B, Post-Pentecost 25 Proper 28 – Mark 13:1-8 “Having a Heavenly Heart”

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The disciples marvel at the temple and the surrounding buildings of Jerusalem.  And Jesus promises that every stone will be thrown down and an age of tribulation will be experienced that has never occurred before.  And that is saying something since there have been plenty of disastrous natural events and manmade atrocities in the last two thousand years.

But Jesus’ focus on the temple and its destruction stands as a dire warning for all people both, inside and outside the church; for both parishioners and pastors alike. 

To the Jews the temple in Jerusalem was their “heaven on earth”, a copy of Eden; a place to reflect the glory of God to all who came near.  This temple had been sacked once before, after David and Solomon had raised the kingdom of Israel to commanding power, there in Jerusalem they built the temple.  It was built with the best of everything, the cedars of Lebanon, gold covered walls embossed with date palms, the fruit of the desert, an oasis where the people of God could rest with God after having their sins atoned for by the blood the priest poured out on the altar.

But it wasn’t the glory of the temple they were called to worship.  It was God who dwelt there.  He had a footstool on earth where he could once again meet with man and share his holy presence as Adam and Eve once did in the garden of Eden.

But that didn’t last; the Assyrians and then the Babylonians came from the north and the east and destroyed Israel and Judah.   The temple was finally destroyed after prophet after prophet came with the word of the Lord and called for obedience, contrition, and repentant hearts rather than ritual sacrifices as a smoke screen to the self serving lack of care and welfare which was really going on.

God called Jeremiah to warn… Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’  “For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another,  if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm,  then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever. 

“Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail.  Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known,  and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—only to go on doing all these abominations?  Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 7:4–11 ESV)

And so the temple was left in ruins, the glory of God lifted from the temple and went to the exiles in the east while Jerusalem was left desolate. 

During the following four hundred years, the temple was rebuilt by returned exiles, but then during the time of Herod he seeks to restore it to its former glory.  This is the temple structures the disciples marvel over to Jesus.  And it’s the structure of which Jesus said, “Not one stone will be left not thrown down.” It’s destruction occurring liturgically and spiritually at Jesus’ death on Good Friday and physically some forty years later when the Romans sacked Jerusalem in 73 A.D. 

History stands as a warning to us, both believers and unbelievers alike!  If God’s earthly temple of heaven or reflection of paradise’s Garden of Eden can be destroyed, and even more so, if God can chuck humanity out of his presence from the original Garden of Eden, it can and will happen again if our hallowing focus falls from God.  

When we as his church fall away from the care and welfare with which we’re called to bear in the community calling unbelievers to faith; what might happen to us if we pass off Jesus’ care and welfare towards us at the cross as “whatever” or “nothing” in favour of heartfelt emotions centred on the human heart which refuses to hear and heed the word of God?   

We are told very clearly by the author of the letter to the Hebrews… For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,  but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.  Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses.  How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?  For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.”  It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10:26–31 ESV)

 So “all the more as you see the day approaching” all of humanity is called to heed the word of God.  We are called to have heavenly hearts, but what that is many are being deceived into thinking is some sort of self-willed goodness by which God will accept us.  Whereas the only heart God accepts is the heart of Christ, and so the question goes begging, “Do you bear the heart of Christ?”

We hear in Proverbs 27:19, “As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man.”  And Jesus says, “For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,  coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.  All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” (Mark 7:21–23 ESV)

Just like the Jews, out of the hearts of believers and non believers in Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection for our salvation come all sorts of things that continue to defile us.  So how do I know I bear the heart of Christ, how do I receive the heart of Christ?

We who are believers must continually examine ourselves, not with human eyes or hearts, or understanding, but with the word of God.  Jesus says, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19–21 ESV)

So we might examine and discern, “what just is my treasured kingdom?”  Recognize to where the glory is going?  God alone, or me, my family, or someone or something else?

