Prepare the Way Series: Refine Malachi 3:1-4
Text: “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.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. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, 4 and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.
“Beautiful Boy” is a dramatic film that chronicles meth addiction and recovery through the eyes of a father, David Sheff (played by Steve Carell), who watches his son, Nic (played by Timothée Chalamet), as he struggles with his addiction. At one point in the movie, the father, David, contemplates the painful, perplexing circumstance where he now finds his son, who seems hopelessly lost in addiction, and says, “There are moments that I look at him, this kid that I raised, who I thought I knew inside and out, and I wonder who he is.”
David Sheff looks at his son, the beautiful boy, the kid he raised, and he hardly recognizes him. Many of you look at our present-day society that has declined in morality, virtues and beauty, and you hardly recognize it. I look at this society – this dumbed down, decadent, reality-TV, victim-mentality, entitlement society, and think to myself that I hardly recognize it. We have lost our identity, our sense of morality, our sense of purpose, of direction, our moral compass. Our secular society in the last few decades has been consumed with being politically correct, being inclusive of all belief systems and lifestyles, of making sure not to offend anyone, of encouraging people to go find themselves and follow their hearts and personal dreams, and all the while telling them to feel guilty and embarrassed about their western, Christian heritage, telling them their Christian ancestors in America were evil, telling them that they are throwbacks, hicks, no longer relevant. And we let the cold, morally-bankrupt leaders and administrators in our country do this to them. We let them teach that stuff in schools. We kept watching the TV shows that spewed that venom. We kept giving money to companies that hate us, that make fun of us, that want to see destruction of western, Christian values and people. We surrendered our children by turning over their education to institutions, governments and media that reject western, Christian identity and morality. And now we wonder why churches are empty, our children have left the faith, and our society in another generation will be majority non-Christian.
The strength of society and the endurance of civilization are dependent upon the present generation’s ability and willingness to deliver to the next a strong sense of identity and morality. When that transmission of heritage, faith and virtue fails, society begins to break apart. When a people lose their identity and sense of morality, they lose their way. Young people become lost, confused, unhitched to anything lasting or meaningful. Old folks lose hope and become cynical. With no eye to the future and no memory of a heroic past, a society no longer strives for excellence or to live up the expectations of one’s heroic heritage. Instead, the goodness and vitality of a people become encased with layers of decadence, selfishness, materialism and ungodliness.
Of course, this is not the first time a society has turned from God. In fact, if you read the Old Testament, it seems to be a pastime of the people of Israel, turning away from God and pursuing salvation in the promises of the world. And in each generation, God sends a messenger with a word – always a warning but always with a reminder of the covenant, of the promise. Return to me, and I will renew and restore you to your proper place.
In our passage, the Lord says, I will send my messenger, which in Hebrew is Ma’lak. Malachi, then means messenger. A messenger is to come. Many believed it would be the return of Elijah, the great Hebrew prophet. The church has traditionally interpreted these verses (1-4) as a statement about the coming of John the Baptist.
The imagery of a straight path, an improved road, would have made complete sense to those who heard the prophecy of Malachi. In those days, roads tended to be marginal (maybe not so different from Southern Indiana today), so a king would send people ahead to smooth the path before him—to fill in potholes and to remove rocks and other obstructions. Likewise, Malachi says the Lord is sending a messenger to prepare his way so that he might come to his temple. However, the preparation for the Lord’s coming will be spiritual rather than physical. There are some things in our lives that need to be smoothed over, filled in, and cleared out.[iii]
If we are to receive the king and all that he has to offer for us, we must be prepared. Put another way, if the Divine, with all its power and glory, is to pour into our lives, empower us, enliven us, and transform us into someone who overcomes, who has victory, then there are certain things that have to take place in our mind, heart and soul.
Malachi says the issue is our lack of refinement, incompleteness, coming up short, not reflecting what we truly are inside. Malachi says this is the perennial problem for men and women. We are neither what we could be nor what we should be.
You might ask, who cares if we are not what we could or should be? Who’s business is that? I can do what I want, as long as it does not hurt anyone else, right? If you want to eat healthy and exercise, and I want to eat junk food and lead a sedentary life, what is that to you? If you want to listen to chamber music, read classical literature and attend philosophy lectures, and I want to listen to Miley Cyrus, read TMZ, spend hours a day on social media, and watch reality TV, what is that to you?
