Hope Filled Gratitude

Sermon 4 in “HOPE:  Studies in the Prophets” Series

Preached on November 24, 2013

 Scripture:  Jeremiah 23:1-6

Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the Lord.² Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the Lord. ³ Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. ⁴ I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the Lord.

⁵ The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. ⁶ In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.”

Sermon

            Americans are infatuated with royalty.  You may ask how I know this.  Because on April 29, 2011 at 5:00 am – I was shamed and tormented to get out of bed and join my wife, 2 daughters and my in-laws to watch a wedding broadcast from England.  I rebelled in my own way – making fun of the many different hats, speaking when I shouldn't.  No matter the noise I made – I was only shushed – this was too important.  A handsome, future king was getting married to a beautiful new princess. 

            By all accounts – this is not just a Spivey addiction to royalty.  For weeks this summer, the American media – along with a worldwide contingent - camped outside a plain, brick hospital in London awaiting the birth of the newest British Royal - the 3^rd in line to the throne.  The pictures of young George with his radiant mom and handsome dad sold magazines and newspapers throughout the world.  Maybe even some of us – broke down and bought one.  We love royals. 

            On my one visit to England, I got a taste of royalty.  I walked through Parliament and saw the Queen’s throne in the House of Lords:  A beautiful, regal throne for the special days when the queen makes her appearance.  Then, we visited the tower of London.  We saw the old castle that the original William the Conquer built in 1080, the Tudor additions where Henry 8^th kept Anne Bolin before executing her, and most spectacularly, the crown jewels of England.  There is something about Royalty that fascinates us as Americans – the history, the tradition, the wealth, maybe.

            For a country who spent years under the thumb of a ruthless king and who gave their lives to overthrow that king in order to gain their independence, we could call this fascination ironic.  We don’t want a king, but the riches and the power and the allure of royalty intrigue us and draw us in.  How many little girls dream of being a princess or marry a prince.  Kings represent the epitome of earthly power.   Our fascination with kings, queens, princesses and all things royal echoes the fascination of people throughout history.

Movement 1:  False hopes of a king

            Unfortunately, though, false hopes surround kings.  The people of Israel after centuries of living in the Promised Land as a loose federation of tribes desired the centralized power and leadership a king provided.  In spite of God’s warnings, they begged God to give them a king.  By demanding in 1 Samuel 9 for God to “appoint for us a king to govern us, like other nations,” they rejected God as their king

Israel envied the visible sign of power a king provided the other nations.  So, God provided Israel Saul – a handsome, strong and imperfect man.  The people’s hopes for a great nation rose as they looked to this man to provide them security and wealth.  It didn't take long for the hopes to be dashed.   Moody, dangerous and unstable, Saul let power go to his head.  In the end, what started with great fanfare and hope – ended in jealously, chaos, and war. 

            The earthly power of kings has led people throughout history to establish false hopes of what the kings will provide. Pharaohs and Caesars, kings and sultans have ruled with absolute authority over the people in their kingdom.  When people began to question this power, kings had to be seen as more than human.  Humans are weak.  Kings are strong and powerful.  It’s no coincidence that many ancient cultures imagined their kings as gods to help booster the king’s power in the people’s minds.  In Egypt the Pharaoh was the sun god.  In Rome, worshiping the Caesar was built into the fiber of everything Roman –from government to business.  The English word sovereign, used for royalty gets this god-like authority of kings.  It comes from the Latin word for super meaning above, higher than any others. 

            Yet, as much hope as individuals and lords and serfs and nations placed on their kings – they were still human and most failed their people.  The progress of history shows the failed hope of placing ultimate power in the hands of one human being. 

Movement 2:  The danger with kings

            These false hopes demonstrate the danger with kings.  More times than not, the ego and absolute power of kings lead to destruction and peril rather than safety and care for God’s People.  This is what Jeremiah preaches in chapter 23:  “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the LORD.2 Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them.”

            Jeremiah lived in Jerusalem during the death of the kings of Judah.  He knew of a king dedicated to righteousness and justice, one who was deeply concerned with the poor.  This king was Josiah who died an absurd death in 609 B.C .  When he died, his two sons began kings.  The first was a puppet to the powerful Babylon Empire.  The second was a wretched example of Israelite kingship who Jeremiah sarcastically says would rather "compete in cedar," – build grand buildings - than "do justice and righteousness," as his father had done (Jer 22:15).   

Jeremiah watches these kings up close – preaching passionately for the people to turn from their sinful ways and demand more from their kings.  This is the danger of kings.  The kings claim to lead their people, yet what most of them do is scatter them and destroy them.  The history of Israel monarchy from Saul to Zedekiah which lasted almost 500 years is a history of how dangerous kings can be.  In fact, within 30 years of good King Josiah’s death, the monarchy and the nation of Israel had been destroyed and the exiles taken to Babylon.

