SWEATIN’ TO THE OLDIES: An Old Testament Sermon Series of Core Values for the Summer

Sermon 7: Hope

Malachi 3:13-4:6

September 3, 2006

Introduction

Today we come to the conclusion of our summer sermon series, “Sweatin’ to the Oldies,” a study of core values based on the Old Testament book of Malachi. At the very end of his prophecy of doom, gloom, and despair, Malachi gives us an inspiring message of hope: “But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings, and you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall” (4:2). Hope is a fitting finale to a study of Christian core values. There is a better day coming.

“The Christian hope is not wishful thinking or utopian fantasy. It is a divinely enabled passion for the possible. And with God, the possibilities are incredible” (Holiness Today, 25th General Assembly Edition, p. 15). When life is at its worst, hope is actually the fuel that feeds our faith to keep on believing. Our hope goes beyond even death. The great Apostle said, “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men” (1 Corinthians 15:19).

In our text, the people of God have lost hope. Listen to this interesting dialogue between a long-suffering God and His ambivalent people:

“‘You have said harsh things against me,’ says the Lord. ‘Yet you ask, “What have we said against you?” You have said, “It is futile to serve God. What did we gain be carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty?”’” (3:13-14).

The need for a strong faith and hope in God is presented by revealing a people who are lacking. This is why faith and hope cannot be separated. Even when the circumstances of life are against us and our faith becomes weak, a strong hope in God for the future compels us to keep going. As we keep going our faith begins to grow. That is why hope is at the very core of our belief system. Hope serves as the feeder of our faith.

Hope Based on the Past

Twice in today’s passage the prophet used the word “remember” to reiterate the originality of our hope. “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel” (4:4). God is the source of all we are or ever hope to be. He has a plan and purpose for our lives. Don’t forget it! Hope based on the past.

The other reference in the text to a hope based on the past talks about “a scroll of remembrance . . . written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name” (3:16). This reinforces the matter of free will. We always have a choice to make. We have opportunity to choose where our hopes will be directed: to this world, or to God? The implications of our choices result in ultimate judgment: “‘They will be mine,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a man spares his son who serves him. And you will see again the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not’” (3:17-18).

Hope based on the past means we have been given the knowledge to make right decisions. However, just because we have the information of what is right and required, does not mean we are given a free pass. We are people of free will. We are responsible and accountable. We must demonstrate the ability to make proper decisions for today and tomorrow based on what we have learned from the past. When difficult times are all around us, we choose to hope in the Ancient of Days!

Hope Based on the Present

The Psalmist, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1). The amazing thing about Christian hope is its eternal quality. Yes, the origin of our hope is in the past, and it’s true the best is yet to come in the future; the result is a power for present living. Psalm 46 continues, “Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging” (vv. 2-3). The reason for confidence in the midst of the proverbial storm is the hope we presently have in our God.

The prophet Malachi has consistently preached one theme over and over again: ultimate judgment based on our choices. The analogy can easily be made comparing the people of Malachi’s day with those Jesus talked about in the Sermon on the Mount. If you are presently trusting (hoping) in the things of this world to satisfy, you are likened to “a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash” (Matthew 7:26-27).

As is the case so many times in Scripture, the grace of God, and in this case the positive message of hope, is introduced with a simple conjunction: “BUT for you who revere (choose) my name” (Malachi 4:2). Now the picture “is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock” (Matthew 7:24-25).

Remember the old hymn that says, “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name. On Christ the solid rock I stand; all other ground is sinking sand” (Sing to the Lord, “The Solid Rock” p. 436).

Hope Based on the Future

The last chapter of Malachi’s writing begins, “Surely the day is coming” (4:1). We have a marvelous hope that originates in the past, and that has power for present-day, victorious living. However, this “old-time religion” is not only good to live by; it’s good to die by. Hope gives us victory beyond the grave. The Apostle Paul talked about this subject: “Death has been swallowed up in victory” (1 Corinthians 15:54). Because of Christ’s resurrection we need not fear death. Because He lives we can face the tomorrows of life with hope and confidence.

For good measure, Malachi’s prophecy ends the same way it began, with a call to repentance. There are decisions to make that will result in one of two future possibilities:

“‘Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall’” (4:1-2).

We do have hope for the future when we choose to worship God and live for Him.

The final word of this prophecy comes from God: “He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse” (4:6). The next 400 years heard silence from the heavens.

Conclusion

As we end the sermon series today on the subject of core values let’s review quickly: The people of Malachi’s day (just like us today) were in desperate need of renewal and revival. In many respects commitment to God had been compromised. Through this prophecy we have been challenged to return to the God of our fathers and mothers by loving Him, and worshiping Him the “right way.” No shortcuts. “Sick cows” are not acceptable. We learned that leadership and relationships are of utmost importance. In the pulpit as well as the pew, we must model integrity.

In the closing verses of Malachi’s writing we are reminded that faith is in fact the way to victorious living. We are admonished to be good stewards of everything we have, and everything we are. We actually took the test of stewardship by putting our trust in God for every outcome of life. Finally, the sequence of these core values is fitting. The message of hope enables us to walk away on higher spiritual ground than that on which we started.