Speak Clearly

Jeremiah 26:1-6

2^nd last Sunday of the Church Year

† In the Name Jesus †

Grace and Peace from God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ!

Don’t miss this communication

It was a cloudy ominous day for the people of Britain. The very weather seemed as depressed as they were. The fogs and clouds hung close to the ground, and visibility was so bad, even people walking past each other on the street barely could see each other.

All were depressed because 20 minutes before, a message was sent from the coast, two simple words. Wellington defeated. The hope of England, to stop a ruthless dictator named Bonaparte, the news declared was crushed. Most thought all of Europe was lost to this madman. The news spread quickly throughout London, and throughout the Thames River Valley.

Yet the message was incomplete, for some 10 minutes later, the fog parted, and the message was repeated, Wellington defeated the French at Waterloo. The incomplete message, which dashed the hopes of the heart of a nation, were soon relieved by the complete message. Victory belonged to the British, and the people of Europe were finally set free!

A story circulated about the District Attorney’s office. It seemed the man about to be tried for murder, had confessed to a national television reporter. One of the aids had walked by the interview room, and heard the accused exclaim loudly “I killed that kid”! The DA’s office seemed jubilant, for such a confession would seal a very difficult case to prove in court. Later that evening, when the actual interview was played on television, the full quote was heard, “There is no way in the world that I killed that kid”.

What a difference a complete message makes.

If we look briefly at the passage from the Old Testament this morning, there is an inherent danger of getting the message incomplete, of getting the message wrong. We have to have the complete message of scripture to completely understand it. Jeremiah had to deliver the message clearly, and completely. We today, still need to hear that message.

So let’s get to Jeremiah’s message:

Speak Clearly

Who is commanded

So people will repent!

Purpose – seen 1 Thessalonians

Jeremiah is directed by God to speak a message. To speak that message where the people of God are to gather, that they might hear it. They have come, in order to worship, to do their “duty” to God, in order that they might appease Him. Jeremiah is told to get the message out, in order that they might, that they just might listen, and having listened, they might repent. This is not the first time this message has been brought to the people of Israel, it is not even the first time for Jeremiah – a very similar message was given to them in chapter 7.

The hope, that in hearing the message of God, that they will really hear it. That for the moment, they will put aside thoughts of where to eat after church; that as they listen, the worries of last week, and the concerns of this week will not distract them. That they will not focus so much on trying to do that which they consider their duty as believers, but that they will hear the message of God.

A simple message really. A message that once heard, will cause repentance. That will cause the incredible blessing that Paul desires for the Thessalonians,

May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, ¹³ so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

God wants people to listen, so that He can bless them. Yet so often, the distractions of sin, the distraction of the world that Satan so deftly uses, and our worries about life and death, pull us away from listening. We find ourselves wandering around in sin and despair, because we do not listen. All while God desires to pour out His love and grace, His forgiveness, His power, upon us. Does anyone really think that God wants to create evil and disaster to punish us for the evil we do?

He says speak clearly to my people, that they might come back…

Speak completely

Law and Gospel

Urgent message

In America today, I think we have become masters of disinformation. I am talking about politicians, for they have nothing on the rest of us. We have radio psychologists advising people not to share hard truths with others; we have people who want us to break the truth to them gently, or even politely. I have even heard that we should allow each of our friends a major character flaw, rather than encouraging them to grow out of it. We have classes in preaching that teach us to step quickly and quietly around the negative aspects of scripture, less we drive people away with “hell, fire and brimstone” preaching. We want our sin to be confronted, if it truly has to be, with a bit of Novocain or anesthesia, while reclining comfortably in a reclining chair.

This doesn’t seem to be a new problem. God tells Jeremiah – speak it ALL – don’t hold anything back. In Lutheran-speak – let the Law and the Gospel accurately be spoken. It is an urgent message, and it has always been one. Part of Jeremiah’s message includes that – that God continued to send to the people prophets with an urgent message. The urgent message that no one wanted to listen to.

It is a hard message, one very hard to get clear, and complete. It is the theme of Sunday School at this time, as Rich leads you in the study of Law and Gospel. To use God’s law, and the very real punishments that are associated with breaking it, not to drive people into the ground, but to drive people to the cross. To use the gospel to help those that are convicted by the law, to know the mercy of Christ Jesus, that His death rids us of the need for ours. Never are we to use the comfort of the gospel for those who see themselves as not in need of it. One pastor coined the phrase – afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted. This is especially true when it comes to motivating people to do what God has called them to do, where the motivation should never be fear from the law, but a response to the gospel.