If God can destroy the very place of his presence on earth, he can destroy the buildings and organisations we hide behind “in his name” avoiding and refusing to listen to his Word, the Word which calls us to contrition and repentance for constructing our own kingdoms. 

We are called to repentance and return to the church built on and in Christ.  To place faith in him and not the Lutheran name, our standing in the community, the family inheritance, the continuation of the culture in which the western world so easily sins.  We are called to the one faith of the church built not with human hands or with heartfelt human emotions.  Rather we must constantly let these kingdoms die, in favour of the true kingdom of God, called, gathered, enlightened and sanctified by the Holy Spirit in the death and resurrection of Christ in the one true faith.

We need to daily die, heart and all, and let the heart of Christ reign within us.  We need to trust ourselves less and let God be God more and more in our day to day lives.  In the little things, not just in the things we think are only big enough to be bothering God about. 

Jesus warns us “not to be led astray” (Mark 13:5).  This firstly means not to let our hearts desires lead us astray but to soberly see ourselves through the word of God for whom we are.  The greatest deception is not from without but rather within.  The devil and the world, take a distant second most of the time to our sinful selves and our hearts full of the defiling things we know to dwell in each of us.

As the Psalmist says… “Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.”  I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.’ I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me.  I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.  Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure.  For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.  You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” (Psalm 16:1-2, 7–11 ESV)

In God’s presence there is fullness of joy — eternal preservation.  Let your heart be led by the Lord, let your heart hear his holy word so you will be led by him, forevermore!  Amen.

B, Pentecost 24 Proper 28 - Hebrews 10:19-25 "Christ in Church"

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We are experiencing birth pains! Since Christ ascended into heaven the earth has continued to crumble into chaos. The devil, having lost his universal authority because of the cross, now discharges his limited powers of destruction on sinful humanity and creation, and because of this, we experience birth pains.

We're not sure how advanced these birth pains have come, that is only for God to know. But Jesus tells us that end times will be quite tough — murder, hatred, political turmoil, and the upheaval of the natural world, will test all people. Christians will be captured and called to account. Many will be severely punished because the politically incorrect proclamation of the gospel will not be tolerated in any way, shape, or form.

Things are becoming tougher for us already! As our society and the advertisers tell us we're moving towards a utopia, evolving into perfection, the reality is our technological know-how and consumerism are moving us further away from perfection. These products of human knowledge reveal, more and more, humanity's failings in caring for creation and each other out of reverence for God. How much worse things will be allowed to fall, only God truly knows! But as times get tougher, Jesus also promised that whoever stands firm to the end will be saved! (Mark 13:13)

So we are encouraged by God's word in the letter to the Hebrews chapter 10 verses 19 to 25.

19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:19-25)

In these words from God we are encouraged to endure in the things of God. We are encouraged to continue gathering together as church, and to not stop doing so, as many have decided to do in these troubled times.

But what is church; into what are we called to gather? And what does coming to church do; what is the function or purpose of church?

Firstly on the question: What is church? Jesus' conversation with his disciples tells us very quickly what church is "not".

We hear in Mark chapter 13 verses 1 to 5, 'As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, "Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!" 2 "Do you see all these great buildings?" replied Jesus. "Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down." 3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him privately, 4 "Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?" 5 Jesus said to them: "Watch out that no one deceives you."' (Mark 13:1-5)

So all our massive church buildings—of which this one is one of the most insignificant in the scheme of church architecture and size—are not the church. And even if this building was the biggest in size or housed the most important ministers or bishops it still is not necessarily the church. However, what happens inside it might be church!

Even the temple structure in Jerusalem, which the disciple marvelled over before Jesus, was not to be church. Years earlier those who put their faith in the temple building were sorely warned by God through Jeremiah when he stood at the gate of the Lord's house and there proclaim this message: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. 4 Do not trust in deceptive words and say, "This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!" (Jeremiah 7:3-4) But the people didn't listen and didn't trust God but rather trusted in themselves and the building, making it a den of robbers (v.11) Therefore, God thrust them from his presence into exile. And then in Roman times not long after Jesus' ascension Jesus prophesy came true that, Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down. So the Jerusalem temple was flattened by the Romans in 70ad and to this day has never stood again. So buildings are not the church?

