In this piece we are going to be studying the word of God together. We want to look at the book of Malachi and we want to understand: How to do the Work of Ministry in Righteousness and we will read from the book of Malachi 3 I will start from verse 1. I am sure that many of us are familiar with the book of Malachi, but for many of us, our attention has always been on do not rob God, pay your tithe. But today we want to see the other side of God today from that same chapter. The Bible says: “Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple…”
“The Lord whom you seek…” you seek the One that you cannot see, right, isn’t it? Somebody that you are looking for, you seek the person. The person cannot be found by you consciously, so you go in search. So, it says: “And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight…” there is so much assumption going on here. There is an assumption that you are seeking the Lord. And the Bible says the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple. It says: even the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight. Perhaps, you don’t delight, this might even become a challenge for you, but in case you delight, the Bible says, “He is coming.” Says the Lord of Host.
Verse 2: “But who can endure the day of His coming? This is a question directed to everyone seeking the appearance of the Lord. And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire, and like launderers’ soap.” Do you understand that He is not a refiners’ fire and a launderers’ soap because those things are things that were created by Him, He is not those things? The Bible says: “He is like…” The things He does, even in His majesty, in His glory, is likened to what refiner’s fire does to something else. The role He plays in your life and my life is liking to what a launderer’s soap does. But God is not a refiner’s fire and He is not a launderers’ soap, but He is like. Do we understand that? Let us continue.
The Bible says: “He will seat as a refiner and a purifier of silver, He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness.” I am sure we remember that Israel, the man called Jacob, has 12 sons, and they became the 12 tribes of Israel. And Levi happened to be one of the 12 sons of Jacob. The sons of Levi were chosen by God to function before the Lord as priest forever, so they won’t do any other thing other than to offer sacrifices before the Lord forever. It is either they are offering sacrifices to the Lord for themselves, their own sins, or they offer it for the sake of the people of God.
But all they were expected to do in all their lives was to offer sacrifices to the Lord. Now, even though they were chosen, if you happen to be born into that tribe, you don’t begin to ask God, “God, what is your Will for my life, what should I do with my life?”. You already know it, so we can liken this people to be a people who have scale through the hurdle of trying to find the will of God for their lives. You are no more asking, Lord, what shall I do with my life? You now know. But it is not enough for you to know the Will of God for your life, the Bible concludes that verse 3 with: “That they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness.” It is not God that will offer, but that they may offer to the Lord, so the subject of their offerings is to the Lord. The one to whom they offer sacrifices is God, but what they do is that they make offerings. That becomes their vocation, their work.
You know, our focus is how to do ministry in righteousness, and their (the sons of Levi) duty is that they may offer to the Lord offerings in righteousness, a service; that they may do unto the Lord a ministry in righteousness. So, it means, anyone of them that is successfully purified by God, and successfully purged by God, has that chance of offering sacrifices to God in righteousness. So, what happens to the rest; the other sons of Levi? So, it means they will still be in ministry, but they will do the work of ministry in unrighteousness. When you see them, you will say they are minsters of God too. But they minister unto the Lord in unrighteousness. So that such testimony will not be our portion in the body of Christ today, the Lord is opening us to How to Do the Work of Ministry in Righteousness.
It is not enough to do ministry; of course, so much is expected of you for you to be able to do the work of ministry, but it is not enough to have done so much or so little; whatever ministry you do, it must be done in righteousness. Anything outside that is unacceptable. Now, the Bible began in Genesis to show us about two categories of people: Abel and Cain his elder brother. Don’t forget, they too were also seeking for the Lord, they were looking for the Lord, they wanted to please God, and they wanted to offer offerings to God, and the Bible says, “Cain offered to the Lord, and then Abel did likewise”. And the offering of Abel was acceptable to the Lord, but God rejected Cain and his offering. That shows us that ministry is not about being busy, or being there, or getting our hands dirty. Whatever we do unto the Lord, it must be done in righteousness and this doesn’t fall on anyone like ripe pawpaw.
