April 25, 2004
Morning Worship
Text: Malachi 2:1-7
Subject: Corrupt Priesthood
Title: Priestly People – For Real or For Show?
Today we are going to continue in our series as we go through Malachi. If you remember from last week we saw that Malachi had a burden for God’s people. God loves His children and hates those who are outside the covenant. Sunday night we talked about giving God your best and how many of the people in Malachi’s time were offering defiled sacrifices. God wants sacrifice offered with good attitudes and your offering reflects your attitude about God.
Today we will see that one of the reasons the nation of Israel had the wrong kind of attitude in worship was because their priests were corrupt. What we don’t really know is the answer to the question, “were the priests corrupt because of the people, or were the people led astray by corrupt priests?”
What does the priesthood have to do with me? 1 Peter 2:5, “you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” As believers in Christ you are a priesthood having the same responsibilities as those of old.
So as we begin this morning I want you to keep in mind the question, “Is my priesthood for real or for show?”
I. THE LIE OF RELIGION. (1-4)
A. A Commandment to Follow. The Lord speaks through the prophet with words that would definitely get their attention. He speaks of a commandment. This is the thing they knew best. The priests followed the law. After all, they had written most of them themselves. They knew what it said. So when they heard that there was a commandment for them to follow, what would have been their attitudes? Great, we can do this. We, in our perfect hindsight, can see how the priests missed it. We know that it was never intended for man to be saved by following commandments. We know you are saved by grace and not by works. We know that Jesus’ command to us was to, “love one another.” When we think about love we think about earthly relationships. God is concerned with earthly relationships. A man and his wife had gotten into a heated discussion and it got so bad that they wouldn’t speak. Neither would admit the other might be right. Finally the husband couldn’t take it any longer so he told his wife that he would tell her he was wrong if she would only say that he was right. That way everything would be better. She agreed so the husband said, “I was wrong.” To which she quickly replied, “You’re right!” Like the wife, these priests had a pride that was so engrained in them that they could never admit to being wrong. But they missed the point. Pride often keeps us from being obedient.
B. A Commitment to Make. How did one become a priest? “When I grow up I want to go to priest school?” NO! The office of priest was handed down from one generation to the next. The priesthood came through a covenant. This priesthood, who should have been blessed, was failing in several areas of their worship. 1) They were not listening…vs. 2, “If you will not hear…” God was speaking to them through the prophets and the law, but they were not listening. 2) They weren’t taking it to heart. If they did hear, they didn’t believe it. After all, Malachi and all the others that came before him were just prophets. They were priests of God!!! 3) They were not giving glory to God’s name. As a matter of fact, they were bringing reproach. What does this say to us today? As the church (A holy priesthood) we are called to hear God’s word, whether it is His voice speaking in our hearts or the word given to us to read. And then we are called to do what we hear. Proclaim His word. Live lives that are pure and holy before Him. Be an example of His holiness to those around you.
C. A Curse to Receive. Vs 2, “I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings.” I don’t know about anyone else, but if God spoke to me that way, I think it would get my attention. God is going to curse them. Then He is going to curse their blessings. I take that two ways. 1) God is going to curse everything that He has blessed them with. 2) The blessings that they pronounce upon others will be cursed. Now why would God do that? Why would He hold others accountable for the sins of the priests? As a Christian, you are responsible to study the word, to rightly divide the truth, to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. You are responsible for yourself. You can be pretty sure that what I say to you from this pulpit is the truth, but you better check it for yourself. The corruption of the priests, then, affects those around them – those whom they have blessed, as well as their descendants – it now becomes a generational curse. Just as God’s blessing can be passed from generation to generation as in the priesthood, God is telling them that His curses can also be passed along. He is going to rebuke their descendants. The defiled offerings that they are offering up, He will throw them back in their face. Sacrificed animals still had waste in their systems, and the entrails were to be burned outside the sanctuary (Exodus 29:14). Here, God says He will “rub their noses in it,” so that they will have to be taken outside the sanctuary. For what purpose? “Then you shall know that I have sent this commandment to you.” When you become a Christian, your life is no longer your own. You were bought with a price. You are a child of the living God. You’re expected to act like it.
