Please turn to the book of Jeremiah.
You're going to need a Bible.
I'll be difficult to follow.
If you haven't got a Bible,
the stewards are at the back.
They've got Bibles if you want one.
And if you need water,
there is water.
All right?
And so if you feel you need to get up
and get a bit of fresh air,
I won't be put off by that at all.
Even my elders
won't be put off by them at all.
Jeremiah 11.
And next week is 16 to 20
if you want to do your reading ahead,
do your homework.
Jeremiah 16 to 20.
There is a reason why reality TV
is unavoidable these days,
and it's because it's compelling.
From the banalities of life
in the Great British Bake Off
to the hidden deception of the traitors
to the hidden stories of heartbreak
in Race Across the World.
If you make the mistake of
starting to watch this stuff,
it is hard to break away, isn't it,
to the world of normality
and good taste.
And the reason for that is
because we all love the inside track.
You know the kind of thing,
the explosive interview
with the former Prime Minister,
the revealing documentary
on Channel 4,
the hidden camera in the changing room.
there's always the draw,
there's always the draw, isn't there,
to get up close and personal,
to see how things really are on the inside,
to get the inside scoop.
And that's exactly what we've got
in chapter 11 to 15 of Jeremiah.
The key to working out what's going on
in this part of Jeremiah's prophecy
is to notice who's talking,
who's speaking.
It's very revealing.
The Lord speaks often,
telling Jeremiah what to say.
Jeremiah generally speaks,
telling God what he feels
about what he's been asked to say.
And occasionally,
the people speak.
But their words are reported
or anticipated by God and his prophet
rather than spoken out loud.
That's basically it.
And these chapters,
11 to 15,
are basically an extended conversation
between Jeremiah and God himself.
So what are they talking about?
Well, in these chapters,
Jeremiah walks us through the way
in which God has taught him,
corrected him,
and gently encouraged him
and equipped him
for his work of ministry.
It's almost as if
we have Jeremiah's apprenticeship
played out before us.
His prophetic ministry training program.
And what is remarkable
is the way in which Jeremiah
opens himself up
for you and I to walk with him.
Now, of course,
we are not Jeremiah.
On balance,
it is unlikely that Ealing
is going to be invaded by Iraq.
Some of you might differ on that.
But there is something
that's happening here
that is deeply relevant to us.
Because Jeremiah is a prototype
of the suffering prophet
who is to come.
There is going to be
multiple points of contact,
as we will see
through what Jeremiah goes through
as he suffers for and with the people
and what the Lord Jesus
will go through.
There are places
where Jeremiah's reaction
to the fact of the sin
of his people
is picked up
and it's fulfilled in Jesus,
in his love
and in his life
and ultimately
in his death
and our place.
And then the New Testament
makes very clear
that the apostles
pick up where Jesus leaves off.
So Paul says things like this,
I rejoice in my sufferings.
Now for your sake,
in my flesh,
I am filling up
what is lacking
in Christ's afflictions
for the sake of his body,
that is the church.
And then the apostles
pass that commission
onto us
and we are called
to follow the apostles
who follow Christ
who was anticipated
by Jeremiah.
And in that,
as we look at Jeremiah,
we see this template
of Jesus' ministry,
the apostles' ministry,
our ministry.
And so let's follow
this conversation
with Jeremiah
and God himself.
What does authentic
church life look like?
The conversation starts
in chapter 11
and verses 1 to 17
where firstly,
God urges Jeremiah
speak God's words.
It's hardly surprising.
But the Lord insists
that Jeremiah's ministry
must be shaped by,
bounded by,
controlled by,
driven by the word of God.
Jeremiah's role,
according to God himself,
is,
chapter 11,
verse 2,
hear the words
of this covenant.
Speak to the men of Judah
and the inhabitants
of Jerusalem.
This covenant is,
it's an umbrella term
to describe
what God has said
about his relationship
with his people
up until now.
It's summed up
and it's reflected
in the words of Deuteronomy
and they are quoted
repeatedly in these chapters.
11, verse 3,
you shall say to him,
thus says the Lord,
the God of Israel.
He's quoting from
Deuteronomy 27.
