Malachi 2:1-9
"Therefore, this decree is for you priests: 2 If
you don't listen, and if you don't take it to heart to honor My name,"
says the LORD of Hosts, "I will send a curse among you, and I will curse
your blessings. In fact, I have already begun to curse them because you are not
taking it to heart. 3 "Look, I am going to rebuke your
descendants, and I will spread animal waste over your faces, the waste from
your festival sacrifices, and you will be taken away with it. 4 Then
you will know that I sent you this decree so My covenant with Levi may
continue," says the LORD of Hosts. 5 "My covenant with him
was one of life and peace, and I gave these to him; it called for reverence,
and he revered Me and stood in awe of My name. 6 True instruction was
in his mouth, and nothing wrong was found on his lips. He walked with Me in
peace and fairness and turned many from sin. 7 For the lips of a
priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his
mouth, because he is the messenger of the LORD of Hosts. 8 "You,
on the other hand, have turned from the way. You have caused many to stumble by
your instruction. You have violated the covenant of Levi," says the LORD
of Hosts. 9 "So I in turn have made you despised and humiliated
before all the people because you are not keeping My ways but are showing partiality
in your instruction.”
Verse 1 - Therefore, this decree is for you priests.
• In
the Old Testament, people did not go to God directly. They went through a
priest.
• The
priests were supposed to be holy and set a right example for people to follow.
• Unfortunately,
priests often failed to set the example they should.
• Malachi
had a strong word of rebuke for those corrupt priests.
• In
the New Testament we learn that all Christian believers are priests before God.
• Read
Hebrews 10:19 and summarize it below:
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
• Read
Ephesians 2:18 and summarize it below:
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
• Read
1 Timothy 2:5 and summarize it below:
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
• Read
1 Peter 2:4 and summarize it below:
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
• Read
Romans 12:1 and summarize it below:
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
• Christians
no longer have to go through a human priest to get to God. Through faith in
Christ we gain direct access to God the Father.
• This
means that in our modern times each Christian holds the responsibility of being
a priest. We often refer to this as the “priesthood of the believer.” As
priests, all Christians must live right so that non-Christians can see Christ
in our lives.
Verse 2 - If you don't listen, and if you don't take it to
heart to honor My name," says the LORD of Hosts, "I will send a curse
among you, and I will curse your blessings.
• In
the Old Testament, if the priests did not listen to what God was saying and
take God’s Word to heart, they would be cursed.
• The
blessings they were supposed to give to others would become curses instead.
• Since
all Christian believers are now priests before God, that means that we must
listen to what God says and take it to heart.
• If
we fail to do so, the blessing we are supposed to be in society will become a
curse instead.
• List
ways in which we have been a blessing to our community:
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Verse 2 - . . . In fact, I have already begun to curse them
because you are not taking it to heart.
• Malachi
goes on to say that the conversion of blessings into curses had already begun
to happen. It was not yet full blown, but the process had started.
• We
have also started to see that happening in our own society.
• As
the church has lost its vision and purpose, people have begun to despise the
church.
Verse 3 - I am going to rebuke your descendants, and I will
spread animal waste over your faces, the waste from your festival sacrifices,
and you will be taken away with it.
• God
said that not only would the priests themselves be cursed, but their
descendants would also pay a price.
• Descendants
mean more than just our immediate children. This also applies to future
generations.
• List
one action that our grandparents took that continues to impact our lives:
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
• List
one action that we are taking now that may impact our grandchildren in the
future:
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
• Children
learn by our bad examples and then repeat our mistakes, which are then repeated
by the next generation.
• This
cycle of pain will continue until someone determines to break the cycle and
start living as God intended us to live.
• But
there is also a spiritual element to all of this. Some people refer to these
types of things as generational curses.
• Though
the concept of generational curses can be confusing, the basic premise is that
if we let a negative spiritual force enter into our lives, that spiritual force
will cling to us and continue to cause spiritual pain until we cast it off in
the name of Christ.
• Read
Exodus 20:5 and 34:7 and summarize them below:
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
• Read
Numbers 14:18 and summarize it below:
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
• Read
Deuteronomy 5:9 and summarize it below:
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
• Because
those negative spiritual forces, which may also be referred to as demons, enjoy
being attached to humans, they love to invade whole families and keep them in
spiritual bondage.
