Sunday, August 25, 2019 - 9 AM

Like A Child – Jeremiah 1:4-10 Bascomb UMC / August 25, 2019 / 9AM Focus: The wonderful news that God knows each of us and forms us for a divine purpose. Function: To challenge believers to accept the call of God on their lives! 5 Purpose Outcomes of the Church: Worship, Fellowship, Discipleship, Evangelism, Service Jeremiah 1:4–10 (CEB) - Call of Jeremiah 4 The LORD’s word came to me: 5 “Before I created you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I set you apart; I made you a prophet to the nations.” 6 “Ah, LORD God,” I said, “I don’t know how to speak because I’m only a child.” 7 The LORD responded, “Don’t say, ‘I’m only a child.’ Where I send you, you must go; what I tell you, you must say. 8 Don’t be afraid of them, because I’m with you to rescue you,” declares the LORD. 9 Then the LORD stretched out his hand, touched my mouth, and said to me, “I’m putting my words in your mouth. 10 This very day I appoint you over nations and empires, to dig up and pull down, to destroy and demolish, to build and plant.” I think there’s a difference between “I don’t want to” and “reluctant.” I looked at the sign-up board for the Prayer Vigil and I ask you, “are you just reluctant to commit yourself to prayer?” because I understand reluctance – “what do I do in here for an hour?” (we have helps), or “how do I lead a prayer time in my home?” (you invite one of those spi-‘tual people to your house and get them to pray). One “expert” on his website said: “Everybody has a purpose. Some people may not believe such, but I believe it even more since having children. Each day, my children grow older, and they develop these crazy little things called personalities and I see the things that draw them and, sure enough, they begin to excel at this or that thing. My son excels at praying. It gives me a hint about what is important to him. It tells me a bit about what he is drawn to and the types of situations he may end up experiencing.” People who are reluctant apply caution and cognition – “let me think about it, and I’ll get back to you!” Not a bad approach. These persons are serious thinkers and don’t rush into decisions. “I don’t want to…..” is a different attitude. Toni Braxton’s lyrics to her song express, not reluctance, but rather, I don't want to sing another love song. hum another melody. live my life without you. I don't want to laugh, I don't want to play I don't want to talk, I have nothing to say Children are the most honest with us. They just flat out say, “I don’t want to…..” – no excuses, no double talk, no hedging. They say NO and wait to see what happens. For me, what happened was usually a spanking. There is a reason parents are larger and physically stronger than our children. Not for abuse’s sake, but for their protection! To pick them up and strap them in the car even if they say NO. Parents must believe that they know best most of the time (even if we have self-doubts). One way we conceive of God is a parent (sometimes like a father, sometimes like a mother). But God is also our creator. This text points to an understanding that God has a purpose, a mission for our lives. I often say that God operates with an ultimate will that WILL NOT be thwarted (God’s gonna do what God’s gonna do), and down lower is God’s temporal will that invites us to cooperate with God to reach our full potential. The grey areas are with people like Jeremiah. You must forgive me, but this ol’ “Free Will Wesleyan” does allow for exceptions like Moses, Jeremiah, and Paul. Even though the primary way God works through humans is through invitation, I’m not sure Jeremiah wasn’t picked up by parent God and strapped into the car seat of prophetic mission. Not that we don’t try to resist God. I remember at least three biblical stories of running away from leadership or responsibility. Jonah was supposed to go and tell the people over in Nineveh to get their act together or else. “I don’t want to!” he thought, and he ran. Moses got a little big-headed and “accidentally” killed somebody. He ran. Jacob decided that he was going to con the leadership position out of his brother and then what did he do? He ran. Can you run from God? Psalm 139 is a marvelous description of Creator God: Where could I go to get away from your spirit? Where could I go to escape your presence? If I went up to heaven, you would be there. If I went down to the grave, you would be there too! If I could fly on the wings of dawn, stopping to rest only on the far side of the ocean—even there your hand would guide me; even there your strong hand would hold me tight! Psalm 139:7-10 (CEB) But we still try. I have heard, across the store, the protests of children being physically carried by a parent, kicking