Using the Word

The Journey

I am a firm believer that where you end up is important but how you get there is equally important. It’s like when you did math as a kid and you had to show your work. Because you might’ve ended up at the right answer, but if you got there the wrong way your method may not work the next time or the time after that. I say that because our text this morning from Jeremiah is sometimes used in a way that illustrates something Christians do that occasionally frustrates me, and that is that we sometimes make the whole Bible about us. I want to read again God’s words here “ . . . “

And there’s a temptation to think “God is saying that He knew me before He formed me and had a purpose for me before I was born,” or “I shouldn’t be afraid because God is promising to deliver me in these words,” or “these verses are saying that He is going to give me the words to speak.” But that’s not what these verses are saying! God is telling Jeremiah these things, we’re just sitting here reading someone else’s mail! Let me reread these verses replacing the pronouns with the person that the pronouns are referring to “ . . . “

Jeremiah is being called as a prophet to Israel, God is speaking to Jeremiah’s insecurity about his youth, God is telling Jeremiah that his knowledge and eloquence is not what matters here. This text is about Jeremiah, not about me and not about you.

I Do Not Know How To Speak

So we can’t say that this text is about us or that God is talking directly to us, but I think it’s probably more fair to say that we can empathize and identify with some of the struggles that Jeremiah is having here. I’m certain many of us have had times in our lives where we have wondered what God’s plan for us is and I’m certain that many of us have had doubts or questions about speaking about our faith. When we read Jeremiah’s words that “I don’t know how to speak,” many of us may feel the same way about talking about our faith with other Christians or with nonbelievers.

Maybe you think you’re too young, that you don’t have enough life experience to really speak wisdom to another Christian - especially an older Christian.

Maybe you think you don’t know enough, and there is a concern that if you speak to another Christian they’re going to judge you for not being as well versed in the Bible or in theology or whatever else. Or there is a concern that if you speak to a nonbeliever they’re going to have questions you can’t answer.

Maybe you think you can’t speak well enough, and you’re worried that if you try and speak to a nonbeliever that you won’t be convincing or that you will fumble your words, say something in a way that gets heard wrong, and turn them off from the faith all together.

Maybe you think it’s not your job to have conversations like that, thinking that faith conversations should only happen when a professional church worker is involved.

Get Your Eyes Checked

Now, before we deal with our issues, let’s look at how God responded to Jeremiah. He tells Jeremiah that He is going to provide the words, He tells Jeremiah that He is going to put words in his mouth, He tells Jeremiah that He will take care of how those words impact people. Then God asks Jeremiah about a vision, and Jeremiah describes this vision. God’s response is this, “you have seen well.”

It’s the difference between going to the eye doctor and creating a painting. You go to the eye doctor and they have that little poster with the letters that get smaller and smaller. If you read the letters right, maybe you hear something along the lines of “you have seen well.” You’re not coming up with anything, nothing is really relying on you, you are just describing what you see. On the other hand, if you’re trying to paint a painting, you’re coming up with the idea, you have to pick the colors, you have to pick the kind of paint, it is all relying on you. Jeremiah is being told and being shown that his ministry will not rely on him, it will rely entirely on God - he’s a patient at the eye doctor not an artist in the studio. God is reassuring Jeremiah that it will be God’s Word, the God will take care of the impact, and that God will protect and deliver Jeremiah.

Spoken For!

And this interaction teaches us something about the character of God. He watches over His Word, He speaks through His people, and He delivers people who carry His Word. And if you look at the other prophets, if you look at the disciples, this is a consistent part of God’s character. And that gives us confidence to say that God does and will speak through us, that God will take care of how that word impacts the people around us, and that God will protect and deliver us. And the greatest example of this is when Satan accuses us. When Satan points at all of our sins and says we are not good enough, says that we are broken, says that God should give up on us - Jesus replies in us, through us, and on our behalf to say “I have made them good enough, I have healed them, I have made them right with myself and with my Father.” We are forgiven, redeemed, and saved for all eternity because of the work of God’s Word in our lives.

Application

Now you might be sitting there thinking, “but he just said not seven minutes ago that this text isn’t about us, but now he’s saying that God will speak through and deliver us, pick a lane pastor!” I want to point you back to the beginning of this sermon. The destination might be the same, but it matters how you get there. This text isn’t about us, but it teaches us about the character of God and because God is consistent we can understand that He will speak through us as well. And I encourage you this week to make deliberate space for that, try and have a conversation with another Christian friend or family member about faith - you can talk about the sermon or a Bible verse or whatever, just open up that kind of conversation. Try and have a conversation with a nonbeliever - you can ask them about what there experience has been with Christianity or who they think Jesus is. Open up these conversations and you just might see that God speaks through you in powerful ways. It’s in Jesus’ name, amen.