Stupid People

11 At that time, this people and Jerusalem will be told: A blistering wind from the bare heights; it rages in the desert toward my people, not merely to winnow or cleanse. 12 This wind is too devastating for that. Now I, even I, will pronounce my sentence against them.

Jeremiah 4:22–28 CEB

22 My people are foolish. They don’t even know me! They are thoughtless children without understanding; they are skilled at doing wrong, inept at doing right. 23 I looked at the earth, and it was without shape or form; at the heavens and there was no light. 24 I looked at the mountains and they were quaking; all the hills were rocking back and forth. 25 I looked and there was no one left; every bird in the sky had taken flight. 26 I looked and the fertile land was a desert; all its towns were in ruins before the Lord, before his fury. 27 The Lord proclaims: The whole earth will become a desolation, but I will not destroy it completely. 28 Therefore, the earth will grieve and the heavens grow dark because I have declared my plan and will neither change my mind nor cancel the plan.

Stupid People

Forest Gump in that movie said “Stupid is as stupid does.”

People do a lot of stupid things sometimes. I’ve been known to do my share of stupid things over my lifetime. Don’t ask because I’m not telling what they are. I Googled stupid things that people do and came across some pretty stupid but funny things.

One person wrote that his brother had a girlfriend who thought that Abraham Lincoln was the first black president because he is dark on a penny. Their mom said to her that he is green on the 5 dollar bill that doesn’t make him a Martian.

Another guy wrote about a guy who was out shooting his new pistol. He checked his target after the first couple of rounds and there were no holes in it so he assumed that there was something wrong with the gun. He pointed the gun at the palm of his hand and fired, he found out there wasn’t anything wrong with the gun.

Another guy wrote about his room mates girlfriend who boiled water on there electric stove on low because she didn’t like to see the coils turn red.

Stupid is as stupid does.

Often times when we do something stupid there are some consequences. When deep frying turkeys became a popular things you heard about people burning their houses down. The warnings were that the turkey need to be thawed before you put it into the oil. If you didn’t the oil would boil up and out and catch on fire.

Judah and Israel are a good example of people doing stupid things. They were offered blessings upon blessings if they would follow God and be obedient to Him. They were told of the curses and punishment that would happen if they turned their backs on God. It seems like a simple thing, follow God and get all the good or turn your back on God and suffer the consequences. To me and maybe to you it sounds like a no brainier. It wasn’t only all of Israel that would be blessed, but it would be the entire world.

If you back up a little bit to the beginning of this chapter, you read these words.

Jeremiah 4:1–2 CEB

1 If you return, Israel, return to me, declares the Lord. If you get rid of your disgusting idols from my presence and wander no more, 2 and if you swear by the living God in truth, justice, and righteousness, then the nations will enjoy God’s blessings; they will boast about him.

Do you see that? “The nations will enjoy God’s blessings; they will boast about him.”

There is a cause and effect with their obedience to God. If they stop wandering away, if they get rid of their idols, if they swear by the living God in truth, justice, and righteousness, then. Then the nations will enjoy God’s blessings.

Paul wrote about God’s blessings in his letter to the Galatians. This idea got be to digging a little bit more. Paul wrote:

Galatians 3:9 TPT

9 And so the blessing of Abraham’s faith is now our blessing too!

In our western selfish culture in the church we often think that to be blessed that we are blessed in some material sense. If that were true, then why are some of the strongest Christians some of the most materially poor people in the world?

What was it about Abraham’s faith? Hebrews 11:8-10 “8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was going to receive as an inheritance. He went out without knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he lived in the land he had been promised as a stranger. He lived in tents along with Isaac and Jacob, who were coheirs of the same promise. 10 He was looking forward to a city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”

Abraham’s faith was far beyond any material blessing. It was a faith looking to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Israel did not answer that call to repentance and they did not return to God. Jeremiah wrote:

Jeremiah 4:11–12 CEB

God is saying that judgement was coming because they did not return to God. Jeremiah throughout this chapter repeats in different ways this call to repentance and obedience to God.

