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Sermon Date:	November 25, 2007 (Redeemer, Sanford)
Sermon Text:	Malachi 3:13-18
Church Calendar:	26th Sunday in Pentecost
Delivered By:	Rev. Brian Roberts

"One More Journey"

Boys and girls, this morning, I want to take you back to a time long ago - a long, long, long time ago.

I want to take you back to a time waaay before there were Christmas trees and video games… hundreds of years before there were outdoor lights… before there was, even electricity… before there were indoor toilets… I mean way before your mom and dad were born…

A long time ago, God told one of His prophets, a man named Malachi, to tell people about a Promise that God was going to keep. It was a Promise that God was going to send a Savior.

Because people forget things so easily, God had to keep reminding them that HE had not forgotten His promise. So, He used the prophet Malachi to remind them. Malachi said, "God has not forgotten about His Promise! He hasn't forgotten about the Savior." "Behold, He is Coming!"

The sermon text, this morning, is from the Old Testament Prophet, Malachi. It starts with verse 13 of chapter 3, but I want to take you back to verse 1. Listen to God tells us about the promise He is keeping. "Behold, I send My messenger to prepare the way before Me, and the Lord Whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple; the Messenger of the Covenant in Whom you delight, behold, He is coming, says the LORD of hosts."

When Malachi wrote, "Behold, He is Coming!" he was saying, "Behold, Christmas is Coming!" That's right, God was going to come into this world in a very special way. God would put on a human body, that is, become incarnate, and would become a baby. He would be born to Mary in Bethlehem. His name would be Jesus and His mother would let Him sleep in a manger, which is a feeding box for cows. There would be no room at the inn in Bethlehem and so the little Lord Jesus would be asleep on the hay.

"Behold, He is Coming!" said the prophet named Malachi. And then, on a silent night and a holy night, that is exactly what happened. Behold, He came! Jesus was born. The Promise was kept.

But why did Jesus come into this world? Well, it wasn't to find out if we've been naughty or nice. He already knew that. Each one of us has been naughty. All of us - you and me - have not been the kind of people God wants us to be. Many times we have done things or said words or thought things in our heads that are wrong.

We have been selfish. We have been angry. We have not obeyed when we should have. We have grumbled and whined. We have complained. We have even complained about coming to church to hear God's Word.

We don't deserve God's love. We don't deserve a Savior. We don't deserve anything from God. Well, there is one thing we deserve - punishment from God, for not being the perfect people He created us to be and commands us to be.

But listen, children - children of all ages - Jesus was born not to give you things you deserve. He was born to give you the good things that you don't deserve. Jesus Christ came to this earth to bring us God's grace and love, His forgiveness and peace - all of it, undeserved.

That's what's so GOOD about the Good News. God does not expect us to deserve it. He just gives it.

Today is the last Sunday of the church year. During this church year our Gospel lessons have focused primarily on the Gospel of Luke. Yes, we have heard from Matthew, Mark, and John from time to time, but most of the Gospels for this year were taken from Luke. Next Sunday, we will start a new church year where the Gospel lesson will focus on the Book of Matthew.

Now, I tell you this because one of the great themes that Luke builds into his Gospel is this idea of a journey. Luke stresses the journey that Jesus makes from His birth to His suffering, death, and resurrection.

As Luke writes, Jesus is traveling from place to place: teaching, and healing, and making believers. But Jesus doesn't travel around randomly. Always, He is journeying towards the cross.

Now, Malachi reminds us that God's people journeyed through the times of the Old Testament awaiting and preparing for the arrival of this Savior. "Behold, He is Coming!" Malachi says. "Christ's arrival in the manger is almost complete."

And then, Luke takes it from there and we journey with Christ, as He walks here on earth - bringing forgiveness and hope to struggling and hurting people. We began this journey with Luke in his Gospel on December 3rd, last year.

And the journey ends today - where it ought to. It ends at the cross. It may seem strange, at first, here at the brink of the Advent and Christmas season, that the Gospel of Luke brings us back to the cross. But, this is where Christ's journey is supposed to end. Through Christ's suffering and death, He is buying us the gift of life with God - eternal life.

Even in the horror of His suffering, in the humiliation and pain, in the wrath of God that He was experiencing in our place, Jesus was dispensing life. From hell He was giving the gift of heaven.

Look at what happens in the Gospel lesson. By the power of God's grace, the criminal being crucified next to Jesus confesses, "We are receiving what our deeds deserve; but this man has done nothing wrong." And then he looks to Christ and asks for mercy, "Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom."

