Francis Schaeffer’s book, How Should We Then Live, was published in 1975. Francis Schaeffer was a theologian, philosopher, and a highly respected evangelical thinker in his day. In his book, Schaeffer shows how the decline of a society from the fall of Rome up through the twentieth century begins when that society shifts from God’s design for humans, and the rest of creation. Towards the end of his book, Schaeffer lists five attributes of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire that is true of any culture in decline; according to Schaeffer these are five signs of a society that is about to break down:
- A mounting love for affluence.
- A widening gap between the very rich and very poor with little to no middle class.
- An obsession with sex.
- Freakishness in the arts.
- An increased desire to live off the state.
Out of our love for affluence, we as a nation are now 48.9 trillion dollars in debt with the average household debt owing to $14,241 in credit card debt, $58,112 in student loan debt, $31,142 in automobile loans, and $202,454 in mortgage debt. The middle class in America is shrinking, for it used to be that 61% of Americans made up the middle class, but that percentage has shrunk to 50% and looks as though it will continue to shrink.
When it comes to an obsession with sex, very little needs to be said with the ever-increasing list of types of sexualities a person can identify with, the oversexualization of our youth, and gender reassignment. Now, in the arts, anything deviant can be passed off as art to the point where you can have Sam Smith dress up as Satan with his dancers performing promiscuous acts as part of an intentional satanic chorographic ritual for a song titled, Unholy. Sam Smith’s performance was not the only deviant performance either.
So, what does all of this have to do with Malachi 2:1-9? Without a right and proper fear of God, the heart becomes an idol factor that does not lead to life, but death. This is the human condition that has been our problem since Adam and Eve bit into the forbidden fruit. The root cause for Adam and Eve’s rebellion was the same for the Priests Malachi addresses in 2:1-9, and it is the same for us today: The root cause for mankind’s rebellion is the absence of a right and proper fear of God.
The Fear of the Lord
Remember how Malachi 1:6 begins: “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.’” The priests did not honor or fear God, and the evidence for their lack of honor and fear for God was seen in how they worshiped Him. To fully grasp just how serious the lack of fear and honor the priests had for God was, we need to understand the type of fear and honor the priests lacked.
The kind of fear for God that is expected from His people is not a fear that is contrary or at odds with genuine love. A biblical fear of God is not at odds with a love for God. We do not love God in the same way you love a sunset, nor is it the same kind of love that you have for your dog. To fear God is to love and enjoy God for all that He is. It is a love that truly appreciates and honors God as infinitely perfect and overwhelmingly beautiful in his holiness, righteousness, graciousness, justice, mercy, love, and majesty. In the words of Michael Reeves: “In a sense, then, the trembling ‘fear of God’ is a way of speaking about the intensity of the saints’ love for and enjoyment of all that God is.”[1] Reeves points out in his book, Rejoice & Tremble, that the fear of God, “…is not at all what we, with our culture’s allergic reaction to the very concept of fear, might expect. Instead, we can say with Spurgeon that this is the ‘sort of fear which has in it the very essence of love, and without which there would be no joy even in the presence of God.”[2] Of the fear of God, Charles Spurgeon said, “It is not because we are afraid of him, but because we delight in him, that we fear before him.”[3]
So that you can see what I just said from the Bible, consider the following scripture passages on the fear of the Lord:
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.” (Prov. 9:10)
“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul…” (Deut. 10:12)
Then you have this promise from the prophet Jeremiah concerning a New Covenant when God would address the problem with man’s heart:
“And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me.” (Jer. 32:38-40)
What is it that would encourage the Priests to offer sacrifices before the Lord that he said he would never delight in? How on earth could they ever consider service to Yahweh as a burden? Why would they not listen to God’s word or give honor to His name? It is because they did not fear Him.
What it Means to Delight in the Lord
The presence of a right fear of God and a genuine love for God is to delight in God. This is what the priests of Malachi’s day did not do, and it is the absence of such delight in the true God for why cultures, nations, kingdoms, and empires crumble. It is a system failure in that the One, “we live and move and exist” (Acts. 17:28), is not delighted in because He is ignored. In ignoring Him, we live in a society that is drinking from the broken cisterns of affluence, sex, and self-assigned identity, be it sexual or national.
