Concordia Lutheran Church
Pentecost 13 August 15, 2010
His Presence Provides Hope
Jeremiah 23:16-29
† IN JESUS NAME †
20 …may the God of peace— who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, and ratified an eternal covenant with his blood— 21 may he equip you with all you need for doing his will. May he produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, every good thing that is pleasing to Him. All glory to him forever and ever! Amen! Hebrews 13:20-21 (NLT)
This is the Gospel of the Lord?
Every sermon I preach ends with a paraphrase of Paul’s words to the church of Philippi, - may the peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds. I try to tie that peace, the incredible shalom-peace, that can found in the passages of the day,
It is a challenge today. Is there a gospel message, a message of good news of God’s love and mercy, actually found in the gospel, where Jesus indicates that He has not come to create peace, but to cause division? What about the reading from the Epistle to the Hebrews? Where we look at Abraham, and Moses, and the harlot Rahab, and see their stories, the incredible amount of trust they have in God our Father, which enabled them and so many others to endure stresses and challenges and trials. Does God really expect us here in Concordia to have faith that measures up to that of those heroes of the faith? Actually – yeah.
The challenge of finding the gospel, the good news is most dramatic in the Old Testament reading, for there we find the prophets preaching “It is well,” literally – there is God’s peace! God will label those men false prophets, liars, those that rush about as if they are His messengers with His important message, and yet they never bothered to check with Him! And yet this message of peace sound so good!
Hopeless and Hidden from sight?
To those who are God’s people, Jeremiah is told by God to issue the following instructions – don’t listen to them, what they proclaim is false, and is meaningless and vain! It’s not a message they got from God, it is one that ignores the plans they would know, if they had they would have known to avoid the approaching storm!
Instead of heeding God’s word, and instead of understanding His intent with the approaching storm of God’s wrath, these prophets were telling people everything was fine, that they were dwelling in God’s peace. The tragedy is that there wasn’t peace, for the people who God called by His own name weren’t listening to His message, but a message that allowed them to do whatever their hearts said was right. Remember, this passage isn’t talking about the gentiles, about the Canaanites not following God, it’s talking about the people of God, the ones which He rescued, the ones who had sworn to follow Him.
That’s the problem too often in the church. We look at the world around us, and all the “fun” they are having, and we want it too. So we look to those who show us how to be the perfect employee, the best spouse, the perfect parents with the life that is set in a model home, with the perfect vacations, and the perfect church. Last week, we heard from Solomon in the readings, and that such a life was vain, and empty when truly examined. So why do we buy into the deceit of our heart? Why do we chase after pleasure, ignoring the framework of God’s plan? Why do we complicate our lives with the stress and then challenge of realizing our expectations are not ever going to met? Eventually, this results in forgetting God our Father, and replacing Him with some god or thing which we trust in, instead of God.
It is then, as idols collapse, as lives our found to be not so perfect, as messages of success uttered by false prophets are found… vain and meaningless, that the storm of God’s wrath comes upon those who are unaware, and unprepared…
If only they had someone who had known God’s plan, who had sat in the council of God… who heard God’s plan to deal with the evil, to deal with the sin…then…maybe then there would be real peace, rather than the illusion?
Maybe then instead of doubt and guilt and shame, there would be repentance leading to comfort?
Maybe then one would realize the storm of God’s wrath had landed… hear again the prophecy of Jeremiah…
19 Behold, the storm of the LORD! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked. 20 The anger of the LORD will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intents of his heart. In the latter days you will understand it clearly.
