GIVING GOD YOUR LEFTOVERS - Malachi 1:6-2:9

Malachi’s Warning to Priests Who Despise God’s Name

At the beginning of this series that we just started a couple of weeks ago, I pointed out that one of the reasons that we chose this particular study through the Old Testament minor prophet of Malachi was because of the striking similarities between the people of Israel in that day and the current landscape of the church at large today.

And in our text this morning, looking at the second of the six disputes between God and the people that were delivered through Malachi, we will hopefully see in greater detail this correlation and prayerfully be, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we pray, we may be convicted.

We may be encouraged, challenged, edified as the sanctifying providence of God deems necessary in each of our lives individually, but also corporately, for this is a body. So please, open your copy of God's Word, if you've got one with you, to Malachi chapter 1.

If you're, this is your first week here and you're not familiar where the minor prophet of Malachi is, it's the very last book in the Old Testament. So if you go to the beginning of the New Testament, Matthew, jump back one.

Jump right back into the Old Testament and there you are, Malachi chapter 1. I believe this is actually the largest portion of scripture that I've ever sought to tackle in a single sermon, but I believe it is necessary that we see the whole of this dispute in order that we may understand what is being expressed here and that we don't miss the forest for the trees, as we can often do when looking at scripture.

So look there with me in Malachi chapter 1. We're gonna start in verse 6. A son honors his father and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I'm a master, where is my fear?

Says the Lord of hosts to you, O priest who despise my name. But you say, how have we despised your name? By offering polluted food upon my altar. But you say, how have we polluted you? By saying that the Lord's table may be despised.

When you offer blind animals and sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor. Will he accept you or show you favor? Says the Lord of hosts.

And now entreat the favor of God that he may be gracious to us. With such a gift from your hand, will he show favor to any of you? Says the Lord of hosts. Oh, that there were among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain.

I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts. And I will not accept an offering from your hand. For from the rising of the sun to its setting, my name will be great among the nations. And in every place, incense will be offered to my name and a pure offering.

For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts. But you profane it when you say that the Lord's table is polluted and its fruit, that is, its food may be despised. But you say, what a weariness this is.

And you snore at it, says the Lord of hosts. You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick. And this you bring as your offering. Shall I accept that from your hand? Says the Lord. Cursed to be the cheat who has a male in his flock and vows it and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished.

For I am a great king, says the Lord of hosts. And my name will be feared among the nations. And now, O priest, this command is for you. If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings.

Indeed, I have already cursed them because you did not lay it to heart. Behold, I will rebuke your offspring and spread dung on your faces and dung on your offerings and you shall be taken away with it.

So shall you know that I have sent this command to you that my covenant with Levi may stand, says the Lord of hosts. My covenant with him was one of life and peace and I give them to him. It was a covenant of fear and he feared me.

He stood in awe of my name. True instruction was in his mouth and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness and he turned many from iniquity. For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge and people should seek instruction from his mouth for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.

But you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts. And so I make you despised and abased before all the people and as much as you do not keep my ways but show partiality in your instruction.

This is the word of the Lord. You ever wondered if God speaks to us? He just did. His word is good. It's true. It's clear. So we should go to him now. We should pray. We should bow our heads before him and ask that the Holy Spirit allow us to understand these words and then to obey them and live them out.

So please bow with me. Dear Heavenly Father, we come before you humbly now for you are a great and mighty God. Your words are life-giving and true and great and wonderful and clear. God, we misunderstand them at times.

We misapply them and then other times even worse, we see what they're saying and then we seek and we choose not to honor them and obey them. Forgive us. Help us. May your name be made great in our hearts today through the hearing of your word.

May our minds be renewed by the truth of your word for they are the only truth that there is. We thank you for it in Christ's name. Amen. Well, last week we saw how God approaches his children, right?

He approaches his children with love. As he declared through Malachi, the very first thing that he says is, I have loved you. I have loved you. I will love you. I will continue to love you. And then he goes on to point to his great faithfulness as an expression of that great love that he has for his people.

This is where God starts with us, right? That's what John says. He says, we only love because he, what? First loved us. He created us in love. He redeemed us in love. He sustains us in love. That's a beautiful truth, isn't it?

However, we can only truly understand the immensity of that love when we see him for who he is. Our God, who is love, is the almighty, sovereign, all-knowing, holy, righteous creator of all who is to be greatly feared with reverence and awe.