Now let us go back to that same chapter and the same verses that we read. From verse 2, the Bible says: “But who can endure the day of His coming? It is like saying, who can endure the day that the Lord is going to give reward to those who are serving Him? It is one thing for anyone to be given a work to do by the God, but it is another thing to be bold enough to stand before God to say, I have finished the work that you gave me to do. Apostle Paul said, “I have finished my course, and the time of my departure is here, I am ready to be offered up as an offering.” Why? Because I have finished the work you ask me to do. So, there is always a time when the Lord will come back to ask, “how have you done the work I ask you to do”. Did you do it in unrighteousness or did you do it in righteousness? Today we are not asking whether you have been hardworking or not, but we are asking whether you have done the work in righteousness or in unrighteousness.
Now if righteousness will be the portion of anybody, this must be the conditions that must be fulfilled. And it says, “And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like launderers’ soap.” He who will come to judge us is like a refiner’s fire; He is like a launderers’ soap, and “He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver and gold.” That is to say that, we are to God as precious like silver and gold. Can you seat on a bunch of rubbish and then you say you want to refine it? For example, a heap of laterite sand and you plan to refine it? What do you intend to do with that? So, when God sits on you, it shows there is something in view in your life. It means there is a value in you that you are carrying that God is seating on you to reveal it. For the Bible says:
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.”
So, it looks as if the sons of God just like the sons of Levi, need to be revealed in their generation. God wants to showcase them, but if they will be showcased by God, it is not about joining the multitude, the crowed that I am a son of Levi. It is one thing to be qualified for the ministry because you are a son of Levi, it is another thing for you to do the work of ministry in righteousness. So, you are willing, you are able to stand before God when He appears and say, God I have finished the work you gave me to do. If there is anything we should fear, it shouldn’t be death; it should be that a man appears before God unrighteousness. Look at the servant that the master asked that he should be thrown into the lake of fire, it was because the servant appeared before the master in unrighteousness.
“He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver and gold.” He will purify the sons of Levi…” The purpose of God in your life is specific. God wants to purify you. It says: “and purge them, the sons of Levi…” Men and women who have found the purpose of God for their lives and are in the course of pursuing it, God will purge them as silver and gold. He didn’t say they are gold and silver, but that He purge them as gold and silver. Just as gold requires purging so that it will be showcased, for it to be useful, for it to be valued, we require purging also. So, it is possible to come to God, into the ministry, unpurged, unpurified, uncultured, undisciplined; not fully understanding many things, but we mustn’t remain in it unpurged, unpurified. Having come, we must not continue in it like that because you will then do the work in unrighteousness. Do you understand that?
Looking at the early life of Apostle Paul, when the Lord called him in to the ministry, he wasn’t in righteousness. And then God needed to turn him into a gold; God had to purify him and purge him. How did God do it? God sat on him as a refiner and purifier of gold, and He purified him until he became a vessel that God can use. In Proverbs chapter 25:4, it says: “Take away the dross from silver, and it will go to the silversmith for jewellery.” Take away the indiscipline, bad character, laziness, from Gboyega Adedeji, then he will be able to attract men and women to the Kingdom and grow them there. It could mean that Gboyega Adedeji could be called into the ministry, chosen by God; but he is not yet able to call men into the fold, and grow men in the fold, but he is already called. The question now is that, will I sit down there thinking that my calling is equal to my growth and maturity?
If I think because God has called me; I am already grown, matured, it is not correct assumption, same way, if you take gold or silver to the shop of a jewelry seller without removing the dross, it will attract poor value or no value at all. We could ask ourselves the question why is it that many people are called into the ministry, but only few are effective in the ministry, only few are getting the job done? It is not about carrying megaphone and shouting; only few are converting souls to Christ, only few are establishing men and women in the faith, only few are praying and getting answers— not demons answering but God answers them. What is the issue? Even though they have been brought as silvers, dross has not been taken away from them. So, what God does to the sons of Levi who must offer sacrifices in righteousness is that, He sits on them as a refiner; the refiner takes the dross away. The refiner takes the dirt away. Anything that the Lord has not put in the Life of Gboyega Adedeji shall be uprooted, that is God purging him.
