Pastor
Steve Geiger Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany
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Jeremiah
1:4-10
4
The word of the LORD came to me, saying,
5
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before
you were born I set you apart;
I
appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
6
“Ah, Sovereign LORD,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.”
7
But the LORD said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ You must go to
everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. 8 Do not be afraid of
them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the LORD.
9
Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “Now, I
have put my words in your mouth. 10 See, today I appoint you over nations and
kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to
plant.”
Speak
the Script Jeremiah
1:4-10
1. The Lord handles human weakness
2.
The Lord commands bold action
This
past Monday it was 75 degrees.
You’re
right. Not here. That would be at Epcot. A neighbor to Disneyworld. Another Disney theme park where there are
rides, but also a beautiful lake surrounded by pavilions from different nations
of the world. With buildings from those
nations. In France the Eiffel Tower, in
Mexico an Aztec pyramid, and in the pavilion of the United States, Independence
Hall.
In
Independence Hall was a huge theater.
The show? The American
Adventure. A story told by a robotic
Benjamin Franklin and Mark Twain and by a video, the history of our country.
But
something happened before the show began.
The same thing happened before every show at Epcot. A Disney employee dressed in a special
costume would come to a podium, the spotlight turned on, a microphone picked
up, and they began talking. They didn’t
look down. They weren’t reading
notes. But you could totally tell that
they had memorized a script. Someone
had told them what to say. Words about
no eating, no drinking, no flash photography.
About “Please now enjoy the American Adventure.”
A
script. The employees did not have to
do anything but remember their script.
How calming. For any with fears,
how much more challenging it could have been to have to write your own
script. To have to watch the show, find
your own clever intro, figure out what rules should be followed while watching
. . . . Instead, just speak the script.
In
a way the Lord tells Jeremiah the same.
He wasn’t introducing a show. He
probably wasn’t wearing a special costume.
But he was going to stand before an audience. This audience needed to hear an important message.
All
was not well with this audience. Many
who would hear Jeremiah were not friendly.
They were members of the nation of Judah. The building that would have distinguished their pavilion around
the Epcot lake would have been a temple to an idol. They had decided the true God didn’t matter anymore. They didn’t like his rules about remaining
sexually pure. Why not a Lingiere Bowl,
or Superbowl commercials that make men or women think about things impure? They must have had their own versions. Then, money mattered most, no matter who got
trampled in the process. Spiritual
leaders told lies, and the people liked it that way.
Things
weren’t so different, were they. “Tell
them what I think about that, Jeremiah,” God said.
That’s
scary, isn’t it? When the world that
surrounds you promotes what is evil.
Me? Talk to them?
Jeremiah
got a special word of encouragement from the Lord: “Before you were born I set
you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
God
wants to talk to people. God uses
people to talk to other people.
“Ah,
Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.”
Jeremiah
didn’t want to talk. Jeremiah gave an
excuse. “Lord, I’m not ready to tell
others your truth. I’m too young.”
Are
you too young? Do you see children at
school who you know need so much to learn about their Savior who loves
them? Maybe they’ve grown up in a
family that has experienced much pain.
Maybe they have a parent who hasn’t been so nice. Maybe they get made fun of a lot. Do you like to be friendly to someone like
that? And tell them about Jesus, who
loved all little children and wants them to learn of him, to love him, to go to
heaven and be with him?
Mommy,
can you tell them about this? I don’t
want to.
That’s
an excuse. “Do not say, ‘I am only a
child,’” God said to Jeremiah.
What
excuses do you have? During the last
few weeks, the thought, “I’m on vacation—do I have to talk about God now?” There’s a part in me just like that part in
you, that when you have a little time for relaxation, it thinks that means time
off from serving the Lord. Time off
from loving the van driver to the Phoenix airport who spoke like he was a good
enough person to get to heaven on his own.
We need to speak. But do we ever
not want to? Or choose not to? For whatever the reason.
How
selfish. Isn’t that at the heart of all
of our silence? Thinking about what
people might think of me, or how a conversation might take too much of my time,
or about how I might get myself into a situation where I may need to be a
friend to a person over a long period of time, or about how someone might laugh
at me, or about how I don’t think I can talk good, when maybe I just don’t want
to use my time to learn the script that God has written out for me.
Thinking
so much about how talking will affect me, not even thinking about how not
talking might affect the one I see. As
if my eternal life matters, but that of another matters not enough to make me
try something that’s a bit hard.
The
tragedy is that when we do not speak when we know we should, our own eternity
is threatened. Silence of this sort is
disobedience. We break God’s rules not
only by speaking things that are cruel.
We break God’s rules by not speaking warnings when necessary and of
forgiveness when appropriate. We tell
our boss, “I’m not going to read from your script.”
No
Disney employee would last very long that way.
Should we expect different treatment from the God we disobey?
God
has every right to fire us, remove us from his family, tell us that no longer
will he speak from his script to us. No
more warnings. No more comfort. No more a member of his team. Fired.
Jeremiah,
fired? I’m too young to talk. I’m only a child.
“Do
not say, ‘I am only a child.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and
say whatever I command you.”