Surprisingly also traditionalism and institutionalism are not church either. Great gatherings of people into denominations such as Lutheranism, Roman Catholicism, Pentecostalism, Baptists, Unitings, or the other traditions in the church, are, in themselves, not church either.

However, the hint we need to discover just what church is, is once again with Jesus and his word as the Jews interrogate him in the temple! Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days." (John 2:19)

The church is this: God's faithful believers gathered around Jesus — past, present, and future — according to the means laid out in his word. And where "this" happens in buildings and in denominations amongst groups of people, there is the church. The church's one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord, destroyed and raised again in three days.

So we have dealt with what the church is; now secondly, the question of function and purpose.

Many today practise not meeting together, thinking they can be Christian individuals in isolation. They say, "Jesus lives in me, why should I go to church?" But if we take the logic of this statement to its conclusion we see it's as silly as saying, "the love of my marriage partner lives in my heart so why should I live with him or her!" Or it's as unrealistic or foolish as a man setting up farm in the desert, thinking he can grow fruit without water!

Although people do live apart in marriages, and farmers struggle to farm without water, and Christians do survive in isolation, we know it's not the ideal situation. And given the opportunity we welcome what we know to be right. God encourages us in what is right in the book of Hebrews to not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.(Hebrews 10:25)

Woe to those who lead people to believe that they can be Christians without being connected to the very things that make us Christian. We all know how easy it is to explain away the wise habits of meeting together and fall into the foolish habits of thinking we're Christians, just because we think we know who Jesus is. The fruits of these misguided habits quickly reveal a lack of trust in God and his word, so although they might know him they don't trust him and fail to participate in his fellowship, life, and timeless community, and are missing out on getting his gifts of faith, assurance, and eternal life.

As our chaotic world experiences more and more birth pains before the Day arrives when Christ returns to gather those participating in him, let us not give up encouraging each other to enter through the curtain into God's presence. The curtain being Jesus' body and blood sprinkled into us at baptism. Let us confidently gather in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit trusting we are washed with pure water, so that we might draw near God and be cleansed of our guilty consciences. Let us unswervingly give our ears every opportunity to be filled with Christ's faithful promises in his word, and to be filled with the Holy Spirit who also comes to us through the Word. And let us encourage each other in these habits of Jesus; these routines of righteousness, promised in the Word of God.

Like a mother who has endured the birth pains and received her reward at the end, you who remain in the wisdom of Christ, in his word and ways, will celebrate with much joy as you shine with all the brightness of heaven, and you who wisely lead many into Christ's routines of righteousness, will glow like the stars for ever and ever. In fact even greater, we will shine just as Jesus shines. Amen.

C, Pent 16 Proper 19 - Luke 15:1-10 "Seeking the Lost"

Luke 15:1-10 NIV

1 Now the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering around to hear him. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Sermon

Last week we heard, from Jeremiah eighteen, about the potter and the clay; and how he sought to form something beautiful out of it with his hands. However, anyone who knows anything about clay will tell you it can be the most hideous stuff at times.

A worker once sought to dig his way down to a water main which had started to leak. He assumed it wouldn’t be a difficult job to dig the hole so a plumber could come and make the necessary repairs. But little did he know that the ground below his feet was clay.

Clay might be a very good product to work with on the potter’s wheel, but in its natural environment it’s one of the most difficult and stubborn elements to move. When clay is dry its qualities are more like rock; when it’s wet its sticky stuff which is still not easily moved.

And that’s what the worker found out. The simple job of moving the soaked soil, was a painstaking nightmare. As he dug, he needed to use tremendous force to get the sticky clay onto the shovel, and when he went to tip it off the shovel into the wheelbarrow, turning the shovel upside down, the clay stubbornly just stuck there. He had to bang the shovel against the wheelbarrow and even pick it off with his fingers. After three hours he had only dug two barrow fulls of clay, and gained three blisters on each hand. Clay can be made into beautiful pots on the potter’s wheel but its terribly stubborn stuff in its original environment.

