Exodus 19:1-25 "Setting the Stage"

                Aside from the cross, there is quite possibly no image or symbol in all of Christianity that is more widely-used or well-known than that of the Ten Commandments.  Especially here in the south, it’s not uncommon for us to ride by various buildings and businesses and see a bronze statue with two curved tablets with the Roman numerals for 1-10 written on them.  As a side note, this is usually done incorrectly, seeing as the two stone tablets were actually carbon-copies of the Commandments.  After all, the Commandments were in essence a contract between God and Israel.  Therefore, each party was to be given a copy of the contract, and so each tablet contained all ten of the commandments and not just half of them.  Either way, it doesn’t take anything away from the meaning of the Ten Commandments as they apply to the Christian faith.

                Now, we will spend the next ten or so weeks, maybe even more, looking at each of the Ten Commandments and seeking to find the meaning behind each of them.  We will see that with each command, there are actually two commands.  There is a command against something, but there is also a command to take certain actions.  For example, not only are we not to commit murder, but we are to do all that we can to prevent it as well.  However, our time for looking at each commandment will come.  For today, what I want us to focus on is the condition and circumstances surrounding Israel at the time of the giving of the Ten Commandments.  It is my hope that in doing so, it will help us to gain a sense of clarity and understanding in our own approaching, understanding, and applying of the Ten Commandments to our lives today.  I’m hoping that we will see the premise and reason behind the Ten Commandments instead of just seeing them as a list of do’s and don’ts and a way of keeping score as it pertains to our faith and salvation.

                Our text for today is the preparation of Israel for the receiving of the Ten Commandments.  God is telling the people of Israel that what He is about to give them are the ways in which they are to live in order to remain faithful to His covenant with them.  We find in verse 8, that the elders of Israel responded to God by saying, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.”  In other words, they were saying that all God had to do was to tell them how they were to act and they would do it down to the very letter of the law.  Now, obviously, we know that although they may have wanted to obey all that God commanded them, the reality of the situation is that they did not and were not able to do so.  We also have to remember that we are looking at this through the lens of the New Testament, through the lens of Christ.  As we get deeper into our study of the Ten Commandments, we not only need to pay attention to the actions that we are called to have as a result of them, but also the amount of forgiveness for failing to keep those commandments that is found in Jesus Christ. 

                I want you to notice how so much attention is given to Israel making themselves ceremonial clean.  They were to cleanse themselves and prepare themselves both physically and spiritually for coming before God.  The people of Israel were to set themselves apart from sin and their ordinary daily routines in order to dedicate themselves more fully to God.  They were to get their hearts and minds ready to meet with God.  There is a certain mindset that they had to have.  They were not just working this time before God into their schedule, but this was the epicenter of their existence as of that moment.  Nothing else in their lives was of any consequence at that moment aside from coming before God.  The impending encounter with God was their focus and nothing else.  How true should this be about our worship and daily time with God?  How much should be center our lives around our time with God instead of our time with God just being worked into our schedules like it’s just some other task or item on the to do list.

                Then, beginning in verse 16, things begin to get very real for the nation of Israel.  “On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled.  Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain.”  When I read these verses, I get chills just thinking about what that must have been like.  Israel had been wondering in the desert for a while after being delivered from slavery in Egypt via that miraculous scene at the Red Sea.  They had been told that God was coming and that they would hear Him speak with Moses.  They had been making themselves clean (both physically and spiritually) in preparation of God’s arrival.  Finally, the sky begins to darken, and a thick cloud forms on the mountain in the midst of thunder and lightning.  Then, Moses, the leader of Israel and covenant mediator between Israel and God, comes to the people and tells them that it is time to meet with God.  It was time for them to see the magnitude and the glory of the one who delivered them from slavery in Egypt, even if it’s only a glimpse of that glory.  Now, the rest of this chapter has to do with setting up limits as to how far up the mountain anyone other than Moses could go.  You see, the people of Israel were so eager to meet God (or at least they thought they were) that God had to forbid them and threaten them with death if they got too close to him.  I’m going to hold off making any comments about this here and save them for the conclusion of our look at the Ten Commandments in a few months, but I want to finish setting the stage for what is to come for Israel, and what we are going to begin seeing starting next Sunday.

                The Ten Commandments were given to Israel through Moses by God as a way of leading them to a life of practical holiness.  Through the Commandments, Israel could see the nature of God and His plan for how they should live.  They were the laws given by God as to how we are to live in community with one another and still honor God along the way.  However, somewhere along the way, even before the time of Jesus’ coming to earth, the Commandments had become corrupted from their original purpose.  They were seen as a means to prosperity.  It was thought that obeying each one of these commandments was the way to earn God’s protection from earthly troubles and disasters.  The keeping of the Commandments became an end in-and-of themselves, and not just the means to fulfill God’s ultimate law of love.  Sadly, there are many Christians today who view the keeping of the Ten Commandments as the means by which we are saved.  We can ask these folks what it means to be a Christian and they will give an answer that somewhere along the way says that being a Christian is about keeping the Ten Commandments.

                As we look at the Ten Commandments in greater depth and we begin our study of the Law, I want to warn all of us against falling into this common trap.  We cannot look at the Ten Commandments as the end-all-be-all when it comes to being a Christian.  The Ten Commandments are designed for guiding and shaping our living within a Christian community.  Ultimately, looking at them through the lens of Christ, we will see just how far short we have fallen for keeping what is required with each commandment.  As we see the great chasm that exists between what is expected and what is achieved, hopefully we will see with even greater clarity our need for Christ.  After all, Jesus fulfilled this Law down to the very smallest of details.  What I want all of us to do in preparation for this study is to take time and truly give thought to how many shortcomings that we have that the grace found in Jesus Christ overcomes.  I want all of us to see that, like Israel, we are given exactly what we are to do, but yet we still fall short every time.  However, unlike Israel, we know that there is one who has lived this Law to perfection and paid the price that was owed for our breaking of it.  Let us rejoice this day, that Jesus Christ has fulfilled the Law on our behalf.  Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Hebrews 2:14-18 "Jesus Christ: Son of God"

                When we think of the book of Hebrews, some of the words that come to mind are things like better, more, supreme, and superior.  This book was written to an audience primary made up of Jews who had converted to Christianity and were in danger of falling back into their Jewish tradition after seeing that the Christian faith isn't all sunshine and rainbows.  After seeing just how truly difficult living the Christian faith can be, especially during a time of rampant and continuous persecution, these Judeo-Christians began to long for the comfort of their lives prior to conversion.  The writer of Hebrews, (who in my humble opinion is the Apostle Paul, although that is the subject of much debate) offers encouragement to these Judeo-Christians and urges them to continue on to spiritual maturity.  He encourages them to not give up on the process, but to continue to look to Christ daily.  He does so by pointing to the supremacy of Christ above all others, mainly the angels, Old Testament prophets, and even Moses himself.  It is in the midst of his words about the superiority of Christ over the angels that we find ourselves today; a very fitting place seeing as how we began our service today with the lighting of the angel’s candle.

                Our text for today begins with the words, “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things.”  Now, the first thing that we have to do is to kind of wade our way through the Bible-speak here and decipher exactly what this verse is telling us.  What this verse (or half of a verse) is telling us is that God became man.  He didn't just seem to be a man, but he became actual flesh and blood.  He was faced with the same infirmities that plague you and me.  And this is mind-blowing, especially given what we just said about this coming in the context of stating that Christ is superior to the angels.  Jesus is superior to the angels, but he is like us in every way.  God knows what it’s like to live in our skin or walk in our shoes, and he knows what that’s like beyond even what we can imagine.  There are perhaps no greater and more powerful words in the English language than the consoling phrase, “me too.”  When we hear these words, we are immediately comforted by their sympathy and empathy.  We know that the person saying them can relate to what it is we’re going through.  Well, in essence, God is saying “me too” when it comes to our dealing with temptation and suffering.  He can understand what it’s like because He too has experienced it, and experienced it in an ever greater manner than we ever could imagine.