Cursed be the man
who does not hear
the words of this covenant
that I commanded you,
your fathers,
when I brought them
out of the land of Egypt,
from the iron furnace,
saying,
listen to my voice
and do all that I command you.
So shall you be my people
and I'll be your God,
that I may confirm
the oath that I swore
to your fathers
to give them a land
flowing with milk and honey
as this day.
Now it's important for us
to realize
for all the creativity
of the prophets,
for all the prophets'
willingness to make
dramatic symbolic actions,
they are basically preachers
of the word of God.
Their message draws together
what God has said already
in previous generations.
And the fresh revelation
that was given
and expressed by them.
So as Jeremiah answers,
verse 5,
so be it, Lord.
He's committing himself
and signing up
to a word-shaped ministry.
11 verses 6 to 8,
God rams it home.
Proclaim all these words
in the cities of Judah
and in the streets of Jerusalem.
Hear the words of this covenant
and do them.
For I solemnly warned your fathers
when I brought them
out of the land of Egypt.
Warning them persistently
even to this day,
saying,
obey my voice.
Yet they did not obey
or incline their ear.
But everyone walked
in the stubbornness
of his evil heart.
Therefore I brought them
all the words,
brought upon them
all the words of this covenant
which I commanded them to do,
but they did not.
Jeremiah's job
is to keep calling people
to repent,
to turn and obey
and to hear and obey.
To remind them
that they are the people
that God has chosen,
they are the covenant people
of God to whom he's spoken
and that changes everything.
This word of God
must control their understanding
and their lives
and it must control
Jeremiah's ministry.
Jeremiah is to be
relentlessly word-driven
even if no one else is.
And at this point,
God very tenderly
makes Jeremiah aware
of something
that will be painful
for him to hear
but essential for him to know.
Not only will people
refuse to listen to him,
God's already said that
multiple times,
but they will plot
against him.
Look at verse 9.
The Lord said to me,
a conspiracy exists
among the men of Judah
and the inhabitants
of Jerusalem.
They've turned back
to the iniquities
of their forefathers
who refuse to hear my words.
They've gone after
other gods to serve them.
So what does Jeremiah do
now that there's
a conspiracy
against him?
He's to keep on
saying the same thing.
speaking God's words
to them.
Even though he knows
that the only effect
that those words
will have
is to harden them further.
It's one of the striking
contributions
of the prophets.
Especially Isaiah
and Jeremiah
and Ezekiel.
They warn us often
that the gospel word-shaped
words that we speak,
they have the opposite effect
to what we long for.
You know that.
That instead of those
gospel words bringing
repentance and life,
they often harden people
in their rebellion.
So think of Isaiah 6,
right at the start
of Isaiah's ministry,
where he sees the Lord,
God says to him,
Isaiah,
go and say to this people,
keep on hearing
but do not understand.
Keep on seeing
but do not perceive.
Make the heart
of this people dull,
their ears heavy,
blind their eyes,
lest they see with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand with their hearts.
Which is what Jesus
picks up on, doesn't it,
when he's explaining
his ministry?
Or Ezekiel,
God said,
son of man,
I send you to the people
of Israel,
to nations of rebels
who rebelled against me.
They and their fathers
have transgressed against me
to this very day.
Their descendants
are impudent
and stubborn.
I send you to them
and you will say to them,
thus says the Lord God.
And when they hear
or refuse
or hear
for they are
a rebellious house,
they will know
that a prophet
has been among them.
And so Jeremiah
is to go to the people
to preach to them
God's word
knowing,
chapter 11,
verse 11,
behold,
I'm bringing disaster
upon them
that they cannot escape.
And though they cry to me,
I will not listen to them.
In fact,
Jeremiah is even forbidden
to pray for them.
Verse 14,
don't pray for this people
or lift up a cry
or prayer on their behalf
for I will not listen.
They will call to me
in their time of trouble.
The horrible truth
dawning on Jeremiah
is that his preaching
is going to have no effect
and the people
will not listen.
And yet he must keep speaking.
His ministry
is to be relentlessly,
unshakably,
inflexibly
word-centered.
And there are some things
in life
which are non-negotiable.
And this is one of them.
For the preacher,
for the prophet,
to preach God's word
until our death,
we can do nothing else.
Ministry is speaking
God's word.
