Ninth Sunday after Pentecost
Jeremiah 23:1-6
July 21, 2024

The situation in Israel was not good. Because of faithlessness, God divided Israel into two kingdoms, the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah, and He did this shortly after Solomon’s reign, around 975 BC. The king of the northern kingdom was Jeroboam, and he wasn’t happy that the Jewish temple in Jerusalem was part of the southern kingdom. He feared that his citizens who continued to go to Jerusalem to worship, that they’d leave his kingdom and pull up stakes and move south.

So, to keep the people happy and to keep them from leaving, he told them that it was time for them to abandon their Jewish religion and heritage, to stop worshiping at the temple of the Jews, and to worship the new gods, depicted by two golden calves he had built in the northern kingdom.

See, he knew that with just a sprinkling of religious zeal he could control his people. It was a power grab, and very few people spoke up against him. They heard his words and saw his zeal and assumed their leader, Jeroboam, was a devout believer in these new gods of Israel.

Naturally, priests and false prophets from Assyria and other places were attracted to this, for all practical purposes, pagan religious worship and they flocked the streets of Israel calling people to bow down to the false golden idols, to tithe and sacrifice. Jeroboam started a religion that supported his political agenda and controlled his people, and the true prophets of God, the prophets sent by God to preach and call the people of the northern kingdom to repent and return to the one true God, they were rejected and beaten and killed.

It didn’t take all that long for the northern kingdom to disappear from the face of the earth and for those golden cows to come crashing down and their gold stolen by foreign nations such as the Babylonians or Assyrians. This is often what happens when a nation turns from the one true God and worships the gods of men.

But what about the southern kingdom, the kingdom of Judah? Did they fair better? Not really. Sure, they had the city of Jerusalem and the holy temple of Solomon, but over time the people brought in false idols and altars, even propping up idols to false gods in the temple. And the kings of Judah who were supposed to be keeping false religions and false prophets out, they said very little. They were either more interested in their own political gain, or they were busy fighting wars or making deals, and they did not fear the Lord.

Jeremiah, by the time he was sent by God to preach to Judah, the temple was overrun with idols and the people were barely worshiping the one true God but spending most of their time praying to gods that didn’t even exist. The kings and political leaders, they failed their people by not keeping the one true faith pure, and the priests and high priests, they allowed and encouraged idols to be built in the temple! And the false prophets were permitted and encouraged to preach that the false worship was good and the king’s allowing false religion and idol worship to be just and right for the people.

And here was the worst part of it: Where was the uproar? Why was no one crying out against the false idols and false prophets? Why was no one saying, “This is not the will of the Lord”? Why were the people of Judah, the chosen people of God, allowing it to happen?

The few faithful in Judah, they were too scared to speak up, so they hid and worshipped God in secret, while the masses of false believers took over the streets and the temple.

And as with the northern kingdom, corrupt rulers attract corrupt advisors and corrupt priests and like a plague of black, the corruption and false worship spread throughout Judah.

And into this mess the Lord sent prophets such as Jeremiah. He equipped them with His Word and power so they could preach and do signs. The main charge of the Lord’s prophets was to preach repentance to the people and the kings, to go to them and warn them that their continued false worship and faithlessness would lead to their destruction, that they must repent and return to the Lord their God and offer right sacrifice, to burn down and destroy the idols erected to false gods and to consecrate the temple and her priests for holy service to the one true God.

But going to a ruthless people and preaching a message of judgment was not well received by most of the people of Judah, and most certainly not by the rulers or priests who enjoyed great comfort and wealth from their positions of power.

The temple priests and the prophets of the king all stood as one and declared the prophets like Jeremiah to be wrong. They called Jeremiah a liar and a troublemaker. They insisted that they spoke the truth, not those prophets who speak of judgment and wrath.

In summary, Jeremiah preaches a message of doom and destruction if the people will not repent. The king responds to the message and a well-rehearsed press conference from the king’s office, and he surrounds himself with very predominant religious leaders and priests, and says that Jeremiah is not sent by God but is a false prophet and needs to be silenced. “We must protect our theocracy” the king decries, and “we must not fear evil!”

