Sermon text:
Knowing what is wrong in any given situation is usually more
than half the battle. If you know what is wrong you can efficiently go about
fixing it.
For example, ever since we moved into our house we would
occasionally hear mice running around in the attic. We’ve dealt with it over
the years by throwing some mice poison up there. Usually after a day or two we
wouldn’t hear the mice anymore. But then, after some time passed, they’d come
back again. Obviously they were getting in somewhere. Over the years I’ve tried
to think about where they might be getting in, but all the holes I plugged
weren’t it.
This summer I’m replacing the siding on my house. This past
week when I pulled some of the old siding off, I could plainly see where they
were getting in. Without pulling off the old siding, I never would have been
able to find the route they were using to get into the attic. Now that I know
what is wrong, it is easy to fix. In another week or so, the mice won’t be able
to get in anymore. A lot more had to be done in order to find the problem, than
it is to fix it.
This same thing is true in all the different facets of our
lives. Oftentimes, medically, it is crucial to find out exactly what is wrong so
that it can be healed if possible. Or consider the state our society has been
in ever since this virus showed up last year. A great deal of our fear and
consternation has been caused by not knowing exactly what is wrong.
How bad is the virus? What should be done to prevent its
spread? Who is telling the truth? Who is trying to sell ads? Who is buying the
ads? Who is buying the politicians? How should this whole situation be
interpreted? We are not all on the same page. We’re not very tolerant of those who
do not think the same thing as we do. Deep down we all think, “I’m right, and
they are wrong.” What a contentious mess this has created! If we could all know
the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth of what is going on, we’d
be a lot closer to addressing the situation efficiently.
This is also completely applicable to our situation
religiously. Knowing what is wrong is more than half the battle. In my office I
have a copy of a painting of the final judgment. It shows the resurrection of the
dead. The individuals are being weighed, that is to say, judged, and some are
going to the right, escorted by angels into heaven. Others are going to the
left, being dragged into hell by demons. If people are able to acknowledge this
as being true we are well on our way to faith in Christ. If people acknowledge
that they will be judged by their Maker, they will know that things can’t go on
like they have been. They will know what’s wrong.
But as you know full well, this is not the only interpretation
of what our life will come to. Some say that there is no God. Some say that
there is a God, but he doesn’t judge anyone. Some say that there is a judgment,
but we decide what’s right and what’s wrong instead of the Ten Commandments.
There is no agreement about our predicament, thus there is no agreement about
the Savior.
This is true about this great and final judgment. It is also
true of God’s judgments leading up to that time. In our confession of sin in
the divine service we confess that we have sinned against God and therefore
deserve his temporal and eternal punishment. God punishes eternally in hell. He
also punishes temporally, in time, now in this life. Anyone who reads even a
small portion of the Bible knows that this is true. God threatens to punish all
who break his commandments. Therefore we should fear his wrath and not do
anything against them. There are countless examples of God punishing people for
their sins. Obviously this continues into the present time. Floods, fires, diseases
and disasters of every kind are wrought by God, for nothing happens apart from
his will. These scourges most certainly are his punishment for sin. But how do
these things get interpreted?
Most people think the same thing about God’s temporal
punishment as they do about his eternal punishment. That is to say, most people
do not think that God punishes anyone. To provide explanation for these bad
things other gods get appealed to. It’s a matter of luck or fate. This god was
acknowledged even by the pagan Greeks and Romans that we like to look down our
noses at as being so primitive and stupid. Or there is more of na embodied god
who is called in to provide explanation—Mother Nature. She determines the
weather, because, weathermen. Ancient equivalents of this goddess are found all
over the place. Some people in our time have begun to worship her more
formally, much like our ancestors did in the distant past.
But most people don’t think too hard about what happens or
why. The appeal to Mother Nature without knowing what they are really saying. Most
people just kind of float through life. They live how they want. They want good
times. They hope the good times keep rolling, but if they stop, Oh well. Maybe
the sun will come out tomorrow. The Psalms describe us quite well when they say,
“The fool has said in his heart, there is no God.” “There is no fear
of God before his eyes.”
God has spoken to us and caused it to be written down so
that we may correctly interpret our lives. Without God’s Word a person might
interpret life in any number of ways as we’ve already said. With God’s Word we
learn what is right and what is wrong. We learn how God punishes sin and
blesses righteousness. Most importantly we learn how he has intervened in the
midst of our wickedness and revealed God’s righteousness by faith in Christ.
This way we will not continue to go our own way like a horse plunging into
battle. We most certainly would do that without God’s Word and the Holy Spirit
in that Word who converts those whom he has chosen to believe in that Word.
In our Old Testament reading the prophet Jeremiah was
inspired by God to speak God’s own interpretation of these people’s lives. God
says to them that he has been watching them. They have become totally unfeeling.
Though they sin, they do not feel bad. They’ve forgotten how to blush.
Wickedness abounds all around them, but they don’t care. They don’t raise a
fuss. They throw up their hands and say, “What can we do about it?”
