Jeremiah 31:27-34<\/p>\n\n\n\n
October 17, 2010<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What is the meaning of \u201ccharacter?\u201d A Christian ethicist said that \u201ccharacter\u201d is who you are when nobody else is looking. Character is who you are all the way down, deep. Or as the prophet Jeremiah might put it, character is what you have \u201cwritten on the heart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeremiah has been prophesying destruction and death for much of the book. Israel has been unfaithful and now there will be a price for the nation\u2019s infidelity. But chapter 31, beginning at verse 27, looks forward to a day when there will be a glorious restoration of the people and the land. Ignorance of the ways of the Lord, that has characterized so much of Israel\u2019s behavior up to this point, shall be healed. There will be a deep knowledge of God\u2019s ways. Even God\u2019s absence from Israel will be healed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe days are surely coming\u201d portrays the future gift that God gives to his people. The destruction, the \u201cplucking up\u201d will be ended. There will be a season of building, planting, and restoring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this new day, there will be a new covenant. God will enter into a new arrangement with his people. The old covenant has been characterized by a string of failures: broken promises, broken commandments, broken relationships. The new covenant will be much more successful because it will be written, not on tablets of stone, but on the very hearts of the people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Christian Ethics<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In the Old Testament, we read about following God\u2019s law written on tablets of stone. In those days, it was important for you to memorize the Ten Commandments so that you would know what to do or not do. Some people today still think that the Ten Commandments has a place in our public institutions. But here at our church, we rather not ask you to memorize the Ten Commandments. It\u2019s not that we don\u2019t believe in them but rather we believe that God\u2019s law has been written on our hearts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Good character is not a matter of accurately reading and obeying a set of rules but rather it is a matter of having something on the heart. Good character is when you are able to sing the song without having to read the notes. You know it \u201cby heart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n When I was in seminary, I took a course on Christian Ethics. In that course we looked at various ethical problems. We analyzed each ethical situation, weighing alternative courses of action and debating the various positions. We did research on the ethical problems of capital punishment, abortion, euthanasia, war and their implications. And then, applying reason, biblical teachings, life experiences, we attempted to think through the ethical dilemma, to determine the right course of action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat ought I to do in this situation?\u201d we would say. We dedicated time and attention to come up with a careful, rational understanding of what we ought to do in such situations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And yet today\u2019s scripture from Jeremiah, which speaks of the \u201cnew covenant\u201d written on the heart, suggests that some of the most ethical actions we perform we do without careful, rational deliberation. We say that we acted \u201cout of intuition\u201d or \u201cjust from second nature.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n What we mean is that we did them because a new covenant was written on our hearts. God graciously enabled us to do the right thing without having to think about it. Deep within us was a divinely implanted sense of what ought to be done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For Christians, this \u201cnew covenant\u201d is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Every time we receive the Lord\u2019s Supper and drink the cup, we recite from 1 Corinthians 11:25, \u201cThis cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.\u201d In Hebrews 9:15, we read, Jesus \u201cis the new mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Apostle Paul was so convinced that the new covenant has been written on his heart that he made comments like \u201cthe love of Christ controls me\u201d and \u201cChrist is in me.\u201d In other words, early Christians claimed that Jeremiah\u2019s prophecy was fulfilled in Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christ\u2019s Heart<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If our lives are characterized by having Christ in us, what might that look like? How might we act as if Christ\u2019s heart is a part of our hearts? If no one was watching, what might we do when the love of Christ is controlling your life?<\/p>\n\n\n\n This year\u2019s Canvass theme that will also be the annual church theme for 2011 is \u201cWho Is My Neighbor?\u201d based on the incident that a lawyer stood up to test Jesus in Luke 10. The lawyer said, \u201cWhat must I do to inherit eternal life?\u201d Jesus said to him, \u201cWhat is written in the law? What do you read there?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The lawyer then answered correctly, \u201cYou shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.\u201d Jesus told him, \u201cYou have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the lawyer who is familiar with the law and a defender of the law wanted to justify himself; in other words, he didn\u2019t like the correct answer he gave and wanted to find some way to justify or support his life\u2019s action of not loving his neighbor as much as he loved God and loved himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesus then told the parable of the Good Samaritan to this lawyer. We all know this story. There was a man most likely a Jew who was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when robbers stripped him of his possessions, beat him up, and left him by the side of the road half dead. It just happens that a priest was going down this same road and saw this half dead man and walked clear away to the other side and passed him by. Then a Levite came down this same road and he did just what the priest did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But then a Samaritan who was from a not a very respected group in the eyes of the Jews was also traveling down on this same road came near to the half dead man and when he saw how bad he was, was moved to pity. He went to him and treated the wounds with oil and wine and then bandaged him up. He lifted him up on the back of his own animal and checked the half dead man into a motel. The Samaritan took care of this man overnight and when morning came when the Samaritan had to leave, he took out two denaii for the innkeeper to watch out for the man and said that when he returns on his way back to Jerusalem, he would pay the innkeeper whatever more it was necessary to take care of the half dead man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After telling this story, Jesus turned to the lawyer and said, \u201cWhich of these three\u2014the priest, the Levite or the Samaritan, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?