Date:   12/13/09

Text:   Malachi 2:17-3:5

Title:   Advent Expectation

Theme: The Messiah comes to purify us that we are one in our faith and life.

Introduction:

  We just had our wonderful Christmas pageant this weekend. It was a great program, helping us to have a better understanding of the meaning of Christmas. A special thank you for all those who labored hard to make this possible. As we enter into the third week of the Advent Season, we may feel some of the stress that comes with this time. We are thinking of presents to our love ones and may be even for ourselves. Wherever we turn, we see symbols of the Christmas. Can you try to name some of the symbols associated with this season? There is the Christmas wreath, advent candles, bells, Santa Claus, Christmas tree, beautifully wrapped gift boxes, salvation army’s ringing bells and kettle for donation, poinsettias, angels, star, nativity scene and so on. In today’s scripture lesson we’ll come across two additional symbols which many of us have not noticed before. Shall we turn to Malachi 2:17-3:5. Do you notice which two symbols? Refiner’s fire and soap.

  To understand the meaning of this message, we’ll need to review part of Israelites’ history. The covenant God had with His people is about He being their God and they are his people. In this covenant God promised his presence with his people as they follow and obey him. When the Tabernacle, and later the Temple were built and both were filled with His glory. When the nation of Israel was conquered by the Babylonians, the temple was destroyed. 70 years later, the Israelites began to return to their homeland from exile. They rebuilt the temple and the Jerusalem city wall. Yet the glory of God was not seen again.

  During the time of Malachi, they had been back in their homeland for sometime. Their living condition was not much improved. They were under the influence of the Persian Empire and surrounded by regional enemies and there was still social and political oppression, and economical hardship. There was injustice in their society. They asked, where is God, where is the God of justice? Where is God’s promise of his presence with them? Where is God’s promise of wealth and prosperity? Where is the promise of international prominence? Where is He, where is Hope? How long still do they have to wait for his promised coming.

  May be this year, more than any other years we can in some way identify with the sentiments expressed by the Israelites about 2400 years ago. Time magazine’s cover story: decade from hell. It outlined what the country had gone through during the last 10 years. The 20 th century was often called the American Century, but we are certain that this title is no longer with us in the 21 st century. During the last 10 years, the stock market is down by 26%. The employment rate has climbed to over 10% and the oil price tripled. We witness the bankruptcies of familiar companies: Kmart, UA, Circuit City , Lehman Brothers, GM and Chrysler. Then there was the unending war in Iraq and Afghanistan , where thousands of young men and women had died. We agree 2009 had not been a good year for the United States . We hear and read articles and books on the decline of a great power. Everyone is looking for and grapping onto every slight hint that the country will be better in the next decade. We want to believe in the experts who tell us that the worst is behind us. Besides these social and economic issues, there are personal matters bothering us. It could be relationships with our spouse, children, or aging parents. As we look into 2010, it appears that the only thing we are certain is uncertainty. Therefore during this advent and Christmas season, we want to hear messages of hope. Not only you want to hear hope, preachers are also reminded by different preaching magazines of the need and how to preach messages of hope when hope is hard to come by. The other evening, I saw this line in the local chinese TV station: 只要相信 , 就有希望 . Believe in what? Is there an object of this believe? Does it matter what one believes?

  Isn’t it true that like the Israelites in 400 BC, we too are waiting? They were waiting for the coming of a Messiah that will usher in their utopia. To us, the Messiah has come and we are waiting for the Messiah to come again. We live in between the two advents. Yet, every Christmas, we celebrate his first coming, while waiting for the second. We wait for the Messiah, Jesus Christ, that will bring us a better tomorrow. How did God respond to the Israelites who were longing for his coming?

  In 3:1, “ 萬軍之耶和華說 ： “ 看哪 ！ 我派我的使者 ， 在我前面預備道路 ； 你們所尋求的主 ， 必忽然進入他的殿 ； 你們所愛慕立約的使者 ， 就要來到 。 ” the Lord responded to his people by telling them that he would come to them. Before his coming, he would first sent a messenger to prepare the way. The four gospel writers all agreed that John the Baptist was this messenger. The Lord here is Jesus Christ. After the messenger, he would come. He would suddenly come to his temple. Again, this fulfilled when Joseph and Mary brought the 40 days old infant Jesus to the temple.

  Yes, the messiah will come. But there is more. The Israelites were given two symbols of this messiah. In 3:2, “ 可是 ， 他來的日子 ， 誰能當得起呢 ？ 他顯現的時候 ， 誰能站立得住呢 ？ 因為他像煉金之人的火 ， 又像漂布之人的鹼 ” They are looking for the messiah to give them material hope, prosperity and tangible self-reliance. Instead, what were the two symbols of this Messiah? The Refiner’s fire and literally, Soap. Fire and Soap. We associate Advent and Christmas with poinsettias, Christmas tree, lights, bells, Santa Claus, but fire and soap? Very unlikely, right? This is what God spoke through prophet Malachi. Yes, you are waiting for the Messiah to come, he will come, but he will be like fire and soap. Let’s take a look at this fire and soap.

  First the fire. This is not the camp fire we are familiar with. Camp fire is warm and cuddling. When we are cold, we want to get near, when its too hot, we move away. The fire in Malachi is called the Refiner’s fire. If there is a piece of gold ore, there will be impurities buried in it. How does one get rid of the impurities? One would put the piece of gold in a crucible which comes in all kinds of sizes, then apply high heat to it. Since the gold’s melting point is lower than the impurities, it will be melted first at high heat, about 1947 0 F. The melted gold will be poured into a container with the impurities left behind. It is through high heat that gold is purified.