When a man or God purge a thing, what it means is that purging gets away out of a thing anything that is not wanted. You can come into the ministry with a lot of harmful objects all around your life, you can come with a lot of hanging issues either from your cultural background, education, or lack of education, however, having got into the ministry, you must submit yourself to God as sons of Levi and say God sits upon my life as a refiner, take away the dross so that I can be presented to the jewelry shop. So, the presentation of our lives before men is subject to our submission to God as our refiner. We cannot say to God that, why have I been in ministry for many years but I am not yet marketed by you? You are not yet announcing me, Lord, what is causing the issue? The Bible says in Proverbs chapter 25:4: “Take away the dross [The unwanted things out of him]”; that is the only thing that is delaying my presentation. And as soon as you are done taken away the dross away from him, he will be presentable.
Now, going back to that Malachi 3:3 the Bible says, “He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness.” He will, not ‘He may’, showing us that it certain, it is compulsory. It is compulsory that as a minister of the Lord, you must be purified. Don’t tell yourself, O, everything is perfect about me! Then why are you not yet presented by God? Or why is the God not telling people to come see His servant in one village? Why is God not bringing the nations to you yet? It means there is a dross that must be out of you. So, you can be into ministry, you can be invited by God into the ministry, but haven come, if you want God to send you out, if you want God to tell people about you, not you telling people about God, then you must settle down under God, knowing that God is not just your Father; the caring and loving Father, you must see Him as a refiner.
It is not an easy process to be purged; to be purified is not so easy, there is no pleasure in it, but it makes you holy, presentable. Do we understand? Let us read in John 17:17: “Sanctify [purge them, purify them] them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” Because it takes a clean handkerchief to make a surface clean as itself. If you have a dirty cloth and you clean a surface that is dirty, what will happen? It will remain dirty, or the dirtiness will have a new shape or look. So, if you want a thing to be clean, it is either you get more of the clean thing to clean the old dirty thing, or the same clean thing. Now, if you must be purged, you require the Truth to purge you because who you are that is not worthy before God, that is not righteous yet; has come to being because of the accumulated lies and deceit.
It is either men have lied to you, or you have lied to yourself, or the devil has lied to you. So, if you must get rid of that lie, you need the truth. Somebody told you something that has built a character in you and it is not correct, then you must submit yourself to a new understanding, a new knowledge that will build a new character in you. So, God said: sanctify them by your truth, your word is truth. Now let us jump to John 1:1-4. Where we left in John 17:17 says sanctify them, purge them by your truth. So, we know the tool that God uses to purge us, it is His word. Now, John 1 from verse 1, the Bible says:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him [the Word] was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend [understand, overcome] it.”
The light that is in Him; the Bible says it shines in the darkness; it radiates in darkness. The truth that comes from God, it radiates, in such a manner that even if that truth finds itself in the midst of darkness, ignorance, deceptions, and manipulations; the truth overcomes them — that is the potent, power of the Word of God. When the Word of God finds itself in the midst of lies, it reigns over them: every other thing will be proven to be wrong except the Word of God. Everything that we have been told that we believed must be subjected to test; and if you subject the Word of God to same test, it is only the Word of God that will come out life. In the truth is life; nobody needs to do so much with the dross, the lies, just submit them to the truth.
The truth has life. As you subject your life to the Truth, the Spirit of the Truth takes the lies from you. The moment the truth comes into your life; the dross is taken away. For instance, let’s examine the life of a man that always slaps his life, for every mistake he must slap the wife for it. And suddenly as the man is reading the Word of God, he comes in contact with the truth in the Book of Proverbs chapter 19 verse 11: “The discretion of a man defers his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a transgression.” He will be liberated. The moment he sees it; he will say to himself that all his angers are uncalled for. He will then decide to control himself going forward. The question there is this, was there an earthquake? No, it is the new knowledge that contradicted his old character.
