Jeremiah 31 — Sermon by Rev. Canon Bryan Biba

Let us pray.

Lord, may my speech and my message not

be plausible words of human wisdom, but

a demonstration of the spirit and of

power. So our faith may not rest in the

wisdom of men, but in the power of the

living incarnate God, Jesus Christ our

Lord. In whose name I pray, amen.

You may be seated.

Merry Christmas

and happy new year.

One of the great joys of the Christmas

season is the surprise of presents under

the tree. I was reminded again of this

great joy uh about a week ago as I was

uh sleeping so well after a late night

service. And then my children ran into

our room and shook us awake. Uh went

into the living room to see all of the

presents around the tree and to see the

joy in their faces of the wrapping and

the bows. And of course, the great thing

about presents is you don't know what's

in them. All you know is the size. Uh

you could pick them up, you could shake

them and maybe guess what they are, but

the surprise of presence is in the

mystery. It's often not what we expect.

My family had a habit, a tradition of

kind of taking this to the extreme. They

they would often put the gift you wanted

in the box of a gift you didn't want.

I remember in high school I asked for a

MacBook computer and Christmas morning

went downstairs to open the present and

got a box with a Dell computer.

And I was very gracious and thankful to

open up the Dell box to find my MacBook

Pro sitting there.

And it turns out I'm married into a

family that has the same tradition.

Since the early 90s, uh Laura's family

has passed around this box for a

Thompson chain reference Bible that her

dad got one Christmas, but they put the

gift within the Bible box. Um so when

you open your gift, as Laura did um when

we visited her family, inevitably

someone gets the Thompson chain

reference Bible and then you open it up

to get your real gift underneath.

We don't just give gifts and surprises

to feed into the commercialism of the

season. The mystery about surprise

speaks to something about the truth of

the gospel of Christmas. See, the people

of Israel had expectations.

They anticipated that their God would do

something.

But he did something very unexpected,

very surprising, very different than

they had hoped for. We see this in our

reading from the Old Testament from the

prophet Jeremiah. You'll remember

Jeremiah, which is a very sad book. He's

seeing God's people taken off into exile

by a pagan gentile army. There's

mourning and weeping in this book. And

yet, in the midst of this darkness,

there is a light that shines forth.

Jeremiah sees a day when God will

fulfill the promises even though it

seems that they're not going to get what

they hope for. In verse 7, thus says the

Lord, sing aloud with gladness for Jacob

and raise shouts for the chief of the

nations. Proclaim, give praise and say,

Oh Lord, save your people, the remnant

of Israel.

Behold, I will ga bring them in from the

north country and gather them from the

farthest places of the earth among them

to bind the blind and the lame, the

pregnant women. She who is in labor

together, a great company shall return

here. Here's the first expectation that

Israel had that they would be reathered

in by their God. Remember, God promised

through Abraham that they would have the

land and that they would have

descendants. And now it seems that that

promise has been taken away from them.

And now it seems there's good news

coming that indeed they will be gathered

back into the land of promise. That God

will spare a remnant for himself from

all across the world, from the nations.

And what will happen there? Well, all

will be gathered. Not just the greatest,

not just the best, but the blind, the

lame, the pregnant women. With weeping

they shall come with pleas for mercy. I

will lead them back. I will make them

walk by brooks of water. In a straight

path in which they shall not stumble,

for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim

is my firstborn.

Verse 10. He who scattered Israel will

gather him and will keep him as a

shepherd for his flock.

But why why is God reathering his

people? Not just to keep his promise but

that so they can fulfill their mission.

Israel was called to be a people set

apart for the praise and worship of God.

And indeed the prophet foresees a day

when they will be reathered in to

Jerusalem to the temple to fulfill their

call.

For the Lord has ransomed Jacob and has

redeemed him from the hands too strong

for him. They shall come and sing aloud

on the height of Zion. They shall be

radiant over the goodness of the Lord,

over grain, wine, oil, over the young

flock of the herd. Their life shall be

like a watered garden, and they shall

languish no more.

Jeremiah foresees that God will gather

in his people so that they can worship

him in his temple, that they can bring

grain and wine and flocks and fulfill

the promises that were given to them.

And yet, God does something so much more

beautiful, so much more unexpected. He

doesn't just gather Israel from the

nations. Indeed, he gathers the nations,

Jew and Gentile, together.

And now the Jews and Gentiles gathered

in as one people will worship the Lord

in a new temple, fulfilling all the

promises of the old covenant. We see the

gift unwrapped and the true surprise in

our reading from Ephesians chapter 1.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

Remember, Paul is writing to Ephesus, a

very gentile city. There was likely a

small Jewish congregation there, but

most of the people he's writing to are

Gentiles, pagans. And he begins his

letter, verse three, blessed be the God

and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who

has blessed us in Christ with every

spiritual blessing in the heavenly

places.

blessed us. Not just God's people,

Israel, but all of God's people, all the

nations gathered in.

This is the great surprise. The gift is

unwrapped, and now Israel sees what the

promises given to Jeremiah truly mean.

Indeed, here in Ephesians 1, we see

three surprising revelations,

surprising gifts from God.

The first one is in verse four. Even as

he chose us in him before the foundation

of the world, that we should be holy and

blameless before him. In love, he

predestined us for adoption to himself

as sons through Jesus Christ according

to the purposes of his will.

This word predestined might be a scary

word for some depending on your

background, but simply put, what it

means is that this is a work of God.

That God has chosen to redeem his

people, to gather them back in. God

chose Israel not because they were

special. In fact, Deuteronomy says that

they weren't that special. He chose them

because he chose them. It's his

sovereign will. And in a similar way, he

chooses us who are gathered into his

church from the nations. The very end of

verse four gives us a clue. I hate that

the English Bible breaks up the verses

this way because we miss why God

predestines us in love.