Last week we also heard in Luke’s Gospel, at the end of chapter fourteen in verse twenty-six and twenty-seven, Jesus say, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”

Then at the end of that gospel reading we hear about salt, another natural element from the ground. “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out. “Those who have ears to hear, let them hear.” (Luke 14:34-35)

Like clay, salt can be a great product. It can be used in many applications to make food taste, or to preserve it and other things. But any farmer who has salt in his soil, will distress over the salinity destroying the productivity of the land being farmed. Salt, like clay, can be the best of products; but then again it can also be very unproductive too.

Jesus came to work amongst God’s chosen people. A people who snubbed his sincerity and continually chose to chase after other things! Perhaps, these people — the disciples, the Pharisees, the tax collectors — all of them sinners — were more like sticky stubborn clay, or salty soil in need of refining. In fact, when Jesus says these harsh words… If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple, …he is showing the reality of our fruitless productivity in saving ourselves or doing anything, apart from what he chooses to do through us.

Like clay or salty soil, the people of Jesus’ day couldn’t do anything by themselves. We are the same! Unless someone comes and does something to us, we can’t do much either. In hearing his word Jesus exposes the inability of humanity’s true reality. If we, who are like clay or salt, think we can come to Jesus and bear the reality of who we are, and therefore hate ourselves and those from whom we came, we cannot be a disciple. We cannot come; no person has the power to follow. Like clay or salty soil, we can’t do anything good by ourselves.

So Jesus draws a line in the sand. In fact, he draws a line in the hard clay of our humanity; he draws a line in the salinity of the sinful soil, into which he breathes the breath of life. God the Son shows the sticky stubborn reality of our unrefined natural humanity. We are clay; we cannot mould ourselves into beautiful pottery. We are saline soil; we can neither separate our salt from our soil, nor become tasty or productive. That’s just how it is! Jesus calls those who have ears to hear this harsh reality and believe it.

But the realities don’t stop there. If they did we would be doomed to death for eternity. We must continue to hear what Jesus says in the next chapter, and so on, right through to the climax of the gospel at Jesus’ death and resurrection.

In the next chapter, chapter fifteen, there are three parables; the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son (who we know as the prodigal son). These chapters talk about those who can’t choose to follow or come to Jesus. These three parables speak about you and me. We are “the lost” in need of a Saviour who continually seeks us out.

Chapter fifteen begins, ‘Now the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”’ (Luke 15:1-2)

Here the worker of grace, Jesus Christ, comes to the clay and the saline soil, but some of the same, who don’t realise they’re the same, grumble, “This worker comes and sticks with “that” unfit soil, and he does his pottery with “that” useless clay.” But all the while they had forgotten the reality of their own unproductive salinity and selfish stickiness.

So the Pharisees, the sinners, the disciples, and the followers of Jesus are told by Jesus, there is only one cross, there is only one Saviour, who can search out the lost. Jesus is that One! He separates us all from himself with the law, so it is he, and he alone, who seeks us out. Lest we think somehow God can be fooled into not seeing our sin through our own efforts, making him out to be a liar by coercing salvation out of him some other way.

Why would God want to find us, anyway? Because we are precious to him! We are, lost but loved lambs, hidden but valued coins, wayward prodigal children loved by our Heavenly Father. He comes looking for us so he might find us and shape us into beautiful pots; so he might refine us into salt with which he can flavour other lost souls in the world.

So we persevere in hearing his word so the Holy Spirit can continue exposing Christ living in us, and save us from eternal death. This is our greater reality, our true baptismal reality, our ever-present hidden reality, despite the very true dying visible human reality of our sinful inability to walk perfectly as Christ walked, and bear the cross that he bore.

