Of Futility and Remembrance
Rev. Richard A. Bolland

Malachi 3:14-18
(November 21, 2004 Sermon Transcript)

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        From our Old Testament reading this morning, these verses. "You have said, 'It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the LORD Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape.'" Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honored his name. "They will be mine," says the LORD Almighty, "in the day when I make up my treasured possession. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him.

        Futility, just the sound of the word, wears us out. No one likes to engage in futile efforts or futile causes, because there just seems to be no point to it. And here, in this last book of the Old Testament, this last voice of prophecy for 400 years before the clarion call of John the Baptist, that of the words of the minor prophet Malachi comes words of truth with which to close this church year. By God’s grace, we have been serving God all this past year.

        But I would ask you, what does the world think of your service? In a word, futility.

        Sometimes we hear criticisms that boldly state that if we had spent all the money we had spent on churches and Christian schools, and all the other kinds of things that go with the church, in helping the poor, in seeking out justice for those denied, then finally we would have accomplished something.

        Or others would simply tell us if all the energy that Christians expend in building, operating, and maintaining Christian congregations and schools were used instead in obtaining personal gain, well, then, we’d be far more successful in the eyes of the world. And indeed, we would have a great deal of admiration from them.

        In other words, the world views the work and the investments made in the kingdom of God to be foolish futility.

        And so it is said in the first verses of this text. 'It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the LORD Almighty?

        Well, how shall we deal with this? What shall we say of such claims? I would suggest that the lesson that we have just read, not the first verses but the last ones, will say with stunning clarity that the world is not at all accurate in its perceptions. In fact, they are utterly and completely dead wrong.

        It is God at work in His people when the work of the kingdom are accomplished. It is God’s efforts and God, when He works, never, under any circumstances, works in vain. Indeed, it is never foolish, and it is never futile what God does.

        And finally, He will remember every last work of every last one of His people who have been blessed to be the instruments of His will. And then the real fools and the real wisdom will be seen with stark clarity.

        As the world views the church, all it sees is an exercise in futility. Indeed, faithful Christians often give a good portion of their income to the work of God’s kingdom. And so, plain arithmetic would tell us, from the world’s point of view, that if we didn’t do that kind of silliness, we’d have a lot more discretionary income, would we not?

        And what’s more, the world will also look at faithful Christians, who spend a good proportion of their time doing the work of God’s kingdom, not only in worship and study, but also in the work of the ministries of all the congregations that dot the world throughout. And the world would say, "Just do the math! Obviously unbelievers have a lot more personal discretionary time, do they not? What’s the matter with you? Don’t you get it?"

        It would seem that, from a worldly point of view, that there may be real, in fact, disadvantages to being a Christian. Indeed, in the last several weeks we’ve examined the reality of the persecution of Christians throughout the world. So it would be very wise, from the world’s point of view, not to be one, and not to subject ourselves to such criticism, such demeaning attitudes, and, in some places, outright pain, punishment, imprisonment, and death.

        Lots of very intelligent people, and they are, will regard Christianity to be, well, illogical. Nothing other than some form of psychological crutch to deal with issues in life that we can’t seem to cope with on our own terms. Doubts and cynicism creep in, then, even in the family of faith.

        For indeed, we are out of sync with the way the world perceives things. The ten commandments, in the eyes of the world are simply unreasonable guides to life in a modern world, comes the cry of our times. Why should, some would reason, a two thousand year old book dictate how we should conduct our sex lives, for crying our loud? Christianity’s victorian morals and ethics are simply depriving us of our felt needs, and our own biological makeup.

        Biblical marriage? Oh, come now, what an outdated, disconnected reality from families that exist in the 21st century!

        "You shall not murder" is simply out of touch with a woman’s right to choose.

        And what’s more, "You shall not steal" simply does not apply when we’re doing our taxes, perhaps.

        Being content with what we have. What kind of message is that? Especially when it does not compute with Madison Avenue’s constant drumbeat, that seeks to convince us that we need exactly what all of the rest of our neighbor have, and that we ought to do and move mountains to make sure we obtain it.

        And so, perhaps, just perhaps, as we examine this word of the Lord, we might realize that, together with those Jews who waited so long to hear God speak, and to see Him act, to deliver on His promises of a Messiah, we await the day of the coming of the Lord, we might be tempted too to succumb to the same sense of futility they are expressing to the prophet Malachi.

        Day after day, we continue to continue with everyday life, and the approach of the day of judgment seems incredibly far away. Indeed, like the Jews of old, we could fall into the temptation of thinking that God is not at all immanent, that He is far away, He is the proverbial Big Man way upstairs, disconnected with life, and with the realities of the world.

