Jeremiah 23:16-29
August 18, 2019
Proper 15C
Dear Saints of Our Savior~
God’s Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. God’s Word is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword. God’s Word is truth, spoken by prophets and apostles, carried along by the Holy Spirit. God’s Word is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. God’s Word is like the rain and snow that fall from heaven, giving life and growth and always accomplishing what God desires.
But wait, there’s more! That’s not all we can and should say about the Word of God. For today the Lord reminds us through the Prophet Jeremiah that the same Word of God that comforts and consoles us—the same Word of God that lights our path and gives us hope—is also given for a different purpose: Is not my Word like fire, declares the Lord; and [is not my Word] like a hammer that breaks the rock in
What kind of a God is this, whose Word consumes like fire and crushes like a hammer? What kind of a God is this, whose Word provides surpassing comfort—and, also, additionally—crushes us to pieces like a sledge hammer? This God is our God—the Holy Trinity. He is both the God of fierce Law and the God of sweet Gospel. Perhaps if we could just embrace this hammer of God and come to terms with the hellfire it threatens, then what Jesus Christ has done (and still does!) for us would become that much more precious and meaningful for us.
But truth be told, we don’t much care for the Law of God and the sometimes painful course corrections it prescribes. After all, who wouldn’t prefer to be the hammer instead of the nail? Even though God uses the hammer of His Law because He loves us—and because He wants the very best for us—yet we do all we can to avoid it. If you’ve ever had your thumb smashed by the blow of a hammer, then you can understand why God’s children don’t always appreciate the hammer of God’s Law.
Jeremiah’s job was to wield the hammer of God in the years leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem. His job was primarily to pummel the people of God with the Law of God—to call them to repentance for all of their idolatries and adulteries—and to warn them about the “Babylonian chain saw massacre” that was about to level everyone and everything in its path.
But rather than hear the Law of God preached by Jeremiah, the people preferred what the false prophets were peddling—lies and dreams and deceit, to be sure. But it all really sounded good compared to what Jeremiah was saying. The false prophets proclaimed peace and love and unicorns and rainbows. “It shall be well with you,” they said. “No disaster shall come upon you,” they declared. The false prophets preached what the people wanted to hear. They were experts at scratching itching ears. They knew how to make people feel good about themselves, no matter how many sinful choices they were making each and every day. The people needed the hammer of God; but what they chose was a tickle-feather from the false prophets.
We, too, need the hammer of God’s Law. We need to be corrected and crushed for our sins. We need to be broken into pieces so that we can know the real peace of God. We, too, live in a world of idolatry and adultery, where immorality is practiced and approved and celebrated by a plurality of the population. And for those who don’t jump on that bandwagon, well, persecution is coming.
What will you do when the hammer of God is brought to bear on your life—on your immorality and adultery—on your pride and arrogance in the face of God’s Law? What will you do when the bright light of God’s Law exposes the filth of your sin? What will you do when you can no longer pretend that your pride is somehow permissible—that your immorality is okay—that your false gods are no big deal? Will you beat your breast and say, “God be merciful to me, a sinner,” or will you beat a path to the nearest false prophet to be affirmed and complimented on your courageous lifestyle choices?
And what about pastors—the “sons of the prophets” who follow in the footsteps of Jeremiah? The Lord says, “Let the one who has my word speak my word faithfully.” All pastors have to work with is the Word of God—fire in one hand and a hammer in the other. Believe it or not, I didn’t become a pastor because I relished the idea of hammering people with the Law. Personally, I would rather not do it: avoid making a scene, keep the peace, do no harm. I need to remember that there’s no harm in the hammer of God’s Law—that behind God’s Law is God’s love—God’s love for sinners. Let him who has my Word speak my Word faithfully. So, help me, God. God, be merciful to me, a pastor.
The hammer of God’s law is given to demolish all of our pride and arrogance, all of our idolatries and adulteries. But from that wreckage—from the wreckage of our lives—Jesus Christ is building something new and holy and pure. For this reason, the hammer of God is God’s gift to you just as surely as His full, free, blood-bought forgiveness is also His gift to you.
In this morning’s gospel reading Jesus said that He didn’t come to bring peace, but rather division. It sounds so strange to our ears. But the hammer of God’s Law and the life of repentance that follows necessarily bring division. It’s a division that even cuts through our families and our closest relationships. When we have to tell the people we love that the choices they’re making are wrong, dangerous, harmful—division is sometimes the result. And that division sometimes runs right through each one of us—we who are simultaneously sinful and righteous. The hammer of God needs to smash the idols of our Old Adam so that the New Man might be drawn ever closer to Christ.
Jesus doesn’t promise His followers a peaceful life or even a peaceful family life. The hammer of God doesn’t make things easy for anyone. But the peace of Jesus Christ is a different kind of peace. It’s not the absence of conflict. It’s not something the world can give or know or negotiate. It’s the peace of sins washed away in the blood of the Lamb. It’s the peace of God in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting our trespasses against us. It’s the peace of God’s justifying Word which declares you righteous for Jesus’ sake alone, by grace alone, through faith alone. It’s the peace of a quiet conscience that dares to believe that now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus—that if anyone is in Christ, He is a new creation.
At the cross all the power of sin to paralyze, all the power of death to terrorize, and all the power of hell to destroy—is finished. With His holy, precious blood Jesus Himself declares, “It is finished.” So when the day comes that you find yourself beneath the hammer of God’s judgment, remember that God is for you, not against you. Remember, also, that other hammer—the hammer that drove nails into the flesh of the Son of God for your sake—for your sin—to save you. God is indeed serious about every sin we commit; but Jesus Christ has also paid for every sin we commit. So let’s fix our eyes on Him—on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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