Jesus is our righteousness.

 

Sermon for Pentecost 9, July 21, 2024

Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Jeremiah 23:1-6  "Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord.  ²Therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says about the shepherds who shepherd my people.  “You have scattered my flock.  You have driven them away.  You have not taken care of them, but I will certainly take care of you, because of the evil things you have done,” declares the Lord.  ³ “I will gather what is left of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their pastures.  They will be fruitful and multiply.  ⁴I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them.  They will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing,” declares the Lord.  ⁵ “Listen, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, who will reign wisely as king and establish justice and righteousness on earth.  ⁶In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell securely.  This is his name by which he will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness.” (EHV)

Jesus is our righteousness.

Beloved lambs of Jesus’ flock,

            They called Jeremiah a traitor when the prophet delivered God’s warning that Jerusalem and the nation of Judah would be destroyed if they didn’t turn away from idolatry and return to the LORD.  They called him a traitor again when Jeremiah advised King Zedekiah to surrender to God’s discipline which was coming by the hand of the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar.  Jeremiah pleaded with Judah’s king to turn back from his wicked ways so that the city, and the people, would not be completely destroyed, but they called him a traitor to his homeland, because God wouldn’t tolerate the ways of the wicked.

We hear a lot about tolerance in our times.  We, who want to follow God’s instruction, are expected not only to tolerate but even to celebrate all kinds of wickedness, because the world doesn’t believe God is serious about what is written in the Bible.  Those of us who reject the ways of the world are often called traitors, even haters, by the various groups that advocate for wickedness—all while those who make a public spectacle of their rejection of God’s commands are lauded as heroes to the cause.

Since we so often find ourselves rejected like Jeremiah, it is good for us to learn from him, not only from the warnings, but especially from God’s promises: that Jesus is our righteousness.

Our sermon text divides easily into three parts.  The law comes first: "Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord.  Therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says about the shepherds who shepherd my people.  “You have scattered my flock.  You have driven them away.  You have not taken care of them, but I will certainly take care of you, because of the evil things you have done,” declares the Lord.  God was warning all those who were leading His people astray.  From the king of Judah to the priests in the temple who weren’t doing their jobs; from the nobles who mocked and killed the prophets to the teachers and scribes who ignored God’s Word, to the fathers who knew better but failed to teach what their faithful fathers had taught them, God would spare no one who was leading His chosen people to worship false gods.

All those leaders of Judah were soon to pay for their failures.  The men God had put in positions of authority, and their followers too, would soon face God’s harsh discipline.  Nebuchadnezzar’s armies were coming to surround Jerusalem, put the city under a terrible siege, then tear it down, and every one of those wicked leaders would be killed or carted off into exile never to see their homeland again. 

Jeremiah’s message from the Lord should put the fear of God into every person on earth who has been given the responsibility to lead people to the Lord.  Preachers should preach God’s Word faithfully.  Teachers of religion should teach nothing but the pure truths of the Scriptures without any impurity or human whim nor desire changing even one speck of God’s Word.  Fathers and mothers should do everything in their power to hold on to the truth and to teach it to their children by both word and example, and the children of faithful parents should continue this chain of faith in Christ in their lives and pass it on to the next generation. 

We need to take this warning seriously, because if we put any chink in the armor of truth, we have put the souls of every generation to follow in grave danger of hell.  "Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!" declares the LORD.  Jesus said it this way, “If anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a huge millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” (Matthew 18:6)  If that warning doesn’t leave a leader, preacher, or father shaking in his boots, what will it take?

Truth be told, none of us can honestly say that we have never misled anyone with either our words or actions.  All of us parents would prefer to tell our children, “Do as I say, not as I do.”  Every faithful pastor walks in some fear of inadvertently misleading his people or teaching them something false. 

Thankfully, God doesn’t leave our salvation up to the words and actions of us sinful people; He takes that into His own capable hands.  After warning the leaders of Judah about the destruction that was coming for their unfaithfulness, God declared the promise we all need to hear: “I will gather what is left of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their pastures.  They will be fruitful and multiply.  I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them.  They will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing,” declares the Lord.

Make no mistake; those who reject God’s call to faithfulness will suffer destruction for their lack of faith.  However, God in His mercy wants to save all people from destruction.  Not one of us deserves God’s mercy, but that’s why it’s called mercy, because He offers forgiveness and salvation to those who could never deserve it.  God promised to bring back His chosen ones from the various nations in which His people had been exiled.  Though He would carry out His discipline on His people, they still had God’s love.  The same is true for you and me.