                In fact, we catch a glimpse of that aforementioned temptation in the second half of this verse and into the next one:  “that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”  In other words, in order for Jesus to fulfill his mission and pay the price for our sins and see his life all the way to the cross, he had to overcome temptation.  He had to resist temptation his entire life, and not just a few weeks in the wilderness in a face-to-face confrontation with Satan.  Ultimately, as a result of this resistance and the completion of his mission, he has conquered death, the greatest tool used by the enemy for twisting us and turning us away from God and placing us in, as the author of Hebrews says, “lifelong slavery” to sin.

                Later on in verse 17 we find these words, “Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”  In other words, he became like us so he could deliver us.  He became like us so that he could be the merciful and sympathetic mediator that is needed to stand between us and God.  He became like us so that he could offer up the perfect sacrifice to satisfy the wrath of God that burned because of our sin and our turning away from our Creator.  Friends, there was no other way and no other person capable of paying this debt.  Paul David Tripp, a wonderful pastor, teacher, and Christian counselor says of Christ’s birth, “That baby was more than a baby.  He was God come in the flesh.  Why?  Because what was necessary for redemption could be done by no other.”  God himself paid a debt that was owed to God.  I can’t even begin to put into words the thankfulness and adoration that we ought to have for God based on that fact alone, much less all of the other ways in which he provides for us daily.

                Then there are the words of verse 18, the final verse of our text:  “For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”  Christ can help us in our suffering and temptation because he knows all about it; he knows what it’s like to be tempted.  He’s felt it and tasted it and had to battle it himself.  His helping us get through our struggles isn't done from theoretical or academic knowledge, but from actual battlefield or in-game experience.  It’s like this, would you rather have someone working on your home who graduated at the top of his class in engineering, or would you rather have the guy who has being doing it for the last 20 years with a flawless reputation.  When someone you know is struggling with pain of addiction, would you rather have a guy who has read all the books on addiction, or the guy who has been out there working with recovering addicts for his entire life, or even the one who has “recovered” from addiction himself?  Well, when it comes to Christ, we have both.  Yes, Christ knows what must be done in order for us to overcome sin in our lives.  After all, he did have a hand in our creation.  However, he also knows what it feels like to go through the process because he’s been there.  He has experienced all the things that we go through in this life.

                I’ll be brutally honest with all of you here today.  You have absolutely no clue as to everything that is going on in my life and I have no clue as to everything that is going on in yours.  Sure, we know bits-and-pieces and a few details about each other’s struggles right now, but not everything in its entirety.  Not even my wife knows everything that is going on in my life and everything that is on my mind at any given moment (and that’s probably a good thing).  I lean upon her far more than I ought to and she helps me work through many areas of my life where I greatly need it.  She knows more than anyone else, but not everything.  However, she does have her limits, but God does not.  Not only does God know everything about me, and even things that I don’t know about myself, but God understands what it’s like to go through those things.  He understands on an experiential level and not just an academic one.  Friends, one of the distinctives of the Christian faith is fact that our God was willing to lower himself to us for us to have a relationship with him.  The onus wasn't on man to raise himself to God’s level (because he can’t), but God humbled himself to our level.  If Jesus were not the Son of God, God incarnate, then this would not be the case.  If God had not humbled himself, taking the form of a servant, then we would not really know who he is.  Sure we would have the words of the Old Testament, but we would have a relationship with God like we do.  Not only that, but we would not have the wonderful blessing of knowing that God has actual knowledge of what it is we go through as human beings.  We should all rejoice at the fact that the child, the birth, which we celebrate this season, was the Son of God.  This is the moment in time when God humbled himself and came to our level to save us, and so that we could have a more intimate knowledge of him that anyone could have ever imagined.  Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Luke 1:26-38 "Jesus Christ: Son of Mary"

                Last Sunday, during our look at Jesus as a son of David, we very briefly looked at part of the text that we just read and in doing so I said that we were going to set aside any information about Mary and just focus on Jesus being of the line of David.  Well, today we come back to this text in its entirety, this time with our focus being upon Jesus as the son of Mary.  Now, our last two Sundays (Jesus as a son of Adam and of David) may have been a bit uncommon in terms of their identity.  By that, I mean that when we think of Jesus being a son, we don’t immediately think of it being of Adam or David.  However, that’s not the case when it comes to Mary.  In fact, many Christians throughout history, largely in an effort to distinguish one Mary in Scripture from others, have called Mary by the fuller title of Mary, mother of Jesus.  Some other titles include Saint Mary, Virgin Mary, and Mary, mother of God.  Now, I want you to file away that she is both mother of Jesus and mother of God for just a second.

                Mary is an interesting Biblical figure when it comes to our understanding of her.  The range of opinions and importance that is attached to her varies from group-to-group and person-to-person, even amongst the Christian faith.  There are those who view her simply as a vessel that God used for bringing Jesus into the world, folks who view her as simply playing a part like any of the rest of us plays our part in the unfolding of God’s plan.  Then, there are those that have elevated her to the level of sainthood and even offer up prayers in her name.  Now, I would caution against the later for but one reason.  If we remember back in John’s gospel, Jesus himself stated that he was the only way to the Father (John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.).  Praying in Mary’s name gives the impression that Mary might be another avenue that we can take in order to come to God.  Viewing her as another means of reaching God is to contradict and go against Scripture and the very words of Jesus himself.  My observation, however, is that most Christians fall somewhere in between these two extremes.  Most Christians view Mary as important, but not quite to the level of being elevated above all others, and especially not elevated to the level of Jesus or anywhere close.  Whatever the level of importance that is attached to Mary, it is undeniable that she indeed is the virgin who gave birth to Jesus and cared for him during his youth.

                Our text tells us that Mary found herself face-to-face with the angel Gabriel, an angel who had appeared not only to Zechariah prior to this, but also to the prophet Daniel some 500 years prior to both of these occurrences.  Now, at first, Mary is worried.  She is afraid that God’s messenger has come to her because of something that she has either done that she should not have or because she has not done something that she should have.  Gabriel calms her by saying, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.”  Gabriel goes on to tell her that she will conceive a child and that that child will be called Jesus.  He will be the Son of the Most High.  He will be the Son of God.  He will sit on the throne of his father David.  He’ll reign over the house of Jacob and that reign will be everlasting.  I mean, these words from the angel Gabriel are so chopped full of Old Testament prophecy about the Messiah, where do we begin?  There’s the words of 2 Samuel 7 that we looked at last Sunday about David’s descendent being on the throne forever.  There’s the promise made to Abraham in Genesis 17.  There’s the words of the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah, all of which are coming true in the person of Jesus.  And Mary is being informed by the angel Gabriel that all of this is going to come about as a result of the child that she will conceive.

                Now, given all of this prophecy that was coming true, it’s no wonder that Mary was a bit taken aback by the news that she had just received from the angel Gabriel.  “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”  Notice, she doesn’t ask, “How will this be, I’m a simple, average person?”  No, her hesitation doesn’t come from her abilities, but from the simple biological fact that it is impossible for a virgin to bear a child (that is at least without divine intervention).  This is not a matter of disbelief, but a simple matter of confusion.  She doesn’t try and lower the power the God; she just utters the most basic of problems that she perceives with the news of the angel Gabriel.  However, that question is quickly answered.  “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, therefore the child who will be born will be called holy—the Son of God.”  The Holy Spirit will descend upon Mary and she will have the power of God work to her and through her and upon her and she will conceive of this child, the one who is the long-awaited and promised Messiah.

