God’s Word Stands the Test of Time

Sermon preached at Our Savior on 12/31/09. Text: 1 Peter 1:22-25 http://ref.ly/1P1.22-25

God's Word Stands the Test of Time

On one of the bookshelves in the house where I grew up, sat a set of beautifully-bound books. They were there my entire childhood, and I would often spend time looking through them. Seemingly endless knowledge was at my fingertips. The books were full of pictures, charts, and articles on just about any topic you can think of. And the best part was that, at least in my mind, these books were reliable. They could be trusted.

In case you were wondering, the set of books was the complete World Book encyclopedia: 1980 edition. I was right that these books were a great source of information. But were they reliable? Mostly they were, I'm sure; I haven't looked through them lately. But they were probably the most reliable right when they came out. Since then, though, they've gotten a bit out of date. Think of all the things that have happened since 1980. All the events, all the new technology, all of the stories -- they won't be found in those books.

Well, thankfully, we now have the internet to solve all those problems for us!  The internet probably hasn't been good for encyclopedia sales, because now, information can be kept up to date. One such site that promises this is Wikipedia. It's basically an online encyclopedia that has one unique feature: anyone can update it. Just log in and make the necessary changes to any article to make it correct. Now, nothing will ever be out-of-date for long!

Of course, that has also lead to a few problems. Wikipedia has been famous (or notorious) for having people make purposely false changes to articles. It's been especially bad during the times around elections. Numerous times, someone who was against a particular candidate went on and added false, scandalous information to their Wikipedia site. Turns out you can't even trust the internet to be true and up-to-date.

That's something for us to think about as we enter a new year tomorrow. What's really reliable? What can we put our trust in? The changing of one year into another reminds us that everything changes. Our relationships with others change. The things we do every day change. Our clothes wear out. Our homes and cars need repairs (when they don't need to be replaced.) Food spoils. Technology that is new one day is obsolete the next.

Yes, even our own bodies are wearing out with the passage of time. We're getting older every second. Sickness affects us in varying degrees at different times. And, unless our Lord returns very soon, death will come to each one of us. We will not live forever in this world.

Of course, there is one thing that we can rely on. There is one thing that we can trust one hundred percent. One thing is never out-of-date, never contains an error, is always relevant. I'm talking about God's Word. God gave us the Bible as his perfect, unchanging message of Good News about his Son. And not only is this Word never wrong, it can actually do something for us in this constantly changing world.

We change, things around us decay, but God's Word stays the same. And as it does, it renews us, and gives us new life! Our life, even in this sinful, dead and decaying world, our life has changed forever because of the unchanging Word. Our text from 1 Peter brings these startling changes into focus for us tonight: "Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart." (1 Pt. 1:22)

Now, there's a new year's resolution if I've ever heard one! "Love one another deeply, from the heart!" Obviously, that's a great goal to have, and we can just imagine the good things that would come to our lives if this command was followed by everyone. But notice, before we can really love one another deeply from the heart, we need to have "purified [our]selves by obeying the truth."

Did your life in the past year seem very "purified?" Can you look back on 2009 as a year when you did everything right, when you helped everyone out, when you made giant strides closer to your God through your acts of love to him and to others?

Maybe you can say yes to that. And that's great. But I think more of us have to admit that 2009 was a year of sin for us. It was a year of wrong choices, poorly-chosen words, selfish actions, and steps farther away from God rather than towards him.

And what can we do? Well, we can do just as much to make up for that sin as we can to stop the passage of time. We can do just as much about our sins as we can prevent the calendar from turning from 2009 to 2010. No, we can't do anything about our sins.

But when we recognize that, when we turn to our Lord in repentance, when we despair of our own works and abilities, then we're ready to hear the message from God's Word that's been there the whole time: Jesus took those sins. Jesus, at a place in time nearly two-thousand years ago, took all sins of all time onto himself on the cross. And in his bloody death, and with his perfect life, he has purified you. He has washed you clean. He has, long before you were born, made you new. He won you a new life.

And then, maybe at your baptism, maybe when you heard that Good News, the Holy Spirit gave you faith to believe it all! That's when you began to "obey the truth" of God's Word. That's the only way you could ever believe it! And it's that faith in your heart from the Holy Spirit, and it's that love for your Savior, that gives us the joy and the ability to do what our text tells us to do: love one another deeply, from the heart.

