Sunday Sermon

Jeremiah 2:4-13
Sermon #1005
Dr. Ed Pettus

“Let Us Say…”
Last Sunday we read about Jeremiah’s call from God, a call weighted by God’s knowledge of Jeremiah’s birth and appointment to be a prophet to the nations. Today we get a picture of what Jeremiah has been called into and his message to proclaim. We pick up at verse four: Hear the word of the Lord. My message to day is about that word, but also about words, about rhetoric, about speeches, about the things that are said and some things that are not said.
I am a believer in the sacred rhetoric of the Bible. The words matter. The sentences matter. The speeches matter. It all matters because our faith is dependent on the testimony given us through all the faithful witnesses of the Bible. What is said in the Bible matters. Dr. Walter Brueggemann, in his greatest work to date, has given nearly 800 pages of Old Testament theology based on the testimony of Israel, based solely on the rhetoric of the Bible. That is not necessarily a new perspective, but the church has in some ways given up on the rhetoric of the Bible. We have shifted from what the Bible says to what can be said about the Bible or what we want to say and then using the Bible as a proof text. We treat the Bible without regard for its power and read it as if it were a normal book instead of our sacred inspired text. We would do well to learn from Mary in Luke’s gospel: “Let it be with me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). Mary trusted in the word given, in the proclamation, in what was said. An angel told her that she would bear a son even when that not only seemed impossible, but was impossible from a human point of view. But she believed in the word spoken.
Jeremiah is given something to say; he is given a word from the Lord, and it is not pleasant: (Jer. 2:5) Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel. Thus says the LORD: "What wrong did your ancestors find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthless things, and became worthless themselves?" This is an indictment against the house of Jacob and all the families of the house of Israel. No one is not-guilty. They have all strayed from the Lord and have gone after worthless things and in going after them, they have become like the very things they seek; they have become worthless! Thomas Steagald notes: “The theological irony at the heart of Jeremiah is shown in sharp relief: the chosen of God have chosen other gods, have shunned God’s purposes, even if it meant shunning God’s provision. Now whatever provision they have made for themselves is at an end. They desire less than the Almighty, and that, Jeremiah says, is exactly what they have: gods who are no gods, who cannot hear or answer prayers, who cannot save them, now that calamity is upon them” (Feasting on the Word, Year C, vol. 4, p. 6).
When I read Jeremiah’s word from the Lord so long ago, I wonder, could this not be an indictment against us? We pursue worthless things all the time in an effort to find fulfillment, to find something that will fill our void within, to find something that can we believe will make us happy. We look to food to not only fill our bellies but to somehow fill the sense of despair or to alleviate depression or relieve our sadness. We look to entertainment to escape the pressures of the day or to bring us a sense of relaxation that never really relaxes. Nothing wrong with food or entertainment, don’t get me wrong, but when anything like a double cheeseburger or Star Trek begin to replace God, then…then we fall under this indictment from the mouth of Jeremiah. What gods are we pursuing? The Psalmist knew:
“The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They (the idols) have mouths, but they do not speak; they have eyes, but they do not see; they have ears, but they do not hear, and there is no breath in their mouths. Those who make them and all who trust them shall become like them” (Psalm 135:15-18).
Pursue worthless things and become worthless yourself. Does that mean when we pursue holy things we become holy? Jesus thought so, Matthew 6:33, “But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” The apostle Paul must have thought so as well: “So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory” (Col. 3:1-4).
How much are we pursuing the things of God and how much are we pursuing the things of the world?
It is a question worth exploring. We think we are pursuing God but the temptation for the things of the world are so very powerful that we sometimes lose our focus and we lose our foundational point of reference. 1 John says it this way: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world; 16for all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17And the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live forever” (1 John 2:15-17).
The apostle Paul says: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2).
The indictment from Jeremiah goes on: They did not say, "Where is the LORD who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us in the wilderness, in a land of deserts and pits, in a land of drought and deep darkness, in a land that no one passes through, where no one lives?"
God's people failed to give the testimony, to tell the story, to recite the songs of deliverance. The did not say! They forgot God and the story of the exodus where God brought them out of slavery in order to bring them in to a plentiful land.
“I brought you into a plentiful land to eat its fruits and its good things. But when you entered you defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination.”
Don't you just hate it when that happens? You give somebody something, and they tear it up or disregard it as if it didn't matter that the gift was something given out of your kindness or that you gave it out of love or that you cared for them. Or God forbid they re-gifted it to someone else!
It was bad enough that the people did not respond with love and obedience, but now the leaders do not even care about God, they do not know God anymore, so much so that they are going after other gods, Baal is their god, and they seek that which is worthless.
The priests did not say, "Where is the LORD?" Those who handle the law did not know me; the rulers transgressed against me; the prophets prophesied by Baal, and went after things that do not profit.
Therefore once more I accuse you, says the LORD, and I accuse your children's children.
That’s very deep – to the children’s children. Once more I accuse you. This is not the first time Israel has gone astray. God has forgive time and time again, so that the phrase "once more I accuse you," is repeated a number of times in Israel's history.
