Missed expectations

Missed expectations can sometimes hurt. When we were dating back in 2017, Abigail came up to spend Thanksgiving with my family. And was a great time, she wasn’t scared off by my family. We went to a musical together. Many great things happened that week.

But one thing didn’t happen that week. Every day that week Abigail was eagerly waiting for moment when her boyfriend would drop down on one knee and ask her to marry him.

But I didn’t. And eventually I went into a room to talk to my dad about certain matters pertaining to a diamond ring. And when I shut the door to talk furtively to my dad, Abigail knew: there was no ring, and there was not going to be a proposal. So she went home with missed expectations and had to fight back sadness and disappointment.

As you can tell, I got my act together, we got engaged before Christmas, she was surprised, she said yes, which I probably should have been surprised by. It was all good.

But the missed expectations hurt.

We saw last week that the Israelites were impatient, waiting for God to bring judgment upon injustice. They were asking “Where is the God of justice?” Well, Malachi has an answer: He’s coming. God is coming. In fact, he’s going to make a personal visit to his temple. And when he comes, you might find that you have missed expectations, because it turns out you have missed God’s expectations.

That’s what happened when Christ came. And today we’re still waiting for Christ’s coming. His second coming. And so we need to know these three things about Christ and his coming.

1. Christ is Coming.       2.  He is refining his church           3. He will judge his church.

Christ is coming.

In response to these people’s complaint, God says to them, verse 1:

Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 

3 characters: my Messenger, Lord, messenger of the covenant.

• My Messenger: Mal 4:5-6 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.
  • Preparatory for coming of Lord
  • Mark: John the Baptist
• Lord – coming to his temple.
  • Mark 1:1 frames this as the storyline of his gospel. John Baptist prepares the way for Jesus, the Lord, who is coming to the temple.
  • That’s the storyline of Mark (spoilers): Jesus ministers, goes to the temple, and cleanses it.
• Messenger of the covenant – some question: who is this?
  • Most Christians have argued, and I agree, that this seems to also be a reference to Jesus.
  • Jesus announces that cup new covenant in blood.
  • Also: Lord whom you seek; messenger… in whom you delight – similar
  • Why seem like another character? Well, OT had these things revealed to them in shadowy ways, and I think it highlights how full and perfect a redeemer Jesus is.
  • Isaiah does this too: early on, Royal king person coming – Immanuel, child is born, government on his shoulders. He’s a kingly figure.
  • 2^nd half Isaiah: servant figure. Question: are these multiple people? Logically you’d think they’d have to be. How do you have a powerful king who is a suffering servant?
  • Same dynamic here: Lord, and a mere messenger? How 1 person? Jesus has all the glory of the king, all the glory of God. Yet he clothed humbly as messenger who speaks for the Father.

So this is what’s happening here: Malachi announces that the Lord and his forerunner is coming.

Now notice, Malachi emphasizes the people’s anticipation of the coming Lord. There’s probably some sarcasm going on here: “I know you just are so excited for the God of justice to show up, and you want to see God’s covenant messenger bring about judgment, and boy are you getting more than you bargained for.”

But even so, I think this does tell us something that should be true of us. Their desire and delight might not be well-grounded, but it is still a desire God’s people should have. To long for his coming. Just as we read in call to worship, we should be calling the very hills to “sing for joy together before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth.”

We are those who seek the Lord; we are those who truly delight in Jesus Christ, the messenger of the Covenant. And we long for his coming. Jesus said we should pray “Your kingdom come.” And I would just ask each one of you here to long for Jesus. I hope you want to see your savior in your deepest heart of hearts. Jesus is the bridegroom of the church. He’s our groom. We’re his bride. Whatever you’re doing in your time in God’s word and in prayer, set your heart to this: foster love for him. You do that not by just looking inside and working yourself up to love. You Look at his love for you. Look at God’s grace.

Now here’s the thing. These people are longing for the coming of the Lord. But Malachi points out that when he comes, he is going to do two things. He is going to refine, and he is going to judge. Those are our last two points.