We can do that only because of what the Word has done for us: "For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God." (1 Pt. 1:23)  When you were brought to faith through that Word, your new life began, your eternal life began. Yes, we're still sinners, and yes, our bodies will still die one day, but our soul has changed. By faith we are perfect. By faith we have eternal life. Though our bodies die, we will one day have the fulfillment of God's eternal love for us forever.

Our text shows this well as it quotes Isaiah: "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever." (1 Pt. 1:24-25) This Word that has changed you, that has given you life, will never let you down. God will not lie to you, but his salvation is truly yours forever.

So remember this as the year changes: love one another deeply, from the heart. And to give you the strength to do this, stay with the Word. Remember, the unchanging Word "is the word that was preached to you." (1 Pt. 1:25) It is the word that gave you life, and it will continue to build up your life of faith in the new year. So keep coming here to church to hear it preached to you. Keep turning in the pages of your Bibles to read it being preached to you. Keep remembering how it was preached to you with water in your baptism. Keep tasting it being preached to you in water and wine and body and blood. Keep that Word in the center of your life. It will not let you down. God's Word stands the test of time.

New Year’s Resolution?

Well, it’s New Year’s Eve! You know what that means…time to make your resolutions for the New Year!

Except…I don’t do those. Maybe you don’t either. So why are you reading this?

You’re reading this because I want you to make a life-resolution: Read your Bible more! There God tells us about his Son, our Savior, he strengthens our faith, he helps us apply his will for our lives. What is keeping us from reading the Bible more?

Maybe you shouldn’t answer that. There are lots of things you might think are keeping you from reading the Bible more, but the fact is, they’re just excuses. I want you to stop making those excuses and start making plans for reading God’s Word on a regular basis.

This is the first in what will (eventually) be several posts on plans that will help you read the Bible more. I hope they help! Through the Bible in 3 years

One of the excuses often brought up to Bible reading is “I don’t have the time.” Well, you probably don’t have time to sit and read the entire Bible in one sitting. But you likely do have time to read a little bit. The WELS website has a nice plan set up to get through the entire Bible in 3 years. The site is http://www.wels.net/spiritual-help/through-my-bible . Every day the site is updated with the current reading to get through the Bible in 3 years. If you don’t get to it and want to see past readings, you can find them in the archive link on that same page. You can even download a file with the entire 3-year schedule of readings if you’d rather.

These are not long readings. They’re probably as long as this post. You have time to do this if you use the internet regularly. How long do you spend on other websites? You have enough time to read the Bible!

As I mentioned before, I hope this and the eventual future posts help you to read God’s Word more. If you have any other ideas or plans that work for you, feel free to leave them in the comments.  God’s blessings to you in 2010!

In the Christmas Manger…

Sermon preached on 12/27/09 at Our Savior for 1st Sunday after Christmas. The text was Hebrews 2:10-18. http://ref.ly/He2.10-18

In the Christmas Manger...

1. Lies one born just like you

2. Lies one born to save people just like you 

Christmas day is over. Sure, it was just a couple days ago. Sure, we've still got all the decorations up here at church, and you've probably got your tree and other decorations up at home. But at this point, the presents have been opened. The boxes and wrapping paper have been thrown away. The all-Christmas music on the radio has already changed back to no-Christmas music. Our minds and attitudes show the same signs. For a lot of you, it's going to be back to work tomorrow -- back to the real world. Sure, the students out there may have some more time off, but it's no longer time off waiting for Christmas. That's already come and gone. The shine and sparkle and glory of Christmas have already started to fade in our minds and hearts.

That can be kind of a let-down, can't it? We get ourselves all worked up to celebrate, to wrap presents, cook food, have our parties and special services, and then like that, it's done. Gone.

And it can be easy for that spark of the incredible, amazing wonder of what God has done to disappear from our hearts, too. When we get ready for Christmas, and when we celebrate Christmas, it can really remind us of God's love, that he sent his Son for us, and that he did something amazing for us on that first Christmas.  We get that spark of joy in our hearts, we feel the glory of what God did when he came to that manger in Bethlehem.

But does that spark get snuffed out when Christmas is over? Does the glory fade? Was that really all it was? Is our faith really that wrapped up in special music and certain days on the calendar? Is being a Christian really worth it during the rest of the year? Does Christmas still matter once Christmas has ended?

