November 9, 2013

We Can’t Say We Didn’t Know!

2nd Sunday of End Time, Last Judgment, 11/10/13
Jeremiah 26:1-6


We Can’t Say We Didn’t Know!
I. God has sent his messengers and his message.
II. God calls for us to listen and repent.


Here’s some sage advice: Expect the unexpected. Plan for the unknown. In spite of the fact that those statements are oxymora, they’re true. We can’t be sure of what will happen to us later this afternoon, let alone next year. We’re forced to live knowing that we don’t know what’s coming. We don’t even know if a year from now we’ll still be living here or we’ll be enjoying heaven.

But the Lord has told us that one great event will still occur. The last great event in history—The Last Judgment. He and he alone knows when it will occur and he’s not telling us with good reason. Instead, he simply tells us in no uncertain terms that the Last Judgment will occur and we need to be ready for it at any time. Right now even.

That’s not our favorite subject. When is the last time Judgment Day was the topic of your casual conversation? Probably never. We’d rather not even think about it ourselves. But it won’t do any good to bury our heads in the sand. We need to be ready for it.

It’s a good thing for us, then, that our God wants us to be ready. He doesn’t want us to be unprepared for the day when Jesus returns. So that we are ready, he shares his word with us. He tells us what he wants us to do to be ready. In doing so, we can never offer the feeble excuse that we didn’t know.

God used his prophet Jeremiah to inform his people of what he wanted them to know about his impending day of judgment. He accomplishes the same thing for us through Jeremiah. And because he does so, we can’t say we didn’t know. Let’s see what God wants us to know about his day of judgment.

Part I.

Some of you probably participated in voting for local positions and levies this past week. One year from now the mid-term elections will occur. That means it won’t be too long before politicians will once again flood the media with their campaign promises. As in the past, look for them to tell US citizens what the voting public wants to hear. Making the campaign promise that you are going to raise taxes is a sure way to lose the election. Forecasting that the economy will remain stagnant and the unemployment rate high is a sure way to send voters in the other direction. Instead, tell the people what they want to hear.

Jeremiah could have taken that approach. Countless prophets of his day had. The world scene in 609 BC was unstable at best. Most would call it chaotic. Old world powers were being crushed and new world powers were emerging. God’s people, while just a small pawn in the world power game, were right in the middle of it. Just months earlier godly King Josiah had tried to get involved against good advice and got crushed. He himself died in battle. Now what? God sent Jeremiah to let them know.

The world scene was bad enough. Israel’s spiritual situation was even worse. Imagine this—God’s people were actually stubborn idolaters. Josiah had tried to reform the people, but it didn’t take. The people loved their false gods. Oh, they came to Jerusalem to the Temple to worship, but it was all pretence, mere lip service, just going through the motions. Like washed pigs they jumped right back into the filth of their idolatrous, immoral lifestyles.

So, did the Lord simply sit back and watch as the situation went from bad to worse? Did he look with disinterest as his people indulged in the newest idol worship and took advantage of one another? Did he whistle happy tunes as his people marched on their merry way to hell? Of course not! He got involved to the hilt. He told Jeremiah, “Stand in the courtyard of the LORD’s house and speak to all the people of the towns of Judah who come to worship in the house of the LORD. Tell them everything I command you; do not omit a word.” In effect he was telling Jeremiah, “Don’t soften my words of judgment. Don’t tell the people what they want to hear. Tell them what they need to hear—my word, every word of it.” Jeremiah had a tough ministry to carry out. God sent him with a message to proclaim but the people wouldn’t listen to it. In fact, here was the response to what Jeremiah said, “This man should be sentenced to death because he has prophesied against this city.” Get this—they accused Jeremiah of being a traitor when, in reality, they were the traitors! And they wanted to put him to death. By the way, this wasn’t the only time during his ministry that the people wanted to fill Jeremiah’s sandals with concrete and throw him into the ocean.

