THE LORD (IS) OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS
Jeremiah 23:1-6 - July 24, 2005 - Pentecost 10
Dearest Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:
Today, you and I celebrate God’s gift of grace to each one of us. It is by God’s gift of grace that we have come to faith. It is only by God’s gift of grace, which we do not deserve and which we have not earned, that we moves us to gather together today to worship and to sing praises to God. God’s grace is his undeserved love. Grace can also be compared with righteousness. The righteousness of God displays his grace, his undeserved love to us.
The Apostle Paul who once thought it was his mission in life to go out and put to death the fol-lowers of the Way was completely changed by God’s grace. God called Paul from his spiritual darkness into his wonderful light in order to change Paul from a persecutor of the people of the Way; to proclaim Christianity for the rest of his life. Paul realized the importance of God’s grace and God’s righteousness. Paul then spent his entire life dedicated to the Lord. Paul even compared that all things else were rubbish or garbage to the surpassing greatness of knowing God’s riches. Paul spent the rest of his life as he says in Philippians: "And be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith" (Philippians 3:9). At the end of our text we heard Jeremiah proclaim: The Lord Our Righteousness. We will use these words as our theme this morning--The Lord is our Righteousness day in and day until we see Him face to face.
THE LORD (IS) OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS
We learn that I. Our Lord preserves his flock, and II. Our Lord provides righteousness.
I. OUR LORD PRESERVES HIS FLOCK
In studying the Scriptures we recognize Jeremiah as a very important prophet of the Old Testa-ment. When Jeremiah lived, the people didn’t think he was much of a prophet. If you noticed in our text, over and over again we hear the words, Declares the Lord. It is in every verse but one. In between he even says, The Lord says. Jeremiah came to say what the Lord had to say to his people. The people were not anxious to hear Jeremiah, because there were lots of prophets that told them what they wanted to hear. In fact Jeremiah was given the title of traitor prophet. We are going to see why. What does the Lord say through Jeremiah to the people of the day? "Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!” declares the LORD. The rulers were bad, the prophets were bad, and the priests were bad. They told the people not God’s message, but their message.
When you have the opportunity, read the rest of chapter 23. We are going to read two verses where he describes the prophets. Remember, these are to be the prophets of God. What happened? Verses 13 and 14 tell us: Among the prophets of Samaria I saw this repulsive thing: They prophesied by Baal (a false god) and led my people Israel astray. And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen something horrible. They commit adultery and live a lie. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from his wickedness. They are all like Sodom to me; the people of Jerusalem are like Go-morrah (Jeremiah 23). You know what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah. They were so wicked that the Lord destroyed these two cities.
Jeremiah says that is what is happening to the people of Israel since the prophets have done hor-rendous things. They were introducing false worship, the worship of Baal, an idol made by human hands. The result for them, "Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people: ’because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done,’ declares the LORD." They led them away from the temple of God outside to worship Baal. They led them away not to follow in the footsteps of God’s Word but in the empty promises of Baal. You may recall how Elijah the Prophet challenged the prophets of Baal. One day 400 prophets of Baal were consumed by the Lord’s fire. Yet, they still listened to what Baal had to say. Those that followed Baal were lost.
The Lord was not going to let them be lost. The Lord was going to preserve his flock and protect it. Finally, in verse 3, he says: "I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number." The Lord says he will preserve the flock if the prophets were not going to keep God’s Word true. If the prophets were not going to direct the people towards God, the Lord would show them and re-veal himself to be the God of the heavens and the earth, the true God. It would take a miracle that they would be brought back. That miracle was God’s grace, His righteousness. We may wonder how such a thing could happen. These people, as they wandered in the wilderness, had seen the glory of God, the fire at night and the cloud in the daytime. Still, they had forgotten. When the wandering Israelites got to the Promised Land, they put up their feet and relaxed and forgot God because they had so much of abun-dance. They didn’t want to listen to God’s Law anymore. They didn’t want to hear God’s judgment for justice.
