Sermon in Rockford 16.10.2016

And at the beginning of this evening's services, let us join our hearts together in opening prayer.

Dear Heavenly Father, this evening as we have gathered together around your holy word, we wish to ask that you would be present with us through the Spirit, that you could guide our thoughts and minds, you could open your weak servant's mouth, that you could fill it with your goodness. Allow each of us to be comforted in faith. Allow each of us to again take footsteps along the pathway of faith. Guide each of us towards heaven's home. This we ask, dear Father, in your Son's name, in Jesus' name, Amen.

One of the Old Testament texts for this Sunday is found in the third chapter of Jeremiah. I will read verses 12 through 15 in Jesus' name.

Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord. And I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you. For I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger forever. Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to strangers under every green tree. And ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the Lord. Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord. For I am married unto you, and I will take you, one of a city and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion. And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. Amen.

Amen.

This part of God's Word tells us, as we heard this morning, about times of Reformation. We heard already through our dear brother this morning about Luther's time. We won't begin to recall any of that time but other than to say this: that it seems like these times are given by God. They're according to His will and they are above our understanding, above our reason. They perhaps don't even make sense to us in some senses, other than the fact that God in His Word has told us that these things will happen.

And when I've looked at some of these times, some of these eras have been given names, and for those of us that belong to God's kingdom, we've known some of those names. For instance, as we heard this morning, the Lutheran Reformation. In some sense it feels like a nice name. We've heard the times of awakening at the beginning of Lestadius's or the beginning of this era during the time of Lestadius. And so that name has come upon God's children as well.

It seems to me that when we think about this from a little broader perspective though, what is really at its core is actually heresy. And some of these times have been such big times that we've seen names attached to that time. For instance, when the Reformation occurred during Luther's time. God's Word tells us that heresies will be among us. It's that sure. And if God's Word tells us that that's what will happen, then it's safe to say that it will happen. And we can recall throughout history again and again, even through reading God's Word, that it has happened and it continually happened.

In this text, it tells us about that time period in the history of the children of Israel when they were separated into two countries, the north and the south, into Israel and Judah. And as we read this text, it would seem to me that it explains to us how this text speaks to the time when they were still all believers. Sure, they were separated in different countries or different governments lands, but nevertheless God in his far-reaching understanding looks beyond borders of this time and sees his own children wherever they may be.

But in this text, it tells us that something had happened amongst the believers and it seemed like it had affected in this way that those who had lived in the north country in Israel had begun to draw away from those who lived in Judah, and that didn't leave those children of Israel and Judah unscathed. They had also begun to follow after ways that were not according to God's word, for here it says in previous verses about this treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart. So both of these groups of believers, they were living in a time of battle. They were falling after ways of this world.

And if we look at what Jeremiah says even further before this, it speaks to Israel committing adultery, which I would say is this: that they had begun to follow other gods, other ways to believe. They had fallen away from God. When we think of God's kingdom from that perspective, that the kingdom of God is the mother and God is the father, when that group begins to follow another god or another father, it is spiritual adultery.

And so there's groups of people in both countries that had begun to stray, and it says that they committed adultery, spiritual adultery. And what's interesting about this is that those who were in Judah had been given this task to speak to those in Israel, but yet God in his wisdom says that Israel has justified herself more than treacherous Judah. So that flock that was in Judah was perhaps more at fault, if you're going to start laying fault on someone on the things that they had done.

But God had given them the task, those believers in Judah, the task to speak to those in Israel. God has ways to do things that we don't understand and they're beyond our comprehension, but it pays for us to remember though that it's his guidance, it's his will even in the middle of times when there's misunderstandings and struggles.

It's important that we all remember that God guides his own and he leads his people in ways that we don't understand. It actually gives a feeling of safety, a feeling of security to know how it might feel uncomfortable to us or different, but it can be led by God that way.

So these believers in Judah were asked to go and proclaim these words to the north, to Israel: Return thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord, and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you, for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger forever.

It's in this day and age something different that's found in God's word than what many around us believe. We are told that God is love. In fact, that is the case, but yet in scriptures it tells us about God who even in his love can be angry, can be jealous. He wants his children to follow him. He doesn't want any of us to fall astray, to begin to follow other ways, other doctrines, and he can become angry. He is not always filled with what we might look at as love; it might be as anger.

