Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20090125.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Malachi: Replacing Spiritual Callousness With Insightful Sensitivity
Part II: Exchanging A Disregard For God's Word With Full Obedience For Our Own Good
(Malachi 1:6-2:9)
  1. Introduction
    1. A movement exists in evangelical circles to avoid full obedience to Scripture to preserve rapport with the world to evangelize it (John H. Armstrong, gen. ed., The Coming Evangelical Crisis , 1996, p. 33-36).
    2. However, doing so leads to compromising error and resulting practical unholiness that God cannot bless (Ibid., p. 34-41), a truth that is taught, warned and corrected for the believer's welfare in Malachi 1:6-2:9:
  2. Exchanging Disregard For God's Word With Full Obedience For Our Own Good, Malachi 1:6-2:9.
    1. As we before noted, G. Campbell Morgan noted of the book of Malachi that "The whole prophecy reveals a calloused people and a sensitive God," cf. Morgan, Voices Of Twelve Hebrew Prophets, p. 119.
    2. Accordingly, seven times in the book, the people of Israel are rhetorically seen to reply to Malachi's charges from God with the question, "Wherein . . .?" (i.e., "How . . .?" as in the NIV and ESV), Ibid.
    3. The second exposure of callousness came in Malachi 1:6 KJV where God claimed His people did not respect Him, to which Israel replied, "Wherein have we despised thy name?"
    4. Malachi as God's spokesman explained this disrespect was evident in Israel's unbiblical worship, 1:7-14:
      1. First, the priests offered polluted bread on God's altar not because the bread itself was polluted, but because they had contempt for the Lord's altar in violation of the Law at Deuteronomy 6:5, cf. Mal. 1:7.
      2. Second, the priests had sacrificed maimed animals in violation of the Law at Deuteronomy 15:21, Malachi 1:8a. God complained that if such animals were offered to Israel's pagan Persian governors ( pehah for "governor" was a Persian title, Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 1575) they would not be pleased, so giving them to God was intolerable (Mal. 1:8b) and would not gain His approval, Mal. 1:9!
      3. God even wished someone would shut the temple doors so they could not offer such sacrifices, 1:10!
      4. The Lord indicated that the messianic kingdom would present the opposite kind of worship, one in which He would be exalted worldwide by the Gentiles, and this would be seen in their worship, 1:11.
      5. Returning to the present deplorable situation, God restated His objection to Israel's disrespectful attitude toward Him in her worship, Malachi 1:12-13:
        1. Israel profaned the Lord's altar by the offerers' attitudes of disrespect for the offerings, Malachi 1:12.
        2. Indeed, the people complained how wearisome, or boring was the offering activity, Malachi 1:13a!
        3. Then, they brought maimed animals, further revealing great disrespect for the Lord, Malachi 1:13b!
      6. Accordingly, God put a curse on the one who brought a maimed animal instead of an unblemished one, for He was a Great King, and His Name would one day be revered among all of the nations, Mal. 1:14!
    5. Malachi then condemned the priests who led the people into such disrespectful worship, Malachi 2:1-9:
      1. Since the priests had tolerated such bad worship and had not exampled and taught the people to offer Biblical offerings, God pronounced a curse of humiliation on them and their sons, Malachi 2:2-3.
      2. When that curse would be fulfilled, God noted these priests would realize God was keeping the covenant He made with Levi in establishing the priesthood (Mal. 2:4), one of life and peace when they revered God (Mal . 2:5), one of truth as Levi was to teach the Law to keep the people from sin, 2:6-7.
      3. However, the priests had failed in this vocation to keep the covenant: they had turned from obeying the Law in their own lives and from teaching it to the worshipers of Israel (Malachi 2:8).
      4. Accordingly, the Lord had permitted the priests to be despised and humiliated just as they had led others to despise God in their worship activities, Malachi 2:9!
Lesson: Since the priests had neglected to revere God, they had neither exampled nor taught the people to revere Him by heeding His Word on the right attitude and actions in worship. Thus, God had judged them to be disrespected fitting the disrespect they had caused others to have for the Lord.

Application: (1) We all must deeply revere the Lord and so heed His Word in how we worship Him. (2) We who lead God's people must deeply revere God and heed and teach the need to obey His Word for receiving His reward of honor and not His discipline of being humiliated!