Covenanter Witness Vol. 54 - Rparchives.org

. . When
meat"
continent,"
ing out every hope of remedy when He
charged the preachers with being first of
fenders. He does not excuse the people
(1:14) but He openly criticizes the
priests (1:6, 7 & 2:1). He holds them
responsible for the purity
of the table
whereat they had communion with God.
Those priests didn't set out to "des
pise"
God's name or to "offer polluted
bread"
Lord is
and
or to say
"The table of the
contemptible,"
or to "profane
pollute"
it (1:12); in fact, they even
denied these charges because they had
never spoken those exact words
but God
is saying, it's your actions that speak so
loudly I cannot hear what you say.
Times were hard in that period of re
construction and when people brought
a faulty sacrifice, and were criticized or
turned away, they stopped coming, the
congregation dwindled, the priests were
criticized and didn't eat well. So, they
lowered the bars and winked at a lame
or blind sheep (Lev. 22:22). They ate
'better for a while and became popular
with a certain class of people because
they allowed them to bring whatever
they happened to have on hand, but "fi
nally it got so bad that they complained
about the "contemptible (1:12)
and the long hours of visitation, sermon
preparation, and terms of communion
that brought no results. They allowed
their own opinions and desires to lead
them to pretend to be more merciful and
wise than God and God speaks directly
to the people for they
should never have
accepted such unauthorized leniency at
the hands of the priests (1:14). But again
in Chapter 2 God condemns the ministers
bitterly and warns that if they refuse re
form, they'll .be swept from the temple
along with other filth (2:3). The minis
ters, by their actions, had brought down
shame
and contempt upon themselves.
There was no longer any absolute author
ity, they themselves had forsaken God's
authority and therefore had none of their
own. They had forsaken their reason for
forsook the
being respected when they
authority of the law that had ordained
them. "Blind is the sacrifice of the soul,
which is not illumined by the light of
Christ. Lame is his sacrifice of prayer,
who comes with a double mind to en
treat the Lord ... we pollute the bread,
that is, the Body of Christ, when we ap
proach the Altar unworthily, and, being
defiled, drink that pure blood . . . the
deeds of sinners pour contempt on the
Table of God .
the sacraments
are violated, Himself, whose sacraments
they are, is
violated."
Jerome.
God spoke to these ministers with
brutal frankness, it was the only hope of
the church He was preparing for the
coming of His Son! They had altered the
terms of their covenant because of per
sonal desires and opinions without
January 26, 1955
proper authority (I Cor. 14:40) from
Him, and doing so, had proven better
than anything else God could think of,
their lack of love for Him, and their own
unworthiness of the respect of their fel
low men. Because of that, they could ful
fill neither their duty to God nor their
duty to their fellow man and, refusing
reform, would produce the fruit of 2:8
and retire to 2:9.
It was God's great love that prompted
Him to hold out every hope of reform
by sending Malachi to give us a "stan
dard"
whereby every pastor might mea
sure himself (2:5-7). He reminded them
again of their "first love" and life pur
pose
when they had kept their cove
nant with a spirit of reverence (2:5), in
truth of doctrine, in righteousness of
judgment, in godliness of life, and as a
direct result, "did turn many from in
iquity."
(2:6) Malachi applies his own
name to such a pastor, identifying him as
"the messenger of the Lord of Hosts."'
(2:7)
Discussion:
1. Discuss the relationship
of
"worship"
service to "Daily Christian" service and
the influence of love. Distinguish between
love of Peter and that of John in John
21.
2. What difference do you see between
a servant of God and a son of God
(John 8:35; 15:15; Matt. 25:21, 23)
3. The problem involved in having
everyone make up his own terms of com
munion. Review briefly the only terms
whereby pastors of our church are au
thorized to administer communion. (Test
pp. 190, 4; 316, 10; 333-336). See I Cor.
5 for Paul's advice about how to avoid
polluting the Lord's Table.
ice.
For Prayer
The Sabbath Morning Worship Serv
The Seminary where our "priests" are
trained.
Every
pastor of the church
those most
responsible to God for administering an
impartial Word (2:9).
For a purified and revived church
with a service born of love.
MISSIONARY CONVENTION ....
(Continued from page 57)
picted different areas of the world and
various branches of service. These ex
hibits were prepared by students of
selected chapters of IVCF, FMF and
NCF in all parts of the country. During
the week 12 films on foreign work were
shown. Free literature from 77
boards
was on display. The bookroom did a
smashing business of 120 sales an hour
between sessions.
Who can forget the Rev. Mr. Redpath's
clear presentation of the claims
of the Lord in Matthew 28:18-20
"There is enough key personnel here to
change evangelical life on this
he said.
Speaking again on Thursday
night, Redpath outlined the fullness of
the Spirit, not as an optional experience
but essential.
The international and interracial char
acter of the conference was revealed in
a number of ways. Mr. William Nagenda
widely known African church leader
from Uganda, British East Africa, ad
dressed the Wednesday night audience,
as well as several daily discussion
groups. With disarming simplicity he
spoke on the conditions of discipleship
from Matthew 6:33. Foreign students
and Christian leaders appeared on the
platform throughout the week and assist
ed in the services. A highlight of the
five days was a
foreign students tea
on
Wednesday afternoon attended by
140 from 40 different countries, some
from every continent. Besides members
of many different Protestant groups and
a Coptic priest, there were Hindus, Mos
lems and Buddhists. Purpose of the
tea was
to get acquainted and share
impressions. Following a brief presenta
tion of Christianity by Mr. David H.
Adeney and Mr. William Nagenda, mem
bers of the group participated in a time
of testimonies and discussion.
Typical comments from delegates
were, "The Lord is really working here";
"I think I had all the wind knocked out
of me"; "I came here hardly knowing
what missions were all about. Now I am
willing
to go as a
missionary."
One co
ed, saved only two months before con
vention, had hesitated coming because
she feared she would be lonely without
the usual parties and social times of
Christmas vacation.
After the second
day she said, "Somehow I don't seem
to miss them." Even during the con
vention some
students entered into a
real experience of Christ as Lord and
Saviour. One missionary was asked for
advice regarding what book he should
buy,
"As," said the students, "I have
only been a Christian for two days."
The five-day meet closed on a tri
umphant note as hundreds stood indi
cating that they were purposing to go as
missionaries as the Lord leads. The final
hours of the old year were spent in a
united service. The session was address
ed by IVCF general secretary, Mr. C.
Stacey Woods, who warned
that the
world is a spiritually dark place and we
must not let our lights go out. The
sight of 2,000 persons from many dif
ferent states and countries, all one in
Christ, partaking of Communion togeth
er was a fitting
climax to the theme.
Paul H. Sheetz
61