Because our world is fallen, it is understandable that those who do not yet know God, do not delight in Him. But it is a great evil to know who God is and chose something or someone else to take His place. Of the people that should have known the joy of what it means to delight in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, it was the priests. The purpose of the priests was that they served to mediate between the people and God just as Aaron did as he walked alongside Moses. In contrast to Malachi’s contemporaries, God said of Levi: “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. He stood in awe of my name” (v. 5).
Who was Levi? Levi is the ancestor of Levites from whom all the priests came. You could not serve as a priest unless you belonged to the tribe of Levi. From Levi is a history of godly men who feared God more than they feared people and were known for speaking on behalf of God to the people. Concerning those who served God out of fear and love, God said, “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” (v. 6). The priests were known for guarding knowledge and the people at one point in time knew that they could seek the priests for guidance because it was clear that the priest was a messenger of God almighty (v. 7). Why? Because the legacy of Levi was that he delighted in the Lord! The relationship Levi had with Yahweh was one where he rightly feared and loved God while he stood in awe of His name. He stood in awe of the name of God!
What does it mean to stand in awe of the name of almighty God? It is a type of fear that includes reverence, pleasure, joy, and a “filial” fear. “Filial” fear is the kind of fear experienced by a son for his father as they enjoy a healthy relationship with one another without the son confusing who it is that is in authority. In many ways, I had that kind of relationship with my father; I understood that although we were very close and that I could trust him, I also understood that I could not talk back or disrespect him. The line between father and son was always clear.
God is all-powerful. God is all-knowing. God is all-present. God is just, He is wise, He is love, He is so much more, and He is holy. He is the One from whom heaven and earth recoil at His presence (Rev. 20:11), and before whom the prophet Isaiah heard the angels proclaim: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” and in response to the majesty of the Almighty, Isaiah responded: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts” (Isa. 6:3-5). Isaiah’s response is what it looks like to stand in awe of God. To stand in awe of God is to understand who you are in light of who He is:
Tremble before him, all the earth;
yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved.
Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice,
and let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!”
Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
let the field exult, and everything in it!
Then shall the trees of the forest sing for joy
before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth.
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures forever! (1 Chron. 16:30-34)
This is what the priests in Malachi’s day lacked, but of all the people in Jerusalem, the priests should have known better. What was true of Levi’s legacy was the antithesis of priests addressed here, for they were living in disobedience of the Lord. Instead of guiding the people of Israel, they were causing them to sin against the Lord. Instead of embracing the promises of God, they openly and defiantly violated “the covenant of Levi.” Instead of deciding cases with godly wisdom and impartiality, they showed favoritism and were unjust.
God’s response to the priests’ disregard for His name is staggering: “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” (Malachi 2:2–3). The curse that God warned would come upon the priests are the curses God warned would come upon His people if they turned from Him in disobedience (see Deut. 28).
The dung of the sacrifice was to be burned outside the camp of God’s people. With the threat of God to spread dung on the faces of the priests, was to say that their behavior was so repulsive to God, that they would remain ceremonially unclean and indefinitely unqualified to serve as priests. To spread dung on their faces was to cover the priests in their own shame for all to see, so God concludes: “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, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but show partiality in your instruction” (Malachi 2:8–9).
What God wanted was the hearts of His priests, he did not need their worship. This is why His response to their lackadaisical and half-hearted worship in 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” (Malachi 1:10). What the priests lacked was the kind of awe we read about in Isaiah 66:1-2, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.’”
Conclusion
So, what does any of this have to do with you Christian? We have a better Priest than Levi! Levi mediated the Old Covenant, but Jesus is not just any Priest—He is the High Priest of a better covenant:
But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. (Heb. 9:11–14)
If you have placed your faith and trust in Jesus Christ as the One whom God, “…made Him who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21; NASB), you are a Christian. If you are a Christian, then what is written in 1 Peter 2:9-10 is true of you: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (1 Peter 2:9–10).
Jesus is our High Priest, but He is so much more! He is the “Almighty” and the “Alpha and Omega” (Rev. 1:8; 22:12-13). He is the “Author of Life” (Acts 3:15). Jesus is the Bread from Heaven (John 6:32), the Bread of Life (John 6:35), and the Bright Morning Star (Rev. 22:16). He is the Chief Shepherd (1 Pet. 5:4), He is the Christ (Col. 3:15), and He is the Deliverer (Rom. 11:26). He is the Good Shepherd of the 23rd Psalm (John 10:11). He is the rightful Heir of All Things (Heb. 1:1-2). Jesus is the Holy and Righteous One (Acts 3:14), the Horn of Salvation (Luke 1:69), and the Great I Am (John 8:58-59). He is the Light of the World (John 8:12), the Gate for the Sheep (John 10:7), the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25), the True Vine (John 15:1), the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6)!
