[Sermon Archive]

This Week's Sermon THE SECOND MIDWEEK ADVENT SERVICE 09 December 2009 "Purifying" Malachi 3:1-7b LSB Series C Pastor Philip G. Meyer Soli Deo Gloria!

Probably few of you have ever stood next to a metallurgical furnace where metals are refined. During some of my summers as a college student I worked in the steel mills of Youngstown, Ohio. One of the summers I worked at the blast furnace where iron ore was "cooked" with other agents such as limestone and coke in order to get metallurgically pure iron which would later be combined with other metals to make steel. Carbon is the main ingredient but other metals such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten are also used in certain applications. Before any of those other specialty metals can be added, the iron ore must be purified, so the furnace is heated to somewhere between 3,000 and 4,000 degrees. I usually worked on what was called the "slag side" of the cast house, maintaining the flow of the dross that wasn't wanted in the iron. The molten slag was collected in special railroad cars and hauled away while the molten iron went on to the open hearth furnace for further refining.

This picture of metallurgical refining is what Malachi presents. The people of Israel are full of dross, as impurities in metal. By heating those metals to a liquid point, the dross can be siphoned off. It becomes a picture of God removing the dross of our sin from our lives. The people can be purified.

In keeping with the theme of Advent, Malachi warned that the Lord would "suddenly come to his temple" to begin the purifying process. When John the Baptizer conducted his ministry, Jesus appeared suddenly without warning. That was the reason John preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The purifying was about to begin in the person and work of the Christ.

We confess that Christ will come suddenly on the last day, a day known only to God but not to any human being. The end of the Church Year and the beginning of Advent remind us that Christ is coming a final time on the last day to judge the living and the dead. So we confess in the Creed every day and every Divine Service. But perhaps we should ask ourselves: Do I really want Jesus to come back that quickly? None of you will deny that you want Jesus to return on the last day, but perhaps you are saying, "Well, not just yet! There are so many things I want to do in my life. I'm just getting started and I haven't had a chance to do everything I want. I want to raise a family and become successful in my career and enjoy a bit of the creature comforts of life." You younger people probably say that. You don't want to miss out on anything that you have planned. But we older people are a bit more wearied by what life has thrown at us. We're more well-traveled. We've been broken down and had our share of tears and sorrows. The older we get the more tired we get of life in this world. We're probably more ready to say, "Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!" Sometimes we say what the prophet Elijah said when he fled from the wrath of Jezebel who wanted to kill him:

And he asked that he might die, saying, "It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers. (1 Kings 19:4, ESV)

Malachi says that when Christ comes people will stumble over him.

"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." (Malachi 3:2, ESV)

When Christ came he condemned the works of man. All people are exposed as sinful. All of our supposed goodness is dross that must be purified, melted away, burned away. It is not really goodness, but sin. Christ's appearing is like a blast furnace purging out the Old Adam. Only you are not iron, you are gold. Your faith is the gold that God needs to purify. The Apostle Peter says precisely this in his First Letter:

"In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith-more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire-may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 1:6-7, ESV)

Tested by fire is the same as purifying by fire, burning off the worthless dross. God does that in our lives when he sends trials and afflictions.

Luther said of all this:

The Jews kept puffing themselves up with their own righteousness. From this it is very difficult to pull them away to follow Christ. The kingdom of Christ is a mystical smelting furnace that purges out the impurity of the old Adam. Here the prophet seems to be speaking about the white linen cloaks which eastern people wore most commonly. These are washed with soap. Christ is not merely the Purifier but also the purifying Agent. He is not only the Blacksmith but also the Fire; not only the Cleaner but also the Soap. He does not sit indolently at the right hand of His Father. Rather He is always working among us vitally, effectively, and uninterruptedly as He is spread abroad over His mystical body, as fire is applied to metal. So He is elsewhere called Salvation, and not just Savior. That is, He is Salvation itself and the Laboratory of salvation. This is what Christians sense. They have less affection for wealth; they are less afraid of death; they disregard everything secular. The power to do this is the "fire" and the "soap."¹

In Holy Baptism you were washed, cleansed, purified. Christ took your sins, your uncleanness and gave you his perfect righteousness in sin's place. As we go through life as Christians God is continually purifying us as he forgives our sins. At the same time he places obstacles in our way so that we often cannot do things we want to do, or he afflicts us with misfortune or disease, or we find that life becomes harder and harder in general. By thrusting us into the fire of affliction and pain our Lord is burning off the dross of our Old Adam. The real purifying comes in his Word and Sacraments. Here he cleanses you. In Holy Baptism you were washed clean, having your robes washed in the blood of the Lamb. Holy Baptism gives you the spotless white robe of Christ's righteousness. As Luther said, Christ is not only the Cleaner but also the Soap!

Dear friends, this is an ongoing purification even though Jesus died only once for all sins. We fall daily into sin and need continual purification. So we hear God's summons to repent, to confess, to own up to the dross of sin in our lives, and then we return to Christ for purification. And he delights to purify us over and over again as we confess and are absolved. Such is his mercy. He is, as Malachi goes on to say, "the Sun of Righteousness" who has "healing in his wings" [Malachi 4.2]. "Come to me," says Jesus, "and I will give you rest" [Matthew 11.28].

We are not to fear him but are to welcome this purifying in our lives. In him is our trust and confidence, as the hymnwriter says:

728 How Firm a Foundation

4 "When through fiery trials your pathway will lie,
My grace, all-sufficient, will be your supply.
The flames will not hurt you; I only design
Your dross to consume and your gold to refine.

Text and Tune: Public domain
Created by Lutheran Service Builder © 2006 Concordia Publishing House.

In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

¹Martin Luther, vol. 18, Luther's Works, Vol. 18 : Minor Prophets I: Hosea-Malachi, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald and Helmut T. Lehmann, Luther's Works, 18:408 (Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1999, c1975).