Malachi 2:1-9 “From the Word”
This is a charge to the leaders it spills over to the hearers
The charge was that they heard the Word but they did not listen by doing what it says.
Vrs 1-2a The accusation against was they were not giving glory to God.
How do we give “glory” to God who already has glory, does He need it from me? He does not, but He finds pleasure in the glory we give Him.
As we learned two weeks ago we understand His glory by observing the ways He loves us and realizing we can’t do anything without Jesus and last week that everything we do can be worship to Him. We lift Him up by the things we say and do to promote His name. Work, school, family, friendships, hobbies our talents, money and time we can lift the name of Jesus up.
The problem is…we mess this stuff up so bad that those who don’t trust Jesus see it and make generalizations and judgments on us.
A few quotes I have come across over the years that illustrate Christians not lifting up Jesus’ name but agendas or themselves. “Lord save me from your followers” “I love Jesus but I don’t understand His wife” (These two statements are due to the fact that Christians don’t act like Jesus)
By a study of the Gospels people are compelled to love Jesus but unfortunately our bad examples stand in the way.
Vrs 2b “Curse” is to take away blessings because you do not “take it to heart” This is a problem, we expect God to bless us no matter how we act, why would He bless you if you don’t care or listen to Him or ”take it to heart” and willfully disobey like the priests were doing?
I am talking to Christians
Do you get good grades in school if you don’t study and go to class?
Do you keep your job when you don’t show up?
Do you have good relationships if you are a bad friend?
But apparently Jesus is a push over and He should ignore our willful disobedience…
As a Christian what do we do with our willful disobedience? Repent of it change of mind. Pray about it Psalm 19:13 David prayed
The result of continuing in a life of sin is ineffective witness for Jesus and dead faith.
Vrs 3 “Rebuke descendents” Bad teaching and bad examples affects those who come after.
The Priest when they brought the Sacrifice were to cut open the lamb take out all the unclean parts bring them outside and burn them then wash himself and change clothes.
You make a mess and the mess spreads because you don’t leave it outside and burn it.
-The mess of our sin can disqualify our witness and discourage our service
-God does desire that you see the mess and realize you can’t clean it up yourself. You need Jesus to clean it up.
Vrs 4 The covenant of Levi (Jacob’s Son)- there is no covenant with Levi laid out in the Bible. The Lord chose the tribe of Levi to be a priestly tribe (the directives are found in Leviticus) and in that choice it was a covenant a unilateral covenant. God it saying it is my desire to use you
As a believer in Jesus the Father wants to use your life for good and He wants good for you.
Vrs 5a The correct preaching of the Gospel of Jesus will bring “life and peace” GOSPEL
Vrs 5b The early Levitical priests realized the task of the ministry and took it seriously and because of that there was a blessing
The response fear and reverence
As a believer in Christ we become a royal priesthood 1 Peter 2:8-10
***The next section is thing to hear in a message and I struggled with what the benefit of you hearing this is because it is almost a message that you would share with a room full of people going into to ministry to instruct them on how they should act.
But then I realized there are extreme benefits for all of us.
1. If you ever leave our church you know what to look for in the preaching and leaders.
2. You can hold me accountable so that I am not doing too much or too little and what is preached
3. You can understand the call of a pastor/leaders.
4. You know what to expect each week
5. Pray for your pastor/leaders
Let me first say we follow Jesus and not people, people are used by God and we can be encouraged by their lives and their personalities in teaching the Scriptures but we follow no one other then Jesus.
Vrs 6-9 the judging of the pastor/leaders.
1. v6a Is it purely biblically based? This is not a given anymore with self help and blended Christian/whatever else on the rise a Christian preacher may be preaching New Age philosophies also legalism. Test the GOSPEL that is preached. 2 Timothy 4:1-3
2. v6b Turn people from sin. A goal of preaching is to inspire people to ask Jesus to help clean their lives of sin up. We need to be reminded of our sin.
3. v7 Look at the credentials of the preacher, schooling is important for sound training and it also shows motivation. If I had a desire to be a doctor and I said that I didn’t need any schooling how would you feel about me operating? 2 Timothy 3:16-17 & Ephesians 4:11-12
4. v8 Look at the character of the preacher, this could be tough but if a man is not living what is preached or not willing to admit failures there is a problem. How does he run his house? 1 Timothy 3:1-7
5. v9a Look at the fruit of the work that Lord has called him to, if there is no lives changed or anything really happening in and around the ministry he is called to that may be a clue that he is not following. Matt 7:15-20
6. v9b “Shown partiality in the law” Use their position to promote agendas and people and promote them positions they are not qualified for.
If the leader fails these criteria the people will start to notice 9a
A preacher of the Word has to realize that if their preaching is no longer being blessed by God the people will be a sounding board of that. When there is an uprising of people saying that the teaching is dry, uninspiring and in some cases false this needs to be the time in which the preacher either leaves or changes his ways.
If they do not bow out or drastically change the work is ineffective and the witness for Jesus is no longer evident.
It is a trickle down effect if the leaders are not doing well the people will not be doing well.
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