Malachi 2:1-9 Guarding the Knowledge of the Lord

To the podcast of Recast Church in Mattawan, Michigan. This week, Pastor Don Filsack preaches from his series, Dead Religion, taking us through the book of Malachi. Let's listen in.

Well, good morning, Recast Church. I'm Don Filsack. I'm the lead pastor here, and I want to start off just by welcoming you to this gathering of the church. I'm glad that you've taken time out of your busy week, and particularly on a beautiful sunny Sunday morning, to gather together as God's people.

It is a great thing, and I recognize that each one of us is coming from a different kind of week, right? Some of you, it's been a bit of a mixed bag. Some of you, it's been a great week. It's kind of been a little bit of a high point.

For others of you, it's been a low point, and for many of us, it's been somewhere in.

Between.

There's been good. There's been bad. A lot of different things going on. Some of you are at a position in life where you sense some significant hope for the future. There's something you're looking forward to.

There's maybe a vacation on the horizon. Maybe it's just summer. Some of you are at a place where it kind of feels bleak and depressive, and as far as the eye can see, you just don't have a whole lot of things going on there.

So I recognize that when I get up here, I'm speaking to a group of people who are coming from a variety of different places, but I think it's awesome that God is gracious to bring us together as his people, to sit under his word as a challenge to us.

Sometimes he brings challenge. Sometimes he brings encouragement, but all of it is driving for real heart change. That the person who comes in here discouraged would be encouraged, that the person who comes in here with a bit of a laissez-faire attitude might take their faith more seriously, that each one of us has something to gain from the gathering together of God's people, from the opportunity to sing worship songs to him together, to see that there are others who hold the same truths that we hold to, to the hearing of his word, that we all sit under the teaching of God's word and have an opportunity for God's word to impact us, to transform us, to change us, and that's a major part of this gathering, is the word of God, hearing from him.

Malachi’s Warning to Priests Who Fail to Honor God

In our text this morning, just to set the stage a little bit, just in case you don't know where Malachi goes, some of you maybe haven't read this book before, we're going through Malachi, we're up to Malachi chapter two, verses one through nine, and it's going to be a bit harsh this morning.

The text is harsh, you're like, what did I sign up for, I could be on the golf course.

Right now.

So hang on tight, it's going to be harsh in its tone, and at the same time, even in these texts of scripture where we can see the judgment of God and the directness of his challenge to his people, saying you have dishonored me and I will dishonor you, in turn I will abase you, I will put you down, I will suppress you, and I will make things uncomfortable for you as long as you're rebelling against me, as long as you're dishonoring me and not showing me the awe and fear that is worthy of my name.

But it's harsh, it's direct, it's exactly what God wants to communicate to his people, and that includes us. And I get the privilege this morning, by the way, of speaking to some degree about my own responsibility as a teacher of the word.

We're going to see that he holds out the harshest criticism, the harshest judgment for those who would proclaim to be standing up and teaching his word and instead would be false teachers, would be teaching something other than the word.

By the nature of my role here as a preacher, I need to be open to some specific scrutiny. That's a natural part of what it means to be a teacher of God's word, and it's something that is a heavy burden.

It's something that's a burden for those who are teaching our children, and anytime that you get an opportunity to open your mouth and convey the word of God to someone, to your children, to your grandchildren, to a coworker, a neighbor, or someone, that's an opportunity that we have to bear witness to the truth, and we need to be cautious and careful about those opportunities that we have to speak truth into other people's lives.

Even around the water cooler at work, right? Sometimes we can sense within us the tension to speak truth into a culture that kind of doesn't like some of the things that scripture says, and so we could water down the message to those who are looking for this.

But I welcome your critical eye. I encourage you to check, I encourage you to have the Bible open on your lap every time that I get up here to preach, because I am convinced that what I stand up here and do.

Matters.

That what we learn about God from his word really matters. What we believe about God really matters, as much as I would say that what you believe about God is the most important thing about you. The most important thing, the most important thoughts you have are what you think about the Almighty.

