Sermon Jeremiah 32 Personal Property II

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Sermon Jeremiah 32 Personal Property II

First Presbyterian Church of Ocean City

September 25, 2016

            This is my sixth sermon in my series entitled “Jeremiah - Prophet to the Nations”, and part two of my sermon on private property.  Jeremiah was called to his important work by God before he was even born, predestined as the Prophet to the Nations.  He warned the nations not to rely on false gods and material things, because in the long run all these things would prove to be unreliable.  He told the nations of the world that God created then and holds them in His hands just as potter holds a lump of clay.  The good news Jeremiah proclaimed was that God was not going to destroy the world and start over.  But obedience was still required.  Last week we saw that the Babylonian army was on its way to Jerusalem.  And today we will hear what happens, but first let’s pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification.  Amen.”   (John Calvin)

            We saw last week the economic system that was developed by God and given to us is based on the principle of ownership of private property by families.  The Promised Land was given to Israelite families.  Each family was given its own inheritance.  And a family could never lose its land.  Land could be mortgaged, but all mortgages were forgiven every seven years.  Land could be sold, but all sales contracts were voided every fifty years.  Land was given to families generation to generation forever.   This was God’s economic plan.

            And this plan was part of a covenant between God and his people.  God gave families land so that they would love and serve Him and be a blessing to others.  This is the foundation of biblical law.

            But the people in Jeremiah’s day had abandoned the covenant.  They no longer kept their end of the contract.  They didn’t use the land to love and serve the Lord.  They didn’t use the land to bless others.  And so now with the contract broken God was about to take the land away.  Let’s pick up the story in Jeremiah 32.

            1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. 2 The army of the king of Babylon was then besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was confined in the courtyard of the guard in the royal palace of Judah.

            So, the Babylonians have arrived at the gates of Jerusalem.  The people have fled from their homes and farms to receive protection from the wall of the city.  The gates are closed.  The Judean army is stationed at the top of the wall to keep the Babylonians from coming over.  They hope there is enough water in the cistern, but as we know it is cracked and leaking.  They started out with enough food, but with a whole growing season trampled under the boots of Babylonian soldiers shortages will start soon.  The situation is bleak.  Jeremiah is in jail.  And King Zedekiah wants to have a conversation with his prophet.

3 Now Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him there, saying, “Why do you prophesy as you do? You say, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am about to give this city into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it. 4 Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape the Babylonians[a] but will certainly be given into the hands of the king of Babylon, and will speak with him face to face and see him with his own eyes. 5 He will take Zedekiah to Babylon, where he will remain until I deal with him, declares the Lord. If you fight against the Babylonians, you will not succeed.’”

            Zedekiah is angry as Jeremiah.  All the other prophets have prophesied that Zedekiah will succeed.  Egypt will be their savior.  Pharaoh will come and the Babylonian army will go home.  The people of Jerusalem have a temple and priests and they found the Book of the Law in a storage room.  Everything is great; there is nothing to worry about.  But Jeremiah has predicted disaster, and this has made the king angry. 

            Then we have one of the most surprising turn of events in all of scripture.   With the Babylonian army surrounding the city, and the Judean homes and farms under their control, it appears that the God given economic system of private property owned by families is coming to an end.  And if this is the case then what happens next could not have been expected.

6 Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord came to me: 7 Hanamel son of Shallum your uncle is going to come to you and say, ‘Buy my field at Anathoth, because as nearest relative it is your right and duty to buy it.’

What did he just say?  This is really odd.  Jeremiah was just told that his uncle wants to sell his farm to him.  This fulfilled the private property economic system that King Zedekiah is supposed to be defending.  But with the Babylonians literally at the door that economic system is over.  The King of Babylon now owns Hanamel farm.  It is obvious why Hanamel wants to sell it.  It is worthless, but if he can convince his cousin Jeremiah to buy it, then at least he will have some cash.  But no one in his right mind would ever make deal like this.  Why would anyone purchase a farm that a powerful enemy now possesses?  But that is exactly what Jeremiah does.

8 “Then, just as the Lord had said, my cousin Hanamel came to me in the courtyard of the guard and said, ‘Buy my field at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. Since it is your right to redeem it and possess it, buy it for yourself.’

“I knew that this was the word of the Lord; 9 so I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel and weighed out for him seventeen shekels[b] of silver. 10 I signed and sealed the deed, had it witnessed, and weighed out the silver on the scales. 11 I took the deed of purchase—the sealed copy containing the terms and conditions, as well as the unsealed copy— 12 and I gave this deed to Baruch son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the presence of my cousin Hanamel and of the witnesses who had signed the deed and of all the Jews sitting in the courtyard of the guard.

