✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠
Jeremiah 1,4-10 4212
9. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 054
Nonna, mother of St. Gregory of Nazianzen, 4th c.
Oswald, King of Northumbria, England, Martyr 642
5. August 2012
1. O God of Love, in these days of summer, remember Your universal Church, along with her bishops and preachers. Put Your words in their mouths: the law that is bitter in our stomach and Your gospel that is sweet. Give to Your Christians the brave witness to the soothing gospel of Christ crucified, and bless all who have taught us Your Word. Bestow on them Your mercy, O Gracious God, we pray (velkd.de). Amen.
2. Now the word of Yahweh came to me, saying: „Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.“ Then I said: „Behold, the Lord who is Yahweh! Alas, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a young man.“ But Yahweh said to me: „Do not say: ‘I am only a a young man’; for you will go to all to whom I send you, and you will speak all that I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares Yahweh.“ Then Yahweh put out His hand and touched my mouth. And Yahweh said to me: „Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. Behold, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pull up and to tear down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.“
3. Yahweh had some important words to speak to His people in the 6. century, and He had chosen Jeremiah to be one of His foremost prophets. At the time, Judah was in a state of flux. The Assyrian Empire to their north-northeast, the Babylonian Empire to their east-northeast and Egypt to their southwest were all flexing their political and military muscles. Many in Judah feared that ground zero in the superpower showdown would be the land of Palestine. The people were concerned about an impending war, but many prophets had arisen and comforted the nation with words of peace, prosperity and Yahweh’s providence.
4. 21. century America finds herself in a situation similar to 6. century Judah. Civl unrest sill threatens to engulf the Middle East, bringing America into the vortex. Our economy remains shaky. Civility and virtues continue to slide further away from Christian piety. We have our own preachers of prosperity and success who comfort the downtrodden and distressed with the hope of God’s good favor.
5. It does our nation no favors to ignore or cover up the manifest immoralities that afflict our land. Yahweh sent the Prophet Jeremiah »to pull up and to tear down, to destroy and to overthrow, but to also build and to plant«. Jeremiah chastised his contemporary self-proclaimed prophets for giving the people false hope. He overthrew their comforting words and told Judah the straight truth: Yahweh is angry at you, O unrepentant Judah! »You have committed a great evil: You have forsaken Yahweh, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for yourselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water« (Jeremiah 2,13).
6. Yahweh makes the same complaint against many of His churches today: »I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lamp stand from its place, unless you repent« (Revelation 2,4-5). Many churches and many Christians have abandoned Christ and replaced Him with other idols, new priorities, in their lives. The empty pews and the paltry offerings bear testimony to their idolatry in our church and in many more across this nation.
7. In the midst of rampant idolatry, Yahweh promises deliverance: »I will repay double for their iniquity and their sin, because they have polluted My land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and have filled My inheritance with their abominations« (Jeremiah 16,18). The Apostle John proclaims this deliverance to the Church: »Grace to you and peace from Jesus Christ the Faithful Witness, the Firstborn of the dead and the Ruler of kings on earth. To Jesus who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood and made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen (Revelation 1,4-6). For Jesus is worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for He was slain, and by His blood He ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and He has made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth, saying with a loud voice: „Worthy is the Lamb who was slain!“« (Revelation 5,9-10.12).
8. The »double repayment for our iniquity and sin« is not the bitter law with its judgment but the sweet gospel with its justification. To be sure, the temporal consequences of breaking the law are still in force. Fines and sentences are still handed down by earthly judges upon those who murder, steal or purger, but the Divine punishment is commuted. God the Father will not punish us for our sins because He has already punished Jesus for them. The crucified Christ is the double repayment for the sin of the world. Jesus bore the law’s judgment upon sin and sinful humanity. Jesus was forsaken and cursed in your place. His shed blood was the perfect, atoning sacrifice that has cleansed sinful, fallen humanity in full.
9. This gospel is preached into your ears, planted in your hearts and placed in your mouths by the Word and the Sacraments. „God has given us His sure Word: a word of throwing down and rebuilding. That God ultimately wills to build and plant rather than destroy is seen most clearly in Jesus Christ. ... See God’s Son destroyed on the cross for us. See Him rebuilt on the third day for us“ (Raabe 438). We have the gospel of Christ which we know and believe is the only way to forgiveness and salvation. Christ’s death and resurrection assures us of that forgiveness and salvation.
10. We have a great opportunity ahead of us as God’s people here in this congregation. We must remain faithful to God’s holy Word. We must ensure that the gospel is preached year after year for generations to come. And for us to do this today, we must first rededicate ourselves to Christ Jesus. We must rely on Him alone. We need to be faithful to Him. We must put all of our trust upon Christ. We need to gather around His Word and His Sacraments so that we are assured of our forgiveness and strengthened for the tasks to come as His holy people.
11. We also need to rededicate ourselves one to another. We need to see each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. Each one of us here today is a redeemed and forgiven child of God. We are a family, and we need to act as a family of God. The Holy Spirit has brought each one of us here for a reason. He has given each one of us gifts and talents. We need to use these blessings for the edification of our congregation and for the strengthening of our fellowship together.
12. When we receive the Lord’s Supper in a few moments, let it not only be a meal in which each one of us is assured by the Holy Spirit that He forgives us through Christ. Let it also be a meal in which we forgive one another and acknowledge the fellowship we have together as Christians. And let it furthermore be a meal in which the Holy Spirit strengthens each one of us to be brothers and sisters to one another as we faithfully use our gifts and talents for the edification of our church. God has brought us together and we are stronger in our unity than we are individually. Let us move forward as a church dedicated to building and planting.
13. Christ Jesus is the Almighty Son of God, and His gospel has authority. We are built on the foundation of Christ’s gospel, and upon this foundation we will remain secure, forgiven and justified. Let us spread forth this great gospel and let us rejoice in the blessings that the Holy Spirit will bring our way as His holy people through the Word and Sacraments. Amen.
14. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, who rightly bears the praise: „Great is Yahweh!“; send us the Holy Spirit with His means of grace so that we remain glad in You and love Your salvation now in the hour of our need and yonder in Your everlasting reign. Amen.
To God alone be the Glory
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All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.
ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern.
Raabe, Paul R. Concordia Journal, Vol. 20, No. 4 (October 1994), © 1994. Concordia Seminary: St. Louis.
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