This New Is Infinitely Better!

1st Sunday of End Time, Reformation, 11/3/13
Jeremiah 31:31-34


This New Is Infinitely Better!
I. The old covenant was never intended to save sinners.
II. The new covenant is all good news.


It’s a common way for sellers to entice buyers. They claim that their product is new and improved. They’ll site statistics such as it absorbs 25% more liquid than the previous version or it goes to work in 30% less time. It has 50% more power than ever before.. This drug is 2 times more likely to reduce inflammation than the previous version.

But we’re skeptical and with good reason. I’m sure someone in Microsoft claimed that the Vista operating system was better than XP. If you’re older than 40, perhaps you recall Sony officials claiming that Betamax was better than VCR. It’s facts like these that make us reluctant to change products. There’s some truth to the sentiment that we like the product we’re currently using and we don’t want it changed in any way.

Through his prophet Jeremiah God announced that he had something completely new for his people. It wasn’t some electric gadget or pleasant scented household product. It was a covenant, an agreement, a promise that he was making. And it was nothing like the old covenant.

Now, I hope you’ve learned that when our God tells us something, it’s absolutely true. He cannot lie and he does not deceive people. And yet some people were skeptical about a new covenant. They liked the old covenant. The Pharisees who constantly opposed Jesus during his ministry here on earth were one such group of people. They refused to believe in Jesus or anything he said about this new covenant.

The situation was much the same 1500 years later when Martin Luther appeared on the scene. The new covenant was buried under countless layers of the old covenant. The people of Luther’s day lived in hopeless fear of a god that they dreaded and even hated. And it was due to the fact that they knew nothing about the new covenant.

By God’s grace we do. It’s why we’re here this morning celebrating Martin Luther’s Reformation of the Church. We’re here to praise our God for revealing that new covenant to us. And yet there are moments in all of our lives when we’re tempted to think that the old covenant is the better way to go. The Lord reminds us, therefore, through Jeremiah, that the new is infinitely better. Let’s see what the Lord means as we ponder that Reformation truth this morning.

Part I.

Would you ever consider using your teeth to remove a bottle cap from a bottle top? If you clothes dryer breaks down, will you throw the entire load into your kitchen oven at 350 degrees for an hour? Will you attempt to plow snow with your Toyota Prius this winter? Of course not. That would be foolish. It could also be very harmful and even deadly. You know better than to use something for which it was never intended.

If only people would realize that about the old covenant.

The old covenant. Just what are we talking about here? Good question. The old covenant to which the Lord refers here in Jeremiah was the covenant that he established with the Children of Israel at Mt. Sinai about 1400 BC. At Mt. Sinai God promised that he would be their God if they would be his people. And they people agreed. In Exodus we read, “Then [Moses] took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, ‘We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey’” (Ex. 24:7).

So, what did they agree to do? What did they promise to obey? Not just the 10 Commandments. All the laws that the Lord set before them regarding what they could eat, what they could touch, what bodily functions made them ceremonially unclean, what festivals to observe each year, the Sabbath which stipulated that no work could be done, and an onerous system of daily sacrifices.

It wasn’t long before the Israelites realized they couldn’t keep their end of the covenant. Shortly after making this promise, while Moses was up on Mt. Sinai speaking with the Lord, the people decided to make a golden calf and worship it—a huge covenant violation. And as the years passed, they realized there were so many laws that regulated every facet of their lives that it was difficult to remember which regulation came into play in a particular situation and what the penalty was for disobeying. The priests were supposed to know, but it wasn’t long before they abandoned their God-given duties. And here’s the Lord’s assessment of their performance, “They broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them.”

Think about it. Obviously the Lord knew this would happen, so why did he enter this covenant with them in the first place? He wanted the covenant to keep his people separate from the idolatrous and immoral heathen people living around them. What’s more, he intended this covenant to be temporary. It was only in effect until the Savior would complete his work. This wasn’t the final word.

But the Jews came to misuse it. They used this covenant and their attempts to keep it as the way to heaven. The self-righteous Pharisees were convinced they had attained it. Those who shared their opinion had no use for a Savior from sin; they were convinced they didn’t need one.

And it didn’t help that the Church eventually began proclaiming the same deadly heresy. No wonder it was in such dire need of reform by Luther’s day! The gospel had long since been forgotten. In its place were countless rituals and daily un-bloody sacrifices. Forgiveness and heaven itself could be purchased with cold cash. That’s old covenant thinking.

But people still think that way. You don’t have to look very hard to find them. Just ask people you know. “Do you believe that there’s a heaven? If so, how will you get there?” Don’t be surprised to hear something along the lines of, “Well, I’m a good person. I try to do what’s right. I follow the Golden Rule.” That’s old covenant. We know that. We know it doesn’t work. God never intended for us to keep his laws as a way to heaven. We might not be so crass as to think that way, but a little of that opinion lives in all of us. It shows itself every time we claim God isn’t treating us as we deserve. After all, we’re his children, aren’t we? It shows itself every time we think a little more highly of ourselves than we ought to. It shows itself whenever we look down on others for what they say and do. We’re making the statement, “God, I keep your laws!” That doesn’t work. And if we’re honest, we’ll admit it.

Part II.

We need something different, something new. And our gracious God provides it! He has established a new covenant which is infinitely better!

Sweet deals are rare. Usually you get out of a deal what you put into it. But every so often someone does offer you a truly amazing deal and almost always, that deal is motivated by their love or their gratitude for you.

Has your God got a sweet deal for you! In this one, this new covenant, God does it all and you do nothing! Listen to the Lord describe it through Jeremiah, “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time. I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” It’s the promise of his forgiveness with no strings attached and no effort, no payment, no sacrifices whatsoever on our part.

In fact, we don’t even have to go to our God to get it. He comes to us! Through Jeremiah he speaks about writing his law in our minds and on our hearts. He does that when he sends his Holy Spirit through his word and sacraments to us. Again, we do nothing!

That’s the very thing that Martin Luther re-discovered for Christianity. God comes to us through the gospel in his word and sacraments. What God wants us to have with all his heart he gives to us freely. God takes the work that Jesus did for us and makes it our own through faith in Jesus, a faith he works in us. We don’t even choose to believe or to accept it! Do you realize what good news that is!

This new is infinitely better! The new covenant is all good news.

We’d like to think that we never tire of hearing good news. We’d like to think that we always believe good news. But that thinking fails to take our sinful nature into account. The sinful self inside all of us wants to listen to anything but the good news of Jesus and it can state its case rather convincingly. Look at all the other things we could pay attention to! Why make the effort to focus on the good news of the new covenant? Worse yet, our sinful self leads us to think that we don’t even need the good news of Jesus. We’re fine just the way we are. And then there’s the exact opposite opinion of ourselves. When we know we’ve made a mess of things, then Satan pounds us with guilt and shame. That’s when we need to recall the new covenant. “I will forgive their wickedness and remember their sins no more.” That is always our God’s promise to us. That’s God’s Reformation truth for us to take to heart. That’s what’s always new and the new is infinitely better than the old. May our God always comfort and strengthen us with that great truth! Amen.