Godless Leaders vs David's Branch

Housekeeping

Before we begin looking at today’s message, I have an item I want to bring to your attention. I call these times housekeeping.

The fall is rapidly approaching and as we look forward to this, there are some things I want to begin to prepare you for.

As church is starting to come back together, so will the various ministries that we have here at the church.

As Heather mentioned earlier, this is a chance for you to use the gifts God has placed upon your life to serve.

As a disciple of Christ. As you are being transformed into the image of Christ, and being empowered by the Holy Spirit, part of that action is using the gifts, God has given you for service. Service for God.

For some of you they may be big, others, small but all are equally in the Eyes of God.

I want to let you in on what is happening in the fall for the church at large. We will be looking through the Psalms as we meet together in the context of Community. There will be the Sunday messages, Weekly cord of three groups, and cluster groups, along with a daily devotional all focused on the Psalms. This devotional is written by folks within our congregation.

If you like to be a part of this writing, please talk with me after church and you can pick one or two of your favourite Psalm and write a short devotional for that Psalm. We have done this before and its a great treasure to hear God speaking through us as we fellowship together. I am excited about this and have already had people sign up for their favourite Psalm. If you have one, we will only us one devotional per Psalm for first come first blessed.

Introduction

We are continuing in our series of looking into the book of Jeremiah. Before we look at the particular text for this morning, I have a few comments.

Do you remember a particular time that you start a new Job?

For some of you, that may have been a few years back, take some time to remember.

For Pastor Josh, today is his first day on the new job. Well, to be it is not just a job, but a calling, a God directed vocational ministry. It’s exciting, nervous, anxious, thrilling and most of all a reliance upon God to give him the strength, he needs to carry out his calling.

I’ve had a few new starts.

I remember starting my first shift on the Hudson Bay department store in Winnipeg. It was a time after Bible School and looking for direction for ministry, but the bills needed to be paid and I found myself showing up to work. I was dressed in a 3 piece suit as that was the dress code of the day, and found out that I was starting in the stockroom. Boy was I wearing the wrong clothing.

Here is another, Maybe Pastor Josh, you can relate to this, It was my first day in a ministry setting and standing in the room that became my classroom, standing in front of the podium, I clutched on to and offered a basic prayer.

Lord, really, you have me here? I desperately need your help. I don’t think I can do this on my own strength.

Pastor Josh, Leadership comes with challenges and rewards. It is my prayer that this ministry that God has tasked you with that you will serve God fully.

Congregation, as he and Cass begin this ministry here at NVEFC, may I strongly encourage you to pray for them, offer words of encouragement. Speak to him directly as he will, like I have often done, be off the mark sometimes. Be kind, gentle and strengthen your new Associate pastor as a fellow brother in Christ.

At the end of the service, we will be bringing the couple up and as Elders on your behalf, we will be laying hands on them and praying for them.

Why new beginning, what does it have to do with today’s text.

If you had the chance to read through this chapter, you know what is coming. This was not chosen as a text for Pastor Josh’s challenge, but a message for us all.

Let me give you a glimpse of the message of today.

One person wrote,

The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 19: Jeremiah / Lamentations The King Who is God

The sight of this king came to Jeremiah at the time he most needed it. The first wave of the attack had hit Jerusalem. Zedekiah was king, watching the nation disintegrate before his eyes. The line of kings before him had left this legacy of hopelessness. How could a man of such tender spirit as Jeremiah sustain so much bad news? We need to remember this when darkness fails around our own lives, when burn-out and spiritual fatigue threaten to obscure all hope. Times such as these provide God His finest hour and the prophet his finest vision.

With that in mind, Let’s pray

PRAYER

Like I have been telling you, I hope you brought your Bible. For some of you it’s a physical book with all its markings over the years, others you have moved to a digital format, but whatever it is, I encourage you to turn with me to Jer chapter 23 and we will be spending the majority of our time looking this morning at the first 8 verses of this chapter.

This was what they call an oracle of Jeremiah. God directed him to speak these words to the people.

God’s Word this morning has some promises. We will be looking at four promises: Attention, Restoration, Provision, and Potential.

Let’s read God’s Word, I am reading from the ESV version.

Jeremiah 23:1–8 ESV

1 “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord. 2 Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people: “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord. 3 Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. 4 I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord. 5 “Behold, the days are coming, declares 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 dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’ 7 “Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when they shall no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ 8 but ‘As the Lord lives who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.’ Then they shall dwell in their own land.”

The Promise of Attention

Pastor Josh, now you can see this was not directed at you.

