God's Desired Priest

a) Don Carson: “In any declining culture much of the decline comes about by leaders & preachers who are self-serving, greedy & corrupt. People far more interested in retaining power than serving. People who devote more attention to the spin they will give to answers, than the truthfulness of their answers. Pretty soon the entire fabric of the culture unravels. Corruption is soon tolerated & cynicism becomes the order of the day. More people do more of what they think they can get away w/ & integrity becomes rare.” That’s a good summary of Malachi Ch. 1 & what we will see today.  

b) So far in Malachi, the last book of the OT, we saw God sent a prophet to His wayward people. The small remnant of Israel who returned to Jerusalem from Babylonian exile doubted God’s love for them. They offered God worthless worship: blind, lame, sick & even stolen animals were offered.

c) Not only did God’s people bring worthless offerings, Israel’s priests accepted these offerings & sacrificed them to the Lord. As we saw toward the end of Ch. 1, God’s people & the priests saw worshiping the Lord as wearisome. Today in Ch. 2 we’ll see what was behind this spiritual apathy.

d) A failure of Israel’s priests to lead God’s people. I’ve titled today’s sermon: God’s Desired Priesthood. As always, let’s begin by hearing God’s holy word in Mal. 2:1-9. READ & PRAY

Here’s our 1stpoint, which is in the middle of our passage in v4-7: God’s pattern for the priesthood.  

a) In v4 the Lord reminded these priests of His covenant w/ Levi. After the Exodus & the giving of the Law, God made a covenant w/ the tribe of Levi to serve Him as priests. In Ex. 32, while Moses was on the mountain, Israel made a golden calf & worshiped it as the gods who saved them.

b) When Moses came down & saw what Israel had done, He said in Ex. 32:26: “Who is on the Lord’s side? Come to me. And all the sons of Levi gathered around him.” The Levites came to Moses & responded to his command to execute judgment on those worshiping the golden calf.

c) Later, Num. 3 tells us the Levites were given to Aaron to assist in the work of the Tabernacle. Num. 18 says the Levites were to lead in worship & the offering of sacrifices. Then Dt. 33 tells us the Levites were to teach God’s word & Law to the people. Dt. 33:10 said of the Levites:

d) “They shall teach Jacob your rules & Israel your law.” Later in Num. 25, Phinehas the grandson of Aaron, stopped a plague the Lord sent upon Israel b/c foreign women led them to worship Baal. Phineas stopped the plague by killing an Israelite man & Midianite woman engaged in idolatry.

e) God said this to Phinehas in Num. 25:12-13: “Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace & it shall be to him & to his descendants after him the covenant of a perpetual priesthood, b/c he was jealous for his God & made atonement for the people of Israel.”

f) So Malachi begins here in v4 by pointing the priests back to the great privileges & responsibilities God gave them. Then in v5-7 Malachi reminds the priests what God called them to do. 1st Israel’s priests were to fear God & to stand in awe of His holiness, power & might.

g) But 2nd, v6 says of the priests “true instruction” was to be in their mouth & “no wrong” was to be

found on their lips. The priests were to teach God’s people His word. His laws. His ways.

h) True instruction doesn’t pull punches or avoid telling the hard truths God has revealed. True instruction isn’t about what people want to hear, but about what God has declared. They were to declare God’s Word in & out of season, to reprove, rebuke & exhort God’s people to holiness.

a) As Paul said in Acts 20:27, “I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.”  Look at v7: “For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, & people should seek instruction from his mouth for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.”

b) They were not only to teach God’s word, but to defend & protect the truth of His word from any & all distortion. They were to guard God’s word w/ their very lives. These priests were to be “the messengers of the Lord of hosts.” To be a messenger means to be under orders.

c) They were to speak the message given to them. They weren’t to teach their own ideas, but God’s word. And that’s why the people were to “seek instruction from (the priest’s) mouth.” Finally, v6 says the priests were to walk w/ the Lord “in peace & uprightness” & turn “many from iniquity.”

d) These priests were not only to teach God’s word, but to set an example for God’s people of how to live out God’s word. The priests weren’t just to preach holiness, but to live holy lives.