I entitled this sermon, Guarding the Knowledge of the Lord. You're going to see that in the text as I read it, because we're going to see that God, through the prophet Malachi, is indicting religious leaders of his time for not holding God in high honor.

Last week he pointed to their offerings as, they're offering blemished sacrifices as an indicator of his people not honoring him. They didn't hold him in reverent fear. In our text today, he carries that same theme forward, but now indicts the leadership for their lack of honor to him in their teaching.

In their teaching, they're not honoring him. The religious leaders in Malachi's day and age were leading others astray by the things that they were saying about the Almighty. I think we could take a moment to reflect just on how our current culture, the same types of things could be said.

The fact of the matter is, you could find a religious leader this morning who supports your views, whatever views those are. Whatever you believe, even if it's not found in scripture, you can find somebody who will support that view.

We live in a culture where preachers can preach that God only ever wants you healthy and wealthy. How many of you ever heard that message before? Have you tuned into those stations? There are churches around the nation that that's their message this morning.

God wants you to be healthy. He wants you to be wealthy and monetarily. He wants you to roll in the gold. He wants you to be swimming in the pool like Scrooge McDuck. He wants you to dive in off the diving board into the coins and just have it all, and health and wealth and everything.

How do you get there? How do you get there without dodging the central fact that his own son was rejected and suffered.

Greatly?

How do you get there? If Jesus isn't the only He's not the only example of that in scripture, by the way. Read how the prophets suffered. Read the histories of how the disciples gave their lives for Christ.

Look to Joseph in the Old Testament who was sold into slavery and left in a dungeon alone, felt forsaken by God. And Paul, who suffered significantly because he was honoring Christ, suffered because he was honoring Christ.

I say all of that to show how easy it is for false teaching to get a hold in our culture. I wrote a blog this week about a movie that's coming up. Any of you know that there's a movie coming up called The Shack?

Some of you may have read that book. I would encourage you with discernment. I don't normally talk about things this directly. I'd encourage you to go to my blog and read it. It's an example of a culturally adjusted view of God.

It's intentionally culturally adjusted. It's a very heart-wrenching story. How many of you have read The Shack? I read it. I wrote a blog on it when I first read it, and now it's going to come out in movie form.

How many of you found that to be riveting emotionally?

I did.

I was in tears. I mean, I've got a daughter. You read it, and it's meant to draw you in. But the fact of the matter is, no one ever hangs out with the Father Almighty in a shack. Nobody ever just chills with the Father.

Look in Scripture and tell me where you find anybody that just hangs out with God. What do people do when they encounter the Father? Consistently, consistently they fall flat on their face in awe and wonder and trembling.

Not always for fear that He's going to judge them, for just the mind-blowing reality of how different He is than them, right? And here's a book that's going to, in subtle ways, play at our heartstrings and draw us into an alternate view of the Father.

Now because He has Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the book, then you have to deal with the framework that He gives you. And He claims He's showing you the Father through this black woman, Papa, right?

Those of you who read it, you know what I'm talking about. And He claims He's showing you the Father through this. This is where we've got to go. None of that was in my notes. So a little off, you can read the blog if you're interested, if you're thinking.

And I don't boycott things. I'm not telling you to boycott the book. Nothing like that. Read the book if you're interested, but read it with the framework of Scripture. And let me just suggest this to you.

If you haven't read this to know who God is, skip the book and read this. Read this first. If you don't feel a firm grasp on who your Father is in heaven from here, don't go there for it. Go here first so that you can compare and contrast the things that are being set out in the world with the things that Scripture says, and then take what the Word of God reveals about Himself.

I say all of that to show you how easy it is for false teachers to get a hold in our culture. And there is false teaching. Sometimes I think we can get lured into the whole family Christian store thing, and everything that's there is a Christian book, and so it's all good.

And we've got to have our mind on, turned on to God's Word as we analyze and discern these things. And so Malachi would call all of us, listeners and teachers alike, to guard the knowledge of the Lord Almighty, to guard the knowledge of Him.

So let's open our Bibles, if you're not already there, to Malachi 2, 1 through 9. And if by some chance you don't have a Bible on your lap or a means to navigate there, you can use your phone or whatever, or whatever device you have.