Those who are especially responsible for helping the people
to interpret their own lives, the prophet and the priest, are greedy for gain.
The prophet and the priest should teach them what is right and wrong so that
they can fear God’s wrath and turn to him in repentance. But whenever anybody
is called to repentance it angers and annoys them. If people get angered and
annoyed, they might quit putting their money into the offering plate. So the
prophet and the priest say, “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace. The prophet
and the priest shall receive the stricter judgment.
Jeremiah, on the other hand, speaks what God has given him
to speak. He tells the people that God is angry with them. In his anger he is
going to give their wives to other men—the raping and pillaging soldiers that
God is going to bring upon the land. He is going to take away all the property
that they were so hungry and greedy for. They thought that they were going to
be able to keep all the stuff that they had worked so hard for, but who can stand
against God? Their zeal for living a good life is what had prompted them to
despise God in the first place, but now even what they have will be taken away
from them.
And why does God do this? It is not because God is as
unpredictable as the weather. God’s will always remained the same. It was the
people who did not believe him. The people did not like Jeremiah even though he
spoke God’s Word to them. They preferred the gurus who promised them that
things were fine. The good times will keep rolling.
The same thing is true with Jesus. He was hated by the
Jewish leaders because he called them to repentance. Jesus weeps over Jerusalem
in our Gospel reading because he can see God’s fiery wrath that is about to be
unleashed against them. A day is coming when they will be hemmed in on every
side by the Romans so that they resort to eating dead bodies and even their
children. Why? Jesus answers: “They missed the time of their visitation.”
God came to them in Jesus, taught them his will, but for one reason or another
they rejected this interpretation of life and preferred some other.
The wrath of God that is meted out with viruses and famines,
war and bloodshed, sedition and rebellion, and other painful and dramatic
scenes is terrible and terrifying—especially when we imagine that they could
possibly happen to us. But these things can have a silver lining. They might
wake some people up from the dream state they have been in where they are
floating through life not knowing what is going on. When God afflicts you with
his wrath there is nothing better that you can do in response than to turn to
the One who has struck you and seek his forgiveness. Quit living in rebellion
to God’s commandments and start believing his promises, lest something worse
should happen to you.
Because of this silver lining that can accompany these
painful things, these things are not the worst of God’s wrath, even though
these are the things we fear the most. The worst of God’s wrath happens without
many people even realizing it. It certainly doesn’t get reported on in the
news. The worst of God’s wrath is when he takes his Word away from us. God ultimately
says, “Fine, have it your way.” “You don’t want to hear God’s Word? You don’t
want to be corrected for what you do wrong? You don’t care about God’s promises
of salvation? Then you will not have these things. Maybe you will have
gazillions of dollars and party all the way to the grave. Maybe you will be
rich and famous. But you will not know God until it is too late.”
This, the worst of God’s wrath, does not get recognized as
easily as other manifestations of God’s wrath. We have an intense fear of
suffering and death for ourselves and those we love. When God hardens our
already cold heart, it happens without being noticed. We think everything’s
fine. We think there is peace. We might end up persecuting those very
messengers who pronounce God’s judgments and warnings. “They don’t know what
they are talking about… Plus they are divisive and irritating. We’d be better off
without them.” And so it comes to pass that they indeed live without them.
I fear that this is the very thing that we are living
through as a people. The hearts of our people are colder than ice towards God.
Nobody fears his wrath. Few love his promises. We don’t have the strength to
tell people who are living in rebellion against God that they are bringing
disaster upon their own heads. We’re content with people living however they
might see fit.
It would be a good thing if this miserable virus and
everything that has accompanied it were recognized as God’s wrath. The leaders
of our people have let us down. We’ve been led to believe false things—and not
just with this pandemic. For decades, for example, they have been telling us
that our biggest problem is “The economy, stupid.” We have shallowly believed
that so long as we have stuff and more stuff we are making progress. Meanwhile
we have been regressing, terribly, in what we know of God’s will. So long as
people are buying and selling everything must be going fine, they essentially
say.
If you want to be happy, which is to say, blessed, rend your
hearts and not your garments. Turn to the Lord your God. Make confession for
your sins, you parents’ sins, your children’s sins, and your grandchildren’s
sins. Let us put away alternate gods, alternate interpretations of life, and
embrace the interpretation that God teaches us in his Word.
For good reason the Psalmist says, “Your Word is a lamp
unto my feet and a light unto my path.” Without God’s Word we might go
hither and yon, but it is all in darkness and it will end in eternal darkness.
God’s Word leads us to Jesus who is the way, the truth, and the life. He is the
light of the world. He is the living bread that comes down from heaven. He does
not teach or promote wickedness. He forgives sin, and leads us in paths of
righteousness. Knowing what is wrong is over half the battle. When you
understand what is wrong with you and with this world, it is easy and enjoyable
to embrace Jesus as our Savior. He does all things well.
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