Batteries Not Included

 

 

            Batteries Not Included is a humorous song about a child’s perception and realization of the toys advertised for Christmastime.  It is a parody of how the action toys are depicted on TV with all of the enhancing visual and sound effects.  When the toy comes out of the box, it ends up being pretty limited.  Batteries Not Included tells the excitement once generated suddenly dashed with the realization that the thing just sits there until K-Mart opens the next day to purchase those needed batteries.  What you see is not what is necessarily what really comes out of the box. 

 

            God sends Malachi to proclaim to his people that what they see is not what is real.  God sends Malachi to tell the people then, and to tell you and me today, that what we see happening day-to-day in this earth is not necessarily representative of what will occur when Christ returns in judgment on the last day.  What looks good today just might not be what will be good on the last day.  As in the Gospel reading in Luke, both the faithful and unfaithful servants will be called to account for their stewardship of the Lord’s possessions.  The heavenly world and God’s final reward to those faithful in Christ is not defined by what we might see in the present moment.

 

            Malachi is the prophet sent to the Israelites long after they returned from the Babylonian captivity.  The temple and Jerusalem’s walls were rebuilt.  But Israel was not restored to the degrees of its former glory nor to the peoples’ expectations.  Those expecting God to return to his temple with majesty and power in the prophecies of the Messiah were getting impatient for that to happen.  The people were getting tired of waiting.  The people saw that others who were not devoted to living faithful lives according to God’s commands were prospering anyway.  People were asking themselves the question, “Why should I follow God’s commands when the other guy is enjoying luxury and the joys of life?”  Most had put active faith aside in worship habits degenerated to repetitive ceremonies done for the sake of doing them.  Worship had gone from rejoicing in God’s promises to just another thing to do.

 

            Does that sound like the world today?  Are there those who live lives contrary to God’s will and commands but appear to live in the lap of luxury?  There doesn’t appear to be any discouragement, in fact it appears one is encouraged to live outside the rules as that is the way you are going to get the good things around here. How much do we compromise our faith because “everyone else is doing it?”  It happens in the doctrines and practices of Christian denominations that change to accommodate popular practices in a sinful world without regard to God’s word and commands.  It tempts us greatly in our own efforts to go back to what God’s word says in our own lives. 

 

            “Do not commit adultery,” while couples live together for whatever reason fits our fancy.  “Remember the Sabbath day…” while the vacation spots, sports and recreational activities, and the only time I have to shop or do errands or sleep in occupy the time once given for fellowship in worship and Bible Study.  It looks on the surface that the people who do those things seem to be doing pretty well, in fact better than I anyway. 

            “Do not covet and do not steal,” while the government says it is advisable to gamble because it pays for schools and other worthy things and we attend activities where youth not old enough to drive are sent into the crowd to sell raffle tickets or where games of chance are the means to raise a buck at a church activity.  It isn’t just a split between the apparently rich and famous, it happens on your own block and in your own congregation. 

 

            Who cares?  The world keeps running every day.  The sun comes up and the sun goes down.  Oh, there is the tornado here, the war there, the flood now and the volcano another day and place, a terrorist here or there and a terrible accident there.  But it hasn’t affected me yet.  Life goes on.

 

            It is that perception that Malachi was addressing four hundred years before Christ came.  Yes, four hundred years before the first Christmas followed by Calvary.  And that was two-thousand years after the Garden of Eden, sixteen-hundred years after Abraham, eight-hundred and fifty years after the Exodus, four-hundred fifty years after David.  And Jesus was born in a place and at a time when no one expected.  In fact, most of his life, not all that many people ever understood that God really was here in our midst.  God’s grace is that today, forty-five hundred years after Eden, twenty-five hundred years after Malachi, and two thousand years after the life, suffering, death, resurrection and ascension of our Lord, God is still faithful and just, showing his mercy to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.  [Exodus 20:5-6]

 

            Jesus tells us that his peace is not as the world gives.  It is a peace that goes beyond all of human understanding.  It is a gift given by God’s grace alone and received only by faith alone, so no one can boast in what he does but boasts in what Christ has already done for us.  The strong Gospel message in Malachi’s prophecy is that those who are faithful are written in the Scroll, the Book of Life that Daniel and Revelation refer to.  Faithful believers are those who talk with each other, join together in Christian fellowship of all kinds including prayer, Bible Study, worship, acts of service and compassion, and just plain being together. 

 

            About the world?  Jesus reminds us in Matthew 24: 37-39, “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.  For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.”  Life in this world will continue as God gives the blessings of creation to all people as proof of his eternal faithfulness.   But the final gift, that of eternal life, is reserved for those who believe and are baptized, trusting in his promise of forgiveness of sins and eternal life with him that comes only in Jesus, his son, our Lord and Savior. 

 

            Batteries not included?  Let’s not be deceived by the perceptions in this world, but be received in the arms of a Savior who calls you to be faithful, even to the point of death, to receive the crown of eternal life.  [Rev. 2:10, adapt.]  Amen.