What's Goin' On?

A sermon preached by The Reverend Scott Dennis Nowack on March 25, 2012

at the First Presbyterian Church, Kilgore, Texas

What’s Goin’ On?

Jeremiah 31: 31-34

            Our Old Testament reading lands us in the middle of a traumatic time in the history of ancient Israel.  Most of the Israelites had been taken into exile by the Babylonians.  The once glorious city of Jerusalem and Solomon’s Temple, the centerpiece of the Jewish faith, were destroyed and lay in ruin.  Homes and marketplaces once filled with life are no more.  I can’t begin to imagine the shock of such a tragic event.  I can hear the people saying, “What’s goin’ on?  What's has happened?  Has God deserted us?  What’s goin’ on?” 

Up to this point the prophet Jeremiah had spoken of the judgement and wrath of God.  In our verses today, Jeremiah does not proclaim the judgement of God, but rather the hope God has for all people, even those who were left behind amongst the ruins of Jerusalem.

            The Israelites time and time again broke the old covenant God had established through Moses when God brought them out of slavery in Egypt.  The significance of this broken covenant is compared to breaking the covenant of marriage.  Because of Israel’s continued unfaithfulness, the old covenant is null and void.

            Why does God stick with them?  What is God doing?  God wants to do a new thing with God’s people.  He wants to follow a new approach.  God wants to make a new covenant, but he’s going to do it differently this time.  Jeremiah tells us that the new covenant will not be like the old one.  The new covenant will bring about an inward transformation of the human heart that will allow people to know God intimately.  Also included in the new deal is the complete forgiveness of the people’s sins, starting each of them off with a clean slate.

            God’s covenant with humanity would go from the law written on tablets of stone and stored in the Ark of the Covenant, to the law written on the heart of each person so that they would know God in a whole new way.  Through the new covenant, God wants to “brand” our hearts with the love, compassion, and knowledge of God.  God’s spirit will move the hearts of Israel to be obedient to God.  They will turn to God and obey God, not because they have to according to the law, but because they desire to do so.  The intent of the new covenant is that God’s people would have an obedient attitude towards the law of God.

            In other words, by forming a new covenant with humanity, God has boldly declared that he is not going anywhere.  He’s sticking around because he wants to do a new thing in the midst of all the hopelessness and uncertainty.  Despite the bleak conditions in Jerusalem, God is still there.  He hasn’t given up on his people.  God is offering the Israelites a message of hope and faith that in spite of all the traumatic changes in their lives, God will be there with them, but in a new way that they have never seen before. 

            We, too, live in a time of history that is undergoing major shifts and significant change.  New things are happening all around us, large and small, that may leave us asking the question, “What’s goin’ on?” 

            Our world is not the same today as it was 10 or 20 years ago.  Those who have jobs today are working harder for less money and working longer hours to make ends meet.  More and more women are working outside the home each year.  I heard on the news that the average employee today works 138 hours more per year than a generation ago.  That works out to be on average 4 weeks per year.  That’s a lot of time. 

            Things have loosened up on the TV, too.  Since the rating system was instituted along with the use of parental warnings at the beginning and during shows, there has been an increase in the use of foul language and an increased use of graphic, violent scenes and sexually explicit footage.  Our moral, ethical standards are being challenged and questioned everyday as you and I struggle against these destructive cultural forces.

            It’s no secret that we no longer live in a Christian-dominated culture.  There is a wide variety of spiritual belief systems to be embraced other than Christianity.  This is especially true among my generation and the youth and young adults of today.  We live in a spiritual marketplace where individuals are picking and choosing what aspects they like from various religions and spiritual practices.  There is a spiritual longing amongst young people today unlike any other time in history.  They are yearning for a spirituality that is authentic, rooted, and inclusive.  It doesn’t matter whether it’s tied to an institutional church or not.  It must be relevant and transformative.

            New technologies are developing at an accelerated rate.  The internet continues to bring about a revolution in how we communicate and relate to each other.  I bought a new car a few weeks ago.  Before I stepped into a single dealer showroom, I did my research on the Internet.  I checked kbb.com (Kelly’s Blue Book) for the value of my old car.  I subscribed to consumerreports.org to read up on the ratings they give cars.  I visited the websites of car makers to get the specs of vehicles, the options available and more.  I picked the make, model, options, my price range, indicated financing, and they told me whether or not my dream car existed and if so, where I could find it.  No more driving around from dealer to dealer, but I still had to haggle the sales rep about the price. 

We buy everything on the internet: diapers, clothing, gift cards, airline tickets, books, music, tools, and beauty products all right on your computer.  We do our banking and pay our bills on the Internet.  We connect to old and new friends and loved ones through social media websites such as facebook, twitter and others.  We carry smartphones that do just about anything a computer can do.  The tablet computer, iPads, Kindles, and the Nook, have started a revolution in the publishing industry; one that hasn’t been seen since the invention of the printing press.  It is certainly possible we will all use a tablet by 2015 and use less paper, too.  We are in the midst of a technological and cultural revolution where nothing is sacred.

            With all of these changes, we have new things happening here at FPC.  The youth of our church held a fundraiser in February to raise money for their mission trip to Louisville, Kentucky in June.  What’s the big deal?  Common practice for many years has been the prohibition of fundraisers in the church for anything.  Also, this mission trip is the first mission trip our church has sponsored in many years.  I am so excited for this trip and the amazing ministry our youth will bring to many people in need. 

            Our Mission Ministry Team and other church members are discerning what God is doing through the Saturday Bread ministry and our participation in Longview Interfaith Housing Network.  Good questions are being asked in an attempt to discern God’s plan for these special ministries and how to address the challenges they place before us.

God wants to lead us into a new future with new possibilities for ministry with a new hope found in God’s new covenant with us in Jesus Christ.

            God offers us this new covenant because God wants to do a new thing with you and me; a new covenant that will lead us to a new life with Him; one that will lead us through new possibilities, challenges, and obstacles.  It is a covenant that is bigger than any two stone tablets could hold.  It is higher than the highest mountain, wider than the widest valley, deeper than the deepest sea.  For the purpose of this new covenant is to revolutionize our existence and how we relate to God, to transform our human heart from the inside out that will allow us to know God more intimately and more fully. 

It is a transformation that will give us an obedient attitude towards the law of God.  The prophet Isaiah writes, “I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”  God wants to do a new thing in your life and mine.  He wants to get into our hearts and transform them from within.  Will you let God do a new thing in your life?

            I welcome the future with open arms and a discerning heart.  You and I can face the future with the assurance that we do not face it alone.  We have a firm foundation upon which we can stand.  And that foundation is the new covenant, Jesus the Christ.  May God give us the strength and the courage to embrace the new things God will do in the days, months, and years to come.  Amen.