God Sends The Weeping Prophet
Jeremiah 1, 7
The prophets have a unique purpose in God’s mission throughout the Old Testament as the primary messengers of God’s word to Israel and Judah. Everything we need to know about Jeremiah’s purpose specifically is conveniently located here in Chapter 1 as a part of his calling. Jeremiah’s purpose is twofold: to uproot and destroy and build and plant.
As we consider Jeremiah’s appointment as a prophet to the nations, it's especially important for us to understand why judgment of God’s people had to be made. Tim Mackie and Whitney Woollard, in their blog post “Jeremiah’s Famous Temple Sermon,” reference Jeremiah 7 as the go-to for understanding the level of injustice and unrighteousness happening at the time:
Idolatry had so infiltrated Judah that whole families were engaged in the cultic worship of false gods. It wasn’t only misplaced confidence in the temple on a national level; it was demonic idol worship on a familial level. Judah, like Israel, had become so thoroughly corrupt that there was nothing left for them but divine judgment(Mackie and Woollard, 2017).
Israel would commit idolatrous sin and allow the oppression of foreigners, fatherless children, and widows to occur, yet go running to the Temple as a safe haven, thinking God would continue to dwell among them (Jeremiah 7:9-10). But the point of God dwelling among His people was for them to be holy as He is holy, bringing glory to His name for the nations to be drawn in, but this is the opposite of that. Naturally, God is angered to the point of allowing judgment to rain down on His own people in chapter 25 as Babylon would go on to conquer Israel and carry them off into Exile.
Jeremiah must not only stand in the margin, opposing the people in their sins, but he must also watch them walk into their own ruin. If you’ve read the entirety of Jeremiah, it should be of no surprise he is commonly referred to as “the weeping prophet.” Jeremiah had to endure a lot as a ‘sent’ messenger of the Lord, carrying a heavy burden and witnessing the wrath of God being poured out on the ones who were supposed to be a light to the world. God’s ultimate task through Jeremiah is reformation, though, with the hope of seeing this plan of a Holy nation coming to fruition. Also, in Chapter 7, Jeremiah preached the hope of redemption if the people would be willing to correct their ways and cleanse themselves of their shameful acts. In this sense, Jeremiah might’ve also clung to this hope. Who of us would want to preach such a message and see people still choose exile?
When we consider our role as disciple-makers, Jeremiah can teach us some hard lessons. Stepping into the fray, opposing our brothers or sisters in their sin, and saying what will likely culminate in heartache, frustration, and possibly fractured relationships, is not the glamorous moments of discipleship we dream of. If we truly are people of the light, it means we invade the darkness; we go against the grain when we need to and say the hard things. I am not giving you a hall pass to swing your sword; if you have bitterness towards a brother or sister, you must reconcile with them as a completely separate endeavor. However, if you see Christians willingly walk into sin, enjoy it, and see an accepting culture forming around it, God empowers His people to say no. More than that, to tell others to get out while they can. Especially as the young church we are, we do some really dumb stuff sometimes and even celebrate sinful culture without realizing it. We need our Jeremiahs to stand up when God asks them to so that darkness would reign no more and brothers and sisters would be called out of sin. It is no easy task, but all the more necessary as God makes us the light that the world so desperately needs us to be.
Prayerfully consider the following questions:
As you read the scripture, what was God saying to or drawing your attention towards?
When you think about your own church, disciples, or immediate minitry, are there cultural traits God is asking you to stand up against?
Is there anyone in your life you need to have a conversation with regarding their sin?
These conversations are usually difficult to navigate and should be prayerfully considered before hand. I encourage you to talk to your huddle leader, or trusted staff member of your church about how to navigate calling out sin and stepping into the fray.
