Sermon - Habakkuk – Righteousness by Faith

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Sermon - Habakkuk – Righteousness by Faith

First Presbyterian Church of Ocean City

November 6, 2016

This morning we turn to the Prophet Habakkuk. We don't know much about Habakkuk, but we do have an interesting story about him from rabbinic tradition. So listen to this story from Bel and the Dragon 1:33-39

33 Now the prophet Habakkuk was in Judea; he had made a stew and had broken bread into a bowl, and was going into the field to take it to the reapers. 34 But the angel of the Lord said to Habakkuk, “Take the food that you have to Babylon, to Daniel, in the lions’ den.” 35 Habakkuk said, “Sir, I have never seen Babylon, and I know nothing about the den.” 36 Then the angel of the Lord took him by the crown of his head and carried him by his hair; with the speed of the wind[d] he set him down in Babylon, right over the den.

37 Then Habakkuk shouted, “Daniel, Daniel! Take the food that God has sent you.” 38 Daniel said, “You have remembered me, O God, and have not forsaken those who love you.” 39 So Daniel got up and ate. And the angel of God immediately returned Habakkuk to his own place.

So Habakkuk seems to be a good person and useful to God. He must have been a pretty good cook. Let's pray and then we will hear what he has to say.

“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)

Habakkuk was a contemporary of the Prophet Jeremiah. So he clearly saw the moral decay of Judah and Jerusalem as it abandoned God's law. He also clearly saw the threat Babylon posed to all the nations in the region. But that is where the similarity with Jeremiah stopped. Jeremiah was an outsider who was called and empowered by God to proclaim a word of warning to the nations. Habakkuk was not an outsider. He was an insider, a temple musician and song writer. He was probably a Levite, an important church leader. And rather than God giving him a warning for the people, Habakkuk, like a priest, takes the people's concern to God in prayer. He asked God why he allowed this moral decay to continue. Listen to his prayer.

Habakkuk 1:2-4

2 How long, Lord, must I call for help,
    but you do not listen?
Or cry out to you, “Violence!”
    but you do not save?3 Why do you make me look at injustice?
    Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?
Destruction and violence are before me;
    there is strife, and conflict abounds.4 Therefore the law is paralyzed,
    and justice never prevails.
The wicked hem in the righteous,
    so that justice is perverted.

So from his position of leadership, Habakkuk has seen corruption at all levels of the government and temple leadership. God's law is ignored. People coming to court for justice are turned away with no satisfaction. The Government is engaging in violence against their own people. Official corruption has run amok. And the only place Habakkuk can turn is to God. But when he turns to God it is with a complaint. “2 How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen?”

This is a prayer I have often prayed. I have prayed for many things in my life. Sometimes God answers quickly. But often my prayers seem to go unanswered. I have prayed for healing and watched people die. I have prayed for jobs, and watch people go through unemployment. I have prayed for reconciliation, and watched people go through divorse. But I keep praying and praying and hoping that God will hear my prayers and will act quickly.

Habakkuk is in the same the boat. He has been praying to God over and over to change the situation Judah is in before it is too late. He prays over and over for divine intervention. But with each prayer Habakkuk wonders when God will act. But after today's prayer, God is ready to deal with Habakkuk’s complaint. And here is God's answer.

5 “Look at the nations and watch—
    and be utterly amazed.
For I am going to do something in your days
    that you would not believe,
    even if you were told.6 I am raising up the Babylonians,[a]
    that ruthless and impetuous people,
who sweep across the whole earth
    to seize dwellings not their own.7 They are a feared and dreaded people;
    they are a law to themselves
    and promote their own honor.8 Their horses are swifter than leopards,
    fiercer than wolves at dusk.
Their cavalry gallops headlong;
    their horsemen come from afar.
They fly like an eagle swooping to devour;9     they all come intent on violence.
Their hordes[b] advance like a desert wind
    and gather prisoners like sand.10 They mock kings
    and scoff at rulers.
They laugh at all fortified cities;
    by building earthen ramps they capture them.11 Then they sweep past like the wind and go on—
    guilty people, whose own strength is their god.”

So God has told Habakkuk exactly what he is going to do. God is going to let Babylon to sweep away the corrupt government of Judah. But Habakkuk was not satisfied with this answer and he prayed again.

12 Lord, are you not from everlasting?
    My God, my Holy One, you[c] will never die.
You, Lord, have appointed them to execute judgment;
    you, my Rock, have ordained them to punish.13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil;
    you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.
Why then do you tolerate the treacherous?
    Why are you silent while the wicked
    swallow up those more righteous than themselves?14 You have made people like the fish in the sea,
    like the sea creatures that have no ruler.15 The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks,
    he catches them in his net,
he gathers them up in his dragnet;
    and so he rejoices and is glad.16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net
    and burns incense to his dragnet,
for by his net he lives in luxury
    and enjoys the choicest food.17 Is he to keep on emptying his net,
    destroying nations without mercy?

