Jeremiah 23:23-29  23 Am I a God near by, says the LORD, and not a God far off?  24 Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them? says the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the LORD.  25 I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, "I have dreamed, I have dreamed!"  26 How long? Will the hearts of the prophets ever turn back-- those who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart?  27 They plan to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell one another, just as their ancestors forgot my name for Baal.  28 Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let the one who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? says the LORD.  29 Is not my word like fire, says the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?

 

Hebrews 11:29 - 12:2  29 By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, but when the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned.  30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for seven days.  31 By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had received the spies in peace.  32 And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets--  33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions,  34 quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.  35 Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection.  36 Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.  37 They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented--  38 of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.  39 Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised,  40 since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect.  NRS Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us,  2 looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

 

Luke 12:49-56  49 "I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!  50 I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed!  51 Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!  52 From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three;  53 they will be divided: father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."  54 He also said to the crowds, "When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, 'It is going to rain'; and so it happens.  55 And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, 'There will be scorching heat'; and it happens.  56 You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?

Text: Luke 12:49-56

Theme: Unity in Christ

Date: 8.19.2007

Assembly: Zion Lutheran Church

 

Not quite the verses you’re going to quote in your next wedding card

or expect to find on a magnet and stick to your fridge…

 

These verses are shocking

We wonder how to explain them…away

These verses speak of divisions in our families

            And Jesus claims to be the cause.

                        When is Jesus the cause of division in families?

 

“50 I have a baptism with which to be baptized,

and what stress I am under until it is completed!”

Jesus is agonizing over getting people baptized

            As though, were it “completed”

                        The situation would no longer be there

           

            Implying that divisions

                        In what many of us hold so dear—family

                        Come when we don’t agree on what is ultimate

                                    such as what baptism marks

                                                --belief in God.

 

So, it’s not that these verses are against family

…Rather, These verses give voice

to just how hard we will have to work

to keep united

…these verses give voice to the realities of division when we are not together

on that which is even more important than family—Jesus

So, maybe, after all, these are paradoxically perfect verses for newlyweds

…you’ve just been united in Christ

…stick to that, work ever toward that 

for if you let unity in Christ slide…divisiveness creeps in…

 

But, let’s not avoid the fact that we see harsh characteristics of Jesus today

            Jesus is both judge and salvation

            Both the one of reconciling* action (which requires the law)

and of reconciled action (which is the work of grace)     

                        And we never get to skip to liberation without first encountering judgment

 

So, today we see Jesus in one of his main functions

            We are encountered with Jesus as judge.

 

The prophet, Jeremiah, had plenty to say about God as reconciling judge

In the text from Jeremiah, he rails against false prophets

who highlight the nice aspects of God

while airbrushing the unpleasant judgment and wrath of God

This kept being a problem for Jeremiah

Because in the milieu of people making God out to be so nice and tame

It was very hard to communicate clearly the whole word of God

            Which you know isn’t always nice and pretty.

 

In Jeremiah we hear God say:

“Am I a God near by, says the LORD, and not a God far off? 

Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the LORD.” 

What is this about…This is a critique of a culture wanting a lopsided focus on Gods immanence instead of on God’s transcendence…
               And it needs to be in balance.
                               Yes. God is present to us—God is immanent
                               Yes. God is beyond us and frightfully powerful—God is transcendent
When this balance gets out of whack in our minds or in our culture
               We have a very hard time hearing the whole word of God
Our culture does this too.
               Even to the extent that it becomes a joke—in a movie parody
                               It is Buddy Jesus who supposedly helps people
               Or how about our incongruent actions that go with the song “Awesome God” 
                               (I suppose the song must’ve been written before “awesome” meant “cool”…) 
Chorus:
Our God is an awesome God
He reigns from Heaven above
With wisdom power and love
Our God is an awesome God
 
“23 Am I a God near by, says the LORD, and not a God far off?”
This whole song is about God’s transcendence
               And we’ve taken it and inserted our won warm fuzzy Buddy Jesus
               And now it’s pretty hard to get the point of the song
(listen…thumbs…)
 
When He rolls up His sleeves
He ain't just putting on the ritz
Our God is an awesome God
There is thunder in His footsteps
And lightning in His fists
Our God is an awesome God
The Lord wasn't joking
When He kicked 'em out of Eden
It wasn't for no reason
That He shed His blood
His return is very close
And so you better be believing that
Our God is an awesome God
 
And when the sky was starless
In the void of the night
Our God is an awesome God
He spoke into the darkness
And created the light
Our God is an awesome God
Judgment and wrath
He poured out on Sodom
Mercy and grace He gave us at the cross
I hope that we have not
Too quickly forgotten that
Our God is an awesome God

 

Yea, God is awesome—God can be downright scary

            And we can’t just gloss this over

                        Or we are living in a theology of glory

                        Instead of the theology of the cross

                                    Salvation never comes before judgment

                                    There’s a man on the cross before the cross is victoriously empty

                                                Or else we don’t have Jesus with us in our desperate times

                                                But only (thumbs up) in our happy times

 

The Gospel today shows us a dangerous side of Jesus

            Jesus, the one we’ve come to love

                        He calls the little children

                        He speaks on behalf of the oppressed

                        He is an agent of peace

But, then there is the Quaker understanding that

IF YOU REALLY WANT TO CAUSE CONFLICT, WORK FOR PEACE"

So, we have this unpalatable text to look at together

I guess together is the key word

We have to prize unity in Christ even more highly than we prize our families

            Of course, I’m not advocating disunity in families

                        This is not about letting family relationships slide

            Quite the opposite, I would say that the most secure unity within a family

is when that family, too, is united in Christ.

This is about rooting family relationships in something even deeper and more secure—Christ Jesus

Feelings, rhetoric and passions about religion run high

            The family in this text was divided by their beliefs about Jesus

                        You can imagine how hot of a topic that must have been

            If we let ourselves become more impressed by our own ability to be articulate and have our own way than unity in Christ—which involves the unity of the body of Christ

                        Then we know we are on dangerous ground

Our families are more united when we are united in Christ

This is a text about the price of unity and the threats to it

 

More than 50 people filled this space yesterday for a ministry team convocation

            We worshipped, we learned, we talked, we prayed

Why did people come?

 

People came so that this body of Christ, Zion could be strengthened

People gave of themselves/ their time to make the whole stronger.

            Zion, you are part of the unified body of Christ

--we had so many here yesterday expressing that unity

--and seeking how we can be more unified

people were called by what aided unity in this body of Christ. 

Ministry teams that now can flow more seamlessly

—we can communicate with one another better,

understand one another more ;

thereby being more unified in our ministry

and God’s mission in this world.

It was a great day to be the church

 

We have one Awesome God

            Who is in a covenant of faithfulness with us

            And the reconciling that takes place when we turn away from this covenant

                        Is not warm and fuzzy.

 

Whatever it means for particular decisions,

            This text would have us choose

                        What lends greater unity in Christ