Tenth Sunday after Trinity
Trinity • Sermon • Submitted
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Greetings my Brothers and Sisters in Christ, we find in our Gospel Lesson and our Old Testament lesson a connection between the Old Testament and the New Testament as Christ laments with Jeremiah that the Temple of the Lord has become a den of robbers, a place that is meant to be holy has become profane, and instead of honoring it as God’s Temple it has been misused and is home to many pagan gods, and this brought not only the prophet Jeremiah to tears, but also our Lord who wept over the city that had forsaken its holy place.
Now in both these times the temple had moved away from the rock solid foundation of God’s Holy Word to the shifting sands of false teaching. The people neglect the Word of God, and not only the people, but the teachers as well. For they are not teaching what God has spoken to the people. You may notice how the Lectionary over these last weeks has been tying these things together talking about the office of Pastor and what they are to do, and then last week as we are to learn from the Old Testament and now Christ quotes the Old Testament in the New Testament.
Now Jeremiah was not well received as a prophet, he was the one who had sent the Word the Lord to the king and the king cut it into pieces, and now here you see that he is crying out to the people, people who are going to the temple of Solomon and saying that anyone who tells you this is the Temple of the Lord is lying. Now for us this is a little hard to wrap our mind around because we don’t have a centralized Church like the Jews had in the temple in Jerusalem.
Why would the Lord send Jeremiah to do this? How bad could it have been that it was no longer the House of the Lord? Look at our old testament lesson and look at that 3rd paragraph.
For he tells us there, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. Which means that they are not teaching the Word of God, but are lying to the people about what God has said, not only that the false prophets are telling the people its ok to steal, to murder, to commit adultery, and lie, in fact they are worshiping other gods in the house of the Lord. To borrow a term from our modern day, we might say, they were very inclusive, they accepted all religions in the temple of the Lord.
What might this look like today? Imagine walking in and seeing mats on the ground for a Yogi teaching his practitioners how to find their personal salvation and unite their soul with the world soul. Next to them were mats laid out facing Mecca so that Muslims could fall down and pray, then you had a statue setup to Baphomet so the satanists could have a place, outside you would a zen meditation garden on the grounds, along with a place for the Buddhists there were some guided meditations to help you practice mindfulness, and some Wicca had setup an altar outside in preparation for their dance to celebrate the goddess, there was of course a bible still there, but it was never taught from or really needed since there were so many other gods that could help you.
In Jesus time the situation might not look quite so bad in terms of Idols in the temple, but they have turned the Temple into a place of Business instead of a house of teaching. Aren’t teaching the faith appropriately but are teaching people that the religion is primarily about their works and not about faith in God’s Word. They had began worship a different, a golden god, mammon by name. But did you notice what Christ did after he drove out the sellers, he sat down to teach every day he was there. That the people might know the Word of God.
Now last week we learned that all of these things are written down for our instruction, that we might learn from those that have gone before us. The Word of God is of great importance, there is nothing else that compares with it. Indeed the Scriptures talk about it as fine gold and there is nothing else more precious than this. The longest Psalm in the entire Bible is dedicated to that very fact that the Word of God is the source of comfort, and life for the believer. Psalm 119 calls the Word a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our path, it guides us and protects us and keeps us safe. For through the Word, God comes to His people, and that is why it is so tragic when the people of God neglect the Word of God for without the Word, you cannot have a temple in Biblical times, and without the word today you cannot have a Church, or even a Christian. The Word of God is what we need on a Sunday morning.
That is why in our Church you will find that we are focused on the Word of God. It serves as the foundation for everything we do on a Sunday Morning. When I say in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, those are the Words that God joined with water and applied to you, that you may be saved. It is a reminder at the very start of the Church Service that is who God said you are, you are God’s child. We then read the Word of God responsively back and forth trusting that the Holy Spirit that inspired that Word still works through that Word to sustain faith in you.
For the Word is God-Spirited and it accomplishes the purposes for which it is sent forth, for faith comes by hearing and hearing through the Word of Christ. That is why Jesus went into the temple and sat down and took the time to teach the Word to the people. Think about how important the Word of God must be, that Jesus the Son of God who could raise the dead, feed thousands, heal sickness and cast out demons, and instead Jesus spent so much time teaching the Word. For as Peter says, He has the Words of Eternal life. Then should God’s people know them? Should we love them? Should we cherish them? Indeed are the most precious treasure that we have.
That is why God sent Jeremiah to temple to call them back, it is why Jesus wept over Jerusalem, for when the people of God don’t know God’s word it grieves God, for God gave you the Word of God that you may have life. If that is why God has given to you his divine and holy Word, then we should read, mark, learn and inwardly digest it.
So when you are here on a Sunday morning, don’t just do it mechanically don’t think of it as just something you supposed to do, so hear the Word, take it to heart, treasure it, learn it, and carry it with you for the entire week, that you may know who your God is. What He has done for you, so that you may not perish.
Now there will come temptations to move you away from the Word. The Israelites didn’t start off by setting up a statue to false gods. The Pharisees didn’t just show up one day. It happens when the people of God neglect the Word of God and do not know God’s Word. When you rely on your own minds and thoughts, on your the feelings of the heart, or that they focus on the power of a person’s will. Instead of caring about the Word. That is how it got so bad, they no longer paid attention to the Word of God.
We see this still happen today, do we love the Word of God? Is it our treasure? Or are we satisfied with the bare minimum? Do we as a congregation know and love the 10 Commandments? Jesus says, where your treasure is there your heart will be also. Is the Word your treasure? Or is there something that you love more that gets in the way of Church, Devotions, and Bible Study? It isn’t often that one big thing gets in the way, but a lot of little things add up so that we just don’t have time. Don’t let that happen, that’s how we end up abandoning the Word.
Rather look here and see that Jesus found this to be so valuable that instead of performing miracles, he sat down to teach, and if that what your God and Lord sees as most valuable you should too.
My Brothers and sisters in Christ may we learn from the Scriptures, to see the dangers that are before us, and may the Holy Spirit work through this Word to create a love for God’s Word in our hearts, that we may not just go through the motions, but come to Church with great joy for here we get to gather together as the Body of Christ and hear the Words that give eternal life. In Jesus name. Amen.