Sermons

[Intro, Part 2] Last night mentioned NY times article, O Come All Ye Faithful, Except When Christmas Falls on a Sunday.  

[KEY] Since we are all here, let me give the highlights.  

• By the way, our holiday we call, “Christmas” originated in the 12th century from the Middle English’s “Christemass” meaning “Christ’s mass.”  

• Mass representing a gathered crowd.  

• RCC, a religious sacrament, communion, not same.   

 

• “Christ’s mass” means gathering for “a church service.”  

Back to the article.  

Author Ruth Graham, Wheaton graduate, correspondent (faith and religion) for NY Times.  

• Begins with Stonebridge Christian Church, eastern Nebraska. 

• Known for its big event programs.  

• 4 locations in Omaha.  
• Christmas is called their “Super Bowl.”  

 

• Hosts “Jingle Jam” family parties and 9 Xmas Eve services.  

 

• But, no church on Sunday, Dec. 25.  

 

• It’s “meeting people where they are.”  

• People on Xmas Day are home in pajamas.  

• Had same dilemma 2016.  

 

• Christmas and Easter as significant religious holidays. 

• Today most churches do not have a mid-week services for these events, so when people want to stay home, “What is a practical house of worship to do?”  

 

• Skip! 

 

• Stonebridge had church 2016 and practically no one showed!   

 

• Christmas morning and Sunday morning are in tension.  
• “Movies” and ordering “Takeout” win? 

 

[KEY] Graham adds that the American church landscape looks different from last time Christmas fell on Sunday.  

• During the Covid-19 pandemic some pastors stressed meeting in-person in defiance, while others some stepped up their online.  

 

• Reshaped what it means to “go to church” in the 21st century.  

• Pandemic scrambled churchgoer’s habits, driving people to digital spirituality (Permanently?).  

 

• Solution, “opt out.”  

 

• 2016 89% held church; it will be less this time.  

• Lifeway Research, from the Southern Baptist, says 61% now plan to meet, citing informal and pragmatic churches as most likely to not.  

 

• Summit Church (J.D. Greer), in NC draw 11,000 (20,000) on big Sundays will host 17 Xmas Services, nevertheless will be closed on Dec. 25.  

 

• Summit, closed for most of 2020 saying, “You could almost look at Covid, at lockdown, as a year of an exception.”  

 

[KEY] Kevin DeYoung, PCA pastor in Matthews, N.C. says that when churches cancel, he hears that message like:  

“Hey, it’s Christmas, and Jesus may not be the reason for the season.”  

• DeYoung did what we are doing, with a scaled down gathering!  

 

DeYoung, in 2016 wrote a Blog: A Plea to Pastors: Don’t Cancel Church on Christmas. 

5 Reasons:  

1. Most people will come back. 

1. Visitors will be looking for a place to worship. 

1. Family is a gift, not a god. 

1. It’s Christmas for crying out loud! 

1. It’s Sunday for crying out louder!     

 

[TRANS] As a path back to Malachi 3, I’ll add one more reason to come this morning.  

• To listen to God’s Word.  

 

• Specifically, a Bible prophecy that came true!  
• One came true, so the others that follow, “Will to!”  

[Question] Why is this important?  

• Two reasons the Bible tells us to study prophecy. 

• Holiness and Hope! 

 

Disclaimer: It is never to have a corner on the truth, to have the secret knowledge, crystal ball, a Nostradamus. Not to become puffed up with having everything precisely figured out in a neat chart. The Bible always casts prophecy for our: Holiness and Hope.    

 

[TRANS] Last night I drew parallels between the days of Malachi (using John Piper’s, Malachi sermon (40 years ago, on December 19, 1982). 

[KEY] Malachi calls both, Holiness and Hope.  

• This prophecy means Christmas Hope but likewise means Christmas Holiness.  

 

• Final prophetic word from final OT prophet, calling out Two big Sins: 

• Marital Breakdown and Money Worship!  

• Illegitimate Divorce. 
• Intermarriage with unbelievers.  
• Greed, seared conscience, no fear of God (cf. Mal. 3:5).  

 

• Sins filling a void of hopelessness. 

• Believing prediction of God’s glory returning to his temple failed. 
• Messianic Age did not Come! 

 

• Malachi 3 calls for Holiness and offers Hope through this Christmas prophecy.  

[KEY] We learned last night: The deeper, Sins beneath the Sins, where God’s people both Ignored God and Accused God (cf. Mal. 2:17): 

ESV  Malachi 2:17 aYou have wearied the LORD with your words. uBut you say, “How have we wearied him?” hBy saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delights in them.” Or by asking, b“Where is the God of justice?” (Mal 2:17 ESV) 

• Questioning the LORD’s return! (“Where is the God of justice?”).   

