St. Luke Ev. Lutheran Church of
Watertown, WI-WELS
Sermon delivered by Pastor Anthony E.
Schultz
Jeremiah 23:23f Pentecost 13 Series C. August 26 & 29, 2004
“Am I only a God nearby,” declares the
LORD,” and not a God far away? Can anyone hide in secret places so that I
cannot see him?” declares the LORD. “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares
the LORD.
People of God—rescued from the flaming lake of fire in hell by the innocent blood of the very Lamb of God:
Julian Tavarez is a cheater! That’s a pretty terrible thing to say about someone—but Julian has been found guilty of cheating. You see, Julian plays baseball—professional baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals. He’s a relief pitcher—one of those guys who goes into the game usually very near the end of the game. He goes into the game when you absolutely positively need your very best pitcher—because the least mistake—and you are surely going to lose. You send in your ace reliever—when everything is on the line. Julian knows—as every baseball fan knows—if you put any foreign substance—any kind of glop or goop on a baseball—and then pitch it—that little bit of a foreign substance can make that baseball just a little bit more difficult to hit. That’s why—everybody knows—it’s against the rules to put something on the baseball. The other day Julian cheated. He put some pine tar on his baseball cap—and from his baseball cap on to the baseball. And then Julian pitched that doctored baseball. That’s cheating. Julian got caught—and not only kicked out of that game—but he can’t play for the next 10 days. That’s the penalty. Did Julian feel badly? Was he embarrassed—ashamed—repentant? Apparently not! He went by the home plate umpire—put his arm around him—suggesting they should go out for a beer after the game. Then Julian tossed his cheater baseball cap to a fan sitting behind the dugout! That’s bad enough. But the trouble is—I’m afraid—lots of people think that God our Heavenly Father is pretty much like a baseball umpire. They think that if you are really clever and quick—you can pull a fast one. That God who must be what? Zillions of years old—just isn’t a quick as he used to be. And so you can do “naughty stuff” and not get caught. And if –worse case scenario—you do get caught—you can kind of make a joke about it. And hey—what’s the worst can happen? A ten game suspension—some time spent in this fiery place? How scary is that? Today God’s Word is a call to repentance. Today God’s Word reminds us:
The LORD Isn’t Kidding
The part of the Word of God we are concentrating on is from the scroll of the prophet Jeremiah. Prof. Gosdeck—who wrote The People’s Bible Commentary writes that the scroll of Jeremiah is meant to be “read with the ear”—that is—to be listened to—read out loud—as it was read to the people the first time. He says the scroll of Jeremiah is “like very rich food”—not that you would read chapters and chapters—but rather to read a few verses and ponder them and pray about them. The first chapter tells us Jeremiah was the son of Hilkiah, one of the priests at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin—some 3 miles north east of Jerusalem. There is powerful comfort for Jeremiah in God’s Word. “The word of the LORD came to me, saying, ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.’ ‘Ah, Sovereign LORD’, I said, ‘I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.’ But the LORD said to me, ‘Do not say, “I am only a child.” You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,’ declares the LORD.” Jeremiah 1:4-8 Jeremiah would preach law and gospel to a stubborn and hard hearted people. Jeremiah preached to people so arrogant they mocked and ridiculed and scorned being held accountable to any God! Jeremiah preached to people so arrogant they were more than willing to use physical violence against those who preached God’s Word and God’s truth. Although Jeremiah might have been painfully stressed—he did not need to be worried, anxious or afraid of anyone or anything. The LORD was with him. The LORD was his strength. The LORD would always rescue him.
Jeremiah preached, “Am I only a God nearby,” declares the LORD, “and not a God far away?” It was common in Old Testament times for people to have lots of gods—lots of little deities—each with their own tiny kingdoms—their little spheres of influence! One god would be the god of the pond. Another would be the god of the little clump of trees next to the pond. One god would have authority over the grassy hillside just past the trees by the pond. Yet another god would be the boss of the grassy hillside down the other side—away from the pond. If you were fighting a battle with swords, spears and arrows—and it wasn’t going well—so the thinking went—maybe you just needed to move the battle from the forest to the pasture. Failing to win in the wheat field—move over to the barley field—or perhaps the oat field is where the little gods would be friendly to you. How pitiful and pathetic is that? Am I only a God nearby? Is the LORD only here in Church? Does Jesus have authority only here—in this building? Is Jesus powerful here amongst pews and stained glass—with altars, pulpits, candles in sets of seven—by baptismal fonts and communion chalices? Is Jesus powerful when there is a steeple on the roof? Is Jesus important if you are a little child in Sunday School—to teach little children how to be good—so you don’t end up hooked on drugs or alcohol? So you learn how to be good—so you won’t get a baby in your tummy before you are married—so you don’t end up in jail? Is Jesus important if you are a little grandma and can make poppy seed torte’ for funeral dinners—between taking care of your flower beds—and doing needlepoint? That Jesus is nice for “religious” people—but doesn’t really apply if you are—I don’t know—somewhere between 14 and 21 and trying to decide what you want to be when you grow up—and worry about what your clothes look like—how your complexion is—how your hair and your breath is—how much money you have—how smart and popular you are. And not about what’s going to happen when you die—because nobody dies until you are old? Are we middle aged—and so worried about the things and stuff of this world—that we don’t have time to worry about our immortal soul? Because—after all—people our age don’t die either?