        And so there seems little benefit to living the Christian life, and it seems terribly demanding and extraordinarily futile.

        That’s why the last verses of this text are so incredibly precious. They present a different reality. A reality comprehended in God’s command. A reality comprehended in God’s word. A reality which helps us see the end of things, so that we might live in the present rightly.

        The fellowship of the redeemed in Christ know of the faithfulness of God. They know that we will be remembered, as will those works done in the name of Christ, and by His grace. And we know that life and faith in Christ are anything but futile.

        God knows the faithfulness of His people. He know who we are. And not a single work done by the power of God in the lives of His people will be overlooked. Listen to verse 16. Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honored his name.

        Did you hear what I said at the beginning? The good works that we do are not our own. Rather, God, by granting us the grace of faith and life in His son, chooses graciously to work within us to accomplish His will. So those things which are done are done by Christ in His people. That means that we cannot point to the futility of our actions, or at least seemingly so, and say that they don’t matter and they don’t count and they don’t do anything. Quite the opposite. When God acts, it is always a divine thing, a glorious thing, even if it is taking the trash out, making one’s bed, or cleaning up the room.

        Dear people of God, the acts of God cannot be anything other than pleasing in His sight, for He is the author of them. And precisely because they are a reflection of Christ’s redeeming work in us. Indeed, no Christian acts on His own strength to do the things God desires. But all of us are enable and empowered by the Spirit of God that is resident in us, both to will and to do that which God asks of us.

        If we are rich in the work of God, if we are rich in the giving of our time, in the giving of our talents, in the giving of our treasure, then it is simply a reflection that we have drunk deeply of the spring of the means of grace, through which God strengthens faith and motivates His people to do His will.

        Indeed, I would suggest that any good work done apart from that exposure to God’s means of grace is not godly at all in His sight. For as Isaiah says in the Old Testament, even the best that we offer to God is nothing other than filthy rags, if it is done apart from life in Christ and from faith in Christ.

        Let it be known that God enables us, God empowers us, God moves us, God graciously calls us His own. And this is the right and proper fruit of faith, which exists because of Christ crucified and risen.

        Obedience and service to God is a divinely given response which Christ has given to us! Not something with which we curry His favor, or try to impress Him. Every act of divine grace in our lives reflects the grace of God given us at Golgatha’s cross. In the forgiveness of sins, through the blood of Christ, we are washed clean. Our sins are forgiven, wholly and completely, so that no debt of sin remains outstanding in any of us. And therefore, God makes us fit to be His instruments of grace. And to do His works.

        We do no deserve to be God’s servants. We don’t. We are sinful people, as we confessed earlier in our service today. And yet, God has called us by His name in the baptism that He worked in us. He gives us His very self as we come to the Lord’s supper to receive the very body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, in, with, and under the precious bread and wine.

        Indeed, the very righteousness of the lamb of God, His perfect obedience, becomes our own, so that there may not be a single doubt in anyone whose faith is in His righteousness, as to whether or not we are acceptable to God and pleasing in His sight.

        Therefore, we need not fear that great and awesome day. But rather we would echo that which the writer of St. John writes at the end of the Book of Book when he writes, Come quickly, Lord Jesus. And all we can say is Amen. For on the day of His coming, we may hold our heads up high, not in pride, but rather in gratitude, for we know that our deliverance is finally and at last at hand. And the strife and the pain and the death of all things will end. And we shall be with God forever. And we shall be His people more fully then even than we are now.

        We have been ransomed from death and hell. And the righteousness of Christ we wear as our own.

        And then, Malachi speaks, "They will be mine," says the LORD Almighty, "in the day when I make up my treasured possession. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not. I will spare them, just as in compassion 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.

        At last, at last dear friends in Christ, the foolishness of the world will be revealed and the glory of those things done in Christ will be seen in stark clarity, and the truth will at last be known. And all the cries and accusations that came our way about the futility of the faith and the futility of our works, and the futility of those things that Christ has wrought will be seen for the foolishness they really are.

        So, what kind of week have you been having? Have you been having one of those weeks where it seems like nothing is working? Have you been having those things where slings and arrows of outrageous fortune have been cast your way? All seemingly from those who simply wish us harm? Have you listened to the voice of mockery which the world has cast your way this week, and been crushed by it? Or disappointed, at least?

        Then, remember this. God is at work here. God is at work in you because you are His. And that He is crafting within each of us a resplendent structure and sculpture of His grace. And it is divine, not merely of human making. And He is inscribing everything that He does in you in His scroll of remembrance, that will never be forgotten, and will last forever.

        Futility? Far from it. We live by the glory of Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.