13 “In their presence I gave Baruch these instructions: 14 ‘This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Take these documents, both the sealed and unsealed copies of the deed of purchase, and put them in a clay jar so they will last a long time. 15 For this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Houses, fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land.’

            With that God’s Prophet to the Nations proclaimed some really good news.  The biblical economic system of private property, land belonging to families, would not come to a permanent end.  Yes, the Babylonians have taken the land.  Yes, families will be removed from the land and taken into exile.  This is because they have forgotten the covenant and their responsibility to love and serve God, and to love and bless their neighbors.  But after a generation in exile the covenant with God will be restored and families will return to their land.

            Our nation was established by its founders on the biblical principle of private ownership of property.  The philosopher John Locke said in his book, The Two Treaties of Civil Government:

“The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it, which obliges every one: and reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind, who will but consult it, that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions… (and) when his own preservation comes not in competition, ought he, as much as he can, to preserve the rest of mankind, and may not, unless it be to do justice on an offender, take away, or impair the life, or what tends to the preservation of the life, the liberty, health, limb, or goods of another.”

            According to Locke, all people have a God given right to life, liberty and property.  The purpose of Government is not to own, take away or use our property.  The purpose of government is to preserve our biblical rights to own personal property.  Thomas Jefferson put it this way in the Declaration of Independence.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

            With that America was established on the biblical principle of privately owned property.  And according to Jeremiah, the Prophet to the Nations, God has given us the right to private property.  This right is permanent, but it is also conditional on us using our property to love and serve God and to bless others. 

            Today in our nation there are many people who want to hold onto private property but have forgotten the covenant with God.  Like the people of Jeremiah’s day, they no long love and serve the Lord.  They are no longer a blessing to others.  And so we run the risk of having our property taken away and given away.  There are other people in our nation who believe in the communal ownership of property.  They believe that Government should own property and use it for its own purposes.  But this is the opposite of the biblical economic system that was instituted by our founders.   The purpose of government is not to take our property but to preserve our God given right to own personal property.  So, like Jeremiah, I urge you to continue the covenant we have with God by using your property to love and serve the Lord and to bless all of His children.  The good news is that it you do this, God will continue to bless you with private property.  Let’s pray.

            Lord God we thank you for the blessing of private property.  Help us to use our property to love and serve you by blessing others.  Help us to always remember and obey the terms of this covenant.  This we pray in the name of Jesus.  Amen.

Sermon Jeremiah 8 Private Property

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Sermon Jeremiah 8 Private Property

First Presbyterian Church of Ocean City

September 18, 2016

            This is my fifth sermon drawn from the Book of Jeremiah.  Jeremiah was predestined by God to serve as his Prophet to the Nations.  Jeremiah warned the nations not to put their hope in false gods and materialism, because only the true God can save us.  Jeremiah told the nations that God holds them like a potter holds a lump of clay in his hands and can start over whenever he wants.  Last week Jeremiah told the nations that God could restart creation, but decided not to.  Instead he will continue to work with his people to become obedient.  Today we will see what we could lose as a result of continued disobedience, and it is something we don’t want to lose.  We will get to this, but first let’s pray.

            “Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification.  Amen.”   (John Calvin)

            Let’s start by hearing God’s analysis of what was happening in Jeremiah’s day.

Jeremiah 8:1b “‘When people fall down, do they not get up?

    When someone turns away, do they not return?

5 Why then have these people turned away?

    Why does Jerusalem always turn away?

They cling to deceit;

    they refuse to return.

6 I have listened attentively,

    but they do not say what is right.

None of them repent of their wickedness,

    saying, “What have I done?”

Each pursues their own course

    like a horse charging into battle.

            God is surely exasperated at his people.  They have turned away from him.  There is no obedience of his law, no study of his word, no worship of his majesty.  For generations the people of Judah have ignored their God.  They have worshiped things, false gods and materialism for so long that they no longer even remember their God.  God had the Book of the Law discovered in a storage room of the temple.  And he sent his prophet, Jeremiah, to tell people to read it and obey it.  But Judah wants nothing to do with the prophet and is going their own way.  And God is beside himself.

7 Even the stork in the sky

    knows her appointed seasons,

and the dove, the swift and the thrush

    observe the time of their migration.