Now Jesus primarily comes in his first coming to refine, and primarily will judge in his second coming. Often when the prophets, by God’s power, were able to speak about the future coming of the Messiah, their prophecy that makes the coming of the Lord sound like 1 event, where he’ll judge and save, while it’s actually two. Maybe you’ve heard this illustration before, but it’s like when you look at a mountain range from far away, and if you set your eyes on one peack, it appears that you’re looking at just one mountain. But as you get closer to the mountains, you begin to discern depth and distance better, and you realize that what you thought was one mountain peak was in fact two different peaks, one in front and the other further away.

As the prophets saw the coming of Christ far off, they discerned one event, while it was actually a staged coming: first to save, then to judge. (and as we’ll see, even that can be nuanced). But that’s what we see here: the Lord is coming to his temple to refine and to judge.

2. He is refining His Church.

But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.

Malachi means to surprise his audience by describing the Lord’s coming. Because they had this basic assumption: the Day of the Lord – Day of his coming, is for others. It’s scary for others. For those people who are unjust. For those sinners who God needs to come and judge. We do the same thing: “God, please come and judge them. God, I can’t believe you’re letting them get off the hook.” And some of these people were questioning God’s character and his existence: “Where is the God of justice?”

And Malachi asks these people, “Are you sure you really want that? Do you really want the God of justice to show up? Do you have such small thoughts of God that you think you could bear his presence? “Who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears?”

And he adds another layer to this. “Not only is God coming,” Malachi says, “He’s coming with fire. And that fire is for you.” And Malachi is pointing out that the consequence of God drawing near to us is the uncomfortable reality that to live near to God requires us being knocked into shape. To live with a holy God, you and me have to be burned, purged of dross. Vigorously scrubbed.

And there’s an order to this refining process. Verse 3 “he will purify the sons of Levi… and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord.” Verse 4 “Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord.” This refining begins with the leaders of God’s people. Malachi has been focusing on corruptions in practice of Levites and priests.

And really what you see when Jesus comes, is that he conflicts with the religious authorities. He comes to the temple, like Malachi says, and what does he do? He turns over tables. He is purifying the worship of God. And that begins with the leaders. And in fact, what Jesus is doing throughout the gospels is raising up a new leadership for the church. He’s training and refining his disciples, the foundation of the church.

Now, it’s fair to say that Christ is about this business in this church today. He refines his people.  And he works through uncomfortable, painful processes to purify us and make us ready for heaven.

He’s described as like a refiner’s fire. A fire so hot that it melts lead and silver down into a liquid, so that you could skim off the impurities from the silver. Your average campfire reaches temperatures around 900 F. Silver melts at 1761F and Gold at 1947, so that fire needs to be around 2000 F. Again, the fire is used to make the silver or gold better, purer. Fire is used to bring about a greater beauty. But it takes extreme temperatures. And it takes destroying impurities.

Or you think about the illustration of a fuller, a clothes cleaner. The process of clothes cleaning required soaking the clothes in this fullers soap, an alkaline substance distilled from plants, used to whiten clothes. And the process also involved stomping on the clothes, vigorously scrubbing with your knuckles. It’s a rough process, designed to remove dirt and make the clothing clean and beautiful.

I think maybe we’d pick different images for how we want Jesus to work in his people. We want him to be like a comfy easy chair. Or maybe if we have to pick something hot, we’d want him to be hot like a hot stone massage is hot, or a hot tub.

But no, intense heat and vigorous scrubbing. That is Jesus’ way with us. He uses broken bones and chronic pain, betrayal and break ups, to clear away the dross. And just like the refiner at that time would know the silver was pure enough when he saw his image in the molten metal, Jesus applies heat to see his image reflecting out of us, shining.

Randy Stonehill “I have struggled so long on this strange pilgrim journey and the wild wind has cut me as the sands of time blow but it all will be worth it when I kneel before Jesus and his face has been carved in the stone of my soul.”

Whatever suffering you go through, Christian, that’s what Jesus is doing: he is carving his face in the stone of your soul. He’s beautifying you. Heaven will be the most beautiful place. Yes, it’ll have streets of gold. But here are the two most beautiful things you will see in heaven.

You will see God. You will see Jesus in all his glory. He will be altogether beautiful, altogether lovely. You won’t want to look at the streets of gold, unless it’s to give yourself a break from his startling splendor. To quote another song, you “will not gaze at glory, but at your King of Grace.”

