Priests and Family
Malachi • Sermon • Submitted
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Transcript
Please open your Bible to the book of Malachi, chapter 2, starting with the first two verses.
“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.
Let’s pray.
During the time of Israel, there was this social class.
This career or role.
It involved leading the nation of Israel in worship—in devotion to God.
They were intermediaries between the people of Israels and God,
and they served as leaders and advisors.
They are known as priests.
Israel’s priests were supposed to take care of the temple.
The priests were responsible for offering sacrifices,
of maintaining the temple, and education.
The priests of Yahweh performed sacrifices, maintained the holy sites, and provided counsel and instruction.
And that’s somewhat the role of Christian ministers.
We—pastors, leaders, servants—are supposed to make sure that the body of Christ have a place to worship Jesus.
We are also responsible for providing counsel and instruction to help you serve our God.
It’s sad what happened with the priests of Israel, because
The priests were not the models that the Israelites should have followed.
As we saw last week, the priests were offering cut-rate sacrifices
Not giving their best.
Their hearts were not in the right place.
When we think about the heart, we might only think only about emotion.
But in the Hebrew understanding,
heart means more than emotion.
The heart, in the minds of the Israelites, also included reason.
The Israelites had not determined in their heart, through feelings and reason
that they need to honor God’s name.
They were not honoring God’s name.
When we say we want to honor the name of our parents,
what do we mean?
Well, we mean that we want for people to look at us or look at our parents and think,
our parents have raised good children.
We don’t want to dishonor their name.
We don’t want to corrupt their name so that people would not say
“Oh they’re the parents of so and so.”
We want to do the best that we can to honor the name of our parents.
Sadly, the priests of Israel had dishonored the name of their father—of the LORD.
When people looked at God, they would think,
“Oh, this is the God who had the priests who didn’t even give their best to him?
This is the God whose priests offer cut-rate sacrifice.
If these are his priests, then I couldn’t care less about this God.
He doesn’t seem to be holy or powerful God.”
We need to remember as the priests should have remembered:
We need to remember that our God is holy.
And we need to remember that we need to honor his name with our lives.
What kind of God do you serve?
Does your life reflect the God of the bible or a god that you have made up--
A god whose name does not deserve honor.
No, the God of the Bible deserves honor.
And the nation of Israel—the priests of Israel had not given the honor God deserved.
And you know what God does to the Israelites--
Sometimes we have a pretty picture of God,
and indeed, he is beautiful and majestic.
His goodness is beyond measure--
But God is a holy God.
He is the Lord Almighty.
He is holy--
so worthy of honor and worship
because of his might, goodness, majesty, wisdom, love...
He is worthy of worship and honor,
and because the Israelites had failed to worship God,
they would be cursed.
When we think of God, we might think that God just blesses,
but not he also curses,
he curses things that are wrong.
And look at how intense his curse is.
This picture is so crazy.
Go to the next verse, Malachi 2:3
“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.
I will smear on your faces the dung from your festival sacrifices.
The sin of not glorifying God is gross.
So Malachi used elements from a farm culture to describe how disgusting it was.
The dung of the animals, the contents of the stomach, which remained after the sacrifices,
dung that shouldn’t have been in the temple in the first place, would be smeared on the faces of the priests.
It’s kinda poetic justice.
The Israelites were treating God like poop.
So, they get poop smeared on their faces.
And because of the dung on their face,
the priests would be removed from their office.
According to the law, they would be ceremonially unclean.
I don’t know whether this smearing is literal or a figure of speech.
I’m leaning on that it’s a figure of speech.
Nevertheless, the point is that God would make a public display of priests’ disgrace.
It’s crazy,
but the sin of dishonoring God is a big deal.
Seriously.
We need to honor God.
I mean look at what he has done for us.
He has created us.
Given us life.
Life through his son,
Given us blessings beyond what we could count,
and then we just dishonor him.
Crazy.
And you know,
God had done wonderful things with the Israelites,
particularly with the priests.
Look, read the next verses
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.