“Am I only a God nearby,” declares the LORD, “and not a God far away?” Jesus is everywhere! Do you know where Darfur is—in Sudan? It is a place thousands of miles from here—where people are literally starving to death. Little children are resting on little straw mats—too weak to shoo away the flies that crawl on their faces. Mommies are literally picking leaves off of weeds—to make a kind of salad—no dressing, no cheese, no croutons or bacon bits—just a straw plate of weed leaves. Not even a dusty tin cup of water cool in the shade of a palm tree to drink. Do you know where Chechnya is—in the former Soviet Union? There are men and young boys who come out of coal mines—deep underground—their faces all blackened—their lungs all blackened from the dust they breathe day after day. Chechnya—where little old ladies all stooped—dig potatoes and carry water and work until their back breaks and their hands bleed. Jesus is by them, too. Jesus is by those who are driving convoys down the dusty roads of Iraq—the bottoms of their trucks covered with thick slabs of iron—to try and keep them safe if they run over a roadside bomb. Jesus is there, too. Jesus is with people in rainforests—who look for fruits and vegetables to eat—their little children in danger from poisonous snakes. Jesus is not only physically far from here. Jesus is far far above us when it comes to thinking—planning—understanding—knowing.
“Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?” declares the LORD. There was an art theft the other day in Oslo, Norway. They say this actually happens all the time! There are no less than hundreds of wonderful paints that have been stolen. Hundreds of Rembrandts—hundreds of Chagalls, hundreds of Picassos stolen, missing, hidden. There are 16 Vincent van Gogh paints—a painting of the congregation leaving the Reformed Church in Neunen, a cow lying down; three people standing by a canal with a windmill—a wind beaten tree and a vase of Oleanders. The location of all 16 of these painting is unknown! Unknown that is—to the French Police—unknown to Interpol—unknown to all kinds of people—but not unknown to the LORD. The LORD knows where all of these missing paintings are. The LORD knows who has them and how they got them. The LORD knows when art thieves steal famous paintings—then secretly sell forgeries of these stolen masterpieces to people who think they are buying the original stolen art. How dumb is that? Osama Bin Laden is hiding somewhere. He might be in Pakistan some where. He might be in Afghanistan. He might be in Iraq. Who knows what tent he is sleeping in tonight? Jesus does! Osama Bin Laden might evade capture by earthly authorities until he is 101 years old. He might die in his sleep and his body reduced to ashes that are dumped in some cave in some mountain range where people never find them. But he will not evade the Lord Jesus. He will stand accountable to Jesus for everything he has even done. And so will we! We will see Jesus face to face. We will by grace alone—see him unafraid. We will be safe by Jesus because he washed away all our sins. He washed away every single one. We have nothing to fear from Jesus because he loves us with an unconditional love. His forgiveness is who and complete.
“Do I not
fill Heaven and earth?” declares the LORD. On the news the last couple of nights—they have been talking about the
Olympics—and making comparisons between human athletes and some of the
creatures the LORD made. They talked about Olympic boxers—boxers who wear
helmets to protect their heads—who wear boxing gloves that look like they are
dipped in white paint. They showed this one guy punching another human being
into stunned and dazed near unconsciousness. You have to ask yourself if that
is a truly noble goal—to hit someone so hard—their brain literally sloshes to
the other side of their skull—and they fall helplessly to the floor to the
point that within ten seconds they cannot stand up again. The thing is—they
showed this little shrimp—that has two little arms by it’s little shrimp face.
Two little arms that punch hard enough to crack open the shell of a little
snail. They calculate this little shrimp has a punch nearly equivalent to a .22
caliber pistol. Make that shrimp as big
as a person—and his punch packs the wallop of the big guns on a Navy battle
ship! It is only the LORD—the great I AM—the Holy One of Israel who could
engineer such a creature. Jesus made the sparrows and the lilies of the field.
Only Jesus could make you and me. Only Jesus could redeem us.
While
I was microwaving a cup of coffee the other day—I caught a few minutes of a
game show—where one of the questions was who were Demas and Guestus? Do you
know? Demas and Guestus—died with whom? Died with Julius Caesar? Died with Joan
of Arc? No—these are the traditional names of the two thieves who died with
Jesus on Good Friday—Demas and Guestus. Did you know that? I didn’t! Maybe I
need to get out more—but I had never heard those names before and I don’t know
if they are even right. I know the traditional names of the three Wiseman are Melchior,
Casper and Balthazar—but I don’t know if those names are right either. But
Jesus does. Jesus knows the names of all the Wiseman—if there were two or three
or four or five. Jesus knows the names of their camels—the name of the Inn
Keeper who finally said Mary and Joseph could sleep out in his stable—but they
better not disturb the animals or take any of the tools! Jesus knows all my
sins and all your mistakes. Jesus knows how horrible the flaming lake of fire
in hell really is. Jesus isn’t kidding when God’s Word says one single sin
deserves that forever fire. Jesus is also in deadly earnest when he says I have
redeemed. I have called you by name. You are mine. We are Jesus’ lambs and
sheep. No kidding. Amen!