The Call of Jeremiah

Jeremiah 1:1–3 NIV

The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. The word of the Lord came to him in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah, and through the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, down to the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem went into exile.

Jeremiah 1:4–5 NIV

The word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew  you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

Before I formed you in the womb...

I knew you… I set you apart… I appointed you

God is the actor.

Progression, where God is giving more detail with each line

I formed you

Psalm 139:13 NIV

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

What does it mean that the Lord formed us, or knit us together in the womb?

We are both Material and Immaterial beings.

Some have taken this as our parents provided for the material parts, and the Lord created a soul for us when we were conceived, and God knit this together with the physical body.

The problem with this view is that the scriptures are clear that we are sinful from the moment of conception…

Psalm 51:5 NIV

Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

God cannot create a sinful soul. Additionally, scripture is clear that we were all in Adam when he sinned...

Romans 5:12 NIV

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—

We were all in Adam, just as Levi was in his ancestor Abraham when Abraham paid a tithe to Melchizedek.

Hebrews 7:9–10 NIV

One might even say that Levi, who collects the tenth, paid the tenth through Abraham, because when Melchizedek met Abraham, Levi was still in the body of his ancestor.

When God created Adam, he formed the body from the dust of the ground, and breathed into him, and he became a living soul. He was not a complete creation, not man until he had both the material and immaterial parts.

In the same way, we are complete beings, material and immaterial from the moment we are conceived. This being passed down to us from our parents, both the material and immaterial.

God is at work, superintending the processes he put in place when he created Adam and Eve to procreate.

He is not the creator of birth defects. He is not the creator of our sinful nature. He is the creator who made mankind to be in his image, holy and righteous.

Adam and Eve corrupted that image when they sinned, and have since then passed down their image to their offspring.

Genesis 5:3 NIV

When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth.

The imperfections in our bodies and our souls come from our parents.

However, God is still as work, looking at each of us as his own special creation through our parents.

We are each special to him, made originally in his image, and still bearing that image though it has been marred by sin.

We are still capable of love, though we often fail. We are still able to think and reason, though it is too often faulty. We are still able to communicate, though we communicate unkindly. We are still capable to making decisions, though we too often choose what is wrong.

Nonetheless, God is involved in forming each of us while we were in our mother’s wombs, and loves each of us as his creation.

What are the implications of this?

Jeremiah 1:5 NIV

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

I knew you

This word for know is one of intimate, relational, experiential knowledge.

It is incomprehensible to us, yet God knew us before we were even formed!! Before we were conceived!

Isaiah 46:10 NIV

I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’

He is the I AM, the beginning and the end, the everlasting, eternal God who created time. He is not a part of his creation, but outside of his creation.

As such, he knows all, and has established his plans and purposes, and all things will work toward the end that he has set.

David said, Psalm 139.16

Psalm 139:16 NIV

Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

God knew Jeremiah intimately before he even existed, knowing all of his days, all of his ways.

I set you apart

God chose Jeremiah and set him apart, sanctified him as one of his special servants.

Chose…

Chose is something some people find upsetting.

Vacation…

Fully paid.

There are expectations.

You are invited.

You are loved, and shown that great love.

What if one gets a little more cajoling? Please come?

Is it unfair? No. All were fully invited, fully shown love.

If they reject the vacation (primarily because they don’t like the expectations) that is not the fault of the Father.

Just because they didn’t get an extra measure of cajoling, does not negate all of the urging that did take place.

John 3:18 NIV

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

John 3:36 NIV

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.

I appointed you

I have a job for you, that I expect you to do.

Drafted.

Jeremiah 1:6 NIV

“Alas, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.”

The prophet’s response, “I can’t”

Like other prophets… Moses

Exodus 3:10–11 NIV

So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

Isaiah

Isaiah 6:5 NIV

“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

Gideon

Judges 6:15 NIV

“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”

What is God’s response?

Jeremiah 1:7 NIV

But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you.

Jeremiah 1:8–10 NIV

Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord. Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”

Exodus 3:12 NIV

And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”

Exodus 4:10–12 NIV

Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”

Isaiah 6:6–7 NIV

Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

Gideon

Judges 6:16 NIV

The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”

I am with you. I made you. I cleansed you. I am with you.

Galatians 1:11–17 NIV

I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being. I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went into Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus.

Jeremiah 1:17–19 NIV

“Get yourself ready! Stand up and say to them whatever I command you. Do not be terrified by them, or I will terrify you before them. Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand 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 will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.

I will enable you. I will rescue you.

What about me?

Did God form you?

Does God know you?

1 Peter 1:1–3 NIV

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

Romans 8:28–30 NIV

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

Did God set you apart?

1 Corinthians 6:11 NIV

And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Hebrews 10:10 NIV

And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Did God appoint you?

1 Peter 2:24 NIV

“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”

Acts 1:8 NIV

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Ephesians 2:8–10 NIV

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Is God with you? Will he enable you?

1 Corinthians 1:5–9 NIV

For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge— God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

2 Corinthians 3:4–5 NIV

Such confidence we have through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.

Matthew 28:18–20 NIV

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”