Do I Worship You? pt 3

Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. It continues to be a great privilege to bring the Word of God to the saints of Durbin Memorial Baptist Church.

One of the great and glorious mysteries of Creation, in my opinion, is that our God is a God of means. By that, I mean, that the infinitely powerful God creates order, natural processes, and specific roles for people to fill as He works out His plan for Creation. This might seem a little bit basic on the service but when I dwell it upon it, it truly astonishes me.

If we truly believe that God is all powerful, and He is. If we believe is above and beyond all of Creation, and He is. If we believe those things, then we know that God can very well do anything He pleases. That is what makes it so amazing to me that He so choses to work through feeble creations like you and me. As we saw last week and is accentuated in our Scripture Proclamation this month, God works through and above the nations of the earth. In our proclamation from Psalms 46 we read that God makes wars ceases. He uses real nations, with real forces, each with their own purposes and divinely weaves all of that together for His own person. We see in Romans 13 that God has established government. From the ordering of nature, to the governments of earth, down to the individual person God has designed roles and processes while weaving everything together for His ultimate purpose.

I say all of this to say that God’s design is good and it is an astounding grace, a glorious reality, when we come to understand that God has designed a role and a function for us and we glorify Him well when we live in accordance with the design He has for us. It is for our good and His glory when we cherish that design and seek to model our position after its description and prescription in God’s Word.

For example, God has created the world so that mother’s bring children into the world. We celebrate that here on Mother’s day. While alway respecting that in a fallen world, and thus not everyone will have experienced a good relationship with their mother, we can recognize the great good and glory there is in a mother that cherishes her God given role and lives it out in accordance with God’s design. Biblically, a mother gives care to her children. We can see from the kind words of Paul to Timothy about Timothy’s mother and grandmother, that the godly mother raises up her children in the faith. She points her children’s attention to the goodness of God. Timothy’s mother is a great encouragement because we learn in the book of Acts that Timothy’s father was not a believer, and yet his mother came to saving faith and raised up her son in the Faith. A biblical mother has care and concern for her children. In a series some time back through the beginning of 1 Samuel, we saw the desire Hannah had to become a mother, she prayed that God would give her Samuel. And when she received Samuel from God, she then cared and was rightly concerned for Samuel, she dedicated him to service at the temple. She continued to visit and bring him clothing. I’m certain she was proud to see how the Lord was using her boy.

Now, the entirety of our sermon this morning will not be focussed on motherhood, but I do hope that we can all appreciate the blessing a godly mother is. As just a brief side note, I do want to acknowledge that while not all women will become biological mothers, either because of singleness or other physical reasonings, all women are designed to be motherlike and can be for the glory of God. Make a note to look at the book of Titus chapter 2, particularly verses 3-5. All godly women should aspire to be godly mother figures to the next generation of believers. All ladies, you have an opportunity even today to begin building in to the lives of the younger women around you. You have been designed to share care and concern for others. That is for your good, the good of others, and the glory of God. Cherish that! Lean into that! And on special days like Mother’s Day, we celebrate that.

God has designed wonderful roles for each of us to fill. Not everyone, can properly or aptly fill every role, but it is a joyous reality when we look to God’s Word, see His design, apply it to our lives, and go forward with a renewed sense of purpose and direction in life. I recommend all of us dive into what God’s Word says for you in the role that you are in, whether that be Mother, Father, Child, Husband, Wife, Family Member, Worker, Boss, Deacon, Pastor. God’s Word is not silent on the categories in which process and live our lives. When we approve our lives by the Word of God, it is a very good thing.

But unfortunately, in a fallen world, whether because our own desires or the distractions of the world around us, we often take our eyes off of God and His Word and begin following our own deceitful desires.

That is what is being exposed in our text this morning. If you have not already, turn in your Bibles to Malachi 2. Today we are finishing up the third sermon look at Israel’s deficient worship of God. As a reminder in this time period, the Israelites had returned to Judah from exile, but they were living under Persian rule. They were also having difficulty with crops and harvest. They then allowed their conditions to influence their worship of God. In essence saying to God, “Look we love you, but you ain’t loving us.” as well as “We love you, but we don’t see a point in worshiping you.”

Throughout the book of Malachi, God addresses seven ways in which the Israelites were deficient in their view of God and practice of serving Him. Let’s look at the beginning of chapter 2 as we close out looking at the deficiencies in Israel’s worship practice in the temple.

