Countdown to Christ, Anticipating Jesus (Malachi 1:6-2:9)
Jordan Byrd
What’s your vision of a perfect life? I used to struggle with perfectionism. And I’m still tempted by it. I used to believe that doing my best meant perfect grades on a quiz, test, or school paper. Doing my best meant being able to get my gymnastics skills and routine executed perfectly. Doing my best meant never failing my parents' expectations. Doing my best meant never failing other leaders and authorities in my life. Doing my best meant executing God’s expectations exactly as they were laid out in the Bible. I had many moments of second-guessing: Did I do the “right” and “full” process of making Jesus my Lord? Did I do the “right” and “full” response actions to receive forgiveness and salvation from God? But the more I followed Jesus, the more God’s Spirit revealed to me through His Word that the only perfect human is Jesus. And on my own, I am always trying to achieve perfection. And the only hope of living into perfection is to be, and continue to be united to Jesus – the only one who is perfect. This was freedom to me. It freed me from an unrealistic vision of life. It freed me from making a perfect life happen on my own. It freed me to live with the hope of a more authentic version of a perfect life – a life that is only possible being united to the life of God, through faith in Jesus. This saving freedom is one way Jesus has saved me. Chasing perfection on my own, I would be obsessed, anxious, fearful, overwhelmed, and stressed more than I already am with the rest of my life. This saving freedom draws me to prioritize the God revealed in Jesus in my thoughts, words, and actions. This saving freedom draws me to worship. This saving freedom draws me to prioritize God’s presence in my life. Prioritize God’s word and instruction. Prioritize prayer and attentiveness to God’s guidance. Prioritize community with the body of Christ. Prioritize praise for God’s faithfulness and ability to bring me into a life more perfect than I could craft on my own.
What gives weight to your worship?
What’s your vision of a perfect life? What is the world’s vision of a perfect life in our current context? And how does that vision of life determine what you do? How does that vision of life give weight to your priorities? If you could weigh the priorities of your life, what would that weight consist of? What gives weight to your priorities? In more religious language, What gives weight to your worship?
In our current context, we’re tempted to give weight to what’s immediately pleasurable (or beneficial to us). What’s easy. Or what’s comfortable. We’re tempted to give weight to these priorities. We give weight to the immediate pleasure of sleeping in over the inconvenience of getting up early to have coffee with someone going through a tough time. We give weight to the ease of turning on a TV show over the discipline meeting with God in His Word. We give weight to the comfort of tailgating at a Bills game over allowing God to stretch and transform our hearts during a Sunday morning church service.
But God’s word invites us to see reality differently. God’s word invites us to see that giving weight to these priorities will leave us wanting – will leave us restless – will leave us unable to experience the abundant life and peace that we long for – the abundant life and peace that we hope giving weight to these priorities will help satisfy or make happen.
What gives weight to your worship?
God’s word invites us to see that we will never be able to attain the perfect life of pleasure, ease, and comfort that we long for on our own. God’s word invites us to see that we need God. That we need God’s perfection. That we need God’s perfection in our life to attain the perfect life we long for. God’s word invites us to consider where we ascribe glory and worship. Do we ascribe glory to our version of a perfect life? Or our current context’s version of a perfect life? Or do we ascribe glory to God’s version of a perfect life? If we aren’t ascribing glory to God and his version of a perfect life, than God’s word invites us to confess our need for it, and confess our need for his direction and guidance for our lives.
What gives weight to your priorities? What gives weight to your worship?
In the beloved Christmas special, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, when Rudolph and Hermey the elf leave Santa’s workshop as outcasts, they run into the adventuring prospector, Yukon Cornelius. The trio eventually float through open water on a piece of ice, and eventually encounter dense fog. To which Hermey the elf says, “fog thick as pea soup." And Yukon Cornelius goes even further by saying, “fog thick as peanut butter!" Their descriptions of the fog is an attempt to capture the denseness or weightiness of the fog.
In the background of Malachi 1-2 is God establishing the tribe of Levi, of the 12 tribes of Israel as the priests to mediate God’s glory and presence to the people through their sacrificial service in the Tabernacle – a portable worship space – and eventually in the more formally established temple in Jerusalem. We get a summary of the Levite’s priestly role in Leviticus 9:1-7, …Moses summoned Aaron and his sons [from the tribe of Levi] and the elders of Israel. He said to Aaron, “Take a bull calf for your sin offering and a ram for your burnt offering, both without defect, and present them before the Lord. Then say to the Israelites: ‘Take a male goat for a sin offering, a calf and a lamb—both a year old and without defect—for a burnt offering, and an ox and a ram for a fellowship offering to sacrifice before the Lord, together with a grain offering mixed with olive oil. For today the Lord will appear to you.’” They took the things Moses commanded to the front of the tent of meeting, and the entire assembly came near and stood before the Lord. Then Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded you to do, so that the glory of the Lord may appear to you.” Moses said to Aaron, “Come to the altar and sacrifice your sin offering and your burnt offering and make atonement for yourself and the people; sacrifice the offering that is for the people and make atonement for them, as the Lord has commanded.” (Leviticus 9:1-7)
As we encounter in vs. 6, there is an interplay between the sacrificial worship of priests for the people of Israel and their encounter with the glory of God.