I don't have wisdom to explain those times very well, and I would just say that this text speaks to more than that. It actually speaks to the other side of this picture, that even though God can be angry and even though he is a jealous God and wants us to follow him and not other gods, it speaks to us about the love that he has towards fallen sinners, the love that he has towards even those believers who appear to be being led astray.

He wants them to know this first and foremost: that I am a merciful God and I will not keep anger forever. Isn't it good to begin any kind of discussion that way, to first and foremost know that God is a merciful God? And isn't it good to approach even our fallen brothers and sisters with that type of mind, that God is a merciful God? It's a starting point which we ought to always begin our discussions with: I am a merciful God and I will not keep anger forever.

So that's how God asked these children of Judah to approach the children of Israel. So he will not keep his anger forever, but then he explains why he won't be angry or how that is accomplished, that he won't be angry. He says, Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God. Acknowledge thy iniquity.

It's not a matter of trying to figure out how sorrowful we are. We've spoken a lot these days about penitence, and it seems to me that there's many that have had discussions about that penitence being this: that we feel sorrow over our sin. And we don't want to judge someone's penitence, how sorrowful they are. That's not according to God's word.

God in his word does tell us that we must acknowledge our iniquity. That's different than penitence. In fact, it seems almost like emotionless to first say what our iniquity is. Penitence is that we're sorrowful for that sin. It seems to me when those two come together, that first we know our iniquities and we acknowledge them, and we are penitent.

Then doesn't it seem logical that we, according to God's word, put sin away? As it attaches here, the believers there in Israel were being rebuked. They were being told to acknowledge their iniquity. They were still considered believers, and it seems to me as if they would have died at that point, they would have gone to heaven.

But God wishes to draw them back before they leave, before they depart from God's kingdom. He wants to draw them back to his love, wants to cause them to be obedient to his word again. They had begun to scatter to the ways, as it says here, to the strangers under every green tree.

I don't know if this is what this part of God's word means, but what it has caused me to think of is this: that we believe that the kingdom of God is like that vine, the true vine of which Jesus Christ is that main trunk, and there is only life found through him. It's the only living vine, and if we're not part of that true vine, then we're not in a living vine.

So what could these other green trees be that they've gathered under? And perhaps this doesn't even mean this spiritual vine tree of which this speaks of, but perhaps it is a reflection of this: that when we think with our own reason and understanding about matters of faith, we might see in other places and other speeches a green tree, something valuable for our lives of faith.

Is it really truly that true vine that we're trying to attach ourselves to? It might appear to be something that according to our reason and our own blindness has led us to believe is this green tree. God's word says that there's strangers. Has scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, to foreign understanding, to foreign thoughts. You have not obeyed my voice, saith the Lord.

Isn't that what spiritual adultery is? That we begin to find different understandings from different men. If we don't believe what another believer has said, we seek for a better understanding, a new way.

Another text for this Sunday is found in the book of Isaiah in the 33rd chapter, and it tells us about kind of a similar thing but uses a different picture. It talks about Zion or God's kingdom. It says that look at Jerusalem. It says Jerusalem is a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down.

So I picture in my mind this tent, and it has stakes that hold it so it can't be moved. Here it says that not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken.

And maybe it's just my simple understanding, but I look at it this way: that this tent that it speaks of is God's kingdom, and these stakes that are holding it up, it says another part of God's word that the foundation which has been placed upon the apostles and the prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone.

But wouldn't these stakes be those, the apostles and the prophets? It holds this tabernacle up, perhaps that center post of that tent being Jesus Christ shall never be removed.

If someone tells you, dear brother or sister, that one of these stakes needs to be moved, God in his word reaffirms over and over again that his word is unchanging. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The foundation has always been the same.

If we're trying to find a different foundation, a different understanding, we're basing our lives of faith on something else that is not based on God and his word. Perhaps we're trying to even make a new tent, put new stakes in it.

It says thereof shall ever be removed, none shall be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken. That's the kind of kingdom that God has, and isn't it good to live in that kind of kingdom where we don't have to ever begin to create new foundations, begin to create new understandings? It's always the same.

Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God and hast scattered thy ways to strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the Lord.

That's the message that always sounds forth from God's kingdom when there are different understandings being bandied about within its walls. God wishes that all of us base our faith upon the same foundation, but in his love he wishes to call us again to that foundation, to set our feet upon that.

His word is a calling word, and it asks us to think within our own minds that have we begun to base our understanding upon something which is not according to God's word, perhaps is based upon some man's understanding.