But my people do not know

    the requirements of the Lord.

            Could you image the ocean one day deciding that it is just too difficult send waves all the way into Ocean City and stops a mile out?  God set the boundaries of the sea.  The sea can’t decide for itself where to stop.  Or consider the Sun.  What if one morning the Sun decided to sleep in and not rise in the east as God has ordained.  Would the Sun consider such a thing?  Of course not.  Everything in creation knows its limits and accepts them except us.  Only humans ignore our creator and try to go our own way.  We don’t read our instruction manual, the Bible.  We don’t do what it says.  And we are the only things in all of creation that ignore the limits placed on us by our creator.

            Of course our response is to point to our own wisdom.  We can decide for ourselves what to do.  We have Bibles, even if we don’t use them.  We have preachers, even if they don’t know what they’re talking about.  But here is God’s reply.

10“‘How can you say, “We are wise,

    for we have the law of the Lord,”

when actually the lying pen of the scribes

    has handled it falsely?

9 The wise will be put to shame;

    they will be dismayed and trapped.

Since they have rejected the word of the Lord,

    what kind of wisdom do they have?

            So in Jeremiah’s day the people of God have walked away from him.  The don’t study the Bible.  They don’t go to worship.  They don’t pay any attention to God at all.  And so God is about to do something about it.

10 Therefore I will give their wives to other men

    and their fields to new owners.     

            This is the worst possible news to the people of Judah.  Let me explain.  When God allowed his people to enter the promised land God established an economic system based on private property.  The land was divided and given to families who would own them in perpetuity.  The land could not be lost through debt, because all mortgages were cancelled every seven years.  The land could not be sold, because all land reverted to original owners every fifty years.  And so land always belongs to a family, generation to generation forever.

            This was very different from the economic systems of the other nations.  In other nations land was owned by the king.  A tyrant would own all property and you would sharecrop it for a portion of the produce.  But it didn’t belong to you.  Judah, on the other hand enjoyed private property rights because of its reliance on the Law of Moses in the Bible.  But when they turned away from the Bible and ignored the Law of Moses, they ran the risk of losing their private property rights.  And that was about to happen.  The King of Babylon was coming to take possession of the land.  Some of the farmers will be left as sharecroppers.  Others will be taken to Babylon.  But all the land will belong to the king.

            The idea of private property is common to all nations with a biblical heritage, because national laws are based, in part, on the Law of Moses.  But if we continue to walk away from God and ignore his law, we might find our own private property laws in jeopardy, as some tyrant takes what we have.  Here is how God describes it.

13“‘I will take away their harvest,

declares the Lord.

    There will be no grapes on the vine.

There will be no figs on the tree,

    and their leaves will wither.

What I have given them

    will be taken from them.’”

            Our private property is a blessing from God.  If we fail to obey him, if we refuse to worship him, if we do not study his word, then we could lose the property we have.  The people finally realized this when this happened.  Listen to the panic in their voices.

15 Why are we sitting here?

    Gather together!

Let us flee to the fortified cities

    and perish there!

For the Lord our God has doomed us to perish

    and given us poisoned water to drink,

    because we have sinned against him.

15 We hoped for peace

    but no good has come,

for a time of healing

    but there is only terror.

16 The snorting of the enemy’s horses

    is heard from Dan;

at the neighing of their stallions

    the whole land trembles.

They have come to devour

    the land and everything in it,

    the city and all who live there.       

            The Babylonians have arrived.  Their advance cavalry is already in the farms of the northern provinces.  People are fleeing their farms for safety inside city walls.  They are losing their personal property.  As the Babylon army advances Jeremiah turns to God in prayer.

18 You who are my Comforter[b] in sorrow,

    my heart is faint within me.

19 Listen to the cry of my people

    from a land far away:

“Is the Lord not in Zion?

    Is her King no longer there?”

            Where are you God?  Come and save us.  To which God replied.

“Why have they aroused my anger with their images,

    with their worthless foreign idols?”

            But Jeremiah wants God to know of the suffering of the people.

20 “The harvest is past,

    the summer has ended,

    and we are not saved.”

21 Since my people are crushed, I am crushed;

    I mourn, and horror grips me.

22 Is there no balm in Gilead?

    Is there no physician there?

Why then is there no healing

    for the wound of my people?

            The people are suffering.  The war is increasing in intensity.  And God’s responds to Jeremiah’s prayer.

