Jeremiah 36:1-8, 21-23, 27-28; 31:31-34 on November 24th, 2024
Above is audio of the sermon pulled from the video and amplified.
Below is transcript pulled from the video and formatted by artificial intelligence. There may be inconsistencies or errors.
But the days are surely coming. That is one of my favorite phrases in all of scripture. The days are surely coming. It is full of hope and promise it uplifts and it assures. It is good news to the people in the midst of turmoil and uncertainty and grief. The days are surely coming.
But let's set the scene a bit first. God tells Jeremiah to write down all of the messages of warning and hope that he has been delivering. This is the whole kit and caboodle from start to finish. Jeremiah dictates it to Baruch who then takes it and reads it in the temple since Jeremiah is banned from the Holy Spirit. This word gets back to King Jehovah, who hears the scroll read aloud. And in peace by peace he cuts it up and throws it into the fire. But God's word is not so easily destroyed. God tells Jeremiah to write it all down again. Again? Yes, again.
This story of a King's obstinance gets paired with Jeremiah 31 that the days are surely coming. In the face of human stubbornness God makes a new covenant. When God's word gets tossed to the side, God tells it to us again. As a certain music director of ours said to me when we were chatting about this text, God is a relentless ambassador. No matter how many times the vain rulers of earth burn it in their fires, trample it under foot, hold it upside down. The days are surely coming.
And it's not just the rulers mind you, lest we point fingers at everyone but ourselves. Because that old covenant, yeah, we break that a lot. We can get into specifics if you really want to, but I think we're pretty aware that we don't live into that relationship with God as we should. Our confession today states it pretty thoroughly. We have sinned against God and thought, word, and deed by what we have done and by what we have left undone. It is not only golden calves and cutting up scripture, but the days are surely coming.
Now you should know that Jeremiah wasn't the happiest of prophets. In fact, most of his words were doom and gloom. And that's why I think this beacon of good news in chapter 31 shines so brightly. The days are surely coming. See, God responds to the way that we have disregarded God and the law. And God's response is gospel. Good news. A new covenant written on our hearts. God doesn't give up on us. God is not defeated. God says, since you're going to break that covenant, I will make a new covenant. That's what you do, but this is what I do.
This new covenant in Jeremiah is inclusive. It's not divisive. Both the house of Israel and the house of Judah are part of this covenant. And God extends it to even more from the least of them to the greatest. All will know God and be part of this new covenant. This new covenant is about relationship. The old covenant was one where God indeed would take them by the hand and bring them out of the house of Egypt, but that this new covenant is even more intimate. They will truly know the Lord and not just in their head, but in their heart. Because that's exactly where God is going to go. And this new covenant is driven by God, not by us humans. Whereas the people broke the old covenant. God preempts this possibility by saying that God will be the primary actor. I will put my law within them. I will write it on their hearts. I will be their God. I will forgive.
And while it's nice to read about God's Word, about how God's new covenant is in the Bible and hear this promise of one day, it's even better to know that God's promised covenantal Word became flesh and lived among us. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. What is coming to being in Him was life and the life was the light of all people. That Word of God is Jesus Christ Himself. And in Jesus, God shows us what it looks like to forgive our iniquity and remember our sin no more. In Jesus, the covenant takes flesh and dwells among us. In Jesus, the covenant lives, the covenant forgives, the covenant never ends.
And it is that new covenant that we remember each and every time we gather. Jesus uses that same covenant language, the brokenness, the rebellion, the promise of new life in places it right in the middle of a meal. On the night in which He was betrayed. Betrayal echoes that covenant that they broke. And yet Jesus still takes the bread, still pours the wine and still declares a new covenant. Jesus doesn't distance Himself from human failure. Instead, He leans into God's promise and brings that promise closer. And for all people, for the forgiveness of sin, that's what Jeremiah heard. I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more.
At the table that the covenant isn't just remembered, isn't just written on our hearts. It's embodied in Christ Himself that the covenant promise is present in that bread and wine and it is given and shed for all. We have the promise of a new covenant, a promise that endures through betrayal and through cross and through the tomb. And this promised new covenant is raised up and lives. This covenant is shared. Each time bread is broken, wine is poured and nothing. Not a single thing. Nothing stops God from establishing this new covenant. Not fires, not betrayals, not even death.
And for us, as the congregation of St. Philip Lutheran Church in Myrtle Beach, the days are surely coming. The days are coming when we will need to adapt in order to live this covenant as we grow into new challenges and opportunities. The days are surely coming when our tangible lives will be in flux, but the promise of God will stain us through every change. The days will surely come when the covenant is lived out in our relationships and in the ways that we worship and welcome and in how we serve and we help all people. More than that. The days are coming when we won't look to the old covenants or old ways but instead be renewed by God's word who is the Christ. The days are surely coming when our faith won't flicker out but instead our hearts will burn within us because God's word is forever written there. The days are coming when Christ our king won't throw us away into the fire but instead he will be our God and we will be his people from the least of us to the greatest. The days are surely coming when that new covenant will be fully realized when our hearts will be transformed our lives will reflect God's justice and we will walk with Christ our king.
But until then we trust that the word of God cannot be burned away and the promise of that new covenant will never fail. So let us live into that promise. Live as God's people today and into the days that are surely coming. Amen.