If then I am a father, where is my honor? If I am a master, where is my fear? We cannot even begin to comprehend the great love that he has for his children, for the elect, for those that he has set his love upon without an ever-present awareness and acknowledgement of his transcendent holiness.

When his holiness and our fear ceases to be interwoven into our understanding and into our rest of that unending, perfect love that he has towards us, we end up distorting that love into something that it's not.

We pervert it into something that God never gave us, never called us to. We see this happening all through the church today. There is much talk about the love of God within the church, probably more than ever before.

We love to talk about the love of God, God loves you, God loves you, the love of God, love, love, love, love, love, and often very little talk of his holiness and subsequently the fear and reverence due his name.

It leads us to define his love for us in lesser and inaccurate ways, doesn't it? To perceive God's love for us in ways that don't lead to repentance and to rest for the believer, but to a nonchalant, apathetic excusal of unrighteousness within our lives and within the church.

We begin to excuse our sinful habits, overlook wrong forms of worship, we downplay our call to righteous and holy living, all under the banner of the love of God. Should we go on sinning that grace may abound?

Certainly not. God loves me just the way I am, right? God loves me just the way I am. You're wrong. You're wrong. He doesn't love you just the way you are, he loves you way more than that. So much so that he's not going to leave you the way you are.

He's begun a good work in you. Because he is holy, therefore you must be holy. There's pruning, right? He chastens those that he loves. And your worship of him, being your very life, is to be a representation of that righteous holiness.

This is where the priest in Malachi's day had failed. They had forgotten about the love of God, despite his faithfulness of always following through, of always caring for them, for loving Jacob and hating Esau, and making sure that, hey, your future is secure, the Messiah is coming, I've promised, and everything I've promised thus far has come true.

But they began to profane him in their worship. Notice, though, that they are still going through the motions of worship. They're still going through the procedures. They're still offering food and sacrifice upon the altar, thinking they're doing the right thing.

But look at the text again. Look there in verse 6. A son honors his father, a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? Says the Lord of hosts to you, O priest who despise my name.

These are the Levitical priests. Priests in the Old Testament, their role was to mediate the knowledge, the presence, and the forgiveness of God for the rest of the people of Israel. The priest, these were men that were set apart back in, I believe it was Exodus 28.

The Levitical priest bore the responsibility of offering the sacrifices that were required in the Mosaic law that God had given for that people. The people would bring their offering, and the priest would accept that offering from the people, and then offer that offering on the altar for the people.

God brings an accusation to these priests. You have despised my name, for you do not honor and fear me. And how do the priests respond to this? These are the men that were set apart by God, that were called to be a representative for the people of that time, and to make right worship, right sacrifice, right offering to God, but yet they despise him.

And then how do the priests respond to God saying that they've despised him? Look there at the next part of verse 6. But you say, how have we despised your name? It's almost as if they're like, we're carrying out the Mosaic law, we're doing it.

Sacrifices are being made, aren't they God? We're doing the things, we're going through the motions, that's what you asked of us. And God exposes their heart, look at verse 7. He says, by offering polluted food upon my altar.

But you say, how have we polluted you? Notice something, they're not arguing that the food offered is polluted. You see that? They're asking, how's that affecting you, God? He says, by saying the Lord's table may be despised.

You see, it's not enough to go through the motions to check the boxes of worship. Worship in that day, just like today, is a matter of the heart. And their hearts here are being exposed, showing that they do not fear and honor God.

Look at verse 8, he says, when you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame and sick, is that not evil? To me, the creator of all things, the provider of all things, the sustainer of all things.

The one that created that very animal. The one that has loved you, continues to love you, has set you apart. I get the leftovers? He says, present that to your governor. We accept you or show you favor, says the Lord of hosts.

Try that on your earthly ruler and see how that goes. Oh, you're going to show fear and honor to him? By the way, in the Hebrew here, in that language, it shows that what he's talking about, he's using the word there that, I think it was a Babylonian word or a Persian word at the time, I think is what it was.

So they were already under, they were still under some reign of other foreign governments. And they're still showing honor and fear to that. They wouldn't dare offer that to him because they know what would happen.

God says, but you expect me? You expect me to be your little genie in a bottle that grants all your wishes, blesses you, shows you favor? Because remember, that's what they're upset about. They've built the temple.