Then, when they are listening, comes the grace of God, in ways beyond our expectation, beyond our most incredible dreams. Then, they realize the incredible wrath of God was not meant for them, despite the very fact that we tend to head for it, like a paperclip is drawn to the magnet.

The interesting blessing/curse

Shiloh, God’s Spirit no longer dwells there

Ps 78:60

Jerusalem’s Curse, God killed there.

Let me give you the most incredible example of the way in which God blesses those who listen, who hear the entire message. We see things in a different light, in view of our salvation, and the salvation of the world, for those that believe.

There is, at the end of our Old Testament reading, the wrath of God, that is promised if the people do not repent. The wrath is poured out, in two parts, and I will claim, that this wrath was already poured out.

The first is simple, it is saying that Jerusalem will be like a city called Shiloh, from the Israel’s past. It was there, that for a long time, the Arc of the Covenant was kept in the Tabernacle. The very presence of God dwelt there, among His people. Yet because of their sin, the temple was taken from that place, and captured by the Philistines. God’s gracious presence was taken from them, because of their sin.

The second is also very similar, that God will make Jerusalem the place where every nation of the world was cursed. Where every nation of the world was brought into judgment, and found wanting.

Sounds horrible, doesn’t it?

Yet for us, those who have been baptized into the people of God, the promise is incredible.

You see, these judgement already occurred, about 2000 years ago. It was then, that even as Christ died on the cross, the temple became meaningless, and forever will be. For in Christ’s death, we are united in Baptism, and our bodies become the temples of the Holy Spirit. He no longer resides in temples of Stone, but in the midst of His people throughout the world.

In the death of Christ on the cross, the world that rejects Him is ultimately cursed. For not all in those countries will reject the love of God, but the powers that come against God’s will are rendered helpless. Consider from Psalms 2,

¹ Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? ² The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, ³ "Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us." ⁴ He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. ⁵ Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, ⁶ "As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill." Psalms 2:1-6 (ESV)

Yes, the nations of the world are cursed, and that in an utterly convincing manner, as sin, Satan, and Death are completely defeated, as Jesus becomes the name above all names, that they must all come and eventually proclaim as King.

For us, this is glorious news, for those who have listened and known that Jesus died for us, that we are united with Him in his death in Baptism, even as we shall be untied in His resurrection. For us who realize that our salvation is not depended on our doing “worship” but in hearing the good news that Christ has already died to save us from sin. It is then we praise, it is then we rejoice with all that we are.

It is then, that we know the piece that passes all understanding.

That is God’s peace, given to us, in Jesus Christ.

A True Manifest Destiny

Rom 3:19-28

Reformation Day 10/30

† In the Name of Jesus †

Grace and Peace to you, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ!

The Dream of a Nation

God’s Dream of His Nation

It was during the rapid expansion of the United States, from 1810 to 1840 that a Doctrine solely began to develop. It was first titled in 1840, and by 1880, it was an officially recognized position, by which men measured whether one was a true patriot.

The doctrine was half political, half theological. It was called the Doctrine of Manifest Destiny. In its original form, it stated that God’s favor was on the United States, as evidenced by the rapid expansion of its territories. At one point, the “doctrine” indicated that the USA would eventually rule all of the Northern Hemisphere, including the Caribbean Islands. The doctrine was based on three theories, according to a prominent historian:

The first based God’s favor on the “exceeding virtue” of the American people and their institutions.

The second inferred that because of our exceeding virtue, God gave the United States the Mission to spread these institutions, thereby recreating nations in the image of the United States.

The third point simply stated that this was God’s specific destiny for us, as revealed in the scriptures.

Though I would disagree with this Doctrine of Manifest Destiny for the United States, the three points can be used to show us a different destiny. A destiny based on virtue, a destiny that results in being remade in an image, a destiny God truly made manifest in scripture, clearly made manifest in today’s reading from the Letter to the Church in Rome.

Not our Virtue, but His

Virtue (Greek αρετη; Latin virtus) is the habitual, well-established, readiness or disposition of man's powers directing them to some goodness of act. A sense of ethical perfection, and the determination to maintain it. Not how I would describe a nation that while noble in many ways, also supported slavery, oppression of native Americans, and struggled with controlling the morality of its frontiers. I have often wondered whether the pastors of that day supported the idea of Manifest Destiny.