In case you are asking, how can I be purged? To be purged, you will have to take yourself to the Lord, the truth. The word of God is the power of God that purges us. The truth has the power to take away the old, the lies. That passage says He will sit upon us and His voice will be the first you will hear before every other voice. Having been a man that the Lord is sitting upon, you should be hearing His voice. Jesus says: “The voice of a stranger there will not hear, but My sheep will hear My voice and when I call them, they will come to Me.” So, when the Lord speaks to me, I should hear Him. When God correct me, I should hear Him. But when God is not sitting on you, you will be far from Him; and even when He is correcting you, in between you and the Lord someone else is commending you for same thing God is rebuking you for. But when we give God the place to sit upon us, even if any other voice wants to talk to us, God has the power to block them.
When the Bible says, “You will hear a voice behind you”, He didn’t say that you will hear voices behind you. It is not even good for you to be led by voices. You did something that is bad, you will say something tells me that what I did is not bad. That is why your life is not growing under God; subject yourself to God. And you must also understand that He who sits on you is not there to give you advice. The Bible says, “Nothing was made that was not made by the Word.” It then means that, if your life must be made better, the Word must be spoken to you by the one who sits on you. Meaning, anytime you are hearing Him, you are hearing what will make you. It will turn you around; it will turn your life perhaps, upside-down.
The whole struggle will end because you are hearing something that is making you. The Word that you hear as He speaks to you will change you from one level of glory to another glory completely different from the old you. Anytime you do something wrongly and you require someone to tell you that, friend, what you did is not good, it an indication that God is not sitting on you. When the Lord sits upon a man, He is overseeing the man, He is watching over the life of the man; when the man does anything wrongly, the Lord will correct. Is God sitting on you? God says I will sit upon the sons of Levi; and in the Book of Joel, the Lord says, “And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.” Does this exclude anyone of us? No, when God says He will sit upon the sons of Levi, He means all of them. If you happen to be a son of Levi, God sits upon you. But you can also take yourself out of Him.
This is where we have to be deliberate in asking ourselves the question, am I being sit upon by the Lord? And when God says, “My son, you see this dross in your life, let’s take it out, and you will be fit for presentation, am I dragging issues with God?” If I am dragging issues with God, then I should not blame God for the delay in my announcement. If God is not announcing me; it is not because God is unfaithful, it is because I am unrighteous. Anything I want to fix in my life, He is the one that can do it. How? As I hear Him. And when the Lord speaks to you, He is doing so to purge you. If God will use on the earth to do mighty things; He must first sit on you to purge you as the refiner. And you cannot believe God until you hear Him. The Bible says “Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God.”
So, when God speaks to you, God is trying to purge you. When God speaks to you, do you receive His words trembling or you simply treat it as something not important? If that is your experience, then it means God is not sitting on you. If you think and believe that God is not sitting on you, that is true, I believe you as well. But you must take yourself back to God now. I don’t want to do ministry in unrighteousness, I don’t want to do ministry in a wrong manner. I don’t want to be on the wrong side doing the right thing. I don’t want to do the right thing the wrong way. If that must be fixed, then I must sit down to learn from Him.
The Bible says Jesus called the disciples to Himself that they might be with Him and that He might send them out. If God will use you for great and mighty things on this earth, then He must first sit upon you as a refiner, He must purify you as gold, and as silver; He must purge you. Sometimes you ask: why am I going through all these? And God is saying: I am purging you. And you say Lord, thank you for purging me, and not like God when will this purging be over? Instead of then complaining, you are like God let it be unto me according to your word. The earth is waiting for us to be revealed, the works of God are waiting for us to be revealed. But we must know that it is only the sons of God that will be revealed.
These sons of Levi, if they will be become translated into the sons of God, then it must be that God will make them. What makes somebody to be your son is because you were the one that made the person happen. So, allow God to make you happen. Allow God to be the one that will take credit for your life. Don’t become like a man that is just a reflection of his society. It is not God that made you kin that kind, it is your society. Don’t be a man or a woman that it is the peer pressure that has made you into who you are, don’t let the economy, the political system be the one that will make you. Let God makes you, let the Word of God subject you to a process of growth that brings about the right character in you.
Make this declaration now: “Lord, I subject myself to you, sit upon me as a refiner.”
