Pastor Timothy Patoka Advent 2: December 9, 2018 Peace Requires Preparation Malachi 3:1-4 1) Prepare By Listening 2) Prepare By Purifying I want you to think of a time when you felt a little stressed, a time when you did not feel too much at peace. What time is it that you are thinking of? As Grace’s campus pastor, I can it in the eyes of many students that there is a lack of peace as they continuing taking their final exams this week. Some of them already know that coffee is going to be their best friend as they prepare for late night cramming sessions. But for others who have been diligently preparing all semester long, they can look forward to their coming final exams with a greater degree of peace than others can. Maybe the stressful time that you thought of had you doing some big task that you neither had the time or the skills to adequately prepare for. What is it that could have helped bring you peace in that moment? The appropriate preparation. For the most part, it doesn’t necessarily matter what it is we are asked to do. If we are prepared for it, then we won’t be too stressed. We’ll be at peace. Every Sunday morning worship service we summarize what we believe with either the words of the Apostles’ Creed or the Nicene Creed. And in those Creeds that we say that we believe the Jesus will come back on the Last Day to judge the living and the dead. If there was any situation that would cause us stress, any situation that would show us the benefit of having peace beforehand, it’s this! And as the prophet Malachi asks us in our verses for this morning, “Who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears?” (Malachi 3:2a) The answer? Only the one who is prepared can have peace on that day. This peace requires preparation, preparation that Malachi spells out for us this morning, preparation that comes by listening to God’s messengers and that comes by purifying our hearts of whatever may distract us from this peace. 1) Prepare By Listening When Malachi wrote these words, his fellow Israelites were not at peace with God. Even though God brought them out of exile in Babylon, they wanted more life than being the cradle for the Savior. They also wanted a life filled with material blessings, with earthly peace, and they were blaming God for not having that. So they wanted to meet God and present their selfish requests to him. Yet as Malachi told them, to simply walk into such a meeting would not bring peace.
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Pastor Timothy Patoka Advent 2: December 9, 2018 They would need to first prepare so that they could have peace with God. And to do that, they would need to listen to God’s two messengers. About that first messenger, Malachi simply says this “I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me.” (Malachi 3:1a) This first messenger is John the Baptist who would go forward to prepare the way for Jesus with a simple yet strong message – repent so as to receive the forgiveness of sins. Be sorry for what you have done against God so that you are ready and willing to receive his forgiveness. About the second messenger, Malachi has much more to say. “‘Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,’ says the LORD Almighty.” (Malachi 3:1b) This second messenger is God the Son, Jesus Christ, who would take the next step in giving us peace with God by means of the covenant he would fulfill. Nowhere is this covenant better summarized than in the words of Jeremiah chapter 31. And as I read these words, I ask you to count the number of times that God refers to himself using the word “I.” “‘This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people….For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.’” (Jeremiah 31:33, 34b) How many “I’s” did you count? By my reckoning, it was 4 times. 4 times where God reassures that it is he who is doing the work. We are simply on the receiving end of this one-sided agreement. But we don’t always like to listen to both of these messengers. Sometimes we try to shy away from the first messenger, from John the Baptist, because to listen to what he says means that we have to face the facts about who we really are. We’re sinners, we do way more wrong things than good things, and nobody likes to admit that. After all, if we find it hard enough to apologize for one particular wrong, how much harder is it to apologize for all the wrongs we have done? And this repentance that John the Baptist is preaching is more than a “I’m sorry I got caught” attitude. It’s a complete change of attitude towards that sin. That not only am I sorry I did the sin in the first place, but also including us not wanting to do it again. Sometimes it’s that second messenger, God the Son, we have a hard time listening to. Because in order to receive his forgiveness, we need to admit that we are helpless to provide our own peace. No one likes to be dependent on another 2