Surely, they realized, like Israel in the past, that their people were not truly virtuous. Like Israel of the past, worship of God often faded into the background, as they pursued that which they defined as important or necessary. They gave up the God who rescued them from Egypt, who provided them His presence. They traded Him for gods who would provide them with the trappings that gave the appearance of virtue, good harvests, physical pleasure, and many descendants.

Surely, their pastors realized that like the early church, their people, struggled with sin. Greed, lust, envy challenged them, as did putting the trust we are supposed to put in God, in ourselves. A great example, was in the time of Luther, as the church once again was teaching that man could save himself, by buying God’s forgiveness and his favor. Put bluntly, as Paul does in Romans, all have sinned, there are none who are virtuous. There were none then, there are none now. None can be justified, Paul says clearly, none can be judged righteous, based on their own work.

Their idea of Manifest Destiny therefore falls short. Yet there is a destiny, made manifest for us, that does rely on virtue, but not ours. The virtue of Jesus, the perfect, ethical , virtue-filled life that He lived, that He lives. The virtue, that Paul tells the Philippians, that caused him to serve, to die, and will result in every knee bowing down before him.

Not our Image, but His

The Propitiation

Just and Justifier

That leads us to the second point in the concept of Manifest destiny. The idea that the mission was to see our institutions spread, so that we could “redeem and remake” other nations in the image of ours. This concept still exists a bit today, as we attempt to take nations like Haiti, or Afghanistan, or Iraq and turn them into democracies, after they have dealt with dictators for decades. As if they could quickly make that transition. Please don’t misunderstand me, I think a republican democracy is a fine form of government, yet I also, as a student of history, know the problems one faces, that we still face today.

The Doctrine of Manifest Destiny would have us reproduce our nation, in those we have power and influence over. Yet would we not replicate our problems as well? For instance, is our system so perfect that there is truth in advertising, when it comes to those things we are asked to decide upon? Perhaps I am too cynical, but I think we need a better image to recreate people in.

The Historian is correct, the nations of this earth need to be created in the image of one who is virtuous. The image of Christ. Even as Paul tells the believers in Colossians,

⁹ Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices ¹⁰ and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Colossians 3: (ESV

Even that image of Jesus, who is according to Paul the very Image of God.

That is a transformation that will make a difference, it is a transformation that occurs to us in Baptism, and is made more complete, as we continue to receive His grace, through encountering Him in His word, and I the Lord’s Supper. As we focus on what Christ does for us, even as Paul tells the Corinthians,

¹⁸ And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:18 (ESV)

We know, it is His virtue, not ours, and it is His image we need, as well as the world needs to be transformed into, yet we need to see this destiny worked out, how is it accomplished.

The reason our destiny is set is revealed, it is made manifest in our epistle reading. There in the reading, there is a big “Church” word. The word “propitiation”. It is a pretty technical term, going back to the Hebrew Temple worship. It is the word desribing the blood that was poured, once a year, on the mercy seat in the holy of Holies. It was the blood of the sacrifice, offered for the sins of the people.

The blood which covers the sin of the people, the blood of the sacrifice offered for our sins. The forgiveness, the actions of Christ that we receive as “for us” by faith. In the past, the blood of animals was poured out, on the altar, so that God would pass over the sins of His people. This is incredibly explained in Hebrews chapters 7-9, here is one explaination of that,

¹¹ But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) ¹² he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. Hebrews 9:11-12 (ESV)

Not a People’s Destiny, but His People’s

We become His People, His nation

Nothing can stop it….

In doing so, the man who was virtuous accomplished what we could not. He earned the pleasure of God, by completing His mission, to make us in His image. He did that through His blood.

He made, from all the peoples of the earth, a people. The destiny of those people, He determines, and no one can separate us from Him. Not a nation, not those who would get us to trust in our own works, rather than His work on our behalf.

That is what is seen, what is heard, His gospel. It is a gospel we share with our world, for the blood on the altar, guarantees our salvation, it guarantees His virtue, and His mission, to set our destiny, as the favored people. A destiny manifested in Christ, and His sacrifice.

To Him, be the honor, the power and the glory, now and forever more. AMEN!