Jeremiah 4:3 “3 This is what the Lord says to the people of Judah and to the residents of Jerusalem: Break up your hard rocky soil; don’t plant among the thorns.”

We can become so self satisfied that our hearts and lives can become hard and rocky. When a farmer plows his fields it is a radical change for that land. When we come to faith in Jesus it is not just something nice that we do. It is to be a radical change in our lives. Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans

Romans 6:1-3 “1 So what are we going to say? Should we continue sinning so grace will multiply? 2 Absolutely not! All of us died to sin. How can we still live in it? 3 Or don’t you know that all who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?”

He is writing about a radical change. Died to sin, baptized into his death. That is an extremely radical change in our lives. Yet the sad thing is that many who profess the name of Jesus have not died to sin, they haven’t been baptized into Jesus death. They live like Jesus has made no difference at all in their lives.

Jeremiah goes on in verse 4 to

Jeremiah 4:4 “4 Dedicate yourselves to the Lord; don’t be thick-skinned, people of Judah and residents of Jerusalem, or else my anger will spread like a wildfire. It will burn, with no one to put it out, because of your evil deeds.”

Other translations use the word “circumcise” rather than dedicate. Again this is about a radical change in a person’s relationship with God. The people of Israel had gotten caught up worshipping idols rather than God. Western Christians get caught up in worshipping idols of our own making. We worship at the feet of politicians. The worship is about how I can benefit from what that person is promising. They worship the the power rather than the one who permits that person to be in leadership.

People worship the idols of internet influencers, musicians, movie and TV stars, the movers and shakers of the world. They worship their cars, homes, and toys.

Jeremiah wrote about what needed to be said over and over again in many different ways. His message always went to the heart. Jesus said

Matthew 6:21 CEB

21 Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Jesus said that in the Sermon on the Mount. He addressed religion that wasn’t about relationship. He was calling people into a relationship with the Father. Just a few verses prior to this one he taught how to pray.

Where is your treasure this morning? Is it in the things you have or are you storing up treasures in heaven? Have you had a radical change in your heart? What would Jesus say to you today about your treasures?

Jeremiah continues with the warning of coming judgement. He says beginning there in verse 6

Jeremiah 4:6–7 CEB

6 Set up a flag to Zion; take cover, don’t just stand there! I’m bringing disaster from the north, massive devastation. 7 A lion bursts out of the thicket; a destroyer of nations advances. He’s gone forth from his place to ravage your land, to wipe out your towns, until no one is left.

Don’t just stand there, do something is something we might say if we are working and others are just standing around. There is nothing more frustrating than to be working hard and someone is just standing there and watching you. It’s like that person who gets a flat tire and is in the process of changing it and someone asks “did you get a flat tire?” If that happens just reply, nope, the other three just swelled up.

Jeremiah says to “Set up a flag to Zion.” To set up a flag or to raise a flag means to bring attention to something. Jeremiah is saying there is coming judgement so raise the flag to warn people. It is kind of a “Houston we have a problem” moment.

Do we raise the flag to warn people of the dangers we face in our culture? Jesus said to go and make disciples but we are often content sitting and hoping that they will come to us.

The world is rushing headlong into judgement. Millions and millions and millions do not know Jesus. Way to many have a false idea of what it means to be a Christian. Jeremiah prophesied during the peaceful reign of King Josiah. People weren’t looking to any judgement, things were going good. Jeremiah was attempting to wake them up from their complacency.

Jesus said to the church at Sardis

Revelation 3:3 CEB

3 So remember what you received and heard. Hold on to it and change your hearts and lives. If you don’t wake up, I will come like a thief, and you won’t know what time I will come upon you.

Jesus had just told that church that they had the reputation of being alive, but there were in fact dead. They were dead and didn’t even know it. They were going through the motions of worship, but they were spiritually dead. Jesus said to wake up.