But here’s the second most beautiful thing in heaven. The saints. The perfected saints of God. Every Christian will be glorious. CS Lewis once said, “the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship.” That’s the kind of beauty and glory the saints will have one day.

You and I have no clue what Christ is making of us. But he wants us here and now, submitting to his word, obeying him, and trusting his refining process.

Now a quick note of application before move to 3^rd point: notice, this refining process starts with the leaders.  Brothers, as we’re preparing to look for elders and deacons, remember that these people are the first wave of people that Christ purges and purifies. Now, in a real sense, Christ purified the priests, by being a perfect priest and offering himself as a far more perfect offering to God for our sins.

But it’s also true that he has a particular concern to refine the leaders of his people. It’s a privilege to lead God’s people, but it comes with refining, cleansing: intense heat, and vigorous scrubbing. Meticulous concern for his people and their leaders. He wants holy people leading his people.  That’s not just a warning. It can actually be a great encouragement to know there’s a purpose in your suffering. Whether or not you’re a leader, it’s supposed to make you more like Jesus.

Now, to our last point, Jesus has come to refine his people. He did that historically through his life and ministry. He’s still doing it by his Holy Spirit in our lives today.

Jesus is coming again to judge the world, beginning with his church

But he also is coming again, and when he comes again, he’s coming to judge.

Verse 5: Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.

Now, here’s the thing. When the people in Malachi’s day were complaining and waiting for God’s judgment, they were again, thinking about it as something God would do to “those people.” But God makes clear that judgment begins at the household of God (1 Pet 4:17).

“I will draw near to you for judgment.” Wait, us? Me? God’s people? Yeah. When this whole list of people, are kinds of people you find in God’s church. Sorcerers in Israel, adulterers in Israel. Those who swear falsely, oppress hired workers, widows, orphans, foreigners, In Israel.

What do all these people have in common? Malachi says, they don’t fear God. They don’t care that the Almighty God has commanded them to care for the widows and orphans, to treat sojourners with dignity, remembering that they and their fathers were sojourners without permanent homes. They don’t consider that it is wildly dangerous to disregard the true God and turn to magic, spells, incantation. They don’t fear God, who said that those who commit adultery are deserving of death.

We need to take passages like this to heart. Christ is coming in judgment. And Malachi makes clear, it’s what you do in this life that will be judged. And of course, the first and only thing to be done before we can do anything pleasing to God, before our offerings are pleasing to the Lord, is to trust in the perfect sacrifice of Christ. Is to trust him alone for our salvation.

But there’s no room for easy believeism in the Christian life. There’s no room for “I prayed the prayer, I went through the class, I had an experience, I still have deep emotional experiences.” That may all be true, and it may be true of real believers, but that’s not a certain sign that you’re good for heaven.

A life lived in obedience to his word is a surer sign. Someone who trusts Jesus alone for salvation, seeks to live as Jesus live, walk as he walked, someone who loves Jesus deeply, his church, his bride, his people deeply, who loves others deeply, and who fears God. Who mourns for their sin, who trembles at the knowledge that he lives and moves before the eye of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Do you know what Paul says, 2 Cor 5:10 “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” We must all do it.

You will appear before the judgment seat of Christ. You will receive your due for what you have done in your body.

“Who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?” Don’t look around and say “I can’t wait for God to judge those people.” Look inside and say, “How terrible it would be if God would come and judge me! If he judged me by this list in verse 5.

Some of you might have done some of these things. Or you might look at this list of sins and say, “I haven’t done any of these.”  It’s true, you might not have the full flower of these sins in your life. But what about the seeds? What about stems poking out of the soil? What about a love of money that keeps you from giving to those in need? What about the desire to twist truth to protect your reputation? What about your lust after other men or women? What about superstitions you really do live by? What about the almost total lack of reverence and love you pay to God in many waking moments of your life?

My friend, be reconciled to God. No human level of goodness will cut it. And no diligence will maintain a good enough life.

And for those who have trusted in Christ, no level of godly exertion you put into seeking to live a life pleasing to God will go unrewarded.

My friend, don’t have missed expectations about Jesus’ 2^nd coming. Jesus is coming. He came to save, and he will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead. Fear God. Run from his judgment, by running to Christ. Trust him. Submit yourself to his refining fire. Live a life pleasing to him.