Malachi

Malachi 2:3: “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.”

Growing up, my kids watched a lot of animated Bible stories and fun Christian shows like the Veggie Tales. This verse was never an episode. Admittedly, this is a bit of a surprising verse and much worse than having egg on your face in what will perhaps set a new record for most awkward daily devotion of all time. But, since I’m teaching through Malachi, let’s assume that “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable” (2 Timothy 3:16). God doesn’t waste words, so why is this in His Word?

Like any conversation, context is crucial. Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament, and in it, God is giving a performance review of sorts to His leaders, the priests. They were supposed to teach people the Word of God and lead people in the Way of God. After this book was written, there would be 400 years during which no more books of the Bible would be written and then Jesus would come. If the preachers and teachers did not teach the Word of God then the people would not be ready for the Son of God.

God was telling them that since dung was coming out of their mouths with false teaching, He would smear it on their mouth unless they stopped. The word used here means unclean as unclean leaders were offering unclean sacrifices to God and teaching unclean doctrines about God. The word refers to part the part of the sacrifice that was defiled and taken out of town to be burned (Ex. 29:14; Lev. 4:11-12, 8:17). In the strongest possible language, God is telling them that what they are saying and doing is disgusting to Him. The problem was, outwardly, these looked like pious holy religious leaders. Externally, they looked wonderful to man, but internally they looked woeful to God. So, unless they changed what was inside them, God would reveal outwardly who they truly were internally for all to see.

Why does God use such strong language? There are at least three reasons.

One. God rarely uses strong language. He only uses it on occasion to grab the attention of people who have not listened to anything else and are running headlong into trouble. If you’ve ever raised our voice, changed your tone, or picked a colorful word as a last resort to get someone to listen then you understand how this works. Since God uses such language sparingly, we should do the same.

Two. It’s important that we use good words for good things and bad words for bad things. When our language is not clear, our morality becomes unclear. God sets this example. Here, God is speaking to families of ministry leadership called the priests. The adult kids were serving with their parents and all that they knew they learned from their parents. Rather than echoing God, the next generation of leaders is echoing their parents so God corrects everyone clearly.

Three. The goal of the strong language God is using is a passionate plea to get them to change their ways before it’s too late. This is not merely crassness or purposeless, it is crafted and purposeful. When God says, “if…then”, He is warning them as time is running out.

Is there anything in your life that God has recently turned up the volume on to get your attention?

Malachi 1:10: “Oh that there were one 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.”

In the spiritual universe of the Old Testament, the gravitational center around which everyone and everything orbited was the Temple. At the Temple, people met with God, heaven touched earth, sin was forgiven, holidays were celebrated, and life was given meaning. The Temple was God’s way of providing a home for His people to find hope, help, and healing. 

Without the Temple, virtually nothing mandated by God in the Old Testament was possible. Without the Temple, there was no priesthood, no sacrificial system to deal with human sin, and nowhere that served as the center for world mission to get the message of God out to the nations.           

The Temple was destroyed and, for a season, there was no Temple. Eventually, at great cost, labor, and risk, the Temple was rebuilt. The entire point of the Temple was for the Kingdom of God to rule over His people, preparing them for eternity and providing a prototype for how His people were supposed to live holy lives different than the nations surrounding them. God did not need a Temple or worship. God’s people needed the Temple so that they could worship.

In what would have been a shocking statement, God Himself said that He wanted to have His Temple shut down. Why? Because both the priests, who were leaders, and the people, who were followers, were not worshipping in the way that God wanted. The big idea is that true worship is not what works for us but rather what works for God. Godly worship is about service, sacrifice, and surrender. Their ungodly worship was about selfishness, stealing, and sinning. It seems that this form of “church” was very popular. The ministry leaders got high approval ratings from the people and the people had a “church” that made them feel very comfortable as it worked for them. But, God was unhappy with the priests and the people. In this discount religious business it seems that everyone forgets that they, and all they have and do, belongs to Him.           

Thankfully, Jesus Christ came to the earth. His body was the Temple where God’s presence was to be found on the earth and the connection between heaven and earth. Today, we no longer have a Temple since it was destroyed in 70 A.D. We do not go to the Temple, but rather we go to Jesus Christ who has made our bodies and churches the place where His Spirit dwells and God can be worshipped. This is what Paul means saying in 2 Corinthians 6:19-20, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

What do you consider “good worship” or a “good church”? One that works for you or one that works for God? One that gives you what you want or one that gives you what God wants?

Malachi 1:7-9: “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 in 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.”

God is so holy that “holiness” is the most frequently mentioned attribute of God in the entire Bible. This means that God is good, pure, right, true, and light without any darkness. God made humanity holy, but we soon rebelled against God and became sinfully unholy. This broke our relationship with God.

