The High Cost of Spiritual LeadershipMalachi 2:1-9

Main Idea: The depraved and apathetic worship of Israel’s priests causes Israel to stumble and invokes God’s curse as a means of ensuring the permanence of God’s covenant with Levi.

1. Introduction: God’s Curse against Israel’s Priests for Their Depraved and Apathetic Worship (2:1-3)
2. God Reminds Israel’s Priests of Their Covenantal Role Model, Levi (2:4-7).
   1. Levi was a man of godly commitment (2:4).
   2. Levi was a man of godly character (2:5).
   3. Levi was a man of godly communication (2:6-7).
3. Four Ways Israel’s Priests Failed to Follow the Covenant Role Model of Levi (2:8-9)
4. Conclusion: Christ as the New and Better Levi, Our Great High Priest

Introduction: God’s Curse against Israel’s Priests for Their Depraved and Apathetic Worship (Malachi 2:1-3)

God’s dissatisfaction is immediately apparent in this chapter. In His confrontation with the priesthood He warns, “If you do not heed the instructions that I gave you in chapter 1, then you will suffer the curses detailed in chapter 2.”

The phrase take it to heart in verse 2 conveys the concept of determining a course of action based on information previously received. Taking something to heart is not merely hearing from God, it is putting what was heard into action. God directs the priests to meditate on the words He has already spoken to them. We consistently read in Scripture that orthodoxy leads to orthopraxy: right belief produces right behavior. God tells the priests that if they do not “take it to heart to honor My name,” they will experience God’s curse. But in order to honor the name of God, the priests must realize again that God’s name is worthy to be praised. The priests divulge their warped understanding of God’s nature by offering polluted and inadequate sacrifices (1:6-14). Therefore, since the priests’ wrong beliefs have led to improper devotion, God, as is prescribed under the covenant, must curse the Levites.

The word curse contains a definite article in Hebrew (literally, “the curse”). This is not a casual curse nor is it a commonplace one; it is intentional and particular. Perhaps it is the curse from Deuteronomy 28, in which God essentially warned the people, “If you don’t obey Me, you will exchange blessings for destruction.” Regardless of whether this is the specific curse to which God was referring, it is certain that “the curse” will swiftly befall the nation.

In verse 9 God declares, “So I in turn have made you despised and humiliated before all the people.” This verb translated “I . . . have made” is in the perfect tense. Verbs in the perfect tense represent actions that happened in the past but have continuing consequences in the present. It is used by God to convey to the people that there is no turning back God’s hand; the priests have sinned heinously, and the curse for their transgression is already upon them.

So what is the price they paid for their disobedience? The punishment is twofold. First, the descendants of the Levitical priesthood will be made to suffer (v. 3a). Here we have the first of five uses of the Hebrew word, traditionally translated “behold,” in the book of Malachi (“see” twice in 3:1; “indeed” in 4:1; “look” again in 4:5). This is a word used to place emphasis upon a subject or to allude to imminence. God is emphatically telling the priesthood that He is serious. Their progeny will suffer the consequences of the current generation’s actions, and they will only have themselves to blame as covenant transgressors.

Not only will the priests’ offspring face judgment, but the priests themselves will be humiliated by the Lord (v. 3b). God certainly discloses how He perceives the priesthood’s disobedience. God reveals to the priests how repulsive He finds their glib handling of His commands. By rubbing feces on their faces, a visual is given to them of what their worthless sacrifices look like to Him. God will embarrass them by adorning their bodies with impurities for all to see.

God Reminds Israel’s Priests of their Covenantal Role Model, Levi (Malachi 2:4-7)

We have seen the priests’ transgressions and have witnessed the prophecy of their demise. Next, God reminds them of the holy source and scope of the message (v. 4). God, the Lord of Hosts, reminds them of His covenant with Levi. Levi exemplified three characteristics worth noting.

Levi Was a Man of Godly Commitment (2:4)

God made a covenant with Levi, whose descendants would become the priesthood in the land of Israel, the promised land. When all the tribes eventually made it into the place they were promised, the Levites were the only ones who didn’t receive a portion of the land, as explained in Joshua 18:7: “But the Levites among you do not get a portion, because their inheritance is the priesthood of the Lord.” Their share of God’s blessing in the promised land was when He made a covenant with them granting them the privilege and responsibility of leading His people in worship.