But that brings us to our 2nd point in the 1st part of v2 & in v8-9: the failure of Israel’s priesthood.   

a) We see 5 things God has against the priests of Malachi’s day. Notice 1st in v2: “If you will not listen.” In order for a priest to teach God’s people His word, they must 1st listen to God & His word. A faithful minister listens to God b/c they know as v7 says they are a messenger of the Lord.

b) See, there’s a huge difference between a lecture & a sermon. A lecture gives information. But a sermon is meant to change hearts & lives. It’s God speaking to His people through His word & by His Spirit. It’s not about what I want to say, but about what God wants to say to His people.  

c) WA Criswell served as the lead pastor of 1st Baptist Dallas for ~50 years. As a young pastor he recalls his church telling him, “Pastor we know what the editorialists & Bible commentators & politicians say, but we want to know: what does God say.” To know what God says you must 1st listen to God. And as we see here, the priests of Malachi’s day were no longer listening to God.

d) Here’s the 2nd thing failure of the priests in Malachi’s day in v2: “you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name says the Lord of hosts.” Not only were the priests not listening to God, but they no longer had a burden & desire to give honor to the Lord & to see Him & His name glorified.

e) We saw that w/ the sacrifices as they accepted & offered worthless sacrifices that minimized God’s value & worth & dishonored His name. Notice the phrase at the beginning & end of v2: “take it to heart” or “lay it to heart.” These priests’ hearts weren’t set on honoring or glorifying God.  

f) We see a 3rdfailure of the priests down in v8: “But you have turned aside from the way.” These priests not only failed to listen to God & honor Him, but they failed to obey Him & His ways. These priests were living ungodly lives & not setting a godly example for God’s people to follow.  

g) See, being a priest in the OT & a pastor today is much less about competence (what someone can do) than character (who someone is & how they live). 90% of the qualifications for pastors in the NT are focused on character. Why? B/c how I live impacts you just as much as what I preach.

h) As Paul said in 1 Cor. 11:1, “Be imitators of me as I am of Christ.” But these priests in Malachi’s day were not setting a good example for Israel to follow. They had turned aside from God’s ways.

i) 4th, the Lord says in v8 these priests had failed b/c they “caused many to stumble by your instruction.” Not only were these priests leading others astray by how they lived, but they were causing many to stumble b/c of what they taught. Perhaps they were teaching blatant heresy.

j) Perhaps they simply ignored God’s Word & taught the wisdom of the world. v9 says they “showed partiality in their instruction.” They played favorites. Perhaps they showed favoritism to those who had more means or treated the poor differently. They seem to fear people more than God.

k) See, it was 1 thing for these priests to go astray in their own lives, but they were also causing many others to stumble. That’s why James 3:1 says: “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged w/ greater strictness.”

l) As Jesus said in Mk. 9:42: “Whoever causes 1 of these little 1s who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck & he were thrown into the sea.” The Lord rebuked these priests b/c their teaching & lives were causing many in Israel to stumble!

That brings us to our 3rd section in v1-3: God’s response to the priesthood’s failure.

a) Since the priests failed to fulfill their responsibilities, Malachi says in v1 the Lord has a “command for you.” The Lord said in v2 if the priests wouldn’t change their ways, the Lord’s curse would fall upon them. Notice, the word curse appears 3x in v2. 3 is the # of completion or perfection.

b) The priests were not only to offer sacrifices for the people & teach the people, but to bless God’s people. Dt. 21:5 says: “Then the priests, the sons of Levi, will come forward, for YHWH your God has chosen them to serve Him & pronounce blessings in His name.”

c) The priests were commanded in Num. 6:24-26 to speak a blessing over God’s people: “The Lord bless you & keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon you & be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you & give you peace.” That’s why we do a benediction every Sunday.

d) A benediction means to speak a good word over. But here, b/c these priests dishonored God’s name & His ways, He would no longer honor their blessings. Instead, the Lord says in v2: “I will curse your blessings.” The blessings these priests pronounced would be cursed or ineffective.

e) The Lord says at the end of v2: “Indeed I have already cursed them.” God’s judgment was already upon them. The Lord adds in v3: “I will rebuke your offspring (or seed).” This could refer to the Lord rebuking the children of the priests b/c the priesthood was to be passed on to their children. But it could also refer to the agricultural seed of the people which the priest were to bless.

f) Either way, the Lord declares His judgment on the priesthood would have a negative impact on Israel & future generations. Yet, God does not stop there. Look at what He says in v3: “I will…spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings & you shall be taken away w/ it.”

