That is all of us who are Christians!

Malachi 2:1-9

Malachi focuses directly on the priests, but how does this Word to the Priests relate to those who are not priest, preacher, ministers?

2:1 “And now, O priests, this command is for you.”

Are Priest Obsolete today?

Who are the priests today, or are there any? The New Testament never uses the term priest to describe a pastor or elder in the church. There is no official priesthood in the New Testament church. The reason for this is very clear: Jesus Christ himself has become a permanent priest for us and the Old Testament priesthood is now obsolete. Hebrews 7:23–25,

Christ is now the one and only priest between us and God. The reason for this is that his sacrifice was final, and his life is indestructible (7:16). The priest in the Old Testament died.

When Christ appeared as a high priest, he entered once for all into the Holy Place, taking not the blood of goats and calves but his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. (Hebrews 9:11–12)

So the Old Testament priesthood is replaced once and for all by the priestly ministry of Jesus, the offering of himself as the final sacrifice for sin, and the interceding for us today in heaven. There is no official priesthood in the New Testament church.

Feeling the need for a priest today creates a theological problem. It minimizes the Once-for-All Sacrifice of Christ.

Wherever you find today an emphasis on the priesthood of the clergy, there you also find the minimizing of the once-for-all of the sacrifice of Christ.

For example, in the Roman Catholic Church, this can differ somewhat depending on the region, the official priesthood is extremely important because the mass is a real sacrifice. The bread and cup are really transubstantiated into the body and blood of Christ and are offered up to God for the forgiveness of sins. This repeated sacrifice in the church necessitated an official priesthood to administer the sacrifices just like the Old Testament had an official priesthood to offer the animal sacrifices.

In this understanding, both the mass and the clerical priesthood minimize and distort the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ on Calvary. The truth, that there are no more sacrifices for sin is lost or minimized; the death of Christ once for all is sufficient to forgive all who believe; and that’s why
there is no more official priesthood in the New Testament; the priestly offering of sacrifices is done. Christ ended it.

The Whole Church as a Holy Priesthood

Peter calls the whole church a “holy priesthood” (1 Peter 2:5) and a “royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2:9); and John says that Christ made the whole church a kingdom, priests to his God and Father (Revelation 1:6). This means that Christ has opened the way for all of us to come directly to God through him. We do not need any human mediator. We can walk with Christ, our high priest, right into the Holiest Place where God dwells and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16).

Malachi 2:1–9

And now, O priests, this command is for you. 2 If you will not listen, if you will not lay it to heart to give glory 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. 3 Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, and spread dung upon your faces, the dung of your offerings, and I will put you out of my presence. 4 So shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may hold, says the LORD of hosts. 5 My covenant with him was a covenant of life and peace, and I gave them to him, that he might fear; and he feared me, he stood in awe of my name. 6 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. 7 For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts. 8 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, 9 and so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you have not kept my ways but have shown partiality in your instruction.

The duty of the priests at stake in this text is not sacrificing but teaching. v7: “The lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.”

This is why the text is so relevant for today: it rebukes and exhorts those of us who are appointed to be the ministers of the Word for the people of God. The ministers of the Word can fail or they can succeed. That’s what this text about. Anyone who is teaching the Word of God.

Malachi points out five failures of the priests, the pastors, the teachers, of his day.

Five Failures of the Priesthood

Now what has made God so angry?

When you talk about rubbing dung in somebody’s face, you are really angry. And there is nothing more terrible that can be conceived than to have the beauty of holiness turn against you with omnipotent power and become the rage of God.

1. Failure to Hear the Word of God

v2The first failure of the minister of the Word to hear the voice of God. “If you will not listen …” This is a failure because you can’t speak the truth of God that you don’t hear.

2. Failure to Have a Heart for God’s Glory

v2 The second failure is, “If you will not lay it to heart to give glory to my name, says the LORD of hosts …”

3. Turning Aside from the Ways of God

v6The failure of the teachers is that they turned aside from the ways of God. Their lives fell short of the standards of the truth that they were supposed to teach and model.
Walk means progress, follow me,
One of only three times, walked with God, Enoch, gen 6-9 Noah,, and here,,
Close relationship, godliness,

4. Showing Partiality in Teaching

v6 The fourth failure is that the teachers showed partiality in their teaching. It means that the priests were treating the Word of God the same way they were treating the sacrifices of God. You give God the sacrifices that will leave you with the most money. And you give the people the teaching that will bring in the most money.

5. Causing Many to Stumble

v8: “You have caused many to stumble.”
Are the sins of teachers and leaders more grievous than the sins of others? Yes, they are.
Not necessarily because the sin in and of itself is worse, but because its evil is compounded by the weight of public responsibility that should have restrained it.

God Threatens the Corrupt Leaders

Pastors will not be spared the judgment of God on their sinful failures. In fact James says (3:1), “Let not many of you become teachers, for you know that we who teach shall be judged with greater strictness.”

