A great danger in the pastoral ministry of the word is that a pastor will have the voice of God

drowned out by the voice of economics, the voice of politics,

the voice of entertainment, and the voice of entertainment and the voice of the clamor of the ministry.

What happens when pastors fail in the ministry of the word.

That's the question John Piper answers from Malachai II on the nine

in this episode of Light and Truth.

This sermon was originally preached at Bethlehem Baptist Church on

November 8th, 1987.

Last week we focused on the curse of careless worship from Chapter 1 verses 6 through 14 and we saw Malachai driving the word of God against the priests in verse 6 of that chapter.

If I am a master, where is my fear, says the Lord of hosts to you, oh priests,

who despise my name.

But the sense you get, as you read the rest of chapter one is that it's not just the priests who are coming

in for the indictment.

For example, when you read verse 14 of chapter 1, it says,

cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock and vows it

and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemish.

Now, I think there were a lot of cheats out there, not just in the

priesthood. A lot of people had flocks of sheep and they loved the profits of those sheep and they took the no-good sheep and gave them

to God and kept the biggest profits for themselves. But in today's text, it is even more directly focused on the priests exclusively. Verse, makes that real clear.

And now, O priests, this command is to you. No, that raises a question for us.

For whom does this text have relevance today?

Are there any priests today?

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