God had made a covenant with the priests of Israel.
You could learn more about the covenant in Numbers 25:10-13, (don’t read)
The Lord said to Moses, “Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites. Since he was as zealous for my honor among them as I am, I did not put an end to them in my zeal. Therefore tell him I am making my covenant of peace with him. He and his descendants will have a covenant of a lasting priesthood, because he was zealous for the honor of his God and made atonement for the Israelites.”
God had made a covenant with Phinehas, a grandson of Aaron—the brother of Moses.
He was a priest, and with this covenant,
it was a covenant of peace,
it indicated that the descendants of Phinehas would serve as priests.
And this covenant was all because this person, Phinehas was zealous in honoring God.
It’s so beautiful,
but generations after Phinehas,
his descendants no longer honored God.
It’s tragic.
The priests dishonored the covenant God had made with their father, Phinehas.
Phinehas’ attitude was so different from his sons.
Phinehas stood in awe of God’s name,
but the priests during the time of Malachi did not fear God.
They dishonored the covenant with God with their carelessness.
...
Okay, so all this talk about covenant may sound foreign to us...
We really don’t talk about making covenants nowadays.
What does this word even mean?
Well, in the original language of the Bible, in the Hebrew,
the word is
בְּרִית
It’s a covenant and it could be translated as an agreement or arrangement,
but when God uses it in relation to humanity,
it takes a deeper meaning.
It’s a sacred bond between two parties, and it’s ratified by swearing an oath.
It’s different from a contract.
One definition from a Bible dictionary says this,
The Lexham Bible Dictionary Covenant and Contract Distinguished
contracts are made by the exchange of promises, whereas covenants are sworn by solemn oaths. In application, contracts are limited by the terms of the exchange of property (“this is yours, that is mine”), while covenants involve an exchange of life (“I am yours, you are mine”), which covers a virtually unlimited range of human relations and duties. In terms of motivation, contracts are based on profit and self-interest, while covenants call for self-giving loyalty and sacrificial love. Contracts are temporary while covenant bonds are permanent, even intergenerational.
I really liked the part that said that covenants involve the part of
“I am yours, you are mine”
It calls for self-giving loyalty and sacrificial love.
בְּרִית
God had made a בְּרִית with the Israelites.
He had made a covenant with the Israelites.
God was saying to the priests,
“I am yours, and you are mine.”
He gave his loyalty and sacrificial love to them.
And yet, the priests dishonored his name.
...
Through Christ, we have been given a covenant relationship.
Maybe you remember the last supper:
Jesus said that through his blood he has made a new covenant.
Because of this covenant that Jesus had established,
we can have a wonderful relationship with God.
But even though God gives his sacrificial love,
we dishonor him.
And we should repent because of that.
--
God was going to curse the priests.
But he didn’t give up on the priests.
He would send the curse to help the priests return to their covenantal relationship with God.
Sometimes, our parents would discipline us...
And it may appear as a curse for us—that our parents were uber strict,
but the discipline can help us remember how we are to honor God.
God may curse some blessings so that we could remember who we are and who he is.
The priests were supposed to remember their father, Levi, who was the grandfather of Phinehas.
Malachi 2:6 says
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 patriarch of the priests, this priest honored God and gave true instruction.
The Hebrew word for instruction is
תּוֹרַה
With the Torah, we might think of the law of Moses.
You might think of legalism.
Like, we have to do certain things to ascertain blessings in our lives.
But no, the תּוֹרַה was the direction, instruction, law
that God had given.
It’s a rule of life,
it’s the way that the Israelites were designed to live.
And the job of the priest was to give true instruction,
and nothing false was found on his lips.
And not only were his words holy,
but his actions were godly.
He walked in peace with God.
And helped many turn away from sin.
---
As a minister of God’s word,
this is my goal.
I want to bring true instruction.
For the instruction to be true,
I must teach what the human authors of the Bible intended to say.
I can’t show partiality,
I can’t be self-seeking, or lazy.
I need to do my due diligence.