9:7b“See, I will refine and test them,

    for what else can I do

    because of the sin of my people?

8 Their tongue is a deadly arrow;

    it speaks deceitfully.

With their mouths they all speak cordially to their neighbors,

    but in their hearts they set traps for them.

9 Should I not punish them for this?”

    declares the Lord.

“Should I not avenge myself

    on such a nation as this?”

            The answer, of course is Yes.  God will punish them.  This is what will happen.

“I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins,

    a haunt of jackals;

and I will lay waste the towns of Judah

    so no one can live there.”

            The Babylonians will come and destroy Jerusalem.  They will carry the people off to exile.  The people have lost their land.  It had been given by God to families for perpetuity.  But now it was taken away.  This can happen to anyone who turns away from God.

            But God did not reverse creation.  He ended the private property ownership for a time.  But his people still have a chance.  If they repent, turn to him, and obey him this sentence will be reversed and the people will return to their ancestral farms.  This is the message God will send his Prophet to the Nations to proclaim.  And we will hear this good news next week.  But this week I call for repentance.  Turn from evil and turn to God before it is too late.  Let’s pray.

            Lord God we thank you for all the blessings we have received including our God given right to own property.  We know that this blessing remain only as long as we are obedient.  So help us Lord to know your word and obey your law.  We pray this in Jesus’ name.  Amen.  

Sermon Jeremiah 4:11–12, 22–28 Consequences of Sin

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Sermon Jeremiah 4:11–12, 22–28 Consequences of Sin

First Presbyterian Church of Ocean City

September 11, 2016

            This is my fourth sermon in a series entitled “Jeremiah, Prophet to the Nations.”  We started with God’s selection of Jeremiah, before he was even born, for this important work.  Then we heard his warning not to put our trust in false gods and material things because, ultimately the only person who can save us is God.  And last week Jeremiah told us that the nations of the world are held in God’s hands just as a lump of clay is in a potter’s hand, and can be shaped and molded into anything he wants.  Of course God could just start over again destroying the creation he started.  What would that be like?  Will God do it?  We will answer these questions, but first let’s pray.

            “Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification.  Amen.”   (John Calvin)

            When God created the world it went something like this.

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

            God’s first act of creation was to send his spirit, his wind, his breath to hover over the chaos.  That is how God created the world.  If God chooses to destroy the world and start over this same spirit, wind, breath would return.

Jeremiah 4:11 At that time this people and Jerusalem will be told, “A scorching wind from the barren heights in the desert blows toward my people, but not to winnow or cleanse; 12 a wind too strong for that comes from me. Now I pronounce my judgments against them.”

23 I looked at the earth, and it was formless and empty;

            The spirit, wind, breath of God would come to reverse creation and return the world to being a lump a clay in God’s hands.  The world would be formless and empty.  The only thing remaining would be God’s spirit.

            In creation God created light with his first decree.  He spoke light into existence.

Genesis 1:3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.

            But if God was to reverse creation this light would be extinguished.  And if there is no light the darkness would return.

Jeremiah 4:23 I looked at the earth, and it was formless and empty; and at the heavens, and their light was gone.

            In creation God gathered the waters into oceans and separated it from the land with another decree.  With this God created the land and ocean and boundary between them.

            Genesis 1:9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

            But if God chooses to reverse creation the land would be no more.  It would appear to us like this.

Jeremiah 4:24 I looked at the mountains, and they were quaking; all the hills were swaying.

            And God decreed during creation that crops would grow on the land when he said this.

Genesis 1:11 … “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

            But if God reverses creation and starts over things will change.  All the plant life would die off and all animals would starve.

Jeremiah 4:26 I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert; all its towns lay in ruins before the Lord, before his fierce anger.

            In creation God made the birds of the air and the fish in the ocean, and all living things.  And God said that all of this was good.

Genesis 1:20 And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

But if God reverses creation these things will be no more.  All living things will die.

Jeremiah 4:25b every bird in the sky had flown away.

And finally in creation God created all of us, women and men.  He created us in his image.  And he told us to be fruitful and multiply.

Genesis 1:27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them;  male and female he created them.

But if God reverses creation and starts over we will be no more.

Jeremiah 4:25 I looked, and there were no people;

            So if God chooses to start over he can reverse creation and everything we know including ourselves will cease to exist.  Is this something that God might do?  Or is there something about our creator God that would prevent him from reversing creation?  Here is what God said to his Prophet to the Nations, Jeremiah.