This sinner understood that he deserved nothing but punishment, but he also believed that the only hope for his soul was in Jesus. And what does Christ tell the thief on the cross - this dying sinner - who from faith is confessing that Jesus is the Lord - that He actually IS the King of the Jews? He tells this new child of God, even in the ruins of his life, that "Today, you will be with me in Paradise."

Even though this criminal died one of the most cruel and shameful deaths imaginable, he died in peace – Yes, peace – with the words of the Lord in his heart. And today, as I stand here and as you sit there, he is celebrating the eternal joy of God’s presence in heaven. And we will meet him some day… which reminds me… There is one more journey the Bible talks about – and you are already on it.

It is the journey of humanity towards the time when Christ comes back to this earth for the second time. It is, also, our journey of faith, through this life, towards our heavenly home.

But, in many ways, it is not an easy journey. First of all, as the Bible says, "we live by faith, not by sight." (2 Corinthians 5:7) But, "living by faith" means that we don't actually see Jesus. He doesn't actually stand in front of us and teach us, like He did in the Bible times.

We trust His Words in the Bible. We believe that He is with us, and that He loves and forgives us. But we don't see Him with our eyes.

But what is it that we DO see with our eyes? As for me, I see an aging body, that someday is going to get sick and die. I see a life filled with too many regrets and failures. I see a nagging selfishness that drives too many of my decisions.

I look around me and I see a world with violence and hatred. I see prejudice and injustice just about everywhere.

As a pastor, almost all the time I am with people who are dying. I see the grief of hundreds of people every year. I have had to bury babies and teenagers. I know too many people who have cancer. I've seen marriages crumble, families disintegrate, and hearts become cold and turn away from God.

I am constantly battling worry and fear. I fear for the safety of my wife and kids - whether it is accidents or random acts of violence. I worry too much about tomorrow. I wonder with all the expenses in our family if I can make ends meet. And what if something big and expensive happens… What then? And what if gas prices keep climbing?

I worry about my kids growing up in our world today. Will they make the right choices? Will they meet the right friends? Will they grow up happy? Will they keep their faith?

And how about you? What sin, brokenness, failures, and evil do you see everyday?

In this journey of life that we are on, it is so easy to become like the people Malachi describes today. In our hearts or with our mouths we begin to say “hard words against the Lord.”

In Malachi’s day the people were waiting for the Savior to come. But it was taking so long – generation after generation, and nothing seemed to be happening. Malachi would declare, “Behold, He is coming!” And the people would respond, “We don’t see it.”

And as verse 14 & 15 describe, the people began the very natural human tendency to doubt God. “It seems meaningless to serve God,” they said. “Nothing changes.”

“Why should I keep coming to church when nothing in my life is different? I still have the same problems. I still face the same failures. What profit is there to worship God, when we continue to suffer and struggle – especially when unbelievers and evil-doers prosper and have better lives?”

But God’s response is such a gentle, loving response. In the following verses of Malachi, God basically says, “I know what you are feeling. I know what you are living through. But you are forgetting one very important thing. You are mine. You are “my treasured possession,” He says.

God reminds us that the purpose and meaning and success of our lives is not measured in what we see or what happens to us. It is measured by our relationship with God. Through the forgiveness of sins, we have eternal peace with God. We become His children, who are dearly loved by Him.

Through faith, we know that God is for us, and not against us. We know that no matter what happens to us, God guarantees that He is working for our good. And that means that we can relax… YES, relax. Our heart and soul can relax, even in the midst of suffering or injustice, or failure, because somehow, God has it all under control.

Just like the thief on the cross, we may have to suffer along with Christ, but what a difference it makes to know that our future and our destiny is paradise with Jesus.

So, here we are, on the journey. Whatever the joys, whatever the sorrows that are ahead of us, well… they are in God’s hands.

God promises that we are loved. He promises that we are forgiven. He promises that He walks with us through every moment of our lives. He promises that no matter what happens in our lives, He is changing it into good things for us. And He promises that we will be with Him someday in paradise.

Oh, and there is one more promise. Remember, in Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, God said, "Behold, He is Coming!" And He did, when Christ was born.

Well, in the last book of the New Testament, the Book of Revelation, Jesus says the same thing. In Revelation 22:12, Jesus says, "Behold, I am coming soon!"

He did it once, so you'd better believe that He will do it again.

Amen.

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