  Second, the soap. We are all familiar with soap. It is alkaline in nature and has the ability to remove dirt and grease spots from clothing. Nowadays we use detergent and even bleach to rid of dirt and greasy spots. In the ancient days, after washing the clothes in soap, it would be placed on the ground or rock and beat with a stick. Or in the Asian tradition, some may remember the washing board (some may still use this).

  There are two things common with the refiner’s fire and soap. First, their objective is to rid of the dirt, the impurities in gold and in the clothes. Second, the process to rid the impurities is painful.

  We and the Israelites of old wait for the Messiah’s coming but I am not sure if we are ready for this fire and soap? Are we ready to be purified by Him?

  What are the impurities among the Israelites? Vs.3 and 4 tells us about the purification of the priests, “ 3 他必坐著 ， 像熬煉和潔淨銀子的人 ； 他必潔淨利未人 ， 煉淨他們像煉淨金銀一樣。 這樣，他們就會憑公義獻禮物給耶和華。 4 那時，猶大和耶路撒冷所獻的禮物，必蒙耶和華悅納，正如古時的日子，也像往昔之年一樣。 ” They had the form of worship, they performed their duties, but there was no content in what they did. They had the outward motion but their hearts were not there. When the religious leaders’ hearts were away from God, vs.5 tells us about the condition of the people. Vs.5, “ 萬軍之耶和華說 ： “ 我必臨近你們施行審判 ； 我要快快指證那些行邪術的、犯姦淫的、起假誓的、在工錢上欺壓雇工的、欺壓孤兒寡婦的、屈枉寄居的和不敬畏我的。 ” We notice that the repeated appearance of the word ‘against’. God was against those who turn to other gods and spirit and seek direction and guidance. God was against the adulterers and liars. They were clear violation of the 10 commandments. God was against the exploitation of widows and orphans, laborers and the aliens. These three groups of people were considered to be the most powerless in the society and the Mosaic laws had clear instructions not to oppress or take advantage of them. In other words, the priests, the religious leaders are disobeying God’s commandments. Then it was summarized this way: no fear of God.

  Do we see what is happening here? They had no fear of God. They were not worshipping God as they should. They were not being obedient to what we call the 1 st table of the law. When there is no fear of God, then other gods will come in. When there is no fear of God, there will also be no fear of men. Instead of loving the neighbor, we ended up oppressing and exploiting the weak and the poor. The Israelites wanted a Messiah that would bring them freedom and prosperity, yet the Messiah would come and purify them. Can they stand it? What do we see here? What were the impurities that need to be rid of? The separation of their religion and daily life. One commentator said that they had the “ spiritual split personality disorder”.

  How about us? Some of us give God 2 to 3 hours on Sunday morning. Others, in addition to that, may also give 2 or 3 hours during the weekdays. However, what are we like during the rest of the week? Unfortunately, there is no fear of God nor love for men. I think of some of the abuses, be it verbal or physical that are going on in many of the so called Christian homes. Spouses and children are abused. We failed to treat our employees and coworkers with respect and dignity. We claim we worship God, yet outside the church, there is no sign of this worship.

We worship God in the church, but in our everyday lives, we worship our career, finance or family. We hear this saying, we are too busy with our work or study, we don’t have time to take care of the children. In HK, many parents let their maids ended up taking care of and nurturing their kids. Overseas Chinese, here and in Europe, will send their children to the grandparents in China . I was told that in Wenzhou , there are many villages populated by grandparents and grandchildren, while the parents are doing business, making money in Spain . By the time we decide to come home, our children don’t know us anymore. We have sacrificed our children, family on the altar of career and money.

Or we go to the other extreme. We worship our children; they have become the center of our life. Because our children have to sleep, therefore we cannot come to church to worship God. Because our children don’t like the church, therefore we parents also stopped going to church. Instead of leading our children to God, we have allowed them to lead us away from God. This happens in Houston and in HK; in Chinese and Caucasian churches. Why? Can it be because we have no fear of God and God is no longer at the center of our lives? Because of this little or no fear of God, we can also see other consequences. Such as instead of helping and loving, we take advantage of the poor and weak; instead of loving our spouse and children, we abuse them. we have developed this ‘spiritual split personality’. These are some of the impurities we see in our lives.

  As we recognize such impurities within, we too need the Messiah, our lord Jesus Christ to come as fire and soap, to cleanse us.

  How will he purify us? Both fire and soap can be painful. There are times God would use those unpleasant situations in life to purify us and bring us to him again. I remember many years ago we were in a very serious car accident in Chicago . The first thing we asked of ourselves that evening was: how was our relationship with God? I recognized I have been moving away from him, and spiritually I need some house cleaning. In last night testimonies, we heard a father say, if not for my special need son, I would not have come to know God. Another father shared that when my special need child was one month old, I made sure to bring him to church every Sunday. Very often God used painful and unplanned events in lives to open our spiritual eyes, seeing our true condition that we want to come home to him.

Conclusion:

In this Advent and Christmas season, in a time of uncertainty, we want love, joy, peace and hope. Why does the Messiah come in fire and soap? Why does he want to cleanse us?

  In one of the commentaries I came across the following. The refiner would increase the heat to the crucible. As the gold melts, the impurities will start to surface. The refiner would then remove the impurities. After going through this several times, the refiner’s face will be reflected from the gold. The Messiah wants to cleanse and purify his people so that they will reflect his beauty, holiness and truth.

  In the front cover of YuTan’s 《论语》心得 she wrote, “ 《论语》的真谛，就是告诉大家。 怎么样才能过上我们心灵所需要的那种快乐的生活 。 ” However in the Christian world view, 心灵所需要的那种快乐的生活 , Real joy and fulfillment in life is the unity and integration of worship and daily living. Real joy is when we reflect the beauty of Jesus Christ in all areas of life. It is with this desire that we pray: Come, Lord Jesus.