In love, however, God devised a plan to deal with our sin and restore our relationship. At great labor and expense, the Temple was built as the place where God’s presence would dwell so that people could meet with Him. Priests were commissioned into ministry to serve the people and help them give their sins and burdens to God for forgiveness and healing. This was God’s loving way of helping us.

Since the consequence of sinful unholiness was death, a substitute was chosen to spare people from having to suffer for their own sin. Unblemished animals representing purity and perfection were supposed to be brought by the sinner to the Temple and sacrificed by the priest. The sin of the worshipper was imputed or reckoned to the animal who then died in the place for the sinner.

As lazy worshippers, God’s people stopped going through the hard work of transporting their animal to the Temple which might include regular and lengthy walks over many days. Sensing a business opportunity, animals were put up for sale at the Temple at a premium price. Those selling the animals made a hefty profit off of lazy worshippers. Since the priests had to inspect and approve of any sacrifice, before long they were given a cut of the profits from the booming business. Some priests would only accept animals bought from the high-priced vendors who then gave the priest a cut of the revenue. Poorer people with acceptable sacrifices were sometimes turned away and told they had to go buy another animal. Burdened with the animal they brought and needing money to buy a new one, the poor worshippers would sell their animal at a discount, buy another animal at inflated prices, only to see their animal then sold as an acceptable sacrifice at a massive price increase. This is an evil but highly profitable business plan where the priests and the animal sellers made huge profits in the name of worshipping God.

As if that were not bad enough, eventually the priests also allowed some people to bring sacrifices that were “blind”, “lame”, and “sick”. The priests were paid to accept what God rejected and call it holy. Incensed with the corruption, God reminded them that even though “church” might be working for the people, it was not working for Him. Furthermore, God’s reminded His people that they did not try the same shell game with their taxes as they had more regard for them.

Thankfully, the Lord Jesus came as both our High Priest and sacrifice. Perfect and sinless, we are forgiven of sin and spared death by the “precious blood of Christ…a lamb without blemish or spot”. (1 Peter 1:19). Amazingly, in the next chapter we read how Jesus also sends the Holy Spirit to make each of His followers a priest as we together serve others as “a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ…a chosen race, a royal priesthood…” (1 Peter 2:5,9).

Is there any area of your life where you are cheating God or trying to get God on your own terms?

Malachi 1:6: “‘A son honors his father, and 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 priests, who despise my name. But you say, ‘How have we despised your name?’”

God had a great plan. To love and lead His people, he created something called the priesthood. The priest was supposed to function as a bit of a mediator in the relationship between God and His people. The priest was supposed to bring the Word of God to the people through Bible teaching and bring the burdens of the people to God through prayer.           

The priests were descendants of the Old Testament leader Aaron. God’s intent was that the leadership of His people would be passed on through families from one generation to another. This would ensure relational ministry so that people were loved and cared for generation after generation.          

The priesthood was centered in the city of Jerusalem at the Temple. This was the most sacred place on earth – the place where heaven and earth connected and the location for people to meet with God, who was present in the Holy of Holies. The first Temple was destroyed and, after a long season, was finally rebuilt at great work and expense to God’s people. The entire point of the Temple was to have a place where the Kingdom of God came down to the earth and theocratic rule of God over His people occurred.           

The plan was wonderful, but the priests were awful. The priests stopped living Kingdom down and instead started doing ministry that the people wanted but God hated. They stopped teaching God’s truth and leading the people to obey God. Instead, they created a discount form of religion where people could disobey God morally, rob God financially, and go through the motions spiritually without any correction from the priests. In exchange, the priests were lazy at their jobs, cared little about God, and turned a calling from God into yet another job that they hated.          

The Bible has three major themes: sin, suffering, and stewardship. Much of the book of Malachi is about stewardship – how God wants us to invest our life and money for His Kingdom. Their sin was in regards to their stewardship. Since everything rises and falls with leadership, God begins by dealing with the pathetic priests. In God’s rebuke, we learn three things that are crucial to all of life.           

One. Honor is supposed to go up to God so that blessing can flow down from God. Throughout Malachi, the people repeatedly complain that blessing is not coming down from God. God’s response is that honor is not going up to Him. In the same way that a good parent does not reward bad behavior, God will not fund sin.          

Two. In ministry, God is to be the focus and people the beneficiary. The problem in Malachi’s day, and in our own, is that people became the focus of ministry. Ministry leaders can slip into the error of thinking that their primary job is to do what people want and quickly forget that their primary job is to do what God wants.           

