Sermon - August 31, 2014
Scripture Text:
Jeremiah 15:15-21
15 O Lord, you know; remember me and visit me, and bring down retribution for me on my persecutors.
In your forbearance do not take me away; know that on your account I suffer insult.
16 Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy
and the delight of my heart; for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts.
17 I did not sit in the company of merrymakers, nor did I rejoice;
under the weight of your hand I sat alone, for you had filled me with indignation.
18 Why is my pain unceasing, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?
Truly, you are to me like a deceitful brook, like waters that fail.
19 Therefore, thus says the Lord:
If you turn back, I will take you back, and you shall stand before me.
If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall serve as my mouth.
It is they who will turn to you, not you who will turn to them.
20 And I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze;
they will fight against you, but they shall not prevail over you,
for I am with you to save you and deliver you,
says the Lord.
21 I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked, and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.
I don't have to tell you this, but we are living in a tough world- aren't we?! We are living in a terrible, rotten, horrible, no good, very bad world and things are only getting worse not better- especially here in the church.
It is a world filled with prejudices and judgmental people at every turn looking for their 'pound of flesh' at our expense. It is a world filled with not only the justification of sin, but the justification to sin- as if the more you sin the better you are (which sounds crazy to even say but is something practiced often in this world).
Jeremiah knew how difficult the world we find ourselves living in can be. He lived it. He witnessed it firsthand, and he wrote about it. Before we could cry 'foul' at the degradation of society, Jeremiah was already crying out against sin and calling for God to come. He experienced how terrible, and rotten, and horrible, and no good, a people called by God could live in the name of entitlement, and self-righteousness. The experience troubled him.
God's people, from the smallest to the most experienced, willfully and deliberately, sinned and they had no qualms about doing it again. They didn't care how loudly Jeremiah chastised them, or how flowery his words were- they would just keep doing it. Even their choices not to sin were moments when sin reigned in them because they didn't want to stop sinning, they wanted to look better than their neighbor. It was a tough culture Jeremiah lived in.
This is a tough world we live in now. But we thank God for words like these from Jeremiah, a man whose diary we seem to have access to in the book bearing his name because it shows us how close God will move to us in these times of doubt and hardship.
Today, while tempting to be certain, I do not want to focus solely on the words of restoration- which do make our spiritual mouths water at their level of promise. We already know that if we sin, or those around us sin, God will redeem us and elevate us. Instead, I want to focus on verse 19, the verse I think is the lynchpin of this text, the verse that spoke so loudly to me over the last two weeks because of its honesty and God's presence in it. Hear the words again:
"If you turn back, I will take you back, and you shall stand before me. If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall serve as my mouth. It is they who will turn to you, not you who will turn to them."
Powerful words to be certain. Everybody has a 'bad day' from time to time; moments when things just don't turn out the way we would like them to turn out. It is natural to expect that when we try to do our best or, at least, when we have not intentionally or knowingly done anything wrong, ordinarily, things will work out all right in the end. Nevertheless, in spite of good intentions and best efforts, there are times when plans fail, friends [and family] disappoint, relatives do not understand, health falters, calamity strikes, and/or stress mounts. It is then, as the prophet was doing in our text that we wonder, 'why God?' [Feasting on the Word]
But the point of the text is not to ask, 'why God.' The point of the verse I have highlighted is to 'turn back to God' because as we turn back to God, he turns to back us. Restoration comes but it comes after we turn back to him.
Move 1- a self-righteous prophet
The first thing I learn from Jeremiah, which is a lesson we do not expect from a prophet who experienced the power of God's revelation in their lives even if he is called the weeping prophet, is a level of self-righteousness that he displays. His words echo with a feelings of "I'm better than this. Because God has revealed himself to me, I should not have to deal with these types of moments." Am I the only one who has felt, or thought, this way? Probably not...
He misses the mark. "The prophet's self-pity is rebuked as selfishness masquerading as devotion to God. Jeremiah's list of nobel deeds is exposed as a frustrated self-congratulatory attitude grounded in self-righteousness [in the eyes of God]. As such, Jeremiah's attitude is no better than those whom he criticizes for selfishness that reflects disrespect for God." [from Ronald Peters]. It does not matter how great Jeremiah has been, it does not matter how much he served The Lord, these times come into everyone's lives.