Judah sided with the king and the false prophets. They even drove Jeremiah and other prophets out of the city and many of them were imprisoned and killed. Thus, the people of Judah were sheep without a shepherd. The king and his cabinet were not true shepherds because they were leading the sheep to the great slaughter soon to come, the Babylonian occupation and exile. And in 580 BC, Judah and Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians, just as Jeremiah and the others had warned.

Political leaders, spiritual leaders, and the objects of worship. These three things can be both great blessings for God’s people or great curses which lead people away from God and obviously to the annihilation of kingdoms.

And we are always tempted to prop up our political leaders, our presidents or congressmen, our governors or local magistrates. Yes, we are to listen to and submit to our political leaders. We are to pay our taxes and revenue and we are to respect them because God has established earthly governments, and He puts people in those places of authority for our good. But it’s when those political leaders demand we break God’s Law or go against His Word that we must say, “No, we obey God rather than men.” Jeremiah was cast out, beat, imprisoned, and probably killed, for standing against the king and the priests for their unjust and ungodly rule. And should our leaders force us by edict or threat to deny God or worship false gods, we must be willing to give our lives and stand against such abuse of power.

Fortunately, in our nation, leaders come and go pretty quickly, and we still have some degree of say in who will make decisions for us.

And while this is true regarding political leaders, it’s not so true regarding religious leaders. We love to say that America is a “Christian nation,” but in reality, America is a pan-religious nation full of false religions, and full of false priests and prophets claiming to speak for the one true God.

This was where Judah began to slip up. A priest or prophet would rise up claiming to be devout to the one true God, and much of what he said or did was in fact devout, except for one little sprinkling of false teaching or practice. No one noticed or cared, and so such false teaching and practice was allowed to continue. Then, decade by decade, generation by generation, more and more false teachings and practices were added, and the people just allowed it because they were desensitized to it.

What are the false practices in the Christian church today that gradually, over time, slipped in unnoticed that we, today, take for granted? If you don’t know, then perhaps you yourself have fallen prey to them; these false practices have slipped into your psyche unbeknownst.

Here’s a clue: false practices are always those which require something of you to get or earn something from God. “You need to increase your giving or God will withhold His blessings, plant a seed and God will make it grow a thousand-fold, but you have to plant a seed by giving a nice, big check to the ministry.” It’s false. There is no sacrifice you need to offer or more devoted practice you need to exhibit in order to move God to give you things or bless you. In fact, when you come here to worship on Sundays or any other day, God is not up on His thrown with His arms crossed shaking His head at you and saying, “Unless I see you really getting into it and really meaning it when you sing or pray or say your Confession, I won’t give you the time of day,” because such is not the one true God.

What are the false teachings in the Christian church today that gradually, over time, slipped in unnoticed that we, today, take for granted? If you don’t know, then perhaps you yourself have fallen prey to them; these false teachings that have slipped into your psyche unbeknownst.

Here’s a clue: false teachings which change the clear meaning of the Scripture or diminish God’s Word in any way, which declare some sins as acceptable and ungodly lifestyles as godly, and which put YOU at the center of the message, you can be sure that such teachings are false and planted there by the devil to uproot true faith. For example: Arminianism, which is the teaching that the human will is somehow involved in the work of salvation, it’s a subtle teaching, and it is a very, very, very popular teaching, but it is not at all what the Scripture teaches. And false prophets will preach this and so many other false teachings in such subtle ways that you’d never know it’s a false teaching, often until it’s too late – it’s become part of who you are.

Whenever YOU are at the center, or part of the “formula” of God’s monergistic work of salvation, know that there is false teaching mixed in, even if subtle, and it needs to be exposed.

And false idols? Anything can become an idol. And the way in which you can know if something in your life is an idol or not is very simple: Does the thing, the thought, the lifestyle, the person, the career, whatever, does it get between you and God such that it takes precedence in your decision making and your life? Are you more than happy to break God’s commandments in order to keep this thing in your life? Are you more than happy to even deny God exists in order that this thing, this person, this lifestyle, whatever – be protected or held sacred? Because therein lies your god.