Well, here is the reality of being human. We are social creatures, and so we have social responsibilities, we have ethical and moral responsibilities to our families, our neighbors, and our community. What we do, even if we do nothing, has either a positive effect on our fellow humans, and all creatures, whether we like it or not. It is time to start adulting. You are part of the whole, so realize you are either contributing to the improvement of the whole or its decline. Your right to pursue your individual fulfillment and self-actualization is always tempered and regulated by your responsibility to the whole.
The problem is that rather than having been trained by the Church to pursue a live committed not only to personal virtue and excellence but also the health and good of the community, we have been reared and indoctrinated into the individualism and consumerism of secular society. Have it your way (Burger King). Just do it (Nike). Obey your thirst (Sprite). Because I’m worth it (L’Oreal). Express yourself everyday (Phillips). More people today can repeat these slogans than can restate the Golden Rule or the two main commandments of Jesus. And, of course, in too many of our schools from elementary through the universities, kids are implicitly taught to be ashamed of their faith, to make way for competing lifestyles and belief systems, to be tolerant to a point that they are made to feel embarrassed, guilty or apologetic about their own western, Christian values.
So, we need refined. Not punished, mind you, but refined. “The purpose of divine judgment is not to punish but to prepare the way of the Lord. It is to bring restoration and renewed life. It is to train the people in obedience to the covenant so that they may offer reverent praise.”[iv]
In the Christian life this comes through discipline, or askesis. The word askesis comes from a Greek verb which means to exercise, to strive, or to contend with the dedication of an athlete. St. Paul used the image of a boxer when referring to his own practice of self-discipline. “I harden my body with blows and bring it under complete control, to keep myself from being disqualified after having called others to the contest” (1 Corinthians 9:26-27). Askesis can be translated as “spiritual discipline,” “spiritual striving” or “spiritual training.”[v] When we think of asceticism, we think of the life of the monk who takes on a strict rule of life, who denies self, so that he might shed bad habits, destructive practices, and in the process become refined. And it is up to you, within your family, within the church, to ensure this askesis, this moral and spiritual training, takes place.
We must always be in spiritual practice. We must always be like the boxer who is practicing self-discipline. There is a principle of moral and spiritual entropy at place. If we do not do the things necessary to grow spiritually, we will dissipate and decline in our walk with the Lord. It used to be called backsliding. There are all kinds of excuses we can make to avoid our spiritual practice. I don’t have time. I don’t like the preacher. My spouse does not support me. I’m angry at so and so. Oh, I’ve heard them all and so have you. I’ve made up my own excuses. Regardless of how creative you get in explaining why you are not actively practicing spiritual disciplines, if you do not tend to your spiritual life, it will dissipate.
Did you know that after age 35 you lose 3-5% of your muscle mass each year, just by waking up in the morning, not even trying, you lose 3-5% of your muscle mass each year.[vi] The result, of course, is a physical flabbiness. I do not know what percent of your spiritual muscle mass you lose each year from not praying, participating in worship, committing to discipleship, joining in Christian connection, engaging the Scriptures, but the loss of your spiritual muscle mass is significant in the impact on your life. Malachi says the result is a loss of righteousness.
The word righteous in Hebrew is transliterated tsaddiq (tsad-deek’), and means blameless, innocent, just, vindicated, the opposite of wicked.[vii] It means being on the right side, the side of God, the side of justice, the side of what is morally and ethically vindicated.
The good news about lost physical muscle mass is that by lifting heavy stuff and eating the right foods, you can regain muscle mass. The same is true with our spiritual muscle mass! If we engage in the spiritual disciplines and take on the mind of Christ, our righteousness returns.
So, the old spiritual libertarian argument of do no harm is not tenable. If you do nothing, unrighteousness abounds in the world, and because unrighteousness abounds in the word, if you do nothing, you are in the camp of the unrighteousness. You don’t get the option of dropping out, tuning out, turning off the world, and remain righteous.
When Jesus was asked what is the greatest commandment, Jesus replied, to love God and the second to love each other. Love is not a passive spirituality. It requires that we get up, get off our behinds and engage in spiritual practices that are conducive to righteousness.
[i] https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/mental-illness.shtml
[ii] https://www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse/opioids/opioid-overdose-crisis
[iii] https://www.sermonwriter.com/biblical-commentary/malachi-31-4/
[iv] https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2699
[v] http://www.stanthony.ws/orthodox/what_is_askesis.htm
[vi] https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/preserve-your-muscle-mass
[vii] https://biblehub.com/hebrew/6662.htm
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