Jeremiah 7:1-11
It is important to be in the Lord’s house on the Lord’s Day. It so important that it’s one of the Ten Commandments: Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Luther’s Small Catechism explains it this way: “We should fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and his Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.”
God wants us to be in worship and Bible study on the Lord’s Day to receive Christ’s gifts of forgiveness and the strengthening of the Spirit. But as I always remind our confirmation students, it’s not just our presence that God wants-- but our thoughtful worship. Hearing God’s Word means taking it to heart. Learning God’s Word means putting it into practice in our lives.
I am so thankful to God for everyone present here today-but we ought to be aware that the devil and our flesh can misuse this sacred time in God’s house by turning it into an outward act that has no real connection to our lives in the week to come-- because we do not take to heart what we hear or put it into practice in our lives.
That’s what happened to the people in Jeremiah’s day. They kept the outward form of worship but they never let it change their lives. They still did, and said, the right “religious” things. But God’s word had absolutely no influence on their lives—they went on living in unbelief just like they had before- with no improvement of life.
God intends for his words of law and gospel to change us—to deepen our faith and influence our decisions and to lead us in his ways. Our lives ought to be different in this new week because of what we have heard today from God today. The Bible says:
The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Stand in the gate of the Lord's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the Lord.
When we come into the Lord’s house, what we ought to expect to hear—what we ought to demand to hear --is the Word of the Lord! Not a stringed-together series of amusing anecdotes. Not what the pastor thinks about politics or current events. Not some self-help pep talk. But we ought to hear God’s word of law that condemns our sin and his word of gospel that forgives our sins in Jesus.
God has given to pastors what he wants preached-- and that is his written Word-- and you should not listen to any man who comes in the name of the Lord bringing anything else other than God’s Word. BUT-- when the Word of God is preached-- you ought to receive it for what it is: nothing less than the Lord’s Word to you.
When you walk into this place for worship you ought to have an expectancy that the one true and living God of the universe has something that he wants you to know—that he wants to change the way you live and deepen your faith in Jesus and guide your life by his Spirit. He certainly wanted that for the people of Jeremiah’s day.
Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place.
These words were spoken by God through Jeremiah at a particularly dark moment in Judah’s history as the temporal judgment of God was about to befall them. But even in that late hour-- it was not too late. There was still time for them to hear the Lord and take his words to heart and put them into action in their lives before they were carried off into exile.
Specifically, God wanted them to amend their ways and deeds. In other words, change how they were living—renew their faith in him—and commit to doing things differently in the future. God wants the same for us.
And so let me just ask you in all honesty, when was the last time you heard something in church or in Bible study and you said to yourself, “You know, I’m wrong in this. I’ve done the wrong thing. I’ve said the wrong thing. This part of my life isn’t right”. And you told the Lord you were sorry and asked for his forgiveness.
But you left the Lord’s house and did not do one concrete thing to change the situation or make it right-- and your life was not one bit different than it was before? Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your deeds!
In other words: be reconciled to that person you are at odds with! Stop petting those pet sins! Change the way you treat the people in your marriage and family and church! Amend your ways and your deeds while there is still an opportunity and do not think for an instance that merely being present in the Lord’s house is a substitute for a living faith and a changed life. Jeremiah told the people of that day and us too:
Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’
So what did Jeremiah mean by this, that these were deceptive words? After all, they WERE in the temple of the Lord! How could they be deceived about that? What he meant was that the people were deceiving themselves with these words, thinking that they promised something that they didn’t.
About 150 years before, the northern kingdom experienced the judgment of God at the hands of the Assyrians. They suffered God’s righteous wrath for all the years they had worshipped false gods in pagan places when the true temple and the true worship of the true God was in Jerusalem.
When Jeremiah spoke these words, the people of Judah were still worshiping in the temple. They were still offering up the sacrifices. They were still going through the motions of worship. Outwardly, it looked like things were fine.
But when Jeremiah came to them with God’s Word, warning them of judgment to come, calling them to amend their lives before it was too late—they turned a deaf ear to what God had to say and went on as before, denying that they even needed a savior.
You see, alongside of Jeremiah there were false prophets who told them they had nothing to be afraid of—that Jeremiah was just a fear-monger—the God would never think about letting anything happen to his temple-- and so long as they were saying the right words and doing the right things in worship-- they had nothing to fear.
But they were deceived-and there is no deception as dangerous to our souls as a religious deception-- for it blinds us to the truth about ourselves and the truth about God!
We have a beautiful sanctuary. The creeds and confessions of our church are faithful and true. We have worship services that are dignified and God-glorifying.
But they have a purpose beyond this time and place of worship: that you would repent of your sins and trust in Jesus and amend your ways and your deeds.
And if you tell yourself that it is plenty good enough that you have come to church—that God ought to be satisfied with your standing and sitting and bowing—you are in a particularly dangerous place spiritually because what God really wants is to change your life beyond this hour—for time and eternity. The Bible says:
“If you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another, if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever.
When we are truly sorry for our sins- and when we truly believe in Jesus -our lives will be different. Not perfect—but better. Not without sin—but always hating sin and desiring to be done with it. Striving to love God and man as the law demands.
Our faith in Jesus is not some set of theological propositions we try to keep straight in our heads—it has an impact on every facet of our lives—on our life with others and on our life with God. And so what does that mean for you this week?
Amendment of your ways and your deeds means that, when it comes to your life with others, you will make a real, concrete effort to do what you know is right from God’s Word. Anger and lust and coveting and gossiping will be taken to the cross and left behind, washed away in the blood of Jesus.
Amendment of life means that, when it comes to our relationship with God, we will make a real effort this week to be faithful in our prayers and bible-reading—that we will turn aside from occasions for sin and walk by the Spirit. It means that we will stop misusing God’s name and stop worrying--that we will rest in the forgiveness of Christ.
When it comes to amending our ways and our deeds we must resist the temptation so say: it’s too late to change now. It’s not! No more than it was for the Israelites.
This is a day of God’s grace—a day that he has given for us to hear that Jesus forgives us and that the Spirit will help us—that so long as we are living and breathing God will keep his promise to bless us and forgive us and change our lives for time and eternity. Sadly, the people of Jeremiah’s day refused God’s salvation and turned a deaf ear to his call for repentance. He told them:
“Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—only to go on doing all these abominations? Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the Lord.
They did the very opposite of what God asked of them. They mistreated their fellow man and they abandoned the Lord for false gods. The regarded the Lord’s house as a lucky rabbit’s foot that would keep them safe-- rather than the place to hear the voice of God calling them to heartfelt repentance and faith. The way they lived- and the way they worshipped- revealed that they really had no faith at all.
They were going through the motions of worship—but God saw directly into their hearts. The temple that had been set apart for the worship of the true God (to hear his voice and receive his forgiveness) had become a den of robbers—not because God was not present there with his gifts of forgiveness-- but because the people had no faith to recognize him there.
This place too—this sanctuary at 10th and Doddridge-- is set apart for the worship of the true God—to hear his Word and receive the forgiveness that Jesus Christ won for us on the cross—to be renewed in the power of the Holy Spirit through Word and Sacrament so that we can amend our lives. God is here with the gracious gifts of forgiveness and life he gives in Jesus Christ.
What about us? We must not think that we are magically immune from sins and failures of God’s ancient people --for we are not. We need the deliverance from sin and death God has given in Jesus just like they did-- and God’s call through the prophet to amend our ways and our deeds is spoken to us too!
And so I pray that, as we hear and learn God’s Word this Lord’s Day, we would take it to heart and put it into practice in our lives. Amen.
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