If you will not listen, if you will not lay it to heart to give glory 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
frightening and ugly threats:

1 (v. 2) God will curse them.

2 God will turn their words which ought to be blessings into curses. In other words their ministry becomes a plague rather than a blessing to God’s people.

3 (v. 3) God will rebuke their offspring, or the reference may be to their seed in the sense of their crops. The curse will extend far beyond their own private selves.

4. God will smear the dung of their mangy sacrifices on their own sanctimonious faces. Which means (according to v. 9) he will make them as despised and contemptible as possible among the people.

The ideal minister

They have a clear description of their task,
it rest on a special covenant with God,
reflecting a special degree of reverence,
revealing a special integrity

I have sent you so that my covenant (contract) with Levi, v5

They lowered the standard for the people because they lowered it for themselves,
With Levi, the priest, God gave them the standard, and he kept it, he did right,

In verses 2–3 God has set forth this commandment that He would bless the priesthood for its obedience, but would curse it for its disobedience.

Malachi 2:4 And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant may be with Levi, saith Jehovah of hosts. 5My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him that he might fear; and he feared me, and stood in awe of my name

From A special covenant from God, v9 they despised the covenant that Levi followed Num 25
Numbers 25:7 And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw [it], he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand; Nu 25:11 Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy.

They are to reflect a special sense of reverence with God,

Malachi 2:5 “My covenant was with him, [one] of life and peace, And I gave them to him [that he might] fear [Me]; So he feared Me And was reverent before My name.

A sense of awe for God, they had lost the awe of God, not impressed with God, they felt no obligation,

They were to have a special integrity in word and deed, v6

Malachi 2:6 The law of truth was in his mouth, And injustice was not found on his lips. He walked with Me in peace and equity, And turned many away from iniquity.

The minister tells the truth, about what it means, the burden is to tell the truth,

It is not my view point but the truth recorded,
The minister is to protect, The truth whole truth and nothing but the truth,
The cults do not do that, they tell a lie.

My task to tell you what the txt says, not my opinion,
Lips of priest preserve knowledge of God, pass on the word of God,
Nothing false was on Levi’s lips, he tells the truth,
The mark of a cult is a false message

The priests were teachers. This part of their ministry is continued in the church of the New Testament. Ephesians 4:11 says that Christ gave to the church some pastors and teachers to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. First Timothy says that there are to be overseers who are able in teaching (3:2), and that some elders in the church are to labor in preaching and teaching (5:17; cf. Titus 1:9).

So this part of the priests’ duties in Israel is continued in the elders of the New Testament church—they are responsible to teach and guide the church. But they are never called “priests,” because that would imply too much likeness to the Old Testament office. Pastors do not offer sacrifices for the forgiveness of sins—not in the mass or any other way. We do not offer people Jesus Christ in the mass, we point people to the finished, all-sufficient work of the cross and directly to the living, interceding Jesus Christ, by the Word of God. We are teachers and preachers above all else.

The priestly failure that Malachi talks about has to do especially with their duties as teachers and moral examples for the people. The failure he warns against would be just as much failure today!

Reasons We should care about Pastoral Ministry

Why should you (who are not pastors) be interested in two messages on the failures and successes of the pastoral ministry. There are at least four reasons.

I will die someday, and this congregation will have to call another preaching pastor. Most churches are very unprepared to do this because they have not been taught the biblical vision of the pastoral ministry.

You should be praying daily for the pastoral leadership of the church. But you can’t pray with confidence and power if you don’t know what the Bible teaches about the pitfalls and purposes of the pastoral ministry.

You should hold your pastors accountable to fulfill the biblical vision of pastoral ministry. This is not inconsistent with a submissive spirit toward the leadership of the church which Hebrews 13:17 commands. It means that the church and not the clergy is the final court of appeal in matters of order and discipline (Matthew 18:17; 1 Corinthians 5:4). But you can’t hold leadership accountable to do their duty if you do not know the biblical teaching of what that duty is.

It is a great encouragement to a pastor when the people respond to his ministry with understanding—when there is a deeply shared common vision of why he does what he does. But that kind of deep, joyful responsiveness is simply not possible except where the people learn what the biblical vision of the pastoral calling is.

The Danger of Doctrinal Defection

And what we see today in the moral collapse of the ministry is not the worst priestly failure. Far more devastating for the church long term is the doctrinal defection of thousands of pastors away from the authority and sufficiency of Scripture and away from biblical truth.

We can not be misled! The pastoral scandals of our day are not the greatest danger to the church. The great danger is the minimizing of deep spiritual commitment to doctrinal, biblical truth.

When God predicted the ruin of his people Israel in the book of Amos, he said that the famine that would destroy was a famine of the Word of God:

Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord God, when I will send a famine on the land; not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the LORD, but they shall not find it. Amos 8:11

That’s the most devastating priestly failure, and that’s the one Malachi is most concerned with.