Malachi 2:1-12 - The Kind of Worship God Hates (Part 2)

Intro

Review Malachi - God is confronting the self-righteousness of Israel. Ways we trust in ourselves instead of God.

Malachi 1:1-5, God confronted Israel’s false belief that they merited God’s love

Malachi 1:6-14 - God confronted Israel’s false belief that they could worship him any way they wanted

Definition: “The act of ascribing glory to God” or “The activity of glorifying God in his presence with our voices and hearts.”

How God Wants to Be Worshipped:

In praise, not passivity (v. 6)

In purity, not pollution (vv. 7-8)

In petition, not presumption (v. 9)

In purpose, not profanity (v.v. 10-12)

In pleasure, not pragmatism (vv. 13-14)

Clearly Israel has a big issue of their view of not only themselves, but God.

Some of you may share this struggle or concern. You might have been convicted of your part in false worship.

But here is my question: How and where did Israel go wrong? How did we, in the present, also go wrong in our worship?

On one hand, if we participated, it is always our fault.

On the other hand, we learn many false practices by watching others, listening to others, and following others.

There are worship songs often sung by leaders that we should not sing, there are pragmatic unbiblical practices that are followed because people don’t know better.

James 3:1–2 ESV

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body.

God will turn his attention to one group in this: the leaders. In particular, the Priests or the Levites.

God has always operated through a system of bridges. In that in order to make himself look glorious and in order to make himself look beautiful, he has made his system of time to be a spider web of bridge building.

First, he made man to bridge himself to all creation. This is not because God NEEDED us to, but because he WANTED us to. It made him look glorious.

Genesis 1:26 ESV

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

However, because man is sinful and fallen, our bridge to God was broken. It demanded bridge repair.

In order to make himself known to man, God made a system of bridges in the Old Testament. However, this system had to accommodate the fact that Yahweh is perfectly holy and cannot tolerate a single imperfection in his midst.

Out of all the nations of the earth, he chose Israel to be the bridge to all other countries. Out of the twelve tribes of Israel, he chose Levi to be the bridge to the nation of Israel. Of the families of Levi, he chose Aaron to be the bridge to the tribe of Levi.

These priests were supposed to live lives and lead worship all in a way that would cause other people to look at them and learn more about who God is.

How we Fit in God’s Plan To Build Bridges

The Failure of the Leaders as Priests (vv. 1-9)

v. 1 - This command is for YOU.

God has turned attention to the leaders who were supposed to guide the people in worship of him.

Levi’s Failure in the Mosaic Covenant (vv. 1-3)

(Verse 2) Part of God’s bridge building process involved the making of what the Bible calls covenants. Picture it like a super serious deal made in blood.

Deuteronomy 11:26–28 ESV

“See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today, to go after other gods that you have not known.

This covenant was a two way deal

(Verse 3) God promises that since they are teaching their children, their children will deal with some of the consequences of their mistakes.

He will send their poor sacrifices back at them. He says “your sacrifices are poo poo”

Levi’s Forgetfulness of the Priestly Covenant (vv. 4-9)

God made an unconditional covenant with the tribe. He reminisces about it.

Exodus 32:25–29 ESV

And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose (for Aaron had let them break loose, to the derision of their enemies), then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Who is on the Lord’s side? Come to me.” And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. And he said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.’ ” And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day about three thousand men of the people fell. And Moses said, “Today you have been ordained for the service of the Lord, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day.”

Numbers 25:6–13 ESV

And behold, one of the people of Israel came and brought a Midianite woman to his family, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation of the people of Israel, while they were weeping in the entrance of the tent of meeting. When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose and left the congregation and took a spear in his hand and went after the man of Israel into the chamber and pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the woman through her belly. Thus the plague on the people of Israel was stopped. Nevertheless, those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand. And the Lord said to Moses, “Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back my wrath from the people of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I did not consume the people of Israel in my jealousy. Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace, and it shall be to him and to his descendants after him the covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the people of Israel.’ ”

What does God want? Zeal and obedience. He wants his people to fight for holy worship, not water it down.

(Verses 5-7)He wanted:

Fear

Awe of His name

Instruction in the mouth

No wrong on his lips

Peace

Uprightness

Turning away from iniquity

Guarding knowledge

The job of a worship leader is to be a teacher. However, they used their position of leadership to play favorites and to show partiality towards others.

The Failure of the Followers as Priests (vv.10-12)

Verse 10 - Now that the leaders have been playing favorites, so have the people.

Their poor view of God has directly led to poor treatment of people. Those two things are always connected

James 2:8–10 ESV

If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.

Verse 11 - The followers of Judah, having a wrong view of God, eventually fell into sin. They began to say, “well, God loves me and wants me to be happy right? Then I can go do whatever I want, even get with this unbeliever who worships idols.”

2 Corinthians 6:14–15 ESV

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?

Verse 12 - A terrible pronouncement is given. Malachi says it is better for someone to die then to be in unrepentant sin and pretend to worship God.

The Flawlessness of Christ as Priest (3:1-4, Heb. 7:26-28)

Hebrews 7:26–28 ESV

For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.

Conclusion

1 Peter 2:9–10 ESV

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.