Then Jeremiah gives an example:
Cross to the coasts of Cyprus and look, send to Kedar and examine with care; see if there has ever been such a thing. Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? (Do other nations give up on their gods, gods that have no life, no power?) But my people have changed their glory for something that does not profit. Be appalled, O heavens, at this, be shocked, be utterly desolate, says the LORD, (the heavens are called in to witness this shocking development) for my people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water,
and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water.
A cistern is an underground chamber where water is stored. It was built to catch rainwater to use during the dry season for people and for animals. The people would make a limestone plaster to waterproof the cisterns and would lower a jar through the mouth of the cistern to get to the water. The limestone plaster needed regular repair and the cistern often needed cleaning. The indictment against Israel is that they have dug cisterns for life apart from God. They believe that they can live on their own or with other gods to care for and protect them.
Now, what if Jeremiah were alive today and saying these words? To take that one step further, we trust that God's word is alive so that this word is a word for today and not just ancient script without relevance for us.
Hear the word of God as an indictment against a nation. We are as a nation trying to dig our own cisterns of technology, science, economics, capitalism to hold the waters we trust to give life, but do not. We act for the sake of national security, for the sake of the world's supply of oil, for the protection of our affluent way of life. We act, as a nation, with lip service to God (if even that anymore) but with faith in government or democracy or other things rather than in the gospel. Many are trying to erase God from the public square. Replace it with humanism, with other gods, with empty promises that will never bring life. Think about the cisterns we dig…entertainment, sexuality, love, self, information, tolerance, political correctness, you can insert your thoughts on this.
Hear the word of God as an indictment against the church. We have, as a church, dug out our cisterns of theologies and traditions and dogmas that we trust to give life only to find that they are empty of life. We have forgotten that faith is lived on the edge. We have forgotten that the life of discipleship is filled with risk and wonder and mystery. We have forgotten our story to the point that we have very little to say as a church or denomination. We instead pursue endless debate on issues or we form a committee, or, God forbid, a task force!
Hear the word of God as an indictment against persons. We hold fast to our own ways, digging cisterns of security and economic stability and trusting in our selves to make things work only to find that none of that holds water.
The only water for life is found in Jesus Christ and the cistern we dig is within our hearts. All else is broken and in need of repair. We cannot hold the water for life in the bank or in our possessions or in our being cool or in achievement. Only in Jesus Christ, only in the God who is the fountain of living water will we live.
In nation, church, or self, we forget where the true living waters flow. We seek other gods to fill our needs for love, companionship, hope, and security. But those gods lead us away from the very water that gives us life and into empty jugs of dry, lifeless, broken dreams and promises.
Life is found in the remembrance of God's mighty deeds in Israel's history and in the history of the church through Jesus Christ and in the history of our lives in the work of the Holy Spirit. Parker Palmer states, "The word remember literally means to re-member, to reunite that hidden wholeness in us and in our world that is so easily torn apart by powers within and around us. (We) refuse to allow (ourselves) and (our) action(s) to be dis-membered by the forces of fragmentation" (The Active Life, p.62-63).
This world will tear us apart. Human reason will tear us apart. Relying solely on anything else but God will tear us apart.
This is why we come to worship. We tell the stories again and again. We return to the living waters offered by Jesus at the well of life. There is no other source for life but Jesus. There is no other cistern that will hold water for life. We need not trade for other gods in hopes that something better will come along. This is the God of life, the God of living waters. If we sell out to the gods of this world, if we dig out cisterns from the make up of the world's systems, we will soon find they are structurally unsound, filled with holes that leak out all of the poisoned waters that we thought would sustain us.
The people Jeremiah addressed did not remember or recite the story of God’s deliverance and provision. The leaders did not remember or recite the word of the Lord. The danger is that when we fail to remember and recite our words of faith, we run the risk of forsaking God and making our own water tanks, broken tanks, broken jugs, broken cisterns that eventually fail.
So let us say, "Where is the Lord who brought us out of our bondage to sin and death? Let us seek no other gods but only the God who is the fountain of living water. Let us not go after worthless things, but seek God who brings meaning to our lives and joy to our hearts. Let us give testimony to this God, for our God is the giver of life.
Let us say…Jesus Christ is the way and the truth and the life…
Let us say…Jesus Christ is Lord.
Let us say…the good news of salvation, He is risen.
Let us say…the biblical stories that shape who we are, that form us into disciples of Jesus Christ.
And let us keep saying it and say it again, and again, until we hear it ourselves and others hear it deep within their souls. Let us come together every Sabbath day to remember and recite the words, the sentences, the confessions, the testimonies of God. This is why we are here today, saying the words of life, bringing to our remembrance the source of our lives. By saying, by reciting, by hearing and remembering the story of God we pray that we would not fall under this indictment of Jeremiah, that we would not pursue worthless things and become worthless ourselves, that we would not commit the evils of forsaking God and digging out our own way of life apart from the God who gives us the living water.
Let us say…let us seek…let us pursue, saying the gospel, seeking the Lord, pursuing the things of God. And we will know the living water that only God can and will provide. Amen.