Before we begin, let me finish checking the tags on these Christmas gifts. “From me to me. From me to me. From me to me. From me to me. Wait, this one needs to be filled in. There we go, from me to me.” How selfish that would be to find all the gifts under a tree with tags that read, “From me to me,” unless you are looking under the tree of a Mr. Grinch or Mr. Scrooge.
Rather than a “from me to me” gift, we like the “from someone else to me” gifts. When it is a “from me to me” gift, we have to pay for it, but when it is a “from someone else to me” gift, it is free. During the time of the prophet Malachi, the Israelites who were descendants of those freed from exile in Babylon once again were blessed with a Temple in Jerusalem. It had been about 80 years since the Temple had been rebuilt, so in a sense it was a free gift for Malachi and his contemporaries. And even when it was rebuilt under the prophet Ezra, the exiles would have agreed that in their day God provided all that was needed to rebuild the temple. Yet, the joy, appreciation and worship at the Temple had faded.
The quality and quantity of sacrifices was as dismal as a no eye contact ‘thank you’ to someone who got you a very thoughtful or expensive Christmas present. This happened because the Israelites did not think God had lived up to his end of the deal after allowing the exiled Israelites to return to Jerusalem from Babylon. By now, they expected their nation to be a political and economic powerhouse, but it was not. So, the people’s faith faded, and their hearts longed for the things, eligible singles and gods of the prosperous nations around them.
The Temple in Jerusalem was impressive, but God’s gift to us is better. His gift to us is Jesus, who is also for Malachi and his contemporaries as well as for all the world. The Temple in Jerusalem pointed to Jesus as it showed the separation between the sinful world and the holy God, and the remedy for that separation as sacrifice. When Jesus sacrificed his life on the cross, the curtain that illustrated the separation between the sinful world and holy God was miraculously ripped in half by God. The clear message was that Jesus’ sacrifice restored your relationship with God, and that was a ‘from God to you’ gift. That means, we did not pay anything for our forgiveness, restored relationship with God and our future home in heaven. Yet, we still have that sinful nature that does not want to wait for heaven but wants heaven now.
Like the Israelites at the time of Malachi, we look at the prosperity of those who do not believe in God, who embrace their sinful cravings, who work hard and then give themselves the “from me to me” gifts without giving to others, and we want that. Our giving to God and others fades, our love fades and our faith fades when we do not get the gifts we want. We live like we do not owe God, since he does not take care of us. This is the conversation of our Old Testament reading from Malachi 3.
Malachi has a unique style. If you wanted to describe the style of the prophet Malachi, you could say it is a text chain between God and his people. Malachi has a back-and-forth style, and in Malachi 3, we hear God’s response to souls complaining that they are not getting to live their best life, 1 “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.
God promises to answer his people, who though complaining, are seeking and desiring God. The messenger who will prepare the way is John the Baptist, born about 400 years after this prophecy, who we hear about in our Gospel reading from Luke 3, 3 He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. God’s answer to his people, to us, centered on repentance. In Malachi 3, God weaves together what happens at Christmas, in your heart and on Judgment Day with repentance. These three are connected because Jesus’ advent or coming at Christmas and on Judgment Day are connected to your heart, what is going on inside of you, what God works inside your heart.
God will judge all sin, but Jesus was born to take sin away and for those who repent, their consciences will be clear on Judgment Day. God works repentance in your heart to trust in his forgiveness, his covenant or promise that you are forgiven through Jesus’ sacrifice, and you are welcome in the presence of God, not a room in an earthly temple.
Facing our sin hurts, but God’s loving call to repent does not change. We all have sin still tempting us away from what God has given us to dedicate our time, energy, relationships, etc. to our idea of a prosperous life, but God stops us from stressing to get what we want with these words, 2 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. Christmas is the cumulative manifestation of our sins. Jesus was conceived without sin and grew up without sin, but on the cross our sins and all sin was put on him. God became one of us so that he could package all sin into one person, then sacrifice him on the cross. Jesus is God’s free gift to you because you could not endure or stand before him with sin, but now through Jesus you will endure and stand in the presence of God forever. God continues to call you to repent, to confess your sins and trust in Jesus’ forgiveness so that you remain with him.
Malachi used the picture of a refiner’s fire that burns away impurities and a launderer’s soup that washes away filth to visualize God’s work on our hearts. God continues to burn and wash away sin with his call to repent. And Malachi assures us that the free gift from God to us remains with these words, 6 “I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Our lives as God’s people, believers, Christians, those who trust in God are like a bunch of kids racing, pushing and shoving, falling down the stairs to get to the gifts Christmas morning as we fall into temptation and sin all the while getting closer to the tree in the living room, but God stands there unchanged and filled with love with the free gift from a tree, a wooden cross, and the empty tomb. You will not be destroyed; you will live forever with your Father in heaven.
God’s saving love leads to giving to him and others. As God continued his text chain in Malachi, we read these words, 7 … Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty. “But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’ Our return to God begins with him calling to us. He calls us to return to him in repentance so that we are not lost in despair, but back with him in true joyous hope because God has forgiven and saved us. Plus, God has given us love as we hear in our New Testament reading from Philippians 1, 9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
Returning to God results in returning thanks to him in offering your whole self to him. It means giving offerings and your time to share the love and message of Jesus. It means caring for the outcast, the poor, the lonely, those with opposite viewpoints, etc. It means caring for other people’s physical needs with a meal or paying a bill, their emotional needs by listening or mentoring, their spiritual needs by praying for them, sending a Bible passage, inviting them to Bible study or worship, sitting by them and telling them you are glad they are gathered around God’s word with brothers and sisters in Christ.
You do not owe God anything because your relationship is not a transaction. It is not a ‘you give me something and I give you something’ relationship. It is love. It is like a Christmas present, which you do not give because you owe it to someone, you give it out of love. God gives us all we need, and we return our thanks and love to him.
If you read the tag of a Mr. Grinch or Mr. Scrooge Christmas gift, it would say, “From me to me.” Of course, that is how those selfish Christmas hating characters were at the beginning of their stories, but not at the end. After they were shown love, their hearts were changed, and they became generous givers. We can grow “grinchy” or “scroogey” too, but then God calls us to return to him. He calls us to repent and forgives us through Jesus’ sacrifice. He also calls us to return to showing love to him and others in giving our time, energy, money, skills and giving thanks that God’s saving love for you does not change, so repent. Amen.
Gunnar Ledermann, Pastor Divine Peace Church
Gunnar Ledermann
I’m passionate about Rockwall’s vibrant community and actively engage with local non-profits and community organizations, including the Rockwall Chamber of Commerce, the City of Rockwall, and the Downtown Rockwall Association. My background includes a bachelor’s degree in Classical Languages and a master’s degree in divinity. Currently serving as a pastor at Divine Peace Church in Rockwall, I also enjoy spending time with my wife, Marinda, and our three children.
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