If that's the case, this part of God's word, as it did in the Old Testament time, is a calling word, and it asks us to acknowledge our iniquity, that we have begun to not obey his voice.

It says, Turn, O backsliding children, say to the Lord, for I married unto you. He is our father. He is our, as it tells us in a different way, that we are like the bride of Christ, Christ being the groom, and he wishes to take care of his bride.

It's not any different as in our own families that we wish to take care of one another, and God wishes to take care of his own children as a father would their own children.

He says, I will take you one of a city and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion. One for the hero, for the people who are so many times we fear and doubt and wonder about numbers, about how many of God's children there are. Are there just so few?

And again, God in his word wishes to explain to us what he has in his infinite will done. The fall of those people in Israel must have been great that God knew they wouldn't return, but he still had such great love that he calls them, and he affirms to them or tells them that, you know, there's not going to be many of them that hear his voice.

I will take you one of a city and two of a family, or in other translations it says something to this effect that I will choose one from a town and two from a family, or in another word to say that from the multitudes it seems like so few are chosen. Many are called but few are chosen.

That's the danger, to begin finding our own understandings to base our salvation upon something that isn't according to God's word, that we try to find something that seems easier than what God in his word has set.

Many are called but few are chosen. I'll take you one from the city, maybe two from a family, for his grace of grace that he says I will bring you to Zion.

There's so many of you in our midst who can relate their own psalm how God has called them and brought them to Zion, but doesn't it also sometimes bring fear to our minds and thoughts that what about me? Will I be one of those left there in the city?

When God calls some to Zion, God in his love is merciful to those who are obedient in faith. He wants to show his mercy. He wants to offer his forgiveness and peace. He wants to bring them back.

Jesus in the New Testament gives us another example of the same thought. A place spoke the parable about the shepherd who had those hundred sheep, and the one was lost, and he left the ninety-nine and went to look for the one.

One of our songs of Zion says something to this effect that when he finds that one, he lifts them to his shoulder and he carries them home.

One of the other songs of Zion relate how that feels to that one who comprehends God's grace that way. If I can find that quickly in song number 115, it speaks as if like psalm of one who has received the grace of repentance.

It says, I recall the day of rapture when the son of God drew nigh. It's almost like it's the one sheep who was astray, what he felt like when he was found.

I recall the day of rapture when the son of God drew nigh to a wretch condemned to die. He came to my lonely prison, lifted me to be his own, gave me family and a home.

How many a child of God has felt that wonderful grace of the collar, that from the midst of the world God found them and brought them home, brought them to God's kingdom, to a place where they didn't need to fear any longer or worry over sins.

When I heard him, I was joyful and no more of death afraid, since I knew my debts were paid. He forgave ten thousand talents, he remitted all my sin, gave me endless life with him.

That's what it feels like to be brought to Zion. Isn't it a good place to live within the walls of God's kingdom?

The other Old Testament writer speaks about that, how when he beholds the city of Jerusalem, God's kingdom, he sees there where the children run and play in the streets.

Isn't that a remarkable thing to think about when we think of God's kingdom, the kingdom of children? That's reaffirmed over and over again throughout God's word.

It was quite astonishing to me as a youth once I was playing volleyball there at the churchyard in Cocado, and as you know, older ones, I sure remember that we, our church, we shared our driveway with the parsonage of the church next door.

And so there we were playing volleyball. There's probably, I don't know, 30 of us kids, and this car came up the drive, and it was the neighbor church pastor, and he stopped his car and he got out and he stood by the car for a short while.

And then he said this: he says, Your church has a future. That's what he wanted to let us know. It was a good message for youth.

When you look around and see your friends in faith, we have a future in God's kingdom.

When you go to half your youth, look around you, pay attention to whom your friends are. It won't be very long when the person sitting next to you at half is the next board member, the next servant of the word, the next person with responsibility in God's kingdom.

Look at them from that perspective, that they're your escorts along the way of faith. They're not just someone to have an enjoyable evening with, even though that of course is one of the goals, I would say, of going to half, that we can enjoy the fellowship of the believers.

But it really won't be that long.

I remember my own confirmation back in 1986. The years have gone by. I remember that lesson when they were explaining the organization of our congregations, and with a very matter-of-fact way of teaching, they explained how we were organized temporally.

But that's not what they really wanted to teach. What they wanted to teach with that lesson was this: that when you're here at confirmation, pay attention, because it won't be long before you will be a Bible class leader, a Sunday school teacher, servant of the word.