But if you don't have one, Mark's got some Bibles back here, and the only way he can know to give you one is if you just kind of raise your hand up, and he'll bring you one. But we want everybody to have a copy of God's Word on your lap so that you can follow along and see the things that we're saying, the things I'm saying, as coming from the Word of God, and you can follow along as we read it together.

But recast, this is God's Word to us, and wow, it's fairly direct, so put your seat belts on, and let's listen in to God's indictment on those who would not honor Him in knowing Him rightly. And now, O priests, 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 do not lay it to heart.

Behold, I will rebuke your offspring and spread dung on your faces, the dung of 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 gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me, and 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. 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. Let's pray as Dave and the band comes to lead us in worship this morning. Father, I confess that I don't always see you as you are.

A lot of times my vision is clouded by the circumstances, the world swirling around me, the events of just this morning and today. Father, I'm very rarely moved to fall on my face before you. And that's just because I haven't seen you.

So, Father, I pray that as we strike this understanding between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as we recognize the awe and the immense wonder and mind-blowing holiness. And yet, you chose to send your Son in flesh to reveal you to us with compassion and with mercy and grace.

That when we come before you and we fall on our faces, it's not out of fear of condemnation any longer for those who are in Christ, but it's in awe and wonder, thankfulness, and just our minds being blown by how glorious you truly are.

Thank you for Christ. And it's only on the basis of what he's done for us that we can even stand and sing these songs. It's because he has purchased for us the freedom to come into your presence with holiness and righteousness.

Not a holiness and righteousness that is our own, but only a holiness and righteousness that is found in your Son, Jesus. So, Father, I pray that we would be moved from hearts of gratitude and thankfulness to sing these songs to you.

Not as an exercise of our great singing voices or not even just as an exercise of making a joyful noise to you, but ultimately because we have encountered you and want to reflect back to you and to reflect back to each other in our voices the glory that we see in you in Jesus' name, amen.

Amen.

Thanks, thanks to the band for leading us in worship. I'm grateful for their effort and time and hopefully you were able to step before the Lord's throne and worship him as he is in spirit and in truth this morning.

I would encourage you to reopen your Bibles if you're not already there to Malachi 2, 1 through 9, maybe in the mix you've lost your spot. So, give you a chance to turn over there so that you can see the very outline and text that I'm going to be walking through that you can check up on me and make sure the things that I'm saying are reflected in the Bible and you can see that there.

And as we kind of jump in right away in verse 1, Malachi is simply identifying his audience here for us. He is speaking to the priests of his time and era. Remember that this is after the people of Israel had been carted off to Babylon.

They've now returned.

They've rebuilt the walls around the city. They have rebuilt the temple and they're beginning to reestablish life as a routine in the land of promise again. This is the very last book of the Bible, the very last prophet revealed and the people are doing basically the day in and day out of religious duty and religious actions without a lot of heart in it.

So, it's very important that we remember how Malachi chapter 1 opened and that should be the backdrop to everything that we read throughout this book. I have loved you, says God to his people. I have loved you.

That's how it starts. It's relational. I have given to you. I have your best interest in mind as he dives in and then begins to convict. Then begins to kind of draw down the relational components between his people and him that.

Are broken.

There's some relational brokenness that's going on throughout the book of Malachi that is all set in the context of relationship and at the same time there's some direct things that they're doing that are not helping to promote that covenant love and relationship between God and his people.

So, we see that he's here speaking to the priest and he warns them that they are about to receive a command. Now, how many of you know, like to know the difference between a suggestion and a command? Do you like that?

Your boss? How many of you would have a boss that is very low on commands and very quick to give suggestions that you know are commands? Do you know, do you recognize that? Do you have people in your life that are like that?

They ask you to do something and you're like, I don't know if I've got a choice in this.

Or not.

I'm not sure what you mean by that. I like to know if you want me to do something, I kind of want to know is this a mandatory thing or is this a suggestion and you're asking my opinion about it. Sometimes in my household I make the mistake of gently asking one of my kids to unload the dishwasher.