27 This is what the Lord says: “The whole land will be ruined, though I will not destroy it completely.

            So God is not going to reverse creation.  God is not going to destroy what he has already done and start all over again.  This is good news.  But we are not completely off the hook.  God has a plan and will implement it.

            The problem in Judah during the time of Jeremiah was that the people were not worshiping God and obeying God’s commands as written in the law of Moses.  The Book of the Law had been lost and discarded in a storage room in the Jerusalem temple.  For generations it was forgotten.   People began worshiping things they made instead of the creator God.  Children were not taught biblical morality.  Adults were ignorant of God’s wisdom.  And as a result they grew further and further away from the God of their ancestors.  Here is how God described the situation.

Jeremiah 4:22 “My people are fools; they do not know me.  They are senseless children; they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil; they know not how to do good.”

            The people have abandoned their God for generations.  No one knows or obeys God’s law anymore.  No one worships or participates in the feast.  No one even knows who God is. So what can God do in this situation?  God has decided not to start over and reverse creation.  So God needs to reeducate his people and convince them that obeying his law as recorded in the Bible is in their interest.  To do this he had the Book of the Law found in storage and read by King Josiah who implemented a program for people to read and obey it.  And God sent a prophet, Jeremiah, to call the people of God to obedience.  If the people repent, turn from their evil ways and embrace God’s law as their own moral code, their creator will richly bless them.  But if the people of God refuse to repent, ignore God’s law, and follow their own moral code then there will be consequences.

            The same thing is happening today.  A half century ago American children were taught from the Bible at home, in church and sometimes in school.  Through this Christian education we developed a biblical moral code for our lives.  We know what we are supposed to do.  And we know when we fall short and need forgiveness.  But many young people today in the rising generation were not educated in biblical truths by their parents.  Many never received Christian education in church.  And many have never read the Bible.   All they know about scripture is what they hear from popular culture:  Christians are intolerant.  They consider the Bible to be antiquated and filled with myths.  Many people have simply forgotten about the Bible all together. Here is what it looked like in Jeremiah’s day.

Jeremiah 4:22“My people are fools; they do not know me.  They are senseless children; they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil; they know not how to do good.”      

            In Jeremiah’s day God decided to let his people experience for themselves the consequences of sin.   As a direct result of their disobedience God will allow the Babylonians to conquer the nation, destroy their cities, and carry them off to exile in Babylon.  Then God’s people will know the cost of disobedience.  And in their desire for God’s blessings to return to Judah, they will repent and return to God.  They will confess their sin, and receive God’s forgiveness.  Their relationship with God will be restored. And they will return to rebuild their homes and cities.

            Will this also happen to us?  I think it might.  There are storm clouds on the horizon.  Fifteen years ago today terrorist destroyed the World Trade Center in New York, damaged the Pentagon in Virginia, and died in a plane crash in Pennsylvania.  This was just the first shot in a war we are still fighting.  In World War Two we were blessed with a quick victory and renewed post war prosperity because then we were a Christian nation, faithful and obedient to God.  But today after fifty years of walking away from God and ignoring God’s law will we be so blessed?  Of will we suffer the way the people of Judah did in Jeremiah’s day.

            I think that the war with Islamic terrorism will not go as well as we expect.  And eventually we will realize that this is a consequence of turning away from God.  Circumstances will get bad enough that America realizes that turning its back on God was not a good idea.  When that day comes I think the people of this nation will return to their God.  They will return to church and begin to live their lives according to biblical principles once again.  They will realize what they have done and repent.  And then we will experience God’s gracious love and forgiveness. Let’s pray.

            Lord God we are concerned for our nation.  It seems to be turning its back on you.  We fear that in order to get us back we may have to suffer the consequences of sin for a time.  But we trust that when we eventually turn back to you, your love for us will lead you to forgive us.  And so we pray this in our savior’s name, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Sermon Jeremiah 18:1–11 Warning to Ocean City

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Sermon Jeremiah 18:1–11 Warning to Ocean City

First Presbyterian Church of Ocean City

September 4, 2016

            I am continuing today with my sermon series called Jeremiah: Prophet to the Nations.  We have seen so far that Jeremiah was selected by God for this important task before he was born.  And likewise we are predestined to play an important part in God’s plan and purpose for creation.  Then we heard as Jeremiah spoke to the nation of Judah that they should not put their faith in things they made like false gods and water cisterns.  Things break and often cannot save us when we really need it.  You only real savior is Jesus Christ.  And as believers we can depend on him.  Today we will listen as Jeremiah once again talks to the nation of Judah and explains to them the relationship between God and the nations of the world.  We will get to this, but first let’s pray.