Habakkuk 2

1 I will stand at my watch
    and station myself on the ramparts;
I will look to see what he will say to me,
    and what answer I am to give to this complaint.[a]

So Habakkuk is not satisfied with God's answer that he is sending the Babylonians to destroy them. Habakkuk wants to know why God has allowed this corruption to go on and on. Why didn't God act to solve these problems long ago before they got so bad that destruction was the only remedy? I don't know about you, but I have certainly prayed like this. I have been angry with God. Sometimes I want an explanation. Sometimes I need to know why God letting bad things happen. Habakkuk expressed this complaint to God and got an answer. Here it is.

2 Then the Lord replied:

“Write down the revelation
    and make it plain on tablets
    so that a herald[b] may run with it.3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time;
    it speaks of the end
    and will not prove false.
Though it linger, wait for it;
    it[c] will certainly come
    and will not delay.

4 “See, the enemy is puffed up;
    his desires are not upright—
    but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness[d]—

So God's answer to Habakkuk’s complaint that God did not act sooner to rid evil from the world was because evil exists because people desire it. Evil so permeates our hearts, and is so much a part of who we are, that we really have no choice but to be evil. We are totally depraved, unable to do good even if we wanted to, which of course we do not. This situation was caused by Adam and Eve's disobedience. Original sin so stains us that we are incapable of desiring or doing good. This was the problem in Jerusalem. The people had abandoned God and their own deprived natures were all that was left. So wickedness was the result. God didn't cause the wickedness; we did.

This is the situation we find ourselves in today. As people in our country abandon God, his law and his church the only thing we are left with is our own deprived natures. We see this in our current election. Both candidates are stained by sin. One Candidate and the other's husband have treated women atrociously. One candidate is being investigated by the FBI for corruption. And Christians are crying out “How long will this go on?” to Jesus

Habakkuk cried out God. And God responded to Habakkuk, “the righteous person will live by his faithfulness.”

By Jesus' time people had interpreted God's answer to Habakkuk to mean that by being faithful to God's law a person becomes righteous. So they held people to high personal standards of obedience. Jesus had numerous interactions with people who demanded strict adherence to the law. The Apostle Paul was trained as a pharisee and had first hand experience trying to get people to be righteous by obeying the law. But Paul saw that this didn't work because people were so depraved that they neither did nor desired to the good. They were all stained by original sin, and thus condemned by their nature as evil. Advocating faithful adherence to the law did not bring about righteousness among people totally depraved.

But God revealed to Paul what he really meant when he told Habakkuk “the righteous person will live by his faithfulness” God told Paul that the righteous will live by faith in Jesus Christ. That was God's answer. The answer to total depravity, our inability to be righteous as a result of original sin, is not by faithfully keeping God's law. That doesn't work. The answer to depravity, is to have faith in Jesus Christ.

It works this way. God makes faith available to you through his Holy Spirit. You can accept it or reject it. If you accept it the Holy Spirit begin the lifelong process in you of purging the stain of original sin from your heart. You are forgiven for the sins you have committed, You make Jesus your Lord. And you are free from slavery to sin. This frees you to live the life you were created to live as a righteous person. So, righteousness comes from the faith in Jesus Christ you received from the Holy Spirit.

So what is God's solution to evil in the world? We have been praying to God “How long will you let evil continue?” And God's answer is that evil will continue until all people on earth are made righteous by the saving faith in Jesus Christ. So if you want to make the world a better place, the only way is to help people receive faith in Jesus Christ. Here is what you do: Talk to people about Jesus, and demonstrate Jesus' love in your actions. Help people to see the blessing from God that our offered. And urged them to respond positively when the Spirit comes with the gift of faith. As more and more people accept Jesus as Lord and receive the Holy Spirit in their hearts, our nation will become more and more righteous.

Just as Habakkuk was lifted up by God to provide life sustaining food to Daniel in lion's den, so too does the Prophet Habakkuk provide us with the life sustaining food of the good news that righteousness comes from faith, in Jesus Christ. Let's pray.

How long, Lord Jesus, will you allow our nation to become more and more depraved. Help us, as your church, to bring your your love to people who don't know you, or have abandoned you. Help us to be your presence in the world through what we say and do. Use us and empower us to bring people to faith in you. This we pray in your glorious name. Amen.

Sermon - John Knox

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

First Presbyterian Church of Ocean City

Sermon John Knox

October 23, 2016

Today is Reformation Sunday, the day we remember the 16th Century reformers who tried to pull the medieval church back to biblical practices and doctrines. We will be looking at the protestant reformation in Scotland and the founder of the Presbyterian church, John Knox. Let's begin with prayer.

"O Lord, infinite in mercy, if thou shalt punish, make not consummation, but cut away the proud and luxuriant branches which bear no fruit: and preserve the commonwealth of such as give succour and harbour to thy contemned messengers, which long have suffered exile in deserts. And let thy kingdom shortly come, that sin may be ended, death devoured, thy enemies confounded; that we thy people, by thy majesty delivered, may obtain everlasting joy and felicity, through Jesus Christ our Saviour, to whom be all honour and praise, for ever. Amen.”¹

On December 8, 1542 James V of Scotland had a daughter and named her Mary. Six days later James died and the baby girl became Mary, Queen of Scots. Mary's mother, Mary of Guise, became the ruler of Scotland. And Scotland effectively became a colony of France.

