The Wonder of It All

When the theme for our Children’s Christmas service this year was chosen several months ago, I appreciated the simple reminder it promised to provide for us as we look ahead to the celebration of the Savior’s birth yet again.  The theme, “The Wonder of It All,” seemed to be very appropriate for Christmas.  Every year, it seems, it becomes more and more of a challenge to keep our eyes transfixed on the manger.  The birth of the Babe in Bethlehem is so dangerously close to being the part of Christmas that is so familiar, so routine, so easily overlooked… that we can completely miss out on the wonder of it all.  Even the “Jesus is the reason for the season” and “Keep Christ in Christmas” car magnets and stickers can become more about outspoken opposition to anti-Christmas sentiments and less about sorely-needed personal reminders.  We can become so busy defending the attacks against Christmas that we fail to deeply ponder the meaning of Christmas.  So I was excited about this theme.

But then, since the tragic events of last week, I can’t help but see the theme from another angle, from the perspective of those who simply have no answers for how or why a young man could thoughtlessly murder innocent children and teachers at an elementary school.  For many, the wonder of it all is who could possibly do this, or why?  For others, perhaps both believers and unbelievers alike, the wonder of it all might be how could a loving God allow this to happen?  The lives of innocent children are over and gone.  But the wonder remains.  Presents had already been purchased by parents, but won’t be opened by the children for whom they were intended.  Our minds are numb and reeling with the kind of wonder that wants answers.

There have been attempts at explaining it, most of which have missed the point.  This tragedy didn’t strike because gun laws aren’t strict enough.  It didn’t happen because God has been taken out of schools.  It happened because the shooter was a sinner.  And what’s even scarier than that?  So are you and I.  Yes, the sin that Satan sequestered in that vile and cowardly killer to serve his wicked purpose is the very sin that God’s law reveals in each of our hearts as well.  Cold-blooded killers we may not be, but heaven’s “no vacancy” sign stays lit for liars, cheats, gossips, haters, pharisees, drunkards, and all other sinners as well.  You and I are destined to be right there with the gunman, standing on the outside of heaven looking in, unable to remove from ourselves the refuse of sin that clings to us and disqualifies us from entrance into heaven.

That would have been our lot, if not for the wonder of it all, the birth of the Son of Mary, the Son of God, Jesus Christ.  The wonder of it all could perhaps be summed up with these words from 1 John 3:8: “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.”  The sinful, shameful acts of last week are not unlike many despicable crimes that have happened in the past.  And sadly, they will happen again… as will the equally shameful sins in our own lives.  But the wonder of it all is that in a helpless, defenseless infant, we see the conquering hero, the Savior God in the flesh, who came to overcome.  He came to destroy and decimate the most wretched and rotten works the devil could ever conceive and carry out.  And because Jesus did just that by virtue of his life and death in our place, he has pronounced us forgiven.  His resurrection guarantees it.  The Babe in Bethlehem was born to become the crucified criminal for us, so that the devil’s work would be undone and we would be welcomed into heaven not as the sinners we are, but as the sons God has made us through Christ Jesus.  Mind-boggling.  Beyond human understanding.  Incomprehensible.  But every bit the reality because of Christmas.  May you marvel at the wonder of it all this Christmas and always.  

Malachi 3:1-4 Sermon

second sunday in advent

Shepherd of the Hills Ev. Lutheran Church (WELS)

 

Refined

Malachi 3:1-4

“I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty. ² But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. ³ He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, ⁴ and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years. (NIV)

Stroll around inside a jewelry store for a bit, and you’ll appreciate how stunning gold and silver can be.  Of course you know that it didn’t always look that way.  That ring wasn’t plucked out of a mine in a perfect circle which just happened to be sized for your finger.  Obviously it was formed into that shape somewhere along the line.  Even before it was ever shaped into anything however, the metal had to be refined.  Refining is the process by which a metal or some other substance is purified.  While this process today may very well be carried out using chemicals, it is also still done the way it was done in biblical times: with heat.  In the case of gold or silver, the temperatures must reach extreme heat, nearing 2000 degrees Fahrenheit.  As the metals reach such temperatures, they begin to melt, and eventually all the impurities burn off and what remains is the precious metal in its purest form.

