Hmm. That may seem a
little unfair. After all, the priests in Israel had limited control over the
minds and hearts of the people. When Israelites chose to bring blind, lame and sick animals to offer their God, it could hardly be said to be the priesthood’s fault.
Could it?
God certainly seems to
have thought so. In spending two chapters of Malachi’s prophecy condemning the Israelite
priesthood, its practices and attitudes, he seems to strongly suggest that the
road to repentance begins with those who have failed to take responsibility for
the sinful behaviour occurring around them. The priests go first, and are
very much accountable.
Not everything that
happened in Israel may legitimately be taken as an allegory or picture of what goes
on in churches today, but where the Holy Spirit draws attention to similarities
between God’s chosen people, the nation of Israel, and modern Christians who
also have been chosen by God, we probably ought to pay attention.
Specifically, we are
told in the New Testament that ALL believers are priests, though it is a truth often ignored in Christendom, which tends to default
easily into the well-worn ruts and grooves of sacerdotalism. But if the priesthood analogy is at all meaningful, the accountability for the
failure of Christian churches — a load we might prefer to dump on
pastors or elders — belongs squarely in our own court.
I hate to say it, but “with
great power comes great responsibility”. Thanks, Stan Lee. If we are all
priests, then we all have a level of accountability for the worship and service
of those around us. We cannot pretend that when things have gone wrong and the
people of God have failed him, it’s not “on us” in any way.
Malachi’s prophecy
gives each of us three good reasons to step up when we observe that
faithfulness around us is on the decline.
1. The Unfaithfulness of God’s People Affects
How the World Perceives God
“Where is my honor?”
says the Lord. “Where is my fear?”
Testimony is the first
major casualty of a breach in the relationship of God and his people. When
those who proudly wear the title “people of God” undervalue and short-change
him, they publicly demonstrate their own lack of respect. Malachi
describes those who offered blind, lame, sick animals to God while watching the
best being held back by the worshippers, but then have the gall to brazenly ask,
“How have we despised your name?”
Such disregard is not merely between the
false worshippers, the priesthood and God. It is not a private affair: Malachi
says that in knowingly offering inferior sacrifices, the priests “profane” God’s
name. Such behaviour makes God out to be inconsequential, his service insignificant
and his anger a matter of no concern. Paul tells the Jews who boasted in the
Law of Moses while consistently dishonouring the God of Moses that “the name of
God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you”.
Treating the name of God as if it were common
or inconsequential is an infectious habit God cannot and will not ignore. It is
as dangerous today as it was in the days of Malachi. The notion that God has no
standards of purity of any consequence, and that he may be approached “any old
way” is as ancient as the story of Cain, and as potentially disastrous to Christians today as it was to Nadab and Abihu when they attempted to offer “unauthorized fire”.
Christians today are awfully concerned
about what the world thinks of us when what is vastly more important is what
Jesus Christ thinks of us.
2. The Unfaithfulness of God’s People Does Not
Materially Impact God
This is not generally true
of you and me. We are easily impacted by unfaithfulness. It is the rare individual indeed who remains untainted and unaffected
by the betrayal of a loved one. When people despise us, we most often respond
by despising them right back.
Alternatively, we may collapse,
becoming pitiful and plaintive. When a husband and wife part ways, each may attempt
to spin the narrative for others in an effort to gather allies and sympathizers
among mutual friends. It is rare for one or both parties to maintain their
dignity and integrity in the face of obvious rejection.
It is important to
realize that however many professing Christians fail to honor Christ; however
many apostatize, fall away or give evidence of false profession; however many
sport nothing more than a transparently phony religious veneer, the
unfaithfulness of God’s people does NOT change God’s character in any way. He
does not become someone unrecognizable in the face to betrayal or rejection. He
remains exactly who he has always been:
“For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts.”
Some people profess to be believers in Jesus
Christ, attend church and continue to mingle with the people of God for years, all the while living their lives and making all their important choices primarily for their own satisfaction, just like the worshippers in Malachi. It happens all the
time. By their ongoing conduct they display a disregard for Jesus Christ similar to that which the Jewish people of Malachi’s day displayed toward
Jehovah.
But that changes nothing about God. He is not diminished in any way by unfaithfulness. When we are dishonorable, he remains honorable. When we show a lack of integrity, his nature is unchanged. Our testimony may be damaged and we may cause others to stumble, but there will always be those who appreciate and value our Saviour, and who recognize his worth. “My name will be great among the nations”, he says. Nothing and nobody can change that.
But that changes nothing about God. He is not diminished in any way by unfaithfulness. When we are dishonorable, he remains honorable. When we show a lack of integrity, his nature is unchanged. Our testimony may be damaged and we may cause others to stumble, but there will always be those who appreciate and value our Saviour, and who recognize his worth. “My name will be great among the nations”, he says. Nothing and nobody can change that.
In short, while God cares what we do, the
big losers when we fail to serve and worship as we should will always be us.
3. The Unfaithfulness of God’s People Does Not Affect
God’s Love for Them
Amazingly, even when his
people act like something far baser and lower than we should ever become, God’s
love for us is undiminished. His commitment to perfecting those of us who have truly believed in the Lord Jesus Christ is unaffected, though it may be that he has to discipline some of us quite severely to wake us up to this fact.
Not without reason
does Malachi’s prophecy begin with this statement: “I have loved you”. Before the condemnation, before the reproaches, before the criticism and the
threats — and yes, there are threats, or perhaps we prefer to call them
the promise of consequences — God makes it abundantly clear to his people
that he loves them.
When someone really
loves you, and especially when that someone is God, it guarantees that he will
not leave you alone.
If your church is failing
to live up to its purpose, and if there are any in your midst who are genuinely
faithful and calling upon the name of their God, rest assured that you will not
be left in despair to watch the place fall down around you as your fellow
congregants drift back into the world. The Lord Jesus promises in Revelation
that when he knocks, those who answer that knock will enjoy fellowship with him,
even if nobody else hears him at the door.
Further, if it is
necessary one day that the candlestick of testimony in your church be removed
for unfaithfulness, it is never without warning, and it is never a merely
incidental thing. When the Lord tells the Ephesian church that “I will …
remove your lampstand … unless you repent”, he says this first: “I will come to you”.
Love does not walk
away casually. Do not expect the Lord to abandon your church without making his
displeasure very evident first.
Stepping Up
What could the priests
in Malachi’s day have done about the attitude of those around them? Well, they
could certainly have spoken out. They could have refused to participate in a
pretence of worship that was perfunctory, insincere, polluted and phony to the
core. They could have fallen on their faces to plead for the mercy of God on
their presumptuous brethren rather than willingly or even reluctantly participating
in their sins. The could have called sin what it is, rather than excusing it.
They could have
stepped up. Because the priests come first. They bear the accountability for
what goes on among the people of God. That’s not your pastor, your elders or your
board of directors.
That’s you, and that’s me.
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