It does! Christmas always matters, whether it's the 27th of December or the middle of June. Christmas gives us the assurance that our life does matter, that being a Christian, connected to Christ, who once laid in a manger, means everything for our lives. The meaning of Christmas is wrapped up -- not in pretty wrapping paper that gets thrown into the trash -- Christmas is wrapped up in our Savior. It's wrapped in who he is and what he has done.

So while our world may have moved on and moved past Christmas, don't let that happen to you. Never hesitate to take the time to look into that Christmas manger and see what God has done for you. Because there in the Christmas manger lies one born just like you, who came to save people just like you. His glory will never leave us.

You see, Jesus' glory isn't just a warm, fuzzy feeling you get at Christmas. His glory is what he came at Christmas to give us. Our text from Hebrews mentions this. "In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering." (Heb. 2:10) .

That verse deals with the most important topic there is: how we get to heaven. That's what true glory is. Heaven will not have the pain and suffering and problems and troubles that we have now. Those things will be gone forever, and God will wipe away every tear from our eyes. (Rev. 7:17) We wait for that true glory of heaven while we suffer now.

But the Bible tells us that our getting to heaven directly involves suffering. Do you remember the very first promise of a Savior in the book of Genesis? It's actually pretty violent. God said, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." (Gen. 3:15) Enmity is a strong animosity or hatred. Then you've got crushing and striking going on. It's not really the prettiest picture. There's anger and violence there.

So it makes sense, since that's what God promised, that violence and suffering is exactly what Jesus got. You cannot separate Jesus being born in the manger with Jesus being nailed to the cross. You can't have one without the other. Jesus was born so that he could suffer and die. Jesus couldn't have suffered and died unless he had been born of the virgin Mary and put into that manger. The quiet cries of a newborn baby were foreshadowing the cries of pain of a true man suffering and dying.

We might be thinking, "Sure, yes, Jesus had to suffer and die. I get that. But why do I have to suffer? Why do I have to hurt and struggle? I thought Jesus was supposed to cover that! Why do I still have to die some day? Why do I have to lose people I love? Why do I have to live in a world where someone would want to blow himself up along with everyone else in an airplane? Why does there have to be all the anger and hate and problems and suffering? If the goal of all this was to bring us to glory, it sure doesn't seem to be working."

When we start to feel that way, it's easy to think that we somehow got it all wrong. Maybe this whole being a Christian thing isn't worth it. Maybe those things we stopped doing because we somehow got the idea they were sinful -- maybe we can just keep doing them! If God wants everyone to suffer, maybe I don't want any part in that God. Maybe I'm just better off on my own, doing what seems best to me.

Those thoughts might not hit us all at once. They might hit us a little bit here or there. They might come into our minds in these days after Christmas. But recognize when those thoughts come, and don't be fooled. The devil wants those thoughts in your heads, because they're sinful and they lead to sin. They don't lead us forward in our faith, but they bring our faith down. They could eventually destroy our faith altogether.

So when those thoughts come, remember the words our text says next. "Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers." (Heb. 2:11) There is some amazing comfort in this verse when you think of Christmas. Jesus knows the exact suffering that we go through. He went through it! He didn't just suffer and die on the cross; he felt all the normal pains and sufferings of everyday life that we do. That pain we feel doesn't mean that God has left us, or is being cruel to us. It means we're part of the family. Jesus isn't ashamed to call us his brothers and sisters.

In the manger lies one born just like you. The Christmas story isn't a fairy-tale. It's how a real child was really born. That child just happened to be the Savior who would go on to die for us. But he was born just like us! He suffered like us! He made us children of God, guaranteeing that we would never be separated from him.

And because he is just like us, a true human being, it meant that he could do the thing we need the most: bring us true glory. Listen to some of the most beautiful words in the whole Bible: "Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death." (Heb. 2:14-15)

Yes, Jesus became one of us so he could save all of us. Remember, God had promised punishment for sins, the most severe punishment possible. That means that all your sins, those thoughts you have of thinking God doesn't have your best interest at heart, sins like those deserve death, they deserve hell. They don't just deserve it, God promised that punishment came with those sins.

So then what could be done for sinners like us? Jesus did the only thing that could be done. He came and lived the life we couldn't live -- the life without sin. Then he came and suffered and died a death and a punishment that should've been ours, that we deserved! But he took it all. He could take it all because he is a true human being like us, and he is the true and holy God. As our text says, "For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people." (Heb. 2:17)

Old Testament high priests would go into the most holy place once a year to offer a major sacrifice. They'd take blood from an animal they'd sacrificed and sprinkle it on top of the ark of the covenant there. They did this because God commanded it to take away sins. This offering made atonement for the people, and God's forgiveness made them at one with him again.

