Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝

Jeremiah the prophet relayed the Lord’s threat that He will make this house, meaning the temple, like Shiloh. He was referring to the first holy place that was set aside by Joshua once all the children of Israel had conquered the Holy Land and received their inheritance from the Lord. Here at Shiloh was a place where the LORD would be graciously present with His people. Here He gave the faithful His good gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation. The House of God was at Shiloh. Not long afterwards the church officials and the priests became corrupt and we are informed by Holy Scripture that they set up a graven image “until the day of the captivity of the land” and “as long as the house of God was at Shiloh” (Judges 18:30-31). It was here in Shiloh, when “the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down within the Temple of the LORD, where the Ark of God was,” that “the LORD called, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ and he said, ‘Here I am!'” (1 Samuel 3:3). Samuel himself would bring God’s judgment down on the corruption and of what it was doing to hinder God’s grace from reaching His people. Finally, the Holy Spirit informs us, through Psalm 78, that God “forsook his Dwelling at Shiloh, the Tent where He dwelt among men, and delivered his power to captivity, his glory to the hand of the foe. He gave His people over to the sword, and vented His wrath on His heritage” (Psalm 78:60-62).

So because of unrepented sin and unbelief, there was no more gracious presence at Shiloh. The LORD departed from there and left it desolate. His Church still existed, but in another place. People may have continued to assemble there until the day of destruction, but they did so apart from the Presence of the LORD. They practiced idolatry instead. Shiloh, as it once was, is no more. Thus Jeremiah the prophet conveys the Word of the LORD to those in Jerusalem, “Thus says the LORD: ‘If you will not listen to Me, to walk in My law – My Instruction – My Doctrine which I have set before you, and to listen to the words of My servants the prophets whom I send to you urgently, though you have not listened, then I will make this House like Shiloh, and I will make this city a curse for all the nations of the earth.'”

As we go on to Jerusalem, we remember that Jesus, the Word Who is the LORD, spoke to that Holy City where His Temple was, saying “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not! Behold, your house is forsaken and desolate” (Matthew 23:37-38). The House of Prayer had become a den of robbers as corrupt religious leaders brokered power to coerce more money out of the faithful, and even worse, withholding from them the free gift of eternal life.

Thus the LORD rejected also the Temple at Jerusalem. As He did with Shiloh, the LORD departed from Jerusalem and His Church was no longer there, for the time of His gracious Presence had come and they did not know that it had ended until the day of destruction. Once the gracious Christ is gone; He departs for another place and people. And though they may have continued to assemble in the Temple until it was destroyed, they did so apart from the Presence of the LORD.

Jerusalem may be called a Holy City still today for the tourists, but Jerusalem as it once was, is no more. Jeremiah’s threat came true: “Thus says the LORD: ‘If you will not listen to Me, to walk in My Doctrine which I have set before you,… I will make this city a curse for all the nations of the earth.'”

The Word of the LORD went forth to other nations. Thanks to the mission work of St. Paul, Sts. Simon and Jude as well as others, churches began in Asia Minor, Galatia, Ephesus, Laodicea and so on. Pastor and people gathered together in the Name of the LORD God, Who was now graciously present with the Church there. But it didn’t stay that way. They did not continue steadfastly to devote “themselves to the Apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the Breaking of Bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42).

Jesus Himself warned them, too, as John writes in Revelation:
“I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear evil men but have tested those who call themselves apostles but are not, and found them to be false; I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for My Name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember then from what you have fallen, repent and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent” (Rev. 2:2-5).

They did not take the Lord’s Word seriously and the lampstand was removed from the Church at Ephesus; that is, the LORD departed from Ephesus and the original congregation, once thriving, is no longer there. Ephesus is now overwhelmingly Muslim.

That lampstand of God’s Word came to Rome, but they too let it die and Rome is now under the control of the Pope. Germany and Sweden had it, but now it has been removed, in favor of state churches filled with politicians and infidels. England had it, but they too have become largely godless, except for a recent sudden growth of Islam.