            “Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification.  Amen.”   (John Calvin)

Jeremiah 18:1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

            The image Jeremiah wants in our minds is that of a potter.  Before him is a wheel slowly turning.  On the wheel is a lump of clay.  As the wheel turns the potter shapes the clay with his hands into a pot. Some potters can quickly mass produce many pots in a day.  But some potters are artists and with great skill bring to life beautiful works of pottery.  You may remember the scene when Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze worked clay on a potter’s wheel in the movie Ghost.

            As the potter works with the clay it becomes closer and closer to the pot he imagined.  He squeezes it and shapes it to make it suitable for its intended purpose.  But sometimes the clay is just too difficult to work with.  It fights back.  It begins to wobble.  The pot is ruined, and the potter pushes the clay back into a lump and starts over.  With this image in mind of a master potter working with clay, and starting over again, let’s go back to Jeremiah.

5 Then the word of the Lord came to me. 6 He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. 7 If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, 8 and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. 9 And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, 10 and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.

            So according to Jeremiah the relationship between the nations of the world and God is just like a lump of clay and a master potter.  Nations of the world are created by God.  They are held in God’s hands.  God shapes them according to his will and purpose.  And God can destroy them and start over if he has to.  The nations of the world are held by God in his hands.  God can use them or destroy them at his will.  And so with this understood Jeremiah has a message for Judah.

11 “Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the Lord says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.’

            God is trying to shape Judah just as a potter shapes a pot.  God wants Judah to repent of its sin.  If it does this God will make it into a thing of splendor.  But if Judah refuses to turn from their evil ways then God will have no choice but to start over and create a new nation that will achieve his purposes. 

            So, what it is that Judah has done which has God almost ready to start over?  Well we know from Jeremiah that the nation is not caring for the poor and needy and widows and orphans and aliens as it should.  But there is something else that is going on here.  And for that let’s turn to the previous chapter of Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 17: 19 This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and stand at the Gate of the People, through which the kings of Judah go in and out; stand also at all the other gates of Jerusalem. 20 Say to them, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah and all people of Judah and everyone living in Jerusalem who come through these gates. 21 This is what the Lord says: Be careful not to carry a load on the Sabbath day or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem. 22 Do not bring a load out of your houses or do any work on the Sabbath, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your ancestors. 23 Yet they did not listen or pay attention; they were stiff-necked and would not listen or respond to discipline.

            The nation of Judah is not keeping the Sabbath day holy.  People are engaging in the usual commerce bringing merchandize in and out of the city on the Sabbath, and God is angry at this.  If they don’t repent and stop working on the Sabbath, God will have no choice but to start all over with a new nation that will keep his law.

27 But if you do not obey me to keep the Sabbath day holy by not carrying any load as you come through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle an unquenchable fire in the gates of Jerusalem that will consume her fortresses.’”

            They better get their act together and stop working on the Sabbath day.  This seems to be pretty important to God.  Why do you think God is so concerned about the Sabbath?

            When the people of God were slaves in Egypt they were forced to work seven days a week.  They were prevented from worshiping God.  So God sent Moses and Aaron to deliver them from this slavery.  They were sent to speak with Pharaoh with these words:

 Exodus 5:1 … Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the wilderness.’”

            God was using Moses and Aaron to shape Egypt for his plan and purpose.  But Pharaoh refused and ignored God’s instructions.  And his nation was destroyed when his chariots where stuck in the mud on the bottom of the Red Sea when the waters returned and the King and his men all drowned.  After the Hebrews were freed from Egypt they worshiped God and received from God his holy law.

Exodus 20: 8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

            The nation of Judah was breaking this law and returning God’s people to slavery by denying them a Sabbath rest and a time to worship their God.   This is the sin God was calling them to repent.  They were to give their workers a Sabbath rest and a time to worship God.  Otherwise God might have to start over with a new nation.

            Thankfully here in Ocean City we have no problem giving people a Sabbath rest and time to worship every Sunday.  No employer in this town would ever think of forcing employees to work Sunday morning and miss church.  Or would they?  Of course that is exactly what they do.  Employers are doing in this town the same thing that the nation of Judah was doing in Jeremiah’s day.  We are forcing Christians to work on Sunday mornings and miss church.