The Council of the Lord (Convocation
The Anger executed – burst on the head of the one perceived as wicked…
The plans of God
Eph 1:4
Not slow
Christ became sin
God would not rest until sin had been treated to His wrath… until this storm, the Hebrew describes it as a Category 5+ tornado – twisting winds that destroy all in their path. And yet, there is the promise that in the latter days we will understand it completely…. We will understand.. you and I can actually understand it… for Paul provides the key… to the church in Corinth he wrote:
21 Christ never sinned! But God treated him as a sinner, so that Christ could make us acceptable to God. 2 Corinthians 5:21 (CEV)
And in Romans
1 If you belong to Christ Jesus, you won't be punished. 2 The Holy Spirit will give you life that comes from Christ Jesus and will set you free from sin and death. 3 The Law of Moses cannot do this, because our selfish desires make the Law weak. But God set you free when he sent his own Son to be like us sinners and to be a sacrifice for our sin. God used Christ's body to condemn sin. 4 He did this, so that we would do what the Law commands by obeying the Spirit instead of our own desires. Romans 8:1-4 (CEV)
God’s plan, created and shared in His council meeting, was that Jesus would bear the brunt of the storm, that He would feel all of God’s wrath poured out against sin. This is the plan that the prophets should had revealed, if only they had listened to God’s plan, instead of the desires of their heart! The church in Ephesus was told this was God’s plan – hear how Paul describes it – the plan from before the beginning of the world!
4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. 6 So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. 7 He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. Ephesians 1:4-7 (NLT)
God’s council, God’s plan was all along to deal with our sin by laying it all on Christ. This was the message of the tabernacle sacrifices, and those in the temple. It was the hope David refers to, for God being able to create a righteous spirit in us, Moses hope for a holy people, a priesthood of all believers, for what Isaiah refers to in one of clearest passages about the messiah’s suffering and sacrifice,
For us!
That’s why people will repent
That’s why we understand His council now
That’s why His name is important!
That’s the passage
4 But the fact is, it was our pains he carried— our disfigurements,(sin damaged lives) all the things wrong with us. We thought he brought it on himself, that God was punishing him for his own failures. 5 But it was our sins that did that to him, that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins! He took the punishment, and that made us whole. Through his bruises we get healed. 6 We're all like sheep who've wandered off and gotten lost. We've all done our own thing, gone our own way. And GOD has piled all our sins, everything we've done wrong, on him, on him. 7 He was beaten, he was tortured, but he didn't say a word. Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered and like a sheep being sheared, he took it all in silence. 8 Justice miscarried, and he was led off— and did anyone really know what was happening? He died without a thought for his own welfare, beaten bloody for the sins of my people. 9 They buried him with the wicked, threw him in a grave with a rich man, Even though he'd never hurt a soul or said one word that wasn't true. 10 Still, it's what GOD had in mind all along, to crush him with pain. The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin so that he'd see life come from it—life, life, and more life. And GOD's plan will deeply prosper through him. Isaiah 53:4-10 (MSG)
That’s our life Isaiah’s talking about – our life that is born in the place where Christ’s life was laid waste by the wrath of God. We are given redemption here, in the place where His body and blood was broken, and shed for us.
That is the plan, when God sat down, Father, Son and Spirit, and held their council. Before the beginning of the world, it was decided that this would be the place, at the cross – where God and man would meet, and God would give us life.
That’s why we ultimately repent, why we are changed. Not by our own strength, not by our own wisdom, but by the work of God. That’s what the prophets were supposed to say, be still and wait on God, He will fix the broken walls, repair the shattered lives, enable us to trust in Him for everything we deal with, for He is our God, our Savior, our deliverer.
As you take the bread and wine, know there is peace. Not peace from ignoring sin, and chasing after false dreams that have no real meaning in life or death, but the true gift of God’s peace – promised by God. True life – given to you through the sacrifice of Jesus, and through the ministry of the Holy Spirit poured out to you in baptism. Most importantly, true life, living the presence of God, and sharing in His glory.
That is the Hope we have…. Now… right now… because He is present.
Know His incredible peace, rest in it, knowing nothing else is the same, nor can compare. Rest in that peace, your heart and mind protected, not by vain prophecies, but by the risen and reigning Lord and Savior, Jesus.
AMEN?
