Grace is God’s attitude towards sinners; not holding their sins against them but relenting from the Law’s just judgement and giving the undeserved Gospel instead.
The context for our reading from Jeremiah will be important to crafting the Gospel experience for preaching this text. Jeremiah chapter 1 sets the thematic and theological overview for the book. The first unit is chapters 2-24 which are focused on preaching the Word (chapter 7) and inwardly digesting the Word (chapter 15). The hinge and center of the book is Chapter 25 which stands as the pillar of this text and is thematically tied back to chapter 1 with its emphasis on God’s Word and power. Like a locket, it holds these two pictures of Jeremiah’s ministry together. The second unit of Jeremiah is chapters 26-52 where our reading is found. Here, the written Word of God takes on a life of its own.
The key to understanding our text and how to preach it is found in the idea that the Word of God is going to vindicate Jeremiah from the truly terrifying experience happening at the opening of the reading. But the question comes to mind: Why did they have such a strong response to the conclusion of His prophetic oracles (verse 8)? Because they were reacting to his message of “uprooting and tearing down and overthrowing” from earlier in chapter 1:10, and the Law proclamation in his oracles of judgement. However, before there is new life, there is death. Before you get the Gospel, you have to get the Law. This was simply too hard for them to swallow.
You clearly see this idea of Law and Gospel come out in verse 13. Yahweh’s decision to relent is not based off an idea of “open theism.” To mistake His relenting as some kind of changeableness or anthropomorphizing in God is the wrong idea. Instead, here it is simply Law and Gospel. God is fully just in condemning His people for sin according to His perfect Law. But instead, He chooses to change His attitude towards us as one of grace, mercy, and peace through forgiveness of sins. Grace is God’s attitude towards sinners; not holding their sins against them but relenting from the Law’s just judgement and giving the undeserved Gospel instead. We see this, of course, the clearest in Christ.
God is fully just in condemning His people for sin according to His perfect Law. But instead, He chooses to change His attitude towards us as one of grace, mercy, and peace through forgiveness of sins.
In order to have the full explicit Gospel in our preaching of this text we may have to scrounge around and utilize something which happens just after our reading. So, Jeremiah is being misjudged for the words he speaks from the Lord. However, in verse 17, some people come along and quote from Micah (3:12) and prove what Jeremiah says is true (26:18). This written Word of God vindicates Jeremiah. In fact, this is the only time in the Old Testament where someone is vindicated by the written words of another prophet. People came to Jeremiah’s rescue because of a written, divine Word. This sets the stage for the second half of the book of Jeremiah.
The theme of the second half of Jeremiah: “The people vindicated by the Word.” You can see this play out consistently in the rest of the book. In Chapter 29, there is the written word sent to the exiles in Babylon (verse 11). In chapters 30-31, this written word is known as the book of comfort (verses 2-3). In Chapter 32, Jeremiah buys a field and has a written word that shows his commitment to Yahweh’s promise of a hope and future for God’s people. In Chapter 36, the king tries to destroy the written words of God, but Jeremiah simply rewrites it. In Chapter 51, the prophet takes a scroll and writes on it all the words of judgement for Babylon and throws it into the Euphrates. This theme just keeps coming up repeatedly and it does not stop even for us.
When we are in a similar position, like Jeremiah, we too are vindicated by the Word of God. The Word of the Lord endures forever (Psalm 118), because even if you try to destroy this Word of God, He will raise it again and make it the Word of vindication for His people. In His Word, they put their hope, and it did not fail them ever (Psalm 199:81). Jeremiah’s audience had everything taken away from them. Their nation, temple, leaders, homes, land, liturgy, all of it was stripped away except for the Word. The only thing they still had was the written Word and promises of God. Jeremiah invites us to see the climax of this Word in the “new covenant” (31:31-34) where God says He is going to put this Word in our gut and lay the Torah on our hearts (sacramental connections abound here). We belong to Him and He belongs to us. All of this points to the Word made flesh in Christ Jesus our Lord (John 1:14), where all the promises of vindication, hope, and a future are made real for us by grace through faith in His death and resurrection.
A nice configuration for a sermon on this reading would be a “Text-Application” structure:
“This structure organizes the sermon on the basis of two experiences most parishioners have as they open up the Scriptures: A desire to understand what the text is speaking of in its own historical context and a desire to hear how God speaks through this text to shape the lives of His people today. With an eye toward these two experiences, the preacher shapes the sermon with a “Text-Application” structure.
The preacher divides the progression of the sermon into two portions. After an introduction that raises interest in the text or in a life situation for which the hearers desire a word from God, the first part of the sermon offers textual exposition for the hearers; the second part of the sermon applies the text to the hearers.
In the first section of the sermon, the preacher spends time with the text. As the preacher develops the text, he is careful to focus on those details that are important for later application of this text to the lives of his hearers. Often, the preacher will be identifying teachings of the faith within his exposition of the text which will later be used in application to the lives of the hearers.
In the second section of the sermon, the preacher examines God’s present work in the lives of the contemporary hearers. In doing this, he could be working with the teaching of the text, the function of the text, or the intention of the writer. Any of these approaches can yield fruitful results in terms of how this text functions among the listeners today. Sometimes, preachers may find it helpful to move sequentially through the four types of discourse in the tapestry of preaching as they move from text to application: Textual Exposition, Theological Confession that names a teaching in the text, Evangelical Proclamation that centers that teaching in Christ for us, and Hearer Interpretation that names our lives in relation to that teaching.
The biggest challenges in this sermon structure are finding an appropriate balance between textual exposition and hearer application (for example, avoiding a sermon which is long on textual study and short on application) and maintaining hearer attention during a prolonged section of textual study or application.”[1]
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Additional Resources:
Craft of Preaching-Check out out 1517’s resources on Jeremiah 26:8-15.
Concordia Theology-Various helps from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, MO to assist you in preaching Jeremiah 26:8-15.
Lectionary Kick-Start-Check out this fantastic podcast from Craft of Preaching authors Peter Nafzger and David Schmitt as they dig into the texts for this Sunday!
The Pastor’s Workshop-Check out all the great preaeching resources from our friends at the Pastor’s Workshop!
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[1] https://concordiatheology.org/sermon-structs/textual/text-application/