Malachi 2:1–3 ESV

1 “And now, O priests, this command is for you. 2 If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart. 3 Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it.

As we’ve been walking through the book of Malachi, I have admitted to the church that it is a difficult text to preach. In many places the subject is very heavy, it feels like a gut punch. In other places the subject is very lofty, doing circles around our limited minds. In this section, particularly verse 3, the subject is actually quite graphic, kinda grossing us out! We often like to think of the Bible as the bubbly collection of fun stories we learned in Sunday School class, but the God’s Word if real and raw and sometimes down right unsettling! I’d hate to see the coloring page that goes alone with verse 3 here!

But when we understand that ALL Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable four our understanding and application, then we have to push through the initial discomfort and ask what does this mean? Why would such a graphic picture be used? How is this profitable? I hope to explain that for us this morning.

In doing so we need to understand that the context of this section shows us this is God giving a command to His priests. Now, it doesn’t take a scholar to figure that out, its explicitly stated in verse 1. The Lord says through the prophet Malachi, “O priests, this command is for you.”

Now before getting into the details of the command, we ought to first appreciate the giving of the command and then give it the command the attention it deserves.

When I am substituting in a middle school, there are some classes that I connect with well immediately and others that are more difficult to work with. Being able to give and receive commands is integral to the Teacher-Student relationship. When I have formed a good relationship with a class, we can be in the middle of free time, but when I address the class with a big, “Alright class” followed by a set of instructions for the next activity, the good classes respond by following my lead. Some classes respond with mixed results. While other’s require more forceful interventions. I can tell you after subbing just this past Friday, what a joy it is when a class, hears, receives, and rightly responds to instruction.

But here is the thing with our text this morning, this command is even more worthy to be heard, more worthy to recieved, and more worthy to be rightly responded to than the command of any well-intentioned teacher. This is a a “thus saith the Lord.” moment for the priests in Israel. It was for their good and God’s glory that they pay attention and receive this instruction well. And while none of here this morning are Israelite priests, I assure you there is much to apply in this Word, but even if I fail to present an actionable application for you, just think about how amazing it is that God has given us His Word and we get to see, read, and know what He wants from us?! How great is that! When I call God’s Word a grace of God, I truly mean it, because He has spoken to us directly through His Word, much like He’s speaking directly to the priests in our text today. Don’t over look that fact. Cherish that reality. Dwell in that grace.

So what does God command the priests? While it is stated in the negative, God tells the priests three things to do. 1 Listen, 2 take it to heart (cherish God’s command), and third honor (glorify) God.

If I could give you three actions to take when listening to God-honoring sermon, or in your daily Bible reading, or anywhere you are in a position to gain solid Bible knowledge, it would be these three things! Listen! Listen to the Word of the Lord! Listen to what it ACTUALLY says, try to tune out what you think it might say, listen to the explanation being given, dive into see what is being said. Then once you’ve heard the Word of God, take it to heart! Marinate on it ! Dwell on it! Memorize it! Seek to chew on it so that it doesn’t become just a passing thought. Then once you’ve heard it and taken it to heart, APPLY it! As we have been saying throughout this message, even in the introduction, it is for our good and God’s glory that we live in accordance with His Will, gleefully serving in the roles that He has designed for us.

The command that God had for the priests is easily applicable to us today, but God gives this command in the context of a covenant. Its given in the form of an “if-then” statement. IF you don’t do these things THEN I will curse your blessing. It may not be apparent at the first read, but when we see this in the full context of Scripture, we can see that this covenantal curse is a reflection of the covenantal blessing given in Deuteronomy 28. There God says to His people, “If you faithfully obey my voice, I will set you high above the nations, blessings shall come upon you, blessed shall be your basket meaning a good harvest.” There are even more blessings that are listed there in Deut 28 and directly linked to Israel’s obedience.