Therefore, I spend hours upon hours,
to pray and study the word,
and meditate on it.
I don’t say this to gloat,
but I want you to know,
that I study,
look at what others have said,
and strive to depend on God,
to make sure that what I am saying is true.
I want to give you the truth.
Nothing false.
Therefore, I preach the Bible.
And I hope that it could help you,
help you turn away from sin.
And not only through my words, but my actions.
And this should be true for any preacher or teacher.
And even parents, aunts, or uncles.
You teach as role models.
Verse 7 says
“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.
The role of a priest, even of a minister
is to preserve knowledge.
We are not trying to invent something new,
but rather we are messengers of the Lord.
Malachi—whose name means messenger—what was he doing?
He was relaying a message,
a message that God had given him.
That’s the role of any messenger.
We don’t make knowledge.
We preserve knowledge.
We are messengers of the LORD.
And we give the people the תּוֹרַ֤ת of God,
the instruction of God,
because that’s what brings life.
As the Psalmist said in Psalm 1:1-2
Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
But whose delight is in the תּוֹרַ֤ת of the LORD
who meditates on the תּוֹרַ֤ת of God day and night.
The instruction of God is so good.
We need to think—to meditate—about it.
We need to preach it.
Sadly, the priests didn’t instruct the Israelites with the תּוֹרַ֤ת of God.
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.”
The priests had left God’s way.
They left the lifestyle God had given them.
And they taught things that caused the Israelites to stumble.
It’s as if I taught you things that would cause you to fall, to leave God.
That’s horrible,
and no priest or minister of God should desire to do that.
It was a horrible thing that the priests did.
They violated the covenant,
the relationship with God.
You know, sometimes we just read the cursing of God.
And we’re like, uh you’re crazy God.
But look at how horrible the priests were acting.
It’s crazy.
God had delivered them from Egypt,
blessed them,
and the priests continued to show partiality with the law--
they’ll apply the law here with this person but not with that person.
The failure of the religious leaders had caused problems within the family of Israel.
We’re moving to the next section of this chapter.
The first was about the priests and their failure.
The second section is related to the first.
The second section is about the family of God and how the Israelites were horrible to one another.
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?
God had made the nation of Israel,
when he told Abraham that He would make out of him a large nation.
God created them.
God was their one Father, who had created them.
God had created each Israelite.
Because the Israelites all had God as their Father,
the Israelites were a family.
God was their father,
and the Israelites were siblings to one another.
Unfortunately, the Israelites were dishonoring God by what they did to one another.
God cares about how his children treat each other.
---
We have been adopted to God’s family because of Christ.
God is our Father who has given us a rebirth experience.
That’s why we could pray, as I said last time, we could pray
“Our Father.”
We have a wonderful relationship with God because he is our father.
But because God is our father, we are also part of a new family.
It’s not just about our relationship with God,
but about our relationship with one another. ←→
We are family.
And we should honor our heavenly Father by honoring our earthly brothers and sisters.
Sadly, the Israelites had dishonored one another.
The family was dysfunctional.
The Israelites were unfaithful-not loyal-to one another.
Here’s one way that they were disrespectful to one another,
and it’s not the way that you might think about.
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.
Judah had become synonymous with Israel
And it had messed up.
The Israelites had desecrated the sanctuary.
They had defiled the holy place of God,
they had made the temple unholy,
robbed it of its significance,
all because the men were marrying women who worshipped foreign gods.
The phrase “daughter of a foreign god” (the literal translation) refers collectively to women outside the community of faith,
foreign pagans who worshiped a god other than the true God.
The problem wasn’t the integration of multiple cultures,
but rather,
the problem was the mixing of religions and spiritual commitments.
We’re getting into marriage.
I don’t consider myself someone with experience,
but I do know what the word of God says.
And as a minister of the word,
I will do my best to present accurately what the prophet Malachi proclaimed.
From the outset, it’s important to note that Malachi was addressing the Israelites.
The Israelites messed up because they had married people who had foreign gods--
they didn’t worship Yahweh.
