The Lord of the Table (Malachi 1:6-14)
Introduction
The head of the house gives the rules of the house. He tells you where the bathroom is. He tells you whether to take your shoes off or leave them on. Jesus is the master of the house of God. He tells us what to do and how to act.
The Passage
6 “ ‘A son honors his father, and a servant his master. Then if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is My respect?’ says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests who despise My name. But you say, ‘How have we despised Your name?’ 7 “You are presenting defiled food upon My altar. But you say, ‘How have we defiled You?’ In that you say, ‘The table of the Lord is to be despised.’ 8 “But when you present the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you present the lame and sick, is it not evil? Why not offer it to your governor? Would he be pleased with you? Or would he receive you kindly?” says the Lord of hosts. 9 “But now will you not entreat God’s favor, that He may be gracious to us? With such an offering on your part, will He receive any of you kindly?” says the Lord of hosts. 10 “Oh that there were one among you who would shut the gates, that you might not uselessly kindle fire on My altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord of hosts, “nor will I accept an offering from you. 11 “For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, My name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense is going to be offered to My name, and a grain offering that is pure; for My name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord of hosts. 12 “But you are profaning it, in that you say, ‘The table of the Lord is defiled, and as for its fruit, its food is to be despised.’ 13 “You also say, ‘My, how tiresome it is!’ And you disdainfully sniff at it,” says the Lord of hosts, “and you bring what was taken by robbery and what is lame or sick; so you bring the offering! Should I receive that from your hand?” says the Lord. 14 “But cursed be the swindler who has a male in his flock and vows it, but sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord, for I am a great King,” says the Lord of hosts, “and My name is feared among the nations.” Malachi 1:6–14
Explain the Passage
In the first dispute, God honors Israel with election and love (Ex 4:22). Today, we learn that they dishonor him with ungrateful worship (Hos 11:1). They are careless with their worship.
God singles out the priests in particular for despising the name of God. But the priests deny it and ask God to prove Himself (Mal 1:6). Notice this, Malachi singles out the priests “you are profaning it” (Mal 1:12). The priests, the guardians of the temple let unholy sacrifices in (Mal 1:12).
God says priests present defiled food, and they responds with “how so?” (Mal 1:7). “How are we presenting defiled food?” Because they despise the table of the Lord. This table probably refers to the table at the entrance of the temple where the worshipper slaughters the sacrificial animal (Ezek 40:39-43). The priests accepted mauled, blind, and imperfect animals (Mal 1:14), which were forbidden (Ex 12:5; 22:31; Lev 1:3, 10; 22:18-20; Deut 15:21). These animals were so unfit for sacrifice that God says you wouldn’t even present these to your governor (Mal 1:8). The law forbids eating animals mauled to death (Ex 22:31), why then were the priests serving that to God? The reason the priests allowed it was because they were tired of obeying God (Mal 1:13). They even turned their noses up at it (Mal 1:13).
God urges them to pursue His favor so He will be gracious (Mal 1:9). They are in a covenant relationship, which bring blessing and curses. God wants to bless them, but they aren’t living like they want the blessing. God even asks a reformer in Israel to stop the false worship by closing the gates of the temple (Mal 1:10). It would be better for the people to stop sacrificing than to continue sacrificing with hypocritical hearts. God curses the worshipper and priest who worships out of ease (Mal 1:14). The type of offering mentioned in verse 14 is a vow in which a person asked God to answer a request. If God answered the request, the person had to offer a sacrifice to God. What seems to have happened is God has blessed many people, but they have swindled Him by not sacrificing what they vowed. God promises to curse these people because they don’t take Him seriously.
Even though God has to preach to His people to take Him seriously, He promises that His name will be great among the nations (Mal 1:11). Even though Israel defiles God’s name (Mal 1:12), His name will be great among all the peoples.
The Sacrifices of Worship Still Apply
It’s easy to think that since Malachi is talking about animals and vows that this part of the book doesn’t apply to us. But that’s not true. In the older covenant, worshippers sacrificed animals. In the newer covenant, we sacrifice ourselves (Rom 12:1-2).
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. Romans 12:1
The New Testament, also refers to the church as the new priesthood.