I would say tonight, dear youth, as you sit here, I'm sure you've heard the discussions throughout these days, and perhaps you wondered what they mean to you and in your growing up years, coming of age.

I'd like to give you that same lesson: pay attention when you're at church, pay attention when you're at Bible class, pay attention when you're at half. Listen to each other, speak to each other, and care for each other.

They're important lessons to learn because that's who you'll be discussing with when there's issues that arise.

We're all humans and we can all make mistakes and we can all err, and it happens over and over and over again. It's a daily struggle.

It actually makes the discussion different when it's not just some other person that you don't know. Discussion is different when it's your dear brother or sister in faith, someone you've walked with along the pathway of faith with for so many years.

I remember a time, an event that I was at as a youth. It was a longer type event, and some of the people that were involved as the heads for that event were one was a couple. The man was the director and his wife was a teacher.

And after a while, after some discussion with some of the youth, became very distraught. They were being placed almost into a box that they couldn't get out of by the teacher, and so they requested a discussion.

I'll never forget that discussion because I was taught something there by that man. He listened as youth after youth explained what his wife had taught, what she had told them or requested of them.

He didn't say a word until the end, after all the kids had a chance to speak their psalm.

And in the discussion that we heard between that husband and wife is what I would wish that each one of us has for each other as brothers and sisters in faith, that we could learn each other from the heart this well, that we could approach them this way.

He said, My dear wife, you know that I love you with all my heart. It's difficult to say that you fallen and need to walk the footsteps of repentance.

It's a lot different, isn't it, dear brothers and sisters, if we approach someone as a dear brother and sister in faith.

Then if someone I didn't know was asked to go and tell them their sin, that, yeah, I don't know, don't know you, and I don't know what you've done, but I've been told that you've done this, and yeah, you need to repent of that.

How can we speak to a brother, sister in faith that way? How have the relationships gone if that's the case?

Can't we make those kinds of relationships with our brothers and sisters that in love and truth we care for one another? Let the chips fall where they are. They are what they are.

We are humans and we make mistakes. We are sinners through and through, but it's grace of grace that even as sinners we can believe.

And so these discussions then become ways where we can remove obstacles that are placed in front of our brothers and sisters. It's not a way that we're trying to make someone a better Christian, but we want all of us to make it to heaven, that not one would be lost.

Isn't that all of our desire, that all of us would make it to heaven? Isn't that a good goal?

In some discussions that I've had, I've come to that conclusion that it really doesn't matter what I think. What matters is that what I think is based and founded on God's word, is based and founded upon the spirit which speaks in the kingdom of God, is based and founded upon obedience to God and his word.

And if that's the case, then I could find myself in the place of what it says here in this last verse: I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

It's a difficult place to put myself when I think of it just in that verse, but look at it this way, dear brothers and sisters.

What God and his word tells us, there are men in scriptures which it says he's a man after mine own heart, King David. He was a man after God's heart. He was an erring and sinful man, fell into grievous sins, but in the end he was humble and was penitent and wanted to be obedient to God and his word, and God was gracious to him.

Isn't that a good place to be? As sinners, we find ourselves as believers, as righteous, as people after God's heart.

That's all the knowledge and understanding that we need, isn't it? That in spite of ourselves, we can still be a believer.

In spite of our sins, in spite of our faults and shortcomings, we can still be a believer today, just as we find ourselves tonight, dear brothers and sisters.

We can believe very assuredly that all of your sins and faults are forgiven in Jesus' name and precious blood. It can be that sure.

You don't need to believe the voice of the enemy. Even you don't need to believe your own thoughts or understandings, am I on the way?

But as you believe that tonight, dear brothers and sisters, you can believe yourself heaven acceptable, that God in his eternal wisdom sees you as one of his children in his kingdom of children.

That's where I want to find myself as well, in the kingdom of children.

Can I still believe my many faults and sins forgiven? I want to believe together with you.

Let's make those new promises to help one another, to care for one another. Let's make new promises that will speak to each other and help each other make it to heaven.

May God give us his grace that we could with the mind of Christ think about these matters that perhaps trouble us in our day, and that he would give us patient and long-suffering minds towards one another, and that he would lead us all safely home to heaven's home in Jesus' name.

Amen.

The Lord bless us and keep us. The Lord make his face shine upon us and be gracious unto us. The Lord lift up his countenance upon us and give us peace.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. Amen.