A false god could be a false teaching, a relationship, an addiction, it could be anger harbored against your neighbor which you are unwilling to repent of or let go of, it could be an adulterous relationship which you are unwilling to part with and repent of, it could be a career that takes up all your time so you have no time for God, His Word, and His people. I could go on.

And you can just as easily make yourself into your own idol, your own god. In fact, it’s what sin is. Sin is no more or no less than saying to God, “Get out of my face, my way is better, your way needs to take the highway.”

You can be your own false prophet when, instead of looking to the Holy Scripture and abiding in the clear texts therein, you go your own way theologically, you believe what you want, you water-down God’s Word, avoid parts of the Scripture that you don’t like, or worst of all, you pick and choose passages from here or there that support your own opinions and use those passages against others, to make them submit to your theological musings.

And you can be your own false priest, whenever you think that you can or must do something to earn God’s favor, that He loves you more if you behave better or delights in your prayers more if you don’t sin like your neighbor.

The people of Jeremiah all suffered from these false prophets, priests, and kings and the idols they made. They all walked away from the one true God and made sacrifice and wasted time and money and much effort in seeking after these things. And it was to those people Jeremiah was sent to preach repentance.

It’s easier to bend knee to what the masses believe, think, and say, than it is to bend knee to God, and be honest, we all like the easy path, we like to go with the flow.

But the fast-flowing streams of this world lead nowhere but down. And if you are seeking a Christian faith of ease and comfort and wave-riding, then enjoy your ride now because it will quickly end in destruction. And the false priests and prophets will flock to you telling you everything you want to hear as long as they can make money and gain power.

The problem with Judah and Israel was the people were like sheep without a shepherd. They followed the wolves dressed as sheep and were devoured.

When Jesus came some 420 years later, after John the Baptizer made ready the people by, once again, calling them to repentance, Jesus preached only the truth. He wasn’t interested in power or wealth because He was God and had all power and owned everything. Instead, He called sinners to repentance and to faith in Him, that He would be their true shepherd and lead them in safe and righteous paths, that He would forgive them of their sins, including their easily being enticed by moving speeches and false teaching. He called them to abandon their false idols and to worship the one true God who loves them and would never leave them.

When they were hungry, He fed them. When they were scared, He comforted them. When they were confused, He taught them.

Today our Good Shepherd continues to do the same for us. He calls us to repent of our sins, that we acknowledge our sinfulness to Him rather than arrogantly protecting our sins and pretending we can live as the world and somehow sneak past God’s judgment. Jesus calls us to repent because He loves us and doesn’t want us living by the illusion of the many false gods of this world, but to believe on Him, trust Him and to follow Him.

Christ our Good Shepherd comes to us with the food of heaven. In our Gospel, Jesus fed 5,000 people or more with a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish. Today He continues to feed us with the staple food of salvation, His true body and blood given in bread and wine. This is His gift to us so that we be nourished and comforted by the foretaste of heaven.

And as Jesus spent many hours and days preaching and teaching the sheep of Israel, He comes to us today with His Word to teach us and prepare us for life. His teaching is not difficult and His call to abide in Him is not impossible because all things are possible with God.

In our Epistle reading today, Paul writes, “You are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.” You are citizens, not because of anything you have done, but because of Christ Jesus and His death on the cross. He has made peace between God and men and the hostility that existed on account of sin, it is gone.

And as His holy church, we are the temple of God, the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. This church, this congregation is an embassy of the Kingdom of God to the world. We are here to share Christ and His cross and by loving and serving our neighbor, be witnesses in our homes and families, our schools, our places of work, so that God’s work of reconciliation continue. It may seem as though we have little and that our efforts are in vain, but God’s Word is living and active and from what little we have, God will feed many.

Be at peace, the Lord is your Good Shepherd, and He is leading you daily to die to sin and to live in Him. Christ Jesus satisfies the hungry heart with good food, lasting food, eternal food. Lean on Him in good times and bad, in trouble and joys, because He will never, ever leave or forsake you. Amen.