You Belong to the Lord
Notes
Transcript
We continue our series in Malachi and what we can learn from the last book in the Old Testament. One of the more important parts of the entire Bible is an understanding of the covenants of God. It is something that both Rick and myself have covered quite a bit but we must understand that what we have between ourselves and the Lord is a covenant relationship
Theologically a covenant is a binding relational agreement by God. In our lives Jesus is the mediator of the new covenant, which he ushered in during the last supper.
In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
One more reminder about all the covenants is that the Lord has never strayed from any of His covenants. It has always been man that strayed from the covenants.
Let us turn to Malachi 2:1
“And now, you priests, this warning is for you. If you do not listen, and if you do not resolve to honor my name,” says the Lord Almighty, “I will send a curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not resolved to honor me.
Now as we begin chapter 2 we look toward the priests first again. If you remember in Chapter 1, we looked at the priests of Israel and their failure to give adequate sacrifices. Now the Lord gives them another warning. If you do not resolve to honor His name. In this time period the people had been lead astray, they had been lead into idolatry. This is what happens when spiritual leaders fail to give proper honor and reverence to the Lord. The entirety of the land is lead astray. It always begins with the church and their leaders and flows down from there. This is why it is vitally important, that if the church truly wants to see revival , then it must begin with our own repentance.
A very similar warning is given in the book of James
Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.
It is the most serious undertaking in this life to teach the Bible, and those that are called should be obedient and teach. However it must be done with the leading of the Lord and never with the leading of ourselves. We must follow the Lord , never veer from the teachings of the Bible.
“Because of you I will rebuke your descendants; I will smear on your faces the dung from your festival sacrifices, and you will be carried off with it. And you will know that I have sent you this warning so that my covenant with Levi may continue,” says the Lord Almighty. “My covenant was with him, a covenant of life and peace, and I gave them to him; this called for reverence and he revered me and stood in awe of my name.
When the Lord is speaking of the the curse in the first two verses and here is speaking of the rebuke that will come. He is speaking of His blessings that He is given to the Levites. His hand was upon them guiding them in every way and there was blessings. However He can also remove His hand and those blessings would be gone and replaced with hardships. Again we can see this in the modern church. Not just in our own church where we have seen so many blessings. You can go to other churches standing on God’s word and you can feel His presence in those buildings as well. Even during times of suffering and hardship you can feel the presence of the Lord, but when we do not repent, when we do not honor Him with our lives. You can feel the Lord lift His hand.
Now the good news of this set of verses though. The Lord is rebuking and purifying the priesthood so that His covenant could continue with Levi. It was the Lord that strayed but it was the Levites, the very people charged with preaching His word that strayed and the Lord would fix that as well.
At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister and to pronounce blessings in his name, as they still do today. That is why the Levites have no share or inheritance among their fellow Israelites; the Lord is their inheritance, as the Lord your God told them.)
This is the covenant with the Levites. They were set apart to carry the ark. They were the ministers of the Old Testament. Between this covenant and the warnings issued by the Lord in Malachi, it was about 1000 years. Over the course of 1,000 years this is what happened to the priests of the Old Testament. Now again we contour this with our present day church. We are about 1,993 years from the crucifixion of Jesus. Again, we do not learn from history. We see many of the same issues facing the church that faced the Israelites. This is another reason why the study of the Old Testament is so important. We must learn from where they strayed to ensure we are not falling into the same sins.
“My covenant was with him, a covenant of life and peace, and I gave them to him; this called for reverence and he revered me and stood in awe of my name. True instruction was in his mouth and nothing false was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many from sin.
The Levites had a special covenant with the Lord. In the same way that you and I today have a special covenant with the Lord. Levi had reverence and awe of the Lord. He gave true instruction and he did not spread falsehoods. He walked with the Lord and turned many from sins. This is the blueprint for those that are church leaders.
“For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, because he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty and people seek instruction from his mouth.
Again the Lord is telling the Levites who they should be. We as the church need to do this. We need to preserve the knowledge of the Bible. Because this is where people seek instruction. This is what church is supposed to be, finding knowledge and seeking instruction. It isn’t about anything else other than Jesus Christ. The mark of a Christian is someone always seeking the Lord’s knowledge and following His instruction. If you can do this , the fruit you will bear will be undeniably that you walk with the Lord.
And most importantly we are the Lord’s messenger. Remember that is what Malachi means. To be His messenger is to not speak in falsehoods but to speak in the full healing power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
But you have turned from the way and by your teaching have caused many to stumble; you have violated the covenant with Levi,” says the Lord Almighty. “So I have caused you to be despised and humiliated before all the people, because you have not followed my ways but have shown partiality in matters of the law.”
One of the most heartbreaking things is watching leaders cause people to stumble. To watch people be lead astray from Jesus. This is what was happening then and now. The Levites allowed defiled sacrifices to the Lord. We do not have the same sacrificial system but we have done the same things in our lives.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
Our lives are a living sacrifice to the Father, holy and pleasing. This is proper worship. When we look at Malachi, they were offering subpar animals. Are we offering subpar sacrifices as well? It is truly a question I wrestle with daily. Is today a day that I gave the Lord my best?
Do we not all have one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our ancestors by being unfaithful to one another?
Judah has been unfaithful. A detestable thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the Lord loves by marrying women who worship a foreign god.
Throughout the Bible, the covenant relationship between God and man is always looked at through the lens of marriage. Thus we look at idolatry in the same way as adultery.
There is but One God, and there is but One way to the Father. And the problem from Israel was that God created them to be a people that were set apart. They were to show other countries how to follow the Lord.
See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the Lord my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it. Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”
and then Jesus of course had a similar message for us.
“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
This is who Jesus says that we are. You can see these words and understand why the Lord gives us warnings when we stray from the Lord and His teachings. We are not to hide the light of the Lord but people should see the Light, again, we are His messengers.
Two things going on — bringing pagan beliefs into the Word of God and actual pagans.
Judah had been unfaithful and they married pagan women. Very quickly there is a difference between marrying pagan women and then becoming pagan and marrying a pagan women and she follows the Lord. There are those in even in the bloodline of Jesus that were not Israelites. The issue is that of allowing pagan teachings into the church or turning their lives over to Jesus.
As for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the Lord remove him from the tents of Jacob—even though he brings an offering to the Lord Almighty.
Again, it isn’t just a shallow faith, even if someone brings an offering. It is the fruit of your life that is the true offering. That is what we must start to see. We can claim to be a Christian, but God isn’t concerned with how we talk about ourselves. The Lord is concerned with how we are living it out.
Another thing you do: You flood the Lord’s altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer looks with favor on your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. You ask, “Why?” It is because the Lord is the witness between you and the wife of your youth. You have been unfaithful to her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.
We run from God and then wonder why have things gone the way they went. We have been unfaithful in our covenant with the Lord. These are hard lessons but they call us back to our vows. They call us back to the people that you and I were made to be the Lord. He crafted us and made us.
Has not the one God made you? You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth.
“The man who hates and divorces his wife,” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “does violence to the one he should protect,” says the Lord Almighty.
So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful.
We belong to the Lord. We must be on our guard all the time because Satan is there, the world is there waiting to pull you away. These messages are for the Levites, but they were the very people set apart by God Himself to be the spiritual leaders and yet they strayed.
Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
You were bought at a great price. The price was the blood of our Lord and Savior. I do not live because of me, I live because of Him.
If you would like prayer, or to give your life over to the Lord , we will be at the front after the prayer time.