That's what Jesus did for us as our high priest! But he didn't have to give his offering year after year, for his own sins and ours. No, he did it once on the cross, for our sins. It was the perfect sacrifice. And it took our sins away. They are really gone. We're forgiven! And without Christmas, that would not have been possible. There, in the manger, is our salvation! In the Christmas manger lies one who was born to save people just like you. And that's what he did. And because he did, heaven is ours!

Now, I know. We're not in heaven yet. We're still on earth. So we still deal with all those hurts and problems and suffering that I talked about earlier. Those will still be there, until Jesus finally takes us to our true home of glory. But until he does, I want you to recognize when you're having those problems and see them in a different way.

Recognize, first of all, that your problems are temptations. They are temptations that the devil wants to use to pull you from your faith. When you've remembered that, then remember the last verse of our text: "Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. " (Heb. 2:18) Jesus suffered, too! He was tempted, too! Remember, he is our brother; he is truly one of us. And this verse reminds us that he can help us!

So when you are suffering, go to your Savior! Return to his Word, go back to his altar, remember your baptism. When you do that, Jesus will help you through your suffering. And when he does, he will also build up your faith. So you can see your suffering and problems, not just as temptations, but also as an opportunity that God wants to use to increase your faith, to increase your trust in him, your dependence on him.

You wouldn't normally think that a newborn baby would be something we would depend on. But that's exactly what Jesus is. Christmas day might be over, but its joy never ends. We might suffer and hurt in our life, but Christmas reminds us that Jesus did, too. In the Christmas manger lies one born just like you. He's your brother. He's made you God's own child. In the Christmas manger lies one who came to save people just like you. And that's what he did. Remember that! Rejoice in that! And look for his love and strength at every turn, every temptation and trial you face. He won't let you down. He will give you his glory.

Rejoice! The Lord Your God Is With You!

This sermon for the 3rd Sunday in Advent was preached on 12/13/09 at Our Savior. The text is Zephaniah 3:14-17.

Rejoice! The Lord Your God Is With You!

"It's the most wonderful time of the year!" At least, that's what an old song says. But this really is supposed to be a great time of year. There's Christmas shopping and planning for Christmas parties -- and practicing for Christmas programs! There's getting together with family and friends. There's the music and the food of the season. Even the snow outside somehow adds to the joy and happiness. Maybe it really is the most wonderful time of the year!

Or is it? For some, this time of year can be the worst. Seeing family and friends might bring reminders of problems with family and friends -- fractured relationships, fighting, and even death. You might remember who isn't with you this year. All the gift-giving might just bring to mind the things that you don't have; the things you wish you have that just don't ever seem to come. All the happiness and singing and food might just make the fact that you don't feel so happy, that you don't feel like singing, that much harder to bear.

These kinds of feelings are pretty common, of course. Everyone is susceptible to the "winter blues" once in a while. The lack of daylight probably doesn't help matters, either. The question is, how do you snap out of it? How do you not only get out of the funk you're in, but also get back to the joy that this time of year is supposed to bring?

Well, would it help if someone just came to you and said, "Cheer up!"? If someone said, "Come on, get happy! Rejoice!" would you? That's actually kind of the way our text from the book of Zephaniah starts. The words of the prophet very forcefully try to make someone rejoice who is sad; they try to turn sadness and sorrow to singing and gladness.

Listen: "Sing, O Daughter of Zion; shout aloud, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O Daughter of Jerusalem!" (Zeph. 3:14) This is way stronger than a "cheer up." He keeps piling on words of joy: sing, shout aloud, be glad, rejoice with all your heart. There's nothing subtle about this. God's Word here isn't looking for someone to feel a little better, it's looking for people to start singing, shouting, and dancing in the streets!

But why? Well, to see why God is saying this, it helps to know who he's talking to. Our text says "daughter of Zion" and "daughter of Jerusalem" are the ones being spoken to. This doesn't just mean "daughters" who lived near Mount Zion or the city of Jerusalem. This was a way of saying all of the people, men and women, in the nation of Judah. Really, it's a way of referring to all of God's people, and could even include God's people of today -- us.

