Sermon - Malachi and John the Baptist

Luke 3.2-20 and Malachi 3.1-4
Advent 2, December 6th 2009

Malachi
Last week we looked at Jeremiah, the great prophet of doom and destruction who ended up bringing an extraordinary message of hope. Today we start with the final OT prophet, Malachi.

Malachi wrote 400 or 500 years before the birth of Jesus, to the Jewish people who had returned to Jerusalem from exile in Babylon. On the outside they were pretty religious; attending the right ceremonies, reciting the right words - but on the inside their commitment was to themselves rather than to God. This showed in corrupt behaviour, dishonesty and cruel treatment of the poor.

Malachi warned that God could see through their superficial religion and predicted that things would be put right through the intervention of two people:-

‘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.
Malachi 3.1

1. a messenger – perhaps a return of Elijah himself (4.5) – whose responsibility would be to prepare the way and prepare the people’s hearts for…

2. the Lord himself whom they –at least in their words – were seeking and hoping for.

But when this happened, when their prayer was answered, the people would get more than they had bargained for:-

But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites (that is, the priestly tribe of the day) and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness…
Malachi 3.2-3

A deep inner change is necessary if people are to live lives which please God and God will come in person to bring about this change:-

‘So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud labourers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,’ says the LORD Almighty.
Malachi 3.5

Malachi warns his people, especially the priestly tribe, those who are supposed to be representing God, that God can see their hearts – and that God alone can purify them.


John the Baptizer

Then just at the right moment in history, John comes – the messenger to prepare the way for God, for Jesus the Messiah, the Christ. John preaches the need for a baptism of repentance – a turning away from all that is wrong and a symbolic washing clean so that new life can begin. Crowds of people respond and meet him in the wilderness by the river Jordan.

You’d think he would be pleased to see them but, no:-

You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? (v7)

Not the friendliest greeting from a preacher to his congregation! John’s concern is that their repentance is real, that they are not just going through the motions in responding to his call. So he challenges them to:-

Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. (v8)

Show that you mean it, by living the way people live when they are truly committed to the ways of God, not just pretending or going through the motions. They ask him for some examples of how they should be living and he gives several:-

• To the rich – anyone with more than enough clothing or food – he says ‘share it with those who don’t have anything.’ In short BE GENEROUS and unselfish.

• Even tax collectors came to be baptized – ‘don’t collect more money than you are required to’ he says, ‘don’t line your pockets by conning people’. BE HONEST and trustworthy.

• Some Roman soldiers even came to be baptized. What should they do to show they were genuine? ‘Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely - be content with your pay.’ BE GENTLE and DON’T ABUSE POWER

These are not rules to follow so you can earn God’s approval, they are examples representing an attitude of heart which matches God’s heart. His heart which is love and justice and righteousness.

Let’s just pause for these examples to sink in and challenge us, because they apply to us too. The same things that were going on in Malachi’s day and in John’s day are still going on now. We all look like good Christian people but are we really showing the fruit of repentance in every part of our lives? Are we consistently gentle, honest and generous? Are we showing fruit that comes from a heart which belongs to God.

JOHN asks some penetrating questions and people ask him ‘So.. are you the Messiah?’
‘No I’m not’ he replies, but don’t take this lightly because I’m the one sent to prepare the way for the Messiah – for God himself in human form.’
‘You can fool me – but you can’t fool the one who is coming soon…’




Appearances can deceive

The outward appearance of something or somebody is relatively easy to change, but to please God we need a change of heart. Linda and Ernest, Godparents, this morning you have promised to bring little Precious up as a member of the Christian faith. How easy is it? We can improve our building, redesign our website, run some courses and start discipleship groups and home groups. We can baptize our children and praise God and preach and listen to sermons. We can do all these things really well and on the outside everything looks great - but unless we are really prepared to yield our hearts to God’s control, to be baptized by the Holy Spirit, all these things will just be an empty shell. My aim here isn’t to make you feel guilty but to highlight the fact that we need to recognise where we fall short, where we need to improve, and trust that if we open our hearts, God will help us. Linda, Ernest, Godparents, bringing children up to love and follow God isn’t easy. You can’t do it on your own; no-one could. But with God’s help, you can.

Christian commitment is not just about coming to the right church, saying the right prayers and receiving a heavenly ‘get out of jail card’. It is about our need to be set free and transformed on the inside, which results in a way of life which pleases and glorifies God.

It comes down to a question of trust. Who do I trust most, myself or God? God promises through Malachi:-

Return to me, and I will return to you Malachi 3.7

In Jesus we see God, a God who is completely trustworthy and who wants to heal and be reconciled with all his creatures, to set things right, to make things new.

This Jesus is coming again soon. Let’s prepare the way for him and commit ourselves to him and to his mission.