Sermon December 6 2009 William M. Howard
For The First Baptist Church of Jefferson, ME
11:30 Service
“The Messenger”
Malachi 3:1-4
3:1 See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight--indeed, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts.
3:2 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;
3:3 he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the LORD in righteousness.
3:4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years.
In the following passage, Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the prophesy. Who is Zechariah?
Luke 1:68-79
1:68 "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them.
1:69 He has raised up a mighty savior for us in the house of his servant David,
1:70 as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
1:71 that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.
1:72 Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors, and has remembered his holy covenant,
1:73 the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham, to grant us
1:74 that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear,
1:75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
1:76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
1:77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins.
1:78 By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us,
1:79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace."
The Apostle Paul.
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:
Php 1:2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Philippians 1:3-11
1:3 I thank my God every time I remember you,
1:4 constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you,
1:5 because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now.
1:6 I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.
1:7 It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because you hold me in your heart, for all of you share in God's grace with me, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.
1:8 For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus.
1:9 And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight
1:10 to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless,
1:11 having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.
Luke 3:1-6
3:1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene,
3:2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.
3:3 He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,
3:4 as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah, "The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
3:5 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth;
3:6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'"
So ends the reading of the Word. Praise God.
Here is our dinner plate for this week. There is something missing. The Psalm is missing this week. Menu change…
From the Old Testament, the last book, the prophet Malachi gives us the prediction of a coming, not the coming of Jesus Christ, but someone before him.
Malachi 3:1 “I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before Me”….” The messenger of the covenant”
Was Jesus the messenger or the message?
I probably would have an argument ensue with Bible scholars. I believe that is passage is about John. John the Baptist is the messenger and Jesus is the message. Jesus is God. “I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before Me” Me is God. Me is Christ.
Luke: 1:76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
1:77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins.
1:78 By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us,
1:79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace."
In Chapter 3, Luke gives a very specific historical record. He does not want any error in the time and place that the occurrence and ministry of John the Baptist. This also compares with any other historical record available. He lists the hierarchy of the rulers and relationships in the ruling for the area. He states who the High Priest of the Temple was at the time so we get a good idea of the characters names and positions. They were the Roman rulers and the Chief Priests. These will be people important to us as time goes on.
John the Baptist, now an adult in Chapter 3, is proving prophesy correct.
There could be a bit of confusion. Again, is John the messenger or the message? He knows his place. He knows that he is coming ahead of Jesus. John is just preparing the ground work for God. God is coming with a new covenant. I am sure glad He did. The old covenant wasn’t so friendly.
These guys, John and Jesus are about the same age. They are around 30 years old. So what. There is something to be said about being taken somewhat seriously. Could God have set things up for a younger person to be the Messiah? Sure. But God knew His people. There is a psychological respect to someone that has shown some wear and tear in their lives. Remember these guys did not have a desk job. They were workers with ruddy hands, dirt on their clothes, and worn out shoes.
Take a good look at these guys. These are God’s messenger and message? These guys are not going to fit into the elite social circles.
You know, when you got the Holy Spirit in you, what you are wearing and what you do doesn’t matter.
Paul wrote: 1:7 It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because you hold me in your heart, for all of you share in God's grace with me
Can you deal with your position in life? I guarantee that anyone here today no matter what state you are in, the message, Jesus Christ, can be in your heart.
Look, what did God do? And how did He do it? What was His timing?
Let’s back up a bit again and look at Malachi one more time. Well, first, Malachi is one reference of several in the Prophets. As well as earlier in the historical accounts.
God did not just plop the Christ down. Humans need an introduction. “Heeeeer’s Jesus.”
Introduction to God, His Son and the Holy Spirit is paramount in this day and age. Many folks don’t know God, or Christ, or Holy Spirit. We need to introduce them to our friends, family and community and that is what this service is all about. For you folks who already know our Lord and savior, I hope you will enjoy the reintroduction. By telling the story from a fresh start, we can all be better disciples and messengers. Who is God? Who is the Jesus Christ? What does Baptist Church mean?
We have to be impressed with what He did and how He did it. How he delivered His Son to us to save us from our transgression, our debts, our trespasses, our wrong doings, out SINS. Why did I say all those words? They kind of have all the same meaning. But just like introducing, blurting the word sin is a major turnoff. Sin is sin. But, to those who don’t really know Christ Jesus our pathway to God and everlasting life, saying sin is an unknown word. The word sin is not used everyday in our common language and in everyday conversation. We hearing about law breakers. And we hear first grade teachers say, “That behavior is not appropriate.”
Should I end hear for the day. Well, I will stop talking and wind up the service. But, this is truly just an introduction.
So, stay tuned. There is more to come.
Amen.