Later when I find that the dishwasher isn't unloaded and they are quick to remind me that I just asked and they answered, no. You know, they kind of said, no, I mean you asked me to and I decided the answer would be no.

I've been known to once in a while get a skosh upset in those interactions when they are of course always gracious to remind me that it was just a question. And so I might say something to them like, dear, dear child, I am sorry for the miscommunication.

I meant to tell you that all good things in your life depend on the dishwasher being unloaded in the next two minutes. In which case, generally speaking, they're pretty on the spot and unload the dishwasher.

So commands are different than suggestions. We know that, we experience that in life. God is saying if I am your master, if I am your leader, then here are some things that you will do. Here are some things that I command you to do as my people.

Here are some things that I want you to do. The commands themselves come in the form of conditional clauses in verse two. So you can kind of hunt around for the directness of the command, but they're there in verse two where he basically, he says this, 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 a curse upon you.

But he's basically couching the command in a conditional clause there. What is he commanding from his priests? What is he telling them to do? Listen to him. And take it to heart to give honor to him, to give honor to his name.

These two commands form the basis of any reasonable ability for anyone to pass along the knowledge of God that they hear from him and honor him. Those are two fundamental things. So we're basically talking about that you have the truth and that you believe that it's worth communicating.

That you believe that there is a God who is worth honoring with your speech and with the things that you say and tell others. That is the basis of the ability to pass on the knowledge of God. And this would be good for us to take a moment to consider here this morning because I want to move us all away from the notion that I am the priest and you are the people.

He's speaking to priests, right? You see that in the text. But I am not a priest. I'm glad I'm not a priest. I don't have to sacrifice for you. I'm not the mediator. I don't have to stand in a little box and hear your sins.

Kind of glad for that. And you're probably glad for it too, right? In Old Testament times, by the way, the priest would go into the temple and petition God on behalf of his people. But in Christ, now under this new covenant in which we live, a covenant of grace, we do not go to a temple and seek the mediation of a priest any longer.

Because the mediation has been made for us already. The spirit of God himself dwells in every believer and we are called the temple of God. We are called the temple of God. So that you can confess directly to him.

When you have sinned, you can go to him and ask his forgiveness. You don't need the mediator. Well, you need a mediator and his name is Jesus Christ and you can speak to him directly. And the apostle Peter says something that we need to bear in mind as we walk through our current text in regard to who is the priest in the new covenant?

Who are the priests? Speaking to believers in Jesus Christ, Peter says this in 1 Peter 2 .9. You can jot that reference down if you're taking notes. But you can see it up there on the screen. I don't know if you can read that small print, but here I'll read it for you.

But you are a chosen race. Speaking to God's people, speaking to believers in Jesus Christ, you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood. You are a royal priesthood. A holy nation, a people for his own possession.

And listen to this carefully, this next line. So that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. You have been called out. You've been selected for a purpose to proclaim how awesome your God is.

To proclaim his excellencies. This is the New Testament version of what Malachi is saying the priests weren't doing. They were not showing their God to be awesome. As a matter of fact, they were kind of showing him, uh, they were, they were despising his name and they were making a mockery of him by bringing blemished animals in by teaching false things about him.

I love the text in 1 Peter for a couple of reasons. First, it declares that all of us in Christ are priests to the most high God. It declares that we belong to him. And lastly, it declares that he has made us priests so that we all might proclaim his.

Excellencies.

Every single one of us is called for the purpose of honoring God by proclaiming how glorious he truly is. Priests in our text were missing that. They refused to honor God. They were not even listening to him.

How could they properly convey what he wanted them to communicate when they weren't paying attention? And it was not in their hearts to honor his name. And notice that God wants them to honor him from their hearts.

He's not looking for external outward religious duties and actions and sacrificing a nice sunny morning to come to church. He is looking for honor, awe, and reverent fear from our hearts. He wants it to be in here.

He wants us to recognize who he is, listen to him in such a way that we are moved in our spirits regarding who he is. How awesome and how glorious and how majestic. How much other than you and me our God truly is.