                I want us to pay close attention to the response of Mary after Gabriel has finished all of his words to her.  Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”  I want all of us to see the complete and total submission that Mary has here as it pertains to God.  There are no excuses.  There are no reasons given as to why she isn’t the best choice for this task.  Mary could have pointed to the fact that she wasn’t married to Joseph yet and that conceiving of a child without being married was opening her up to being left by Joseph or could cause her to face some sort of public shame and humiliation.  She could have given all sorts of reasons why she didn’t need to be the one who gave birth to Jesus.  However, we find none of that.  We find complete and total willingness to do the will of God, no matter what that means for Mary.  When you are faced with God’s calling you to do something, do you respond like Mary or do you make excuses?  Do you tell yourself, “Well, I really should do that, but I just don’t have the time?”  Or do you say, “I know that you want me to do this God, but I don’t want people to think poorly of me or I don’t want to lose what I have.”  Mary is just a person like you and me when we get down to it.  Even though she is the earthly mother of Jesus, she is still a person.  She is a person, however, who was willing to be used by God in any way that He wanted, regardless of what those around her might have thought or said.

                Getting back to the title of this sermon “Jesus Christ:  Son of Mary”, I think that some connections need to be made.  We saw why it was important for Jesus to be the even greater and more complete mediator and king that Adam and David respectively.  The question that we must ask ourselves now is:  why is Jesus being the son of Mary significant?  Well, the answer is found in the very fact that we just stated:  Mary was a woman, a regular woman.  She gave birth to a little baby boy who was fully human, just like she was.  This little boy, Jesus, while he was fully human was also fully God.  No, that doesn’t make sense to us, but we’re finite beings.  There is a level of understanding that we have that cannot be crossed; we are limited in our ability to comprehend.  However, just because it doesn’t make complete logical sense to us doesn’t make it any less true.  Isn’t it completely logical for God (as an infinite being) to be capable of something that is beyond our understanding since we are finite, we have limits.  Not only is it possible, but it is exactly what happened in the case of Jesus being both completely man and completely God.  Because God humbled himself, taking the form of man (in the person of Jesus) he was able to pay the price for our sins through his obedient life.  Also, he provided a means by which we may know God and have a relationship with him.  For us to fully understand God in terms of our knowing that we have a relationship with him, we must come to grips with the undeniable fact that Mary is the mother of Jesus.  This isn’t a text about the greatness of Mary, although it does speak to her willingness to be used by God as an instrument for the unfolding of his plan, it speaks to her faith.  This text is about Jesus.  It’s about the fact that the Messiah was coming.  It’s about the fact that God was humbling himself to the point of taking the form of a servant in order to come and pay the price that was owed for our sins.  Friends, this text is about the fact that our God loves us so much, that he gave his one and only begotten for our salvation.  Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Luke 1:67-79 "Jesus Christ: Son of David"

                Aside from Jesus himself, there is quite possibly no more intriguing and interesting figure in all of Scripture (at least to me) than that of King David.  Whether it’s the tale of how he slayed the mighty Philistine Goliath when he was just a mere boy, the stories of his military conquests, or even the passion and emotion he displayed when showing repentance or sorrow; David just fascinates me.  David was a man who was born into a very average lifestyle in terms of his status and wealth, but was later called and blessed by God to do some extraordinary things.  I love reading about the love that he had for his dear friend Jonathan.  I laugh (a little) when I read about the craziness and turmoil that existed within his own family.  While I can’t relate to my family trying to literally kill me, I can relate to loving my friends like they’re family while thinking that my actual family is a little bit crazy.  I recently finished my own quick study of 1 & 2 Samuel, and at the end I was even more fascinated with David than I was before beginning that study.  Like I said, I can relate to David.  No, not in the sense of being a king, but in the sense that David was a man filled with flaws, yet still considered to be a man of God.  There was hardly anything around David that went smoothly or exactly according to plan.  In addition to all of David’s family issues, he also struggled greatly to keep himself in line as it pertained to God.  We all know the story of David and Bathsheba, but that’s not the only struggle with sin that existed in David’s life.  I think the reason why I, like so many other Christians, find David so fascinating is because he was a man of God who for the most part lived in accordance with God’s will, yet did have his moments of sin and weakness.  

                Back in 2 Samuel 7, after Saul had died and David had been anointed Israel’s king, God promised David that his kingdom would last forever.  2 Samuel 7:16 says, “And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me.”  Obviously, this didn’t mean that David would live and reign forever (God even told him as much in the verses preceding the one that we just read), but that someone from his line would reign for all eternity.  Now the particulars of how that came to pass, however, are probably not in line with what David had envisioned at the time of God’s promising the eternality of his kingdom.  Immediately after David, his son Solomon was anointed king.  After Solomon, there was strife and division and David’s kingdom was divided in half (into Judah and Israel).  Each of these two kingdoms was ruled by a different person.  During the tenure of most of these kings, the conditions (especially spiritual) of what used to be David’s kingdom could be called nothing short of disturbing, chaotic, or even a complete failure.  However, the words of 2 Samuel 7 don’t pertain specifically to an earthly kingdom or dynastic succession.  If that were the case, then the promise of God to David could be perceived as a failure and a broken promise.  There is nothing in the promise of God made to David that his kingdom will always resemble the political hierarchy that came to mind when thinking of David’s kingdom.  In fact, the kingdom that God ultimately has in mind and is speaking of here is something so much greater than David himself could have ever imagined.

                Our text for today are the words of Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, after being filled with the Holy Spirit.  Mind you, this is the breaking of the silence that Zechariah has experienced since first being told that he was to have a child several months beforehand.  After John is born, Zechariah begins to speak of two things:  his son’s ministry, and the one whom his son will prepare the way for (with much more attention being given to the later).  Now, the reason why I have spent so much time talking about King David this Sunday is because of the words of verses 68 and 69, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David.”  The first thing that we ask ourselves in light of these words is, “What does the ministry of John the Baptist, and more importantly, the impending birth of Jesus have to do with David’s kingdom?”

                You see, prior to our text for today, in verses 32 and 33 of Luke’s opening chapter to his gospel account, we find the angel Gabriel speaking with Mary about the impending birth of Mary’s child.  As Gabriel is informing Mary that she is with child (which remind you she is completely confused seeing as how she is still a virgin), Gabriel tells Mary that the child she is carrying “will be great and be called the Son of the Most High.  And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end!”  Now, we’re going to set aside all of the details of this account as they pertain to Mary.  We will pick back up on that notion next Sunday, but for today I want us to focus on the part there pertaining to David; “And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David…”  You see, using Luke 3 as our guide, we can trace the genealogy of Jesus back to King David.  Jesus is a descendant of David, born of the house and lineage of David through the line of David’s son Nathan, the third of four sons born to David and Bathsheba.  Now it’s quite possible, and probable, as we mentioned earlier, that David might have thought that the promise from God that his kingdom would last forever was referring to his kingdom in an earthly sense.  However, it’s not unheard of for man to interpret something from God and be thinking on a much smaller scale than God is working on.  The kingdom that God is speaking of is not one of ethnicity, nationality, or a kingdom of finite boundaries.  The kingdom that God is speaking of is the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of Christ.