Like this weighted blanket, the Hebrew term behind our translated word, glory is the idea of weightiness or denseness or richness of God’s presence. In the context of Leviticus 9, it’s the weightiness of God’s presence that accompanies the sacrificial worship of Israel and the priests. In Malachi 1:6 we encounter this same concept. Here, Malachi confronts the people of Israel, specifically the Levitical priests who represent the people of Israel before God with their lack of honor for God. The idea of honor here is the same concept of weightiness that accompanies the idea of glory. Here, the Israelites and Levitical priests aren’t attributing adequate weight, or attention, to God and his role in their lives. The people aren’t prioritizing God’s presence in their lives. The people aren’t worshipping God to their fullest. The people aren’t giving the fullest glory to God.
We see examples of the Israelites' lack of honor and disregard for prioritizing God’s presence through what is emphasized about the priests' sacrificial work. In Malachi 1:7-8 we encounter that the priests are allowing imperfect animals to be sacrificed in worship. If we look back to Leviticus 9, we are reminded that God instructed the priests to sacrifice animals without defects. The priests are to offer God the best – essentially, the best from the people of Israel in their worship of God. The priests are to offer the best animals to God first. And in Malachi 1:7-8 the priests are offering the people’s leftover animals to God. What is likely happening in Malachi 1 is that the priests are allowing the people to cheat God. Malachi 1:14, “Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord.”
In Deuteronomy 18:1-5, we encounter that the Levitical priests received part of the animals offered in sacrifice – as their own food. The Levitical priests—indeed, the whole tribe of Levi—are to have no allotment or inheritance with Israel. They shall live on the food offerings presented to the Lord, for that is their inheritance. They shall have no inheritance among their fellow Israelites; the Lord is their inheritance, as he promised them. This is the share due the priests from the people who sacrifice a bull or a sheep: the shoulder, the internal organs and the meat from the head. You are to give them the firstfruits of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the first wool from the shearing of your sheep, 5 for the Lord your God has chosen them and their descendants out of all your tribes to stand and minister in the Lord’s name always. (Deuteronomy 18:1-5)
In Malachi 1, we have two potential situations happening. One is that the priests are accepting the perfect animals for their own food, and offering the lame animals to still perform the ritual of sacrificial worship. In this situation, the priests are making a mockery of sacrificial worship to God. Two, the priests might be taking bribes from the people of Israel to accept their lame animals for sacrifice. Again, this makes a mockery of sacrificial worship of God. The priests in either of these situations are giving weight to their immediate benefit. The priests are giving weight to their own comfort over pleasing God first. The priests are giving weight to what’s easy, rather than the disciplined sacrificial work they’ve been given to do. The priests are giving weight to priorities other than God’s priorities. The priests are giving weight to worship themselves rather than God.
Poop bags have become a common-place item for dog owners to keep dog poop out of people’s yards so people don’t step in the poop later. The bags are not for keeping the poop, but for throwing it away. Because it has no everyday value to most of us. God thinks similarly of the sacrificial system of the Israelites in Malachi’s time. Through Malachi’s prophecy, God confronts the people about their poor worship and their disregard for God’s presence in their life, by telling them to just shut the doors of the temple and stop offering sacrifices. God is saying, “What you’re offering is what YOU don’t want: you’re lame, diseased, and sub-par animals.” “If you think worshipping me is not worth much, then let’s just scrap this whole thing!”
Worship is about recognizing our need for perfection tied to God.
God ultimately points to the reality that: Worship isn't about the sacrifices, but about recognizing our need for perfection tied to God, perfection tied to the worship of God, and perfection tied to being in God’s glorious presence. God references this reality by highlighting that he has people beyond the border of Israel who are seeking him, and his perfect life. We see here a glimpse of the mission of God for all people of the world to experience God’s abundant life. And despite the Israelite’s unfaithfulness, God will remain faithful to his mission. And this plays out fully in Jesus making it possible for all people to be united to the life of God, through faith in him.
In Malachi, the people were faithful to sacrifice animals. But the people were unfaithful to the sacrifice of unblemished, perfect animals. The quality of the sacrifice mattered because of what it pointed toward. It pointed toward the unblemished, perfect life of Jesus, who ultimately was sacrificed on the cross – to unite us with the perfect life of God. To unite our imperfect lives with God’s perfect life. We see this imagery in what Peter writes his New Testament letter, For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. (1 Peter 1:18-19)
The point of a perfect sacrifice to God was to emphasize that a perfect life is only possible with God. Being with God and being guided and instructed by God is what ultimately mattered. The perfect sacrifice was to keep this idea at the forefront of the Israelites’ vision for life; and ultimately to point to the perfect sacrifice of Jesus.