He predestined us for adoption to

himself as sons through Jesus Christ

according to the purposes of his will.

The surprise here, friends, is God had

always planned to gather in the nations,

to gather in all peoples. Israel thought

that the promise was just that Israel

would be gathered. But indeed, no. All

of God's people from all nation are

being gathered in because God has chosen

to do this. This has always been his

plan.

The second great surprise comes up next.

Verse

seven, in him we have redemption through

his blood, the forgiveness of our

trespasses, according to the riches of

his grace, which he lavished upon us in

all wisdom and insight, making known to

us the mystery of his will, according to

his purposes, which he set forth in

Christ.

So God has redeemed us through his

blood. Jesus Christ has shed his blood.

He's saved us from sin and death. This

is the great mystery that the Old

Testament foresaw that God would forgive

his people, that he would pay the price

for their sins.

But often that's where Christians stop.

It's not where Paul stops. Why does God

save us from sin and death? Why does he

redeem us with his blood?

because of the mystery of his will,

according to the purposes set forth in

Christ as a plan for the fullness of

time to unite all things in him, things

in heaven and things in earth.

This is the great surprise that the

reason God elected Israel, elects the

church, elects Christ is so that we

would all be united in him.

This is the destiny we are all heading

towards union with Christ.

So what about you?

We all have different parts of our

lives. We have our work life. We have

our family. We have our hobbies. We have

our home. We have our finances.

Are all these things united in Christ

to the praise and glory of his name?

I don't know about you, but I have

certain parts of my life that I like to

keep for myself, right? My own personal

hobbies, that part of my money that I

spend for my needs.

Not all things in my life are united to

Christ. And yet, this is why he has

saved us. So that all things, not just

you, but your neighbor, your enemy, all

things united in Christ. And this is

God's plan. Not plan B, but plan A. His

plan from the very beginning of the

world.

And then we see a third surprise here in

Ephesians. So many Christmas presents

this morning.

Verse 11. In him we have obtained an

inheritance, having been predestined

according to the purpose of him who

works all things according to the

counsel of his will. So that we who were

the first to hope in Christ might be to

the praise of his glory. In him also,

when you heard the word of truth, the

gospel of your salvation, and believed

in him, were sealed with the promised

Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our

inheritance until we acquire possession

of it to the praise of his glory.

God, the Holy Spirit dwells in you. He

has been given to you as a gift. The

very presence of God that dwelled in the

temple now dwells in you. And this gift

is a down payment. It's a promise of our

inheritance to come. You and I are

adopted heirs. We have been given a

great fortune that none of us have

earned. It has been given to us and the

Holy Spirit is a guaranteer of that

promise. St. Paul is not just talking

about Israel's past or the church's

present with Christ. He's talking about

our future, our destiny, where all of

this is going. That all things are

united with Christ and that we receive

the inheritance the Holy Spirit has

promised.

And now we can see in Ephesians 1 how

the two great promises and expectations

of Isaiah are fulfilled.

It's not only that God gathers not just

the Jews, he gathers all the nations to

him. And it's not just that we are

restored to true temple worship in Zion.

We are now the temple of God, the Holy

Spirit. You and I are the place where

God dwells.

Let's conclude by looking a bit at Psalm

84, which is one of my favorite psalms.

It speaks deeply to this great mystery,

this great promised inheritance, this

great unexpected fulfillment of the

prophets.

How lovely are your dwellings, oh Lord

God of hosts.

Now the psalmist of course is writing

about the temple. This is a kind of hymn

in praise of the temple, the place

physically where God's spirit dwelled in

Jerusalem. But with the eyes of Christ

looking back, we now see the truth

that we are the lovely dwellings of the

Lord. We are the place where the God of

hosts dwells.

My soul has a desire and a longing to

enter into the courts of the Lord. My

heart and my flesh rejoice in the living

God.

If you have a study Bible and you look

in the back, you may have a diagram of

the temple. And the temple had an outer

court, an inner court, had a holy place,

and it had a most holy place. And each

of these concentric squares had deeper

levels of intimacy and deeper levels of

holiness.

If we are the temple, then the most holy

place, the place where we meet God is in

the still small voice of our hearts and

we meditate on God's word. When we

listen to his voice in prayer, my soul

has a desire and a longing to enter into

the courts of the Lord. For one day in

your courts, verse 10, is better than a

thousand.

Do you believe that?

I don't know about you, but you know,

thousand days, three or four more years

of life, that sounds pretty good.

But one day dwelling with the Holy

Spirit in us, the life of God in us,

that's better for the psalmist.

Indeed, as Jeremiah ends his chapter,

my people shall be satisfied with your

goodness.

One of the great things about the

holiday season, of course, is satisfying

yourself with all kinds of food, filling

yourself with tasty meats and desserts

and treats. I don't know about you, I

definitely did that over the past week.

And usually after all of the dessert and

the feasting is done, I feel like a

little heavier and want to jump into

that, you know, new year diet routine.

How often we gorge oursel on worldly

foods when indeed we are invited to

feast on the goodness of God, to feast

on his spirit in prayer, in his word.

I'm not sure if you have any New Year's

resolutions. It's not something I often

do, but if you do need one, if you're

still trying to figure out what you

should do with this year, let me

recommend one.

Spend time with the Lord.

Pay attention to the Holy Spirit in you.

Be still. Be quiet. Be alone.

Enter into the courts of the Lord. Do

you desire that or do you desire a bunch

of other stuff that the world will give

you but that won't actually satisfy?

This friends is our inheritance. This is

why Jesus died for us. This is why we

have been elect to dwell with God

forever.

May God give us that desire in this new

year to feast on his spirit, on his word

by being quiet, by being still, by being

prayerful.

Amen.

[snorts]