But you know that in referring to the process of refining in his message through the prophet Malachi, God was not in the least interested in gold or silver, or any precious metal for that matter. No, he was interested in something much more valuable to him: souls.  And while precious metals can still retain a level of worth even if they aren’t 100% pure, that isn’t the case when it comes to souls.  No, the only soul that is acceptable to God is a pure soul, a soul without any impurities at all.  Only perfection will do; anything less does not pass the test.

This of course presents a big problem for you and me, as it did for Malachi’s audience.  You see, perfection’s not really our thing.  We’re kind of unqualified to achieve the whole “purity” thing.  It’s not that we don’t want to; it’s that we can’t.  And we know it.

So what does that mean?  Well, for people like you and me, who have been so firmly convinced by the Scriptures that we cannot achieve God’s standard of perfection by anything that we do, that can often result in our favoring one of two options.  One option is to believe that because we know full well that we cannot achieve perfection, that we don’t even bother to try.  In some way we may actually believe that we might offend God if we try to live a holy life, if we try to strive for the perfection that he demands.  We are further convinced that this off-the-wall idea finds additional support in the Bible’s teaching about justification, that is, that a person is forgiven, is declared “not guilty” on the basis of faith, not works.  Because we’re saved by faith alone, we want to keep obedience and righteousness completely out of the equation, as if we’re afraid that God might not know the difference between a person’s worthless attempts at self-righteousness and believing fruits of faith.  God wants us to know that we’re saved by faith alone, so we are content to leave many a good deed undone, as if to say to God, “see, my lack of good works serves as more proof that I know I’m saved by faith and not saved by works.”

The other choice we may be inclined to opt for is not so much an intentional avoidance of doing anything good, but a decreased concern about doing what’s wrong.  The reasoning – if you can call it that – takes the previous thought a step further.  In addition to the “I can’t be perfect, so why bother trying,” we take the gospel too far and it becomes a safety net for a life that is less concerned with the more frequent occurrences of sin and evil.   In other words, not only is trying to be perfect a waste of time, sin becomes less troubling and more welcome because “we’re forgiven.”  “I’m not accountable for my actions – I’m forgiven.”  “Telling the truth isn’t a requirement for heaven – I’m forgiven.”  “Let’s celebrate with yet another drink too many – we’re forgiven.”

Both approaches, “Since I’m saved by grace, I don’t have to do good works to strive for perfection,” and “I’m forgiven anyway, so what’s a little ‘whoopsie’ here or there” are both extremely dangerous from a spiritual standpoint.  Neither of them stems from faith.  Neither of those philosophies come from the new man in us, but from the Old Adam, still clinging for dear life, even trying to take the good that God does in our lives and twist and tangle it up.

God wants souls that are free from impurities.  Souls that buy into either of those two approaches demonstrate that they are anything but pure.  So what does God want?  What would he prefer instead?  Malachi spoke of a messenger God would send, one who “will prepare the way” (v.1).  During this season of Advent, one name comes to mind when speaking of a messenger sent to prepare the way: John the Baptist.  As we heard in this morning’s Gospel, which quoted another OT prophet, Isaiah, John the Baptist was the fulfillment of those prophesies.

It was really John the Baptist’s message that revealed God’s method for seeing to it that souls meet his standard of quality.  He spoke of preparing and straightening paths and crooked roads.  Those pictures of road repair are another way to depict the actions  referred to by Malachi, who said, “He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver” (v.3).  There it is, God’s preferred plan for purifying souls: seeing to it that they are refined. 

But what does that mean?  God isn’t literally going to put us through a fire in order to melt away the impurities; that much we know.  But it might feel that way as we endure the painful process that God is referring to: the process of repentance.  Only through the refining fires of repentance are souls made pure and right and presentable before God.

