People join churches for flimsy reasons. Sometimes they join a church because they like the feeling they get when they attend there. They find the music entertaining and uplifting. Maybe they like the pastor’s personality or sense of humor. Or they like the youth activities that are available. Often, they join because their best friends go there. But strangely, they never consider what the pastor is teaching or where he is leading them spiritually.
Malachi 2:1-9 tells you what to look for in spiritual leaders. These verses were aimed at the spiritually lax priests. In the Old Testament, the priests were to be the spiritual leaders of God’s people. In the church age, Jesus has fulfilled and superceded the Levitical priesthood. He is our High Priest and all believers are priests under Him (Heb. 7& 8; 1 Pet. 2:9). God now has entrusted leadership in the local church to elders who are to shepherd His flock. Among the elders, some are to focus on preaching and teaching God’s Word (1 Tim. 5:17). They are called pastor-teachers and their responsibility is to equip God’s saints for the work of ministry (Greek, Eph. 4:11-12). In that role, they carry on the work that these priests should have been doing in Malachi’s day. To sum up, the prophet shows us:
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