Jeremiah 5 (with comments)

Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,
    look and take note!
Search her squares to see
    if you can find a man,
one who does justice
    and seeks truth,
that I may pardon her.
² Though they say, “As the Lord lives,”
    yet they swear falsely.
³ O Lord, do not your eyes look for truth?
You have struck them down,
    but they felt no anguish;
you have consumed them,
    but they refused to take correction.
They have made their faces harder than rock;
    they have refused to repent.

⁴ Then I said, “These are only the poor;
    they have no sense;
for they do not know the way of the Lord,
    the justice of their God.

I will go to the great
    and will speak to them,
for they know the way of the Lord,
    the justice of their God.”

This has been a suspicion held in so many different times and places--the poor and ignorant may not live correctly and may not know God the way they ought.   But surely the people who have an education will know better.  Surely people who have even just a little privilege and proper upbringing will live rightly.   What does Jeremiah find?

But they all alike had broken the yoke;
    they had burst the bonds.

⁶ Therefore a lion from the forest shall strike them down;
    a wolf from the desert shall devastate them.
A leopard is watching their cities;
    everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces,
because their transgressions are many,
    their apostasies are great.

 The godlessness is across all of society.  The poor, the rich, the ignorant the learned--all alike refuse God's authority.

“How can I pardon you?
    Your children have forsaken me
    and have sworn by those who are no gods.
When I fed them to the full,
    they committed adultery
    and trooped to the houses of whores.
⁸ They were well-fed, lusty stallions,
    each neighing for his neighbor's wife.
⁹ Shall I not punish them for these things?
declares the Lord;
    and shall I not avenge myself
    on a nation such as this?

Naturally, God is upset.  After having chosen them, given them a place in the world, freeing them from slavery, establishing them as a nation, and so much more, they still turn from Him to the surrounding world.  How much more has God done for us?  And how often do we turn our backs on Him, choosing instead ourselves, the world, whatever?  
 

¹⁰ “Go up through her vine rows and destroy,
    but make not a full end;
strip away her branches,
    for they are not the Lord's.
¹¹ For the house of Israel and the house of Judah
    have been utterly treacherous to me,
declares the Lord.
¹² They have spoken falsely of the Lord
    and have said, ‘He will do nothing;
no disaster will come upon us,
    nor shall we see sword or famine.
¹³ The prophets will become wind;
    the word is not in them.
Thus shall it be done to them!’”

Notice the words, "make not a full end".  Even in the midst of judgment, God has a plan for restoration, there is hope. 

Also the line about stripping away the branches reminds me of later, in the New Testament, an analogy to branches being grafted into the vine . . . 

Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts:
“Because you have spoken this word,
behold, I am making my words in your mouth a fire,
    and this people wood, and the fire shall consume them.
¹⁵ Behold, I am bringing against you
    a nation from afar, O house of Israel,
declares the Lord.
It is an enduring nation;
    it is an ancient nation,
a nation whose language you do not know,
    nor can you understand what they say.

This summer I have also been studying the Celts and Irish history.  I was reminded of these verses as I read about the Roman Empire being chipped away by Celtic tribes and then sacked by the Germanic tribes.  They also had been given much, but did not give due honor to God.

Where are we?

There are a few verses detailing devastation.

¹⁸ “But even in those days, declares the Lord, I will not make a full end of you. ¹⁹ And when your people say, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ you shall say to them, ‘As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve foreigners in a land that is not yours.’”

²⁰ Declare this in the house of Jacob;
    proclaim it in Judah:
²¹ “Hear this, O foolish and senseless people,
    who have eyes, but see not,
    who have ears, but hear not.

The punishment fits the crime.  Also, Is not verse 21 reminiscent of the descriptions of foreign gods, the idols "They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not; They have ears, but they hear not; neither is there any breath in their mouths. They that make them are like unto them: so is every one that trusts in them." (from Psalm 135)

Do you not fear me? declares the Lord.
    Do you not tremble before me?
I placed the sand as the boundary for the sea,
    a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass;
though the waves toss, they cannot prevail;
    though they roar, they cannot pass over it.
²³ But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart;
    they have turned aside and gone away.
²⁴ They do not say in their hearts,
    ‘Let us fear the Lord our God,
who gives the rain in its season,
    the autumn rain and the spring rain,
and keeps for us
    the weeks appointed for the harvest.’
²⁵ Your iniquities have turned these away,
    and your sins have kept good from you.
²⁶ For wicked men are found among my people;
    they lurk like fowlers lying in wait.
They set a trap;    they catch men.
²⁷ Like a cage full of birds,
    their houses are full of deceit;
therefore they have become great and rich;
²⁸     they have grown fat and sleek.
They know no bounds in deeds of evil;
    they judge not with justice
the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper,
    and they do not defend the rights of the needy.
²⁹ Shall I not punish them for these things?
declares the Lord,
    and shall I not avenge myself
    on a nation such as this?”

