Sermon for the 1st Sunday after Trinity, 2021

Christ the King

Trinity I - 6/6/2021

In the first Chapter of the book of Jeremiah we read:

Then the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me, "Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.  See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant."  And the word of the Lord came to me saying, "Jeremiah, what do you see?" And I said, "I see a rod of almond." Then the Lord said to me, "You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it."  The word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying, "What do you see?"  And I said, " I see a boiling pot, facing away from the north."  Then the Lord said to me, "Out of the north evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.  For lo, I am calling all the tribes of the kingdoms of the north, says the Lord; and they shall come and everyone shall set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its walls round about, and against all the cities of Judah.  And I will utter my judgements against them, for all their wickedness in forsaking me; they have burned incense to other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.  But you, gird up your loins; arise, and say to them everything I command you.  Do not be dismayed by them lest I dismay you before them.  And I, behold, I make you this day a fortified city, and iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its princes, its priests, and the people of the land.  They will fight against you; but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you."

Throughout all the scriptures the question "What do I say?" is repeatedly raised by those whom God chose to send to his people…Over and over again, God's messengers turn to Him in response to His calling with this one question…"Yes Lord, I hear but….What do I say?"  "Lord, you want me to free the people of Israel from Egypt…What do I say?"  "Lord, you want me to do what?…What will I say?"  We routinely ask this of ourselves, don’t we? We can be afraid…afraid to interact…afraid to share the Gospel…afraid to speak up and take a stand… The question “What will I say?” haunts us. Ironically, this top priority question of even God's greatest prophets is of least importance in our Lord's redemptive plans. Perhaps we are asking the wrong question. Perhaps, rather than asking “what do I say?” we should take a note from the pages of Jeremiah and ask “what do I see?”

            When I look out over all of you gathered here, I don’t see just a small group of community Christians.  I don't see a helpless bunch of social clubbers…Or a lifeless and tired band of Sunday-only ritualists…  While we have clear prospects of needed improvement…from the time we began this work, I've seen something altogether different.

            I am reminded today of Joshua preparing to go in and possess the promised land of Canaan.  But there was a problem with that plan. You see, the main passage into the heart of the land was guarded by a stone fortress called Jericho.  So there he stood, before the commander of the Lord's Army who promised him a special victory. …… A victory over the enemy which would set the tone for their whole conquest throughout the land.  This special battle was not to be like any other.  It was to be a spiritual battle and hence a spiritual example to the people…fought by the Lord himself who promised to bring down the great walls of the stone city…but not without conditions…  First, that they devote everything in it to the Lord and second, that they continue on their conquest to capture the heart of the land and drive out the heathen from among them.  Now, we should all be familiar with the great story of how the walls of Jericho came tumbling down at the shout of the people and the blast of the trumpet. And we know all too well how Israel did capture Jerusalem, the heart of the nation, but then failed to drive out the nations from among them. But what else do you see? 

I see Israel, and I see man.  I see Jerusalem and I see the heart of man, protecting its sinful self with a Jericho-like fortress of stone guarding the way in…And I see a battle in the spiritual realm, lead by the commander of the Lord's army to clear the way into man's heart.  God held out to the people of Israel when they came up from Egypt not just a new land to live in but a unique promise.  …the emphasis of which was not so much on the promised land as on the promised life for those who dwelt within that land and remained in covenant with Him.  For those who inherited the land, that promise of a privileged relationship was right there, "And you shall be my people, and I will be your God…And I shall dwell in Jerusalem, my holy hill." What was so hard for the people of Israel to understand regarding this promise?  It was the Creator working the restoration of what once was between God and Man…a special relationship, in which man lived in Him and He in them.  But they wouldn’t have it.  They wouldn’t even take possession of the promise at first.  The cold hardness of their stony hearts blocked the way into this new relationship…and these weren’t heathens we’re talking about…These were the special, chosen people of God!!!!...just like you and me! …They had just been baptized through the Red Sea miracle and led by God Himself in a cloud by day and pillar of fire by night to the promise he swore to them and still their faith was unable to crush this fortress of sin. Finally, a forty-year generation later, God rears up a new generation to come forward and claim the promise.  And He establishes firmly in their minds just who it is that leads them and just what it is that must be done to conquer the nation.  And as the childhood song goes….the walls came tumbling down.

Then the years passed and they grew weary of the warring and Israel began to settle…they disregarded God’s command that they should fight until the job was complete….they became complacent and settled for an artificial peace amidst the pagans of the land…and once again, according to the promise of God, those pagans became thorns in their flesh, causing them to turn from the Lord their King.  Time after time God delivers them and for a while they are righteous but then they turn away.  They would not listen and they hardened their hearts.  It was written, "Cursed before the Lord be the man that rises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho." But nevertheless, they rebuilt a spiritual Jericho within themselves.  So, finally, there was no option but to bring judgement and to purge the land through the removal of the people by the hand of Nebuchadnezar.  The lamentations of the prophet Jeremiah tell us of the sorry state of the separation of Israel from God…we would do well to hear Jeremiah's voice…to listen to the weeping and gnashing of teeth of them upon whom God turned his back, and to pray with all fervency that He be “a God at hand, and not a God afar off" as he said to Jeremiah…. we must seek His face and let our cries come before Him…and He will hear us.  He heard the cry of his devout people in exile…and he delivered them.>>>>>  The Lord again spoke to Jeremiah in the 18th chapter:

"`Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will let you hear my words.' So I went down to the potter's house and there he was working at his wheel.  And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.  Then the word of the Lord came to me: `O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? says the Lord.  Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so you are in my hand, O house of Israel."