They go through the motions and they're like, why is the presence of God not with us? Why is the blessing of God not with us? Why are we struggling?

And here he is.

He's like, what are you expecting? How dare you presume upon my love? Look at verse 9. And now entreat the favor of God that he may be gracious to us. We want the favor of God, don't we? Just like these priests wanted the favor of God.

They wanted the gifts. They didn't want the gift giver. With such a gift from your hand, will he show favor to any of you, says the Lord of hosts? And in verse 10, he says, oh, that there were among you who would shut the doors that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain.

God is saying, I would rather you not make any sacrifices at all. Oh, that there were one among you that feared and honored me and said, oh, no, no, we can't do this. Close the doors. Shut the doors. No more sacrifice.

As Samuel quoted from Psalm 40 back in 1 Samuel 15, he says, has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices and in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to listen than the fat of rams.

Oh, it's better. It's better to live a contrite and repentant and worshipful life than to give sacrifice that is unacceptable. Verse 10, the next part of verse 10, he says, I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand.

Why? I think it's very similar to what David claims in Psalm 51. You remember after he had committed the sin with Bathsheba and he's called out and he finally comes to repentance and he writes Psalm 51.

And in verse 16, he says, for you, God, will not delight in sacrifice or I would give it. You will not be pleased with a burnt offering. He says, but the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart.

Oh, God, you will not despise. This is God once again pointing to the fact that the Mosaic law has zero saving power. It had none. Going through the motions for the people of Israel, doing the things that the Mosaic law called them to do did not save a soul.

It had no saving power. All those sacrifices and rituals were but a shadow of a substance to come. It was a matter of the heart of faith carrying out those rituals in obedience. And these Levite priests who were called to do so in the fear and reverence of God with a contrite heart, with a heart of worship towards God or proving through following and going through the motions, that's not what God desired.

God desired to be worshiped and honored and feared. We see that in the fact that he talks about us here. You didn't know that you were in this text, did you? We made it. We made it to an Old Testament, a minor prophet.

You and I, we're right here in verse 11. Look at it. For from the rising of the sun to its setting, my name will be made great among the nations. Ooh, that's us. And in every place, incense will be offered to my name and a pure offering.

For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts. He's not talking about the shadows. He's speaking about the substance here. He's letting these Levite priests know just going through those motions isn't enough.

There's something more here. We, you and I, the Gentiles, we're the nations. And believe it or not, we offer up incense and offering, don't we?

Did you know that?

You smelled any incense in here today? We're not like our Episcopalian brothers. We don't walk through with the incense and whatnot. Maybe we should, but there is incense nonetheless. Unlike the Old Testament Mosaic law, ours is true incense and true offering.

It's because of the finished work of the great high priest. Talked about in Hebrews 4. Revelation 5 .8, you jot this passage down. We see what that incense is that he's speaking of back in verse 11. It says,.

And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the land, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense. And then he defines what that incense is, which are the prayers of the saints.

Our communion with him through Christ is a sweet smelling aroma coming up before God. That's the incense that he's speaking of back in verse 11. Because of that aroma of his son's righteousness. When you and I are worshiping God, when we're communing with God through prayer, what's happening?

Why do we get the right to go to him in prayer? Why have we gotten to pray this morning and the creator of all things has heard us? Why? Because you're righteous and you lived a good life this week? No, because of the perfect righteousness of Christ that was imputed to you, given to you.

And now when you commune with the father, he smells the aroma of his son's righteousness that was given to you. It's beautiful. This is the incense spoken of there in verse 11 in Malachi. And then sacrifice, Hebrews 13, 15 and 16.

Through him, Jesus Christ, then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God. He goes on, he says, that is the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

We don't sacrifice bulls and goats like the Levitical priest. Our sacrifice is a life of praise to a God that loves us. But it's holy, perfect, and demands perfect righteousness. Back there in verse 11 of Malachi, we see a foreshadowing of what we call the priesthood of the believer.

You ever heard that phrase? Do you know that? Do you all know that you all are priests? I don't wear a robe. I don't wear a funny hat. Well, neither do I, thankfully. This is pointing to the fact that there is no longer a priestly class of people within God's people as in that day.

You see, our great high priest, Jesus Christ, is the perfect mediator. It's once for all done. Like they had to keep doing it year after year after year, as the writer of Hebrews points out. But Jesus, he comes, he does it one time, and he accomplished it.