Woe to the shepherds.

God Told the people through a warning, that what they are doing is not good.

He was actually speaking to the king and the leadership of the people.

Look again at verse 1 & 2

Jeremiah 23:1–2 ESV

1 “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord. 2 Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people: “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord.

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 6: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel a. Godless Leaders versus David’s Righteous Branch (23:1–8)

The “shepherds” on whom Jeremiah pronounced woe are not only kings but all the leaders of Judah (v.1). They were the civil leaders and also the spiritual leaders, the prophets and priests.

I remember as a youth hearing the words,

“your sins will find you out!”

Not sure if it was a warning to keep us on the straight and narrow or an idle threat.

Have you wondered where this saying came from.

It’s found in scripture.

Numbers chapter 32

Its that story of the people of Israel who about to cross over to the promise land.

They are about to take possession of the land promised before and which their ancestors refused to listen to God.

Now in Chapter 31, Moses is instructing them what they are to do as they will be crossing over.

BUT

I always love those statements in scripture.

The tribes of Reuben and Gad look around and see the wonderful land that they are standing on and want a piece of the action.

Look at verse 5

Numbers 32:5 ESV

5 And they said, “If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants for a possession. Do not take us across the Jordan.”

You can well imagine Moses’ response. You want to do what?

You want to leave your brothers in arms and sit back and relax.

Amazingly enough, he answers their request and lets them stay there, but gives them this command.

You can set up camp and your lives here, but you have to come with your men and fight with your brothers, then return.

Then Moses said

Numbers 32:23 ESV

23 But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out.

That is the problem with sin.

It is not that it is something wrong with you.

Something terrible that you have done to someone else.

It is sin against God.

It will find you out, because it is against God.

1 John 1:9 ESV

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Here lies the Promise of Attention.

God is aware of their actions. He was aware that the leadership of the day were doing everything they can to destroy the people the sheep.

Notice God states, the sheep of my pasture.

The sheep were scattered and this marks the beginning of the exile.

The exile is a time in the life of the people of God that they were carried away from their promised land and moved to a land that was foreign to them.

God points out to the leaders and gets their attention by what will happen to them.

Woe to those who destroy and scatter.

because, God stated it this way.

Behold I will attend to your evil deeds.

As believers today, this should be a constant reminder in our lives.

Bring those things in our lives that are in opposition to God’s plan and direction for our lives and confess them to God; because, if we don’t you have God’s attention.

The best thing about this warning, is that God didn’t stop there.

The Promise of Restoration

God moved onto the promise of restoration.

You see no matter what has or will happen to you God’s promise is always that of restoration

Jeremiah 23:3–4 ESV

3 Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. 4 I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord.

As the people were being driven out of the land

God brings good news.

He will once again gather His people to himself.

The story of the Bible is quite simple.

God created mankind, and due to the fall there has been an exile of a relationship with God.

God sent his only Son, Jesus to come into this world and provide a plan, a way back to gather his people back to God.

He redeemed us through His death on the cross. Redeemed us so that we can follow Him.

We are in the process of being restored in our relationship with God.

God announced to the people that there is coming a time that this restoration will happen.

Car Show- a few have been restored

He also gave them some good news that he will provide proper leadership for them.

God will provide faithful leaders who will replace the faithless ones.

Many commentators debate over these passages and wonder if God was talking about the leaders in the bible, that brought the nation back or a still yet futuristic time.

Was this pointing the way for Nehemiah and the likes or in the words of Jesus found in Matthew

Matthew 19:28 ESV

28 Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

I believe that there is no reason why we can’t hold onto both views knowing the God is a God of completion and each step along the way was showing us the end goal of Creation, Fall, Redemption, restoration and renewal.

This leads us to the next promise found in these verses and that is the promise of Provision. God is a God of providing for us what we need. Sometimes he even provides our wants.

The Promise of Provision

Take a look at verse 5

Jeremiah 23:5 ESV

5 “Behold, the days are coming, declares 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.

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 6: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel (a. Godless Leaders versus David’s Righteous Branch (23:1–8))

The reference to good shepherds (v.4) leads on to a prediction of the Messiah, the David King par excellence. Here is the high point of the promise for faithful rulership.

The formula “days are coming” is a messianic formula; Jeremiah uses it to direct special attention to what is stated. The phrase is used fifteen times in the book. In contrast to the troublous times of Jeremiah’s day, there will be a time of blessing ahead.

