August 4, 2024 Trinity 10 Jeremiah 7:1-11
Trinity 10
Jeremiah 7:1-11
August 4, 2024
“Right Worship of God”
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
If some Christian can’t carry a tune in a bucket, if they sing every note on the same one pitch, if they barely have a voice for singing anymore—we will all tell them, “It doesn’t matter. God still appreciates your singing. The psalms tell us to make a joyful noise unto the Lord. So it’s all good.” And that’s right. It’s the heart that matters in the singing and not only how beautiful the song is. So far, so good.
However, we should be careful how far we take that thought. What about worship more generally? Is all worship right and good no matter what? What if it’s noisy worship and out of tune with God? Is all worship pleasing to God in the same way and in the same sense that we say all singing is pleasing to God?
Let’s be careful. There’s a difference here. Can you worship God just as well on a golf course as here in the Divine Service? Are they equally right because you say your heart is in the right place? Can you worship God in your bed on Sunday morning as well as you can anywhere else? Can you worship God at a packed Christian music concert with everyone waving their hands in the air just as rightly as you can here in the liturgy with hands folded? Can you worship God rightly here at Church if your mind is twenty miles away and you go through the motions without a thought of what you’re saying or singing?
So this first point is easy enough. Let’s not be lazy in our thinking and pretend that any so-called worship is as good as any other. There’s right worship and there’s wrong worship. And today we’ll sort out the difference. God is quite angry with His people for their wrong and false worship—both in Jeremiah 7 today and in the Gospel reading today when Jesus cries over Jerusalem and then goes into the Temple and chases people out for their wrong worship. You won’t find God saying, “Well, as long as you’re worshiping that’s all that matters.”
In Jeremiah 7, God tells Jeremiah to stand right in the doors of the Church as people are coming in the gates to worship and say to them, “If you guys don’t shape up and change the way you think you’re worshiping God, then I’m going to send you guys packing.” So this is God saying, “You’re worshiping wrongly.” Remember that Jeremiah is called the weeping prophet just like Jesus in the Gospel reading is weeping over Jerusalem and the Temple in the same way. Their worship was wrong and Jeremiah’s job is to weep over it. To try and wake them up to see what right worship really is.
Jeremiah was a prophet right at the time of the Babylonian Captivity. So he’s literally telling them that if they don’t fix their wrong worship, the Babylonians are going to come in and knock down their false temple. Which is, you know, exactly what happens because their worship was wrong.
So what’s wrong worship? What were they doing? First, I’ll give it to you in a general sense and then we’ll get to all the particulars. Wrong worship is when God no longer matters most. When God is no longer the center of worship but we become the center. Or I’ll give you a football analogy. Wrong worship is when God is no longer the quarterback with us as the receivers but instead God is told to take His seat in the stands. That’s wrong worship in general.
Now let’s do some specifics of wrong worship. In Jeremiah 7 they were saying, “The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.” In other words, it doesn’t matter how we worship because we’ve got the temple of the Lord.” The building is all that matters. As long as we’re doing the motions right and doing them in the right place, then God will be happy and pleased sitting in the stands watching us perform. They figured that as long as they did the right sacrifices and right prayers and right offerings—then all was well.
But it got even worse than that. After their so-called worship in the Temple then they would go home and treat one another unfairly, take advantage of each other, they would oppress “the sojourner” which means those traveling through from other parts of the world (strangers), they would abuse orphans and widows who didn’t have people to take care of them, and then they’d go and bow themselves down to other gods.
Are we getting the picture? You can’t just show up somewhere to go through all the “worship” motions, to run all the plays while you think God is cheering you on from the stands, and then go out into the world and forget that God even exists at all while you treat others like garbage and bow down to the gods of the world. That’s wrong and false worship.
God continues in v. 8 telling them that somebody’s been lying to them telling them that all worship is good and fine and equal. They steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal and other gods, and then come into the Temple and say, “We’re delivered!” And then they go out and do the very same things and think it’s all fine. In other words, they think God is in the stands watching them perform and saying, “Good game, guys! Good game!” All the while, we lie and cheat and waste and hate and hurt one another and call names and tell lies and gossip and do immoral sexual things outside of marriage and we worship this world’s gods of money and pleasure and power. Is this right worship?