³⁰ An appalling and horrible thing
    has happened in the land:
³¹ the prophets prophesy falsely,
    and the priests rule at their direction;
my people love to have it so,
    but what will you do when the end comes?

On Faith and Jeremiah

The church must express itself in faith, for "the just shall live by faith."

Where do we put our trust?  

What do we rely on in times of trouble?

I know I sometimes turn to distractions--I punch a pillow, watch a film, read a book, do some study, listen to chatter, chatter away myself, immerse myself in music, work, sleep (or try to do these things) rather than waiting in silence on God.

I noticed something in Jeremiah.  In verses 4-10 God calls Jeremiah to be a prophet.  Then verse 11 begins, "And the word of the LORD came to me saying, "Jeremiah, what do you see?"  It is an almond branch that Jeremiah sees, and almond in Hebrew sounds similar to the Hebrew word for watching. It is an object lesson from God-- "You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it."

Then in verse thirteen, "The word of the LORD came to me a second time, . . ." once again there is a question of what Jeremiah sees, but this time it has to do with future disasters and God's message that He was sending through Jeremiah.

It does not say anything about the time between these events.  Jeremiah is not strictly chronological all the time, and he does not all the time tell when things happen with respect to each other.  For all we know, he could have waited years between being called as a prophet and being given the message he was to carry.  There is a silence.  There is also reassurance.  God is watching over His word to perform it.

Two years ago my mother knew from God that he was providing her with a mini-van.  This past month it was accomplished, but it was not through any finagling, or debt, or whatever; it was outright, bought and paid for with money that God got to us at the right time for His purpose to be accomplished.

Do we sometimes try to present our own work to God and hope that He will bless it?  That is what Cain did in the early days of the world.  But, "our righteousness is as filthy rags," only when we do God's work that HE has laid out for us in HIS timing do we get it right; but there's still more.  We cannot do His work in our own strength; we must constantly rely on God's strength, because His work is more than we can handle on our own.

"But you, dress yourself for work; arise, and say to them everything that I command you.  Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them.  And I, behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land.  They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, declares the LORD, to deliver you."

"They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles."

Jesus, Himself spent much time in prayer and said He did nothing without the Father.

Are we better, more capable than He?

So, where is our faith?  What do we really trust in?

I cannot count on my own ability to do right actions with right motives.  I cannot count on my own faith even.  I must throw myself on God's mercy and accept His grace that conquers all my sin and trust that He will work in me "to will and to do of His good pleasure."

Crazy World . . .

I saw the name of a file--"crazyworld." I opened and found a bit of nonsense that did not feel entirely like nonsense anymore . . .
Here it is:

Tweedle-de-dee, tweedle-de-dee

it's such a life of merrily

the dogs, they fly, and cats do spin

like tops upon a needle-pin.

I'm laughing, hacking like a clown

and hanging, swinging upside down.

It's the crazy life of might-have-beens

and what-if's and in-betweens.

Tweedle-de-dee, tweedle-de-dum

It's twisting away from the humdrum,

but I don't know and I can't care,

What happens there won't happen here.

I'm spinning, swirling out of focus--

It's a mad and sad and crazy circus.

The maybe's are a-gathering round

this dead old circus ground.

But none of it's real, none of it's real--

At least that's what I think, I feel

When dogs like kites, and cats like tops

and the wire sits and the grandee hops

and I'm laughing crying downside up

For I don't know where I am now

and I don't know where I'm going now.

And I don't know when or why or how.

Thinking about the identity of the church

(Multiply Archives)
Last night, I watched Courageous with a friend's church.  In discussion afterwards it was brought up that it should be construed as a challenge to all Christians to live up to a higher standard.
In Sunday school this morning the Westboro “Baptist Church” was brought up.  Media identifies the church with stuff like that--it’s sensational, negative news--but where should we find our identity?  What are we?  
            I was copying out of Revelations this morning and this verse stood out:
Revelations 1:9 “I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.”  

