Lutheran Schools Week 2008
Lutheran Schools Week, March 2, 2008, Jeremiah 29:11
“Plans for You”
Introduction: We want our children to grow up in a safe and secure world. Infants and toddlers are secured in car seats. Little children are given instructions about staying away from strangers and staying off busy streets. Whether the enemy is an Internet predator or a terrorist, we take every measure possible to make every setting secure.
"Securing Each Child's Future" could be the theme of a school safety awareness week. Lutheran schools place a high emphasis on physical safety. We have policies and procedures for safety in case of a fire, tornado, or other emergency situation.
All the plans for security that we might make in our home, school, community, or country are only temporal and temporary. The tragedies over the years in a variety of school settings show that in spite of our precautions, accidents and tragedies still happen. We live in a sinful and therefore insecure world. In spite of this reality we have nothing to fear. In Jesus Christ, God has a security plan for us. We are secure in His grace now; therefore, we will be secure with Him eternally. We are secure in the knowledge that God holds us in the palm of His hand. God's plan is "to give you a future and a hope."
Part 1: Jeremiah-an insecure prophet in an insecure time
God's security plan for us is shared by His prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah was insecure. God's Word does not reveal the exact age of Jeremiah at the time of God's call. Some have suggested that Jeremiah was a teenager when God appeared to him and said, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you ... 1 appointed you a prophet to the nations" (Jeremiah 1:5 ESV) Scripture shares the response of Jeremiah: "I do not know how to speak for I am only a youth" (Jeremiah 1:6 ESV) Any child or teenager who has been asked to assume an adult-like task can identify with Jeremiah. As much as our youth long for more and more independence and responsibility, at the same time there is the shiver of fear and uncertainty.
Jeremiah's insecurity went beyond his youth and perhaps his personality. He is called the "prophet of doom," "the weeping prophet," and commentators note that he attracted few friends and seemed to draw conflict to himself. Certainly he found himself in insecure settings. His prophetic messages to godless kings and vengeful audiences caused him to be beaten, thrown into a cistern, and locked in prisons.
Jeremiah is an insecure prophet in an insecure time. The southern kingdom of Judah has watched its northern neighbor, the kingdom of Israel, be desolated by the Assyrian army. They wonder if they will be the next kingdom to fall. Faithless kings make military concessions and set up worthless and helpless idols. In an effort to find earthly security, they compromise not only the physical security of the nation but also the eternal security of their souls.
It is to these people that Jeremiah proclaims the Word of God. It’s no wonder that Jeremiah felt fear and insecurity. Non-the-less He was called to confront them about sin, about their trying to find security in everything but the God that created and chosen them.
How secure are you? How secure are our children? Where do find security and comfort? Most likely, our thoughts first go to our temporal security and our responses might include: "I have a great retirement plan;" "My children know what to do in an emergency;" "We have all the 'exit' signs lighted and an emergency plan is in place." We know what to do in case of a fire. We have talked about it with each other…or have you? In spite of all precautions, in spite of all precautions in our church and in our school, we still live in insecure times.
A more important consideration today is our spiritual security. How secure are you in your relationship with your Savior? Are our children secure in the arms of Jesus? Are we certain that we will be in heaven together? Questions like these can make us uncomfortable. We confess that we often think only of our temporal security and that we seek security in our human plans. Sometimes we take false comfort in thinking that we have control of our affairs. But when it comes to spiritual comfort for ourselves and our loved ones we quickly realize that security is not fouind in what we are able to do. For instance, when it comes to faith if God, we cannot coerce, beat or bribe our loved ones into believing. Our hope is not in ourselves. That is when we turn to our loving and caring God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Our lives, and our loved ones lives are in the hands of God. That is when God’s word to Jeremiah becomes such a blessing to us.
Part 2: God's Security Plan
"I know the plans I have for you ... plans, to give you a future and a hope." God had a security plan for Jeremiah and for the people of Judah, the southern tribes of Israel. The threats of heathen kings or the mighty army of Nebuchadnezzar or deep dark cisterns or tiny, smelly prison cells could not rob Jeremiah of the security that God had for him. "I have plans for you, Jeremiah. You are my prophet. I have chosen you to be my spokesman. 1 will guide you and protect you."
"I have plans for you, family of Judah. You will watch armies' come in and take your land. You will be' taken away as prisoners to a land called Babylon. You will wander for seventy years in a state of uncertainty and insecurity. I will not forget you. 'I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all nations and all the places where] have driven you .... ] will bring you back to the place from which] sent you into exile. ' " (Jeremiah 29: 14 ESV).
God's security plan involved more than political and physical restoration. One of the descriptions that Jeremiah and his prophetic peers used was the word remnant. "Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and I will bring them back to their fold" (Jeremiah 23:3 ESV). Like a seemingly useless piece of cloth becomes useful again, God in His grace would take a few faithful followers and bring them back from Babylon to rebuild and restore His kingdom. Those that returned would be the family from which the Savior would come.
God has plans for each and every one of you. It is the best security plan there is. A school security plan might be kept on a shelf until an emergency occurs. A school security plan needs to be revised and updated. God's eternal plan was written immediately after the fall into sin. It was put in place and never changed. There was only one plan. God would send His Son into the world to suffer and die and to secure our eternal future. Through all the insecure times of His people-through the family feuds of the patriarchs, the wanderings in the wilderness of the tribes of Israel, the inadequate and ungodly leadership of kings, God never revised or abandoned His plan.
This is the message that the Christian church proclaims to the world. Our Lutheran, Christian, Schools are an important part of that plan. Lutheran schools share that Old Testament history because it teaches God’s security plan to our children. Lutheran schools bring our children and youth to Jesus, who is the fulfillment of God's plan. Lutheran schools are Lenten places where children learn about Jesus, whose passion was part of the plan. Jesus came to this insecure world. He came to teach that there is security in this uncertain and insecure world. It is found only in Him. Jesus was not held on a cross by Roman soldiers guarding the scene or even by nails through His hands and feet. He was held on the cross by His heavenly Father and by His own desire to complete the plan of salvation. He died so that we might be secure eternally.
Satan thought that his kingdom was secure when Jesus' dead body was put in a tomb. Those who hated Jesus thought their human kingdoms were secure when a seal was put on the tomb. On an Easter Sunday morning Jesus burst out of the tomb. He was alive again and our salvation was made secure. Easter is God's security statement!
We live in insecure times. There will always be threats from our political enemies. There will always be disaster warnings. Families and schools are not always in secure neighborhoods. Children will face insecurities brought on by family changes. Kindergarten student will feel insecure the first day of school. Teenagers will feel insecure among there friends and peers. There is job insecurity, health insecurity, and the insecurity of becoming old.
No matter what insecurities our world presents to us. We can be at peace, comfortable in the knowledge that god had good plans for us. This gives us cause to celebrate that God has chosen us as His children. We were chosen in our baptism. With it came God’s continued promise of His Word that He will sustain us through faith in Him. We are secure.
The school faculty was meeting. Each teacher was invited to share a favorite celebration, a remembered holiday, or a special family event. One teacher calmly shared these words "the day my son went to heaven." In spite of the agony of the accident that claimed his son’s life and the immense and continuing grief at the death of a child, the teacher knew that his son was a baptized child of God. His child was eternally secure. He was teaching in a Lutheran school so that other children might have that same secure future. An Old Testament prophet, a teacher, Christian parents, and Lutheran congregations with Lutheran schools believe that God had a plan. His plan, fulfilled in Jesus, gives us a future and a hope. Amen.