THE 2ND SUNDAY IN ADVENT, ??06 (12/10)
Sir, we would see JESUS!
Emmanuel, Asheville, NC
By Rev. Frederick A. Stiemke, DD

Malachi 3: 1-4
In the Name of JESUS!

?¨Ready or Not ?± Christ Is Coming!?Æ

Beloved, please pray with me: O eternal God and Father, if we were without Jesus to pardon all our sin, what terror His coming to judge the living and the dead would bring! But You graciously sent Your Son to be our Savior and Redeemer. In mercy may our Lord Jesus ever live in our hearts by faith that instead of experiencing terror, we know and trust His saving power, and as a result fervently look forward with joy and hope to His return to judge all mankind. To that end, bless now our hearing of your Word. O Father, bless us for Jesus?? sake. Amen.

In the name of Jesus, our Advent King and Savior, dearly beloved people of God:

What would your reaction be if when you returned home from church today you found the following message: ?¨The President of our national church body (or some other national dignitary) will be stopping by for a visit in just a few hours to share the evening meal with you? Would you be ready, or would you be frantically dashing about making preparations? 

Well, Malachi in our text today reminds his contemporaries and us that we have much more than a passing guest of honor coming. None other than the Lord of heaven and earth, our great Redeemer, is coming not only to visit His people, but Christ is also coming to judge His people. The Lord gives ample forewarning through the prophet. Malachi tells His people that God Almighty is about to send John the Baptizer to tell the children of Israel, ?¨Ready or not ?± Christ is coming!?Æ John cried in the wilderness, ?¨Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come??Æ [Luke 3: 7c] He also forewarned His people of the immanency of God??s Judgment, saying, ?¨The ax is already at the root of the trees. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is hewn down and thrown into the fire?Æ [Luke 3: 9a] Through the prophet the Lord also foretells the birth of Jesus at Bethlehem, His earthly ministry and ultimately God??s final judgment. 

But Malachi does more than that throughout his book of prophecy. Clearly the prophet tells people they are not ready because of their many sins and rebellion against the Lord and His holy will. Malachi takes his people to task for their manifold sins and failings. He rebukes them for stingy offerings to God, violating marriage commitments ?± even committing adultery, grumbling against the Lord, following occult practices, committing perjury and lying, oppressing the poor and foreigners, and above all being without fear of God. He rightly faults the clergy of his day, i.e., the priests, for being corrupt when they should be ?¨messengers of the Lord.?Æ In the verses just before our text, Malachi tells his people that the Lord God is tired of their words. They keep complaining about God not rewarding them for their piety because they self-righteously claim that our heavenly Father is not rewarding them as He should and that He is favoring the wicked. The prophet mentions that a frequent cry of the day is, ?¨Where is the God of justice??Æ Justly for all their sinful and rebellious ways, the Holy Spirit leads Malachi to ask, ?¨But who can endure the day of His coming? Who can stand when He appears??Æ [vs. 2] In effect, the prophet is warning his people, ?¨Ready or not ?± Christ is coming!?Æ That God of justice you seek is coming ?± but on His own terms!

Malachi??s listing of the sins of his own people sounds to me to be a very up-to-date inventory about our own society. But I plead with you forget about pointing fingers at other people. One wise man observed that when we point an accusing finger at others, there are three pointing back at us. So, what about us who are sitting here? Who of us can stand before the Lord, who even understands our thoughts and the motives for all our actions from afar, and claim that we have clean hands, a pure heart, unsullied lips, and a 100% clean mind by ourselves? Have we ever grumbled and complained that we are not getting a fair deal in life when things turn sour like the Israelites of Malachi??s day? Have we ever tried to bargain with God thinking He should be kinder to us because we are outwardly better than other folks? Have there ever been times when we have robbed or cheated God with our offerings? We could indeed profitably spend much more time examining ourselves on the basis of Malachi??s list of his people??s sins.

Because we as Christians tend to fend off what the world considers to be gross sin, we unfortunately can feel pretty pious and good about ourselves until we stand before the mirror of God??s holy Law that tells us, as reflected in the words of James, ?¨Whoever keeps the whole Law and just stumbles at one point is guilty of breaking all of it.?Æ [James 2: 10] And just why is that? It is because any sin, including telling a so-called ?¨white lie?Æ which many overlook as sin, is a direct attempt to dethrone God, setting our will above His will for us. Each and every sin is idolatry! And the cry goes out this Advent season, ?¨Ready or not ?± Christ is coming!?Æ ?¨Who can stand when He appears??Æ Hear what Malachi is led by God Almighty to foretell concerning the Day of Judgment, ?¨Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evil doer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire.?Æ [4: 1] 

Yet for us who look to Jesus as our Savior, our Lord God covenants with us, promising, ?¨I the Lord do not change. ?ñ Return to Me, and I will return to you.?Æ [3: 6a, 7b] This happens when the Holy Spirit leads us to humbly acknowledge our sinfulness and failings, and we flee to the Lord God for mercy and God??s help to change our sinful behaviors. Then, as Malachi tells us, the Lord Himself comes to us like a refiner??s fire. With the fire of His love ?± not, of His wrath ?± Christ purifies us of all impurities and dross, much like gold and silver ores are refined in the fire. Our Savior also comes like launderer??s soap to wash out every guilty stain, so that by God??s action we stand before Him thoroughly cleansed and purged of all defilement. Wondrously Jesus does this every day for His trusting people, and He never tires of this. 

But through God??s saving work in Christ Jesus, our gracious heavenly Father does even more for us than cleanse us constantly of sin, guilt and all impurities. He has abolished the old rebellious priesthood and established an entirely new order ?± the royal priesthood of all believers. Because of Jesus?? death and resurrection in your behalf, you no longer need me or any other pastor to serve as an intermediary between our holy God and yourselves. You have direct access to the heavenly Throne of Grace to bring your offerings of love and thanksgiving to our God, as well as your burdens, pains and sin. Malachi foretells this act of grace by our Lord when he wrote, ?¨The Lord will have men,?Æ not, the priests of the old order, ?¨bring gifts in righteousness, and offerings ?ñ acceptable to the Lord, as in the days gone by, as in former years.?Æ [vs.4] Here the prophet is using the generic, inclusive form of the word, ?¨men,?Æ also to embrace women and children. 

Peter wrote about the fulfillment of this prophecy in the 2nd chapter of his 1st Epistle. There he wrote, ?¨As you come to Him, the living Stone,?Æ (i.e., to Jesus) ?¨ ?± rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to Him ?± you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.?Æ [1 Peter 2: 5] Ponder with awe the vastness of God??s mercy in Jesus. Our good works, which by themselves are tainted and would be considered filthy rags by our holy God, the Lord now accepts and sees as perfect for the sake of His own dear Son. Your striving to do God??s will with the help of the Holy Spirit is not in vain. The Lord transforms our imperfect works into gems lying at the foot of His Throne of Grace ?± much like coal compressed is changed into sparkling, precious diamonds.

As we move through this Advent season, God??s heralds are shouting for one and all to hear, ?¨Ready or not ?± Christ is coming!?Æ And wonder of wonders, it is the Lord Himself, who in immeasurable grace, first comes to us to prepare our hearts, our minds and our bodies to be His throne, clothing us with His own perfection and love. Thanks be to God! Amen.
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Now to our loving Father, ?¨who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy ?± to our only God and Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore.?Æ [Jude 24-25] Amen.
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© The Rev. Frederick A. Stiemke, DD
Vacancy Pastor