For us as a church,
it is not our message
to muck around with.
We need to burn it
into our brains
that all authentic ministry
has to be
unapologetically
word-centered.
It's not that we set out
to be welcoming
and warm
and then we slip in
a little bit of Bible
when no one's looking.
but everything
is centered on
and drives towards
and flows from
God's word
being cured
and obeyed.
Because church life
must be
unflinchingly,
unapologetically
word-centered.
Everything else
can change pretty much
but not this.
Our ministry needs
to be relentlessly
word-centered.
And if we don't
understand that,
nothing in the rest
of this book
will make any sense.
So speak God's word.
And then from 11, 18
to 12, 17,
secondly,
suffer the pain.
Suffer the pain.
In the next section,
it becomes a proper
conversation between
Jeremiah
and the Lord
and Jeremiah
moans or laments,
to use the technical
term,
and God responds.
And then Jeremiah
whinges a bit more
and God responds again.
Now, why is this
conversation recorded
for us?
So that we get
the fact
of having
a ministry
committed to
God's word
is going to mean
having a deal
with extended
opposition.
It just goes
with the territory.
And we need
to know that up front.
So in chapter 11
and verse 18,
Jeremiah says,
okay,
I've got the bit
about being
word-driven.
I understand that.
But then you showed
me their deeds
and it was
absolutely horrible.
There's a manly
gruff exterior
to Jeremiah,
but emotionally
he's pretty vulnerable.
It says,
I was like a lamb
led to the slaughter.
I walked right into it.
I did not know
it was against me
that they devised
the schemes,
saying,
let us destroy
the truth
with its fruit.
Let us cut off
from the land
of the living,
that his name
be remembered no more.
Jeremiah is just
a little bit naive here.
And I wonder
whether you think this,
and if we're kind
with people
and we're really
welcoming
and we spend
enough time with them
and we listen to them,
in the end,
we can win them over,
can't we?
Wrong.
It doesn't matter
how nice we think
we are.
It doesn't matter
how relationally
intelligent we might
think we are,
how skilled
we might think
we are,
if we are speaking
God's word sooner
or later,
we will have to
suffer the pain
that comes from
those who stand
with God.
And for Jeremiah,
this meant having
to come to terms
with the fact
that the conspiracy
we have in chapter 11,
verse 9,
actually started
with the very people
that he thought
he could count on.
People from his
very hometown.
Look at verse,
chapter 11,
verse 21,
therefore thus says
the Lord concerning
the men of Anathoth
who seek your life
and say,
do not prophesy
in the name of the Lord
or you will die
by our hand.
Anathoth,
if you remember,
is Jeremiah's
home village.
He's one of our own.
No,
they don't sing that.
There's something
doubly painful
about being rejected
by your own people,
isn't it?
If you're rejected
by strangers,
you can take some comfort
in the fact,
isn't it?
So,
you go and do
open air ministry
or beach missions
in a town you don't know,
it doesn't matter
if people don't take you
tracks or don't like you
very much.
In your school,
when people reject you,
it's a different story,
isn't it?
It's no accident
that in Luke's ministry,
in Luke's gospel,
Jesus' ministry
begins precisely
at this note,
do you remember?
He goes to Nazareth.
Luke 4,
he rolled up the scroll
and he gave it back
to the attendant
and he sat down
and the eyes of all
the synagogue were upon him
and he says,
today the scripture
has been fulfilled
in your hearing.
And all spoke well of him
and marveled at the
gracious words
that were coming
from his mouth
and they said,
isn't this Joseph's son?
And he said to them,
doubtless you will quote me
this proverb,
physician,
heal yourself.
What we've heard
you did in Capernaum,
do here in your hometown
as well.
And he said,
truly I say to you,
no prophet is acceptable
in his hometown.
When they heard
these things in the synagogue,
they were filled with wrath.
And they rose up
and they drove him
out of the town
and brought him
to the brow of the hill
of which their town
was built
so they could throw him
down the cliff.
Like Jeremiah,
like Jesus,
we need to be ready
to suffer
external rejection.
There is a real cost
to churches
in speaking God's word
and that external cost
has an internal cost
in effect.
Chapter 11,
verse 20,
Jeremiah prays
for God to intervene
and deal with his enemies.
