Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen!
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:
Christians are used to speaking up for God, but more and more today we hear strong words, words hard to hear, harsh words, spoken against God, words of defiance. We hear these words all the time: “Do whatever you want!” “If there is a God, He doesn’t care!”
The Lord says through His prophet Malachi: “Your words have been hard against me” (Malachi 3:13a). Here, God is calling His people to account for those words, their hard words against Him. And what were these hard words from God’s people? “Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape” (Malachi 3:15b).
But what about us? Have you ever uttered things like that? Have you been tempted to say: “It’s useless to serve God!” “My prayers are worthless.” “Where were you, God, when I needed you?” And often things get worse when we keep Your Commandments. “We are called old fashioned and phobic.”
The American culture has turned God into a figure who grants our wishes, our desires. But that isn’t God. Yes, He answers our prayers, but it is His will that is done, not our will. So, often when we don’t get what we want, we put God to the test, much like the Hebrews of old.
So, the Lord, by His prophet, bids us to look up from ourselves to see Him, to fear Him, to repent and stand in awe of Him, and to trust His promises. We cannot speak against Him or test Him, but He bids us to look back and remember all His works for us. Even when it seems God is far away, when we are tempted to speak against Him or put Him to the test, He leads us to remember His promises, to remember that He will never forget His people. When we remember what God does for us, we have no need speak against Him, because God always keeps His promises and in Jesus makes us His treasured possession.
[God Keeps His Promises]
The Lord says: “Your words have been hard against me. But you say, ‘How have we spoken against you?” (Malachi 3:13) Ok, slow down. Let’s listen to the whole charge God’s people bring against Him: “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 now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape’” (Malachi 3:14-15).
Do you hear what they are saying about God? “God doesn’t care about us! Why be loyal to Him if He isn’t loyal to us? These evildoers seem to always escape punishment. In fact, they are held in high esteem! If we are His people, why don’t we get a better deal? Why are we wasting our time with God!”
But did you catch something else? They said: “How have we spoken against you?” (Malachi 3:13b) What were they just saying to God? They were defending their own sins to God! You see, they are seeing the sins of others, but they don’t see their own sins. They see the proud, the immoral, the brazen, the violent all around them, but they don’t see it in themselves. They, too, have spoken against God!
Despite what it may seem to look like, God is keeping His promises. To these Hebrews, it looks so far from that. But He is. You see, God heard every complaint. He paid attention and heard them, and “a book of remembrance was written before Him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed His name” (Malachi 3:16b).
So, what could be in this “book of remembrance”? Well, those who continued to worship God. Those who comforted each other. Those who fear God.
But what happens when the Lord remembers? Is He recalling something He has forgotten – like these Hebrews may think? No! When God remembers, He holds His promises up for all to see. Recall God’s covenant with Noah. Remember, it is for our benefit each time we see a rainbow in the sky. This is so we remember His covenant that He will never again flood the earth (Genesis 9:15-16). He remembers so all can see! He remembers His people. He keeps His promises!
Well, yes, we see those things, but how do we really know? How do we really know God remembers His promises? Well, we do have a book of remembrance that we can see, touch, and read. We have the Scriptures, the very Word of God. And this Word of God does what it says and brings what it promises.
Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament. It is God’s last word to His people before the fulfillment of His greatest promise. God spoke through the prophets then, but the next time God speaks, He would speak in person as the promised Messiah. It’s going to be some 400 years in the future, but He is going to come. Remember, what God speaks, happens.
In today’s Gospel lesson, the repentant thief on the cross, speaks to Jesus – the promised Messiah – “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:42). And Jesus, who is nailed to cross beside him says: “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). And that is exactly what happened. Though being a criminal, through His faith in Jesus, he was delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of God, for in Jesus we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Colossians 1:13-14).
In Christ alone, we are reconciled to God the Father. We are reconciled through the blood of His cross shed for us. In other words, promises kept.
[In Jesus, We are His Treasured Possession]
Through Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection, by faith in Christ, we are made God’s treasured possession. Faith is what does it.
Well before Malachi, God said to His people: “If you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among the peoples” (Exodus 19:5). And now God says to you: “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession” (1 Peter 2:9).
Indeed, the Lord has compassion upon His people. He says: “I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him” (Malachi 3:17b).
But there is some irony here. In the case of His own Son – the Son of God – the Father did not spare Him, nor did He have compassion on Him, but sent Him to the cross. He gave Him up to suffering and death. He gave Him up to what our sins deserve. But, He did all of this to have compassion upon us, so our sins would be placed upon Jesus, so He would make you a child of God, so that we would be spared from His wrath. God’s compassion is fulfilled in Christ.
So, whenever we doubt the goodness of God, we must repent, since He always keeps His promises. Jesus is the proof we are always remembered.
Now, our faith may be put to the test in this sinful world, but God never forgets you.
Even when we forget, He remembers you. He restores us when we fall.
He made us His treasured possession by putting His name on you in Baptism and speaking of His forgiveness. Through the water and the Word, we are united to Christ’s death and resurrection. And if we are united, then we have been clothed in Christ’s righteousness.
Through Christ alone, we have been spared from the power of sin, death, and the devil. Through His compassion, He says: “Your sin has been forgiven!”
Today, Christ remembers His promise to you also in the Sacrament of the Altar, there we hear Christ’s words: “Do this in remembrance of Me.” You see, He remembers His promise, and by His sure Word He places into your mouth His Body and Blood for the forgiveness of sins.
We are God’s treasured possession. He keeps His promises. One day, He will fulfill another promise when He returns on the Last Day when we “shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him” (Malachi 3:18). That day will be another great reversal. Upon the cross, Jesus took upon Himself our filthy sins and gave us His righteousness. On that Last Day, it will be another reversal. He will divide the faithful from the faithless and we, the faithful, will be remembered as His treasured possession. Amen.
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +
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