In fact, Jeremiah wasn’t even the first to proclaim this message of judgment to the people. For the past 300 years God had been sending prophets like Elijah and Elisha and Isaiah to his people with harsh messages of judgment. But their words fell on deaf ears and hard hearts. God’s people loved their sinful lives just the way they were, thank-you very much, God!

But when judgment came for these people in the form of the Babylonians, no one could claim, “But we didn’t know! If only you had warned us, God!”

A far greater day of judgment is coming. Likewise, we can’t say we didn’t know. God has sent his messengers and his message to us.

During your lifetime, did a parent or teacher or some other authority figure ever loudly claim about you, “But you didn’t listen to me!”? I’m sure it’s happened to all of us, probably more often than we can recall. It’s bad enough when an earthly authority rightly says it of us; it’s unbearable when that claim comes from the mouth of the holy God who knows all and sees all. That makes us squirm at best and shudder at worst. I’m not saying that we refuse to believe that a day of judgment is coming. That’s the reason we’re here today—to focus on the Last Judgment. But we’re still guilty of selective listening when it comes to our God’s judgments against sin. On the one hand, we decide that God doesn’t know what he’s talking about in this situation we’re in. We’re better suited to make up our own minds and if that means doing what he says we shouldn’t, that’s fine. On the other hand, we fail to trust him when he does reach out to us with his help and power and comfort. As we sit here confronted with our failures, our sins, our acts of defiance, we certainly can’t say we didn’t know. Thank God that he has sent his messengers with his messages into our lives day after day, reminding us just how often we have deserved his judgment, but also that he took that judgment upon himself in the person and work of our Savior, Jesus. There’s our hope—yes, our confidence—in the Last Judgment. We have nothing to fear with Jesus as our Savior. We have every reason to rejoice even in the Last Judgment with Jesus as our Savior.

Part II.

There are sobering times in our lives when we have to make the admission, “I didn’t listen.” Those words aren’t easy to say, especially when they’re spoken to a loved one who deserves our attention and respect. We can only confess, “Shame on me for not listening!”

Indeed, God’s people in Jeremiah’s day would speak those words. The all-knowing God makes a stunning prediction. He said, “If you do not listen to me and follow my law, which I have set before you, and if you do not listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I have sent to you again and again (though you have not listened), then I will make this house like Shiloh and this city an object of cursing among all the nations of the earth.” Shiloh was the town in which the Tabernacle resided prior to the time of King David. The Philistines destroyed the city. God was telling the people of Jeremiah’s day that the same thing would happen to this magnificent Temple in Jerusalem. And it did, in 586 BC. The Babylonians looted it and smashed what remained. Why? Because they wouldn’t listen.

But there was still hope for the people. Listen again to what the Lord said, “Perhaps they will listen and each will turn from his evil way. Then I will relent.” Our God is not about punishing sinners; he’s about saving sinners. He is the God who is slow to anger and abounding in love and faithfulness, showing mercy to thousands of generations of those who love him. He does just that to those who listen to his word and repent. At the beginning of each week we gather together as God’s people to admit that we haven’t listened to our loving God who only wants what is best for us. And our God’s response is that he forgives us because of what Jesus has done for us. That’s what makes us ready for the Last Judgment and keeps us ready for it.

We can’t say we didn’t know. Our God calls for us to listen and repent.

Our loving God doesn’t want us filled with fear or doubt about his judgment on the Last Day, as if we were waiting for the jury to return from its deliberation with the verdict. He’s already told us what he will say to those who listen to his word and repent. He will tell us to come and inherit the kingdom that he has prepared for us. It’s all ours through faith in Jesus—the same Jesus who lived and died in our place. Through Jesus he fills us with confidence as we look forward to the Last Day and as we live each day until then. Listen to his word and repent. Now none of us can claim that we didn’t know. By God’s grace and power we do know. Thank God we know! Amen.

November 3, 2013

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.