Concordia
Lutheran Church....
Pentecost 7,
July 19th, 2009....
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I AM Your Righteousness!!....
Jeremiah 23:1-6....
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† In the Name of Christ, our Righteousness! †....
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Driven Down the Wrong Road ....
Depending
completely on another person….....
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We were searching for our home, and to be honest,
nothing we found looked quite right. It
was almost like Goldilocks – this house was too big, that one, to small. This one to expensive, that one required way
too much work. The real estate agents,
striving to be friends to the new pastor in town and his wife, all promised us
they knew the right place, for the right amount, and none delivered. We almost wondered if our guides knew what a
home was, or if they were listening.
They seemed to, yet what we were led to…. Just never seemed right.....
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One day the futility of the search hit its high
point – or perhaps I should say it couldn’t sink any lower. It was the day after a major torrential
downpour in the mountain… mud covered most of the paved roads, and the roads
that weren’t paved…were treacherous at best.....
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There was this three bedroom, two bath
manufactured home, just a couple of years old – that the agent desperately
wanted to show us – and it was on Dusty Road – which should have been my first
warning! Never did like the word,
whether used as my nickname, or when discussing allergies. The agent drove a four wheel drive Subaru wagon,
which we decided to take - and since it
was going to be a quick stop – none of us bothered to use the restroom where we
met for lunch and we all had large ice teas!
Another warning shot through my mind, as I took the water pill I have
taken every other day for ten years.....
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As the agent pulled off the highway, onto the
road, ahead was some mud, with fairly deep ruts. As I tried to suggest that we look for an
alternate route, she said – we can make this – the car is light – and gunned
the engine and the car almost made it….when it began to sink into the mud….and
I do mean sink. The mud was about 5
inches below the bottom of the windows, we couldn’t open the windows, and we
all realized quickly that we should have used the restroom!....
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After about forty five minutes, a man with a very
big pickup drove by. He grabbed some
canvas straps from his truck, shoveled the mud and muck away enough to attach
the straps to bumper, and rescued those unable to help themselves. ....
As I read this passage about Jeremiah, that day
came to mind quickly, for our guide not only didn’t help us find home, but
instead led us into a situation where any hope of getting out of it, would take
a miracle, and the help of another… ....
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The Israelites up to their mufflers in mud and
more....
Their
Leaders running them down that path....
Sin,
Idolatry, self-idolatry.....
The
Nature of Sin - ....
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Compared to our Israel, our agent’s – we did buy a
house from her – but not that house,
was spotless, and she was the perfect guide. By the time Jeremiah gets to
chapter 23, the last three Kings over Judah had reigned, and scripture will
decry their reigns with the phrase, “the did what was evil in the sight of the
Lord”. Warning after warning was
ignored, as God sent prophets to the Kings, and to the leaders and priests of
Israel. This section of Jeremiah is the discourse, right before the destruction
of Jerusalem. Here is the description of
the last king’s reign, found in 2Ch 36:11
(ESV) ....
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Zedekiah
was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in
Jerusalem. 12 He did what was evil in the
sight of the Lord his God. He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet,
who spoke from the mouth of the Lord. 13 He
also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God. He
stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the Lord, the God
of Israel. 14 All the officers of the priests
and the people likewise were exceedingly unfaithful, following all the
abominations of the nations. And they polluted the house of the Lord that he
had made holy in Jerusalem. ....
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Talk about a mess – the very temple where Solomon
prayed before all Israel was desecrated, not by the work of heathens, but by
the people who were supposed to see that Temple as a place where they could go,
and pray, and when they prayed, know their sins were forgiven. The place
that He has set apart for fellowship, the place where He made known that Israel
was the nation He chose to demonstrate His love for world through, it was their
work, led by their kings, and priests.....
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No wonder Jeremiah describes their work as
shepherds who scatter and destroy the sheep.
Pastures are supposed to be places of rest, where you ate that which was
needed, and where you found peace. All
this destroyed, by kings and priests who did not guide God’s people into His
presence, but away from it.....