            For the last year and a half I have asked many people to worship here at this church on Sunday mornings.  And they all tell me the same thing.  “I would love to come to church, but I can’t.  I have to work.”  Christian international students would love to join us for Sunday worship, but they have to work.  We have elders and trustees who cannot come to church because they too have to work on Sunday mornings.

            There is one exception.  Chick-fil-A across the bridge is closed today.  This is what it says on their corporate website.

Q: Why is Chick-fil-A closed on Sunday?

A:  Our founder, Truett Cathy, made the decision to close on Sundays in 1946 when he opened his first restaurant in Hapeville, Georgia. He has often shared that his decision was as much practical as spiritual. He believes that all franchised Chick-fil-A® Operators and Restaurant employees should have an opportunity to rest, spend time with family and friends, and worship if they choose to do so. That's why all Chick-fil-A Restaurants are closed on Sundays. It's part of our recipe for success.

            One employer knows what God wants.  There may be others.  I call on the business community of Ocean City and all managers in this town to repent and give their employees Sunday off so they may rest, enjoy their families and worship God.  The promise of God is that if we do this Ocean City will be blessed.  But we risk God’s wrath if we continue to ignore his command to give employees Sunday off so they may go to church for worship.  Here is the promise to the business community from God though Jeremiah, his prophet to the nations.

Jeremiah 17: 24 But if you are careful to obey me, declares the Lord, and bring no load through the gates of this city on the Sabbath, but keep the Sabbath day holy by not doing any work on it, 25 then kings who sit on David’s throne will come through the gates of this city with their officials. They and their officials will come riding in chariots and on horses, accompanied by the men of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, and this city will be inhabited forever. 26 People will come from the towns of Judah and the villages around Jerusalem, from the territory of Benjamin and the western foothills, from the hill country and the Negev, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and incense, and bringing thank offerings to the house of the Lord.

            If the businesses of Ocean City MD repent and give their employees Sundays off then God will bless them with more visitors, more sales, and more profits than they ever thought possible.  Obeying God’s Sabbath law would be the best business decision they could ever make.  Failure to obey God may result in more Labor Day Weekend washouts.  I urge you to tell the owners of the businesses here in Ocean City that God wants their employees to have Sunday mornings off.  God wants the workers of Ocean City to worship him in churches and that will bring greater prosperity to Ocean City if it happens.  Let’s pray.

            Father in heaven we confess that we enable the businesses of our city to stay open on Sunday mornings.  We repent of this sin and will tell the stores, restaurants and hotel owners in this city that if they obey God and give their employees Sunday morning off then God will bless them with greater profits.  We pray this in the name of your son our Lord, Jesus Christ.  Amen. 

Sermon Jeremiah 2:4-13 Cracked Cisterns

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Sermon Jeremiah 2:4-13 Cracked Cisterns

First Presbyterian Church of Ocean City

August 28, 2016

            This is my second sermon in a series I have called, “Jeremiah, Prophet to the Nations”.  Last week we heard God’s call to Jeremiah to begin this work.  Jeremiah was part of God’s plan from the very beginning.  He had been chosen as a prophet before he was born.  As so now this teenager with no experience will bring God’s word to the nations of the world.  Today, we will look at Jeremiah’s first prophecy from God to the nation of Judah.  We will get to this, but first let’s pray.

            “Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification.  Amen.”   (John Calvin)

            God freed the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt.  He parted the Red Sea for them to escape, and guided them for forty years in the wilderness.  The wilderness is dry, a desert.  And shortly after they entered it they experienced their first problem.  They ran out of water.

Exodus 15:²² Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water.²³ When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.^[f]) ²⁴ So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?”

²⁵ Then Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became fit to drink.

²⁷ Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water.

So God provided his people with what they needed, water.  Then, sometime later it happened again.

Exodus 17:1 The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.”

Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?”

3 But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?”

4 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.”

5 The Lord answered Moses, “Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.

            Over and over again for a period of forty years God provided Israel with everything it needed.  Whenever they were threaten with thirst or hunger or war God was always there to save them.  God could always be counted on.  So after forty years you would think that the descendants of those people would always remember what God had done for them.  But they didn’t.  They forgot all about their God.  And they even started following their Canaanite neighbors up to the hilltop to worship Baal, the Weather God, who never did anything for anyone.  Why would they forget the God who had saved their ancestors?  Well, before I try to answer this, let’s listen to what God had to say to them through Jeremiah, his Prophet to the Nations.

Jeremiah 2:4 Hear the word of the LORD, you descendants of Jacob,

    all you clans of Israel.