                David is largely considered to be the greatest and most Godly king in all of Scripture, and quite possibly all of history.  We could sit and list all of the ways in which he and his kingship were blessed by God.  However, much like last Sunday, when we said that Jesus was the more perfect Adam, the fulfillment of even the areas where Adam failed, the same is true when it comes to David.  Jesus is the even better, more perfect, and more complete David.  Jesus is the more perfect mediator than Adam, and he is the more perfect king than David.  Jesus being born of David’s line is a fulfillment of God’s promise in a manner that is so far beyond anything David could have ever imagined.  Zechariah is prophesying here and praising God because the Old Testament prophecies were coming true.  The promised Messiah, which we said last Sunday first began in Genesis 3:15, was going to happen in Zechariah’s lifetime.  What a wonderful celebration.  First, Zechariah is overjoyed that his own son was born, and now he sees that his son’s purpose in life is to prepare the way for the coming Savior.  His son is preparing the way for the one who came to earth and laid down his life for all of us.

                We know that the promises of the Old Testament found their fulfillment in the person of Jesus.  We know, even greater than Zechariah, what Jesus accomplished.  We know the salvation that is made possible to all of us by the death and resurrection of this coming Messiah.  As we continue to prepare our hearts for this coming Christmas day, let every day be a day in which we celebrate the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Let every day be a day in which we possess the enthusiasm that Zechariah displayed here and proclaim that Jesus Christ has come, and that salvation is now possible through him and him alone.  Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

                

Romans 5:12-21 "Jesus Christ: Son of Adam

                As you can tell from the décor around the church, the change in some of the colors around the sanctuary, and most notably, the lighting of the first candle on our Advent wreath, the season of Advent has begun.  I mentioned last Sunday that the English word advent comes from the Latin word adventus (which means “coming”).  Well, the ultimate question that must be asked (and answered) is “Who/What is coming?”  What is it exactly that we are celebrating the coming of during the season of advent?  Well, the simple answer to that question is Jesus.  However, is there ever really such thing as a simple answer when it comes to Christ?  Now, we’ve spoken several times about the fact that throughout Scripture, Jesus is called and referenced by many different names.  In fact, he even refers to himself by a couple of different names.  But perhaps no name or title carries with it greater importance than the title Son.  Now, often times when we hear the name Jesus and the title Son in the same sentence we think of Jesus as the Son of God, and that’s absolutely right.  However, Jesus was also the Son of other people in Scripture as well.  Now his sonship to these others isn’t exactly like that of his to the Father, but each sonship carries with it a certain unique connection.  It’s that concept of Jesus as the son that is going to be our focus during this advent season.  For today, we will be looking at Jesus as the Son of Adam.

There is perhaps no greater or more often asked question in all of the Christian faith than, “What if Adam had never eaten of the fruit?  What if he and Eve had never eaten of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden?”  Well, the short answer is that the Fall would have never happened.  If the Fall hadn’t happened, then there would be no sin and subsequently no death since death was brought about as a result of Adam’s sin.  Now, we could get into all types of discussions over whether or not God’s plan all along involved Adam eating of the fruit, and consequentially sin coming into the world.  Although these discussions can be entertaining and very thought provoking, I don’t think that it’s worth our attention at this time.  Ultimately, like all what-if scenarios, there’s really no point in sitting around and asking the question.  The bottom line is that it happened.  As far as we’re concerned, Adam sinned, fell, and with him we fell.  Since that point in time, the concept of original sin (sin being passed from one generation to another, beginning with Adam) has existed.  Since that point in time it has been impossible for man to exist completely separated from sin, the Calvinistic doctrine of Total Depravity.  We have been non passé, non pecarre  (not able not to sin).  We can’t help it; we’re prone to sin.

In our text for today, Paul begins by stating the very fact that we all fell in the person of Adam.  Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.  After eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Adam and Eve were told by God of their “punishment”, several pains that they were going to have to endure, ultimately culminating with the words, “till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”  There is a separation from God at this point between the creator and the created.  Not only that, but prior to their sinning against God, death wasn’t the plan.  Man was to dwell for all eternity is the blessings of God, enjoying the wondrous things that God had created.

However, prior to the punishments and curses given by God to both Adam and Eve, there is given what is known as the protoeuangelion (first gospel) in Genesis 3:15.  God, speaking to the serpent, says, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”  Now, this may not sound like much, but this is the promise of the Messiah, the promise of Jesus Christ, all the way back in the Garden of Eden.  It’s impossible for us to fathom what was lost at the time of the Fall.  It’s completely beyond our abilities to comprehend the closeness of the relationship that we had with God prior to sin entering into the world.  That is, it’s impossible for us to fathom it in this lifetime.

Later on, when Paul is writing his first epistle to the church in Corinth, Paul refers to Jesus as the last Adam (or as some translate it, Second Adam).  There’s no doubt that much was lost in Adam’s sin.  However, as we’re told in our text today, there is even more found in the obedience of the Second Adam.  But the free gift is not like the trespass.  For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.  The gift of grace that is given to us in the person and work of Jesus Christ is even greater than that which was lost in Adam.  The obedience of Christ is parallel, but vastly superior, to the disobedience of Adam.  The righteousness credited to those who are in Christ is parallel, but vastly superior, to the sin attributed to those who are in Adam because of his disobedience.  The life that comes to us who are in Christ through that imputed righteousness is parallel, but vastly superior, to the death that comes to those who are in Adam through that imputed sin.

I know that it seems so simple and fundamental, but everything that we have is because of Christ.  Now, we all acknowledge that fact and not one of us would disagree with that notion.  However, I think the magnitude of what Christ accomplished on our behalf goes largely forgotten.  As one trespass (Adam) led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness (Christ) leads to justification and life for all men.  Jesus is the Second Adam, the Son of Adam, who fulfills the will of the Father that Adam failed to fulfill.  The plan for man to dwell for all eternity is the blessings and wondrous creation of God wasn’t lost forever.  In fact, we might say that it was even upgraded.  Instead of this earth being our eternal home as it would have been through Adam, heaven is our eternal home through Jesus Christ, the Second Adam.  Heaven, a place so magnificent that we cannot imagine all of its splendor.  A place with street paved in gold, with no pain and no sorrow, enjoying the presence of God Almighty for all eternity.  And these are only a few of the glimpses that we are given as to this glorious home that awaits us all. 

As we celebrate the coming of Christ during this season, let us remember that we celebrate the coming of the one who makes it possible to enjoy the free gift of grace that overcomes the condemnation of the Fall.  We celebrate the coming of the one who would fulfill what Adam and all his descendants failed to do and could not do as a result of sin within us.  For as the sins of mankind continue to increase, the grace of God through Jesus Christ increases even more.  We celebrate the one who came into this world and changed everything that had existed prior to that time.  We celebrate the one who came “so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  We celebrate the coming of our Savior Jesus Christ.  Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Malachi 3:16-4:6 "Prepare for the Coming"

I want to begin today by reiterating something that I only briefly mentioned towards the end of our time together last Sunday.  Last week, I told you that I realized that over the past few weeks that I had made a lot of comparisons between Israel and Christians today, people just like us.  I also acknowledged that the past few sermons might have come across as somewhat condemning or admonishing.  They may have seemed a little harsh to some.  Now, the same as last Sunday, I want to clarify that I’m simply stating that I realize it, not that I am apologizing in any way.  You see, the words that Malachi gave to Israel were very much needed at that point in their history.  They had drifted away from God’s commands and they needed to be brought back to reality.  The words of Malachi and the reminder (so-to-speak) of the priority in which we are to give to God and God alone are very much needed today as well.  It’s not necessarily a bad thing for us to hear sermons, read articles, sing songs, or listen to speeches that point out our failures instead of just pointing to the things that we do well.  Not only do we learn from seeing our flaws, but it makes us appreciate the good things that we enjoy in spite of or despite our flaws.  Hearing how far I have fallen makes me appreciate even more the grace that God has shown me in his calling of my to be his child.

