Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The Word of the Lord which engages us this morning comes from our Old Testament lesson (Jeremiah 23: 1-6). ����������������

The Word of the Lord which Jeremiah first proclaims in our text is a serious word of Law. "Woe to the Shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!" declares the LORD. These words of warning are directed at the King of Judah, Zedekiah, and his court in Jerusalem because they are not caring for the people of God. He and most of his kingly predecessors for the past 300 years had not walked in the faith of his grand-grandfather King David. The people were being abused financially, but they were also being directed to worship other gods, not the one true Lord Jehovah (Yahweh). Jeremiah was the last prophet to warn the king and his court of the coming disaster, that God would send foreign kings and armies to come and destroy the city Jerusalem and cart its belongings and people off to a foreign land for 70 years. He warns "Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done," declares the LORD." ����������������

We might hope that the religious leaders of the day would be shepherding the people better than the king. But just a few verses later (23: 10-12), the next paragraph after our text Jeremiah blasts the prophets and priests as well. "The prophets follow an evil course and use their power unjustly. 11 "Both prophet and priest are godless; even in my temple I find their wickedness," declares the LORD. 12 "Therefore their path will become slippery; they will be banished to darkness and there they will fall. I will bring disaster on them in the year they are punished," declares the LORD." For 300 years too many kings, priests and prophets of Judah and Israel had been directing the people away from God's Word and the stories of his salvation and love. The ruling elite had been directing them toward other gods and other beliefs, undermining the faith that God's chosen people should have had in their LORD and his saving power. ����������������

For the past 300 years too many of the ruling elite of Europe and North America, including too many pastors and religious experts, have been directing people away from God's Holy Word in the Bible and toward other beliefs, other gods. People often ask me what are the primary differences between all the different Christian denominations. While those differences are too many to list, I think that the most primary dividing line within Christendom is this: What is the Bible? Is it THE Word of God? Or does the Bible only contain the Word of God? Are we at liberty to pick and choose among the Scriptures, ignoring what we think is no longer relevant in our modern age or to our personal lives? Can we approach the Bible like we do a restaurant smorgasbord, picking and choosing what we prefer and ignoring what we don't like? Or did God speak the Words He wanted all believers to have throughout history, words that point out our sin and our need for repentance and salvation? Is God's Word in Scripture inerrant, that is without error? For some 300 years now our culture, including many so-called theologians, have been undermining the authority of the Bible, placing doubt first on the miracles of the Old Testament, then the New Testament, and then on the very teachings of the Scriptures themselves. ����������������

We've seen this in the news this week. A major church body, nearly as large as our own, has chosen to elect an openly homosexual bishop. Many people shrug their shoulders and say "Well it's just a matter of biblical 'interpretation.'" This is not a matter of interpretation. God's Word speaks clearly in Paul's letter to the Romans 1 (25-28): "25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie� Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done." This is not a matter of interpretation. There are some things in Scripture that are not as crystal clear as we might like them and do require careful interpretation. There are some parts of the Old Testament have been supplanted by the New Testament, fulfilled in Jesus Christ. But homosexual behavior is not one of those. God's Word is clear here. The only question becomes "Is the Bible the Word of God?" or are some bishops, pastors and Christian lay people free to ignore parts of the Bible like Romans 1. Are there shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep that God wants gathered to Him and his forgiveness and love? Warnings like this about false shepherds and false spiritual teachers is repeated in nearly every book of the New Testament (see list below). For example 2 Tim 4: 3 ff "For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths." These very words were read among us the second Sunday of August two years ago, at my ordination and installation. Three years ago my family and I moved here and I began my service as your vicar. Two years ago I became your undershepherd, filling the office of pastor, overseer of God's flock here at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Junction City. There is hardly a day that goes by that I do not pray to God to strengthen me to be able to proclaim HIS Word, not mine, to guide me in proclaiming the Law that needs to be heard, both publicly and privately, and in proclaiming the Gospel, the Good News of forgiveness in Jesus Christ. I never want to be a shepherd that allows the sheep to be scattered by false teaching, whether that has to do with homosexuality or covetousness, pre-marital sex or gossip, unbiblical divorce or disobedience to parents, denying the importance of hearing God's Word regularly or being unloving in how we share that Word with others. I never want to be an undershepherd who looks past God's clear teachings about his Law. I always want to be a pastor who helps each of you individually realize your own sinfulness, the tendency we all have to pick and choose at God's Word. I want to be an undershepherd who always points you to the God-Man Jesus and Jesus alone to know your forgiveness. Jeremiah spoke harsh law to the King and the false prophets and priests. This harsh law still applies to all who are shepherds of God's people, and there is not a day that goes by that I don't shudder at the responsibility of guiding God's people according to His Word. But Jeremiah went on to share the most glorious Good News that the Lord declared "I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number. I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing," declares the LORD. The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness." 600 years after Jeremiah the Lord Himself, the LORD our Righteousness, did come in the form of a human, born under the law, our Savior Jesus Christ. He looked around at the crowds and (Mark 6: 34) "He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things." Ultimately He taught them that "the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again" (Mark 8: 31). Jesus, the Lord our righteousness, came and gave his life on the cross for sheep that were scattered. He then left His powerful teachings, clear as they are, in His Holy Word so that generations of wandering sheep could be convicted of their sin and turn to Him for their salvation. I give thanks to God that I am a pastor in a church body that still takes God's Word very seriously, not picking and choosing what we think is still relevant. I give thanks to God for a church body and congregation that believes Jesus when He says "Repent and believe the Gospel" (Mark 1: 15). We repent of all the sins He has identified, not just the ones some modern theologians think might still be sins. We trust in the Good News that Jesus Christ takes away our repented sins. I give thanks to God that I am a pastor in a congregation with now two synodically trained called teachers as well as other theologically trained teachers and deacons as well as many other members who are knowledgeable of Scripture and our Lutheran teachings. I am thankful because if ever I do, in my own sinfulness, inadvertently misstate God's Word or failed to bestow the care of God's Word and Sacraments properly, I know that one or more of those trained and knowledgeable people could gently redirect me to God's Word on that topic. I give thanks to God that He has given us that inerrant Word to read, mark and inwardly digest so that we can continue to be His gathered sheep for eternity.

And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4: 7)

Partial list of New Testament warning verses about false teaching: Matthew 7: 15 and Matthew 24: 11, 24; Mark 13: 22-23; Acts 15:1-2 and Acts 20: 27; Romans 16: 17-19; 1 Corinthians 14: 37-38; 2 Corinthians 11: 13-15, 26; Galatians 2: 4-5; Ephesians 5: 6-10; Philippians 3:1-3; Colossians 2: 2-8; 1 Thessalonians 5: 21-22; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3l 1 Timothy 1: 3-7 and 6: 3ff; 2 Timothy 4: 2-4; Titus 1: 9-11; Hebrews 13: 9; James 5: 19-20; 1 Peter 5: 8-9; 2 Peter 2:1-2; 1 John 2: 24-26 and 1 John 4:1-3; 2 John 7-11; 3 John 9-11; Jude 4-5; Revelation 2: 18-21 and Revelation 22: 18-19.