5 This is what the LORD says:

“What fault did your ancestors 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 ravines,

a land of drought and utter 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 Cyprus and look,

    send to Kedar[a] 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 glorious God

    for worthless idols.

12 Be appalled at this, you 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.

            So the Nation of Judah has forsaken the spring of living water to worship the false god Baal.  And, they have dug their own cisterns. Cisterns are large cavities in the ground which are used to store rain water.  God has said that the Judeans erred by digging cisterns.  He said that cisterns are no better at saving us from thirst that the old fictitious weather god of Canaanites  What is so bad about digging cisterns?

            Sometime shortly after arriving in the Promised Land, someone made an important discovery.  The found out that if iron ore from the ground was placed in a charcoal fire impurities in the iron would burn away and the iron would become soft and malleable.  He also figured out that when iron was still hot it could be shaped into just about anything.  Farmers came and wanted iron plows so they could cultivate more land.  Generals came and wanted iron arrow heads, iron tipped spears, iron helmets and shields, and iron chariots.  Builders came and wanted iron tools to cut limestone into large blocks which could be assembled to build massive palaces and temples.  The Iron Age had begun.

            Then someone figured out that iron tools could be used to dig a large hole in the limestone underneath his property to store water.  He made it bell shaped to minimize evaporation and pollution.  And he filled it by redirecting rainwater into it during the rainy winter season.  And he had plenty of water for whole summer.

            Cisterns revolutionized how we store water.  Before cisterns we were dependent on rainfall to fill the streams and rivers and the aquifers under the land. But with cisterns we could have water whenever we wanted.  We were in in control.  And this continues today.  On First street and St. Louis avenue Ocean City is building a new water tower.  All of us can get as much water as we want by simply turning on the tap, or by purchasing a case of water from CVS.  And all of this began three thousand years ago when iron tools were first used to build cisterns.

            So why is God warning us about building cisterns?  Before cisterns people depended on God for the water they drank.  And they worshiped God in gratitude for the water they received.  But once they built cisterns they no longer believe that God was needed.  They had their own ability to make water available whenever they wanted.  They didn’t need a God who provided water for them.  So they forgot about God.

            So too with us.  We have everything we need.  We have our health, and good health care if we need it.  We have good incomes, and plenty in savings if we run into trouble.  We have insurance and retirement accounts.  And we have good social services.  We have everything we need.  Why would we want any blessings from God?  This is why 99% of the people in Ocean City today are on the beach and only a small fraction are in church.  People have everything they need.  There is nothing they need from God.  And they think that they have received no blessings from God for which they would be grateful.  So, we won’t see them here this morning.

            The Nation of Judah thought the same way.  They were in control of things like water.  There was nothing they needed from God.  So why worship and glorify him?  But Jeremiah came with a warning.  Their cisterns were broken.  There are many small earthquakes in the Middle East.  One of these probably damaged the Jerusalem cistern.  It was leaking.  And it did not have as much water in it as everyone thought.  God knew that the time would come when the Babylonians would return and encircle the city.  The siege would last months.  And Jerusalem did not have enough water in their cracked cistern.  They would either perish of thirst or surrender to the Babylonians.

            The problem was that they thought that they could depend on themselves to provide for their every need.  But they couldn’t.  They needed a savior who would provide them with water when they needed it.  They needed the God of their ancestors who provided them with water in the wilderness.  This was Jeremiah’s message.  He warned the nation to return to its God before it was too late.

            The same is true for us.  We think that we have enough savings and insurance to provide for every need, but we don’t.  Maybe, hopefully, we won’t exhaust our resources.  But we may.  And if that happens we better have strong faith in the only God who provides his people with what they need.  That is why it is so important for people to be here, in church.  In church we hear the old stories of what God has done in the past.  We receive the assurance that God will do for us in the future.  And in gratitude for that assurance we worship God today.

            So technology causes us to believe that God is no longer need.  Science will give us everything we need.  But God is needed, because no matter how much we are prepared for any calamity, all preparation will ultimately fail.  We cannot always save ourselves and must trust in the salvation of God.  In Jesus Christ that salvation is assured.  So with joy and gratitude we worship the living God.  Let’s pray.

            Heavenly father, we have plan and prepare for whatever may befall us.  We have money and good health and everything we need.  But we know that whatever we have is not good enough.  And so we fall back on the assurance of your salvation.  This we pray in Jesus’ name.  Amen.