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"A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am the Father, where is My honor? And if I am a Master, where is My reverence? Says the Lord of hosts to you priests who despise My name. Yet you say, 'In what way have we despised Your name?' You offer defiled food on My altar, but say, 'In what way have we defiled You?' By saying, 'The table of the Lord is contemptible.'" Malachi 1:6,7
The first chapter and the first portion of the second chapter of Malachi discuss God's displeasure with Jewish priests for profaning the Lord's table. They profaned it by offering improper sacrifices upon God's altar. Verse 13 of Malachi 1 also says they called the Lord's Table a weariness and sneered at it. They offered defiled animals as sacrifices to God, hoping that He would accept these sacrifices favorably. He did not.
Sometimes we Christian ministers of the Gospel also profane the Lord's table by failing to give God our best service. We deprive Him of the best use of our intellect, time and energy because we do not consider it materially advantageous to do so. Unfortunately, when we do this our communities suffer.
Jesus said, "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing." John 15:5 The fact that we can do nothing without Jesus applies not only to individual believers, but to communities as a whole. Without the spiritual and moral guidance that God provides through ministers, communities begin to whither and die. God's desire is to bless communities as well as individuals. However, communities cannot prosper if they do not hear the Word of the Lord; and they cannot hear it if we ministers do not preach it. (Romans 10:13-15)
God will provide for us (ministers) as we do His will, but we must be willing to live by what He provides. He will also give us the desires of our hearts, but we must be willing to wait on it and serve Him faithfully while we wait. As ministers of the Gospel, we can have anything in life that anyone else has if we are obedient to God's call on our lives, be faithful to Him in our tithing and giving of offerings and exercise wisdom in our financial dealings. We work for the Lord.
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