So why did God's people need cheering up? Well, let's just say that if you weren't depressed before you started reading the book of Zephaniah, you would be depressed by the time you got into the third chapter. The majority of this book is filled with doom and gloom, literally. God is going to judge, it says; he's going to sweep away everything that has angered him. Sure, Judah's enemies will be destroyed, but God doesn't stop there. Judah, Jerusalem, they're going down, too. No one will escape on the Day of the Lord.

God's people at the time of Zephaniah had reasons to fear God's wrath. They'd deserted God. They had turned to idols, to their own selfish pleasures, to whatever their heart desired. But they had turned away from God and from following what his heart desired. So it's not too surprising that God would be telling them their days were numbered and that he would bring all his anger, wrath, and judgment on their heads.

But that's a few thousand miles and a few thousand years away from us, right? Idol-worshiping, the wrath of God, the nation of Judah, none of that seems very relevant to us in our lives.

But look closer. I mentioned those winter blues that some of us might get this time of year. When there are problems in our families and our relationships, what is the root of those problems? Sin gets a hold of us. The sinful thoughts, desires, and attitudes of this world infect us, and the people we love, and what-do-you-know, all sorts of problems come flying our way. Even sickness and death are only a part of our lives because sin is a part of our lives.

Those thoughts of wishing for what we don't have, what we can't have…what are those thoughts but sinful desires? And how easily those kinds of thoughts and desires can lead us to blame God for our situation. "Why did you let this happen to me? Why did you put me in this situation in my life right now when things could be so much better?"

And when we're wrapped up in what we want, what we think we need, what we think we deserve, how far up our list do you think God and his ways and his Word are? Not very far. We might not be bowing down to stone idols, friends. But there are plenty of other gods to grab our attention -- whatever it is that takes our focus -- that takes our heart -- away from our God.

And because of that, the wrath promised in the first chapters of Zephaniah is promised to us, too. Anyone who acts like you and I do, anyone who has sinful, ungrateful thoughts, anyone who has the focus only on themselves, deserves that wrath and punishment of God. And don't think for a second that he's bluffing!

But instead of wanting us to hang our heads in shame, God wants us to rejoice. He wants us to sing, to shout aloud, to rejoice and be glad! Why? Our text explains. "The Lord has taken away your punishment, he has turned back your enemy. The Lord, the King of Israel, is with you; never again will you fear any harm." (Zeph. 3:15) The punishment we've deserved has been taken away. The enemy of sin and death that we have struggled with (and a losing struggle at that!)--that enemy has been turned back.

What could have possibly caused such a reversal of our fortunes? God himself came to help us! The Lord, the King of Israel, is with you; never again will you fear any harm! This time of year isn't just about Christmas parties and shopping and getting together with friends and family. This time is about celebrating the birth of the King!

God didn't leave us to die in our sins, to suffer the punishment we have justly earned! He himself stepped into our world. God the Son came to this world on the first Christmas. He turned away our punishment because he was punished in our place. On the cross Jesus paid your punishment, and he paid mine. All throughout his life Jesus faced our enemy -- sin, death, and the devil -- and he won! He never sinned! He never fell for the devil's lies and temptations! He couldn't even be held back by death, but he defeated it! He destroyed it forever when he rose again! Rejoice! Be glad! Sing and shout for joy!

"But pastor, how can I?" This world is still full of problems! Just talking about what Jesus did doesn't take away the hurts and pains that we are really feeling in this world. A few words about Jesus aren't going to cure that relationship or fix that problem or ease that hurt. The words of Jesus are good for our eternal life, but what about my life today? I don't know what's going to happen to me. I'm hurting. I'm scared. Where can I turn now?

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying there are easy answers to the problems of our everyday life. I'm not saying you can "rejoice and sing" as if you can just forget all your problems and skip on your merry way through life without a care in the world.

Yes, we have problems and troubles and struggles. But do we have to be scared of them? Do we have to seriously entertain the idea that these struggles will get the best of us? No! We don't! We never have to be afraid again! Listen to Zephaniah. "Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands hang limp. The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save." (Zeph. 3:16-17)

Our God is the one who created the world. He's the one who made you and me. He's the one who defeated death and the devil. He's the Savior who is the King of the world! If that's the God who is with us, what can't he do? Nothing! The Lord your God is with you! He is mighty to save! He is with us through everything we face, and he is strong enough to bring us through it.