Now, any time we talk about blessings and curses in response to the actions of an individual it brings up a wide range of questions and potential false assumptions. Allow me to make a few things clear. You can take it to the bank that listening to God’s Word, taking it to heart, and apply it in your life for God’s glory will merit blessing in your life. However, because we have the whole testament of God’s Word, we know that God’s eternal blessing does not always mean temporal comfort. We know that some will hate us, that Christianity is often met with persecution, that Paul struggled with the thorn in his side. Even still, the Christian is surely blessed for obedience to the Lord. One blessing is that you are storing up rewards in heaven. We don’t know the full extent of what those rewards will be, but I can tell you it’ll be good. But there is also immediate blessing in that while you are serving God well you are living free from guilt and shame. When you can confidently say you have been acting in line with the role that God has for you, you can hold your head high! You can rejoice and go forward each day without condemnation breathing down your neck. We are blessed through being obedient to God!

We should also understand that not everything bad happens that to us is a result of our personal sin, but the reality of living in a fallen world. However, we also understand that sometimes bad things are a direct consequence to our sin. Look back at the graphic language used in verse 3. The priests had been dishonoring theLord through their apathetic worship. They called Him Father and Lord but treated Him with no honor or fear. The offered blind, lame, stolen animals, desecrating their duty to the Lord and breeding more apathy among the people they were supposed to be encouraging worship of the Lord from. So the Lord says, if you continue doing these things, I will refuse your offering and spread its refuse across your face. If the priests were to be made unclean in that way, they would be forced to leave the temple. The point here is God is saying, if you continue to desecrate my temple, I will desecrate you. I have allowed you to serve in this way thus far, but I don’t need you to. I can spit you out of my mouth at any moment.

The intention here is to wake up the priesthood! To remind them of what they should be doing. It is quite literally in their blood to serve the Lord well. Look to our next section of Scripture.

Malachi 2:4–6 ESV

4 So shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may stand, says the Lord of hosts. 5 My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name. 6 True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity.

This section of Scripture is very interesting from a literary perspective. While it is possible that God had some direct conversation with the original Levi from the house of Israel and that conversation was not included in Scripture, it is more likely that is referring to a prototypical Levite priest. God is making a contrast between the initial zeal of the levitical priests and the pathetic display that is happening at this time. We may not see a direct conversation with God and Levi over these things, but we do see the blessings of the covenant laid out in full with the levitical priests in the beginning of National Israel.

I think the emphasis is less on the person of Levi, and more on what is possible for the current priesthood. They’ve lost there way. If you are familiar with biblical history you might recognize that this is roughly 1000 years from the initial installation of the priesthood, of course things would get off track. But we should recognize that this is only maybe tens of year after the events of Ezra. In the book of Ezra we read about how the Israelites were allowed to rebuild the temple. Eventually they would be able to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. But in the middle of all this history, we read something interesting I’d like to share with you:

Ezra 6:19–22 “19 On the fourteenth day of the first month, the returned exiles kept the Passover. 20 For the priests and the Levites had purified themselves together; all of them were clean. So they slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the returned exiles, for their fellow priests, and for themselves. 21 It was eaten by the people of Israel who had returned from exile, and also by every one who had joined them and separated himself from the uncleanness of the peoples of the land to worship the Lord, the God of Israel. 22 And they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy, for the Lord had made them joyful and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them, so that he aided them in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.”

We don’t know the exact timeline between the events of Ezra and the book of Malachi. But we know it was at most a few decades. Within the equivalent of my life time, the Levite priests went from being filled with joy serving the Lord, to aimlessly going through the motions.

This is the application for the church today: We cannot rest on the movement of the past. We must keep our eyes on Christ. Drifting is the natural human tendency. I’m reminded of the Hymn Come Thou Fount, “Prone to wander, Lord I feel it Prone to leave the God I love, Here's my heart Lord, take and seal it Seal it for Thy courts above.” If we want to continue to honor God for our good and His glory in the roles that He has for us, we must keep our eyes fixed upon Him and wholly reliant on Him to do so.

Do you realize that whether you serve in vocational ministry or not, that you, if you know Christ as Lord, have been called into full-time ministry? God’s Word calls believers a royal priesthood! We’ll take a look at what that means for a daily lives in a moment, but right now, we should recognize that God’s priests fail when they take their eyes off Him! That is what is being described in the beginning of this chapter. Then here in these verse God’s priests are commended for when they are faithful. Dear believer, for your good and the glory of God, be faithful! Let’s look to the last section of Scripture to see more implications of what it means to be a good priest.

Malachi 2:7–9 ESV

7 For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. 8 But you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts, 9 and so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but show partiality in your instruction.”

