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August 22, 2010
“He Who Knows and Sends”
Jeremiah 1: 1 - 10/Psalm 139/John 1: 43 - 51
Sunday, September 22, 2010
It is probably good that Jeremiah was a prophet sent to minister in Jerusalem in the 7th century BC. If he had been sent to our community in our time he would have had an issue with his name. The name Jeremiah means God Hurls. Probably not a good name to have near a University where hurl often does not mean to throw but to throw-up. We are not told that God specifically ordered Jeremiah’s parents to give him that name, but God must have had something to do with the selection of that name because it was to be Jeremiah’s mission to inform the people of Judea and Jerusalem that God was going to hurl or throw them out of their land because of their and their forefathers repeated unfaithfulness.
Some have referred to this passage as the calling of Jeremiah by God to be a prophet. I guess if you look at it from Jeremiah’s point of view it is. But if you look at it from God’s point of view, it is not. In verse 5 we read that God said to Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” From God’s point of view, this passage does not tell us of Jeremiah being called to be a prophet. That determination or calling had been made by God long before Jeremiah was born. It was made even before God formed Jeremiah in his mother’s womb.
This and the passage from Psalms we read as our responsive reading has been quoted by people who have identified themselves as Pro-life to back their point of view. Now it must be admitted that in their original contexts neither of these passages have the subject of abortions in mind. But still, in these passages we have God identifying himself as the agent who creates or knits together babies in their mother’s wombs and intimately knows them before they are born. I think that should at least make us approach the subject of abortions with great caution and seriousness, a caution and seriousness that have not always been observed in the political and judicial decisions about this issue. Unfortunately they have not always been observed in the decisions of some church and denominational declarations on this subject.
But this sermon is not really about abortions, it is about the major subject of God’s speech to Jeremiah. God told Jeremiah that he had known him since before he was conceived and that he had in that long ago time appointed him to be and consecrated him to be a prophet.
You may have noticed that God in Jesus made a similar declaration to Nathanael. He greatly impressed Nathanael by telling him that he had seen him sitting under a specific tree before Phillip even told him about Jesus. Nathanael was so impressed that he declared Jesus to be the Son of God and the King of Israel.
Oddly enough, Jeremiah did not seem all that impressed when he was informed that God had known him before he was conceived and had way back then appointed him to be a prophet. His immediate response was to state that he could not do the job because he was only a boy and could not speak well. Jeremiah was more than a boy, he was a young man and perhaps he had not shown any talent for public speaking but I think there were other reasons for Jeremiah making excuses and attempting to refuse God’s orders.
We are told that Jeremiah was the son of a priest. He was probably also one or in training to be one. If you were the son of a priest, your vocation was set, you would be one too. And the prophets and the priests were often at odds, particularly during Jeremiah’s early days. In those days the priests were kind of running the temple and the religion on their own. The Book of the Jewish laws had been lost. So there was a lot going on in the temple and in the way the religion was practiced that was wrong. The prophets were often critical of the way the priests were running things, and so for Jeremiah the son of a priest to become a prophet felt like he was abandoning his family and his heritage and joining the opposing camp.
It is interesting to note that Jeremiah pleads his youth and inexperience as reasons why he should not become a prophet. We are told that the king who reigned in Jerusalem when God had this conversation was Josiah, who was then in the 13th year of his reign. Josiah was the boy king. He ascended the throne when he was 8 years old. In the 13th year of his reign he would have only been 21, not much more than a boy himself.
There were other possible reasons why Jeremiah would not want to be a prophet. But regardless of how many reasons Jeremiah had to refuse God’s appointment, God wasn’t buying it. God said “Do not say, ‘I am only a boy’; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you, do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you.”
Then God touched Jeremiah;s mouth and said, “Now I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”
Jeremiah had said that because of his youth he did not know how to speak. So God put God’s words in his mouth.
I think I may have told you that the best preacher I know personally has a stuttering problem. He rarely stutters when he preaches but he occasionally does in other settings. But when he has God’s words in his mouth, he speaks clearly and with power.
I believe that it may be said of Christians living in our time that we have God’s word. We have it printed in books that most of us have in our homes. And as we read and even memorize the Bible, as we study it and learn it, it can also be said that we have it in our mouths. We are able to quote it and to tell people what it says.
Jeremiah’s duties related to the word of God he was given seem to be two fold. He is to have some authority over nations and regarding them, he is to Pluck up, and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.” Much of Jeremiah’s work would involve dire forcasts regarding Judea’ immediate future. He many times would predict the judgment of God against Judah and Jerusalem. But he would also predict the destruction of the destroying nations, the return of the exiles to Jerusalem and the rebuilding and rehabilitation of Judea and Jerusalem.
Most of us who have read and studied the bible are also aware that as we know it and look at and know our world, there is a two-fold application of the Word of God to our world and ourselves. The first would be judgment. You cannot read the bible and look at our world and even our lives and not realize that God will judge us and our nations and our world for much that goes on. There are entire industries that violate the moral rules of God involving the proper use of sexual relations. There are governments and organizations that pervert justice. The rich and powerful still abuse and exploit the poor and miserable. And perhaps the greatest sin of our time is that the truth of God and the truths about God are hidden and obscured in our common everyday lives.
These things needed to be torn down in Jeremiah’s day and they still need to be torn down in our time. People still need to know that there is a God and that He is not pleased with much of the behaviors and attitudes of the people of this world. We need to speak of God’s displeasure and much deserved judgments.
But we also need to speak of his promises. The possibility of forgiveness and the hope of eternal life need to be proclaimed to the people of our time. There are many and there is much that needs to be built up by Godly people presenting the promises and love of God as they are revealed to us through His Scriptures.
So in a general and less specific way, Jeremiah’s calling from God has become a calling from God to each of us who proclaim to follow Christ.
God has known you before you were conceived. You were created to be a follower of Jesus. He has given you His words in the Bible. Our world and its people need to know of the judgments and the grace and love that are revealed there. Will you allow those judgments and that Grace to rule your life? Will you tell others of God’s judgments and grace and love and forgiveness? God knows you and he Knows that you can do it. Will you?
Pastor Horner
Faith Presbyterian Church
West Lafayette, IN 47906
Posted by faithpres at August 22, 2010 03:27 PM