The Apostle Paul put it so well in Romans. "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom. 8:38-39)

Don't be afraid. Turn your sadness into joy. Sing, shout, and rejoice! And if you still have trouble doing that, think about this: God rejoices over us. We are the ones he should be angry at, we're the ones you'd think he had to put up with. You'd think he'd be rolling his eyes at all our problems and fears and sadness. But no! He longs to comfort us. He rejoices over us. Our text tells us, "He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” (Zeph. 3:17)

Imagine a small child who is hurt and scared. What can you do for that child? You pick him up and hug him. You sing to them. You comfort him with your love. That's how our God treats us. That's how our Savior loves us.

I'm not saying you'll never be sad or scared again. But when you are, look to your Savior. Look what he's done for you. Remember that he's not going anywhere. He will never leave you. Celebrate his birth again this year. Give thanks that God thought you were worth enough to give the life of his Son for. Shout and sing with gladness. Rejoice! The Lord your God is with you!

Get Ready to Get Clean

This sermon for the 2nd Sunday in Advent was preached on 12/6/09 at Our Savior. The text is Malachi 3:1-4. http://ref.ly/Ml3.1-4

Get Ready to Get Clean!

It's time to get ready!  So much of what we do in our lives needs a time to prepare and get ready beforehand. When you take a test at school, you have to get ready and study before you take it, or it probably won't go well. When musicians play a concert, the concert isn't the first time they ever pick up their instrument. No, they spend long hours practicing to get ready. And I'm pretty sure no one here this morning woke up in your bed and then came directly here to church. There were some things you had to do first! You got dressed, maybe you ate breakfast. You got ready.

Interestingly, a lot of our getting ready involves cleaning of some sort. Maybe when you get ready for the day, you take a shower and brush your teeth -- both a form of cleaning. If you have guests coming over for dinner, what do you do? You clean, pick up the house, maybe vacuum, and make sure the place is presentable for guests.  You clean up to make sure everything's ready.

During this season of Advent, we get ready for the Savior. But how? How do we do it? How do we prepare our minds and hearts for Jesus' coming? Logically, you might think we should really try to clean ourselves up first and make sure we're good enough for Jesus. But as our text from Malachi shows us this morning, it doesn't do us any good to clean ourselves up to meet Jesus. Try as we might, we can never clean ourselves of our sins. We can never be perfect. We can never hide the sins that have dirtied our hearts and souls.

So to really get ready for Jesus, we need to listen to John the Baptist. "Repent!" he said in today's Gospel. We need to recognize how dirty and filthy with sin we really are; we need to confess that sin, then we need to look with eager anticipation for our Savior. Because when he comes, he will clean us up. He will wash away every spot and stain as he prepares us to serve him in all we do. So as we wait for Jesus again this year, get ready! Get ready to get clean!

Our text is from the book of the prophet Malachi, which is the last book of the Old Testament. By the time Malachi wrote his book, a lot had happened to Israel. They had been led to and given the Promised Land. But they had also turned away from the true God to false gods. Because of this, God had sent the Assyrians and Babylonians to take them away from their own land. But then, about 100 years before Malachi, some of the Israelites had returned from captivity in Babylon back to Jerusalem and Judea.

This was unheard of in the ancient world. Usually, once a group of people was carried off into captivity, they never came back. But God brought his people back! So, as you can imagine, they were fired up to be back! They built a new temple after the old one had been destroyed. They were dedicated to God again! It looked like things would finally be good for them all, that they would stay true to God, and that they'd live happily ever after.

It didn't work out that way, though. By the time of Malachi, the people weren't so fired up anymore. They were kind of sluggish, kind of going through the motions. Their hearts were no longer one hundred percent dedicated to God. Oh sure, they still worshiped him. They still came to the temple and brought their offerings. But their hearts just weren't in it any more.

Sound familiar? In some ways, Malachi might as well have been written in our time. We are just as much in need of the challenge and the call to repentance that God gave through Malachi in our text and that God later gave through John the Baptist.

It's John the Baptist that our text talks about first. "See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me." (Mal. 3:1) The people needed to be woken up from their spiritual apathy and cleaned up from the filth and grime of their sins. Thankfully God was going to send a messenger to prepare the way first. This is the prophecy of John the Baptist who would get the people ready for Jesus to come.  And it's John's message of repentance that we need to get us ready still today.

Because Jesus is coming soon! "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." (Mal. 3:1) Yes, Jesus will come unexpectedly. He came when people weren't expecting to Bethlehem nearly 2,000 years ago, and he will come unexpectedly when he comes again. Sounds like a good thing! But is it? Are you really ready?