Although the covenant with Levi is not as prominent as those with Abraham or Moses or David, it is, nevertheless, an important covenant because of the duties they were expected to perform. Examine Deuteronomy 21:5.

Then the priests, the sons of Levi, will come forward, for Yahweh your God has chosen them to serve Him and pronounce blessings in His name, and they are to give a ruling in every dispute and case of assault.

The Levites had two duties. First, they settled disputes over the law, that is, the Torah. When there were disagreements in the land, they acted as judges. Second, they insulated and protected an unholy people from a holy God. They were the “go-betweens” on behalf of the Israelites before the Lord.

Today, Levites are not necessary because we have an intercessor and mediator who fulfills their functions: Christ. First Timothy 2:5 states that He is our representative, the way an attorney is the representative of a defendant before a judge. Christ is the ultimate fulfillment of the covenant God made with the tribe of Levi, and, like Levi, Jesus was a man of godly commitment.

Levi Was a Man of Godly Character (2:5)

The word reverence or fear (ESV) is used 150 times in the OT. Here in verse 5 it is placed alongside “stood in awe.” The latter means “to be shattered” or “to be dismayed.” We may picture the meaning as being broken into pieces, whether physically, emotionally, or spiritually. Normally when the words fear and awe appear together, they are used in the context of horror and fright. The only time in the Bible where both these words together talk about our respect and reverence for a holy God is right here. Puzzling, then, is that on multiple occasions God says to the people, “Do not fear.” Which are we to believe? Is God calling His people to fear Him or not to fear Him?

In Exodus 20:18-20 we witness a paradox in the giving of the law. There are 613 individual laws in the Torah, but this passage is specifically concerned with the presentation of the Ten Commandments to Moses. When the people witnessed the thunder, the flashes of lightning, and the smoking mountain, they were frozen in fear and trembling. Standing at a distance from the mountain, they cried out to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen . . . but don’t let God speak to us, or we will die.” Moses responded to the people, “Don’t be afraid, for God has come to test you, so that you will fear Him and will not sin.”

Do you want to know what I think the problem is in most Christian circles? Most people don’t fear God anymore. Oswald Chambers said, “The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything else” (Wiersbe, Wiersbe Bible Commentary OT, 767). So what is the fear of the Lord? What does it mean to have a healthy fear of the divine?

Jerry Bridges, in his book The Joy of Fearing God, describes the difference between “servile” fear and “filial” fear (Joy of Fearing God, 26–27). Servile fear is the fear that comes from the Latin word servus, the word for “slave.” He describes it this way: “It’s the kind of fear which a slave would feel towards a harsh and unyielding master. It’s to be subject to someone who is harsh and unyielding.” It is the same fear that is seen in the Parable of the Talents, when the third man responded to the master, “Master, I know you. You’re a difficult man, reaping where you haven’t sown and gathering where you haven’t scattered seed. So I was afraid and went off and hid your talent in the ground. Look, you have what is yours.”

Bridges refers to this type of fear as “servile” fear, which is not the type of fear portrayed in Malachi. The second kind of fear, “filial” fear, is the fear a son has in relationship to his father. “Filial” comes from the Latin word that means “son,” and it is this indefinable mixture of reverence, fear, pleasure, joy, and awe that should fill a worshiper’s heart when giving reverence to God.

Do you have a healthy, biblical fear of God? Do you stand in awe of His authority? His power? His strength? His goodness? His majesty? The priests of the Lord during Malachi’s ministry did not, but God called them, like Levi before, to demonstrate godly commitment and character.

Levi Was a Man of Godly Communication (2:6-7)

The true servant of God preaches the Scriptures unapologetically. He does not alter the message to tickle the ears of the people. He does not shrink back from doctrinal truths. Neither does he preach man-centered messages to please the masses or draw large crowds. He is a man who stands on the infallible, inerrant Word of God, preaches the entire counsel of God, and leaves the results to God. The word translated “instruction” is the Hebrew word torah. Levi had the Torah on his lips, therefore what he said was found to be without fault.

Ironically, God effectively says, “Malachi, My messenger, is rebuking the priests, who are supposed to be the messengers of the Lord.” The messengers of the Lord, the priests, who were supposed to delegate true instruction, are being rebuked by the messenger of the Lord.

Malachi continues, “You need to guard the message that has been given to you.” But how do you guard biblical truth? You guard it, paradoxically, by giving it away. You forsake it by keeping it in. Second Timothy 1:14 states, “Guard, through the Holy Spirit who lives in us, that good thing entrusted to you.” Paul, how is this done? If Paul were here, he would tell us that we guard it by giving it away! This is the basis for spiritual leadership.