During the reign of Mary of Guise, the protestant reformation came to Scotland through a fiery preacher name George Wishart. Wishart preached throughout the county that the church should change. It had fallen into error and must repent. But Cardinal Beaton, leader of the Catholic church in Scotland, was angry at what Wishart was preaching. He ordered Wishart to come to St. Andrews Castle where Wishart was burned to death, martyred for his faith. This angered many of the Scottish noblemen. They stormed St. Andrews Castle and assassinated the cardinal.

Wishart had been accompanied on his missionary journeys by an assistant, a young man, a theology graduate from St. Andrews, and a tutor for young children. This assistant's name was John Knox. The noblemen in St. Andrews castle selected John Knox to lead the reformation in Scotland after the death of Wishart. But Knox's ministry at St. Andrews did not last very long. The French fleet soon arrived in the harbor and laid siege on the castle. Knox was captured and became a galley slave in one of the King's ships.

Knox was not a slave for very long. The protestant king of England, Edward VI, negotiated Knox's release and installed him as the pastor of a church in the northern part of England and named Knox as his personal chaplain. It was there that Knox battled the Church of England. He was concerned that the Church of England had left the altars in their churches and continued the practice of kneeling during communion. The medieval church had taught that Jesus was sacrificed every time a priest broke the bread. The bread and wine on the altar were the sacrificed body and blood of Christ they said. People were told to kneel and worship Christ's body broken they placed on the altar. But the protestant reformers said that this was nonsense. Christ's sacrifice happened only once, on the cross. The bread and wine were symbols of his sacrifice, not Christ's actual body and blood. If there was no sacrifice then there was no need for an altar and kneeling. So Knox argued that the altars should be removed and replaced by ordinary tables, supper tables for the Lord's Supper. And he said, we should not kneel for communion, but gather around the table the way the disciples did for Jesus' last supper. So Knox argued that the Church of England should replace altars with tables and stop the practice of kneeling during communion.

Knox's conflict with the Church of England did not last very long. Edward VI died and was replaced by his Catholic half sister, Mary, who became Queen Mary I of England. Mary wanted to purge protestant influence from the Church of England. The protestants fled for their lives calling her Bloody Mary.

A group of protestant pilgrims arrived in Geneva where John Calvin was teaching. Knox arrived and established an English language church. Worship in this church was very simple. It would start with a prayer of confession. Then scripture would be read, both the Old and New Testaments. Then the pastor would explain the meaning of the scripture passages and how it could be applied in their lives. The congregation would then respond with a confession of faith, prayers and tithes. They would sing Psalms together. The worship service would end with the pastor giving a benediction. With minor changes this is how we worship today in Presbyterian churches. Today's worship service is drawn from the Directory of Worship Knox developed for the Geneva church.

While in Geneva, Knox wrote a book highly critical of Mary of Guise in Scotland and Mary I of England. It was called The first blast of the trumpet against the monstruous regiment of women. Unfortunately for Knox, Mary I of England died as the book was being published. Her half sister, the protestant Elizabeth I, was very angry with him about the book.

In 1559 John Knox return to Edinburgh, Scotland. He was declared an outlaw by Mary of Guise and ordered to appear in Stirling Castle. The protestants gathered in the walled city of Perth with Knox as their leader. Reinforcements came from neighboring countries. Mary of Guise was removed from power in October 1559. She died in July 1560 paving the way for a treaty between England and France that removed all French influence over Scotland. Scotland had won it's independence and was free to become a protestant nation.

In August of 1560 the Scottish Parliament met to design a new nation. John Knox wanted them to adopt a reformed statement of faith that would unify the nation and it's church. Knox and five other protestants began work on a Confession of Faith for their approval. They finished their work in just four days and Knox presented it to the assembly. The Scots Confession became the founding document for the new Church of Scotland.

In the Scots Confession they affirmed their beliefs. They believed in our triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They believed that men and women are stained by original sin and thus in need of a mediator. They believed that Jesus is that mediator for all who were chosen by God before he laid the foundations of the world. They believed that the church has existed since Adam and is characterized by the preaching of the Word of God, the proper administration of the sacraments of Baptism and The Lord's Supper, and the enforcement of ecclesiastical discipline. And they believed that men and women should respond to the blessings they receive from God with good works of their own.

With the adoption of The Scots Confession, the Church of Scotland was formed with a Presbyterian form of government. The church would be governed not by a Pope or King. Rather it would be governed by elders or presbyters meeting in councils. To prevent error inherent in all human councils, the councils of the church would be led by Jesus Christ, governed by the Word of God and disciplined by higher councils.

