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A time to choose your purpose Jeremiah 1-15 A time to choose your purpose... Over the past weeks God has been teaching me a great deal. Many of the lessons have been things that I really didn't want to learn. They've been about where I should find security and by what power I need to live in this world. I know, as a lifelong Christian I should have two nice quaint answers to those questions, Jesus and God. But as a lifelong human being I think I have spent much more time in the default mode of humanity and answered those questions like most of us do: § I find security in my accomplishments. § I find power in who I am and what I have learned. Maybe you are different than I am. Maybe you really do trust fully in Christ for your security and the work of God through the Holy Spirit for your power... maybe. I sense that if in fact we did place our faith in God alone the world around us would look very different than it actually is right now. And our lives would be very different. Lives so filled with the knowledge of the love of Christ that we are secure no matter the circumstances. Our lives would be so filled with the power of God that we see life change occurring in us and around us all the time not because we are watching for it, but because we are involved in it. Two important questions… § Will you answer the call of God? § Will you make His purpose your purpose? Last week I shared four other questions that I had asked about two months ago:
And the sermon last week was about three lessons I’ve been relearning:
I truly believe that these three lessons are necessary to truly live life to the full… to live eternal life here and now. We get so caught up in the here and now… whether succeeding or failing we are caught up in it… our hearts rise or sink depending on the situations around us. In the book I’ve been reading and sharing a bit with you, Brennan Manning’s “the importance of Being Foolish: how to think like Jesus” he shares three diversions that keep us from seeking the mind of Christ: Security, Pleasure and Power. I think Brennan is on to something… we may not divert ourselves with all three but I can assure you that at least one of them is diverting you from finding the mind and life of Christ. The society in which we live has probably succeeded at pursuing these diversions more successfully than any other in the history of humankind. In the best of situations the Jewish people are called a people of God, what do you think our name should be? The people of ______________.
The Prophet Jeremiah was thrown into a society where people had succeeded in being diverted. Jeremiah wrote this down, I read it last week: (Jeremiah 5:27-28) 27 Like cages full of birds, their houses are full of deceit; they have become rich and powerful 28 and have grown fat and sleek. Their evil deeds have no limit; they do not plead the case of the fatherless to win it, they do not defend the rights of the poor. And then in chapter 6 we see that they have stopped listening to God; instead they are now caught up in the actions and ways of the society in which they live. Chapter 7 speaks a frightening truth, false religion is worthless. Many of us think that if we just go through the motions of faith God will be pleased. I Jeremiah 7:4 Do not trust in deceptive words and say, "This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!" They thought that just because they had a temple all was good… and a bit later 23 but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you. 24 But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward. These people were a diverted people… it didn’t mean that God had stopped loving them, it was that they had headed off in other directions. What they sought after were things like: Security –
Pleasure – This diversion is much more diverse than we think…
Power – our desire to be in control.
The desire for each of these things destroys our ability to live for God, to live transparently before God and others. The journey back to God begins with an honest confrontation with the truth, which is not something we acquire, but is instead Someone. This was a confrontation that the people of Judah were determined to ignore… but one God was determined that they would experience. And Jeremiah was the man chosen to do God’s purpose no matter the cost.
Jeremiah 9:7 Therefore this is what the LORD Almighty says: "See, I will refine and test them, for what else can I do because of the sin of my people? This is not a comfortable experience… which is why we are a diverted people. We don’t like the truth of God because it forces us out of our own comfortable little ways… but it is in these places that we learn! Some of us will say, “Hey wait a minute, this God doesn’t sound so nice! If you know the story, the Babylonians came in and destroyed them, killed, maimed and raped… stuff the Babylonians were really good at. You can read more about it in the OT… The prophet Habakkuk, a contemporary of Jeremiah, offers a pretty good series of complaints about this action of God… and God offers a pretty direct answer. And some will say, “Hey wait a minute, I’m not so bad, I’m doing a pretty good job of listening to God. I don’t need God to get my attention…” But if you really know the story of Jeremiah you’d know that in chapter 11 Jeremiah finds out about a plot to kill him, a plot hatched by his friends and neighbors and he gets pretty upset… He’s doing the will of God, why should he be taught any lessons? He’s the teacher so he complains to God and asks that God would drag them off like sheep to be butchered! Set them apart for the day of slaughter! (12:3) § Now that sounds fair… Jeremiah was doing God’s work, he should be protected… I like Jeremiah, he’s a real person! § But God gets his a little bit more of Jeremiah’s attention when he informs him that it isn’t just his neighbors and friends, its relatives, members of your own family – even they have betrayed you; they have raised a loud cry against you. (12:6) § Just prior to this God has told Jeremiah why this is happening: "If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?” See, no matter where you are in your spiritual journey God’s purpose for us is to go further, to get deeper into our relationship with Him… so we can do even more. § Have you ever dreamed of running with the horses? § Or even of simply getting through the thickets of life that surround you? 3. The question is whether we will listen, learn and apply. Jeremiah was known as a prophet of individual responsibility. Though their message was to the nation their intent was to change the lives of individuals. The big picture stuff was meant to change the hearts of individuals. So when we look at the judgments that they proclaimed against the nation Judah we also have to look at the deeper reason… it was to change the hearts of individuals. Listen to one of the memory verses we took back from Hume: (Jeremiah 9:23-24) 23 This is what the LORD says: "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, 24 but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the LORD. We see God working in big ways but the individual is always the focal point. In the prophecies and actions in the book of Jeremiah we look at we see the destruction of Judah, but if we look closer we see the purposes of God played out in individuals like Jeremiah, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abendego and many others. Each of these people chooses to set God’s will as the central theme and motivation for the things they did. They got in trouble for it, they sometimes didn’t like it, but they knew they must follow God. This decision to seek God’s purpose for their lives, no matter the cost, set them apart for some incredible actions. What is your reaction when you are asked to do something you don’t want to do? Even when you know it is right?
God wants to get our attention in the midst of storms of life. The actions of people are important to God, but how they effect the hearts of people are much more important! Each of us is called to put the purposes of God ahead of our own diversions. Bow your heads and think of the things, the diversions that are keeping you from intimately being part of the purposes of God… then offer those things to God to be sacrificed. I think the time is done for dodging these questions and instead choosing and acting on the purpose that God has placed on our lives. These questions aren’t for leaders, they are for all of us… no one is exempt, no one excused, and our diversions will not be accepted by God. He only wants your heart.
Look at the questions in the
bulletin this week… examine your life, pray, and then begin the incredible
pursuit of God’s purpose for your life!
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