What
mercy. Do you see it? God’s forgiveness. Did you hear it? God’s
patience. Did you witness it? You did.
Jeremiah had sinned. An
excuse. God rebuked the sin but then
moved right along. Continued to treat
Jeremiah as a member of the team. Continued
to employ him at Disney? No, in kingdom
work.
We’ve
made many excuses. How the Lord longs
for us to return to him. To see our
foolishness. To confess our
disobedience. To acknowledge our
guilt. Then he says, “I am
merciful. I will not be angry
forever.” It was Jesus, the righteous
Branch of David prophesied by Jeremiah, who never was silent when words were
required. It was Jesus, who suffered
God’s anger in our place, whom Jeremiah called “The Lord Our
Righteousness.” Your
righteousness. Sin washed. Jesus’ perfect witness made yours.
You
too are forgiven. With you also the
Lord moves right along. Continues to
treat you as a member of team.
Employed. In kingdom work. “Go to everyone I send you to and say
whatever I command you.”
Speak
the script. To the world. Go and share God’s truth with the
world. With coworkers. With family. With a retired couple on a beach whose hearts were troubled. On the Florida coast. They, fishing. I, walking. They had with
them a son who seemed to have Down’s Syndrome, smiling, eating animal
crackers. We began talking. They from Michigan. I from South Dakota. Soon the wife, “We’re trying to get
away.” The words then pained, of a
grandson, 29, who was crop-dusting a field and at the end of a row pulled up
into the sky, safely, but then suddenly the plane exploded. No explanation. Sudden death. They told
me that he rejoiced in Jesus as his Savior.
A chance to speak of the resurrection.
To encourage.
Conversations
about the truth don’t always go that well.
We know that. Sometimes we can
be made fun of. We worry that the truth
might turn friends into enemies. But
not even of that do we need to be afraid.
“Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,”
declares the Lord.
God
will protect you when you speak. But,
you say, one time I did speak and words of anger flew back at me. But, you say, Jeremiah did speak and was
thrown into a muddy cistern. But, you
say, Stephen did speak and stones flew back at him, killing him. Let’s say that happens. Let’s say you do what God commands and you
lose your life. As the life of the
Apostle Paul, also threatened for speaking the truth, was coming near its end,
he reminds his friend Timothy, “The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack
and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom” (2 Timothy 4:18). Even in death, the Lord will snatch you from
the jaws of the one meaning to hurt you and will bring you into perfect peace.
Speak,
encouraged by the Lord, who handles human weakness, forgiving sinful excuses,
rescuing from danger.
Speak,
committing yourself to bold action.
This
was no wimpy work that God was asking Jeremiah to do. “See, today I appoint you
over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to
build and to plant.”
Jeremiah
would tear down the most powerful in Judah.
The chief officer of the temple of the Lord, a priest named Pashhur,
heard Jeremiah warn sinners of disaster.
This priest had Jeremiah beaten, then placed him in stocks. The next day, when Jeremiah was released,
still he was bold. “The Lord’s name for
you is not Pashhur, but ‘Terror on Every Side.’ With your own eyes you will see your friends fall by the
sword. And you and all your house will
go into exile in Babylon. There you
will die and be buried, you and all your friends to whom you have prophesied
lies” (Jeremiah 20:3-6).
Are
you interested in wimpy work, or are you interested in boldly—yes, patiently
and gently but firmly— . . . are you interested in boldly confessing the truth
of God whatever the consequence?
Warning of the dangers of immorality, injustice, living together before
marriage, greed, neglecting to hear and study the word of God, trying to get to
heaven by one’s own good actions, making God generic, permitting error equal
time with the truth? Some of the words
we speak are intended to pronounce God’s judgment on what is wrong. You have been appointed by God to speak what
he says, and boldly, whatever the cost.
Your
script has not only words of judgment.
Even Jeremiah, to a nation for the most part destined for destruction .
. . even Jeremiah had opportunity to build and to plant: “Return, faithless
people; I will cure you of backsliding” (Jeremiah 3:22). “The days are coming when I will raise up to
David a righteous Branch . . . the Lord Our Righteousness” (Jeremiah
23:5-6). And to exiles already in
Babylon, “I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm
you, plans to give you a hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11).
Here
were seeds of life, the powerful invitation to faith in the hearts of those
despairing. The promise of the Savior,
power to build faith stronger in believers beginning to doubt. The reminder that God keeps his word and
loves undeservedly, giving to those already disciplined certain hope.
Such
comfort is for you too to speak. To
friends who have witnessed the dead end sin brings, invite them to return to
the Lord. To friends whose guilt robs
them of peace, remind them of their Savior.
To friends who have grown to love their Lord but tremble when difficulty
comes, remind them that a glorious future awaits all those God has made his
own.
Boldly. You are God’s prophet to speak boldly.
Excuses? No more.
God has handled your human weakness.
And God has commanded you to bold action, giving you exactly what you
need to say. His words are found in
Scripture, passing through your eyes and your ears to your lips.
You
may not work for Disney. But you still
only need to know the script.
Speak
the script.
Amen.