This is the structure of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. We have no bishops or Pope or king. Rather we are governed by councils. At this church we are governed by a council called the Session, which consists of elders elected by God and the congregation. Our session elects elders as commissioners to a higher council, the presbytery. Above the presbytery is the synod. And above the synod is the General Assembly. At each level the councils are governed by the Word of God, and they discipline the councils beneath.

In 1561 Mary, Queen of Scots, returned to Scotland from France. She declared that nothing would change. Even though she still practiced her Roman Catholicism the Presbyterians could continue to worship as they chose. Many Scottish nobles accepted her offer. But John Knox was not convinced. He continued to preach against the monarchy.

So Queen Mary invited Knox to several meetings. They discussed whether Christians could live under a queen or not. They decided that Christians could live under a monarch, like Paul lived under Nero, provided that the monarch not exceed the law of God. They agreed that if Knox and the Queen had a disagreement that would discuss it privately not in public. And Mary agreed with Knox that catholic priests should be prosecuted when they violated the law. Their most dramatic meeting came after Knox had preached against the Queen's upcoming marriage. Not even her tears could convince Knox that this marriage was good for Scotland. The Queen was reported to have said, “I fear the prayers of John Knox more than all the assembled armies of Europe.” ²

By the middle of the 1560s Scotland had descended into civil war. Knox fled and completed a book called “The History of the Reformation in Scotland”. Knox returned to Edinburgh in 1572. He continued to preach but had become quite feeble. On November 24, 1572 Knox asked his wife to read the Bible out loud for him. She was reading from First Corinthians as John Knox went to be with his Lord.

And so we celebrate the life of John Knox, a Protestant reformer and founder of the Presbyterian church. Let us pray.

“O LORD, strengthen our faith; kindle it more in ferventness and love towards thee, and our neighbours, for thy sake. Suffer us not, most dear Father, to receive thy word any more in vain; but grant us always the assistance of thy grace and Holy Spirit, that in heart, word, and deed, we may sanctify and do worship to thy name. Amen.” ³

1http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualNLs/prayertr.htm

2http://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/give-me-scotland-or-i-die/

3http://creedorchaos.wordpress.com/2008/08/22/a-godly-prayer-to-be-said-at-all-times-from-john-knox-1556/

Sermon – Joel 2:23-32 – Stewardship

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Sermon – Joel 2:23-32 – Stewardship

First Presbyterian  Church of Ocean City

October 23, 2016

            Today is Stewardship Sunday.  This is the day each year we make a commitment by entering into a covenant with God to support his church.  I have sent letters to members of the church thanking them for supporting Grace and me in our ministry here with you.  Like the Levites in ancient times, we are here at the call of God to serve this church.  And you have responded generously.  Soon your pastor nominating committee will find you new pastor, whom you should also support generously. There are pledge cards in your bulletin today.  When you fill out these cards the session of the church and your pastor nominating committee will know how much to offer the new pastor in compensation.  So I ask you to take out the pledge card from your bulletin and hold it throughout this sermon.  When I am finished,  we will pray and fill out the cards.  Then you will have an opportunity to bring those cards forward as a sign that you will support God's work in this church.  Trustees will them collect these cards and tabulate your pledges.  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)

            Today we will be looking at the Book of Joel.  Joel was a prophet.  His name means literally, “Yahweh is God.”  This is the bedrock of our faith, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit we worship is God.  We don't know when Joel lived.  So this book could have been written at any time in Israel's history.  It could even be written today.

            The Book of Joel starts with a natural disaster.  Locusts have arrived, swarm after swarm. They are on everything.  You can't get away from the constant buzzing sound of their wings.  They are the most annoying things you can imagine.  In this midst of this infestation of locusts, God sent his prophet Joel to give his people the bad news.  Joel went first to the taverns and told the drunks that the locust were stripping the grape vines bare.  There would me no new wine this year.  Then he went to the temple and told the priests that there would be no drink offering and no grain offering this year.  And finally Joel went to the farmers and told them what they already knew.  There would be no harvest this year.  All of this means shortages, famine and starvation.

            Joel then returned to the temple and told the priests that it was time to call a solemn assembly.  People had to be gathered to confess their evil ways.  They had to repent of their sin and turn to God.  They had to read the Bible and do what it says. 

            We heard all of this from Jeremiah.  In Jeremiah's day the people ignored him. They mocked him.  And threw him in jail.  But in Joel's day the people did what he said.  They confessed their sin and turned to God.   And God forgave them and blessed them.

Joel 2:19 The Lord replied[a] to them: “I am sending you grain, new wine and olive oil,enough to satisfy you fully; never again will I make you an object of scorn to the nations.  20 “I will drive the northern horde far from you, pushing it into a parched and barren land;  its eastern ranks will drown in the Dead Sea and its western ranks in the Mediterranean Sea.  And its stench will go up; its smell will rise.”

            God sent a great Northeaster.   Wind from the northeast blew for days.  And locusts where blown into the sea.  Great is our God!  And with that God sent his prophet to the world he had created with some good news.

