Imagine a Ministry with No Membership

Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet. The reason is simple: His ministry seemed to have no impact on the generation in which he ministered. Imagine preaching for 23 years and seeing no one respond. 

Jeremiah 25:1–3 (ESV) The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), 2 which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: 3 “For twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, to this day, the word of the LORD has come to me, and I have spoken persistently to you, but you have not listened.

Jeremiah has preached "again and again" the same word to the same people and they haven't budged. There are few clearer presentations of human hard-heartedness in the Bible. And to think the name Jeremiah is heralded now. His ministry is honored. His contribution is immortalized in Holy Scripture. But at the time of his ministry, nothing. Not one single convert. 

That's a lesson for many of us. 

You cannot allow your life to be judged by what your culture thinks about you. It's a fool's errand. You and your culture have no idea what's going to happen in the future. The key is to speak what God says, to stay true to His Word, and to let the culture ridicule you if they choose. The end of the story has yet to be written. God will vindicate His servants!

Jeremiah is an exemplar of this mindset. He served God and spoke for God and kept speaking for God in spite of the lack of response. I don't think many men could do it. But he did. 

Jeremiah 25:8–9 (ESV) “Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: Because you have not obeyed my words, 9 behold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, declares the LORD, and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction, and make them a horror, a hissing, and an everlasting desolation.

Everything Jeremiah says comes true. Babylon does come and destroy the land. The nation is cast into exile. Notice the phrase that may be the hardest for Jeremiah's audience to hear. He calls Babylon's king "my servant." As in, this man you hate, this pagan idol-worshipping king, is my tool to destroy the people God had formed. Jeremiah pulled no punches and refused to back down when people did not respond.

Jeremiah 25:11 (ESV) This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
Jeremiah 25:13–14 (ESV) I will bring upon that land all the words that I have uttered against it, everything written in this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations. 14 For many nations and great kings shall make slaves even of them, and I will recompense them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.”

The thing is. Jeremiah didn't just bring a word against Judah. He brought God's Word to foreign nations as well and they did not listen either! 

When we read this book we marvel at Jeremiah's tenacious attitude, continuing to preach and proclaim God's Word no matter what men did. May God grant us more men like Him in our day. For such men will be honored in the days to come.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

God’s View of You

Sometimes I think we imagine that God is mostly disappointed with us. That He puts up with us and bears with us because He has to (after all He is love), but most of the time our glaring weaknesses weary Him and make His day miserable. Of course, this is the devil’s doing in our minds. The truth of scripture bears out that the world has to get staunch-raving evil before God is totally weary of us. And the stories in the Old Testament remind us with each passing character that God is patient, loving and kind to His very flawed inconsistent servants. Saul is a case study of this. His lineage will not hold the kingdom, that has already been stated from the mishap of offering the sacrifice instead of waiting for Samuel to arrive in 1 Samuel 13. His next great gaff will happen in the chapter to come in 1 Samuel 15 where his own kingship will be taken from him and the anointing placed on one soon to come. Yes, God will regret making Saul king and we’ll talk about that next. But for now...
Read more

The Stain of Slavery

One of the greatest pains in my heart over the history of the church is the fact that many "Bible-believing" Christians used the Bible to promote, continue, and enable slavery in America's past. It may have happened elsewhere, but I'm an American, and I know it happened here. Then, some repeatedly make the claim because of a tiny amount of verses where God informs Israel on how to take slaves, it means the Bible is a pro-slavery document. How absurd. The overarching narrative of the Bible is that God sets the slaves free. The second book testifies to this part of God's character.  Getting to Jeremiah's day, one of the reasons Israel's nation was handed over to exile was because they enslaved each other. This attitude was so engrained into the culture of Israel that they had a hard time giving up slavery even in the face of national catastrophe.  In Jeremiah 34, the king is promised that he will die in Babylon, but he will die in peace. Jeremiah 34:3–5 (ESV...
Read more

Leaders Who Later Fail

Remember Johanan from Jeremiah 41? The man who saved many others from the threats of the murderous coup? He seemed like a noble leader. But time reveals a lot.  Jeremiah 42:5–6 (ESV)  Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act according to all the word with which the LORD your God sends you to us. 6 Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God to whom we are sending you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.” These are the words of the presumptive leaders of Israel in the land while the nation is in exile. The previous chapter saw a hero arise to protect a few remaining survivors. His name was Johanan. On the surface, he seems like a good man, seeking the will of the Lord in his leadership position. Jeremiah returns with directives from the Lord: Jeremiah 42:10 (ESV) If you will remain in this land, then I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant y...
Read more