So why don’t we just go this route first?  Why instead to we sometimes default back to the previous to options we spoke of?  Because the process of repentance is painful.  It isn’t just a general awareness or acknowledgment of sin; that we “know we’re sinners already so let’s move on” type of things.  The refining fires of repentance are the coming face-to-face with the impurities of my sin – owning up to them and confessing them before God, admitting that we know how dangerously damning each sin is.  Repentance finds us open and exposed before God, with nowhere to hide and no one to blame but ourselves for our sin.  And that hurts.

But when we keep the end result in mind, we endure the pain so that we can be renewed entirely through the refining fires of repentance.  This process removes the impurities.  It cleanses.  It purifies.  It alone makes us acceptable in God’s sight, because it is an admittance that we wouldn’t be acceptable in God’s sight apart from Christ, who paid the ultimate price to remove the impurities of our sin.  He gave his life. 

The picture of being refined offers additional comfort if we carry it a bit further.  Malachi wrote, “He will sit as a refiner…” (v.3).  When the fire finally got hot enough for the metal to melt, the refiner had to pay close attention.  It wasn’t the type of job in which he attempts to multi-task.  No, just as the picture on the front of your worship folder depicts, he had to keep a close eye on things.  He needed to remain by the fireside throughout the process to ensure that the metal got hot enough to burn off the impurities, but also so that it wouldn’t be allowed to overheat, which could end up making the precious metal dull and lose its luster.

God, as we go through this process of refining, never leaves us or forsakes us.  He remains by our side.  As repentance forces us to come face to face with the harsh, ugly reality of our sin, it’s possible it might be too much for the Christian.  The devil may step in and attempt to convince us that our sin is too great, too serious, too unforgivable to bring before God and cause us to despair.  But God will remain by our side throughout as we are refined, that he might shoo the devil as needed by forcing him to recall the cross and the tomb.  God will continue to keep his eye on us, not about to lose one of his children through repentance, when it is that very method by which he seeks to purify his children in the first place.

Not only does he remain by our side throughout, never leaving us, but he also knows just how long we need to be in the fires of refinement.  You know how the refiner could tell when the impurities had burned away and it was time to remove the metal from the fire?  It was when he could see his shiny reflection in the gold or silver.  That was when he knew it was ready.  That is when it was pure.

So too, God is constantly observing us.  As he steadies and strengthens our faith through his Word and his sacrament, his reflection becomes more and more clear.  When he looks and sees his reflection with perfect clarity – when he sees Christ – dear friends, that is when the process of refinement has served its purpose.  And that is really what repentance does.  It leads us to look at ourselves and admit that we’re full of impurities, and to recognize that the only way that will ever change is through Christ and his forgiveness.  While here on earth, that process is ongoing, because the dross of our sin is always present.  But when the final Advent takes place, when Jesus returns to bring us home, the refining process will have served its purpose.  At that point the soul – your soul – so treasured by God, will be completely free of any impurities.  In Christ it will have been perfectly refined in the fires of repentance.  In Christ you are and you will on that day, be pure.  Come, Lord Jesus, come. Amen.

“For the freer confidence is from one’s own works, and the more exclusively it is directed toward Christ alone, so much better is the Christian it makes.” (Luther)

Don't Look Now!

first sunday in advent

Shepherd of the Hills Ev. Lutheran Church (WELS)

Genesis 19:15-17, 23-29

¹⁵ With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, "Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished." ¹⁶ When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the LORD was merciful to them. ¹⁷ As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, "Flee for your lives! Don't look back, and don't stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!" ²³ By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. ²⁴ Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah— from the LORD out of the heavens. ²⁵ Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land. ²⁶ But Lot's wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. ²⁷ Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD. ²⁸ He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace. ²⁹ So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived. (NIV)

Did you see who just walked in?  Don’t look now, but she’s wearing the exact same dress as you.  Don’t look now, but I’m pretty sure that one of the ladies at that table over there has been checking you out ever since we arrived.  “Don’t look now” might also be good advice to the runner leading the race as he’s nearing the finish line and tempted to look behind him to see how close the next runner is. 