The Curse on Dishonoring God and the Covenant with Levi

In verses two and three, the curse promised for the dishonor that his priests have offered him is stark and is shocking, right? When I read it, did it kind of take you, put you on your heels a little bit?

Any part of this text kind of like, ooh, doesn't sound good? See, he says, I'm going to turn your blessings into curses. Now, at face value, you might kind of go, okay, how does that work? What does that look like?

Well, let me just give you one illustration of a common blessing that would be offered by the priesthood during this time. May the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you and give you peace.

And God turns that on its head into, I will turn my face away from you and give you war. He says, I will turn your blessings, the things that you utter for blessings, the things that you are praying and blessing your people with are, I'm going to turn it on its head.

As if God said, I'm listening to your prayers and it's opposite day. Uh-oh, careful what you pray for on opposite day, right? Of course, this is no laughing matter because if these priests continue on in their disrespect towards the one who they claim to serve, he declares, it will turn into rebuke even towards their offspring.

And at first glance, does this seem a little bit unfair that God would say, I'm going to rebuke your children for your sins?

Does that seem a little unfair? Anybody with me on that?

A handful of us. It needs a little bit of explanation, but I think what we have here is a line of natural consequence. How many of you know that at the end, your children suffer for your sins? Did you know that that already happens?

There's already consequences. And God is just saying, I'm going to visit that. I'm going to declare that. We might find it unfair, but if the parents dishonor God and the children in line with the priesthood would become the next line of priests, they're going to follow daddy's footsteps.

God is threatening to arrest this slide in the next generation. He says, if you keep this up, I'm going to have to stop it somewhere and I'm going to stop it with your kids generation. There will come an end to this dishonor and it will either be now parents or it will be with your kids later.

He says, I'm going to arrest it. I'm going to stop the slide. Probably in one of the most shocking and gross texts of scripture, God threatens to defile the priest because they have in turn defiled his altar, which we looked at last week.

And he says, I will spread dung on your faces and you will be carded outside of the city walls to be burned with the other byproducts of the butchered animals. It was like a butcher shop in there. Okay, have you ever thought about what the temple must have been like?

Pretty, pretty, pretty gross. Okay, they're slaughtering animals. They're field dressing animals. And every byproduct of the animal that was not consumable on the altar that you wouldn't cook on your barbecue were taken outside, carried outside of the city.

I think on some of these feast days, we think about the sacrifices offered. But when thousands of cattle are being slaughtered in a given day at the dedications of these temples and things like that, I'm picturing them with wheelbarrows full of awful and refuse to take outside of the city.

Pretty grotesque picture. So I'm going to rub that on your face. You're going to be defiled and I'm going to take you outside the city just like that disgusting byproduct of the sacrificial system. Pretty gruesome picture, right?

Anybody kind of like uncomfortable with that? Is it kind of like yuck? At least I get at least a yuck. I raise your hand if it's a yuck. Okay, boy, some of you are like tough this morning.

It's like, yeah, maybe a little bit.

I don't know. Just does it, you know, is it good for your complexion or what? I don't know what you're thinking, but you didn't raise your hand. So I'm kind of picking on you just a little bit. But I don't think any of us want that, right?

None of us wanted that. Some of us were just tired and haven't had enough coffee yet. There's more, by the way. If you need more, you can get more. But I don't think we want that. How many of you here have ever field dressed an animal?

You field dressed a deer, rabbit, you know, something you've taken. So this is the stuff, by the way, the dung, the word dung here. I actually wish, kind of sometimes, and I fear like you thinking that I'm standing over the text.

I'm not a translator. Translators choose words for a reason. But this word could have easily been translated awful, O-F-F-A-L. How many of you are familiar with that word? It's just kind of the stuff that when you field dress an animal, you leave it out in.

The woods.

Do you know the part I'm talking about? You don't throw that in your car. You don't take it home. You don't show it to your wife. You leave that stuff out in, you don't rub it on your face either. But you leave that stuff out in the woods for the coyotes or whatever.

And that is the word awful here, which is great because it's a homophone for the word awful, A-W-F-U-L, right? So it kind of works. It's funny how that works. I don't want that rubbed on my face. We don't want that rubbed on our face.