Do we need a wake up call today? Today we remember that attack on our nation on September 11th. That seemed like it was a wake up call. Churches were packed in the days after that day. But when things settled down, everything returned to normal and were are the people who packed churches?

Jeremiah says to wake up, he says in verse 7

Jeremiah 4:7 CEB

7 A lion bursts out of the thicket; a destroyer of nations advances. He’s gone forth from his place to ravage your land, to wipe out your towns, until no one is left.

He uses the imagery of a lion on the prowl, out hunting. The lion hides in the grasses and brush waiting to pounce on its prey. Jeremiah describes it as a destroyer of nations. A larger more powerful army is going to wipe them out.

It’s the same imagery that Peter used to describe Satan.

1 Peter 5:8 CEB

8 Be clearheaded. Keep alert. Your accuser, the devil, is on the prowl like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

Make no doubt about it, Satan is alive and well and he is on the prowl. He makes a lot of grand promises, but he is only out to kill and destroy. The more I work with people who are addicted to methamphetamine the more I believe that it is one of the tools of Satan to destroy people’s lives.

Look at our culture with the drug use, the abuse of children, the exchanging of what was considered wrong with what is considered right. Look at the protests to legalize abortion to all points to include up to the point of birth or even after birth. A few days ago there was a news story about the arrest of over 150 men in a child sex sting operation. What has become of our culture?

Church, it’s time to wake up, to raise a flag. There was a hymn in the older hymnals titled Sound the Battle Cry. The first verse and chorus has these words:

Sound the battle cry! See, the foe is nigh; Raise the standard high For the Lord; Gird your armor on, Stand firm, every one; Rest your cause upon His holy Word.

Refrain: Rouse, then, soldiers, rally round the banner, Ready, steady, pass the word along; Onward, forward, shout aloud, Hosanna! Christ is Captain of the mighty throng. (Sound the Battle Cry | Hymnary.org)

No one else is going to carry the message of the Gospel out to a lost and dying world. That message has been entrusted to use. John Guest in his commentary on this passage wrote:

The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 19: Jeremiah / Lamentations Four Tests for Courageous Preaching

Jeremiah looked into the eyes of kings, princes, priests, and prophets and warned them of a day coming when the peace about which they had preached would turn to war, when their hearts would sink with embarrassment and emptiness (v. 9). The

God speaks through Jeremiah in verse 22 and says this:

Jeremiah 4:22 CEB

22 My people are foolish. They don’t even know me! They are thoughtless children without understanding; they are skilled at doing wrong, inept at doing right.

Other translations say they are “stupid” children. God says they are foolish. They don’t even know me! They are thoughtless or stupid children.

I wonder how many that describes in churches across our nation this morning?

To know God means to have a personal relationship with Him through the blood of Jesus. There are lots of people who know about God, but they don’t know Him in a personal way. To know God involves repentance.

Jeremiah 1–25: A Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition From the Text

i. Repentance involves a turning away from one’s self-centered and self-directed way of life and a turning to a life instructed, guided, directed by God.

ii. Repentance involves a turning away from all other gods that compete for one’s loyalty and a turning to God who alone is worthy of loyalty and devotion.

iii. Repentance involves a turning away from the kind of existence that has no fixed center, a life that wanders aimlessly and a turning to God’s presence, which offers stability and security.

iv. Repentance involves a turning away from life without integrity and a turning to truthfulness, justice, and righteousness in one’s relationship with God and the world.

v. Repentance involves a turning away from a useless and wasted existence and a turning to a life that is productive and useful to both God and the world.

vi. Repentance involves a turning away from a closed heart to God and a turning to God with an open heart.

vii. Repentance involves a turning away from God’s wrath and a turning to God’s grace and favor.

It’s time to raise the flag, not in surrender but in the name of Jesus. You might say you can’t but God can. Paul wrote to the Galatians

Galatians 3:14 CEB

14 He redeemed us so that the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, and that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.