Look marriage is important and who you worship is also important.
Marriage encompasses all areas of life.
You think about the person often.
And in the times of Malachi,
the wives would influence their husbands to worship false gods.
It was so serious that Malachi declared that if this married man went to the temple,
don’t let him in the temple or God’s community.
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.
It was a serious thing.
Now, we don’t live during Malachi’s time.
We’re not a nation like Israel.
So if you marry someone who is not a Christian,
you’re not barred from entering the church.
But I think there’s wisdom in the words of Malachi.
Your spouse has a great deal of influence over you,
whether you like it or not.
Before marrying somebody,
you should really consider what that person believes,
because it will affect your life to one degree or another.
As a general rule, I wouldn’t marry anyone who was not a Christian,
because Christ is central to who I am.
And thankfully,
God provided a wonderful and beautiful woman of God.
And I give you the same advice,
if you’re not married already.
Consider who you marry.
As A. W. Tozer said,
What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.
Think about their faith.
Is it going to draw you closer to God,
or push you further from the one who gives you life?
These are things to consider.
Obviously don’t just consider their faith, but also their character, personality, values, and interests.
There are Christians with horrible personalities.
...
Unfortunately, the Israelites married wives with foreign gods.
Maybe they thought, as some of us have thought...
“Oh they don’t believe… YET
But I’ll change them.”
Unlikely buddy.
The Israelites were influenced over.
Here’s another thing that the Israelites did that was a family problem
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.
The Israelites were crying at the altar,
and God wouldn’t answer.
He wouldn’t accept their gifts.
Sometimes,
we think,
“Oh, if we cry enough,
God will answer.
He doesn’t care about how we treat others.
I could try my wife like trash,
and if I cry, God will answer.”
But no,
God cares about how you treat others.
God cares about how you treat your spouse.
The LORD God is the witness between you and your wife.
Since the very beginning,
you made a covenant with your spouse
and you hopefully recognized God as your witness.
He’s been there since the beginning.
He sees what you are doing.
The Israelites had been unfaithful to their partners
to the ones whom they had made a covenant with.
Marriage is a covenant.
It is a בְּרִית
Remember,
that’s what we have with God through Christ.
But we also have this in marriage.
In marriage, both parties have exchanged lives.
You say,
I am yours, and you are mine.
And it’s not about profit or self-interest.
It shouldn’t be about accumulating property, wealth, or status.
It should be about making a promise with the one to whom you will give selfless loyalty and sacrificial love.
Sadly, the Israelites were not honoring their part of the covenant.
They weren’t giving sacrificial love.
And God cares about that.
This next verse is hard to translate.
The NIV states
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.
But check out all of these translations.
It’s a tricky passage to translate
It’s just hard.
This is the Hebrew
וְלֹא־אֶחָ֣ד עָשָׂ֗ה וּשְׁאָ֥ר ר֨וּחַ֙ לֹ֔ו וּמָה֙ הָֽאֶחָ֔ד מְבַקֵּ֖שׁ זֶ֣רַע אֱלֹהִ֑ים וְנִשְׁמַרְתֶּם֙ בְּר֣וּחֲכֶ֔ם וּבְאֵ֥שֶׁת נְעוּרֶ֖יךָ אַל־יִבְגֹּֽד׃
The issue is the beginning:
וְלֹא־אֶחָ֣ד עָשָׂ֗ה
Literally translated,
And not one he made.
So translators wonder whether the one is referring to God,
because earlier the prophet said we have one God and Father.
Or "one” is referring to the marriage covenant.
I haven’t spent nearly enough time to conclude what translation is best,
but I think the correct version is the one the CSB presents,
although I’m not sure.
The more I study, the more work I realize I need to do.
But anyways, the CSB
Didn’t God make them one and give them a portion of spirit? What is the one seeking? Godly offspring. So watch yourselves carefully, so that no one acts treacherously against the wife of his youth.
God made Adam and Eve one.
That’s the picture of marriage.
God could have given Adam many wives.
He had the power to do it through the Spirit,
but yet God made one wife for Adam, Eve.