The Word of the LORD came to the United States of America. What better place, with the liberties upon which this nation is founded for the freedom of the Church to flourish? The men, women, and children made Godly and excellent use of this liberty to begin congregations wherein the Word of God was taught and preached in its truth and purity, and the Sacraments administered properly. Thousands of Lutheran congregations were founded, including the Perry County settlements in Southeast Missouri. Here the LORD was graciously with His people and they entered into His Presence to receive the gifts that He bountifully desires to have showered upon His Church.

It was truly a blessed time. They were united in the doctrine they taught, and if someone challenged it, they studied the Scriptures and resolved the issue decisively. People flocked to churches, schools—reformation events with no-nonsense orthodox Gospel preaching were huge affairs, less than a hundred years ago, some perhaps in your memories. Simply stated, the truth enjoyed some worldly success, according to God’s holy will. It has been said that the Missouri Synod today is not the same as in the days of our grandfathers. That should make us wonder, especially on this most popular of Lutheran observances, the Reformation.

Because we don’t see these worldly successes for the Lutheran Church like they once were, we are tempted to ask, Is the Lord actually removing His lampstand of Gospel truth from congregations here in our nation? In our Synod? Are the fleeting desires of the people crowding out the gifts of God’s grace; namely, the forgiveness of sins, eternal life and salvation? That same light is now shining more often in Sudan, Russia and Kenya. Here in the United States, there are major cities where you are not able to find one church that uses the historic liturgy of the Church. Young pastors right out of seminary are going to places and being pressured by congregations and lay leaders, from day one, to violate their ordination vows and their consciences. Other men, who are called to be pastors, are either giving in to the pressure or are actively deceiving faithful congregations and hastening the day when the gracious presence of the LORD in that place will be no more. What is going to be our standard of truth on which we finally rely? The Word of God and the Lutheran Confessions, or some resolutions passed by a certain convention or appointed commission? Our Synod’s missionaries have to raise their own money to go assist the poor churches overseas. Granted this problem didn’t happen overnight, yet the Synod, as currently structured, is unable fully to support them or their work, yet as God wills, the work will still get done somehow.

Does the future necessarily look bleak? No, the Reformation is proof positive that the Word of God indeed is the most powerful thing, the greatest influence the Church can wield, if we dare to accept and proclaim its radical truth of forgiveness. Our human natures may want edifices, monuments, legacies, memories, and those can be fine, but only if they don’t crowd out what really brings us together as the people of the Lord.

Give ear to the prophet Jeremiah, who stands and speaks with one voice with Saints Simon and Jude and the whole Church, saying,

Thus says the LORD: “Stand in the court of the LORD’s house, and speak to all the cities of Judah that come to worship in the House of the LORD all the words that I command you to speak to them; do not hold back a Word. It may be they will listen, and every one turn from his evil way, that I may relent of the disaster that I intend to do to them because of their evil deeds.”

The LORD God does not force you to receive His gifts of forgiveness, eternal life and salvation. These are free gifts because of Jesus’ sin-atoning Death and death-defeating Resurrection. The One True God does not impose His means of grace on anyone, for that would not be grace. The Holy Spirit will depart from you, that is, if you reject the Lord and His Gospel. If this happens then Christ will no longer be graciously present with you, and if you or I, through our own fault and neglect, gradually slide into such a fallen condition, God’s departure may not even be noticed, even with the name Lutheran on our church sign. That’s a scary thought and one that ought to cause sober pondering and continued repentance.

We pray and we work that this would not be so today or tomorrow. Will the generations yet unborn be able to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ, crucified and risen? Will our

children’s infants be able to be baptized in this font? Will the congregation be able to make the confession of sins and hear, as you have heard today, that you are forgiven of all your sins in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit? Will the Body and the Blood of Jesus, that was given and shed for you for the remission of all your sins, be administered here? In short, “Will This Be Our Grandchildren’s Church?” May God, in His mercy, grant it for Jesus’ sake. Receive Reformation encouragement from the book of Hebrews:

Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the Sanctuary by the Blood of Jesus, by the new and living way which He opened for us through the curtain, that is, through His Flesh, and since we have a great Priest over the House of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He Who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near (Hebrews 10:19-25).

In the Name of the Father and of the ✝ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Readings:
Jeremiah 26:1-16 speak to them; do not hold back a word
I Peter 1:3-9 the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls
John 15:17-21 A servant is not greater than his master