           

Surely he has done great things! 21     Do not be afraid, land of Judah be glad and rejoice.
Surely the Lord has done great things! 22     Do not be afraid, you wild animals, for the pastures in the wilderness are becoming green. The trees are bearing their fruit; the fig tree and the vine yield their riches.

            And God also sent his prophet Joel to speak with his people.

23 Be glad, people of Zion, rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given you the autumn rains
 because he is faithful.  He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before.
24 The threshing floors will be filled with grain;the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.

            We learn from this that when we are right with God we will live a world of abundance.  The shelves in Food Lion will overflow.  Clean, drinkable water will come from our taps whenever we want it.  We can call anyone anywhere with phones in our pockets.  More information than any library could contain is available anytime with the internet.  And we have so much leisure time people can sit on a beach for a couple weeks every year.  We live in a world of abundance because God has blessed us so richly. 

            Now that we have been richly blessed it is time to enter into a covenant with God.  Here are terms from the prophet Joel.  This is what God will do.

25 “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten—the great locust and the young locust,
the other locusts and the locust swarm[b]—my great army that I sent among you.  26 You will have plenty to eat, until you are full,

            So God has promised that whenever disaster falls upon us, and it will, God will be there with us to comfort us in our misery, strengthen us to persevere, and restore to us his blessings.  That is what God will do for us.  Now, what should we do for God?  Let's go back to the prophet Joel.

 and you will praise the name of the Lord your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed. 27 Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the Lord your God, and that there is no other; never again will my people be shamed.

            God has blessed us richly with a world of abundance.  What should be our response?  According to Joel we are to praise God because he is with us.  We are to worship God.  We are to pray to God.  We are to study and obey God's word.  We are to care for God's church by inviting people to believe in him and contributing to its operation.  Joel puts it this way.

Joel 3:18b A fountain will flow out of the Lord’s house and will water the valley of acacias.

            Joel has prophesied that a river of living water will flow from the church to bless our communities and the world.  This prophecy from Joel was fulfilled when Jesus stood in the Jerusalem during they harvest festival of Tabernacles and did this:

John 7:37  37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”[c] 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. 

            The church is today the source of living water that the world needs.  Our proclamation of Jesus Christ brings to the earth the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is with us now in worship and flows from this place into the world.  You will carry the Holy Spirit into world as a great blessing.  For this blessing to continue to flow from this place you must support the church financially out of the abundance God has blessed you with.

So now, take out the pledge cards from your bulletin.  Hold them in you hands and pray with me.

            “Almighty God, we thank you for all the gifts You have given us:  our lives, our loved ones, all that we have and all that we are.  Most of all, we thank You for Jesus, your Son and our Redeemer, who came among us to show us the way to eternal life.  Jesus was the perfect steward of your gifts, showing that complete trust in you is necessary, and that giving of self is a most important part of following Him.  May the offerings of our time, our talents, and our material resources be made in the same spirit of sacrifice that Jesus taught us by His life and death for us.

            Oh Lord, giver of life and source of our freedom, we are reminded that yours is “the earth in its fullness; the world and those who dwell in it” We know that it is from your hand that we received all we have and are and will be.  Gracious and loving God, we understand that you call us to be the stewards of Your abundance, the caretakers of all you have entrusted to us.  Help us always to use your gifts wisely and teach us to share them generously.  May out faithful stewardship bear witness to the love of Christ in our lives. 

            Loving God, I come to you in thanksgiving, knowing that all I am and all that I have is a gift from you.  In faith and love, help me to do your will.  I am listening, Lord God.  Speak your words into the depth of my soul, that I may hear you clearly.  I offer to you this day all the facets of my life, whether it be at home, at work, or at school---to be patient, to be merciful, to be generous, to be holy.  Give me the wisdom and insight to understand your will for me and the fervor to fulfill my good intentions.  I offer my gifts of time, talent and possessions to you as a true act of faith, to reflect my love for you and my neighbor.  Help me to reach out to others as you my God have reached out to me.  In Jesus' name we pray.  Amen.

(http://wjpresbytery.org/contentpages/17172/67479107-dbbe-4e90-a20f-09bd5fb2fa16/Stewardship.aspx)

            Let us pray silently.  While praying take the pledge card and fill it out.  Please come forward and place it in the plate.  If you cannot come for the trustees will come to you.

When we have finished we will sing together Precious Lord, Take My Hand #463.

Sermon -Jeremiah 31:27-34 -A New Covenant

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Sermon -Jeremiah 31:27-34 -A New Covenant

First Presbyterian Church of Ocean City

October 16, 2016

This is my final sermon in a series called Jeremiah – Prophet to the Nations. Jeremiah was called by God to call God's people to read and obey God's law. This was part of a covenant that God had established with his people. God promised to bless his people with an economic system based on private property owned in perpetuity by families in what was called the “Promised Land.” In exchange for this land God required obedience to his law. But political leaders failed in upholding their end of the covenant by refusing to have people read and obey God's word. And the covenant was broken. In 587BC the Empire of Babylon took their land and destroyed Jerusalem and their political system. The people were taken into exile for generation or two. But Jeremiah, the Prophet to the Nations, had some good news for them. 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)

When Moses descended from Mt. Horeb with the Ten Commandments, he announced to the people of God the terms of the covenant, contract, promise between them and God. Here is what he said.

Deteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

And so it was the responsibility of family leaders to ensure that God's word would be read and obeyed generation to generation. Moses put it this way.

 24 The Lord commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the Lord our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today.25 And if we are careful to obey all this law before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness.”

Kings and governmental officials, tribal and city elders, priest and prophets were all to work together to ensure that each generation read and obeyed God's word. And God promised to bless his people.

Deuteronomy 7:12 If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the Lord your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your ancestors. 13 He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land—your grain, new wine and olive oil—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you. 14 You will be blessed more than any other people; none of your men or women will be childless, nor will any of your livestock be without young. 15 The Lord will keep you free from every disease.

But this didn't happen. The King, the elders, the priests and prophets all turned from God, and stopped reading and obeying his law. Listen to this about King Manasseh.

2 Kings 21:1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years. His mother’s name was Hephzibah. 2 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, following the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. 3 He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he also erected altars to Baal and made an Asherah pole, as Ahab king of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshiped them. 4 He built altars in the temple of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem I will put my Name.” 5 In the two courts of the temple of the Lord, he built altars to all the starry hosts. 6 He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced divination, sought omens, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger.

With that the Book of God's Law was sent to storage. No one read it. No one did what it said. And God was very angry.

 12 Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. 13 I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab. I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.

But God gave them one more chance, when King Josiah sent his officials to the temple on an accounting matter and this happened.

2 Kings 22:8 Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the temple of the Lord.” He gave it to Shaphan, who read it. 9 Then Shaphan the secretary went to the king and reported to him: “Your officials have paid out the money that was in the temple of the Lord and have entrusted it to the workers and supervisors at the temple.” 10 Then Shaphan the secretary informed the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king.

2 Kings 22:11 When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his robes. 12 He gave these orders to Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Akbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the secretary and Asaiah the king’s attendant: 13 “Go and inquire of the Lord for me and for the people and for all Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the Lord’s anger that burns against us because those who have gone before us have not obeyed the words of this book; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written there concerning us.”

And that’s when God raised up a Prophet to the Nations named Jeremiah who told them to read the Book of the Law and do what it say it you want to continue to receive the blessing God promised in the covenant.

Jeremiah 11:1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Listen to the terms of this covenant and tell them to the people of Judah and to those who live in Jerusalem. 3 Tell them that this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Cursed is the one who does not obey the terms of this covenant— 4 the terms I commanded your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, out of the iron-smelting furnace.’ I said, ‘Obey me and do everything I command you, and you will be my people, and I will be your God. 5 Then I will fulfill the oath I swore to your ancestors, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey’—the land you possess today.”

I answered, “Amen, Lord.”

And with that Jeremiah proclaimed to the people of Jerusalem and Judah that they were to return to God. They were to read his law and obey it. But the people refused. They mocked Jeremiah calling him a madman and put him in jail. With the covenant broken and his prophet ignored, God decided to remove his people from the land and end the political system that was setup to ensure that his Word would be read and obeyed. God used Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon to accomplish this task. He destroyed Jerusalem. And God's people found themselves in exile. Then God sent Jeremiah to proclaim his good news to the people he loved.

Jeremiah 31:27 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will plant the kingdoms of Israel and Judah with the offspring of people and of animals. 28 Just as I watched over them to uproot and tear down, and to overthrow, destroy and bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” declares the Lord.

And with that God comforted his people with the promise that they would return to their homes and farms. They would rebuild what the Babylonians had destroyed. After a generation in exile God was unwilling to punish a new generation for the sins of their fathers. God put it this way.

29 “In those days people will no longer say,

‘The parents have eaten sour grapes,
    and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’

30 Instead, everyone will die for their own sin; whoever eats sour grapes—their own teeth will be set on edge.

The new generation being born in Babylon would return to their ancestral homes and farms and restart. But there would be a change. Tthe returning exiles would return not to the old covenant their ancestors had with God, but to a new covenant. The old covenant had broken down because the King, elders, priests and prophets had all failed to have people read and obey God's law. This political and religious system had come to an end, because it was no longer useful to God. And God needed a new way to ensure that his people would read and obey his law. So God decided to do two things. The first was to forgive and forget their sin. No longer would God punish them for what they had done in the past. Only what they did from now on would be important. And the second thing God did was to put his Holy Spirit in their hearts so that they would want to read and obey his law. The Holy Spirit would take the place of Kings, and elders, and priests and prophets. The Holy Spirit would encourage people to read the law and do what it says. Here is how Jeremiah put it.

31 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord,
    “when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
    and with the people of Judah.32 It will not be like the covenant
    I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
    to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
    though I was a husband to[d] them,[e]”
declares the Lord.33 “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
    after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds
    and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
    and they will be my people.34 No longer will they teach their neighbor,
    or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
    from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the Lord.
“For I will forgive their wickedness
    and will remember their sins no more.”

