Rebellious Priests

Introduction:

Attention Getting:

Textual Segment:

Last week, we saw that God reminded His people of His unconditional love. He loved them as a Father and had chosen descendants of the younger twin, Jacob, over the older twin, Essau, and given the covenant blessings to them.

Even though the covenant was unconditional, God does expect a minimal response of honor and respect from His people.

Malachi now addresses the lack of respect from the very ones who should be leading and teaching the nation to respect Him, the priests.

as Father

as Master

as King

Relational Segment:

We too should give God the honor and respect which is due Him. Our worship should be pure and glorifying to Him.

I. The Rebellion of the Priests

Honor our Master

I. They despise and dishonor God’s holy name

Malachi 1:6 NKJV

“A son honors his father, And a servant his master. If then I am the Father, Where is My honor? And if I am a Master, Where is My reverence? Says the Lord of hosts To you priests who despise My name. Yet you say, ‘In what way have we despised Your name?’

God should never have to ask, “where is my reverence”

Reverence- fear, awe, terror

The priests took God for granted and had lost their awe of Him.

The basic problem they had were that they no longer feared God.

This is the root of many of the other problems we will discuss later.

They no longer were in terror of the wrath of God.

Malachi 1:11 NKJV

For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, My name shall be great among the Gentiles; In every place incense shall be offered to My name, And a pure offering; For My name shall be great among the nations,” Says the Lord of hosts.

God declares His name will be great among the gentiles as well as the Jewish people

Acts 1:

All people in the world should have reverence for God.

Malachi 1:14 NKJV

“But cursed be the deceiver Who has in his flock a male, And takes a vow, But sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished— For I am a great King,” Says the Lord of hosts, “And My name is to be feared among the nations.

Honor our King

God’s name is to be feared

God is God!

He is supreme. The Almighty, The All powerful one.

Their lack of fear led to:

II. They offer polluted sacrifices

Malachi 1:7–10 NKJV

“You offer defiled food on My altar, But say, ‘In what way have we defiled You?’ By saying, ‘The table of the Lord is contemptible.’ And when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, Is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, Is it not evil? Offer it then to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you favorably?” Says the Lord of hosts. “But now entreat God’s favor, That He may be gracious to us. While this is being done by your hands, Will He accept you favorably?” Says the Lord of hosts. “Who is there even among you who would shut the doors, So that you would not kindle fire on My altar in vain? I have no pleasure in you,” Says the Lord of hosts, “Nor will I accept an offering from your hands.

Malachi 1:12–14 NKJV

“But you profane it, In that you say, ‘The table of the Lord is defiled; And its fruit, its food, is contemptible.’ You also say, ‘Oh, what a weariness!’ And you sneer at it,” Says the Lord of hosts. “And you bring the stolen, the lame, and the sick; Thus you bring an offering! Should I accept this from your hand?” Says the Lord. “But cursed be the deceiver Who has in his flock a male, And takes a vow, But sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished— For I am a great King,” Says the Lord of hosts, “And My name is to be feared among the nations.

Malachi 1:

They offered pollute sacrifices

lame, sick, blind, old, blemished, the stolen

God had spelled out in the Law that sacrificed animals were to be “without defect”

A sacrifice was to be the best, not an animal you would want to cull anyway.

Giving someone a piece of trash and then claiming to have really done something is ridiculous.

The same thing is at play.

Offering an animal which is about to die and unneeded isn’t a sacrifice!

They clearly had quit having reverence for God

Otherwise, they would never have considered offering improper sacrifices.

III. They pervert God’s Word leading many to stumble

Malachi 2:7–9 NKJV

“For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, And people should seek the law from his mouth; For he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. But you have departed from the way; You have caused many to stumble at the law. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi,” Says the Lord of hosts. “Therefore I also have made you contemptible and base Before all the people, Because you have not kept My ways But have shown partiality in the law.”

What they should have done:

Keep knowledge

Speak the Law

What they did:

departed from they way

caused people to stumble

corrupted the covenant of Levi

Application: There are lessons we can learn from the rebellion of the priests:

Instead of following their bad example, we should:

a. Reverence God’s name

Fear the Lord, stand in awe of Him.

We serve a mighty and powerful God.

Even though He loves us unconditionally, never lose awe and respect for Him.

b. Offer Pure Sacrifices

God still wants our best!

Offer Him the best of our talents, our time, our skills.

As stewards, all we have is His.

Use the best of it for His honor and glory.

Colossians 3:23 NKJV

And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men,

c. Teach truth of the Word

c. Teach truth of the Word

We must proclaim the truth.

even if it goes against popular opinion

even if we would rather not hear it ourselves

God’s word is truth and isn’t to be compromised.

Remember Satan’s tactic with Eve,

Genesis 3:1 NKJV

Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”

He got her to doubt what God had said.

This same poisonous attitude is still prevalent in the world and in many churches.

When the word of God says something they don’t like, they find a way to interpret it differently.

They claim it was culture specific.

Since we are more enlightened, we are beyond that now.

They say that God couldn’t say what He wanted to say because of flawed men who were writing the Bible

They teach God has changed His standards of right and wrong.

Instead of all of that nonsense, when God says it, that settles it!

Study the word of God to know what He expects and do it!

II. The Rebuke of the Priests

Malachi 2:1–3 NKJV

“And now, O priests, this commandment is for you. If you will not hear, And if you will not take it to heart, To give glory to My name,” Says the Lord of hosts, “I will send a curse upon you, And I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have cursed them already, Because you do not take it to heart. “Behold, I will rebuke your descendants And spread refuse on your faces, The refuse of your solemn feasts; And one will take you away with it.

God warns that the priests and their descendants will be punished if they do not repent.

III. The Role Model of the Priests

Malachi 2:4–6 NKJV

Then you shall know that I have sent this commandment to you, That My covenant with Levi may continue,” Says the Lord of hosts. “My covenant was with him, one of life and peace, And I gave them to him that he might fear Me; So he feared Me And was reverent before My name. The law of truth was in his mouth, And injustice was not found on his lips. He walked with Me in peace and equity, And turned many away from iniquity.