The first half of our text presents Jeremiah living in tension. He knows who he is called to be. He knows pain and suffering yet he also has the words of restoration from God. He feels he has been faithful to the calling received from God. He has consumed the words from God to be faithfully expressed to the world in verse 16, and yet, Jeremiah feels undone by God. "Truly," he says in verse 18, "you are to me like a deceitful brook, like waters that fall (your work and presence are something unnatural and ineffective)." "I did my part," he would say, "and still they pursue me. I have done my part and yet I suffer. This is not fair. I was even joyful last at church when were at North Boundary and still this didn't work out." He might as well say, 'you don't care for me, God' because we know he is feeling it. Bad things are not suppose to happen to good prophets or good Christian- right?!?
He is a prophet living in tension. But in that way he is a lot like you and I as Christians living today. For we have all wondered 'why God' and have no adequate answer. We wondered, 'why God' because we've been faithful. And the answer we have from God seems inadequate.
Or at least we think the answer is inadequate since it does not bring any glory to you and I. Because we define ourselves as faithful we do not believe what is happening is partly our fault as well.
Move 2-
But in the tension, a tension we all feel in the church, Jeremiah learns a powerful lesson. "Turn back to me and I will turn back to you." Turn back to me Plains Church in the regular moments of your lives and I will turn back to you.
The problem is emphatically not God's heavy hand (verse 17) when it leaves the prophet feeling alone and he feels he needs God the most. The problem is the absurdity of nonchalant living when society is on the brink of collapse and they do nothing to change their lives. They do not stop and call each other's behavior into question as not living up the gospel and they burry their heads in the sand- much like we do sometimes.
God is not letting the audience live in denial any longer. He sees this is happening and he speaks about it to Jeremiah. God accepts the tension in this conflict, feels impelled to live in it with us, and hopes we will turn to him as he turns to us.
Yet I cannot help but wonder if we too are self-righteous prophets missing the mark because we are too interested in our own deeds of wonder and faith to stop and see that our lives do not at times live up the high calling we have from Christ Jesus?
If that is the case, then I wonder, why we have not chosen to 'turn back to God' because God plans to turn back to us? Why have we not looked squarely into the face of what is troubling us and seen not an absent God but a God who can, and does, some mighty things, and God who takes self-righteous prophets like Jeremiah and transforms them again into servants. It is a dramatic moment to be certain.
Move 3- time to scream
This can be a time to scream. It can be a time to be angry/upset. Jeremiah was upset and felt like screaming not only at the world, and the perceived injustice of it, but he also felt like screaming at God, and the perceived injustice from God to a servant who has done nothing but serve faithfully as called. God was as helpful as a deceitful brook. However, God invites these moments of honesty, and then just at the precise moment where they occur, and we are the maddest we will ever be, we find a God who doesn't fit expectations.
"Yahweh can be equally honest and therefore abrasive in response to prayer," as Walter Bruggerman says. Jeremiah 15:20 is nearly a verbatim quote of Jeremiah 1:18-19, “And I for my part have made you today a fortified city, an iron pillar, and a bronze wall, against the whole land -- against the kings of Judah, its princes, its priests, and the people of the land. They will fight against you; but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, says the LORD, to deliver you.” These were a reminder of the first words from God to his servant when he first called Jeremiah by name claiming to have ordained him for a holy task before he was born.
God reminds Jeremiah that the suffering he has experienced is as advertised- this was always going to happen, and does happen, to those who commit themselves to a vocation of holiness. Jeremiah then, is not to crumble in the face of adversity but rather redouble his commitment to his prophetic vocation. "Turn back to me and I will turn back to you." Stay close to my side. They are the same words for you today when you find yourself smashed by this world.
Persecution has not derailed God’s promise to deliver and vindicate (verse 20), and God reminds Jeremiah that his perseverance is the very vehicle by which the people are won over to repentance (verse 19). In the midst of injustice, Jeremiah is not to allow evil to overcome good but to turn to God and be changed.
Could we do the same thing when a terrible, rotten, horrible world seems to overwhelm us? Would we even be willing to try?
Conclusion
It is a terrible, horrible, no good place we live in, but Jeremiah learns, and we too should learn to turn back to him so he will turn back to us. It will be hard because we have become so accustomed to 'score keeping' as citizens of earth. But rather than keep score, and decide whose is righteous and who is not. Let us return to The Lord and be changed. Let us stop denying what is happening here- we live in a place where behaviors do not always line up to God's plan. And let's admit what is really happening in our hearts and then turn back to God.