Who does? We are born as sinners. We have a sinful nature. We don’t like to come and hear any about our sinful and wicked thoughts. Our actions are connected with sin all the time. Isaiah wrote: All our righteous acts are like filthy rags. All our actions are tainted because we do not live perfect lives. We hear the law telling us that we don’t deserve heaven but deserve eternal punishment. The law tells us to be holy and perfect just as the Lord is perfect. We do not like to hear that, but unless we hear God’s law and see our total depravity, our complete sinfulness and wickedness, we will not appreciate the saving Gospel of God’s grace. It happened then, and it happens today. The people gather around to hear what their ears want to hear. Paul wrote to Timothy: "For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doc-trine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear" (2 Timothy 4:3). Very often we hang around with our friends and family and very often they tell us what we would like to hear. Who doesn’t like that?
The Lord says that is what happened in His church. That is what happens in churches today. We have a lot of examples from the mega churches that are held up as examples because they grow so fast. Sometimes, we would like to think, Well, if we could only be bigger. We seem so small. Do you know that 90% of the churches in America are 100 people or less. Only ten percent are those bigger churches, and a much smaller percentage are mega churches that number in the thousands. Why would they grow? We are given the answer here. The people get to hear what their itching ears want to hear.
The mega church leaders are sometimes self-appointed leaders and many times are ill trained in the Word of God. These leaders lead followers to worship the things of this world. One teaching that is prevalent and the people like to attend those churches is called prosperity theology. Believe and obey and the Lord will bless you. Believe and you will be prosperous. The Lord really does not say that. The leader of the biggest church in America was recently interviewed. When it came down to certain facts, the interviewer asked him, what do you think about same-sex marriage and what do you think about abor-tion? His answer was to say, "Those are pretty controversial, and so we don’t talk about those at church. I do not like to express my opinion on those things." That is his opinion as he states, but what does Scrip-ture say? Scripture clearly tells us same-sex marriage and abortions are wrong. There has never been a false prophet who will stand up in the pulpit or in front of a Bible class and say, Today, I am going to teach you what I think. I am going to teach you something that will lead you astray. Instead, the Lord tells us: "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are fero-cious wolves" (Matthew 7:15). Yes, those big churches may have lots of programs, but what about their spiritual life? What about spiritual leaders who don’t take a stand because they feel that it is not men-tioned in the Bible or does not agree with their opinion? It is in the Bible--right is still right and wrong is still wrong. God says in the last days many will gather around those to hear what their itching ears want to hear. Many will gather around those and choose the broad path of destruction.
You and I, by God’s grace, have been given the ability to determine what is right and wrong ac-cording to God’s Word. We, by God’s grace, have been shown the way of salvation. Our Lord says from now on and in every moment of life until we see him face to face in eternity, that journey is not necessar-ily going to be easy or pleasant. But, the Lord says, he is still going to be the Lord our Righteousness. The Lord our Righteousness is still going to be one who helps us. The Lord our Righteousness is still go-ing to be the one who never abandons us. Jesus told his disciples: "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).
Jeremiah says the Lord is our Righteousness. He has overcome the world so that we will over-come the world. Our Lord preserves His flock and our Lord provides righteousness.
II. OUR LORD PROVIDES RIGHTEOUSNESS
We go back to Jeremiah and his situation in life. God had called him as a prophet. The people knew that. The king knew that. The rulers knew that. Yet, the people still did not want to listen. Jeremiah was put into prison for a time because he had proclaimed what the Lord had said. He was for-gotten in prison, and he almost died. But the Lord delivered him. What had Jeremiah said? Jeremiah had told the children of Israel that the king of Babylon would conquer them. They would be taken away into what is now known as the Babylonian captivity. When the king of Babylon came, they were to surrender and not fight. The other prophets said, Fight! The Lord is on your side and will give you the victory. So Jeremiah became known as traitor-prophet even though he was speaking the Word of God.
In the middle of our text: "I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing, declares the Lord." Again the Lord said there would be good shepherds yet to come. There would be good kings and rulers. We think of the prophets who came later--Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi--all because Jeremiah remained true to God’s Word. They were to proclaim God’s Word also. In the New Testament, the disciples and apostles, a very, very small number. Yet, the Lord said they would be raised up to preserve God’s kingdom and his word.
Then Jeremiah writes, "The days are coming," declares the LORD, "When I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land." The days are coming refers to the New Testament times that were yet to come. The word used here for Branch is not a branch on a tree, which is dependent on the tree. It is like a shoot that comes up, a stem from the ground. Maybe you have cut down a tree and from that root a tree grows even after that root is dead and has no nourishment. That is the kind of branch that Jeremiah is describing here. We picture Jesus as the Right-eous Branch. Jeremiah says this King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. And so it was. Jesus came without sin to preach, to teach and to die on the cross.