Therefore, endure in Christ; continue to allow your ears to receive his word. Although you and I are stubborn and sticky clay, let him form you with his word. Let the word refine you in faith, continually taking out the impurities. Let the Holy Spirit bring you into church, the place where forgiving, infilling, and feeding happens in Christ. The place of re-creation …the place of refining …the place for believers receiving eternal life.

Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen. (1 Timothy 1:15-17)

C, Pent 14 Proper 17 - Jeremiah 2:4-13 "Yesterday, Today, & Forever"

Jeremiah 2:4-13 Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, all you clans of the house of Israel. 5 This is what the Lord says:

“What fault did your fathers find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves. 6 They did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord, who brought us up out of Egypt and led us through the barren wilderness, through a land of deserts and rifts, a land of drought and darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives?’ 7 I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable. 8 The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord?’ Those who deal with the law did not know me; the leaders rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal, following worthless idols.

9 “Therefore I bring charges against you again,” declares the Lord. “And I will bring charges against your children’s children. 10 Cross over to the coasts of Kittim and look, send to Kedar and observe closely; see if there has ever been anything like this: 11 Has a nation ever changed its gods? (Yet they are not gods at all.) But my people have exchanged their Glory for worthless idols. 12 Be appalled at this, O heavens, and shudder with great horror,” declares the Lord. 13 “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

It may come as a surprise that the chosen people of God would be so silly, as to turn their backs on the graciousness of God. It might even surprise you more, that those largely responsible for this apostasy were the priests who became preoccupied with pampering the egos of the Israelites. They turned their backs on what God wanted, and therefore, failed in their office to seek God and lead God’s people with God’s counsel into God’s holy presence.

God had led the people out of Egypt, which was remembered for its cruelty, oppression, and slavery. He then led them through the Sinai wilderness for forty years, where one could remember that God provided all their needs despite being in a barren desolate place.

After this the Lord God led them into the land of milk and honey, Canaan, or what we know became Israel. There they dwelt on the fertile hills and flood plains surrounding the Jordan River. And as they dwelt in this place, God was there amongst them, coming down to be with his people, where he dwelt with them at Jerusalem’s temple after they atoned for their sins through the sacrifice of animals and the sprinkling of blood on the altar and in the Holy of Holies.

But Baal worship prominent in Canaan amongst the native Canaanites enticed the Israelites away from trusting the Lord. The fertility of the land which the Israelites enjoyed was dependant on their trust in God, and their blessings through the keeping of his law. Yet as they had done before many times in Egypt and in the Sinai wilderness, they turned away from the profound providence of God through ordinary things in their lives and sought their destiny in the extraordinary fertility worship of Baal.

In worshipping Baal they turned from God and sought to draw water from another spring. Turning from God was their first sin, and then turning to their own experiences and emotions was their second sin. They sought to appease Baal through cultic sexual practises so he might rain down his seed on the earth fertilising the feminine in an extraordinary climactic sensory explosion of experience. Worship for the Israelites had become no more than an exercise in entertaining the selfish greed of humanity as they turned away from God and turned the temple into a whore house of Baal.

Therefore, it’s no surprise that before long both priest and people had turned away from God in a bid to seek the extraordinary ejaculatory experiences in the hope that this prostitution would bless them with fertility in the soil and in the womb. But it’s no surprise that through their turning away from God toward this evil, their self-gratifying fertility worship had the opposite effect and the people became barren through sexually transmitted diseases and Baal proved to be most impotent of gods and the land became infertile.

Earlier God had said through Jeremiah, “I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the desert, through a land not sown. 3 Israel was holy to the Lord, the first fruits of his harvest; all who devoured her were held guilty, and disaster overtook them”. (Jeremiah 2:2-3) Yet, as we’ve heard, Israel sought to sleep with a god guilty of delivering impotence and infertility. Israel has deviated into desecrating and defiling God’s holiness.