Verse 21 to 23,
he assures him
he will do it
but that produces
turmoil for Jeremiah.
Righteous are you,
O Lord,
when I complain to you.
Yet I would plead
my case before you.
Why does the way
of the wicked prosper?
Why do all
who are treacherous
thrive?
You plant them
and they take root.
They grow
and produce fruit.
You are near in their mouth
and far from their heart.
How come you don't deal
with these people,
Jeremiah asks.
One of the pitfalls
about caring so much
about the work
of the Lord Jesus Christ
and his church
is that we care so much
about the Lord Jesus Christ
and his church.
Longing for God
to do something,
to revive his church,
to straighten people up,
to give people
a greater desire
for holiness,
a desire to see
people come to new
life in Christ.
And when you have
those desires,
it can easily
spill over into
kind of angst-ridden
outpouring
that you find
in chapter 12,
verse 3.
But you, O Lord,
know me.
You see me.
You test my heart
towards you.
You know I'm speaking
your words.
Pull them out
like sheep
for the slaughter
and set them apart
for the day of slaughter.
Jeremiah says to God,
can you do something
about this?
Enough is enough.
And God's response
is priceless.
If you've raced
with men on foot
and they've wearied you,
how will you compete
with horses?
And if in a safe land
you are so trusting,
what will you do
in the thicket of the Jordan?
God gently says to Jeremiah,
what did you expect?
To be involved
in God's work,
to speak God's word,
is to suffer pain.
Yes, they've dealt
treacherously with you.
Yes, they are in full cry
after you.
And you thought
it was going to be different
because God says,
do not believe them.
Though they speak
friendly words to you,
then God says,
if I can put this reverently,
how do you think I feel?
To speak the words of God,
to be involved in ministry,
is to suffer,
if I can put it like this,
the pain of God.
Look at verse 7
of chapter 12.
God says,
look,
I've forsaken my house.
I've abandoned my heritage.
I've given the beloved
of my soul
into the hands of our enemies.
My heritage has become
to me like a lion
in the forest.
See what the image
is actually saying?
My people have savaged me
like a lion.
She's lifted up
her voice against me,
therefore I hate her.
God says,
many shepherds
have destroyed my vineyard.
They've trampled down
my portion.
They've made my pleasant portion
a desolate wilderness.
They've made it
a desolation.
Desolate.
It mourns to me.
And yes,
God will act in judgment
against his people,
verse 12,
and against those
who in the words
of verse 14
touch the heritage
that I've given
my people Israel.
But don't miss it.
It's quite remarkable.
God is depicted,
and we need to be
really careful here,
as suffering the pain
for us.
This is the God
of the universe
who of course
is beyond all human passions.
And yet,
this is the God
who will become
one of us
in the Lord Jesus
and suffer
and die for us.
And the simple logic
is he suffered
the pain
and so will we
if we are united
with him.
1 Peter 2
says this is a
gracious thing.
When mindful of God,
one endures sorrows
while suffering
unjustly.
for what credit
is it
if when you sin
and are beaten
for it,
you endure.
But if you do good
and suffer for it,
you endure.
This is a gracious
thing in sight of God.
For to this
you've been called
because Christ
has suffered for you,
leaving you an example
that you might
follow in his steps.
He committed no sin,
neither was any deceit
found in his mouth.
When he was reviled,
he did not revile in return.
When he suffered,
he did not threaten.
But he continued
entrusting himself
to him
who judges justly.
He himself
for our sins
in his body
on the tree
that we might die
to sin
and live to righteousness.
By his wounds
you have been healed.
Suffering,
the pain,
goes with the territory
when our ministry
is built on
speaking God's word.
It's unavoidable.
As is thirdly,
doing whatever it takes
to get the message across.
Start of chapter 13,
Jeremiah breaks
into prose once more.
And it's one of the
best incidents
in the whole book.
There's not a lot
of humor in Jeremiah
and you've got to make
the best of it
when you find it.
And so chapter 13,
verse 1,
Captain Underpants,
I think,
is mildly amusing.
Thus says the Lord,
go and buy a linen loincloth.
Now Chris Wright,
who's as weak as water
on this passage,
wants to say
that it's a linen belt.