However, Malachi’s words beginning in 3:16 have a much different feel to them than all of what he has said up to this point.  After laying out critical abuses of inadequate offerings, living immoral lives, improper priorities, lackluster commitment, and the judgment and condemnation that accompanies these offences, Malachi begins to speak of those who fear the Lord and are actually faithful to him.  He calls those who have been faithful to him and who have kept him as their main priority by a very special name.  He calls them his “treasured possession.”  This title, which was first used of God’s people back in Exodus chapter 19, connects both the covenant between God and Israel at the time of his giving the Law to Moses at Mount Saini and the covenant as it exists in its current context, just prior to the coming of the Messiah.  You see, God’s not making things up as he goes along, this is part of the plan that he has had since before the foundation of the earth.  God’s covenant with his chosen people is not a series of covenants, but one continuous relationship and covenant that has found greater and greater fulfillment as time has passed.  The words of comfort here for his people are a reassurance of sorts that yes, things are bad at that time from a spiritual health perspective, but those who are faithful to God are to continue in their efforts.  These words carry with them great meaning for us today as well.  We’ve said numerous times that we live in a world that seems to by the second become more and more separated from God.  However, as Christians, those called by God as his children, our responsibility is to not be transformed by the world.  We are to be in the world, not of the world.

Beginning next Sunday and running all the way through our Christmas Eve service, we will observe what is known as the season of Advent.  Now, Advent season looks different in almost every Christian denomination, and every church for that matter.  However, the title of Advent means the same regardless of what direction you approach it from.  The word advent comes from the Latin word adventus, which means “coming.”  You see, Advent is simply a time in which we remember, honor, rejoice over, and thank God for the coming that was about to happen at the time of Malachi (relatively speaking) and the coming that we call Christmas.  We celebrate the coming of the Messiah to earth.  We celebrate the coming of the King of kings, Lord of lords, and Prince of Peace.  We celebrate the coming of the Son, the Second Person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ.  We celebrate God himself becoming man, humbling himself, taking the form of a servant, living the life-to-perfection, and dying for our sins upon the cross.

Through Malachi, God tells Israel that this day is coming.  He tells them that the day of the Lord is coming.  Now, there are some that take “day” mentioned here as the final day of judgment.  While I do acknowledge that it is not uncommon for a reference to “the day” to be that of the Day of Judgment, I don’t think that is the case here in Malachi.  I find myself in agreement with John Calvin, who interprets the “day” mentioned in Malachi 4 to be the day of Christ’s first coming into the world.  I want you to take a second and notice the difference in the reactions pointed out by Malachi between those who have God as their priority and those who don’t.  Our text refers to them as those who serve God and those who don’t, as well as the righteous and the wicked.  For the righteous, those who serve God, the coming of Christ will be like a healing warmth.  It will be something that gives us new life and causes us to feel as if there is no limit to what we can do.  It will cause us to have that feeling that you get after walking out of a cold room into the warming sun.  However, for the wicked, the warmth is a burn.  We’re told in our text that it will be like an oven.  The light that is coming into the world is magnified to where instead of simply providing warmth, it causes pain and destruction.  For the Christian, those who truly place God as their priority, the coming of Christ, the closeness of God, and a deepening relationship with Him are not things to be feared (at least in the anxious sense), but things to be welcomed and embraced; it’s like the notion of death.  Sure, when we lose someone it hurts, but not for that person.  For that person, it is a joyous time of going to the Father.  Well, for the ones who do not worship God, it’s just the end.  There’s nothing joyous about it.  For the non-Christian, death is something to be fear and not a joyous occasion to celebrate a person’s uniting with Christ in heaven.

The final words of God spoken through the prophet Malachi prior to the coming 400 years of silence are a bit of reminiscence.  We find mentions of two men, Moses and Elijah, who were prominent figures in the Old Testament.  Moses is largely considered to be the greatest mediator not named Jesus between God and his people.  Elijah was one of, if not the, greatest prophet who ever lived.  He’s probably best known for his being used by God to defeat the prophets of Baal, leaving those who worshiped false gods to acknowledge the greatness of Elijah’s God.  Well, as we mentioned earlier, there is one who is coming who is a greater mediator than Moses, a greater, prophet than Elijah, a greater king than David, and a greater priest than Levi.  Jesus Christ, was soon to enter into the world, and things literally would never be the same again.  Now, we live on this side of Jesus.  We live after knowing what Jesus did and what he ultimately would accomplish.  Knowing all of this, how could we ever allow ourselves to mirror Israel during Malachi’s time?  How could we know what we know about the magnitude of what God was soon to do and yet find ourselves struggling with the same things that Israel did prior to Christ’s coming?  If we mirror Israel and yet we actually know what Christ has already done, doesn’t that make our sin so much worse?  Well, I’m not going to get into a discussion about the hierarchy or levels of sin, but I want us to see the severity of the issue that not placing God as our priority creates.  I want us to realize that when we don’t have God as our central focus, then everything else isn’t as it should be either.  For the people of Israel, Jesus was soon to come into the world and put things into their proper focus.  As we prepare for this holiday season, don’t let our celebration of Christ’s coming into the world be the very thing that causes you to lose focus.  Friends, we are blessed with so many great and wonderful things in this life.  However, it is only when we have God in the right place in our hearts, minds, and priorities, that we can enjoy everything else as we ought to and not become overwhelmed by the world around us.  We have to continue to look to God first and as the primary focus in our lives.  Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Malachi 2:17-3:15 "Who's Is It, Really?"

                Now, as we begin today, I want to remind all of you what we have said about the chronology of Malachi’s prophesying in Jerusalem.  Remember that after the book of Malachi ends, then there is a period of some 400 years of prophetic silence from God, ending with John the Baptist.  So, in essence, Malachi is setting the stage for John the Baptist, who in turn sets the stage for Jesus himself.  Now, over the past two Sundays, we’ve looked at how the priests and the people of Israel had so corrupted the spiritual situation there that things were pretty much in complete chaos.  There were offerings and sacrifices that weren’t anywhere near what they ought to be.  There was a welcoming of pagan peoples into the families of Israel.  There was unmerited divorce, which in no way fit the model for divorce that God had given to Israel through Moses (yes, God did allow for divorce in certain cases).  There was a general sense of whatever anyone wanted to do, they did.  Not only, were these types of things taking place, but seemingly everyone was taking part in them.  Not only was everyone taking part in them, but they were getting positive reinforcement from the priests about their behavior.  The people of Israel had so drifted from God that they didn’t even have a clue that the way that they were living their lives was completely the opposite of how God had actually commanded them to live.  They took God’s silence as an indication that they were living as they ought to.  As long as they weren’t being told specifically that they were wrong, they just assumed they were right.  Kind of sounds a bit too familiar doesn’t it.

Now, we’re told in our text that they said, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.”  And they even asked the question “Where is the God of justice?”  Well, God answered their questioning; he answered it in a mighty way that would set the stage for what was to come in about 400 years.  He tells them that he will send his messenger that will prepare the way for him.  Notice that he doesn’t say that he’s sending someone to prepare the way for someone else, but that his messenger was coming to prepare the way for him.  The one who was ultimately to come wasn’t a prophet like Malachi or an angel or any other messenger, but God Himself.  We know from our viewpoint that he’s talking about Jesus, but think for a second how this statement ought to have scared the pants off of Israel.  God was this being who no one could see his face or even say or write his name, and now he’s telling the people that he is coming near them.