Jesus is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah (Rev. 5:5), He is the Lord of Glory (1 Cor. 2:8), and He is the Pioneer and Perfecter of our Faith (Heb. 12:1-2). Jesus is the Word made flesh (John 1:1), He is the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53, He is the Savior (Luke 2:11), and He is the King of kings and Lord of lords (Rev. 19:16). If Jesus is who He says He is, and you say that He is the sum of all that He is to you, then how are you living in light of His Lordship over your life?
In this very moment, can you hear the Savior ask the following question directed at your heart? “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not what I tell you” (Luke 6:46)? You, who are a priest before Jesus, are you listening to His words? Are you taking His life to heart? Do you stand before the Father and the Son with awe? Is your life motivated by a right fear and genuine love for the One who ransomed your soul and made you a son or a daughter? As His priests, we should be known as men and women whose lips, “guard knowledge?” Are you in a place in your relationship with Jesus that people are able to “seek instruction” from your mouth? Of those who know you, can it be said that you are a “messenger of the Lord of hosts?” In conclusion I leave you with two appeals from the Bible, the one is from Jesus and the other is about Jesus:
From Jesus: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” (Matthew 7:21–23)
From the Psalmist: “Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” (Psalm 2:11–12)
Amen.
Discussion Questions:
- Read Malachi 2:1-9 and Deuteronomy 28 as a group. In what ways is Deuteronomy 28 similar to Malachi 2:1-9?
- What does it mean to delight in the Lord?
- Pastor Keith said in his sermon on Sunday: “To fear God is to love and enjoy God for all that He is. It is a love that truly appreciates and honors God as infinitely perfect and overwhelmingly beautiful in his holiness, righteousness, graciousness, justice, mercy, love, and majesty.” How is this kind of fear different than the kind fear one might experience when facing their abuser?
- Based on what you know so far about the priests Malachi 2:1-9 addresses, do you think the above fear was missing in their worship?
- God said of Levi, that “he feared me. He stood in awe of my name” (v. 5). What does it mean to stand in awe of God’s name (hint: Read 1 Chron. 16:30-34)?
- In what ways can our worship reveal how highly or lowly we esteem God’s name?
- According to 1 Peter 2:9-10, the Christian is a priest as representative of Jesus Christ; in what ways does Malachi 2:1-9 challenge you in light of what you read in 1 Peter 2:9-10?
- How does Jesus as our High Priest (Heb. 9:11-14) encourage you as you strive to follow Him?
- Pastor Keith listed the following names and titles of Jesus (read them to the group):
Jesus is our High Priest, but He is so much more! He is the “Almighty” and the “Alpha and Omega” (Rev. 1:8; 22:12-13). He is the “Author of Life” (Acts 3:15). Jesus is the Bread from Heaven (John 6:32), the Bread of Life (John 6:35), and the Bright Morning Star (Rev. 22:16). He is the Chief Shepherd (1 Pet. 5:4), He is the Christ (Col. 3:15), and He is the Deliverer (Rom. 11:26). He is the Good Shepherd of the 23rd Psalm (John 10:11). He is the rightful Heir of All Things (Heb. 1:1-2). Jesus is the Holy and Righteous One (Acts 3:14), the Horn of Salvation (Luke 1:69), and the Great I Am (John 8:58-59). He is the Light of the World (John 8:12), the Gate for the Sheep (John 10:7), the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25), the True Vine (John 15:1), the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6)!
Jesus is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah (Rev. 5:5), He is the Lord of Glory (1 Cor. 2:8), and He is the Pioneer and Perfecter of our Faith (Heb. 12:1-2). Jesus is the Word made flesh (John 1:1), He is the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53, He is the Savior (Luke 2:11), and He is the King of kings and Lord of lords (Rev. 19:16).
- In light of the above, read Luke 6:46-49. In what ways do you find Jesus’ words in Luke 6 challenging, frightening, or encouraging?
- In what ways do you believe God is challenging you so far in this Malachi series?
Conclude with a time of prayer with your LIFE Group.