God has promised to send his Holy Spirit to shape us into people who want to read and obey his law. And God has promised to all who receive this Holy Spirit that their sins will be forgiven. This covenant was fulfilled on the night when Jesus when betrayed when at dinner he lifted up a cup and said:

Luke 22:20 “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.

For all who believe in Jesus and make him the Lord of their lives God promises to forgive your sins and to give you the Holy Spirit to begin your transformation to new life. No longer do we need a King, or an Elder, or a Priest or Prophet to tell us to read the Bible and do what it says. That system is over. God's Holy Spirit, in us, forms us into community called church and brings us together in worship, prayer and Bible study. The Holy Spirit uses what we do here in church to shape us, as a potter shapes a lump of clay, into the image of God. Through this process we become more and more like Jesus Christ. We are the people of the new covenant. Let's pray.

Lord Jesus we accept you as the Lord of our lives. We ask you to fill us with your Spirit. We pledge to cooperate with that Spirit by reading the Bible and doing what it says. We thank you for the love of the Father that we have receives. And we promise to love and serve you and to love our neighbor. Amen.

Sermon Jeremiah 29 Letter to the Exiles

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Sermon Jeremiah 29 Letter to the Exiles

First Presbyterian Church of Ocean City

October 2, 2016

            I am continuing with my sermon series on Jeremiah - Prophet to the Nations.  We started with God’s desire to have someone speak for him to Judah and to the Nations of the World.  Jeremiah warned all nations not to put their hope in false gods and material things.  These cannot save you.  God wanted the nations reminded that he created them and hold nations in his hands just like a potter hold a piece of clay.  And God announced through Jeremiah that he was not going to destroy the nations and start over, if they turned and were obedient to him.  God also announced that the system of private property that he had established would remain even though nations might rise and fall.  Today we will look at a debate among the prophets in Jeremiah’s day.  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)

            Last week many of us watched a televised debate between two presidential candidates.  They have conflicting views of where they would like to lead our nation.  Prophets in Jeremiah’s day also had different views about where the nation was heading and what it should do about it.  This debate among is recorded in the Book of Jeremiah.  So, let’s begin this morning by looking at the start of Jeremiah’s work as a prophet and the debate which followed.

Jeremiah 26:1 Early in the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came from the Lord: 2 “This is what the Lord says: Stand in the courtyard of the Lord’s house and speak to all the people of the towns of Judah who come to worship in the house of the Lord. Tell them everything I command you; do not omit a word. 3 Perhaps they will listen and each will turn from their evil ways. Then I will relent and not inflict on them the disaster I was planning because of the evil they have done. 4 Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: If you do not listen to me and follow my law, which I have set before you, 5 and if you do not listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I have sent to you again and again (though you have not listened), 6 then I will make this house like Shiloh and this city a curse among all the nations of the earth.’”

            In 605 BC the Babylonians and Medes met the Egyptians in the great battle of Carchemish.  The Babylonians won and made their general Nebuchadnezzar king of the entire empire.  This would have enormous implication for Judah and its capitol at Jerusalem.  The people came to the temple in Jerusalem to find out from God what was going to happen.  And their priests and prophets told them not worry.  They said that as long as they had a temple and continued to worship, God would always protect them. So there was nothing to worry about.

            But as we just heard, God sent Jeremiah his Prophet to the Nations to tell them that this was not good enough.  He told them that just because they came to the temple in Jerusalem and worshiped the Lord, God would not necessarily save them.  In fact that very thing had happened hundreds of years before.  Then the people believe that no enemy could ever destroy the shrine of Shiloh.  But that is exactly what the Philistines did.  The temple and their worship did not save them because they had violated the terms of their contract with God.  God had blessed his people richly so that they would love and serve him and be a blessing to others.  But when the people pursued their own evil ways, the temple and worship were insufficient to protect them.

            Jeremiah told the people coming to the Jerusalem temple the same thing.  The temple and their worship would not save them from the King of Babylon.  Only if they served God, by loving him and caring for those in need would they be saved.  The prophets of Jerusalem wanted Jeremiah put to death for this prophecy.  They called him a false prophet worrying the people unnecessarily.  The temple and worship were all they needed.  But in 597 BC Jeremiah was proved right when the Babylonians arrived in the city and carried off the king, his family, his government, his army, and all the merchants and craftsmen that could help the Babylonians.  The temple and worship did not save them.

            Several years later Jeremiah was once again asked by God to talk with the people.

27:1 Early in the reign of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 This is what the Lord said to me: “Make a yoke out of straps and crossbars and put it on your neck. 3 Then send word to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre and Sidon through the envoys who have come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. 4 Give them a message for their masters and say, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Tell this to your masters: 5 With my great power and outstretched arm I made the earth and its people and the animals that are on it, and I give it to anyone I please. 6 Now I will give all your countries into the hands of my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; I will make even the wild animals subject to him. 7 All nations will serve him and his son and his grandson until the time for his land comes; then many nations and great kings will subjugate him.