In Hebrews twelve verse eight; we hear that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. What is this sameness? Holiness! Jesus is holy yesterday, today, and forever. But parallel to this is humanity which carries the same nature yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Ever since creation and the fall, so often we seek deviations away from God and his holiness. We are lured into the deception of our experiential feelings and love, which promise much success and empowerment, but deliver little because they are useless and powerless.

Love without the foundation and truth of God’s word is flaccid and impotent. Feelings elevated to the status of faith, see us become pimps of powerlessness. The Holy Spirit was never sent to be a whore to our emotions, our feelings, and our pleasures! Like Baal these are false gods. They are only hookers which give hallucinations of holiness. But really they’re diseased deceptions covered with a thin veil of happiness; mirages in the haze of our sinful natures which dry up the minute we seek to quench our thirst. In turning away from God we can only ever dig water wells that become dry old hell holes of death.

However, we have Jesus Christ. He is God the Son, the word of God made flesh. He was there at creation with the Father and the Holy Spirit, he is here today, and he will remain forever. He with the Father and the Spirit have not changed, God is always the same. He is holy! He was there in our youth, together with the Father and the Spirit. The Triune God came to us and made us the first fruits of his harvest, sowing faith in our hearts, sprinkling us with the grace of his blood spilt at the cross, and giving us peace in the hope of one day dwelling with him in perfected holiness too. This is the place where all our needs will be quenched as we sit in the shade of his glory, for Jesus Christ is the tree of life, from him flows the waters of life.

So as the day draws near, to where our eternal thirst will be quenched forever, where we rest in the eternal presence of our Lord in paradise, we wait on our Lord God Almighty. Don’t be surprised as we wait that he faithfully comes to us. Don’t be surprised that you hear the word of his forgiveness for your sin; that your sins are actually real but are forgiven. Sing to the Lord for he is your strength. He walks with you and me through this life. Yes! Let him carry you through the wilderness of this world. Lie back in his arms and rest in his faithfulness and forgiveness. Open your mouth in faith, and let the Lord fill it.

Have faith in God, not in yourselves. Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings, which love to attach themselves to your sinful nature. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, by Christ and his food of forgiveness and faith, so the old sinful self is continually drowned. In receiving God’s grace, we are being made holy, as we exchange our worthless idols for the glory of Christ crucified.

Lord — the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours — yesterday, today and forever, Amen.

C, Pent 13 Proper 16 - Jeremiah 1:4-10 & Herbrews 12:25-29 "Old Misery Guts"

Old Misery Guts; that’s another name for Jeremiah. He was the prophet called to speak the word of the Lord to a stubborn people who just refused to listen.

Jeremiah was called to be a prophet when only young, and when God came to him he objected because of his age. But God intended to use him despite his age, and immaturity. God lifted him up, preparing for him what to say, and established Jeremiah as his prophet – as God’s mouthpiece. This is in fact what Jeremiah’s name means: God lifts up or God establishes.

So in Jeremiah chapter one, Jeremiah reports… 4 the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” 6 “Ah, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.” 7 But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord. 9 Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “Now, I have put my words in your mouth. 10 See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.” (Jeremiah 1:4-10)

Now one might think being chosen by God would be a cause for great joy. God was going to use him to do his speaking, and while doing so, God was going to be with him and rescue him. There was no cause for fear, after all God reached out and touch Jeremiah as his chosen prophet. God knew he was going choose Jeremiah even from before his conception in the womb. Surely as Jeremiah grew in wisdom and knowledge of God, his ordination would be a cause for great joy and celebration.

But the times in which Jeremiah dwelt dictated there would be nothing like joy or celebration. God had given Jeremiah his true word to speak, but it fell on ears that didn’t want to hear the truth. In fact the people of Jerusalem and Judah were completely focused on themselves. For them truth was individualism, born of felt needs through greed.