It's not a linen belt.
It's underwear.
And he's told,
13 verse 1,
put it around your waist
and do not dip it
into water.
Do not dip your underwear
into water.
That distracted me
for a while this week.
And most of the commentators
frustratingly make
no comments on it,
on this rather odd
prohibition of
dipping your pants
in a bucket of cold water
before you put them on.
It's hard to know
why Jeremiah
would want to do that.
And one commentator,
R.K. Harrison,
says if they were
dipped in water,
they would become
softer and more pliable.
Matthew Henry thinks
they would last longer
without washing.
John Calvin said,
and I paraphrase slightly,
who cares?
But for some reason,
pre-washing is banned.
And so Jeremiah
buys his undies
according to the word
of the Lord,
puts them around his waist,
and now he's suitably
attired.
He goes to Babylon,
and he now removes
his now not-so-fresh
undergarments
and finds a hole
under the rock,
stuffs them in the hole,
and then walks home again.
Chapter 13, verse 6,
After many days,
the Lord said to me,
After many days,
the Lord said to me,
Arise, go to the Euphrates,
and take from there
the loincloth
that I commanded
to hide there.
So he walks back there,
it's a long way,
digs up the underwear,
and shock after horror,
after several months
buried under a rock,
his underpants are spoiled
and good for nothing.
Now the point is not
hard to work out,
is it?
At the purchase
of brand new underwear,
the double trip to Babylon
is made clear.
At the people of Judah,
what are they like?
They're like Jeremiah's
rancid pants.
Verse 10,
There's evil people
who refuse to hear my words,
stubbornly follow
their own heart,
and they've gone after
other gods
to serve them
and worship them.
They should be like
this loincloth,
which is good for nothing,
dead right.
For as the loincloth
clings to the waste of man,
so I made the whole
house of Israel
and the whole house
of Judah cling to me,
declares the Lord,
that they may be for me
a people,
a name,
a praise,
a glory,
but they would not listen.
That's the point.
And the stuff about jars
in 13, 12, 14
is exactly the same.
He quotes the Judean proverb,
every jar shall be filled
with wine.
And they say,
We know,
verse 13,
then you shall say to them,
Thus says the Lord,
Behold,
I will fill with drunkenness
all the inhabitants
of this land,
the kings who sit on
David's throne,
the priests,
the prophets,
all the inhabitants
of Jerusalem,
and I will dash them
one against another,
father's sons to gather
to close the Lord.
I will not pity or spare
or have compassion
that I should not destroy them.
It is then Jeremiah's role
to do everything in his power
to communicate this message
to the people
who don't want to listen.
13, 15,
Give ear,
don't be proud.
The Lord has spoken,
Give glory to the Lord your God
before he brings darkness,
before your feet tremble.
On the twilight mountains
while you look for light,
he turns it into gloom,
makes it deep darkness,
but if you will not listen,
my soul will weep
in secret for your pride.
My eyes will weep bitterly
and run down with tears
because the Lord's flock
has been taken captive.
The verses that follow,
in verse 13,
Jeremiah's voice mingles
with the voice of God himself
as he warns everybody
from king and queen,
downwards,
to take seriously
the coming judgment
in the strongest possible language.
Verse 22,
If you say in your heart,
Why have these things come upon me?
It is for the greatness
of your iniquity
that your skirts are lifted up
and you suffer violence.
Can the Ethiopian change its skin?
Or the leper of spots?
Then also you can do good
who are accustomed to do evil.
You can try if you like.
Verse 26,
I myself will lift up
your skirts over your face
and your shame will be seen.
I've seen your abominations,
your adulteries,
your neighings,
your lewd whorings
on the hills of the field.
You can feel
the preacher here
grasping for language,
for the right words
that will penetrate
the thick skins
and the deaf ears
of God's people.
It's because he knows
that this message matters
and nothing matters more
than getting this message
to God's people.
It's the mark of his ministry.
It's the mark of Jesus' ministry.
Jesus would say,
O Jerusalem,
the city that kills the prophets
and stones those who are sent to it.
How often I would have
gathered your children together
as a hen,
gathers their brood under their wings
and you were not willing.
Can you feel the passion
to get the message across?