Jeremiah 15:15-21
15 O Lord, you know; remember me and visit me, and bring down retribution for me on my persecutors.
In your forbearance do not take me away; know that on your account I suffer insult.
16 Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy
and the delight of my heart; for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts.
17 I did not sit in the company of merrymakers, nor did I rejoice;
under the weight of your hand I sat alone, for you had filled me with indignation.
18 Why is my pain unceasing, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?
Truly, you are to me like a deceitful brook, like waters that fail.
19 Therefore, thus says the Lord:
If you turn back, I will take you back, and you shall stand before me.
If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall serve as my mouth.
It is they who will turn to you, not you who will turn to them.
20 And I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze;
they will fight against you, but they shall not prevail over you,
for I am with you to save you and deliver you,
says the Lord.
21 I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked, and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.
I don't have to tell you this, but we are living in a tough world- aren't we?! We are living in a terrible, rotten, horrible, no good, very bad world and things are only getting worse not better- especially here in the church.
It is a world filled with prejudices and judgmental people at every turn looking for their 'pound of flesh' at our expense. It is a world filled with not only the justification of sin, but the justification to sin- as if the more you sin the better you are (which sounds crazy to even say but is something practiced often in this world).
Jeremiah knew how difficult the world we find ourselves living in can be. He lived it. He witnessed it firsthand, and he wrote about it. Before we could cry 'foul' at the degradation of society, Jeremiah was already crying out against sin and calling for God to come. He experienced how terrible, and rotten, and horrible, and no good, a people called by God could live in the name of entitlement, and self-righteousness. The experience troubled him.
God's people, from the smallest to the most experienced, willfully and deliberately, sinned and they had no qualms about doing it again. They didn't care how loudly Jeremiah chastised them, or how flowery his words were- they would just keep doing it. Even their choices not to sin were moments when sin reigned in them because they didn't want to stop sinning, they wanted to look better than their neighbor. It was a tough culture Jeremiah lived in.
This is a tough world we live in now. But we thank God for words like these from Jeremiah, a man whose diary we seem to have access to in the book bearing his name because it shows us how close God will move to us in these times of doubt and hardship.
Today, while tempting to be certain, I do not want to focus solely on the words of restoration- which do make our spiritual mouths water at their level of promise. We already know that if we sin, or those around us sin, God will redeem us and elevate us. Instead, I want to focus on verse 19, the verse I think is the lynchpin of this text, the verse that spoke so loudly to me over the last two weeks because of its honesty and God's presence in it. Hear the words again:
"If you turn back, I will take you back, and you shall stand before me. If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall serve as my mouth. It is they who will turn to you, not you who will turn to them."
Powerful words to be certain. Everybody has a 'bad day' from time to time; moments when things just don't turn out the way we would like them to turn out. It is natural to expect that when we try to do our best or, at least, when we have not intentionally or knowingly done anything wrong, ordinarily, things will work out all right in the end. Nevertheless, in spite of good intentions and best efforts, there are times when plans fail, friends [and family] disappoint, relatives do not understand, health falters, calamity strikes, and/or stress mounts. It is then, as the prophet was doing in our text that we wonder, 'why God?' [Feasting on the Word]
But the point of the text is not to ask, 'why God.' The point of the verse I have highlighted is to 'turn back to God' because as we turn back to God, he turns to back us. Restoration comes but it comes after we turn back to him.
Move 1- a self-righteous prophet
The first thing I learn from Jeremiah, which is a lesson we do not expect from a prophet who experienced the power of God's revelation in their lives even if he is called the weeping prophet, is a level of self-righteousness that he displays. His words echo with a feelings of "I'm better than this. Because God has revealed himself to me, I should not have to deal with these types of moments." Am I the only one who has felt, or thought, this way? Probably not...
He misses the mark. "The prophet's self-pity is rebuked as selfishness masquerading as devotion to God. Jeremiah's list of nobel deeds is exposed as a frustrated self-congratulatory attitude grounded in self-righteousness [in the eyes of God]. As such, Jeremiah's attitude is no better than those whom he criticizes for selfishness that reflects disrespect for God." [from Ronald Peters]. It does not matter how great Jeremiah has been, it does not matter how much he served The Lord, these times come into everyone's lives.