Three. The first duty of godly leaders is to seek the will of God for His ministry and His people. Ministry is to be done Kingdom down and not people up. When torn between the desires of the people who paid them and the desires of the God who called them, they choose to obey the people and disobey the Lord. Sadly, it just goes to show that for two and a half millennia, if you want to disobey God and appear spiritual, you can find someone to teach what you want to hear and call you godly even if you are not.        

Thankfully, Jesus Christ came as our great High Priest as the New Testament book of Hebrews continually explains. Unlike the failed priests, we now have Jesus. He’s our perfect High Priest who, as both God and man, mediates between God and men reconciling our relationship, forgiving our sins, and lifting our burdens without fail. Amazingly, He also places the Holy Spirit in us so that our bodies and lives become little temples through which God’s presence goes forth into the world to serve others as Jesus has served us. This is what 1 Corinthians 3:16 means saying, “…you are God’s temple…God’s Spirit dwells in you…God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.”       

Is there any area of your life where you are currently not honoring God (e.g. financial, sexual, vocational, marital, parental, etc.)?

My wife Grace and I have been faithfully married for 26 years. We first met at the age of 17 in high school. Within days (or at most weeks), I knew that I had met my wife. In my heart, I had chosen her to be my bride. Grace, however, had not yet come to that same conclusion. For us to have a relationship, she would have to respond to my choice by choosing me back.

God speaks of His relationship with His people like a groom and bride. I take this to mean that God chooses us for covenant love, and we respond to His love by loving Him back. In any healthy relationship, both parties need to choose to love one another. The question is, who chooses to love first? This leads us to the question of predestination that appears early on in our study of the last book of the Bible. Malachi 1:2b-4 opens by saying, “‘Is not Esau Jacob’s brother?’ declares the Lord. ‘Yet I have loved Jacob but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert.’ If Edom says, ‘We are shattered but we will rebuild the ruins,’ the Lord of hosts says, ‘They may build, but I will tear down, and they will be called ‘the wicked country,’ and ‘the people with whom the Lord is angry forever’.’”

Paul picks up this theme and even quotes Malachi saying in Romans 9:10-14, “…when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad — in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls — she was told, ‘The older will serve the younger’. As it is written, ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated’. What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means!”

Nearly every Christian Bible study ends up beating a stable of dead horses as soon as someone asks, “Do we choose God, or does God choose us?” At this moment, it is always good to pop some popcorn and turn on some carnival music as the fun is sure to commence.

For the sake of simplicity, I want to share the six options for who chooses our salvation:

No one is saved and everyone is damned. I cannot remember anyone actually ever teaching this which is odd. The truth is, hell makes perfect sense. Fallen angels cannot be saved and only go to hell. If fallen people joined them it seems like a fair deal. 
God chooses everyone. This is called Universalism and a heresy so if you believe it, you are a heretic and need to pick another option.
We are good people who can freely choose God. This is called Pelagianism and also a heresy so, once again, if you believe this, you are a heretic and need to pick another option.
We are sinful people but God grants everyone a free will choice. This is called Arminianism or Wesleyanism where God gives everyone at some point “prevenient grace” which opens their fallen will to make a free will choice to follow God or not (kind of like Adam and Eve existed before the Fall). This is not a heresy so, if you believe this, congrats to you on not being a heretic.
God chooses some sinners for heaven and some sinners for hell. This is also called Calvinism, or double predestination. This, too, is not a heresy but can appear to be a very capricious version of the kids game “Duck, Duck, Goose” renamed “Elect, Elect, Damned”.
Everyone chooses hell through sin and God chooses to save some people through His loving grace. This is called Lutheranism, or single predestination, where the non-Christian gets what they want, and the Christian gets what God wants for them. If you believe this you are not a heretic and agree with me, Jesus, the Bible, the Holy Spirit, and all that is right and good. You should buy us both a cupcake to celebrate.
All kidding aside, the battle between believers is often regarding open-handed issues. Our faith has closed-handed issues which all faithful Christians must agree upon. Our faith also has open-handed issues which Christians can disagree about without dividing over. This is one of those issues with at least three options that I conclude with above.

Since we are in Malachi, I will close with an illustration. Throughout the book God tells His people that He is their “Father” (1:6, 2:10). That makes believers the children of God. The Bible actually speaks of salvation as being adopted by God the Father. In every adoption, it is not legally possible for the child to fill out the paperwork and adopt the parent. Instead, the parent must decide to adopt the child and the child is then given a voice as to whether or not they want to be adopted into this family. In Christianity, I do not see how we adopt God as our Father. Instead, I see the Father choosing to adopt us, sending the Spirit to give us a new nature and will, and from that new heart, we love and choose the Father who has chosen us in love.

How amazing is it that the God of the universe chose to love you and adopt you as His beloved child forever?