We continue our teaching through Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament. Malachi takes place about 400 years before Jesus shows up on the scene and about 100 years after Israel has come back out of the Babylonian exile.
In our first sermon (1:1-5), we learned that the LORD loved Israel and demonstrated this by sovereignly and freely choosing them (not Edom) to be the recipient of His covenant relationship and blessing (Jacob not Esau). His love was also evidenced by His promised restoration to bring Israel back to rebuild the temple and restart proper worship in the land.
In our text for this week (1:6-14), we will look at the first accusation against the priests, the nation’s spiritual leaders, who are charged with profaning the LORD’s name in their worship. The priests were careless, complacent and ultimately bored with God. The priests in Malachi’s day were not being “transformed by the renewing of their minds” through the Word of God, or else they would have had a very different outlook on who God was and life under His rule. They would have properly feared God and served Him faithfully. Instead, they completely missed the point of their duties and actions. They were going through the motions and were bringing lame, sick and stolen animals to sacrifice. The name of the LORD was despised as the priests did not bring their best to God from a humble and pure heart. Faithful worship was not happening and Malachi was the messenger from God to bring this burden to Israel (along with a call to repentance).
We will also look at what faithful worship looks like in the New Covenant era as we turn to John 4 and Romans 12 for context. What does it mean to give God our best every day? What does it mean to give God our best specifically on the Lord’s Day?