II. A LACK OF RELATIONSHIP. (4b-7)
A. Covenant Risk. “That My covenant with Levi may continue…” Did you ever stop to think that every time God calls someone there is a risk involved? Yet He continues to call imperfect people. God called Abraham. Twice he was willing to give his wife up to another man to protect himself. God called Jonah. He ran the opposite direction. God called Levi and his descendants to be priests. Those descendants failed miserably. But God wants the covenant to continue. He rebukes them in order to draw them back. When you enter into God’s covenant you take a risk also. The risk of being mocked. The risk of being persecuted. But Jesus said, “Blessed are you when they revile you and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven…”
B. The Covenant Resource. There are some words in verse 5 that need to be brought together. My covenant – it was God’s covenant; initiated by Him for the purpose of bringing glory to His name. Life and peace – tied to MY Covenant. Life and peace are from God and given by God. Where does your life and peace come from? From having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. “I gave them to him, that he might fear Me.” Not fear as being afraid, but fear as in “awe”. God has given you eternal life, and peace, that you might be in awe of Him. Psalm 21:4-5, in talking about the coming king, says, “He asked life from You, and You gave it to him… His glory is great in Your salvation; honor and majesty You have placed upon Him.” The life and peace we have comes through the Son and brings God glory. He is our resource.
C. Covenant Response. Verse 6, “So he feared me and was reverent before My name.” When God called you, He took a big risk. He gave you the resources you need to answer the call. What should your response be? Hebrews 11:24-26 tells us how Moses responded. “By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater than the treasures in Egypt, for he look to the reward.” God knew you before your were formed in your mother’s womb. In fact, He knew you before the foundation of the earth. Malachi speaks of the true priesthood like this, “The law of truth was in his mouth, and injustice was not found on his lips. He walked with Me in peace and equity…” Levi was a good example of the Christian priesthood. Don’t those words bring peace to your soul? Spurgeon said, “A man’s life is always more forcible than his speech. When men take stock of him they reckon his deeds as dollars and his words as pennies. If his life and doctrine disagree the mass of onlookers accept his practice and reject his preaching.” A true priest does not keep it to himself. “and turned many away from iniquity.” One Sunday morning in 1865, a black man entered a fashionable church in Richmond, Virginia. When Communion was served, he walked down the aisle and knelt at the altar. A rustle of resentment swept the congregation. How dare he! After all, believers in that church used the common cup. Suddenly a distinguished layman stood up, stepped forward to the altar, and knelt beside the black man. With Robert E. Lee setting the example, the rest of the congregation soon followed his lead.
D. Covenant Responsibility. Malachi continues with verse 7 by describing some of the things that are expected of the priest. 1) “the lips of a priest should keep knowledge…” I wonder what kind of knowledge we are supposed to keep. I have to tell you this story. When the game of trivial Pursuit first came out we played it a lot. And I was really good at it. I finally understood what all those years in high school had really been for. So I could win at Trivial Pursuit. It got to the point where nobody wanted to play with me. They accused me of memorizing all the answers. Then finally one night, I met my match when about 7 or 8 people from Charlotte’s family teamed up against me and beat me by one piece. I had a lot of knowledge but where was it getting me? Nowhere! The knowledge we speak of is the same type spoken of by the prophet Hosea. Chapter 4:6, “And My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” People do not perish because they are stupid. They perish because their knowledge is not in Jesus Christ. Isaiah 53:11, “By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many.” By the knowledge of Jesus Christ we are justified and Him alone. Priestly people have the knowledge of Christ. 2) “People should seek the law from his mouth…” This specifically speaks of leadership; the priest, or elder or pastor etc. Seek the law… The word of God. If you are speaking God’s word try speaking in a way that makes people want it. Instead of focusing on “Thou shall not…” try, “Blessed are…”. The message doesn’t change but the method might. Verse 7 says the priest is a messenger of God. This very easily takes on the idea of all believers as priests. “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature…” You are a priestly people
III. THE LIFE OF REBELLION (8-9)
A. A Casual Priesthood. There is something that’s happens in human nature that you probably don’t even think about. I can tell you as a carpenter that it is true and can be very costly. The more you do the same thing, and the more automatic it becomes, the more likely you are to make mistakes. I have to imagine that the more the priests served at the temple, the more routine it became. When that happens routine can become the master. It happens in churches everywhere. The same songs in the same order with the same prayers and same people in their same places doing the same thing on and on and on… Last Monday night, how many of you sat in a place different than your normal place? The music was different, the faces were different – it was just a different kind of night. But there was a sense of expectation here and I believe that it was partially because you did not know what was going to happen next. There was no routine to be followed. Just the leading of the Holy Spirit. Yet churches all over are going through the same motions and people are lulled into believing they are all right because they went to church. Instead of causing people to want to seek the law, Malachi says, “You have caused many to stumble at the law.”
