Tomorrow is the Last Day…of the Church Year. 🙂

Point blank: why do so many people NOT persevere until the end? Or asked differently, why do so many people give up the faith? Or asked more personally, why do I struggle with the temptation to give up?

This is what Malachi 3:13-18 is about. It is a MARVELOUS text in God’s Word and I can’t wait to share this sermon with you.

For today, let me offer this, because it’s good to review; it is good for the soul:

WHY GO TO CHURCH?

1) Because God commands us to gather for worship in the 3rd commandment.

2) Because God directs us not to neglect meeting together and to continue to gather to encourage one another (Hebrews 10:25).

3) Because Christ commands us to “do this” (that is we are to constantly receive) the Lord’s Supper for the forgiveness of sins.

4) Because of our great need as sinners, we need to receive through the means of grace, the grace of God and the forgiveness of sins constantly.

5) Because we actively struggle with our own sin and the temptations of the world and the devil which assail us, so we need to be strengthened through the ministry of the Word and Sacraments.

6) Because God has also commanded us to abide in His Word and to grow in the knowledge of His Word in many references of Sacred Scripture.

7) Because we are gifted as individual members in the Body of Christ (1st Corinthians 12) and we are called to share these gifts in service to one another.

8) Because we have both the responsibility and opportunity to help support the critical commission and commands the Lord has given to His Church to fulfill — for example — the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations.

9) Because the Lord has appointed a pastor and congregation to care to for us and we have opportunity to not only honor God, but to support the ongoing existence of these. To put it bluntly, if no one supports these, they disappear.

10) Because tomorrow morning is the one and only Sunday that I am guaranteed as of tomorrow morning…it is the only one I know I have (if I wake up tomorrow morning)…and on this Lord’s Day I have the opportunity to honor the Lord and to receive His gifts.

11) Because it is easy to say you love God, but as far as God is concerned there is only one thing that demonstrates our claimed love: “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome (1st John 5:3).”

Here is an excerpt from tomorrow’s sermon:

“‘What’s In It For Me?’ and Other Such Questions As The Last Day Approaches” (Malachi 3:13-18)

Last Sunday of the Church Year, November 24^th, 2013

Pastor Espinosa

            Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. It is a fact that people speak “hard against God” as our reading from Malachi 3 says this morning. That is people are supremely smug in their criticism against God, especially as they use these criticisms as rationales for not believing in God. When people do this they justify – or at least try to justify – living life as if there is no God. This makes things supremely convenient for the sinful flesh, so that we are also justified in doing whatever we want. Which is to say to disbelieve in the true God is to reinforce our justification for being our own god (a very unwise path to say the least), but this is the reason that the saying is true: everyone – in their own way – is quite religious; everyone follows something, even if that something is themselves.

 

But when arrogance takes over, people – mere mortals – speak “hard against God.” To speak “hard” is to speak critically. As easy as it is for some to complain about our government (even though we are called to pray for our governmental leaders, 1^st Timothy 2:2), some find it just as easy – or easier – to complain against God. The original word in Hebrew for this speaking “hard,” is to be speaking “strong,” or in a way that is insolent, presumptuous, wicked, godless, and rebellious. This is the spirit that is completely resistant to God and puts oneself over God. In fact when God in Malachi 3:13 points out the problem, these insolent men talk back and become argumentative towards God: “How have we spoken against you?”

 

You might think to yourself that right about now we should be relieved that the Scriptures here are about the prophet Malachi speaking to a very specific audience: to the priests and people in Judah, and – “whew” – not to me! After all, I am certainly not so insolent as that! But be warned dear Christian: do not lose the application of this word to you and me today. Our sinful flesh is still with us and it knows full well the way of insolence and the resultant hardness towards the Lord! Malachi’s words are just as applicable today when it comes to our sinful nature…we do not want God telling us, we want to tell God! And for this we just plain deserve to die, because it means that we fight against the very Author of Life Himself! So Solomon taught: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death (Proverbs 14:12).”

 

How can we be so sure of the contemporary application to us today? Because our flesh tempts us daily to focus on the critical analysis as elaborated upon in the next verse at Malachi 3:14 which seeks to justify our hardness and criticism against God:

“You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts?’”

 

And here we see what the flesh, the sinful nature in all of us does with religion and faith. To put it plainly our sinful nature makes a grandiose presumption about why we are alive, why we are here. That presumption and assumption is that we are here to be pleased on the basis of our own standard, our own desire; we are here to have what we want. Rhonda Byrne wrote a little book in 2006 entitled The Secret which was hugely successful. Here Ms. Byrne explains her basic premise:

 

            There is a truth deep down inside of you that has been waiting for you to discover it, and that Truth is this: you deserve all good things life has to offer. You know that inherently, because you feel awful when you are experiencing a lack of good things. All good things are your birthright! You are the creator of you, and the law of attraction is your magnificent tool to create whatever you want in your life. Welcome to the magic of life, and the magnificence of You! (p. 41)

 

Our flesh likes the worldview that we are the creator of ourselves. That we have a right to take what is pleasing to us. If we believe something is good for us, then that becomes our birthright; that becomes what drives us. Now there are many things in this life that we have freedom to desire or not to desire. If you have interest in certain forms of entertainment (I recommend the Lakers) or if you have an interest to pursue a certain hobby, or if you have preferences in the civil realm when it comes to cultural traditions or political systems, that’s fine, but we cross a line when we presume that our source of peace, our source of identity, our understanding as why we are alive becomes about what we want. This is a grandiose assumption and it is easily applied to faith in the minds and hearts of many. And the moment we permit ourselves to think this way, to expect this way, we set ourselves up for bitter and discouraging disappointment, because this is not why we are here and this is not what the Lord has called us to live for (unless you understand that the desire of faith is the desire for the Lord Himself and His will).

            And yet even Christians are tempted to play this game. To go back to Malachi 3:14 again: “You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts?’” And this time we add the consideration of the next verse, verse 15: “And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape.” And this thought-line of the seeming unfairness of living in faith compared to those who do not believe and yet so often seem so strong, rich, and successful in this life, can be a great source of discouragement for God’s people. Psalm 73 is an amazing elaboration of this very observation that can fill our souls with frustration and tempt us to think that the Lord is permitting an unjust and an unfair situation. We must be very careful against this way of thinking most especially when we take into consideration what will happen in the End when the Lord comes to judge, but first things first.

 

Malachi 3:14-15 teaches us about two HUGE mistakes people make about what faith is, and what the life of faith is about: