EPIPHANY
4
January
29-31, 2022
Pastor
Timothy J. Spaude
Text:
Jeremiah 1:4-10
“OH YES WE CAN!”
1.
God
has chosen us.
2.
God
is with us.
3.
We
have God’s words.
Jeremiah
1:4-10 (EHV) “The
word of the Lord came to me. 5 Before I formed
you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born, I set you apart. I
appointed you to be a prophet to the nations. 6 But I
said, “Ah, Lord God! I really do not know how to speak! I am only a
child!” 7 The Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I
am only a child.’ You must go to everyone to whom I send you and say whatever I
command you. 8 Do not be afraid of them, because I
am with you, and I will rescue you, declares the Lord.” 9 Then
the Lord stretched out his hand and touched my mouth. The Lord said
to me: There! I have now placed my words in your mouth. 10 Look,
today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and to tear down,
to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”
The words of God we are looking at
come from the book of the Old Testament prophet, Jeremiah. His call was to
serve as God’s spokesman in the 40 years leading up to what’s known as the
Babylonian Captivity. This was the time when for 70 years or so the nation of
Judah and the believers in them were conquered and carried away to Babylon. God
gave him a tough job to do. From the time God called him he would continually
share the “good news” that the nation was doomed, that the nation needed to
repent. God even told Jeremiah what the result would be. The people won’t
listen. Jeremiah is no dummy. He knows the lay of the land. His message would
be unpopular. That meant he would be unpopular. So unpopular that Jeremiah
would have his life threatened. He would be put in prison. He would be branded
a traitor. Can you blame him for wanting a way out? “But I said,
“Ah, Lord God! I really do not know how to speak! I am only a child!”
I can’t do it Lord. The job is too tough.
“Oh, yes you can!” was God’s response.
But it was not an empty response. It wasn’t just “Wah, wah, get over it baby.”
It was an empowering response because of what God revealed. First that God had
chosen him. “The word of the Lord came to me. 5 Before
I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born, I set you
apart. I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations.” Even before
Jeremiah was Jeremiah the Lord had chosen him. He formed him in his mother’s
womb to be a prophet, a spokesman for God. Just as an aside, last week in the prayers
Vicar reminded us of the awful anniversary of Roe V Wade. God’s word is clear.
People are people in the womb. Jeremiah was Jeremiah, not tissue. Any nation
that willingly kills its children, kills its future, and is doomed. So let’s
just pause now and everyone pray. Pray for our nation. Pray for our leaders.
Pray for those who are in a position to protect lives. Pray for repentance.
Thank
you. Now back to the word. Jeremiah felt like he could not carry out the work
God gave him. But he could and he would because God had chosen him.
And because God was with him. “The Lord said
to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ You must go to everyone to whom I send
you and say whatever I command you. 8 Do not be
afraid of them, because I am with you, and I will rescue you, declares
the Lord.” Make no mistake about it. Jeremiah’s job would not be easy.
People would hate him because of what he said. People would try to kill him. There
would be times when Jeremiah would feel alone. He would feel like he was the
only one who stayed true to the Lord. He would feel that way, but he would not
be that way. The Lord was with him. The Lord rescued him. Even his time in
prison was controlled by God who provided strength and help. To Jeremiah’s
protest of “I can’t do this,” again God responded, “Oh, yes you can because I
am with you.”
And because Jeremiah had God’s words
to use. “Then the Lord stretched out his hand and touched my
mouth. The Lord said to me: There! I have now placed my words in your
mouth. 10 Look, today I appoint you over nations and
kingdoms to uproot and to tear down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and
to plant.” The Lord reminded Jeremiah that he was a spokesman. He would not
be speaking his own words nor acting on his own agenda. This was God’s time and
God’s dime. The message Jeremiah brought would build some up and tear others
down. He would say what God says, no more no less. And that Jeremiah could do
whether he felt like it or no.
And so can we. Jeremiah’s protest
helps us to come to grips with what lives in us too, the sin of reluctance. A
reluctance to be ambassadors for Jesus. A reluctance to stand up, stand up for
Jesus. A reluctance to tell people what they need to hear instead of what they
want to hear. It all boils down to another heart sin. We want to be popular, to
fit in and to have people praise us. But God didn’t put us on this planet to be
popular. We are here as his servants, his witnesses, his ambassadors. But the
writing on the wall says it is going to get tougher for those who say what God
says. This should not surprise us. Believers on earth are called the Church
militant, the fighting folks. If you have taken advantage of the Revelation
Bible Class taught by Prof. Bivens you understand why. Satan. The Devil. And
his allies. The unbelieving world and our own sinful natures. They try to
thwart every effort believers make to advance the kingdom of God, to do exactly
what Jesus said and make more disciples. All this struggling. All this being on
guard from the Devil. It’s enough to make a person feel “I can’t do this anymore!”
God has an answer for us that makes us say
“Oh, yes we can!” He chose us too. It’s a hard Bible teaching for our minds to
wrap around but God tells us that before the creation of the world he chose us
to be His own. You know it’s true for you because He made that choosing visible
at your Baptism, audible as you’ve heard the good news of your Savior Jesus and
evidenced by what you are doing right now, worshiping and devoting to the word.
Like Jeremiah we have been chosen for a purpose. We all have different jobs and
lives and roles and vocations and yet we all have the same purpose, to declare
the great things God has done. To be ambassadors for Christ and witnesses of
His truth. So, when you’re feeling unimportant or worthless and you can’t do
anything important for the Lord, Oh yes we can! He chose us for this.
And He’s with us. If you keep up on the
religious news in America you already know that our country is de
Christianizing at a rapid rate. The fastest growing religious category is the
nones, not the kind that live in convents, the people who check NONE next to
their religious affiliation. You may have noticed the same things at work where
not many talk about going to church. You may have seen departures from active
worship life in your own families. Again, the feeling sets in. We can’t do
this. Oh yes, we can! God is with us. He’s promised it and proved it. We still
aren’t that far away from Christmas. The birth of Jesus. Immanuel. God with us!
And that Immanuel promised us “Surely I am with you always to the very end of the
age. We are never alone.
And we go with God’s words. At our last
Voters meeting our devotion from Psalm 144 reminded us that blessed is the
nation whose God is the LORD. Right now our nation’s god is science for some,
sports and entertainment for others, self for many more. That we are willing to
kill our children is just a symptom of something far worse, rejection of God.
Like in Jeremiah’s time. As happy as we would be to have the sin of abortion
stopped, that’s not the solution. A heart change is. Only God’s words
accomplishes that. We have them. We might feel like people won’t listen but God
hasn’t told us that. We might worry what people think about us but we don’t
have to. These are God’s words, His agenda, not ours. He may use our witness to
build up. He may use our witness to tear down, but he will use our witness.
Remember that the next time you feel like
your presence in your family, community and country isn’t doing any good.
Remember that when your invitation to join you in worship is not accepted.
Remember that if court rulings go against us or laws no longer protect our
religious freedom. Remember that when you feel like you can’t. Oh yes we can,
people of Jacobi. Before he formed you in your mothers’ wombs, God knew you. He
set you apart for Him. He is with you and will rescue you and you are his
spokesman to a nation who desperately needs Him. Can we do it? Can we keep
doing it? With God, “Oh yes, we can!” Amen.
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