them and their children with waste and dishonour.

In our previously mentioned scene with Saul, we see that he faces consequences for his actions as well. God had appointed him as king, specifically selected him to meet the desires of the people for a king like the other nations. Saul had proven to be a king much like those of the other nations, specifically, he didn’t follow God with his whole heart. This was the last straw, but when Saul outright disobeyed God’s orders, he was informed by Samuel that his kingdom would not last forever. God had already chosen someone to replace him, resulting in a consequence not entirely different from the consequence the priests in Malachi would face. Both Saul and the priests would face dishonor and shame for their abuse of the sacrifices intended to cover over their sins according to the covenant.

Does this seem like an overreaction to us today? The priests didn’t offer exactly the right animals for sacrifice, and maybe their hearts weren’t totally in the right place, but rebuking their children and covering their faces with garbage or vomit? That seems a bit much… or does it? What does the priests’ defiling of God’s altar and despising of His name indicate? Well, according to C. Hassell Bullock, this was a failure to be loyal to the covenant that God had established[1]. Well, that’s a big deal, as we all know! That covenant was established in order to set Israel apart as God’s people, to be a witness to the nations of the world, and to provide covering for their sins. The priests, people chosen to represent and enact this covenant to the whole nation, were spitting in God’s face, which suddenly makes this consequence a little more understandable.

The Covenant

Moving into the third element of this passage, we see the covenant that God created with Levi. Verses 5-7 of chapter 2 say “My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him as an object of reverence; so he revered Me and was in awe of My name. 6 True instruction was in his mouth and injustice was not found on his lips; he walked with Me in peace and justice, and he turned many back from wrongdoing. 7 For the lips of a priest should maintain knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of armies.”God begins to describe how this covenant was in the past, when it was actually being honoured. Doesn’t it sound wonderful? It was a covenant of life and peace, the sons of Levi revered God and were in awe of His name! What a completely opposite description to the priests of the time of this prophecy. Where the priests have no reverence for God’s name or altar, those who had followed the covenant were in awe of His name!

In verse 11 of chapter 1, a future time is described. “11 For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, My name shall be great among the nations, and in every place frankincense is going to be offered to My name, and a grain offering that is pure; for My name shall be great among the nations,” says the Lord of armies.” Perhaps it is because I long for the New Earth, but this sounds an awful lot like that future day to me. I don’t know that sacrifices will be offered then, not when Jesus has offered Himself as the ultimate sacrifice, but everything offered to God will be pure – including our hearts. What a joyous day that will be, when our hearts can be a truly beautiful offering before He who saved us!Where the verses from chapter 2 describe what the covenant was like in the past, when people cared to honour it, this verse describes what it will be like in the future. This sounds even better than the past covenant, and it gives us something to truly look forward to and year for!

When I was little, I would spend hours just watching the sky, gazing in awe at the cloud formations, the colours, and the birds that flew across my view. My mom mentioned to me once that she wondered if I was so drawn to the sky because I wanted to be in Heaven so badly, that I was just waiting for Jesus to come back. Isn’t this how we are all supposed to be, so eagerly awaiting Jesus that one part of us is fixed upon that anticipation? This description of the future experience of the covenant with God gives us even more to anticipate, as it describes a time when the Lord’s name will be great on the whole earth!

Conclusion

God moves from levying charges against the corrupt priesthood of Israel to laying out the curse now set up for them to describing what the covenant had been like. If we backtrack into chapter 1 a bit, we can then see what the covenant will look like in the future, and it is much more like the description of the past experience of the covenant than what Malachi is clearly seeing in Israel of his day and age. So, where does that leave us now? As members of the clergy, today’s priesthood, servants set aside to lead others in worshipping and serving God, what can we take away from this passage? Perhaps the first thing is a simple reminder: Check your heart. Is your heart where it needs to be as you serve God and lead others to Him? Are you being a good representative of Him to those who rely on you?

After you check your heart, check your methods. Are you serving God well and to the best of your ability? Are you serving in obedience? Can your people look to you for a good example of what serving God should look like? If not, how can you change that?

Lastly, let’s look forward together. I know, and you know, that none of us is perfect. In fact, if anyone were to suggest that we are, there would be an awful lot of laughter in this room in response. Let’s look forward to the day when we will be able to serve the Lord perfectly, exactly as He deserves. With pure hearts and offerings worthy of the sacrifice He made for us, we will be able to honour our covenant with Him for eternity in a way that we are not fully capable of here and now. If you’ll bow your heads with me, let’s close in a word of prayer.

Father, we know that we are far from perfect, even like these priests that Malachi was prophesying to. We know that we fall short, we make mistakes, we even lead people astray. Forgive us when we do. Change our hearts, convict us when we fall aside from the path set before us. Help us, God, to serve you with pure hearts and to be good examples of how to best serve you. We know that there is a heavy responsibility upon us to obey you and serve you well. Help us to live up to this and to constantly strive to do better. We love you and want to serve you well. Amen.