g) The Lord warned that if these priests would not listen to Him & honor Him, He would smear the dung of the sacrificial animals they offered on the altar on their own faces. The dung was the internal waste of the sacrificial animals which the priest was to take outside of the camp & burn.

h) Ex. 29:14 says: “But the flesh of the bull & its skin & its dung you shall burn w/ fire outside the camp.” But now, the Lord said He would take that dung & smear it on the priest’s faces. Those called to be holy & set apart would be made unclean & defiled by God Himself.

i) As the Lord says in v9: “so I make you despised & abased before all the people.” God would bring shame & dishonor upon these priests. And if they still would not listen & take it to heart, the end of v3 says: “you shall be taken away.” God would remove them from their office & from His people.

Now it would be a mistake for us to hear this passage today & think it has nothing to do w/ us.

a) Paul says in 1 Cor. 10:11 of the OT: “Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.” So, what can we as a church learn from this passage in Mal. 2:1-9?

b) 1st, the advent of technology is both amazing & scary. We live in an unprecedented time in history where you can access more Bible information, commentaries, sermons & podcasts than any of our ancestors could have imagined. Anyone who has a platform or microphone can now teach you.

c) So, we must be more & more discerning about the voices we listen to & who we allow to teach us. There’s a book called the Wisdom Pyramid. The author uses the food pyramid & applies it to our spiritual lives & the info. we consume. The base of the pyramid, what we need most, is God’s word

d) And the top of the pyramid is tv, social media & podcasts. His point isn’t that all tv, social media or podcasts are bad, but we must be careful. See, the pastor you watch on tv or the Christian you listen to on podcasts or whose posts you read on social media: what kind of life are they living? You have no idea if there is fruit in their life or not, so the point is, be careful who teaches you.

e) 2nd, there is a more expansive sense in which all of God’s people are his priests & messengers. Remember in Ex. 19:5-6 God declared that Israel was to be “a kingdom of priests & a holy nation.” Centuries later, Peter said to Christians like us in 1 Pet. 2:9:

f) “You are…a royal priesthood, a holy nation…that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” Paul described Christians like us as God’s ambassador in 2 Cor. 5:20. Our burden or message is God’s message of reconciliation.

g) Every Christian is called to proclaim the good news of God’s saving grace available in Christ. But as we do, our words & actions must be consistent. We must be listening to God, honoring Him & fearing Him. We must not cause others to stumble. So 2nd, what would God say of your priesthood?

h) 3rd& finally, the failure of the priesthood of Malachi’s days served as a reminder to them & to us that the greatest need of God’s people has always been not simply for a better priest, but for a perfect priest. Someone who would perfectly embody the priestly character we saw in v5-7.

i) Someone who is a true messenger of the Lord. And the good news of the gospel is God sent such a priest to us. God sent a priest who feared & reverenced His name. God sent a priest who faithfully believed & taught God’s Word. God sent a priest who showed no partiality in His instruction.

j) God sent His Son who taught w/ all authority b/c He was not simply another human teacher, but He Himself was the giver of the Law. God sent His Son who is the Great High Priest who brought an end to the Levitical priesthood & fulfilled the purpose these OT priests pointed forward to.

k) Jesus, our great & faithful high priest not only taught God’s word, but He offered the perfect sacrifice for us & our sin. He paid the penalty our sin deserved. He allowed the Father to treat Him as if He were an unfaithful priest. He allowed our curse to be placed on Him.

l) He allowed dung to be spread on His face. He allowed Himself to be taken outside of the city. And why? So, we might have life & peace. As v6 says: “True instruction was in his mouth, & no wrong was found on his lips. He walked…in peace & uprightness & He turned many from iniquity.”

m) And the best news of the gospel is death could not hold Him. Our resurrected Lord rose from the dead to new & eternal life. He is now seated at the right hand of God the Father where He intercedes for us to teach us & change us & to send us out as His priests & messengers.

n) And 1 day He’s coming again to save those eagerly waiting for Him. But until that day, we’re called to listen to Him, honor His name, tell others of the life & peace we have in Him, to fear Him & stand in awe of Him. We’re to walk in peace & uprightness & pray He’d use us to turn many from iniquity.

o) May God help us to be faithful to our calling as His ambassadors, royal priesthood & messengers.