I don't even want to see that crap, right? Like you don't even want to see it. If there's ever a right time to use that word, by the way, it's right then. Okay, that was the right usage. But why is this punishment so graphic and unpleasant?

Why is God going to this degree for this sin? Why such a shocking metaphor for us in the rubbing their face in it? Verses four to six, he spells out the expectation of the priesthood in a way that brings us back to the place of his love and commitment to them.

He basically is going to show us the place of things being right. And how many of you know that when things can be really good, like take a family or a marriage, how many of you know that a marriage can be an amazing and glorious thing?

But corrupted, it becomes all the uglier, right? Do you know what I'm saying? Because it was created to be such a glorious, beautiful thing, in its corrupted form, it's all the more gruesome and grotesque.

Are you getting what I'm saying? So the relationship between God and his priests, God and us, is meant to be a glorious and beautiful thing. And he's going to paint that for us. And he's going to say, why would he rub their faces in it?

Why would he be so graphic and so disgusting in that? It's because here is what our relationship is meant to be, says God. In verses 4 and 6, he backs up for a second and reminds them that he wants a relationship.

With them.

And what he wants that relationship to be like, he reminds them of his covenant with Levi. Levi was one of the 12 offspring of Jacob who became the 12 tribes of Israel. Hopefully you recognize his name, not just pants, not Levi Strauss, but Levi Israel.

I don't know what his last name was. But Levi was set apart and was not given a land to occupy. But instead, Levi was dispersed throughout the nation of Israel to live in a variety of different places so that he could teach.

He's a priest and teacher of the law. And he would, Levi, Levites and his descendants were spread throughout the land and they were told to teach. They would stay in the, near the temple. Many of them would be on temple duty and would actually take a trip to Jerusalem and get in a rotation and would be there to make sacrifices in the temple.

Anyone who worked in the temple making sacrifices was to be from the tribe of Levi. God's call on an entire lineage from the descendants of Israel, Jacob. And he's calling them away from that whole dung consequence and toward a return to their end of the bargain that was made with God by their ancestor, Levi.

Levi was given a covenant of life and peace, the text tells us. God promised good things to Levi and he came through for them. It says he did. He gave them life and he gave them peace. And in return, what he asked from the Levites was awe and fear from him and their descendants.

Honor and reverent awe was to be the heart of the priest. And in verse 6, the activities of the priest, which remember was to flow out of a heart of honor and fear. These activities were supposed to come from a heart that revered God.

He was to be true in instruction, pure in his honesty, upright and peaceful in relationships toward God. And the tribe of Levi was called to turn many away from sin and did. In their heyday, when they were, when the relationship was functioning right in the covenant and they were in a right relationship of awe and fear of God, they turned many away from iniquity, from sin, from crossing the line and the boundary against God.

It's the word iniquity. Verses 5 and 6 paint a picture of what it looks like when things are going right in relationship between God and his priests, God and his people. No dung to the face, no threats of curse, no despising, no dishonoring, a loving covenant relationship.

The beautiful picture of a teacher who speaks the truth from a pure heart is what is pictured here. God pledged good things if they would just honor him and recognize his power and authority over them.

From a place of knowing God and fearing him comes true instruction. We can't rightly instruct without a heart that is, is attuned to God, listening to him, to see him as he truly is. Without listening to God and without honoring him, without a recognition of his authority, teaching will not be fueled by truth.

And a person disconnected from the truth about God will not be able to walk with God in peace.

And uprightness.

And there will be no way that they can lead others away from iniquity. You see, the power of the Levitical priests in the Old Testament all flowed from their knowledge of the Almighty. And I would suggest that the same is true for all of us.

The same is true for all of us. You may come to church looking for ways to be a better parent. That's a noble thing. If you want to be a better parent, that's a good thing to turn to God for. Maybe you want to be a better spouse.

You want to be a better employee or employer. You may sometimes occasionally find that all this Bible teaching from up here is nice and theoretical. Maybe for some of you, what you wish you had was four steps to a better life or series like that.