The Uncomfortable Prophet
Jeremiah 26:1-15
March 7, 2021 anno Domini
In the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod if a congregation doesn’t like her pastor and fires him, he ends up C.R.M. That’s a Latin phrase which means candidate for the reverend ministry. He’s on “candidate” status. The pastor is willing and able to serve a congregation, but currently does not have a call to do so. We pastors call it purgatory. It’s the “Hotel California” for pastors. Once you get in you are never getting out. Almost universally a pastor who has been expelled by his congregation is damaged goods and he’s not getting a call. The prophet Jeremiah would have ended up on candidate status if the Missouri Synod had churches back in Judah around 600 B.C.
Jeremiah was faithful. He spoke the Word the Lord wanted him to speak, but it was not a word his congregation wanted to hear. (Read 26:7-8) The Lord had said to Jeremiah, “It may be that they will listen (to my Word),” which was the Lord’s nice way of saying, “but they won’t.”
Jeremiah’s sermon was simple. If you listen to God’s Word and turn from your sinful ways you will live. If you don’t, the Lord will lay waste Jerusalem and Judah and you will be carried away in exile. And all God’s people did not say “amen.” They said, “Call the circuit visitor. Get the District President. Jeremiah has no people skills. He’s too conservative. He’s going to turn people away and we want Jerusalem to grow. Jeremiah would have liked candidate status. It is a small notch above death.
You should pray that I would be as faithful and bold as Jeremiah. You should pray that my sermons would be so pointed you want me to get a call back to Saskatchewan. Instead of saying, “Good sermon Pastor” (which I really enjoy hearing) you should think, “I really didn’t like that sermon – pastor killed me.”
If Jeremiah were preaching in the pulpit at Redeemer today he might tell us that we have become too comfortable with the world and with God. Whatever the world does Christians imitate. The world enacted no fault divorce and got on birth control and encouraged sexual freedom and we followed suit. Feminism came along and taught that women were oppressed, and that marriage was bad and the church went along. Today most Christians wonder why women should not be priests or pastors, what’s wrong with homosexual marriage, or why is transgenderism sinful. They didn’t get any of those questions from Scripture. They got them from the world. The world got TV and you got TV (and that is where you hear the world’s sermons far more hours than you hear God’s sermons). The world got the internet, and you got the internet. The world got cell phones and you got cell phones. Are all these movements and technologies inherently sinful? NO, but we have embraced them without discernment. We are so comfortable with the culture that we often invite a wolf in sheep’s clothing over for dinner. Has the sexual revolution proved helpful? Not to the family, not to women and certainly not to children. Has 474 channels of TV 24 hours a day, plus your DVR recordings improved your life? Has the cell phone been good for your children or grandchildren? Has it improved communication? Has any of this helped your faith?
Jeremiah would also accuse us, as he did Judah, of being too comfortable with God. A vast amount of Christians have not worshipped in over a year because of COVID. One year without the communion of Saints. One year without the Lord’s Supper. One year without singing a hymn. Now granted those folks aren’t here this morning to hear my sermon, so hoping to have a little Jeremiah in me – how comfortable are you with God? The people of Judah thought Jerusalem would never fall and the temple could never be destroyed. Is your faith that comfortable that you don’t fear losing it? Are you comfortable with your favorite sin? Are you skeptical of the latest and greatest promise of the world? Are you as concerned about losing your faith as you are of COVID? Have you been as concerned about wearing Christ in your life as you are about wearing a mask in Menards? Have you tried to stay away from sin with the same effort with which you tried to avoid covid? There, I’ve channeled some of my inner Jeremiah.
The truth of your sin is uncomfortable, but the truth of your sin is necessary for you to have true comfort. Jeremiah was sent to Judah to save Judah. If Judah would listen the Lord would relent. The Lord wanted His people to hear His Word so they could avoid disaster. The Lord wanted to save His people Judah from captivity in Babylon and then Persia.
This is also the reason the Lord calls His servants today to speak His Word, to be bold like Jeremiah and call the Devil out like Jesus. Not everything the CDC says is good is good. The Roman Catholic church courageously pointed out the Johnson and Johnson vaccine is ethically questionable for pro-life people. Not every movement that comes along is Godly. Surveys that tell you what the majority believe or think do not necessarily indicate what is good, right, or salutary for your faith.
God’s Word alone does that. We hear it every Lord’s day – it is good, right, and salutary that we should at all times and in all places, gives thank to you, Holy Lord, almighty Father, everlasting God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. The ultimate good in this world is not comfort with the world or with God, but the gift of God the Father in His Son Jesus Christ. Jeremiah called Judah to turn from her ways to God’s ways – to repent, so turn from your way to God’s way in Christ. Christ Jesus died for your sins so turn from sin. Christ Jesus purchased forgiveness by shedding God’s own blood, so receive forgiveness often.
Do you want to survive COVID? Dr. Fauci is still guessing what might help – one mask, two masks, three mask, four. (Sorry, that’s a little Dr. Seuss there, but that’s another sermon). Jesus will bring you through COVID – one way or the other – death or life – He’s got you covered. Do you want the world to be at peace? Joe Biden isn’t going to make that happen. Jesus did. What divides us is sin – not skin color, not gender, not wealth or poverty. Jesus unites people – by teaching us to confess our sins against Him and each other, by being willing to forgive others, and by strengthening us to do what is right – not hate, not hurt, not covet, not steal, not lie, but love, speak the truth, help, be generous.
Jeremiah is the uncomfortable prophet. None of us would enjoy him as our pastor, but pastors aren’t sent for your enjoyment. They are sent so that you would all know the Lord and that you would hear and believe what the Lord promised through Jeremiah , “I will forgive (your) iniquity, and I will remember (your) sin no more.” (Jer 31:34) God grant us pastors like the prophet Jeremiah and ears to hear the Word of God and keep it in the name of Jesus. Amen.