Speak God's word,
suffer the pain,
do whatever it takes,
stick to the task.
14 verse 1 to 15, 9.
Chapter 14, verse 1 to 6,
God describes the attending chaos
in quite dispassionate language.
Jeremiah has to keep reminding them
this is what is coming,
the destruction of your land,
whatever you think or do.
And in verse 7 to 9,
God anticipates
they'll eventually come
to their senses,
partially at least.
And he says,
though our iniquities testify
against us,
act, O Lord,
for your name's sake,
for our backslidings are many
and we have sinned against you.
Verse 9,
why should you be like
a man confused,
like a mighty warrior
who cannot save?
Come on.
Yet you, O Lord,
are in the midst of us.
Don't leave us.
When the people cry like this,
what is Jeremiah to do?
He is to keep on speaking
the words that God has given him.
And of course,
it will be costly.
No doubt,
Jeremiah would love
to have been able to say,
good news, everyone.
God's changed his mind.
Everyone's off the hook.
But that option
is never on the table
if we're faithful.
Verse 11,
do not pray
for the welfare of this people.
Though they fast,
I will not hear their cry.
Though false prophets
will sugarcoat words.
Verse 14,
the prophets
are prophesying in my name.
I did not send them,
nor did I command them
or speak to them.
They are prophesying to you
a lying vision,
worthless divination,
and the deceit
of their own minds.
I will punish them.
But you,
verse 17,
stick to your task.
You shall say to them,
this word,
let my eyes run down
with tears night and day.
Let them not cease,
for the virgin daughter
of my people
is shattered
with a great wound,
with a grievous blow.
And if he needs
any further reminder
that he should stay on message,
he gets it in 15,
1 to 9.
God takes Jeremiah's side
and says,
look,
though Moses and Samuel
stood before me,
yet my heart should not
turn towards this people.
Send them out of my sight.
Let them go.
And when they ask of you,
where shall we go?
You shall say to them,
thus says the Lord,
those who are for pestilence
to pestilence,
those who are for the sword
to the sword,
those who are for famine
to famine,
and those who are for
captivity to captivity.
Since the days of Manasseh
when Jeremiah was just a kid,
the die's been cast.
It's over.
And in a remarkable depiction,
we read verse 6,
you've rejected me,
declares the Lord,
you keep going backward.
So I've stretched out my hand
against you and destroyed you.
I am weary of relenting.
It's over.
Of course,
as we talked about
in Jeremiah 1,
it's not to say that
God is like us
and that he's run out of patience.
He's a cranky parent
who loses it.
God doesn't have
any of our limitations.
But we also need to remember
that God is not stripped
of feelings.
Our emotions are limited,
broken,
twisted versions of his,
if I can put it like that.
His love for his people burns
and yet he is utterly consistent
in saying,
I've decided now, Jeremiah,
you must keep speaking.
Judgment is coming.
Which takes us
to the last prerequisite
for what does authentic ministry,
authentic church life look like.
Speak God's word,
suffer the pain,
do whatever it takes,
stick at the task,
and lastly,
and most difficultly,
difficult,
difficultly?
I don't know.
Prepare to be broken.
15,
10 to 21,
it's impossible to read
this middle section
of Jeremiah
that we're right
in the middle of,
which is punctuated
by personal,
heartfelt outpourings.
It's misleading.
The Bible editors
sometimes call it
Jeremiah's confessions.
gospel ministry
exposes us
to external opposition,
but it always exposes us
to great personal cost.
To throw yourself
into church life
is to open yourself
to disillusionment,
bitterness,
resentment,
self-pity,
all of which
Jeremiah goes through
and he vulnerably
shares with us
in chapter 15
verses 10 to 21.
I think it's fair
to say here in chapter 15
Jeremiah is
showing the pressure.
Verse 10,
Woe is me,
my mother,
that you bore me,
a man of strife,
contention to the whole land.
I've not lent,
nor have I borrowed,
yet all of them curse me.
God reassures him
in verse 11,
tells him that the message
you preach, Jeremiah,
I will come true.
But in verse 15,
Jeremiah plunges
right into the depths again.
Oh Lord, you know,
remember me
and visit me
and take vengeance
for me or my persecutors.