You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2:5
Church, you are a priest, and your sacrifice isn’t an animal, but yourself. Our sacrifices fit the liturgy of our worship. We give sacrifices of praise when we sing.
Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. Hebrews 13:15
When we pray, we are like priests spreading incense in the holy place.
May my prayer be counted as incense before You; The lifting up of my hands as the evening offering. Psalm 141:2
We give sacrifices of a repentant heart for our sin when we confess.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. Psalm 51:17
When we pray thankfully when we dedicate our tithes and offerings, we sacrifice.
Let them also offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, and tell of His works with joyful singing. Psalm 107:22
When you come to worship the Lord on Sunday, do you come ready to offer spiritual sacrifices to Him?
The Lord of Worship Is the Authority
Throughout the Bible, God’s people want His blessing on them and His cursing on the rampant wickedness.
Jesus is Lord of the new covenant. He introduced the new covenant at the Lord’s Supper (Luke 22:20). This means there are blessings and curses in this covenant like any other covenant.
In the older covenant, the death of bulls and goats expected salvation. In the newer covenant, the death of Christ grants salvation (Heb 9:13-14). The older covenant, the high priest represented the priesthood and the nation. In the newer covenant, Jesus is our perfect high priest (Hebrews 4:14) who represents the church—His army of priests in the temple (Heb 13:12-15). As the church follows Christ, He loves us, purifies us, sanctifies us like the priests of old, but better (Heb 12:1-2, 10).
The Lord gives covenants to His people to bless them and discipline them. The Lord of our covenant died to bless us. So, why then would some of us rather die than worship Him?
When Christians take the Supper in an unworthy manner, Jesus promises curses (1 Cor 11:29).
28But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. 30For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. 31But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. 32But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world. 1 Corinthians 11:28–32
In the Corinthian church there was division. It seems like some in the church would get drunk on the wine and leave nothing for other the members of the church (1 Cor 11:21). In the supper, Jesus shares His body and blood with His church. But in the Corinthian church, some hoarded the bread and wine at the exclusion of others. They show disdain for their brother and disdain for the generosity of Christ. Jesus saw this and cursed some of them with illness or even death.
When we worship God, we ask Him to come and visit us. When He visits us, He either blesses or He curses (1 Cor 11:17). What we want is for God to bless us as a church and curse the kingdom of this world. But many times, the church looks so much like the world, He judges the church to keep it pure.
I believe the American Evangelicals problem isn’t that we want God to bless or curse, it’s that we don’t really want Jesus’ meddling with our Sunday.
The Heart of Worship is Necessary
Like the careless worship of Israel, God is not neutral about our worship. Like the broken vows in Israel, God knows how many prayers He has answered for people who have forgotten Him.
God has blessed the church in America for generations. Think of this generation. Has there ever been a more wealthy, prosperous, and long-lived generation of Christians that this one? How many prayers has God answered for you?
What is the solution?
“But now will you not entreat God’s favor, that He may be gracious to us? Malachi 1:9a
Turn to the God of grace. Go to Him! Sing to Him! Enjoy Him! Pray to Him! Confess to Him! Live in the presence of God. You say you believe in God. Live like it!
God didn’t want the priests to get scrupulous with the law. He just wanted them to love the law. Jesus doesn’t want us to look into our hearts and minds and measure ourselves against perfection. He wants us to look to Him and rest in His perfection. The heart of worship looks to Christ as He really is and treats Him as He really deserves.
Conclusion: The Goal of Worship is Glory
God’s end goal for worship was His end goal from the beginning. From the beginning, God has planned for His image bearers to spread over the entire earth and worship Him (Gen 1:22). After the fall, humanity fell into sin and began to image the Devil (1 John 3:8). Now that Christ, the God man, has shamed the Devil on the cross (Col 2:15) and redeemed His people, He is remaking humanity into His image (Col 1:15). He does so individual by individual (Acts 8:31), household by household (1 Cor 1:16), and nation by nation (Matthew 28:18-20). The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea (Hab 2:14). In the older covenant, incense filled the temple, which symbolized the prayers of the saints (Ps 141:2). As more and more people submit to Christ, we should expect God’s world to be blessed by the prayers of His people who constantly pray (1 Thess 5:17). Jesus loves the whole world and died for the whole world (John 3:16). That’s why the church should work so that one day all the world will worship and love King Jesus.