and screaming all the way. Jeremiah’s activity as a spokesman for God was set against the backdrop of a very strong national revival in Judah. There was a great deal of heady optimism because Assyria was declining. This turn in their political fortunes reawakened their attitude that Judah was indeed the Chosen People of their God. But Jeremiah must have been divided internally - on the one hand, things were looking up (at least for the short term), but Jeremiah held a deep suspicion that hope and optimism were leading Judah into complacency. Judah assumed an irrational belief that God could be relied upon to guard and protect Judah no matter how the people conducted their affairs. Complacent optimism proved to be Judah’s eventual downfall; but Jeremiah had to spend forty years as an isolated and derided Prophet……….. warning Judah of this folly. God will do what God will do! Preaching can be prophetic at times, but I do not feel led to focus on the content of Jeremiah’s content, but on his call. Jeremiah delivered some of our favorite lines from God, “For I know the plans I have for you” Jeremiah 29:11. Most of us recognize and cherish these words and today we heard, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.” This is familiar ground. Notice the front page where I discuss skills and talents. All of us have skills, but none of us have all the skills. Any group like a church depends on all the members offering their abilities for the mission and the ministry of the church. We work best together when we all pull together and offer our skills for God’s work. Talents are harder to define, but each of us may have creative talents the church can use. I believe in the Apostle Paul’s concept of the church as a body working in unity. All of US are smarter than any one of us. When Israel wanted a king, Samuel knew it wasn’t for the best. The Biblical history of kingship offered the people a lazy “group-think” attitude that took responsibility away from them – “just blame all our troubles on the king!” And people have fallen victim to blind allegiance to a misdirected leader. One of the greatest gifts of the Protestant Reformation is the proposition that after Pentecost, we have a priesthood of all believers. Each of us have a call of God on our lives. (I know of a case… pastor/financer in trouble) – “we expect more from you.” Is that right? Have you accepted YOUR call? Still, we can’t ignore the hardest part of this mission. The irony of Jeremiah’s story is this: only the believers who understand the impossibility of the task, who may even seek to flee the responsibility, can actually do it because we stay aware of the hard truth that God must do what God must do. Gifts working in the church take our skills and our talents to another level. Gifts operating in the church are a work of the Holy Spirit that allow us to do so much more for God’s kingdom than skills and talents put together. Maybe we have a place somehow in the ultimate will of God for the long view (that is going to happen if God hast to raise up stones to speak), but the temporal will of God still expects all churches to seek God’s best. Each church is a unique, organic body of Christ. We cannot live out God’s good purpose for us with a conference formula or program. We must do the work of discernment and seek God’s divine wisdom – and these are Gifts of the Holy Spirit. That’s why I’m passionate about prayer – a dedicated, focused effort on our part to hear from God – to move each of us closer to God’s will. Won’t you try it? Won’t you join me in praying for our church? I believe that what God told Jeremiah, God tells us! The best chance we have to live fully in God’s will is to move forward together – all of us pulling in God’s direction. Hear your call and respond – only a child, a child of God can hope to do the impossible task of living God’s dominion here and now on earth as it is in heaven. New members are joining our mission, and more will follow. Let’s keep faith WITH them and BE the body of Christ. May God equip us with Holy Spirit Gifts that enhance our skills and our talents with divine discernment and divine wisdom as we move forward together. Let us pray……….. Sending forth/Benediction: I don’t believe that maladies and physical/mental challenges are God’s will. The creation has fallen, struggles and problems abound, but any situation, given over to God, can bring forth blessings. During a recent performance by The Handel and Haydn Society in Boston, one concertgoer yelled "wow!" The society's president was so touched by the reaction, he decided to track down who it was – a 9yr. old autistic boy named Ronan Mattin - “WOW” – play Video clip: “WOW” Only a child? Ronan opened up a Holy Moment – too young? NO.