Folks,

When you put this in context, that amidst their trials

of a kingdom overhaul

and people being scattered

a Good shepherd is proclaimed.

It’s no wonder why the people shouted Hosanna as Jesus rode in to the city.

They were once again under another king. The Romans were like other times were holding the Jewish people captive.

Jesus in their mind would come to rule like other kings.

Rule with justice.

Rule with peace.

He would shepherd his people.

But as you know. When Jesus declared,

I am the good shepherd.

John 10:11 ESV

11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

They wanted a shepherd that would fight their earthly battles. Stand up to the bullies that they faced on a day to day basis,

They were still looking for an earthly king.

Jeremiah was predicting a shepherd King from David’s branch. A kingship like that of David’s time.

But the words of Jesus, clarified what type of shepherd he would be.

Lays down his life for the sheep.

Jesus came to fight a heavenly battle or a spiritual battle not an earthly battle.

If you came to Jesus expecting all the troubles of the world will disappear, you may be disappointed.

Jesus came to this world to save us from our sins and to restore our relationship with God.

He will care for your eternal life like no other can.

You need to come to him.

Then

Jeremiah finished with the last few verses and shows us the promise of potential

The Promise of Potential

The first potential is found in verse 6

Jeremiah 23:6 ESV

6 In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’

This the promise that held the people for generations.

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 6: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel (a. Godless Leaders versus David’s Righteous Branch (23:1–8))

Now Jeremiah dilates on the benefits that will come to Messiah’s people from his reign.

1. First, he will rule over a reunited nation; both Judah and Israel will be restored (cf. Ezek 37:19).

2. Second, he will bring salvation to his people.

3. Third, peace and security will characterize Messiah’s righteous rule.

What a great promise to the people as they sat in their mess.

It is also a great potential for us today.

Christ came to bring salvation for us.

Are you sitting right now in what seams an unbearable life.

Has your world come crashing down on you as you desperately try to maintain it by yourself.

All you need to do is turn your life over to Christ. Accept his free gift of Grace and salvation.

He has come for you and for me.

The last three verses in this passage tell us of the final Potential.

Can you image the people as they heard it for the first time and then continued throughout the generations listening to the words written down from Jeremiah.

Look at these verses

Jeremiah 23:7–8 ESV

7 “Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when they shall no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ 8 but ‘As the Lord lives who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.’ Then they shall dwell in their own land.”

Days are a coming.

Jeremiah talks of the past days to remind them of what has happened and then moves to tell them of will happen.

I always wait for the day I can look back and see what God has done.

These are

Words from God and promises that can be summed up in I will statements.

I will Statements

Although these were written for the people in Jeremiah’s time,

These are also I will statements for us today.

I will Gather

I will gather my people.

For years they these were the people set apart for God. The branch. Folks the good news is that we have been grafted into this gathering as well.

The Good news is that we, as Gentiles have access to God the Father though Christ’s work on the cross.

There is coming a day when Christ will return and gather those who have chosen to follow Him. To be a disciple of Christ.

I will Raise

I will raise. God will raise a kingdom for himself, with Christ.

Once commentary puts it this way:

The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 19: Jeremiah / Lamentations The King Who is God

Jeremiah was given the refreshment of seeing God fulfill His own intention, of becoming the King of His own people. The reality of this breaks through all prophetic literature. As a matter of fact, all sixty-six books of Scripture are united by a common theme—the kingdom of God.

I will Set-up

The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 19: Jeremiah / Lamentations The King Who is God

When he uttered these words, it was almost as though Jeremiah stood in the gospel age, side by side with those apostles who had the privilege of witnessing Jesus’ Ascension into heaven. Squinting up into the brilliance of the cloud that received Him out of their sight, they were present at the supreme political event of the universe—the coronation of Christ as King. When He sat down at the right hand of the Father, He was righteousness for a race of fallen humanity. Jeremiah’s voice rings out, proclaiming His name to the age in which he spoke: Yahweh Tsidkenu, the Lord our Righteousness! On this and only this vision could the prophet rest his heart and receive consolation concerning the wreckage around him. It was not the final word.

Christ came to usher in this age.

yet The final word is when Christ will return.

Conclusion

Before we conclude this morning’s service, we would like to take a few moments and follow the words outlined here.

We will gather, raise up our new pastor and set up the ministry in our midst.

I ask Pastor Josh and Cass to come up to the front anlong with the Elders and their wives.

We will lay on hands and commission him in our midst.

We do this because we know that his ministry will be ineffective without his reliance upon God working through his life.

Response to Worship

Benediction