Malachi 3 1-4
Advent 2
Malachi 3:1-4
December 7, 2003
“Road Work”
Introduction: For the past year the state has been redoing highway 175 north of Theresa. They have been rerouting the road, making it straighter, wider, smoother and even perhaps a little safer. To do this they had to tear up the old road, ripping up the pavement and taking it away to some gravel graveyard. Then they smoothed out some of the hills and filled in some of the low spots. They have laid a new foundation of gravel and pavement which will eventually be topped of with asphalt. They are preparing the way, making the way straight and safe for travelers. It’s a long and difficult process but it is necessary and has to be done. The road is prepared and as it nears completion we look with anticipation to it’s opening. That is one kind of preparation.
There is another kind. When the president plans to visit a community special preparations have to be made. People are sent on ahead of him to make sure that everything is ready for his arrival. Arrangements are made. Lodging is set up. Accommodations are made for receptions and meals, meetings are planned and the appropriate people are notified of the presidents’ imminent arrival. Special agent are also sent ahead to secure the safety of the president and the community. Dangerous people and situations are identified and neutralized. Anticipation is high and the expectations are great…the president is on his way and his way has to be prepared for him.
Advent is the season of preparation. It is time for road work to be done and a time us to prepare for the coming of our king. Most of us are intensely involved in preparing for Christmas. We are looking forward to celebrating the kings’ arrival. To this end Christmas trees and wreathes are going up and being decorated. Our houses are dressed up for the holidays. Christmas cards are written. The kids are preparing their programs and plans are being made for family gatherings and celebrations of the season. For some of us this is what the season of Advent is all about…preparation for Christmas. It’s like preparing for a party. When I told one person that Advent has historically been a time of reflection and penitence I was basically told that there is enough of that in the church year and its time to get on with the joy. Let’s prepare to celebrate. I quietly agreed.
In my silence the voices of Isaiah, Malachi and John the Baptist call out to us on this second Sunday of Advent. Malachi writes, “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. But who can endure the day of His coming, who can stand when He appears? Isaiah writes and John the Baptist proclaims, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places plain, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” The prophets remind us that there is some road work that needs to be done. There needs to be some tearing up and reconstruction, some refining and washing before we can begin to celebrate.
It is that kind of preparation which Malachi and John the Baptist have in mind as they think of the coming of God. Both of these prophets, one in the Old Testament and one in the New Testament, speak of cleansing of sin in preparation for the coming of the Lord. Both are messengers of Yahweh, pointing to one greater than themselves who is on his way and is about to arrive.
If God were on his way to your house, what clean-up would you want to do? How would you prepare for His arrival? It’s hard to believe that Christmas trees and wreathes, Christmas cards and carols would be the most important things. After all it is not our houses that God wants to occupy but our hearts. How can these be prepared? Malachi and John the Baptist tells us. They point out mans sin. Call on the people to recognize their sin, turn to God for forgiveness and live as the faithful people of God.
Malachi was the last Old Testament prophets and lived in the fifth century B.C. The people of his day were becoming religiously slack, morally eroded and, were openly complaining against God. Due to the economic depression of the times, the people of God became slack in their worship practices. "Why go to temple?" they asked. "Why pray?" they asked. "Yahweh doesn't care for us. Why should we care about him and his laws?" Lean harvests, droughts, and locusts swarming on crops resulted in most of the people staying away from worship services. The people also stopped giving their tithes and offerings and were thus robbing God (Malachi 3:8-12). They were not prepared for the coming of the Lord. Are we prepared to meet our king?
Their lack of faithfulness led to immorality. Five sins of immorality are listed in Malachi 3:5: (1) the practice of magic, reliance on superstitions, astrology and horoscopes; (2) adultery and sexual deviations; (3) lying and telling distortions or half-truths and hurting people with words); (4) cheating, and (5) not helping widows, orphans and foreigners (those with special needs or of a different color of skin or national background. They were not prepared for the coming of the Lord. How are we doing? Are we prepared to meet our king?
Malachi, speaking for Yahweh, says, "You, like your ancestors before you, have turned away from my laws and have not kept them.” What about us? The confirmation class is discovering that we break all of God laws on a daily basis, in our thoughts, words and deeds.” Are we prepared to meet our king?
Lastly, the people complained and murmured against God. Malachi writes in the 13 verse, “You have said terrible things about me, says the Lord. But you ask, 'What have we said about you?' You have said, 'It is useless to serve God. What's the use of doing what he says or of trying to show the Lord Almighty that we are sorry for what we have done? As we see it, proud people are the ones who are happy. Evil men not only prosper…they do evil deeds and get away with it.” Have we ever murmured against God? Are we prepared to receive our king?
Isaiah wrote about preparing the way, filling in the valleys and making the hills low, making the Lords way straight. Malachi wrote, “Who can endure the day of His coming, and who can stand when He appears, for He is like a refiner’s fire and like fuller’s soap?” In other words who can prepare themselves? The answer is no one. When He comes He will refine us like a person refining precious metals, in the heat of the fire. He will be like the caustic soap of a person that makes laundry white.
We are like a road that is badly in need of repair as we prepare for the coming of the Lord. But as a road can not repair itself, neither can we. In fact we are worse than a road because we are resistant to repair. Here we find the grace of God. For His call to repentance, given through His powerful Word, through the prophets and apostles, gives what it demands. Through it the Holy Spirit enlightens our minds to understand our own sin. He then turns us toward God to recognize the source of our forgiveness. He points us in the direction of our Savior Jesus Christ. This is how it has always been, through Isaiah, Malachi, and John the Baptist. This is the same message that we preach today. God Himself gives us the preparation that we need to receive our King Jesus. It is not an outward preparation of Christmas trees or wreaths. It is not made up in Christmas cards or carols. True Advent preparation is the recognition that we need a Savior and that the Savior is Jesus Christ. Just like a hungry man can only truly anticipate a meal with joy and excitement, we are made hungry with repentant joy for our Savior.
As I said, roads can not repair themselves. They can not remove the hills or fill in the gaps. They can not straighten themselves out. Of course if they could it sure would be fun to watch. And it sure would save us a lot of money because our taxes would be lower. But they don’t fix themselves and there is a price that has to be paid to fix them. So it is with us. We cannot fix or repair ourselves. We cannot set ourselves in the right direction or straighten the direction out. God alone can do the work and God alone can pay the price. Our Heavenly Father paid the price when He sent His one and only Son into the world to be born of the Virgin Mary, live and die on the cross for you and me. On the cross the Son of God, Jesus Christ, paid the price as the refiners fire of God’s wrath was poured out. Through His cross the soap of God was given to all people and it is applied to us through the waters of Baptism and through faith. Through these we become whiter than snow in the eyes of God. Through these we are fully prepared to meet our king, today, at Christmas, and when He comes again with great power and great glory.
We do not exit just to prepare ourselves. We are the Kings special agents sent into the world to prepare the world for His coming, first by faith, then by sight when He comes again. We are the people sent ahead of the Lord to make sure that everything is ready for his arrival. We do this by proclaiming His first coming in the little town of Bethlehem. We do this by proclaiming forgiveness in His name and for the sake of His cross. Through our witness the Lord makes sure that many of these people are prepared for Hid final coming.
This is Advent preparation. It is the work of God in our lives. Preparing us and preparing the people of the world through us. Our anticipation is high and the expectations are great…our king is on his way and his way has into our hearts has been prepared. With repentant joy, knowing how much we need our Savior, knowing that He came for us, we set up our trees, do family devotions around the Advent candle wreath, we send Christmas cards and we sing carols. The king who came is coming again. By God’s grace, we are prepared to meet our King. Amen