So we must ask, as a disciple of Christ Jesus, “In whom are you investing what you have learned while being a believer? Who are you discipling right now?” These questions are immensely important, because if you are not discipling someone, you are abandoning the gospel message. That is, you are not guarding it. The gospel came to you because it was heading to someone else.

Four Ways Israel’s Priests Failed to Follow the Covenant Role Model of Levi (Malachi 2:8-9)

God has just reminded the priests of the covenant from which they received their charge, but only because the message He intended to deliver required it. What comes next is not an encouragement (like reminders of covenants can be), but an indictment. God points out four errors of the priestly class to reveal just how far they’ve strayed.

First, God rejected them because of their poor sacrifices and their inadequate understanding of the Lord’s incommunicable qualities, specifically His holiness. Then God presented the people with a role model for obedience by reminding them of the righteousness of Levi. Now God makes plain the areas in which the priests have rebelled.

We see in verses 8 and 9 four actions on the part of these priests that are antithetical to the deeds of Levi. These are the four ways in which the priests have strayed and violated the law of the Lord.

The priests disobeyed the Lord. The priests “have turned from the way,” the instruction of the Torah. The proper path was cut for them, yet they decided to stray into the underbrush instead.

The priests distracted the people. How terrible it is that the priests themselves caused the people of Israel to stumble! Those entrusted to be ministers of the gospel are not only responsible for their own faithfulness in service to the Lord, but also how they lead others to do the same. It is one thing for a person, as an individual, to fall away. It is a completely different matter should one cause another person to stumble. Each person is responsible for how he acts. Ministerial actions speak as loud as words. People are watching both your lips and your life.

Jesus cautioned against this kind of destructive behavior in Mark 9:42-43:

But whoever causes the downfall of one of these little ones who believe in Me—it would be better for him if a heavy millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. And if your hand causes your downfall, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and go to hell—the unquenchable fire.

The term little ones here does not refer to children. He is referring to the disciples, the poor in spirit, the humble ones. The normal word for “sin” in Greek is hamartia. But in this case, Jesus opts for the word scandalizen, which can also be translated “sin,” but generally refers to stumbling. Jesus says, “If you are a part of shipwrecking someone’s faith, it would have been better for you to have been drowned with a millstone around your neck than to have caused them to stumble.”

This passage brings to mind those who infamously led many astray from the teaching of God. Think of men like Jim Jones, who duped hundreds of people into drinking poisonous Kool-Aid laced with Valium, cyanide, and Phenergan. David Koresh, the high school dropout, rock musician, and polygamist, told his people, “If the Bible is true, then I am the messiah.” He convinced 74 men, women, and children to burn in a firestorm in Waco, Texas. Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles, leaders of the Heaven’s Gate movement, thought a UFO was connected to the Hale Bopp comet and, at its highest point, they convinced 39 of its members to drink a concoction of vodka, pineapple juice, and phenyl barbital before putting plastic bags over their heads and suffocating themselves. May God have mercy on the souls of these men and women, for Jesus said it would have been better for a person to be drowned by a millstone than to lead someone else astray. There is a high cost to being a spiritual leader.

Unfortunately, the priests engaged in another prohibited practice:

The priests disregarded the promise of God. They “‘violated the covenant of Levi.” Violated is the word used to portray something as damaged beyond repair. This word is used in Malachi 1:14 when God described the people’s unauthorized offering of sacrifices.

The priests demonstrated partiality. The priests were supposed to decide cases based on integrity and truth, but they were ruling with bias. They were showing favoritism to some and injustice to others. A valued individual received a favorable verdict. If the priests reviled an individual, justice was withheld. God accused the leadership of Israel of prejudicial priestly favoritism. Corruption permeated the society. Their teachings and their offerings were tainted, to which God ultimately responded, “Because you have no integrity in your walk and no integrity in your talk, here are the consequences.”

Look at Malachi 2:9: “So I in turn have made you despised and humiliated before all the people.” It’s a terrible thing to be in the crosshairs of the wrath of God. Whether God meant it metaphorically or physically, having dung spread on your faces is supremely awful. Disgusting and embarrassing though it may be, this is a fairly light sentence! When you look at Numbers 18:32, their penalty for this perversion should have been death. Is God a God of mercy? He absolutely is, because He should have and could have decimated the entire priesthood in the blink of an eye. Yet God extended mercy.