The first half of our text presents Jeremiah living in tension. He knows who he is called to be. He knows pain and suffering yet he also has the words of restoration from God. He feels he has been faithful to the calling received from God. He has consumed the words from God to be faithfully expressed to the world in verse 16, and yet, Jeremiah feels undone by God. "Truly," he says in verse 18, "you are to me like a deceitful brook, like waters that fall (your work and presence are something unnatural and ineffective)." "I did my part," he would say, "and still they pursue me. I have done my part and yet I suffer. This is not fair. I was even joyful last at church when were at North Boundary and still this didn't work out." He might as well say, 'you don't care for me, God' because we know he is feeling it. Bad things are not suppose to happen to good prophets or good Christian- right?!?
He is a prophet living in tension. But in that way he is a lot like you and I as Christians living today. For we have all wondered 'why God' and have no adequate answer. We wondered, 'why God' because we've been faithful. And the answer we have from God seems inadequate.
Or at least we think the answer is inadequate since it does not bring any glory to you and I. Because we define ourselves as faithful we do not believe what is happening is partly our fault as well.
Move 2-
But in the tension, a tension we all feel in the church, Jeremiah learns a powerful lesson. "Turn back to me and I will turn back to you." Turn back to me Plains Church in the regular moments of your lives and I will turn back to you.
The problem is emphatically not God's heavy hand (verse 17) when it leaves the prophet feeling alone and he feels he needs God the most. The problem is the absurdity of nonchalant living when society is on the brink of collapse and they do nothing to change their lives. They do not stop and call each other's behavior into question as not living up the gospel and they burry their heads in the sand- much like we do sometimes.
God is not letting the audience live in denial any longer. He sees this is happening and he speaks about it to Jeremiah. God accepts the tension in this conflict, feels impelled to live in it with us, and hopes we will turn to him as he turns to us.
Yet I cannot help but wonder if we too are self-righteous prophets missing the mark because we are too interested in our own deeds of wonder and faith to stop and see that our lives do not at times live up the high calling we have from Christ Jesus?
If that is the case, then I wonder, why we have not chosen to 'turn back to God' because God plans to turn back to us? Why have we not looked squarely into the face of what is troubling us and seen not an absent God but a God who can, and does, some mighty things, and God who takes self-righteous prophets like Jeremiah and transforms them again into servants. It is a dramatic moment to be certain.
Move 3- time to scream
This can be a time to scream. It can be a time to be angry/upset. Jeremiah was upset and felt like screaming not only at the world, and the perceived injustice of it, but he also felt like screaming at God, and the perceived injustice from God to a servant who has done nothing but serve faithfully as called. God was as helpful as a deceitful brook. However, God invites these moments of honesty, and then just at the precise moment where they occur, and we are the maddest we will ever be, we find a God who doesn't fit expectations.
"Yahweh can be equally honest and therefore abrasive in response to prayer," as Walter Bruggerman says. Jeremiah 15:20 is nearly a verbatim quote of Jeremiah 1:18-19, “And I for my part have made you today a fortified city, an iron pillar, and a bronze wall, against the whole land -- against the kings of Judah, its princes, its priests, and the people of the land. They will fight against you; but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, says the LORD, to deliver you.” These were a reminder of the first words from God to his servant when he first called Jeremiah by name claiming to have ordained him for a holy task before he was born.
God reminds Jeremiah that the suffering he has experienced is as advertised- this was always going to happen, and does happen, to those who commit themselves to a vocation of holiness. Jeremiah then, is not to crumble in the face of adversity but rather redouble his commitment to his prophetic vocation. "Turn back to me and I will turn back to you." Stay close to my side. They are the same words for you today when you find yourself smashed by this world.
Persecution has not derailed God’s promise to deliver and vindicate (verse 20), and God reminds Jeremiah that his perseverance is the very vehicle by which the people are won over to repentance (verse 19). In the midst of injustice, Jeremiah is not to allow evil to overcome good but to turn to God and be changed.
Could we do the same thing when a terrible, rotten, horrible world seems to overwhelm us? Would we even be willing to try?
Conclusion
It is a terrible, horrible, no good place we live in, but Jeremiah learns, and we too should learn to turn back to him so he will turn back to us. It will be hard because we have become so accustomed to 'score keeping' as citizens of earth. But rather than keep score, and decide whose is righteous and who is not. Let us return to The Lord and be changed. Let us stop denying what is happening here- we live in a place where behaviors do not always line up to God's plan. And let's admit what is really happening in our hearts and then turn back to God.