The conclusion that Jeremiah writes to these people: "In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety." Judah was the Southern Kingdom and Israel was the Northern Kingdom, which is the whole Promise Land, would be safe. When Jesus was born, it was the fullness of time. The land was un-der Roman rule and the world enjoyed what was called Pax Romani, the peace of Roman. There was not much fighting, because Rome controlled the then known world. This was the fullness of time for the Sav-ior to be born, a great time for the message of salvation to be preached.
So there is no mistake at the end Jeremiah says: "This is the name by which he will called: The LORD Our Righteousness." The people had heard that term before--the LORD Our Righteousness. They knew that term referred to the Savior who was to come. The people of the Old Testament had a Savior just like we do. The only difference--they looked ahead, but we are able to look back.
We come to that miracle, that miracle of faith. The Lord is our righteousness and he provides us with righteousness. For a long time the reformer Martin Luther struggled with the term "righteousness of God". Luther looked at himself and realized that he could not stand before God who is righteous and just and who sat on a throne of judgment. But then Luther realized, by God’s grace, that it was the righteous-ness of God that covered up his sins. It was the righteousness of God that covered up his shortcomings. It is the righteousness of God that the Lord has given to you and me and every believer so that we are saved: not by our works, not by our prayers, not even really by believing hard enough. The Lord gives us saving faith to believe. Paul writes, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21). Imagine that! You and I who are born into this world sinful (not neutral waiting to see if we are going to be good or bad) are now righteous. The fact is we are on the wrong side of the fence. The Lord says we are enemies of God. The Psalm writer says, "At the moment of conception, we have sinned." We are conceived in sin, and this is where life begins. We who commit unrighteous acts, we who commit unholy deeds, think unholy thoughts and speak despicable words the Lord says: "Now My Son’s righteousness has covered you up."
Our lives then are different from the inside out. First, the Lord has given us faith so that when we look at this world we are not held in fear by terror or even the terrorists of this world. Sure, they are evil and wicked, and they can cause alarm and danger and harm, but the Lord gives us his righteousness. We are saved for time and eternity. Peter says: "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed" (1 Peter 2:24). No longer do we live in the darkness of sin. No longer do we live in the grip of Satan. No longer do we live in the fear of death; but we live in the life of the righteousness of God. In the midst of those who are held in the grip of Satan, we are to live joyous lives. God says, "Live for righteousness." For those who are frightened by the fear of death, we are to show them that the hope of the resurrection overcomes all sor-row and sadness.
The Lord is our righteousness. Jesus covers us with his righteousness that we might live joyous, Christian lives. That becomes all the more important in our world which seems to be ever increasing as a sad, troubled place to live. So where is the bright hope? Where is the hope for this life and eternity? It is in the hearts and in the lives of you and I as believers. The darkness of sin and Satan will never overcome God’s church. So how do we do that? How do we shine as lights in this sin-darkened world? The Prophet Hosea who came after Jeremiah says: "Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfail-ing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and show-ers righteousness on you" (Hosea 10:12). The Lord says to plant that seed of righteousness. Open your hearts to hear the Word of the Lord and listen to what he has to say. Then you will reap his blessings of righteousness and joy and peace that the world cannot give.
Today’s world has changed. There are lots of things that the world makes it to appear as very threatening our lives. God says he is our righteousness. Our Lord preserves his flock. Our Lord provides his righteousness, because our own righteousness cannot save us. The righteousness of Christ alone saves. The Apostle Paul in Ephesians wrote about the equipment we have to defeat despair, to defeat the devil, to defeat and conquer death itself. In chapter 6 of Ephesians: "Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace" (Ephesians 6:14,15). Picture the armor--righteousness. We agree with Jeremiah that the Lord is our righteousness who preserves his flock. The Lord is our righteousness who provides his righteousness for our eternal welfare. Amen. Pastor Timm O. Meyer
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READINGS/ILCW A = 1 KINGS 3:5-12; ROMANS 8:28-30; MATTHEW 13:44-52