This was because he was seeking a godly offspring.
So from this idea
Adam and Eve are one
God said that was enough
because it was enough to bring a godly offspring.
From this idea,
Malachi argued that husbands should accept how God designed things.
Divorce is going contrary to how God designed things,
as is polygamy.
Let’s continue.
“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.
This is one is also hard to translate.
In Hebrew, it just says “hate.”
Doesn’t specify whether it’s God or a man.
We’re just going to rely on the NIV.
We need to take this verse within it’s context.
I think we can agree that divorce is not good.
Or even the events that lead to divorce not good,
at times they’re worse than divorce.
Divorce is not part of an ideal world.
Divorce a result of sin.
And it’s something to repent about.
In a perfect world, there would be no divorce,
since all those made a covenant with their partner
would honor their promises.
Marriage should be unbreakable.
Divorce should not happen.
Certainly, the Bible permits divorce because of the brokenness within the hearts of people,
but it does not advocate or condone it.
It’s permissible because of sin,
because of our brokenness.
Well in Israel’s time,
the social consequences of divorce were horrible.
A wife didn’t work back then.
Without a husband, they would probably become prostitutes.
Fortunately, today, we have a more egalitarian society,
where women are free to be whoever God has called them to be,
without being bound to a man.
But during Israel’s time, for protection,
women needed husbands to protect them.
Yet, the worst part is that Israel’s men did not care about their spouses.
Didn’t care about the well-being of their wife.
Didn’t care that their wife would suffer violence or injustice if they got a divorce.
God hates that:
He hates the man who both hates and divorces his wife to leave the wife vulnerable.
Again context is key.
Today, you’re not leaving a woman vulnerable as you would during Israel’s time,
though you should still honor the covenant that you have made with your wife and God.
Men were and are still supposed to protect their wives.
Of course women now have more freedoms to take care and protect themselves than they did years ago.
Nevertheless, we should still strive to protect our loved ones.
The Israelites weren’t doing that.
In fact, the Israelites were saying that the evil that they were doing was good, in the eyes of God.
Last verse:
You have wearied the Lord with your words.
“How have we wearied him?” you ask.
By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and he is pleased with them” or “Where is the God of justice?”
The Israelites have wearied the LORD.
Imagine that.
One scholar noted that “weary” can refer to being physically tired because of prolonged labor, travel, or other activity.
But that’s not what is being spoken about here.
Weariness can also refer to emotional disturbance.
Like being annoyed.
It is exhausting, and it can happen
because of persistent stresses, sorrows, and trials of life.
The LORD was weary because of the prolonged and unpleasant activities of Israel.
The Israelites had said that those who leave their wives,
those who worship foreign gods
those who show partiality
those who do evil
those who dishonor God
are actually good in the eyes of the LORD
In fact, they believed that the LORD was pleased with them.
Why do they say this?
Well, they say this because they don’t see God’s justice.
They see these evil men,
these people who worship idols,
who get hundreds of divorce,
who show partiality
They see these Israelites and think,
“If God really cared,
He would bring justice.”
And maybe this a sentiment that we all have.
We see people who get divorces,
who have a different lifestyle than us,
and maybe in our eyes,
they appear to be blessed.
So we say that it’s good for them to do evil because they’re happy.
Obviously,
if God was a God of justice,
he would bring judgment to those who hurt others.
This is an interesting sentiment.
And unfortunately, we don’t have time to get into that now.
But we will next week.
We will see that God is still a God of justice.
And even though it seems like presently he’s not,
He’s still working and in the end,
all will see that God is just.
We will also see redemption and change.
The Israelites could turn from their evil ways because lord will come.
We now know that the lord is Jesus.
He introduced a new way of living.
A new way of living with others.
And I pray, that if you want change, you will go to him.
Say,
Jesus, I give you my heart.
Do what you want with it.
Let His Spirit change your life.
Encounter his forgiveness.
You can encounter it.
Let’s pray.
If you have any questions,
feel free to talk to me.