God was reworking his people…a spoiled and complacent people, formed under marvelous wonders, but neglecting to put faith in their God, called to be priests to the world but participating in the world's pagan pageantry…Having a form Godliness but denying it’s power.  God's people needed to be refashioned into a new vessel…one which could be a tabernacle for his glory and carry his holiness to the world.  This vessel was to be different…it was to seek after Him and follow in His ways…It is Ezekiel who tells us God's plan in the 36th Chapter of his book…

"Therefore, say to the house of Israel, `Thus says the Lord God:  It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came.  And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them; and the nations will know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.  For I will take you from the nations, and gather you from all the countries, and bring you into your own land.  I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.  A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances…and you shall be my people, and I will be your God."

My friends, through patience and love, God formed this vessel…but it took one thing to accomplish it.  It required that the commander of the Lord's army once again lead a righteous battle against the spiritual Jericho, now called Jerusalem.

A mighty fortress she had become and a great stone in the path to salvation were her teachers of the law.  The time had come for God to fulfill his promise...to rework his earthen vessel and to remove the heart of stone from his people.  So, in the fullness of time the commander of the Lord's army is sent to lead His people into the promise of inheritance, not merely by the law but by righteousness and faith.  God sent forth his Son to wage war against the souls of men…to conquer their hearts and put the law of righteousness and the spirit of truth within them….When Jesus looked at Jerusalem and said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, if you have enough faith, you can say to that mountain cast thyself into the sea…," He was showing them the way to the promised inheritance and pointing out the giant stone that stood in the path.  In the days of old, God gave the people His law…two stone tables…but now the time had come to remove the stones upon which they stumbled, leading them only to death,…. so He sends His law, not engraved upon stone, but embodied in flesh and blood….a living and breathing Testimony.  The stone pillars of the law which propped up the sin-filled chambers of the hearts of God's people needed to be brought down…and with the strength of a thousand Samson's, Christ the conqueror came to fulfill it.

  Stone filled hearts beware…!!!

"The shatterer has come up against you!"  said the prophet Nahum…

"Man the ramparts; watch the road; gird your loins; collect all your strength.  For the Lord is restoring the majesty of Jacob, [restoring] the majesty of Israel."….and we are his people…and make no mistake He is our God!  >>> The Lord, Mighty in Battle, Who was, and is, and is to come!

It’s not a question of what do we say?… It’s a question of what do we see?…And I do see something…  …I see where this new parish is becoming something virbrant, something strong, holding dearly to the historic teaching and traditions of the Church and wanting to see that be built into something for the Lord……..You know the root word “to build” appears more than 400 times in the pages of Scripture…and many times in reference to God building unto himself a holy people.  So what I see my dear friends, is a construction opportunity…And not really of the bricks and mortar and remodeling type, although I would encourage us to continue what’s been started here in our new space  …What I see is an opportunity for CTK to rekindle people’s hearts…to turn them back to God, and to focus on building up the next generation of God’s people…. It is the prospect of passing down the most precious of gifts built upon the foundation of Christ, our Rock and our Redeemer…  An opportunity to be refashioned by the Great Potter and built into a noble vessel, and holy people. St. Peter spoke well when he said, “Ye also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.”  But note the latter portion of St. Peter’s declaration…that the purpose of us being built up is to offer up spiritual sacrifices.  The opportunity will not come to fruition without ongoing sacrifice from all of us.  Over the next few weeks and months of the lively summer season I would encourage all of you to reflect on the sacrifice that Christ made on your behalf and on what your spiritual sacrifice needs to be in response…and in so doing, I urge you to take some time to read through the pages of Ezra and Nehemiah…where you will there find the chronicles of how God once strengthened the people, His remnant, to do His work, ….how He blessed their efforts, and how He restored that remnant of Israel ironically through a construction project…the rebuilding of the Temple and the Great Walls of Jerusalem.  We’ll also find there an example of how we are to spiritually carry this out as we labor in the wilderness of this fallen world.  Nehemiah tells us that not only did the people give of what they had, right down to their earrings, nose-rings and jewelry, not only did they come together as one, united around the single cause of rebuilding God’s earthly kingdom, but they labored day and night, DAY AND NIGHT!!... with tools in one hand and a sword in the other.  If we at CTK are to be built by God into that which Peter calls a “spiritual house” then we as his people must labor…we must take assessment of what skills and gifts he has provided through the Holy Ghost and then we must put them to work, trusting that He will sustain us and make us strong….and we must be well equipped with our giftings in one hand and the Word of God in the other, so that we may rightly divide the truth as we place one stone upon another.  And then, just as the people of Israel returned to their nation when the walls were complete, so He will bring the people of God out of exile, even in this very city of Atlanta, into this His spiritual house.

That is what I see.  And I believe with firm conviction that He who is able to do all things will further the work that has begun in and through you.  So let us not worry so much about what say…the Lord has always provided that…just go and show the love of Christ  you have in you by sharing what you see …Build up this spiritual house….and in the words of St. Jude, “Beloved, build up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keeping yourselves in the love of God, and looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”

Amen.