\u201d He said, \u201cThe one who showed mercy.\u201d Jesus said to the lawyer, \u201cGo and do likewise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In New Testament times, the priests and the Levites were educated leaders of their communities. They led services in the temple. They applied the Mosaic laws on the people. They had the Ten Commandments probably clearly visible and posted in public places to remind people what to do and how to behave. They probably memorized the Ten Commandments. And while they probably knew what they should have done when they saw this half dead man on the road, they didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the Samaritan who didn\u2019t have to read or memorize the Ten Commandments because he wasn\u2019t Jewish, found the compassion to care for the half dead man. It is as if the Samaritan had the new covenant written on his heart. He didn\u2019t debate with himself on what he ought to do in this situation. He performed out of this deeply implanted sense of what ought to be done\u2014doing the right thing without having to think about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Faithfulness in Marriage<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n When I think about the \u201cnew covenant written on the heart,\u201d I think about faithfulness in marriage. When people get marry, the presiding minister asks the bride and groom to promise to be faithful to one another, \u201ctill death do us part.\u201d This rule is held up before the bride and groom to obey. They must respond, out loud, before God and the church, promising that they will always be faithful to one another in keeping their vows of marriage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now in the first days of marriage, presumably there are situations when the bride and groom need to be intentional about keeping their promises of fidelity. Perhaps they will be faced with some circumstances in which they may have to say to themselves, \u201cNow wait a minute. I am married. I have got to keep my vow no matter what. I made a promise in front of God and everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n But in most marriages, over time, the couple discovers that they are no longer trying to be faithful. They are no longer keeping a promise by thinking hard about being obedient. They simply are faithful. It is as if God has written a covenant upon their hearts. That which preciously had to do with their brains they now do with their hearts. They are faithful, \u201cby heart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n We wake up one day and we realize that we are no longer trying to be faithful, or being obedient; we just are faithful. We are keeping the promises of marriage \u201cby heart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the Jeremiah passage we read this morning, God saw his relationship with Israel like that of a husband relating to his wife. In the new covenant \u201cit will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them out of Egypt\u2014a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord.\u201d In this new covenant, God said, \u201cI will put my law within them, and will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n When it comes to the way we relate with our neighbors, we want to become like the Good Samaritan. Unlike the priest or the Levite who performed mental gymnastics about whether they should or should not help the half dead man, we won\u2019t need to think hard about helping any longer. We would see all our neighbors as God\u2019s children just like how we like God to see us. When God\u2019s new covenant in Jesus Christ is written on our hearts, we know God and God sees us as his people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By Heart<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s a story about the beginning of creation when God is trying to decide the best way to reveal God\u2019s self to humanity. God\u2019s angels take turns giving God advice:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhy don\u2019t you appear to them in their highest courts?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why don\u2019t you appear to them in their largest and greatest places of religious worship?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, neither of those alternatives satisfies God. Then one angel suggests that humanity can discover hints of God\u2019s self in \u201cjourneys of science and art\u2026as they learn to love and care for each other\u2026and in their great institutions of learning, government, and worship.\u201d The angel adds, it is only when human beings \u201cundertake the great journey of self-discovery, the pilgrimage to learn who they truly are and when they come to the end of the journey\u2026learn that they are truly your creatures, there you should meet them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is there\u2014\u201cin the depth and intimacy of the human heart\u201d\u2014that we will discover the presence of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes we say that we know a song \u201cby heart.\u201d When we sing the Doxology after the offering, most of us sing it without looking at the words in the bulletin. It\u2019s there for those who are new to our church. After we have received the Lord\u2019s Supper, we hold each other\u2019s hands and sing, \u201cBlest Be the Ties that Binds\u201d without having to see the words\u2014we know them \u201cby heart.\u201d After the morning prayer, you recite The Lord\u2019s Prayer \u201cby heart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thes testimonies that these pieces of music and this prayer have become part of us. They have burrowed deep within our souls, so deep that we don\u2019t have to think about it, we just do it, \u201cby heart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Christians, the new covenant is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. We say, \u201cJesus is in my heart.\u201d We sing, \u201cWe got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart. Where? Down in my heart. Where? Down in my heart. Where? Down in my heart to stay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We got the love and compassion of the Good Samaritan down in our hearts. Where? Down in our hearts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We got the concerns and welfare of our neighbors down in our hearts. Where? Down in our hearts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We got the new covenant in Christ written on our hearts. Where? Down in our hearts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let us pray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Almighty God, we thank you for all the ways in which you stay close to us. We praise you for your revelation to us in scripture, preaching, the testimonials and witnesses of fellow Christians, and all the other ways you keep drawing us toward you. Continue to guide us writing your covenant on our hearts, good Lord. Keep working with us. Draw us closer to your light, infuse us with your life. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jeremiah 31:27-34 October 17, 2010 Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco. What is the meaning of \u201ccharacter?\u201d A Christian ethicist said