Have you ever stepped in dog poop? It’s one of the worst feelings, and the germ freak in me can’t stand knowing even a tiny bit might still be on my shoe. And we all know, the bigger the dog, the bigger the poop. Or, we could also say, the bigger the dog poop, the bigger the mess – if you step in it. While God desires all people to find a perfect life in him, he never forces it on anyone. He urges and corrects his creation to turn to him, and recognize our need for his perfection – his perfect wisdom and instruction on how to live most fully. But, if we choose otherwise, God will allow us to go that way, and experience the mess that comes with it, with the hope that we might come to our senses, and turn back to him for life and peace. We hear this tone from the heart of God in Psalm 81:11-13, “But my people would not listen to me; Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices. “If my people would only listen to me, if Israel would only follow my ways….” (Psalm 81:11-13)
In Malachi 2:3, God gives the imagery of: “If you want to make a mess of my instruction to offer perfect sacrifices, then I’ll let the mess be all over you,” like dung – like poop on your face. It was considered unclean to have the intestinal parts of the animals on a person during the sacrificial process, and it was to be taken outside of the camp to be disposed of. Here, we see God contrasting that the Israelites are choosing excrement over him. The Israelites are choosing lesser priorities over God. The Israelites are giving weight to imperfect priorities over the perfect presence and instruction of God.
In Malachi 2:7, the priests are reminded of their charge to instruct the people of Israel in God’s ways. They were to be setting the example for the standard of prioritizing God – prioritizing perfect sacrifices – prioritizing worship and encountering his glorious, weighty, life-giving presence. But they weren’t living that way. And they were leading the whole nation astray in the process. They were leading the people astray from encountering the weightiest presence of God then, in the tabernacle or temple of God and soon to come in the birth of God in the flesh – in the birth of Jesus.
Malachi’s prophecy highlights that the people of Israel were giving weight to priorities other than God. The people of Israel were giving weight to a lesser version of the perfect life. The people of Israel gave into the temptation to give weight to the priorities of: self-benefit over the benefit of God’s mission, comfort over the inconvenience of God’s standard, and ease over the discipline of seeking God’s life.
This reality can play out in at least one of two ways: One, it can play out that we give weight to priorities and worship of something other than God altogether. This is the reality for many in our current context and world. Where they are totally detached from the God revealed in Jesus.
Are you giving God your leftovers?
But it can also play out in a more subtle way: Where we give weight to things other than God, but we still give some leftovers to God. For example: I’ll meet with God’s word if nothing else comes up. I’ll gather with God’s people for worship if I don’t have anything else to do. I’ll make time for a friend if it fits the margin I already have. The problem with this perspective is that it does not give priority to God. It gives God our leftovers. This path involves us giving weight to many other things, and in the end, offering God very little, worthless, and excrement-looking worship. We end up giving weight to the world’s vision of a perfect life, Rather than recognizing our need for God’s perfect life, and his instruction and guidance to live toward it.
What gives weight to your priorities?
What gives weight to your worship?
Confess your need for the perfection of God.
God’s word in Malachi 1-2 invites you to reflect on the weight of your priorities and where they are leading you. When you give your life over to these priorities, they’ll end up leaving you wanting, restless, and unable to experience the abundant life and peace you deeply long for. The reality is, you cannot attain the perfect life you long for – on your own. God’s word, in Malachi 1-2, shows you that you need something greater. You need God’s perfection. You need the life and peace that only God can provide. So I invite you to be honest: What gives weight to your current priorities? And where are those things leading you? Are they leading you to anxiety and emptiness? If so, God’s word invites you to confess your need for Him. To confess your need for the God revealed in Jesus. And to take a step of faith toward him. If you’re ready to take that step, please find me, or another trusted follower of Jesus to help you journey toward uniting your life to God through faith in Jesus in baptism.
What gives weight to your priorities?
What gives weight to your worship?
If you’ve already united your life to Jesus, God’s word in Malachi 1-2 challenges you to examine the weight of your priorities and the state of your worship. When you prioritize your version of a perfect life over God’s vision for a perfect life, you’ll find yourself restless and unfulfilled. God invites you to see that you’ll never attain the abundant life and peace you long for, apart from Him.
Confess your need to be guided by Jesus to the perfection of God.
The question is: Where are you ascribing glory and worship? Are you giving full weight to the worship of the God revealed in Jesus? Or are you giving weight to other priorities, and leaving God only the lesser, worthless, and excrement-looking glory? If you find yourself wayward, confess it. Be honest about the places where your priorities or worship have gone astray. God’s grace is abundant, and He wants to restore you. Cling to Him for the perfect life that your soul longs for – a life found only in Jesus. Let this be a moment to reorder your heart and priorities, giving weight to God’s glory and worship Him above all else. God’s word invites you to return to Him, to experience the abundant life He offers, and to find your rest in Him. Will you confess your need for God? And will you commit in faith to seek his instruction and guidance to encounter his perfect, abundant life, as revealed in the life of Jesus?
What gives weight to your priorities?
What gives weight to your worship?