God is keeping this promise, still today, wherever His Word is preached in its truth and purity and the Sacraments are rightly administered.  Not one of us chose to come to faith on our own.  No one learns of the salvation of Jesus apart from the work of God.  God alone decides who will hear of His mercy and be saved, and it is His Holy Spirit working in the hearts of those who hear the Gospel that replaces lost, stone-dead hearts with the living, believing hearts of faithful Christians. 

Though you and I were born as exiles, God brought us back into His flock by the water and Word of Baptism and the proclamation of His grace and mercy.  Plus, God’s Word working in us makes us fruitful so that we multiply His grace.  We don’t do that on our own.  It is God who sends His messengers out across the planet with the Good News of the suffering and death of Christ, and it is His love in us that makes us gladly share His promises of forgiveness and salvation with others around us.

Dear friends, you and I have been richly blessed, because God sent faithful shepherds who were willing to stand up to the rejection of the world in order to bring us the truth of God’s love.  Prophets and apostles like Jeremiah, Peter, John, and Paul, and faithful teachers and preachers like Martin Luther, Martin Chemnitz, C.F. W. Walther, and many others along the way were God’s gift to us because they carried forward His message of forgiveness and grace against the opposition of a world of rejection and hate.  Our parents, grandparents, and friends who made sure we heard the Word and received the gift of Baptism were all part of God’s plan to give us His forgiveness and salvation.

Still, none of this could have happened without the third section of our text being fulfilled: “Listen, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, who will reign wisely as king and establish justice and righteousness on earth.  In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell securely.  This is his name by which he will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness.”  Of all the messages Jeremiah carried to the leaders of Israel, none carry the message of God’s mercy and grace more clearly than this.  Out of the destroyed stump of David’s royal lineage, God would raise up a new shoot of righteousness and grace.  Here, God repeats the promise He made to David, to Abraham, and to Adam and Eve.  A Son would be born who would restore everything that was lost in the fall.  This Branch of the line of David would be unlike any other king; this King would have no sin.  This King would live in perfect harmony with all of God’s will.  This King would be true righteousness for all people.

Six hundred years before Jesus was born, God gave Jeremiah a message to carry to the people of Judah telling them again of His great mercy and love.  Though almost the entire nation had turned against the One true God who had chosen them as His own beloved people; though they had acted as an adulterous wife to the Lord, God was not ever going to forget His love for them.  He would send a Savior—His own dear Son—to take on human flesh and live to save the lost tribes of Israel.  The believers of the nation of Judah, here being destroyed and carted off into exile, would be saved by the blood of this King.  In The Lord Our Righteousness, every person who believes God’s promises lives.

Dear friends, this promise is fulfilled in Christ Jesus of Nazareth.  Jesus is our righteousness.  Out of the bloodline of David, a virgin named Mary was chosen to bear the Christ child.  Out of the line of David, a humble carpenter named Joseph was made the earthly father of the promised Savior of the world.  On the night this Son of David was born, the angel hosts of heaven sang, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward mankind.” (Luke 2:14)  Jesus lived every day of His life on earth in perfect holiness for you and me.  The Bible says “Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and with people.” (Luke 2:52)  On at least two occasions, the Father in heaven proudly declared, "This is my Son, whom I love.  I am well pleased with him." (Matthew 3:17 & 17:5)  Because Jesus was both true God and true Man, He was able to live the perfect life we needed, and He lived it for us.

Not only did Jesus “establish justice and righteousness on earth,” He also took care of God’s justice.  Though He had no sin for which to pay, Jesus took upon Himself every sin, every weakness, and every failure that would keep us exiled from God.  Jesus received God’s just anger for all the sins of the world on a cross outside Jerusalem.  There, the Jews’ rejection of God was, once more, publicly proclaimed, but God used their rejection for our good.  There, on the cross, Jesus established justice for you and me.  He died so we can live.  He suffered so we can enjoy the fruits of victory in heaven. 

Now, maybe the people of the world won’t like us.  Perhaps, they will call us traitors to their causes, but we have a Savior called, “The Lord Our Righteousness.”  He is Jesus of Nazareth, who was rejected by His own people.  They called Him a traitor, too, because He refused to condone their unbelief and self-righteousness.  Yet, Jesus was perfectly true to His Father in heaven.  Jesus is the “righteous Branch,” and He lives and reigns at His Father’s side in heaven so that people like you and me receive the Word of God and believe it.

Like the prophet, Jeremiah, we may sometimes have to suffer for our faith.  We may be despised and rejected by people around us, but in the end, none of that matters, for we have a faithful God.  He promised to send us a Savior, and He did.  He promised that His Messiah would take away our sins and restore to us a home in heaven, and He did that.  He promises that Jesus is our righteousness, and He is.  Amen.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, forevermore.  Amen.