Now I don’t know that any of those situations would necessarily be considered life threatening if a person snuck a quick peek.  About the only thing being risked in each case would be an awkward social situation or regret.  But there are also be some cases in which ignoring the advice, “don’t look now” could have more serious consequences. “Don’t look now” is advice to be taken seriously while driving and being tempted to grab the phone to check the text that just came in or quickly send one back.  In that case death or serious injury could result.

But there’s a situation which runs more risk than all others when it comes to heeding the advice, “Don’t look now.”  When God demands that our attention and our focus be directed toward him to the extent that we let nothing else distract us, our eternal welfare may potentially depend on how seriously we take him.  Lot came dangerously close to not taking God’s command seriously enough.  God called for his undivided attention and through his angelic messengers told Lot to take his family and run away from Sodom, lest they be destroyed by God’s impending wrath.  “The angels urged Lot, saying, ‘Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished” (v.15).  Lot’s initial reaction?  “He hesitated” (v.16).  Why did Lot hesitate?  One might suspect that his hesitation was a reflection of his sinful attachment to the life he had made for himself in Sodom and that he wasn’t quite ready to give it up.  Or, we may put the best construction on Lot’s hesitation, as Luther did, and assume that it was the result of his compassionate heart that couldn’t bear to see his fellow citizens be on the receiving end of God’s divine punishment.  We could conclude that his hesitation was an outward expression of an inward desire to see God grant mercy to Sodom.  In other words, perhaps Lot’s hesitation was representative of his good intentions.

But even if that was the case, it didn’t matter, because God does not place good intentions over obedience.  He does not overlook disobedience, not even on the basis of good intentions.   Recall at another point in Old Testament history when the ark of the covenant was being moved and Uzzah reached out to steady it so it wouldn’t fall. He had good intentions, but he was struck dead instantly because God had given a clear command not to touch the ark, and that clear command was not followed (2 Samuel 6).  When God speaks, he expects his creatures to listen and obey.  When God said “don’t look now,” when he told Lot to take his family and run, he wasn’t presenting Lot with an option; he was giving him a command.  Nevertheless, in spite of his hesitation, the Lord God mercifully spared Lot and his family as the angels grabbed them by the hand and led them out of the city.

Then, just outside the city, we again see how concerned God is with obedience.  God’s message through the angel had been clear: “Flee for your lives!  Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain!” (v.17).  But the urge for Lot’s wife was too great.  Maybe it was the thought of close friends perishing that tugged at her heart, or the loss of her dear home, or nagging curiosity at how the destruction was being carried out… whatever it was, it was too much for Lot’s wife.  “She looked back, and she became a pillar of salt” (v.26).  God had told her “don’t look now,” but she couldn’t help herself, and she suffered the consequences.

Speaking of consequences, remember that this whole ordeal was really about consequences.  God had had enough of Sodom and Gomorrah’s wickedness and was going to punish them by destroying them.  The reminder of that wickedness came earlier in the chapter when the angel guests arrived.  Lot offered to put them up as his guests, and his home was surrounded by men of the city demanding that Lot let the guests come out and have sex with them.  If such actions were representative of the kind of routine behavior that went on in the city, then it’s no surprise that God determined he was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.  So are we to conclude that the primary purpose of this account being recorded in Scripture is to emphasize how much God detests the sin of homosexuality?  Is he, by raining fire down from heaven, providing a vivid visual aid to get the point across that he detests that sin more than others?  While there is absolutely no doubt in the Scriptures that God considers homosexuality to be a sin – in spite of even religious groups stating otherwise –  still it is going too far to draw the conclusion that this account is first and foremost about God’s loathing of homosexuality more than other sins.

It is, however, perfectly in line with God’s actions in this case to conclude that God loathes sin in general.  What happened to Sodom and Gomorrah is less about God’s vendetta against homosexuality, and much more about his intolerance of sin.  God reveals to us that he is very serious about sin.  He will not let it go unpunished.  Do not equate God’s patience in allowing wickedness in Sodom and Gomorrah to continue as long as it did with his indifference.  Sin may go on for a time, but it will never go unpunished.  There is no sin that has been committed since the Fall that has not gone unpunished.  God punishes sin.  God is very serious about sin.