He said, it's finished. It's done. I've accomplished it. But our great high priest, that perfect mediator, and that all believers share now, Christ's priestly status. Well, we talked about that for a year and a half in Ephesians, guys.

What was the driving phrase in Ephesians? In Christ. It's because of our union with him that we've been brought into union with Christ, the great high priest. As a matter of fact, look at 1 Peter 2. Go over to the New Testament.

Look at 1 Peter 2 in verse 9. I want you to see this. I want you to see who you are. And this may help us when we're thinking about the Levitical priest of this time and connecting the dots here. In 1 Peter 2, starting in verse 9, this is a well-known text.

He says, but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession. And I want you to notice something else, though. What is our purpose? What are we called to as priest?

That you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. There's the love of God. We're called to proclaim his excellencies. You see, this is what the Levitical priests were supposed to be doing.

That was their job. They were to proclaim the excellencies of the God who loves them and has cared for them and provided for them the holy, just, perfect, righteous creator of all of the universe. But instead, they were accepting sick and defiled sacrifices to lay upon his altar.

And in doing so, what did they do? Why is this so bad? Why does this show a disdain for God in such a way? Because it distorted the imagery of what those sacrifices were pointing to. Oh, there was something far, far greater about those sacrifices than they ever understood.

They thought, well, I guess God likes us killing goats. Let's kill the weak ones. That'll appease him. God didn't want them. God didn't care about the goats. The goats were a shadow of something greater to come.

And since they were bringing sick and defiled animals and sacrifices onto the altar, they were distorting the imagery of what God had set that there for, which was the perfect spotless lamb, Jesus Christ the Messiah, that would come and be the perfect sacrifice.

Which on a side note, it's not in my notes, that's why I take the Lord's Supper so seriously. That's why I think the elements in the Lord's Supper are so important. There's imagery because they represent something, the perfection of Christ and the union that we have with him.

But in a roundabout way, that's what these sacrifices were accomplishing also. Christ had died once for all. He had atoned for the sins of his people. And these priests, they despised the Lord. They had no fear of him.

They did not honor him. And look at verse 12 there in Malachi. But you profane it when you say that the Lord's table is polluted and its fruit, that is, its food may be despised. They're like, how did we despise you, God?

You despise the food that you're laying upon the altar. The fact that they thought this polluted offering would be acceptable shows that they had lost sight of God's holiness. They did not understand that the Messiah to come would be sinless, perfect, spotless in every way.

And that this is only represented to point the people year after year back to that truth. Oh, by the way, you're in trouble. You're in trouble. You're lost in your sins. You're not capable of being holy as I am holy.

But guess what? I'm sending a sacrifice to represent you that will be spotless and perfect. And you need to represent that. That is worship to me because you are proclaiming the excellencies of me. They could offer unacceptable worship because this is good enough.

God will understand. He's good. Much of today's Christianity thinks like this. We can offer profane worship to him and go, God is love. He's good. You ever seen the video of the pastor zip lining up to the stage?

Making light? Making the worship of God something for entertainment's sake? He's taking light. Well, God's good. God's love is good. He's cool with it. And they say there in verse 13, the next part of verse 13, what a weariness this is.

And they snored at it. Really, this is just saying, this is weariness.

This is frustrating.

And so they bring what has been taken by violence. By the way, justice, they were mad at God for not being a God of justice or at least showing his great justice. But then they are living a life of injustice.

They would take from foreign lands and then offer what they had stolen or the lame or the sick. You know what I'm talking about. They've got their lambs. They stand out there and they go, man, times are tough right now.

I don't know if my family is going to be able to eat. We've got to kill one of these animals. Well, that one is a good breeding animal, so that will keep us fed for a while. That's a good male there. We need to keep that one.

Oh, that female is healthy. That one is kind of walking weird. We can't eat that one anyways. Let's take that to the priest. And the priest, they show up. They're like, here's our sacrifice.

So, hey, look good.

God says, shall I accept this from your hand? Have you ever noticed how often people within the church get burned out with ministry? I hear that a lot of times from pastors too. I'm burned out.

It's too much.

It's a weariness.

It's frustrating.

People don't listen anyways. You preach to them. You try and get them to love Jesus and serve the Lord and serve the church, and they show up twice a month. It's a weariness. It's usually because we've forgotten that our life doesn't belong to us.