Now, God doesn’t just say that he’s coming and everything will be rainbows and sunshine.  No, God, through Malachi, told the people of Israel that when he came that there was going to be a time of cleansing that would not be easy by any means.  The language used here in verses 2 and 3 is that of the process of refining metals.  Now, I’m sure that there are some of you who know the steps to this process, but just in case there are those who don’t know, let me walk you through a rough outline of the process.  First, the raw materials are heated until they melt.  The impurities in the metal separate and rise to the top of the now boiling liquid.  As they rise to the top, they are skimmed off and removed.  Once the impurities are removed, then the remaining liquid can be cooled back down and what you are left with is a pure metal.  The most important step to achieving a pure substance is the removing of impurities.  What distinguishes the quality of metals is how much of the impurities the refiners are able to remove.  It’s a harsh process, but one that must be done.  Well, the coming of God was going to be harsh, but it must be done.  The days of everyone walking around doing whatever they wanted and feeling like they were in right standing with God are to end.  The days of living like Israel while still claiming to be part of God’s people are ending.  God says specifically here that he will judge the sorcerers, adulterers, liars, and the oppressors of the poor, widowed, and orphaned.  God says that those who live lives that are outside of his will, lives in which there is no fear of the Lord, will know quickly that He has come.  The same stands true today.  When someone lives a life that is outside of God’s will and then God finally reveals Himself to them, they know in an instant that they are guilty.  Although, I do fear that there is a growing number of Christians who live doing whatever they want, and yet they are oblivious to God’s commands for their lives.

However, there is a hopeful promise made in the midst of these words.  God reminds us that He doesn’t change and that His promises that He has made with Israel’s fathers, our fathers, do not change either.  Now, we need to take great comfort in the fact that neither God, nor His promises, will ever change.  However, we have to be very quick to realize that it comes with some pointed news as well.  There are many Christians out there today, good, Bible-believing folks, who want to live according to God.  They want to live like the folks that are set before them in Scripture as examples to follow.  These folks just want to live right lives.  However, there’s something missing.    When these folks come across biblical passages about sacrifices, jubilee years, Sabbaths, and other festivals, they quickly gloss over them and say that things are different now.  Well, true, they may be different in terms of the exact objects or actions, but the substance or essence is still there.  We have to be very careful of “modernizing” Scripture and giving it a completely new meaning.  Remember, Scripture is just as applicable today as it has ever been, and it doesn’t need me or you to make it fit in today’s world.  No, it may not tell me what shows my kids are alright to watch, but it does lay out the guidelines for how I am to raise my children.  Bridging the gap between instruction and practice is my job as their father and Amy’s job as their mother, but Scripture doesn’t need to change one bit for this to be accomplished.

You see, even at this time, Israel was a very different people than they were during the time of Moses.  When they left Egypt, they had nothing and virtually all that they had, they had to rely upon God to give them.  Time had passed and their reliance upon God seemed to diminish.  Now, we know that their reliance upon Him hadn’t changed (seeing as He is the source of all that is good), but the people of Israel felt more self-sufficient.  I think that we can very easily relate to the feeling and sentiment in which Israel displays.  We, like Israel, think that the things that we enjoy are ours.  That somehow we actually own all that is in our lives.  You know; “I paid for it,” “It was given to me,” or “I found it.”  Somehow we think that everything that we claim ownership of actually belongs to us.  We quickly forget that God has given us, out of His own free will and not because of anything especially good within us, everything that we have.

As Israel was withholding their firstfruits from God, He reminded them of how they were robbing Him.  The Israelites were confused.  After all, it wasn’t as if anyone was stealing from the temple, and we’ve already said that everyone thought everything was fine since God didn’t reprimand them.  Well, robbing God has many different forms.  You don’t have to steal something in order to rob someone.  If you pay your bills each month, yet the power or the water never gets turned on, then you would say that you’re being robbed.  Well, remembering that everything that we have comes from God and that He commands that we give back to him (and we’re told in verse 10 that that is a whole tithe), we begin to see that not giving God what He commands is the same as taking something from Him.  Well, when we, like Israel, don’t give to God what is rightfully His, then we are robbing from Him.  Not giving what He is “owed” is the equivalent of stealing from God.

Throughout the last few weeks, we’ve made a point of emphasizing that we have to give to God out of our best, and not just what’s left over after the world has had its way with us.  Now, I know that the past few Sundays have maybe come off a little harsh and a bit preachy, but isn’t that what I’m supposed to be doing.  I’m not apologizing for it, but I am letting you know that I am aware of it.  However, we have to, from time-to-time, be hit with the cold hard truth in order to evaluate ourselves properly.  A business that never has a deficit is less likely to examine their practices than a business that seems to always be in the red.  Well, we are always in the red when it comes to keeping in line with God’s will, but we like to think that we’re in the black.  Sometimes we need the wakeup calls and harsh criticisms like Israel got from Malachi.  Sometimes we have to be confronted with the sins in our lives in order to recognize them.  God is beginning the process of refining his people for the coming of the Son.  He’s beginning to re-instill in them the fact that He should be the number one priority in their lives.  For them, that has to begin with giving to Him properly and stopping their robbing of God.  They have to be more concerned with living in accordance with God’s will than doing what they want to do.  And the same holds true for us today.  God is already at work in us today.  The process of shaping us in the image of Christ and making us holy (a process called sanctification) is already underway.  The question that I think we need to ask ourselves at this time (a time right before we remember and celebrate the coming of our Lord) is:  where is my priority?  During the holiday season that is soon to be underway, is my priority on seeing my family, ending the business year strongly, getting all the right gifts, etc., or is it on God?  Is my priority on celebrating the fact that God himself came to earth, taking the form of a servant, only to live a life of complete obedience to the Father and offer himself up as a sacrifice for my sins.  Friends, let the time that we have remaining before the “holiday rush” attacks us be a time in which we put priorities into their proper focus.  Let this be a time in which we remember that God and God alone ought to be our primary goal, our chief end.  Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Malachi 2:1-16 "Witness Through Works"

                As we continue our very quick look at the book of Malachi, I want to remind you of where we ended things last Sunday.  You see, the majority of the first two chapters of this book is really just one long list of condemnations of both the priests and the people of Jerusalem.  We looked last week at the first fourteen verses and what we ultimately took away from them was that Israel showed great apathy towards God.  They gave to Him the things that they either didn’t care for or didn’t want instead of giving their firstfruits and their best.  We talked about how we have to be very careful ourselves of falling into the trap of allowing the world to dictate our faith.  We have to take steps or measures to make sure that we are giving to God out of our best and our first and not just what is left over after we have given to all the other areas of our lives.

                As we begin looking at chapter two of Malachi, we find a very stern and harsh condemnation of the priests in Jerusalem.  God, speaking through Malachi, tells the priests that not only will He curse them, but that He has already done so.  They were not only failing to honor God, but they were going even further and actually dishonoring Him.  It was one thing for the people to bring the lame animals to sacrifice, but the priests accepting such sacrifices was taking things to an entirely different level.  When I let my kids dress themselves, there is usually some assortment of rubber boots, capes, or mismatched clothes involved.  For them to pick out such clothes is one thing, but for me to throw them in the car are go to school dressed like that is a whole different matter.  Now, that’s not an exact comparison, but you get the picture.  When a person of authority, in this case the priests, allows those under their supervision to get away with lackluster efforts and practices, then the person of authority is at fault even more so than those under his/her supervision.  The priests no longer resemble their ancestor Levi, this obviously referring to how God set apart the tribe of Levi as God’s priests.  The priests no longer resemble the ones who have been entrusted with the task of caring for and keeping pure and holy the places and practices of worship and sacrifice.  Now, I’m not taking any of the blame away from the people of Israel, but it’s pretty easy to see that the corruption and apathy of the priests didn’t help the situation as it pertained to the devotion and commitment of the people to God.  The priests acted in a manner which enabled the people of Israel to continue in their apathy and corruption, which in turn led to a worsening of the spiritual condition of Israel.