Yet, this event is not just about God’s wrath and retribution against sin; it is also about rescue.  Not all of Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed.  Lot and his family with him escaped, or rather, were rescued.  Yes, God is very serious about sin, but he is also very serious about mercy.  You’ll appreciate God’s mercy even more if you spend time reviewing the chapter that precedes this one.  Remember that the angel guests of Lot were first guests of Abraham.  They first visited Abraham and told him of the ensuing destruction that would come to the wicked cities.  Abraham’s response?  He begged and pleaded for God’s mercy on the city, asking first if God would spare it even if only 50 believers were found there, then 45, 40, 30, 20, and even if only ten believers were found there.  God, longing to be merciful, even agreed to save Sodom and Gomorrah for the sake of ten believers.  But even when ten believers couldn’t be found, and Sodom and Gomorrah were ultimately destroyed, God clearly showed his mercy by going to special lengths to rescue Lot and his family from the devastation, though they did nothing to deserve it.  God is very serious about mercy.

This you already know.  You know his mercy.  As remarkable as it was that God sent angels on a special rescue mission just for Lot and his family, it doesn’t begin to match the enormity of his rescue mission for you.  That was the greatest show of mercy ever.  He didn’t merely send angels, but his own Son.  And Jesus didn’t come to simply take hold of your hand and lead you out of harm’s way; no, the stakes were much higher.  You sinned, and God is serious about sin.  He demands satisfaction for it, even if it meant giving up his own Son.  Because God is serious about showing mercy, he sacrificed his only Son so that he could show mercy to you and me.  In return, he demands… nothing.  It was all carried out without any understanding of an obligation on your part.  God is so serious about showing mercy, that he willingly gives it away for free!

And though he demands nothing in return, with grateful hearts we long to give him everything.  Let us start with our hearts.  This morning marks the beginning of Advent – a time to sharpen our focus on Jesus and what lies ahead, instead of giving in to the worldly urges to keep turning around and looking back.  Flee toward God with all your heart.  Fall in love with God over and over.  Let his mercy move you to refuse giving into anything that would come between you and God.  Your eternal life with him is at stake.  Are those stakes high enough for you?

Then let us keep in step with the Spirit.  Don’t look now at whatever the devil puts in your path to keep you from Christ.  Be determined to stay focused on the One who shows you mercy.  Show the resolve that a man in India once did while tiger hunting.  Having missed his golden opportunity to take a shot at his prey, he soon found the tables turned and in an instant was helplessly in the clutches of a tiger, the rest of his hunting party nowhere in the nearby vicinity.  He had enough hunting experience to know that he had essentially one chance for survival: he could only lie quietly as if dead, no matter what.  Now lying still and motionless when terrified is difficult enough, but even more so when the tiger began slowly going to work on his meal.  The tiger took the man’s hand in his mouth and proceeded to chew his dinner.  The tiger had eaten down to the man’s elbow before help arrived from the rest of his hunting party.  Now had the man so much as whimpered or flinched in pain while quite literally being eaten alive, the tiger would not have hesitated to kill him instantly.  Think of the excruciating pain the man experienced – what would possibly enable a man to endure such a thing?  He feared for his life.  He knew his living or dying depended on it.

Dear friends, that kind of resolve, and not the longing, lingering glance of Lot’s wife, is the kind of determination needed to guard and protect one’s life from the spiritual threats that outnumber us every which way we turn.  Let us fear for our spiritual lives even more than we would our physical!  Eternity rests in the scales.  And, as we strive to stay the course, know that you are backed by a loving and gracious God, a God who has been and continues to be very serious about showing us mercy.  Let us also then be very serious in how we receive it. Amen.

“For the freer confidence is from one’s own works, and the more exclusively it is directed toward Christ alone, so much better is the Christian it makes.” (Luther)