You've been bought with a price. It is no longer I who lives but Christ in me. This is Christ's body. This is Christ's life. This is Christ's ministry. I am a slave with no name. My name has been removed, and I've been branded with his brand.

We forget that. As we read a moment ago in Hebrews 13, we are to offer up a sacrifice of praise to God. And that is the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name and to not neglect to do good and to share what you have for such sacrifices.

Those are pleasing to God. That sacrifice of praise begins to feel like a weariness. And it's because it's not a sacrifice of praise. Not to the holy, perfect judge, father, savior. It's a sacrifice of praise to the altar of some other lesser God, me.

Some pastors fall prey to this. They want to be seen. They want to be heard. They want a platform. Some people that serve in a church, they serve in a ministry because, hey, it makes me feel good that I actually did something for Jesus.

When in reality, maybe you weren't doing that to the praise and honor of his name. Maybe you were doing it to the praise and honor of your name. We've forgotten who God is. We've forgotten what he saved us from and what he's called us to.

And ultimately, we have forgotten that he is worthy of all sacrifice and praise to him and him alone. We don't fear him. We do not revere him. We do not honor him. We're so busy focused on our own lives that we give him the leftovers.

Guys, I'm guilty of this. Here I am repenting. I fall prey to this time and time again where I give God the leftovers because I enjoy my comforts. I give God the leftovers because I enjoy what I want to have.

I want to enjoy my hobby. I want to enjoy my study. I want to enjoy my family. I want to enjoy this, all for the wrong reasons, not to the praise and glory of his great name. But for me, we all fall prey to this, just like these Levite priests.

Yeah, we come to church. We may even attend our Wednesday night Bible study. And even at times, you know that feels wearisome. Like, oh, man, 12 .5 church does lunch every Sunday, and I've got to bring a crock pot.

And we've got sermon discussion. My kids need a nap. It's a weariness at times. Do you feel it? Look at verse 14. Cursed be the sheep who has a male in his flock and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished, for I am a great king.

He says, my name will be feared among the nations. If we truly believe this, Saint, our lives will represent it as a declaration to the nations. I don't live for myself. He is so mighty and great a king that my life is given over to his will and service.

That's the call of the Christian, the priest. For we are all priests. We share in union with the great high priest. Finally, God warns the priest in chapter 2. There in verses 1 through 3, God says, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, I will send the curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings.

He's been blessing the people of Israel. He's going to curse those blessings. And, of course, God already knows their heart. What does he say? He says, I have already cursed them because you do not lay it to heart.

He warns them of the consequences. This is what happens when you don't bless me. I curse your blessings. He goes, oh, and by the way, I know your heart. You're not interested in blessing me. And so I've already cursed them.

Verse 3, behold, I will rebuke your offspring and spread dung on your faces and dung on your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it. We don't like language like that in the Bible. We're like, that's really Old Testament language.

I really like that. I like the New Testament God. You know, he didn't use language like that. Well, I think Jesus called people a brood of vipers, right, because he is holy. And we are not holy outside of his imputed holiness and righteousness.

Verse 4, so shall you know that I have sent this command to you that my covenant with Levi may stand. What's this covenant with Levi? I don't think we have a ton of time to dive into that. But look at verse 5.

It gives you an idea of this covenant with Levi. He says, it's one of life and peace. And I give them to him, or I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name.

He knew who I was. He knew that I am a God that is to be feared and reverenced. Verse 6, because of this, true instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found in his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness.

And I want you to notice this. He turned many from iniquity. This was the priestly calling, to turn the people from iniquity. The priest were to call the people to righteous living, to turn away from sin, to call them in the fear of the Lord to repentance.

And now here we are, the priesthood of believers, are our lives turning others from iniquity, pointing them to the holiness of God and his righteous demands? He says in verse 7, for the lips of the priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.

Why do you think King Jesus saved you and left you here? All this present darkness that you're in right now, and all of the struggles and the sin and the warring against the flesh, and you go, why am I still here?

Why didn't he just save those whom he's going to save, and then take us out and bring us into glory? He does it because we're left as messengers of the Lord of hosts to declare his holiness and declare his truth and say, he has made a way in his love.

Unfortunately, many so-called Christians today are more like the priest of Malachi's day. Look at verse 8, but you have turned aside from my way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts, and so I make you despised and abased before the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways, but show partiality in your instruction.