Do we consider ourselves partners in the tribulation and kingdom and patient endurance that are in Jesus?  Do we think of tribulation and patient endurance as part of our existence in Jesus Christ?  After all, we are called to live in Him, right?  

So I looked up how the letters are addressed in the New Testament.  I did not include all (some said basically the same thing) but it occurs to me as I do this that a whole lot can be learned about who we are and what we should look like just from the greetings, blessings, and conclusions of the letters.  There is a lot packed in there.  But here we go.

Acts addresses “Theophilus” which means “lover of God”
    It could be an individual, but we should all love God--that seems a necessary part of being part of His church.

Romans begins, “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,” and is addressed, “To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (v.7)
The end of Romans refers to the believers using terms like, saints, church, brothers, fellow workers . . .
    So we are saints, loved by God, called to be saints . . .

I Corinthians: is addressed, “To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:” (v.2) end refers to them as saints, fellow laborers, brothers, church
    We are sanctified (made saints, made holy) in Christ Jesus, we are the ones who call on the name of our Lord Jesus,

Phillipians:  “To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae:”
    Ah, look, faithfulness is part of our identity . . . and still “saints”  so where does all the, “I’m just a sinner” crap come from?  That should no longer be our identity.

Philemon: “To Philemon our beloved fellow worker and Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier, and the church in your house:”  (v1,2)
    We are loved, we are fellow workers, fellow soldiers . . . that sounds like we should be living out a mission . . .

II Peter: “To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:” (v.1)           beloved
    we obtain faith by the righteousness of God  . . . I don’t understand all that, but I realize an implication of my faith not being dependent on me but on God’s righteousness and the saving grace of Jesus Christ.  

I John 5:1-2:  “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.”
brothers, children . . .
II Jn. 1-2, 4: “The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who know the truth, because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever: . . . I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father.”
III Jn.  fellow workers for the truth

I’m going to do these together:  We believe that Jesus Christ was born of God--He is divine, not mere man who became God.  If we are born in the spirit (see John 3) of God, we will love Him and keep His commandments.  We should live in the truth, we should work for the truth.  Jesus identified Himself as the Truth (John 14:6).  

Jude: “To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:” (v.1)
    As the church, we are called, we are loved, and we are kept for Jesus.

    As the church, we are called to be saints--called to be holy, set apart.  We are loved by God, and we should live in love toward one another.  We are not merely called to be saved, but we have a mission, we have something to do down here.  We are part of a kingdom, and we should be advancing that kingdom.  Our king is God.  Our allegiance to His kingdom should supersede all other allegiances.  
Because this kingdom is under attack within and without, we should expect suffering, tribulation, if you will.  We need to walk faithfully, confident that God himself is the one who keeps us.  We need to live out His love and live in truth.  There is no room for lies.  Satan is identified as the Father of Lies (Jn. 8:44), that should not be where our identity is.
The church should be identified by love, faithfulness, truth, holiness.  We should have our identity in God, in Jesus Christ, and from Him should come our mission, our marching orders, if you will.  

    This is just a beginning.  I need to keep looking at this more, and I invite anyone who wants to to take up the identity of the church as a study to dig in and share. 

Pax Vobiscum

(Multiply Archives)
A couple of Sundays ago, I realized that I missed Wednesday, but thought well, I guess it's a good thing, because this has been an amazing weekend.  I kept on running into peace in the midst of everything.  Peace when the enemy attacks in Amos, peace in the midst of storms with Jesus (forget which gospel), and knowing the Peace Speaker (in song).  It really stood out that if our trust is in Jesus, even if we do not know what on earth (or sea) is going on, we can be at peace and confident, and if He has said that we are going to the other side, we are going to make it to the other side no matter how unlikely that seems in the moment.
So, it was Wednesday again.  Then Tuesday came and I knew what to write for Wednesday.  See, Micah has this piece (ch 7) where it basically says that you cannot trust anyone.  Then it says starting in verse 7, "Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.  Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me.  I will bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness."
(emphasis added by me).
It comes back to trusting God.  Even when I know I've messed up, I can confidently turn back to God, because He is my light.  He even pleads on my behalf.  He brings me forth to the light and I behold His righteousness; and when that happens, I cannot help but be moved to desire to be purer, more like Jesus.