Malachi asked the same question. "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." (Mal. 3:2-3) The reason you need to get ready for Jesus is because he is going to clean up when he comes.

This isn't just a little tidying up. Our text says he is like a refiner's fire. If you in a mine and you find silver, it's not going to be pure silver. There will be parts of silver and parts of other stuff, less valuable stuff that you have to get rid of. So you burn it away, you refine it in fire until you have pure silver. That's what Jesus will do at the end of the world. He will purge away with fire anything that's not pure. So are you ready?

Again, Jesus is called a launderer's soap. This isn't a nice, gentle hand soap we're talking about here. This is the kind of soap that cleans so aggressively it burns, like lye or bleach. What do you do when you clean with bleach? You've got to watch out for it! If it gets on your clothes it could ruin them. This is a cleaning that's so thorough it destroys all traces of what's dirty.

And that's not a pleasant experience. Picture a young child who's just eaten a meal. Her face is covered in food. But then mom appears with a washcloth in her hand. What does that child do? She says, "No!" I'm clean enough! Don't touch me with that! And she squirms and wriggles to try to keep that cloth away from her.

That's how we act sometimes with our sins. Jesus is coming to cleanse the world from all sin forever? Nah. Not for me. I'm not dirty with sin. I'm pretty good. Sure, I'm not perfect. But I go to church (at least once in a while), and I try to do my best.

No! That's not good enough! Your sins are serious, even the "little" sins. Each of them is a stain so deep that it seems like it could never come off. And if our attitude toward that sin is that it's no big deal, then when Jesus returns to clean up, he's going to wipe us right out and burn us away forever.

No, instead we need to look at our sins. Like how you would take that messy child to a mirror and show her how messy she really is. We need to look into the mirror of God's law and see how serious our sins really are. We need to see the stain of our desiring what's not ours, the dirt of our lies, the filth of our hate, the rottenness of our lack of respect for God's authority. Above all, we need to see the blackest stain of all on ourselves -- when we have put something, anything, ahead of the one true God.

These are not stains we can clean up ourselves. If you never brushed your teeth for several years, and then had a dentist's appointment, what would you do? You'd probably try to quickly brush your teeth really well and floss before seeing the dentist. But you know it wouldn't do any good! The damage would already be done. No quick brushing could take it away. The dentist would try, but the teeth would probably have to go.

The same would be for our sinful selves standing before our holy God. Nothing we can do can cover up those stains, that rot, that filth. So what can we do? How can we get ready to get clean? Listen to John the Baptist. Repent! Look in the mirror, recognize your sins, and then plead for your life. All you can say before God is: I don't deserve anything from you. I am guilty. I beg you, have mercy on me.

And he has had mercy on us. Jesus has paid for those sins. Jesus himself was punished for our mistakes, he has already cleaned up our dirt and filth. He washed them away in his blood shed on the cross. He scrubbed them out of us in our baptism. Yes, we are forgiven. We are holy. In God's eyes we are clean and pure because we trust in Jesus' salvation for us.

True, we're not perfect until we get to heaven. That's why we live in repentance, constantly turning back to our Savior for forgiveness and cleansing. We continually need to get ready to get clean! And that's exactly what Jesus does for us.

Our text continues, "He will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years." (Mal. 3:3-4)

In the Old Testament, only the Levites and priests could serve God in his temple. It was off-limits to anyone else. But Jesus purifies all of us to serve him. When we recognize our forgiveness, we want to serve him by obeying him and serving him with our whole lives. The Apostle Peter says, that "You...are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." (1 Pet. 2:5)

Now, in Christ, we are all priests who serve God with everything we are. Every action is for him, in thanks to him for our salvation. We don't go through the motions, we live for him from our heart and soul, as we are built up in him through the Word and Sacraments.
Peter says later on, "You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. " (2 Peter 2:9) Jesus chose us to be his, he chose us to praise him with our lives. Let's do that! Let's repent of our sins and declare God's praises with everything we do.

Because as we do, we'll be ready! We'll be ready for Jesus to come. We'll repent and see how much we need his forgiveness. We'll go to him time and again pleading for his forgiveness and rejoicing that it's already ours. We'll go out in the world praising and thanking him in all we do. We'll be ready for him to come again to clean up this world for good and take us home. May that day come quickly! Stay ready for it!