In your forbearance,
take me not away.
Know that for your sake
I bear approach.
And Jeremiah says,
I know I'm going through
all this, God,
because for the sake
of the gospel,
but it's hard.
And I know in my head
that this is the way to go.
Verse 16,
Your words were found
and I at them
and your words became to me
a joy
and the delight
of my heart
for I'm called by your name,
O Lord God of hosts.
But sometimes it feels too hard.
There's just too much sacrifice.
It hurts too much.
I did not sit
in the company of revelers,
nor did I rejoice.
I sat alone
because your hand
was upon me
for you filled me
with indignation.
It just feels too much.
It feels like God
has sucked him in
and spat him out.
Why is my pain unceasing,
my wound incurable,
refusing to be ill?
Will you be to me
like a deceitful brook,
like waters that fail?
Jeremiah offers us
no reflection
over whether this is right
or wrong.
He's just honest
in what he said.
And this is what it's like
to be God's spokesman,
to be smashed.
It's what it's like
some of the time
being involved
in gospel ministry,
being involved
in church life
is costly.
And to become a follower
of the Lord Jesus
is costly.
Didn't Jesus
call us to himself
saying,
if anyone would
come after me,
let him deny himself
and take up his cross
and follow me.
And so what's God's
response to all of this?
Well,
there's powerful,
tender reassurance
which this chapter
finishes with.
Therefore,
thus says the Lord,
if you return,
I will restore you
and you shall stand
before me.
It's like Isaiah
saying,
in repentance
repentance and rest
is your salvation.
Keep running back to me.
If you utter
what is precious
and not what is worthless,
you shall be as my mouth.
They shall turn to you
but you shall not buckle
in the face of opposition.
And God reiterates
what he said
in chapter one.
You will be
like a fortified
wall of bronze
and they will fight
against you
but they won't prevail
over you.
For I am with you
to save you
and deliver you
declares the Lord.
I'll deliver you
out of the hand
of the wicked
and redeem you
from the grasp
of the ruthless.
Speak God's word.
Be prepared
to suffer the pain
of opposition.
Do what it takes
to get the message out.
Stick to the task.
Prepare to be broken.
That is the ministry
of Jeremiah.
That is the ministry
of Jesus.
And that is the ministry
of the apostles.
And that is the ministry
to which the church
of Jesus Christ
is called.
Now that we've been
transformed
by the gospel,
now that we are
in Christ
and we've been
brought to new life
by his spirit,
now we've been
justified by faith,
now we've been
called sons and heirs,
now that we've been
equipped to serve
Christ in the power
of the spirit,
we speak his words.
And this is what
God calls us to do.
And so as we've
walked this evening
through these difficult
chapters of Jeremiah,
may God burn
the shape of church life
and gospel-shaped ministry
into our hearts
and minds
and make us
to serve Christ
by speaking his words
and make that
the blazing center
of our church life.
And it may well be
that you are sitting
here,
if you're still awake,
thinking,
I don't want this,
it is too much,
it's too hard.
And I understand that,
I really do.
I sympathize with that.
And if that's you,
I want you to do
something tonight,
I want you to tell
the Lord that.
I want you to speak
to the Lord about it.
I'd love it if you'd
come and speak to me
or speak to another
Christian friend
or one of the elders
about that,
because the alternative
to not wanting this
is in the end
to face the judgment
that Jeremiah warns you of.
The danger is
we sit here
and we think
that there's some
halfway house,
but there is no
halfway house.
May God work in us
so that we can say
with Paul,
I count everything
as loss
because of the
sparsing worth
of knowing
Christ Jesus
my Lord.
For his sake,
Paul says,
I've suffered
the loss
of loads of things,
but I count them
all as rubbish
in order that I may
gain Christ
and be found in him.
Not having a righteousness
of my own
that comes from the law,
but that which comes
through faith in Christ,
the righteousness
from God
that depends on faith.
That I may know him
and the power
of his resurrection
and may share
in his sufferings.
Do you see the two
are tied?
Becoming like him
in his death
that by any means
possible I may attend
the resurrection
of the dead.
So by grace
through faith,
let us be a church
that speaks God's word
and doesn't give up
and preaches the gospel
until our dying breath.
Let's pray.