                One of the responsibilities that I have to have as a pastor and as the shepherd of this flock, this congregation, is that I have to be willing to make the unpopular statement or to call someone to the carpet when it is necessary or required.  If I’m not willing to do so, then things would begin to degrade within both the church and the lives of my people, and over time there would become a real faith issue within both the church and the people.  Imagine if a pastor found out about some adulterous affair between members of his church and he did and said nothing about it (and I’m not talking about making a scene here).  Well, eventually those types of things spread to either worse behaviors, or to more people.  Well, that’s exactly what happened with Israel.  I’m sure it started out with only a few people bringing a less-than-worthy sacrifice, but they were not admonished as they ought to have been.  Instead of rejecting their offerings as less than adequate, the priests accepted them.  The priests were so lax in their responsibilities that they allow such behavior to continue and over time increase.  The priests allowed all of Israel’s faiths to degrade instead of nurturing them to a healthy status like they ought to have done.  Now, remember, I’m not absolving the people of any wrongdoing, but I’m simply pointing out that the behavior of the priests didn’t help matters.

                After spending a good deal of time on the priests, Malachi turns his attention to the people of Jerusalem in general.  Have we not all one Father?  Has not one God created us?  Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers?  It’s not like many of us today go around openly saying that we either dislike God or that we have chosen other things to place above Him.  It’s rare, almost unheard of even, for someone to list their priorities and say something like:  family, friends, job, vacations, and then somewhere down in the low teens list God.  You would never find someone, at least a Christian, who would say this.  When asked, we all give the priorities in the form of the 3 F’s:  Faith, family, and friends, and usually we say it in that order.  However, what order do our actions place our priorities in?  Remember, we said last Sunday that saying that we are going to do something and actually doing it are two totally different things.  Saying that we believe something and actually believing it are different as well.

                In our text today, the men of Israel were taking pagan wives, divorce was running rampant for no reason, and people were pretty much doing whatever they wanted to without any recourse.  What’s even more unsettling is that fact that in verse 13 it seems as if the people of Israel don’t really know why God would be unhappy with their sacrifices.  The fact that they were living immoral lives and inadequately worshipping God was completely lost on them.  Once again, I often fear that our modern state of things mirrors that of Israel during Malachi’s time.  We love God.  I don’t think that there is a person here today that would disagree with that statement.  However, I do fear that our actions, much like that of Israel, would indicate that maybe our commitment isn’t what it ought to be. 

                We all want to please God and we want to do our best in terms of living out our faith, but we allow so many other things to get in the way.  We allow other things in our lives to take precedence and priority over our relationship with Him.  However, we’re very quick to turn to God in times of trouble and to ask why we are being punished.  Now, let me clear one thing up, I’m not saying that our hardships and struggles come about as punishment for things that we have done or not done.  What I’m saying is that we wonder why we aren’t rewarded like we think we ought to be.  Well, Israel was in that same boat.  They wondered why their less than acceptable lives and offerings were not well received by God.  Like many Christians today, they just assumed that the point was that they were giving something to God and that as long as they were doing that then everything was okay.

                Imagine if you will, a man or woman or family that regularly attend church.  Let’s say that that family has been very fortunate in terms of their prosperity; they want for nothing really.  This person or family gives to the church in terms of donations and volunteering every so often.  However, their giving is in no way proportionate to what they have and their volunteering is really more self-serving than that of serving others.  Let’s say that their lives outside of church reflect in no way a close personal relationship with the Lord.  We often see people like this portrayed on TV and in movies.  For example, it’s not uncommon for career criminals to be involved in church and everyone knows what they do, but their faith changes nothing of their lives outside of worship.  Do we really think that this type of person is offering up a pleasing sacrifice to God?  Now, we have to remember that in terms of our sacrificing to God, Jesus Christ has already been offered up as our once-for-all sacrifice; a fact that I am very thankful for because none of us are even remotely capable of offering up a sacrifice that is completely worthy of God.  However, that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try or that it doesn’t matter what we do since our sacrifice has already been made.

                We know that we live on this side of Christ.  We know that we live on this side of the cross and the resurrection, but our failures are just as glaring as those of Israel during the time of Malachi.  Malachi points out much of Israel’s failures by talking about their breaking of the covenant of marriage.  However, we don’t want to limit this condemnation strictly to marriage, although we cannot dismiss it from applying to marriage either.  What Malachi is doing here is pointing to one of the many ways in which the people of Israel have defiled the ordinances, statutes, and commands of God.  He’s pointing to one of the ways in which we corrupt a gift and blessing that God has given us today.

                The bottom line of all of this for us today is that our lives are our offerings to God.  We are to present ourselves as a living sacrifice to God.  What that looks like, is both the devotion and commitment to strengthening that relationship that we talked about last Sunday, and our keeping of His statutes in our daily lives as well.  I’ve said numerous times from this very pulpit that the greatest witness that we have to those around us is the way in which we live our lives and conduct ourselves as God’s children.  Our lives are also the greatest gift that we have to offer up to God’s service.  If we take the basic principle of God giving to us and our returning a portion of it back to Him, then it makes complete sense in terms of our living.  God has given us life.  Each of us has had thousands or millions of moments where we could have been plucked from this earth.  Myself, I stand before you a child who was born 9 weeks early, weighing three pounds, having spent the first few months of my life in an incubator, as the only child of parents who had to deal with the tragedy of miscarriage prior to my being born.  I’m someone who has done a lot of dumb things in my life where I’m lucky I didn’t get killed.  I’m sure all of you have similar types of experiences.  God has given us the lives that we have.  It’s really not asking too much for us to give back to Him in the form of Christian service.  God doesn’t call us to spend every waking moment in the context of a worship service.  He gives us our jobs, our recreational activities, and our friends and family as things to enjoy.  What He does command of us, however, is that we conduct ourselves in all of these areas of life, and every other area of life, as children of grace.  He calls all of us to live our lives and conduct ourselves as hearers and receivers of the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Shouldn’t our response to all that God has given us and blessed us with be to offer up our lives, and all of it, as a worthy sacrifice?  Should there ever be a part of our lives when we are able to set God aside and live as if He hasn’t called us to be His children?  Let your lives be your worship, your sacrifice to God.  And if you are someone who thinks that they need help in this area, it would be a great privilege and honor for myself and this church to help you along this path.  Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Malachi 1:1-14 "Don't Just Find Time, Make Time"

Any time I begin a new sermon series, I like to give a little bit of insight as to why I chose the book or texts that I did.  Sometimes there’s a good reason and other times there isn’t.  In being completely honest with you, the biggest challenge for me this time was the time constraint.  As many of you can tell if you’ve walked around many stores today and seen that Christmas decorations are on full display, we’re not that far from Christmas, and in terms of worship, Advent Season.  Now, after Advent has passed, then we’re going to spend some time looking at the 10 Commandments, followed by the book of Acts.  I didn’t want to stop halfway through the commandments and then pick back up in January.  I was afraid that everyone, myself included, would forget everything that had been said.  Then, it came to me; why not do a pre-Advent series?  After all, it’s very likely that many of you haven’t heard too many sermons from the book of Malachi (the final Old Testament book and the last information that we have before the intertestamental period).  So, there’s my reasoning.  It’s probably not that good, but I do think that gaining a sense of what the world was like just prior (relatively) to Christ will help us immensely when we begin our look at the birth of our Savior here in about a month.