• Presuming on God’ grace. 
• God has given this society a free pass (cf. Rom. 6:1 “May sin increase…?”)  

 

[Question] “What solves this deeply embedded attitude?” 

[Answer] Prophesy that offers Hope and Accountability!  

• Encouragement and a Call to holiness. 
• What people do not want to hear in church.  

 

[TRANS] We unpacked the Three Persons from Malachi 3:1.  

1. “My messenger” being John the Baptist.  

1. “The Lord” who is Jesus.  

1. And, “the LORD of host” who is God (the Father).  

 

• John came to present Jesus to the world.  
• Jesus came as “messenger of the covenant.”  
• God who’s endorsing and exalting his Son! 

 

[KEY] We anticipate Jesus’ second coming and stand in the middle of this prophecy.  

[Point] Standing in the middle is synonymous with being Holy!  

[Appl] Reaching back to Jesus’ birth, Mary who conceived by the Holy Spirit, Jesus announced by angels, evangelism carried out by shepherds, born in Bethlehem, incarnate deity, born of a virgin, wrapped in swaddled cloths, laid in a manger, escaping Herod’s plot, wrath, and rage, and being venerated and coronated by wise men (Gentiles from the east).  

We know this is happened because Scripture verifies this as Truth and this past Truth verifies a future truth.  

Living in tension between Jesus two Arrivals, is Why be Holy! 

  

[TRANS] Back to Malachi 3:2; this all comes to bear with a Christmas Prophesy Question (v. 2).   

“But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?” (Mal. 3:2). 

• Returns to the purpose of prophesy: Holiness and Hope. 

 

[Prop] Why believers will endure and stand when Jesus returns. 

 

1. The Lord’s second coming refines his priests (vv. 2-3) 

 

• Jesus’s first coming was soft, gentle, and humble.  

• Shepherd gathering sheep, offering himself, offering hope, offering forgiveness.  

• Jesus taking on full humanity became the intermediary to bridge the gap between being lost and saved.  
• This is the reason for his incarnation.  

 

• Jesus’ second coming will judge rejectors and rescue receivers.  

• Priests rescued. 

• Non priests rejected. 

 

[KEY] Verse 2 says, “he is like a refiner’s fire and fullers’ soap” (v. 2).  

• The refiner’s fire is the heat forging metal to a boiling point.  

• Causing impurities to rise to the surface.  

• To be scraped clean.  

 

• The fullers’ soap describes the process of scrubbing cloth (violently) to bring it clean.  

 

• This is what the LORD’s rescue looks like! 

• What’s promised for his priests! 

[Appl] Refining that begins now. What the LORD does in the lives of every believer. This is sanctification, the work of God growing believers in holiness.   

• Jesus loves his children. 

• Enough to work his holiness into their lives.  
• Holiness that hurts (being scrubbed by the Lord is painful).  

ESV  Hebrews 12:6 For athe Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” (Heb 12:6 ESV) 

 

[TRANS] “How does this apply to us?” 

1. New Testament Christians are priests.  

[Question] “Are we the sons of Levi?”  

• The sons of Levi were God’s designated tribe to care for the temple.  

• Representatives of Israel as worship leaders of Israel.  

 

• “Doesn’t God care to purify the rest of Israel?”  

• Yes, bc/judgment begins with the house of God.  

• Like people like priest, like priest like people.  

 

• Purity or impurity always trickles down.    

[Question] “How does this apply to us?”  

• “Are we the new sons of Levi?” Yes and no!  

• “No” historically, ethnically, religiously, and politically. 
• “Yes” in the sense that God titles every believer as a priest. 
• “Yes” in terms of that he calls every believer to do priestly work.  

 

• God called all Israel a “kingdom of priests” (cf. Ex. 19:6). 

 

• Peter calls all believers in the church a “holy priesthood” (cf. 1 Pet. 2:5) and a “royal priesthood” (cf. 1 Pet. 2:9). 

 

• Understanding this means, all Christians fulfill this prophecy of Malachi 3:3 and this refining has already begun.  

Verses for sanctification:  

 Beginning with what Christ did 

ESV  Hebrews 1:3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and athe exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. bAfter making purification for sins, che sat down dat the right hand of the Majesty on high, (Heb 1:3 ESV) 

ESV  Titus 2:14 awho gave himself for us to bredeem us from all lawlessness and cto purify for himself ca people for his own possession who are dzealous for good works. (Tit 2:14 ESV) 

ESV  1 John 3:8 aWhoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was bto destroy the works of the devil. (1Jo 3:8 ESV) 

ESV  Romans 6:22 But now that you ahave been set free from sin and bhave become slaves of God, cthe fruit you get leads to sanctification and dits end, eternal life. (Rom 6:22 ESV) 

• In a word, Christ came to make us clean!  