No, God says. It’s wrong. He says that His house, called by His name, has then become a hideout for robbers and thieves.
How do we know when God’s house—the Temple or a church like this church or any other church—how do we know when God is no longer here? When it’s no longer His house? We know when God is no longer the quarterback with us as the receivers. We know when God is no longer the most important Person here and the center of everything. We know when people are only pretending and performing and going through the motions. We know when people are then leaving God’s house and going out to live like animals. Then this is no longer God’s house.
There are two very interesting times in the Gospels when Jesus talks about the Temple and starts opening our eyes to right worship. One is in John 2 when Jesus clears out the money-changers and the businessmen from the Temple. He drives them out. Then the Jews say, “What right do you have to do this?” And Jesus says, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” They assume, of course, that He’s talking about the building and so they laugh at Him. But He means the Temple of His body and He’s telling us exactly what would happen.
Take note! The old, false, wrong worship that they were doing in the Temple would be done away with. There’s a new Temple—Jesus Himself. Right worship, in other words, won’t be a matter of the right building anymore. Right worship is Jesus. Right worship is when Jesus is the center, the most important, the Quarterback, and when we are the receivers of His gifts.
The other time is when Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4 and she ends up asking Him this worship question, “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” In other words, what’s the right place to worship? You’d expect Jesus to say, “The temple in Jerusalem is right.” But instead He answers, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Note two things. One, the place of the Temple will no longer be most important because Jesus is now the true Temple. Second, note who’s in charge and who’s the actor and quarterback. God is! God is seeking the worshippers. He’s calling people to Himself to receive His Spirit (the Holy Spirit) and the Truth (capital “T” Truth which is Jesus Christ). God’s in control. God’s leading the worship. God’s the quarterback. That’s right worship.
Right worship is when we come, first and foremost, to be wide receivers. To receive from God His blessings of forgiveness, life, and salvation. Look what Jesus does after He drives out the sellers. (v. 47) “And He was teaching daily in the Temple.” Jesus is the Temple. He’s the Teacher. He’s the quarterback. He’s the Giver.
The highest worship that you can give to God, to Jesus Christ, is to come to Him for forgiveness of your sins. That’s the greatest Faith and the highest worship. When you come through those doors on Sunday morning or Wednesday evening and you’re looking for one thing above all else—forgiveness in the blood of Jesus. That’s the highest worship. When you’re not coming to perform for God, to go through the motions, to show God how great you are, to cover up and hide your sins. Coming to be a wide receiver and receive God’s forgiveness in Word and Lord’s Supper and Absolution and prayer. That’s the highest worship.
I put a piece in the sermon insert today from our Lutheran Confessions about the sinful woman in Luke 7 who worshipped Jesus. She knelt down at His feet, washed them with her tears, and wiped them with her hair. Jesus praised her worship. Our Lutheran Confessions say that her worship is the highest possible worship of Christ. She believed in Him for the forgiveness of her sins.
The wrong worship in Jeremiah 7 made God weep and Jeremiah weep. The wrong worship at the time of Jesus made Him weep over Jerusalem. But the worship of the sinful woman in Luke 7 made Jesus happy. And when you and I sit in these pews to be receivers—looking for the forgiveness of all our sins—this makes Jesus happy. That’s right worship.
The liturgy helps to keep us in that right worship and not wander off into wrong worship. The liturgy keeps us in our proper place as receivers. The liturgy is the playbook that tells us what position we’re in and keeps God in the position of quarterback. God is most important. God is front and center. We’ve come to worship—that is, to receive His gifts.
So we start in His name, “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” We worship in His name—not ours. We confess our sins and receive His absolution—forgiveness in the name of Jesus. We receive His Word in the readings and sermon. We receive the body and blood of Jesus in the Sacrament. These two parts of the liturgy—Word and Sacrament—keep us in right worship.
Then we respond. God gives us His Spirit and we praise Him. We pray to Him. We sing. We bring our offerings to His altar. And we then go out from His house to amend our ways and our deeds. To treat others with love and compassion. To treat others fairly. To execute justice. To care for orphans and widows and strangers. To reject other false gods. This is right worship.
Not all so-called worship is equal and good and right. Only where Jesus is most important. Where Jesus quarterbacks and we receive. Only where the highest worship is us receiving the forgiveness of all our sins.
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
