08/30/2020 commentary – Day 090 – Jeremiah 1 -6 – referencing intro and questions on 08/22- 3 parts.
Whoa, a ten week study starting with day 090 yesterday. It still is going to feel like taking a drink of water from a fire hose! I am thinking again of Alistair Begg’s sermon series on 1 Samuel, started in Jan2019 with 40+ sermons and counting as we draw it to a close. This is a crash course!
I hope to come back and post an article from Matt Walsh, an answer to the pagan’s favorite bible verse quotation in the Bible in Matthew 7:1 : “Judge not that you not be judged.” Needless to say, it is taken completely out of context , in fact , in application, it heads 180 degree in the other direction more often than not. I will quickly point what Matt did not cover : 1 Corinthians 5:12: “For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? But those who are outside God judges. Therefore ‘put away from yourselves the evil person.’
So to Jeremiah: As a messenger in love for the Lord, Jeremiah took on the hard task of being the face and voice of God’s loving righteousness., which includes God’s retribution in our questions in Chapter 6. (August 22nd post) So Jeremiah “judged”.
I think some of our questions are getting ahead of themselves, and my contribution of Walsh’s article included. Why? We will see a rather quick development of Jeremiah as messenger / “judge” (doing hard things), but it doesn’t show up for the most part in the 1st six chapters. Chapter 5: 1-5 – Oh yes, Jeremiah concurs with the Lord that not one person in Jerusalem seeks truth and justice. But this is not the hard mission of the “in your face ” messenger, telling you exactly what you need , which also is the last thing you want to hear. Particularly so, in an environment where the priests are proclaiming “peace, peace”. (Or, “don’t worry, be happy!” – remember that song?)
So, from here , I am going to share some key events in my walk with God from my past , in as concise and as articulate manner as I can with God’s help.
- I recalled the start of my seven year or so mission at the Jester III unit prison ministry in Sugar Land , Texas. Emily was a baby early on in that ministry , so this is over twenty years ago now. After an orientation event at the prison, God was tugging on my shoulder for six months asking me to “sign up” as a weekly committed volunteer. I vividly telling the Lord: “Ok, Lord, I will do this for you, even though it is these people!” In my God directed sanctification process, I was bewildered initially that seemingly every veteran would mention “humbling” when describing their many years of servanthood at the prison. I just didn’t get it!; but by God’s grace, I would!
- I often recall my kids telling me one of my often quoted verses growing up that they didn’t like hearing over and over was Luke 12:48: “For unto whomsoever much is given of him shall be much required.” Now, as adults on their own, I hear from them an occasional timely rebuke : “Walk your talk Dad!”
- Recalling a beloved lifelong brother telling me in the middle of an Astros baseball game, our guys night out: “Jim, you are not treating Nancy as you are biblically called to do!” The Holy Spirit was right there on the scene!; as in, “listen!!” Soon thereafter, I shared with a rather large couples class at Crosspoint church in Houston: “Guys, if you don’t have a loving brother that will tell you what you don’t want to hear, then find one, ASAP!” Over the years, there might have been a few that thought: “Was Jim beating Nancy?” No, my brother was pointing me personally and emphatically to Luke 12:48!
- Lastly, I recall what was close to the end of a multi year blessing, a men’s weekly bible study in the wee hours of the morning at FPC- Houston. At the end of this study, I can’t recall whom, but it was asked after a long study of the prophets: “If God , placed an ad for a prophet, would you answer it?” After a seemingly very long pause, there was a unanimous shaking of heads. I can’t speak for my brothers, but my negative response was an indication of my growth. (I think we all shared this together) How was that? Oh yea, a few years prior, I would have flippantly replied: “Of course!!, ” as in “you don’t need to ask me that question.” But at this point, God had shown us what was involved in terms of human suffering, seeking “that constant uncomfortable” in service to His glory!
So, I am prepared to answer that question that was posed in my commentary book: “Am I willing to stand for God against powerful opposition? ” At least a first pass, this is a ten week study but commentary can go on for our full designated year at least.
I have been blessed by a memorable and gripping testimony years back at a worldwide Christian leadership conference. The key takeaway: “If you find yourself in a territory of righteous anger (example: Jesus turning over the money changer tables at the temple), don’t run from it, feed it! Why?, because if you feed it, it will lead you to action!, engagement of evil! So yes, I am becoming increasingly unpopular over the past 15 years or so. It’s a growth process by His grace!
But, I would like to interject something here: If I go back to the end of that men’s bible study group 15 to 20 years ago, we weren’t nearly cognizant of the world’s evil and the crying need for Christians to engage it in battle. Of course, that is due to our growth but also, the world has become more “in your face” evil! Where are the Jeremiah’s in the pulpit today? Has anyone heard a gripping condemnation of abortion from the pulpit. I haven’t! So if we wonder at times why more don’t see the obvious, that in itself is a compelling call!
So, my full answer to the question of “against powerful opposition” is not completely, but I have faith, God will see me through. In what sense? Oh yea, being unpopular is one thing but I haven’t been faced with having a gun to my head either. Not too long ago, I shared with Nancy my concern if they walk me down the gallows like the Nazis did to Dietrich Boenhoffer, could I as was reported with Dietrich, give glory to God on that walk, even dancing as he witnessed to the guards. That answer: Yes, but only by the grace of God! No way on my own strength. But then, I added, I didn’t have that degree of faith if she was taken off with me. There is a strong element here of: that I respect my pacifist Christian brothers, but I am not one of them. Ok, so all things are possible with God, I have faith that I will have faith if this is our calling .. No? Do I really think it is worrying about God not answering that prayer? (ala Joe Biden: Come on man! lol)
Ok, I guess I have contributed to the answer of what was the hardest part of Jeremiah’s mission. I will leave it for now on the other corollary question: “What was the best part”. For context, Jeremiah was preceded by a father and grandfather that were temple priests. It certainly had its challenges but it could be a rather “cush” job obviously so, when compared with a prophet.
I am thinking as I draw this post to a close that I was remiss in not bring up a more foundational question, of which an answer so affects the other questions. That would be within 6:10: “Behold, the word of the Lord is a reproach to them; They have no delight in it.” So, Do we delight in the Word of the Lord? Do we rejoice in God’s Word as one who finds great treasure? I posted this on this website but I thought of setting up a facebook and only posting once: “Does God have a facebook?” ok, so , where do we spend more of our time, in His facebook or our facebook?
In companion commentary readings, I am struck by specific references to the degree of evil of the surviving Judah in Jeremiah’s time. It includes bringing pagan idols into the temple with full acceptance of the priests. And worse: a note, that they too participated in the sacrifice of their own children, as their neighbors. In the case of the Cannanites, there is archaelogical evidence that they put the bodies of their sacrificed children in the walls of their homes, so as to appease their pagan gods. That might in part explain why God was so angry at Saul for not killing everyone, including livestock, of a conquered enemy. (I seem to recall it was the Amalekites.) So that brings us to “putting God in the dock”, borrowing the phrase of a C.S. Lewis book.
Note verse: 4:10 – Jeremiah’s mistaken accusation directed directly to God: “Then I said: ‘Ah, Lord God! Surely You have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, Saying, ‘ You shall have peace.’, Whereas the sword reaches to the heart.’ What a sad paradox: Why didn’t he focus on the priests who were proclaiming ‘peace, peace’ , as it was leading their ‘people’ to eternal separation of God – as in hell!. What’s worse, suffering in this life or suffering for all of eternity? Indeed, may I suffer in this life if in fact it means being with the Lord in His kingdom for eternity.
Well, that ties into how long-suffering our Lord is in his unfathomable love for us. And as to Jeremiah,’s response , borrowing from a Alistair Begg’s sermon commenting on one of David’s weaker moments in 1 Samuel: “The best of men, are men at best.”
I will save the answer to the 10 symbols for the people’s evil, I was struck by:
3:1: “… But you have played the harlot with many lovers; Yet return to Me, says the Lord. This connects with Hosea, where God tells Hosea to marry a prostitute. Ah you say, Hosea proceeded Jeremiah. Yes indeed, but let’s go back to the Exodus: “Think of how just after delivering the people from Pharoah’s army with the parting of the Red Sea, the people soon after are builing a golden calf while Moses is up on the mountain with God.”
Can we see this in ourselves today with America? Funny, Israel would proclaim even as late as Jesus’ time: “We are the covenant people!” (notice how the responsibilities are separated from the pronounced privileges, a complete disregard for the the basic definition of “covenant”) No, we are not the covenant people, but the pervasive attitude seems to once again pronounce: “Yea, it happens, but not us, we are Americans!” Is the “fear of the Lord” coming over us, for it should!
Soli Deo Gloria!