• They
jump from generation to generation in joyful glee at keeping families enslaved.
• When
a generational curse attaches itself to our family, we often feel so bad about
ourselves and our families that it seems as if we have animal dung smeared all
over us.
• We
feel useless and like a pile of trash that needs to be hauled away.
• The
devil loves it when Christians feel like trash!
• If
we are feeling like trash then we will be emotionally and spiritually paralyzed
and be ineffective in our Christian walk with God.
• The
good news is that Christ did not come so we would continue to feel like trash.
He came to set us free of generational curses and give us abundant life!
• It
is important to understand that though Christians cannot be demon possessed,
they can be demon oppressed. Being oppressed is a terrible experience.
• A
word of caution: We should not think that every time we have a bad day we are
being oppressed by a demon.
• The
devil is not THAT strong. Sometimes, we are just having a bad day.
• To
know if negative experiences are really spiritual warfare we must first
eliminate all the “normal” things that might cause negative experiences. For
example, if we lost our driver’s license because we were driving under the
influence of alcohol, the loss of our license is not a demonic attack. It is
the normal result of our sin. If we stop driving drunk, the issue of losing our
license will go away naturally.
• Once
we have eliminated all the normal possibilities, if the negative experiences
and feelings of bondage continue, then we may conclude that it is a spiritual
attack.
• Christians
need to claim the freedom they have been given from generational curses.
• We
should find a spiritual mentor to help us deal with the behavioral issues we
are facing.
• Read
Galatians 3:13 and summarize it below:
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
• Read
James 4:7 and summarize it below:
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
• Read
1 John 1:9 and summarize it below:
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Verse 5 - "My covenant with him was one of life and
peace, and I gave these to him; it called for reverence, and he revered Me and
stood in awe of My name.
• God
reminded the Old Testament priests that His original covenant with them was one
of life and peace.
• Life
means being connected to God and to other people in a healthy wonderful way.
• Peace
means having a calm, happy life of purpose and meaning.
• God
made this covenant of life and peace with the Old Testament priests, but to
keep it they had to honor God and follow Him.
• When
they failed to do that, they lost the benefits of the covenant.
• The
same thing has happened to Christians today.
• Through
Christ, God the Father has made a covenant of life and peace with us.
• To
receive the benefits of the covenant, we must honor God and follow Him.
• When
we fail to do that, we do not receive those benefits.
• There
is no benefit without responsibility.
Verse 6 - True instruction was in his mouth, and nothing
wrong was found on his lips. He walked with Me in peace and fairness and turned
many from sin.
• The
priest who honored the covenant spoke the truth and did not say things that
were wrong.
• The
priest who honored the covenant treated people fairly.
• The
priest who honored the covenant turned many people away from sin.
Verse 7 - For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge,
and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger
of the LORD of Hosts.
• The
priest who honored the covenant guarded the knowledge of God so that it did not
get watered down through the generations.
• How
we are guarding the knowledge of God and passing it to our children and
grandchildren?
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
• People
came to good priests to ask for spiritual instructions.
• When
was the last time someone asked us for spiritual guidance?
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Verse 8 - You, on the other hand, have turned from the way.
You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have violated the
covenant . . .
• God
rebuked the Old Testament priests harshly because they had done the exact
opposite of what they were supposed to be doing.
• Since
we are all now priests before God, have we caused people to stumble?
• List
some behaviors in our lives that may cause others to stumble and what can we do
to begin to change those behaviors:
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Verse 9 - So I in turn have made you despised and humiliated
before all the people because you are not keeping My ways . . .
• The
punishment for not keeping the covenant of life and peace was to be despised
and humiliated before others.
• If
we are not really living the way a Christian should live, it can be a terrible
thing when people begin to find out what we are really like.
• Are
we happy with what we have become?
• Do
we need to repent and return to God?
Conclusions to Lesson Two:
• We
should recognize that God wants us to accept a covenant of life and peace with
Him.
• To
receive the benefits of that covenant we must honor God and live as He wants us
to.
• When
we fail to do that, our blessings becomes curses instead.
• We
can pass those curses on to our families if we do not repent of them.
• When
we repent of our sins and determine to break the cycle of sin that grips our
families, we can renew the covenant of life and peace that God wants between us
and Him.
This is an excerpt from the book
You can find the book on Amazon.
No comments:
Post a Comment