Corrupt Priests Who Offer Polluted Bread

This sermon deals with the corrupt priests whom God rebukes through the prophet Malachi. God points out that although the priests should have offered unblemished, healthy sacrifices, they placed sick and injured ones on the altar. They kept the good offerings for their own gain and treated God with what was left over, and without even recognising their own sin they questioned God in return. This is the grave sin of despising God's name and treating his table with contempt, and it shows that the corruption of the priests leads to the spiritual ruin of the people.

In the sermon, the priests of the Old Testament are likened to the spiritual stance of pastors and believers today. Just as the apostle Paul kept an unchanging faith in every circumstance, believers must handle both wealth and hardship with trust in God. On the other hand, the attitude of offering good things to the rulers of this world while calculating and begrudging what is given to God is that of an unjust steward. God wants not the offering but the sincerity and honesty of the one who offers it, and pretended worship or selfish giving is regarded as an insult to God.

The sermon leads believers to look back on whether, regardless of their circumstances, they are offering God complete devotion and worship without complaint or doubt. It also leads them to reflect on whether they neglect what they give to God by following the world's standards, or treat their offerings as a means of gaining blessing. The sermon puts to the reader the question of what a life that fears God and truly serves him is.