• Christmas is for purity.  
• What are we purified from is Sin!  

 

• Malachi is specific!  

• Marital unfaithfulness and the Love of money.  

 

• Christmas is about your marriage.  

• Christ came to keep it pure. 
• To give you the will and power to keep your vows as long as you live. 

  

First, this Christmas prophecy builds your holiness in terms of your marriage.  

• As in Malachi’s day and Our day, people took their eyes off God’s coming and settled into the world. 

 

[Question] “Why does God not regard their offerings… 

ESV  Malachi 2:14-16 aBut you say, “Why does he not?” Because the LORD bwas witness between you and the wife of your youth, cto whom wyou have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.  

15 aDid he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union?1 And what was the one God2 seeking?3 bGodly offspring. So guard yourselves4 in your spirit, and let none of you be tfaithless to the wife of your youth. 

16 “For athe man who does not love his wife but divorces her,1 says the LORD, the God of Israel, covers2 his garment with violence, says the LORD of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and rdo not be faithless.” (Mal 2:14-16 ESV)  

 

• God provides to power to resist and kill what kills marriage.  

• Personal holiness unlocks the integrity for intimacy with a spouse. 
• Intimacy is not first physical, at all! 

  

• Begins with intimacy with the Lord, that is God moving, convicting, and leading within your life.  

• Happens within your personal life to build intimacy with your spouse.  

• Building a triangle with two believers.  
• Also, the power for Spirit-filled believers married to unbelievers (cf. 1 Cor. 7:14).  

Second, this Christmas prophecy builds your holiness in terms of your money.  

• The issue is never how much or little you have.  

• Always has to do with your love for it.  

• Contentment with God.  

• Lordship over your life and circumstances. 
• The issue behind the issue.  

 

• Being stingy is born from the desire for control. 

• Giving is an example of releasing this control.  
• What Israel did in Malachi’s day is what we do today. 

ESV  Malachi 3:8-10 Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. aBut you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ bIn your tithes and contributions.  

9 aYou are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. 

10 aBring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby bput me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open cthe windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. (Mal 3:8-10 ESV)  

 

[Question] “Why were they bringing blind goats to the house of God?”  

• Comfort? Hope? 

  

• Greed kills the soul and contradicts Christmas.  

• Christ is the gift beyond gifts!  

• His coming, his provision, his life, his nearness, his unbreakable commitment to you, his gift of eternal life.  

 

• All incomparable to money.  

 

• Remember prophecy is meant to produce two things: Holiness and Hope.  

• People trade God for marital unfaithfulness. 
• People trade God for money.  

 

[KEY] Solution for being holy and living with hope is living in the middle of Christ first and second coming.  

• It comes back to your posture before God.  

• Remember the awe of Christ!  
• You are priests in the lines of Levi!  

 ESV  Malachi 1:11 For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name awill be1 great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name awill be great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts. (Mal 1:11 ESV)   

ESV  Malachi 2:5 My covenant with him was one of life and apeace, and I gave them to him. bIt was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name. (Mal 2:5 ESV) 

 

[Illus] The covenant of the perpetual priesthood promised to Phinehas for his zeal and awe of God in Numbers 25:13.  

 

ESV  Malachi 3:16-18 Then those who feared the LORD aspoke with one another. The LORD paid attention and heard them, and ba book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the LORD and esteemed his name.  

17 “They shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, ain the day when I make up bmy treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. 

18 Then once more you shall asee the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him. (Mal 3:16-18 ESV)  

 

• The prophecy culminates predicting Christ’s first and second comings.  

ESV  Malachi 4:1-2 1 “For behold, athe day is coming, bburning like an oven, when call the arrogant and call evildoers dwill be stubble. The day that is coming dshall set them ablaze, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. 

2 But for you awho fear my name, bthe sun cof righteousness shall rise dwith healing in its wings. You shall go out eleaping like calves from the stall. (Mal 4:1-2 ESV) 

 

ESV  Malachi 4:5-6 a“Behold, I will send you bElijah the prophet cbefore the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. 6 And he will aturn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and bstrike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”1 (Mal 4:5-6 ESV)  

 

Conclusion: The parallels between then and now are striking.  

• Do not miss the punch and power of living in awe of this Christmas prophecy.  

 

• Live in the middle, between Christ’s arrivals, anticipating Christ’s return based on the rock-solid account of Christ’s first coming!  

ESV  1 Timothy 3:16 Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: aHe1 was manifested in the flesh, vindicated2 by the Spirit,3 bseen by angels, cproclaimed among the nations, dbelieved on in the world, etaken up in glory. (1Ti 3:16 ESV) 

 

And He is coming again!