               Read Malachi 1:1-14

                Now, I don’t know what everyone’s knowledge of what life was like in the Old Testament is.  So, let me give you a brief timeline as to when Malachi is prophesying in Jerusalem.  In 538 BC, the first exiles are allowed to return home from exile.  After only a few years, in 536, the reconstruction of the temple begins, but it quickly stalls.  The prophets Haggai and Zechariah came in and called Israel to renew their efforts to complete the temple, and eventually it was completed in 516.  However, even though it was built, didn’t mean that the work was done.  Ezra and Nehemiah came in a little later on at different times and worked to rebuild Israel’s spiritual status and the city walls of Jerusalem respectively.  Then, almost 100 years after Israel first returned from exile and began rebuilding the temple, Malachi came onto the scene as a prophet of God.  The biggest problem for Israel during Malachi’s time was apathy.  They had grown lax in their faith and disinterested since the time of prosperity that they thought was at hand had yet to come to them.  They cared nothing for the worship of God and they really only gave it “lip service”, a problem that I think many Christians today can relate to.  Their faiths were in essence part of their daily routine, and nothing more.

                Malachi begins his words to Israel by reminding them of the story of Esau and Jacob that we find in Genesis 25.  However, Malachi isn’t comparing the Lord’s anger with Israel to His anger with Esau.  What Malachi is actually doing is telling the people that they are Jacob (mind you, Jacob’s name was changed to Israel later on in his life); they are the ones whom God has chosen.  He’s reminding the people of Israel that they are set apart, that they are holy; they are different from all other people groups because they have been specifically chosen by God Himself.  They are the ones that God looks upon and calls “MY people.”  However, this does not make them immune to straying from the will of their Father; they are rejecting him even though they have been chosen.

                Malachi goes on in this first chapter to talk about the poor offerings that they are giving to God.  Instead of bringing animals that were strong and fit, or at the very least healthy, for sacrifice the people of Israel were bringing their diseased, crippled, blind, and in some cases dying animals for sacrifice.  They were only giving to God the things that they didn’t want in the first place.  They weren’t giving to God out of their firstfruits, but out of their excess.  This is very similar to an often deadly (in terms of spiritual health) habit that we have in our world today, and I’m not talking about our giving or donations, although that is many times the case as well.  Each and every one of us is busy.  There’s almost no way to escape it.  Heck, I’ve got three different calendars that I use to keep myself organized that are filled with appointments, dates, practices, meetings, and events that I have to be at or that I have to get my kids to.  There are literally days in which Amy and I see each other at 6:30 am when she leaves for work and then we don’t see each other again until dinner or even later, sometimes not at all.  Sometimes, I get exhausted just thinking about all of the things I have to do.  However, I have to remind myself many times of a few important things.  The first is that many of these things are things I chose.  They’re not things that have to be done but things I wanted to do.  The second thing is that many of them are temporary.  I won’t always have the responsibility of dropping off and picking up my kids from school.  I need to take time and enjoy what I have and not see everything as a bothersome chore.  The third thing, and this is the most crucial, is that I have to remember my priorities.  When I’m running all over the place and hurrying from one activity to the next, what about my faith?  Am I setting apart time each day to work on my relationship with God, or am I letting the world around me dictate what type of relationship I have with the Lord?  You see, it’s all well and good to squeeze in a quick look at Scripture when we’re waiting for our oil to get changed or sitting in a doctor’s office, but is that giving our firstfruits to God, or just what we can spare?  And don’t get me wrong, when I have a free moment, I’m very quick to pull out my phone and start reading my Bible, but that ought to be in addition my daily devotion and prayer.

                The nation of Israel was giving to God what it either had left over or what it didn’t want, are we doing the same?  Even the priests, Malachi says, feel like they are burdened and bothered by the work that they have to do.  If that’s the priests’ mindset, I can’t even imagine what the people must have felt towards worship.  I can only imagine what your opinions of worship would be if I walked around all the time talking about how awful worship was and how it was such a worthless endeavor.  Can you fathom a pastor talking about how much worship got in the way of everything else?  No, because worship of God ought to be what is primary in the eyes of the Christian, especially the pastor.  Now, if you happen to still feel that way, then maybe you and I should have a little talk after the service today.  However, what I want us all to think about is how the words of Malachi, in the midst of an attempt to rekindle the flames of devotion and worship that once burned bright within Israel but now only flicker every once in a while, apply to us today.  You see, as I said earlier, I don’t think that we live in a time that is all too different from that of Malachi.  We’ve allowed our devotion or commitment to worship to be aimed at other things.  We’ve allowed our passion for athletic events to surpass that of worship, and I’m not just talking about church attendance here.  We’ve allowed the structure of our weekend to cause us to think, “If only I didn’t have church on Sunday morning, then I could…”  We’ve allowed our time spent with God to be taken out of what we can spare instead of dedicating time to Him daily.  And don’t get me wrong, I’m just as guilty of these things as anyone else. 

                I want you to hear again what Malachi says in verse 14, “Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished.  For I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations.”  Those who give only what they are willing to spare are called “cheats.”  Modern context aside, the sacrifice of the fittest male livestock was the highest form of offering that could be given during this time.  To offer up a strong male and then present a crippled animal was not keeping of one’s commitment.  When we became Christians and we promised and vowed to give all that we are to the glory of God and to live for Him, didn’t we vow to bring the best of our flock, the best of our lives to Him.  When you all joined with my family in pledging before God that you would help Amy and I in raising lil’ Bert in the Lord, didn’t we all dedicate his life to the Lord, agreeing to nurture him, and set a godly example for him to follow?  Well, what are we doing when we only offer up to God the parts of our lives that are left over and unwanted?  What are we teaching those around us about what it means to be a Christian when our faith is something that we can set aside at a moment’s notice and act as if it’s not a part of who we are, much less all that we are?  We mirror Israel in our disinterest of worship having not received the prosperity that we thought would be a reality by now.  Somehow, a lack of wealth (in whatever areas that may be defined) has caused us to be disinterested, or at the very least, slightly separated in our commitment to God.  Now, I don’t mean that we say that we won’t worship until God has blessed us with some reward, but we often do set God aside in pursuit of earthly things.

                The question now becomes what to do about it.  Well, we’re going to answer part of it today, and we’re going to keep answering it over the next three Sundays.  For today, let me offer up these suggestions.  The first is to set aside a time for the Lord each day.  Some of you may already do this and my advice to you is to keep it up.  Set aside a time that every day you will offer prayer (even a quick one) and read at least some verse(s) of Scripture.  The second suggestion is to take a look at your life and try and figure out the things that you are placing before God or even close to God in terms of priority.  Now, this one can be a bit tricky, because many times we don’t even realize it, but it must be done.  When we find out what those things are, then we have to work at keeping them in their proper place.  And the final suggestion is to find someone, a spouse, sibling, friend, child, etc., who will help keep you accountable.  Find someone to talk to about your time with God.  Find someone who will take part in a daily reading with you.  Just like a jogging partner or a personal trainer, sometimes we need someone pushing us from the outside.  Friends, we run the risk of looking evermore like the Israelites that let their faith become devoid of emotion.  The only way that we are ever going to get back to where we need to be, is to start taking action against those things in our lives that are pulling us away from our Maker.  Let today be the day that you decide that is not going to happen.  Let today be the day in which you commit or recommit everything you have to the kingdom of heaven.  Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.