Malachi 3:1-4.                    Prepare for the Saviour                                                 6/12/15

1 "See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the LORD Almighty. 

2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. 

3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, 

4 and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the LORD, as in days gone by, as in former years. 

Today we are reminded of John the Baptist’s coming to prepare the way for the one who was to bring God’s salvation to his people. Now this is something critical for us to consider in this day and age. We have become so ho hum about this event that it almost seems to mean nothing much at all. Or even worse still, it is almost seen as a ‘right’ that we are saved – almost as if it is God’s fault that things go wrong in our life. It is then his responsibility to make things right for us. He must love us because we are special people.

That sounds very much like the Pharisees of Jesus day. They too thought that they were God’s people and that he should look after them. They too would go through the motions of being God’s people but their hearts were focussed on themselves. How dare John the Baptist or even Jesus suggest that they had a problem. The only saviour they wanted was one to drive out the Romans and give them what they wanted from life. Sound familiar?

Now here in this reading God is telling us all that when the Saviour comes it will have a huge impact on our lives. His coming will change us all. Here remember this is God Almighty himself coming into his world that we have messed up because of our selfishness and rebellion. Remember also that he is a holy and just God who is true to his word. So when he says he will punish sin with death, he means it.

But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap.  He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver.

Now that is a pretty harsh picture. Now when I was a young bloke at home working on the farm we often got very greasy and dirty. To get clean Mum had us use the old Solver Soap – it was very hard and gritty. So it was not all the nice to use, but it did the job. Harsh measures were needed in order for us to get clean. There was no other way.

Likewise if we want to purify gold or silver an extreme amount of heat is required to burn off the impurities. Extremely harsh methods are needed in order to achieve the results required. There is no other way to get pure gold and silver.

Now also the same is required of the sin that lies imbedded deep inside each one of us. It is not easily removed and got rid of. In fact, it is impossible for us to be able to do what is necessary for it to be removed from our lives. If you recall, way back in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were told if they sin they will die. The consequence of sin is death. There is no easy removal of it from our lives.

Now that is a bitter pill for us human beings to swallow. Our pride does not want to acknowledge that we are that bad. Yet the reality is far, far worse than we are prepared to acknowledge. We have separated ourselves from God and rebelled against him, and have no way of bridging that gap. We have no way of clawing our way back out of hell.

So the Day of Judgement – the Day of God coming to settle the account is never going to be a pretty one. It is going to be extremely harsh.  In fact the question is raised in this reading: But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? This is going to be a very rough event, which you and I have no way of enduring and standing.

Now this Advent season if this does not rock you to the core, then there is something wrong with us. If it does not shatter every ounce of pride that we have in ourselves then we have a rude shock awaiting us. In ourselves and our human achievements we are in a big mess, so we had better fast come to the realisation that this is the case, or this Christmas will come and go without it have any worthwhile impact on our lives.

However, in our acceptance that this is the case, that is, that we are in real trouble; then Christmas has a message that is absolutely amazing: Then Christmas truly does become Christmas. In fact all our Christmas come at once and goes on every day of the rest of our life. Then there is a huge change in our lives that alters our perspective on everything.

How can this be? How can one’s acknowledgement that they are completely and absolutely worthless, become so good and life changing?

Here remember John the Baptist’s message in the wilderness and Jesus message throughout his ministry: Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near! To repent is to recognise that there is no hope within ourselves and to then turn to the one real hope that there is for us. That is, that in Jesus Christ God’s kingdom has come near to us. Only in him is salvation possible.

However as long as we keep thinking that we are not so bad, we really don’t want or appreciate what Jesus has come to do for us. Instead of Jesus being our Lord he is simply there to give us what we think we need: he becomes only our guide to good living and one to get us out of a mess that we have made for ourselves. He is our ‘god’, rather than we his people.

But when we look to him as our only hope, then we begin to take seriously everything that he says to us and everything he has done for us. As we recognise that because of sin we are nothing but a ‘pile of manure’, then we are drawn to look forward to Christmas with a longing for the help and good that he has in mind for us. In our mess we take seriously his promises that he has come to help us out.

Nevertheless, we still have before us the issue of God’s Word that says because of our sin there is the punishment of death and hell hanging over our heads. So do we lessen the seriousness of our sin so that we can come into God’s presence? Sadly this seems to be the case for many people. Or do we cling to his promises that when he sends his Son that he will somehow take care of this for us.

With Jesus coming into the world we find that he continually told us that he has come to bring God’s kingdom near to us. Yes that means to he continually reminded his people that they had no hope of achieving God’s acceptance by our doing. He reminded us again and again that we don’t and can’t measure up to God’s expectations of us. So we need to look away from ourselves to him and what he has come to do.

He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. He will go to the cross to cleanse and purify us. This Jesus who came at Christmas time, came for the very purpose of taking that punishment of death and hell on himself so that we can once again be able to be in God’s presence. He cleanses us from the punishment that should have come our way, so that we can once more be in God’s presence here and in eternity.

This surely is the greatest thing that could ever happen in our lives. Deserving death and hell, we have instead been given life and heaven with God, by this Jesus who has come into our world. He has rescued us all from the misery that we have brought on ourselves. This has turned our lives upside down and given us what is truly good and right.

Now this Jesus Christ will surely be the most important person in our lives: he will not only be our Saviour, but he will be our Lord. That means we will look up to him; we will place him at the centre of our lives; and we will seek to do what he tells us is right and good. Yes, we will continually do everything in thankfulness for what he has done for us, instead of doing what we want to do.

Most importantly of all we will continually look to him and speak of his righteousness which he has given to us. We will readily speak of him who enables us to stand in God’s presence once more. In deep humility we will always recognise our sinfulness and unworthiness, but at the same time uphold Jesus and what he has done for us as the greatest. Then we will be able to go forward with joy and hope that is grounded in him and what he has done for us.

Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the LORD, as in days gone by, as in former years. A broken and contrite heart he looks for: A heart that looks to and trusts alone in Jesus Christ and his death on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins.

Then with the full assurance of forgiveness of sins to those who trust alone in him, a life of peace, joy and hope grows and lives with us day after day, year after year. Despite the humility that goes with our constant recognition of our sinfulness there is a sure sense of thankfulness, hope and confidence that goes with us into every aspect of our lives as well.

So may this Advent season be a time when we prepare our hearts and lives for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us not be distracted by the falseness of much of what our society sees as important at this time of the year. Let us be realistic with regard to our sinfulness and have an ever present focus on him who has come to purify us so that we can stand in his presence for all eternity. Then to him alone be all thankfulness and praise now and forever. AMEN.

Pastor Roger Atze

Glandore/Underdale Lutheran Parish