The very practises God had put in place in the temple and through the Law, had been manipulated by the people to justify their idolatry — their worship of themselves. No longer did they recognise God the Father through the means of the Law in his earthy temple at Jerusalem. Rather the people had fallen to the temptation of putting their trust in themselves and the temple. Their focus was on what they did and where they did it, rather than on “the access” doing these things at the temple gave them, namely, to be one as a community with their Heavenly Father.

The message Jeremiah brought from God was one of doom and judgement. Jeremiah might even be viewed as the classic “prophet of doom”. What he had to say wasn’t welcomed by those who heard it. Everything to them was ‘all good’, but Jeremiah was telling them otherwise. And that didn’t make them feel very good. However, what Jeremiah had to say was from God and was the truth.

So poor Jeremiah’s ministry was one of great lament and turmoil. He spent much of his time bearing the brunt of rejection from the people to whom God spoke. His conviction to say what he said, led him to be put under arrest in prison and thrown into a well left for dead. God had given Jeremiah the prophet a glimpse of what was going to happen to the people of Judah if they didn’t heed God’s warning, and through their disobedience judgement finally fell on them and they were exiled out of Judah.

No! Jeremiah’s call to be a prophet of God was not one of joy and celebration at all. However Jeremiah remained faithful to God, and even more so, God remained faithful to his word spoken to the young Jeremiah when he said, “Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you.” He gave Jeremiah his powerful word; God was faithful and he continues to be so.

Here we find ourselves today in a rapidly declining society. We find ourselves as a church jumping on board with the ways of the world, despite God’s word giving a resounding, “NO!”

We are told in the first epistle of John, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world; for all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches—comes not from the Father but from the world. And the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live forever.” (1 John 2:15-17)

These worldly activities of individuals are being heralded as the way to fill the void left when faith is lost. Christ’s one true way, highlighted by the Holy Spirit in the written word, and the sacraments which give us our identity, are treated more and more with contempt in favour of the dubious ways of the human spirit — set to give warm fuzzy feelings of self glorification.

It never fails to surprise me when we hear some speak of how the Holy Spirit has moved them; it’s always a move towards excitement, greatness, and some extraordinary secret knowledge or empowerment, and never towards guilt, contrition, repentance, forgiveness and peaceful rest in the arms of Christ and his community of the church!

Strangely this supposedly “holy” spirit moves the individual towards happiness and not holiness! It also seems this spirit, is moving individuals away from the cross, Christ, and the entirety of his word, to focus on feelings of self, justified by a few isolated biblical texts taken out of context.

But even if it is the Holy Spirit of God moving in extraordinary ways, the individualism of this age, the political correctness of our world accosted by the church, the righteousness of self, forbids Christ’s church to test, judge and discern the spirit, with God’s word, to see if in fact it is really the Holy Spirit.

This all sounds more and more like the deception and turmoil of Jeremiah’s day, as more and more faithful pastors, ministers, and priests are treated today with contempt for not being relevant with the world, as they remain faithful to God and his word. Sadly nothing’s new, our lack of listening, leads to us making the same mistakes as many before us have made.

So let us heed Christ and his word. Let us… 25 see to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth (especially at Jerusalem in the time of Jeremiah and then again at the hands of the Romans after they rejected Christ and crucified him on the cross) how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27 The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our “God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:25-29)

Let us give up the things that are passing away. The many idols we have in this world that will be destroyed along with our flesh and feelings and the world.

Let us rather trust in him who is not only a consuming fire, but who has given us the hope of heaven in the fire of faith planted in us by his Holy Spirit.

Like Jeremiah God did this when we were immature and we didn’t know how to speak. He came to us and touched us with the truth of his word made flesh through the water and the written word, making us children of the faith.

God also continues to rest his hand on us as we’re fed and made holy by the blood of the new covenant won by Jesus Christ our prophet, priest, and king. He does this when in believing, we endure and come to receive from him and remain in him.

These are the things that give us access and peace before God who is a consuming fire. When all other things seen will be shaken, destroyed, and consumed, these are the objects of our faith, the substance of our faith, which allow us to stand unshaken forever. Amen.