Pastor Timothy Patoka Advent 2: December 9, 2018 person. No one enjoys realizing that their best efforts and intentions are all in vain. And the problem is that when we leave out one or both of these messengers, it is impossible for us to have true peace with God. What will end up happening is that we’ll either have a false sense of security or we’ll be depressed all the time. But rather than turn a deaf ear to one or both of these messengers, instead listen to them and rejoice that your peace with God depends solely on God. As Jeremiah chapter 31 said earlier, “‘This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people….For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.’” (Jeremiah 31:33, 34b) Our peace with God depends on this covenant’s messenger, on Jesus Christ, and what he did to fulfill this covenant. It was by his death that he received the punishment of all our wicked sins. It was by his resurrection that he assures us that God will not remember our sins anymore. This is the peace that God gives to all those who listen to his two messengers. 2) Prepare By Purifying But how it is that we can remain in this peace? Malachi lets us in on something else that our Savior does for us on a continual basis. He purifies us of whatever may distract us from this blessed peace. As Malachi says, “But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.” (Malachi 3:2-3a) If you’ve ever been to a living history exhibit, you’ve probably seen how this purification process would go. At the blacksmith’s shop, there is always a fire going. When a blacksmith wants to remove some impurities from a piece of metal, he sticks it into the fire and slowly increases the temperature until whatever that shouldn’t be there has been burned away. At the servant’s quarters, it’s not unusual to find a ribbed washboard. It’s with that and some abrasive soap that the launderer will wash clothes to make them clean again. That fire and that soap must be pretty tough if they are going to purify their item from whatever shouldn’t be there. In the same way, God purifies his repentant children from that which would distract us from his peace. And many times that process can be painful, as painful as it is to be a piece of metal stuck in a refiner’s fire or an item of clothing scrubbed by a launderer’s soap. And sometimes, like the Israelites of Malachi’s time, we can hold it against God when he purifies us, when we endure discomfort so that our hearts may 3
Pastor Timothy Patoka Advent 2: December 9, 2018 remain in peace with God. Perhaps it’s the pain of not indulging that sinful habit that feels so good yet we know it is not good for us. Perhaps it’s the pain of giving up that higher standard of living due to your generous and thankful offerings to the Lord or your purposeful scheduling of time for God’s Word so you don’t get as many hours at work. Perhaps it’ll be the pain of speaking to others in love when you’d rather speak your mind and in so doing burn bridges for future witnessing efforts. These purifications that we undergo are not easy to endure. There is always that temptation to blame the Lord for these pains or to doubt if it’s worth the cost to remain at peace with God through these purifications. But don’t let those pains from God’s purifying of you push you away from his blessed peace. Rather, look to what will come after those purifications. You will be compared to gold and silver, free from any impurities. You will be like a freshly washed piece of clothing, free from any stains. You will have peace on that day when you see God himself with your very own eyes. And in response to all this, you are free to give thank offerings to God that are acceptable in God’s sight. Because they will be given from one who is covered in Christ’s righteousness. Our theme for this morning’s worship service is “He Comes Bearing Gifts: The Gift Of Peace.” The peace that God is referring to here is not an earthly kind of peace where our lives are easy-going. Rather it’s the peace we have between us and the Lord. As we state in the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds, we believe that Jesus will come back on the Last Day to judge the living and the dead. And in order to have peace on that day, we would be wise to prepare accordingly. The prophet Malachi tells us how we may do just that. We prepare by listening to God’s two messengers. First to John the Baptist and his message of repenting for our sins. Secondly to God the Son and his message of receiving his forgiveness. For it is only by listening to both messengers that we have this blessed peace with God. But there will always be distractions to lead us away from that peace, impurities from which we need to be purified. And so God, in his love, continues to stand by our side and cleanses us of those things. Many times these purifications are not pleasant. But what comes out of it is far worth the hardship. For it is through these purifications that we may continue having peace with God and be enabled to give him thankful offerings that are acceptable in his sight. May the Lord lead us to prepare accordingly so that we may always know that we are at peace with who is to come because our Savior has come bearing the gift of peace. Amen.
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