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Righteousness discarded for sin was more
convenient. God’s way tossed aside in
favor of that which was popular and pleasure-filled. Worship of God replaced by self worship and
chasing after self-fulfillment. And what
is worse, is that the leaders who were supposed to point people to God, didn’t. They could be described well, in the words of
Paul, found in Romans 1....
Their
lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder,
quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. 30
They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful.
They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. 31 They refuse to understand, break their promises,
are heartless, and have no mercy. 32 They know
God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they
do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too. Ro 1:29 (NLT)
Get the last part, 32 They know God’s
justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do
them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too!....
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That’s
the kind of leaders that Jeremiah observed, who shepherded people away from the
rest, away from reconciliation that God had promised them. And the people followed, happily ignoring
that which God had given them….....
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The Challenge....
Getting out of the mud....
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If you skim the television channels, your see
people stuck in the mud continually. Occasionally,
you may come across a program that talk of people trying to get out of the
muck. We love the movies where somehow,
against all the odds, the leading characters get themselves out of the trouble
they find themselves in, usually by using their brains more than their brawn.....
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Yet in real life, that doesn’t happen. Sin is all pervasive, it sucks us down into
it, and gets into all the hidden parts of our lives. Like the Subaru we were in, you can’t open
the doors and get out, you are stuck.
Eventually it sucks the life out of a person, leaving them hollow and
empty, and often hopeless. Or they
become numb to their situation, and perhaps even create the illusion that they
can get out anytime they want. Turn up
the radio some more. Let’s take a
moment, and if we read something really touching, the mud will dry up and we
can drive out.....
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In the meantime – don’t worry about the pressure
on your bladders – that too will take care of itself!....
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The Rescuer....
Has everything – ....
Not stuck in the mud....
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As
we are stuck in the mud of our lives, a passerby comes along- with all the
right tools. ....
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First
– he isn’t in the mud. Sin is not
dominant in His life, in fact, it is as alien to his character as it is norm of
the world. In order to rescue us, this
must be true – he must be a shepherd of righteousness and holiness! Jesus is just that person!....
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Second
– he has to be willing to come down into the mud. The guy who rescued us that day, got out of
his nice clean white truck, grabbed a shovel, walked into the mud, and dug at
the back of the car, until he found a play to attach the straps . Imagine
leaving heaven behind, with all its purity, with all of its perfection, where
the angels are there worshipping at your feet. Jesus left all that, to come down here and
rescue us. It wasn’t a holiday, or a
vacation, but a rescue mission. He came
down and dwelt among the descendants whose sin was so dominant that they
defiled God’s temple, and people then were not any better. But that’s God’s Son
for you.....
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Third
– the power has to be there. The guy who
rescued us in the Subaru had a truck with more horsepower than was needed to
break the suction of the mud, and haul us out of the pit we had created. Jeremiah describes Jesus coming in this
manner.....
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. 5 “Behold, the days are coming,
declares the Lord, when I will
raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal
wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6 In
his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the
name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord
is our righteousness.....
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His
righteousness and justice demanded action – either condemn us, or rescue and
cleanse us. For sin must be paid for,
God’s wrath must be taken, and in the death of Christ, all of the wrath was
poured out on Christ. But even death
could not stop Jesus – getting in all
the mud, couldn’t affect it.
He rose from the dead – righteous, holy and righteous. He is the shepherd who will bring us to
fields of rest and of plenty. In
delivering us, and cleansing us in baptism, His work is so complete that when
we stand before the judgment throne, there will not be a fleck of mud, or a bit
of dust – we shall be standing cleansed. Safe, secure, out of the mud and
standing on firm solid ground.....
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Standing
safe, and delivered, we are able to be used to rescue others. It is not our work, it is not our purity or
cleanliness that saves them, But we can call on God, and tell them of His
rescue, and encourage them to trust in Him, more than they trust in themselves,
or their bladders. ....
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That
they too, would come to know the peace that comes from being cleansed of all
sin, the peace of being guided through life by the shepherd. That they may know
the incredible peace of God that passes all understanding, and guards our
hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
AMEN?....