B. A Corrupt Priesthood. “You have corrupted the covenant of Levi.” The last part of verse 8 continues on with what was previously said. The priests were leading the people astray. How were they doing that? First let me say that they were allowing the people to continue in their sin of offering defiled sacrifices. Second, they have placed such an emphasis on the religious ritual that they have forgotten its true meaning. Third, They had allowed the word of God to become less in importance than temple worship. Paul wrote in Romans 9:30-32, “What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained righteousness. Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone.” The priests led the people to believe that salvation came through works. Therefore, they had become corrupt.
C. A Contemptible Priesthood. Verse 9, “Therefore I also have made you contemptible and base before all the people…” This is very interesting, because the priesthood was found contemptible in the eyes of a contemptible people. The very people who were offering damaged goods to the Lord saw that the priests were corrupt. We have to be careful in our interaction with the world. Even the unsaved know the difference between right and wrong. Look what happens though. All Christians get lumped into the same group. If people see one as bad they see all that way. Why? “Because you have not kept My ways…” A man once said, “I’m not much of a gardener. Once I took a seed catalog and started out the door. "Where are you going with that?" my wife asked. "I’m going to show it to my tomatoes," I explained.” Christians don’t grow just because someone showed them the book and said, “This is what you are supposed to look like.” They grow because someone took the time to cultivate them by example. The priests were being inconsistent in their interpretation of the law. “but have shown partiality in the law.” People twist the word of God around to try to conform it to their lifestyles, instead of conforming themselves to the word. Which way is right?
How many times as a child did you hear someone say, “Do as I say, not as I do?” The inconsistency in that statement definitely raises questions for the hearer. But as believers, a holy Priesthood to God the Father, we are expected to be more than purveyors of the word. We are examples of the word.
Bill Hybels related a story of integrity in Leadership Magazine. It illustrates proper humility in a leader. One evening I stopped by the church just to encourage those who were there rehearsing for the spring musical. I didn’t intent to stay long, so I parked my car next to the entrance. After a few minutes, I ran back to my car and drove home.
The next morning I found a note in my office mailbox. It read: A small thing, but Tuesday night when you came to rehearsal, you parked in the "No Parking" area. A reaction from one of my crew (who did not recognize you after you got out of your car) was, "There’s another jerk in the ’No Parking’ area!" We try hard not to allow people -- even workers -- to park anywhere other than the parking lots. I would appreciate your cooperation, too. It was signed by a member of our maintenance staff.
(This man’s) stock went up in my book because he had the courage to write to me about what could have been a slippage in my character. And he was right on the mark. As I drove up that night, I had thought, I shouldn’t park here, but after all, I am the pastor. That translates: "I’m an exception to the rules." But that employee wouldn’t allow me to sneak down the road labeled "I’m an exception." I’m not the exception to church rules or any of God’s rules. Exemplary conduct means encouraging others to imitate us, even in the small matters.
The apostle Peter wrote, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.”
Repeat after me.
I am a royal priest. - I belong to God. - Though the enemy may come against me - I will not back down. - I will live my life - As a beacon in the world of darkness - For all the world to see - That the glory of God shines through me - Because He has saved me – called me – and sent me to preach the good news. - I will not be corrupted or disrupted – confused or refused – but will continue to be a priest of God – in my family – in my community – in my church – to the glory of God – in Jesus’ name. Amen.