They deserved death, yet were spared. Do not forget, however, that God’s silence was perhaps a worse punishment. Silence can be deafening. A few hours’ silence is bad enough, but it is another category entirely to hear nothing for 400 years. Can you feel the weight of what that must have been like for the people of God? No more prophets. No more words. No more truth. Just silence.

Conclusion: Christ as the New and Better Levi, Our Great High Priest

So how do we apply what we have read in Malachi 2:1-9 to our own lives? We see that leaders are held to a higher standard than those being led. And all Christians are leaders in some aspect of our lives, whether it be as mothers and fathers, teachers, coaches, or mentors—we are a kingdom of priests. Further, I believe that every one of us repeatedly commits high treason against the Lord through disrespect in our actions and attitudes. If we really think about our lives, we, like the priests, have wandered in our character, commitment, and communication with the Lord. Instead of being vehicles of consecration, we have become facilitators of contamination.

The irony of the passage is that God appointed the priests for the purpose of purifying the people and protecting the temple, but they were the source of the pollution. The ones who were called to live a life of purity before the Lord were the ones who were actually destroying the nation. Perversion originated with and was propagated through them.

Regarding vocational ministers, without a doubt, there is perversion throughout the history of the clergy; such transgression was not isolated to the priests of the OT. Whether we look at the Roman Catholic sexual scandals, the adulterous, immoral relationships of some pastors, or the greed of many televangelists, no one is outside of the sting of sin. Sadly, many apparently get away with their sinful leadership. But God, who sees it all and certainly does not forget anything, holds church leaders to a higher standard. James 3:1 is a sobering reminder: “Not many should become teachers, my brothers, knowing that we will receive a stricter judgment.”

Church leaders are examined both by the Lord and by other people. Ministers’ families are constantly being scrutinized. Their finances are constantly being examined. Their material possessions are being analyzed and questioned. People from the inside and outside of the church judge their marriages, speech, actions, and attitudes all the time. Additionally, a pastor experiences the constant burden for lost family members, for backslidden church members, and of performing funerals for friends. This may be one reason why hundreds of pastors leave the ministry every single month.

Ministry is both a terrifying and a thrilling endeavor. The thought of standing before a righteous God to give an account for how His gospel was carried out is alarming. But what a privilege to be set apart for ministerial service! However, with great privilege comes great responsibility. Thankfully, One has come who carried out this responsibility perfectly. He was righteous under the law, never being led astray. Jesus stands as the quintessential priest and fulfillment of the Levitical priesthood.

Five key points can be extracted from this text as they relate to the calling of ministers:

1. Pray for their proclamation, that they would be men and women who preach and teach the gospel, the whole counsel of God.
2. Pray for their purity. The greatest gift that a minister can give is not his preaching ability, his ability to visit the sick or to comfort those who have lost loved ones, how consistently he visits hospitals, or how engaging of a counselor he is. The greatest gift a pastor can offer to his church is his personal holiness before the Lord. Pray for his purity.^[1]
3. Pray for your leaders’ marriages. The enemy would love nothing more than to destroy marriages. What God has brought together, Satan would delight in tearing asunder.
4. Pray for their protection. The enemy is likened to a roaring lion seeking to destroy and devour leaders in the church (1 Pet 5:8).
5. Pray for their perseverance. Ask God to empower them to stand firm to the end, looking to Jesus as their source, strength, and example of faithful service (cf. Heb 12:1-4).

Reflect and Discuss

1. How does our worship reveal how highly we esteem God’s name?
2. Read Deuteronomy 28. How does this text resemble Malachi’s message?
3. What does it mean to be a man of godly commitment like Levi, and how do we see this perfectly manifested in Jesus?
4. Discuss the divergence between “servile” fear and “filial” fear and how they inform our relationship to God.
5. How can you practice godly communication? Who are you discipling, and what does that look like?
6. Who are some other leaders who have led many people astray? What did they teach? How did they live?
7. Who are the leaders who have had the biggest impact on your life? How did they encourage you in your Christian faith?
8. Who in your life can you lead spiritually? What are some lessons from this passage that can shape your investment in those disciples?
9. Why are leaders judged more strictly?
10. Which of the above prayers can you commit to pray for your leaders? Why does this seem especially important to you?