What should a priest do? Stick to and speak the Word of God.

The lips of the priest should guard knowledge, the priest should then be pointing others in the ways of God.

The priests in Malachi’s day didn’t cherish that responsibility. We know that they were at best unaware of the qualifications of an animal for sacrifice as described in Deuteronomy. At worst, they knew the stipulations and chose not to follow them. They showed partiality, that is favor, in what they were doing. Giving attention to the things they liked while ignoring the rest. We see in verse 8 that they had turned away from the glorious calling God had on their lives. While they may not have realized it, this was neither for their good or God’s glory.

All throughout the message today, we have been focussing on the idea of cherishing the role that God has for designed for you, by living with purpose and following God’s guidance as given in His Word for that role. We spoke earlier about mothers, by extension we know that there are particular roles for fathers, children, ect. We also see categories for workers and bosses, pastors, elders, deacons. When we cherish these roles and live contented within them, we glorify God and live peaceable lives.

There is one role given to all believers, male or female, greek or jew, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free. And it is a role that while I mentioned it a moment ago, I think we don’t give it enough attention. That is that believers are priests to God! Now, we have to be careful to remove our preconceived notions about what a priest is. We don’t want to bleed in ideas from other traditions that reserve this title for only the religious elite, using it in essence as a synonym for pastor.

When I say that all believers are priests I am referring to two specific functions of priests that we can see in our walk through these last few verses in Malachi. The Levitical Priests were intended to offer up sacrifices and be students of Word, using both of these functions to cultivate a posture of worship from the people of Israel.

I believe that both of these functions are integral to the Christian’s life, as we cherish the role of Priest that God has for us. We see right here in verse 7 that the lips of the priests are to guard knowledge and people should seek instruction from the priests’ mouth. Christian, if we are cherishing the salvation the Lord has given to us, we ought to be students of His Word, growing in knowledge of who He is so that when we speak with others, we speak truth. We speak biblical truth. We speak God’s truth. It seems so daunting, but do not forget the rebuke to the Hebrews, they ought to have been teaching others by now. I know it seems like a big ask or something that seems so out of reach, but dive into the Word and teach it to others. One of the biggest faults in the modern church is that we have begun to believe that you have to have gone to seminary or be a pastor to really know anything. We should all be careful to make sure what we are preaching is true, so that’s where you should run it by me. I get over joyed when one of the guys leading the men’s Sunday school class comes to me to ask about something in their up coming lesson. Sometimes they’re spot on, other times there is some gentle correction, but it is always for the benefit of the individual and the glory of God that we grow in our understanding of the word together and teach that to others.

The other function of the priests applicable for us today is to offer up sacrifices. Now, hear me carefully hear, because if you aren’t paying close attention you will either think me a heretic, or potentially dive head first into legalism. I hope that neither are the outcome of this message. Our role, as believers, as priests to God, is to offer up sacrifices of praise. Hebrews 13:15–16 “15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” It is for our good and God’s glory when we give up something from ourselves for the betterment of others or service to the kingdom of God.

May we not turn others aside from the way of God. May we not cause many to stumble. Mat we cherish our role as priest being students and teachers of the word, while living sacrificial lives for the betterment of others.

But we must be clear about one sacrifice we can’t make. A sacrifice that had to be made for us. A sacrifice so beautiful that it inspires our service to God.

Hebrews 10:11–14 ESV

11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

We can’t make a sin offering, an offering that will remove the offense of our sin before the all righteous God. But fortunately for us, God made it for us! Christ died on the cross as a single sacrifice for the sins of all those being sanctified through faith in Christ.

In our priesthood, in our worship, we are to be dedicated to God word, sharing it with others, and praising God through freewill offering/praise sacrifices. Its not what we give up that saves us, it’s Christ! And Christ’s sacrifice has such a profound impact upon us that it inspires us to extend grace unto others!

It is no secret that we live in a discontented culture. I think a lot of that anxiety comes from not knowing the role that God has for us and swimming through life alone. I want to let you know that there is contentment to be found in Christ. His Word is good and it is good for you! During our hymn of response, I will be up here to pray with you or give any guidance I can. Believers, cherish the priesthood God has called you to be a part of. Unbelievers, know that your works will never be enough. Know that Christ worked for you! You can be saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. I’d love to tell you more. Come find me.