            And so Jeremiah angered the nations of the region, including Judah, by saying that they are now subject to will of Nebuchadnezzar and Jeremiah is wearing a yoke around his neck to symbolize their subjugation.  Jeremiah told them that Babylon would return and take everything they had left behind if they did not obey the will of Nebuchadnezzar. This angered the prophet Hananiah.  He had been telling the people that God would break the yoke of Babylon and that the exiles would return within two years.  Jeremiah responded that he hoped all of this was true.  But he pointed out that the reason prophets predict disaster is to get the people to change their behavior.  By telling people not to worry he was telling them that everything they were doing was right.  But it wasn’t.  It wasn’t good enough to just show up at the temple for worship.  People had to live their lives as prescribed by their creator in the pages of scripture.  And without a change in behavior the Babylonian yoke would never be removed.  Jeremiah said that Hananiah would die for his false prophecy.  And with a year Hananiah did die.

            Confident in his prophecy that the yoke with Babylon would last a while Jeremiah decided to write a letter to the exiles.  Here is what he said.

           

29:4 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. 7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

            With this letter Jeremiah has told the exiles to plan for an extended period in Babylon.  As aliens living in a strange culture they are to continue doing what they did in Judah.  They are to buy land and build houses for their families.  They are to fulfill God’s command to be fruitful and multiply.  And they are to pray for Babylon and its prosperity.  By living the way God wants them to live they are preparing themselves and their families to return to Jerusalem as people obedient to their God.  Let’s go back to the letter.

            29:10 This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity.  I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

            God will be with the people in exile.  He will continue to bless them.  And one day in a generation or two God will bring his people back to Judah.  But of course the other prophets disagreed with Jeremiah.  Shemaiah, a prophet with the exiles in Babylon read Jeremiah’s letter and was very angry.  He wrote to the priest Zephaniah in Jerusalem:

29:26 ‘The Lord has appointed you priest in place of Jehoiada to be in charge of the house of the Lord; you should put any maniac who acts like a prophet into the stocks and neck-irons. 27 So why have you not reprimanded Jeremiah from Anathoth, who poses as a prophet among you? 28 He has sent this message to us in Babylon: It will be a long time. Therefore build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce.’”

            When Zephaniah received Shemaiah’s angry letter he read it to Jeremiah.  Jeremiah then wrote a second letter to the exiles warning them about Sheamiah and telling them that God would deal with this false prophet.

            So what happened in Jerusalem after all this?  The prophets, except Jeremiah, had been telling the people not to worry.  As long as they had the temple and came for worship God would protect them as he always had.  Yes, many people had been taken to Babylon and yes they were living under the yoke of Babylon, but these problems would be over shortly and their kingdom would be restored.  Jeremiah continued to tell them that this wasn’t good enough.  God had given them the Book of the Law and demanded obedience.  In gratitude for the blessing we receive from God we should all obey him.  If we fail to obey God then the covenant is broken and the blessings we enjoy will go away.

            Eventually Jeremiah was proved correct.  In 587 BC the Babylonian army returned to deal with the disobedience of King Zedekiah.  Jerusalem and its Temple were burned to the ground the people killed or scattered.  Jeremiah described it this way.

Lamentations 1:1–6

1 How deserted lies the city,

    once so full of people!

How like a widow is she,

    who once was great among the nations!

She who was queen among the provinces

    has now become a slave.

2 Bitterly she weeps at night,

    tears are on her cheeks.

Among all her lovers

    there is no one to comfort her.

All her friends have betrayed her;

    they have become her enemies.

3 After affliction and harsh labor,

    Judah has gone into exile.

She dwells among the nations;

    she finds no resting place.

All who pursue her have overtaken her

    in the midst of her distress.

4 The roads to Zion mourn,

    for no one comes to her appointed festivals.

All her gateways are desolate,

    her priests groan,

her young women grieve,

    and she is in bitter anguish.

5 Her foes have become her masters;

    her enemies are at ease.

The Lord has brought her grief

    because of her many sins.

Her children have gone into exile,

    captive before the foe.

6 All the splendor has departed

    from Daughter Zion.

Her princes are like deer

    that find no pasture;

in weakness they have fled

    before the pursuer.

            That is what happens when the people of God put their trust in a buildings and empty worship.  Having a church building and coming for worship is not enough.  If that is all we do we are doomed.  But Jeremiah has given us another way.  If we read the Bible and do what it says to do we will be ok.  God blessed us so that we will be a blessing.  We are to bless others.  We are to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.  We are to love God with all of our hearts, souls and mind.  If we do these things our God will protect us because he loves us so much.  Let’s pray.

            Father in heaven we pray to you today as your obedient children.  We love this building and this worship so much.  But we know these are not enough.  We are to love and serve you and love our neighbors.  And so forgive us and bless us as we enter the world to love and serve you.  We pray in your son’s name.  Amen.