Movement 3:  The death of a king

            The Good News is this:  the death of a king will establish God’s true kingdom.  This goes against our common logic, but listen to Jeremiah’s vision:  “v.5 The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: “The LORD is our righteousness.”

            The Lord through Jeremiah says that our hopes for a king have not been wrong – simply misplaced.  Recalling other messianic passages, Jeremiah says, “The day will come when God’s true king will rule.”  This rule will be as a king:  this messiah will act in ways we have always hoped kings would act:  executing justice and righteousness in the land and in our lives.  This king will save us and we will live in safety.  The wars which ravage the land and the people, the uncertainty of life – will be distant memories.  We will call this new king – the Lord is our righteousness. 

            The amazing part of this vision of the messiah is how much Jesus will both be our vision of a king and shatter our vision of what a king is and should do. 

In Revelation 5, John the Revealer builds on Jeremiah’s vision of the Messiah as King.  John describes a beautiful throne room in heaven with a terrible dilemma.  A scroll exists in heaven which no one can unseal.  John actually weeps at this fact.  Then, the angels say halt – there is someone who can open this:  “the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”  The Branch of King David which Jeremiah envisioned is the great king who can open this seal. 

            You can imagine the hope this provides John and the reader.  We expect this awesome, powerful lion of king to come roaring out of this scene with great power – this is our earthly vision of kingly power.  We expect this almighty, cosmic king to be the answer.  Yet, who shows up – John says it is the “the lamb who was slain.”  The most powerful king on heaven and on earth shows up and he is a gentle lamb who has been killed.

            This vision of Jesus shatters our view of kingship.   With the vision of the king as the lamb that was slain, John connects takes this beautiful picture of the divine throne room and juxtaposes it with Calvary.  We go from heavenly symbol of the most power place of earth – a throne room full of thrones, and jewels, beauty and slender – read Revelation 4 to see how magnificent this place is – to the dark, ugly, patch of ground outside of Jerusalem beside the town’s garbage dump.  The most powerful, kingly act of all of history which has transformed the trajectory of all of history happened when Jesus died on the cross.   Do you remember what was written on the piece of wooden, Pilate absentmindedly placed above Jesus’ head as he died on the cross:  “This is the King of the Jews.” 

            The death of one king becomes the one act in all of history which allows all of humanity to experience the true hope for all kings whom Jeremiah announces:  “justice and righteousness in reign in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety.”

Movement 4:  The power of THE king

            The death of Jesus on the cross is the power of the one, true king.  This is the irony of John’s vision in Revelation.  In order for us to understand the majesty and true power of Jesus, John sets his vision in the world’s most powerful place – a king’s throne room.  There was no more powerful place on earth in the last decade of the first century than the Roman Emperor’s throne room.   In the throne room, the Emperor ruled with absolute authority from England to Person from North Africa to the North Sea. 

            Into this world of power and false hopes, fears and dangers – John pulls back the curtain between our world and Gods for those in the first century and now to see where the true power lies.  Kings, sultans, prime ministers and presidents may think they wield magnificent forms of power – but they do not hold the ultimate power.  The ultimate power is found in the one, true king who weaves all of life and history towards a final resolution found Rev. 11:  “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”
            When this happens, the 24 elders, who surround the heavenly being on the throne of heaven, break out in worship.  Here is what they say in Rev. 11:17:  “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign.” 

           

Conclusion

            We can give thanks today because our ultimate hope has already been determined.  Because Jesus died on the cross, our future has already been determined.  Our hope is built on a pre-determined fact:  Jesus wins. 

Hope filled gratitude means that we don’t just thank God for what God has done in the past – we thank God for what God will do in the future.  Jesus is the one is, who was, and who is to come.  This means that our gratitude is no limited to what we experienced yesterday or today.  We don’t just have to look around to say thanks – we can look forward.

Imagine what hope filled gratitude looks like. 

·         Thank you, Lord, for delivering me through these trials in the coming year. 

·         Thank you, Lord, for revealing your will to me over the next year so I may follow you. 

·         Thank you, Lord, for transforming our church in the coming years to be more of the church you want us to be. 

I know today – many of us will bring our gifts of gratitude to the church alter giving thanks for the ways God has blessed us in the past year.  The Good News of Jeremiah and the Gospels and the entire Bible is this:  We can also give thanks for the blessings that will come our way in the coming year too.  Our task is to pay attention, notice these blessings as they occur – as God acts.

      In a few moments, we will take up our Thanksgiving offering.  Before we do – I want to invite us to reflect on the many gifts and blessings Christ our true King has provided, is providing and will provide in the coming year.  If you need to repond to God before we take this offering – I will be down front.  Let us sing this song of commitment – so that we will live with hope filled gratitude!  Amen.