January 31 Sermon “Do Not Say I Am Only A Child” based on Jeremiah 1:4-10
The scripture this morning is a very near and dear scripture to me. Being 14 when I received my call into the ministry was in many ways tough. I heard and still hear today how young I am. It was ingrained in me in some way that because I was young that I did not know enough. That I just couldn’t do the things that other more mature people could do. My home church supported the things I wanted to do with the youth, but the adults did their own things. I became the youth representative on each board, but did not have a vote or a voice. It seemed that my youth kept me from advancing in my calling.
In college I suffered with taking initiative because as others had continued to tell me, I was only a child. I was too young. Seminary led me deeper into this feeling of inadequacy because 90 percent of the students were second career and much older than this 21 year old. I happened to be the youngest student enrolled in seminary, which many people picked up on and told me about. And even here this past year I was told that flannel shirts were older than me.
Now there are a couple of ways that I can respond or react to this. The first one and the one that is most easy is to become the victim in this. I’ll say things like well I didn’t do well here or there because I’m just too young. I just don’t know enough. I don’t have enough wisdom. I don’t have the life experience. In this choice I become the victim. Society has asked me to do too much or God has asked too much of me at a young age.
Jeremiah was going through this same choice. I do not know how to speak, I’m only a child. And it is easy for us to get caught up in being the victim and not only caught up in being the victim but dwelling on it so much that we can’t move past it.
Think for a second about our culture. At one time not too long ago, many of you remember a time when prayer was in school. We remember when it was ok to talk about God in the classroom. Cassandra Williams in her book, “Learning The Way,” once wrote, “It’s 1973, and I’m in my small-town high school history class. My teacher asks, ‘How many of you are Protestant?’ About a third of the students raised their hands, and the teacher exclaims, ‘Wow, that many of you are Catholic!’” Did you get that? If you weren’t Protestant, you were Catholic. Everyone was involved in a church in some way. We remember when the 10 Commandments were part of every state building. When One Nation Under God seemed to mean something to most people. When people came to church without the need to evangelize intentionally. Church and Christianity was the center of society. Sundays were even a full day off for all people as well.
In some ways this was great for the church and it thrived in that time without really having to do much. Then something happened. The culture that was kind to Christians became different. Prayer was removed from schools and any teaching about God as well. Anything that mentioned God was challenged. Stores were opening on Sunday afternoons and then mornings. Merry Christmas changed to Happy Holidays. Christians are even getting away from the main line churches and starting their own house churches. Society became hostile to Christianity and we lost our favored place.
Now we have the same two choices. We can as I said earlier become the victim in this. Society and culture is the reason for the decline in the church or the reason our church is not growing. The culture doesn’t give the church its proper place and people have let the church down by not participating in church life. When we say things like that we become the victim and when we are a victim it first blinds us from the things we may be doing that added to the problem in the first place and it also blinds us from the possibilities that are before us. But there is another choice.
The second choice we have is to claim responsibility for our part in the problem and then move forward in the hope that God is not done, but he’s starting something new. Let me say something about this second option. When we think of God, do we think that culture holds more power than God? Think about this, do you think that culture holds more power than God who called the church into being? How bout this one? Do we think that in order for the church to thrive that it must be privileged in society? Yeah it doesn’t and we learn that from the early church when it lived in a culture and under emperors that burned Christians alive.
We are so quick in our society to put ourselves in the place of the victim, but I’m here to tell you church that God has much better things in store for us than victims. That God is doing a new thing. Jeremiah was afraid of what was going to happen. I’m just a child, but God said to him, “”Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ Do not say culture is against you. Do not say Christianity is no longer favored in our country. You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the LORD.”
Here God gives Jeremiah everything he needs to do what God asks him to do. He puts his words in his mouth and sends him off. Was Jeremiah one of the most liked prophets? Not a chance. The words that God had for the people were words of judgment and destruction and much more and he was constantly being abused and hurt. Listen to what he says in chapter 20, “O LORD, you deceived me, and I was deceived; you overpowered me and prevailed. I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me. Whenever I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction. So the word of the LORD has brought me insult and reproach all day long. But if I say, “I will not mention him or speak any more in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot. I hear many whispering, “Terror on every side! Report him! Let’s report him!” All my friends are waiting for me to slip, saying, “Perhaps he will be deceived; then we will prevail over him and take our revenge on him.” But the LORD is with me like a mighty warrior; so my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. They will fail and be thoroughly disgraced; their dishonor will never be forgotten. O LORD Almighty, you who examine the righteous and probe the heart and mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you I have committed my cause. Sing to the LORD! Give praise to the LORD! He rescues the life of the needy from the hands of the wicked.”
Here Jeremiah had more than enough reason to claim himself a victim and yet he sees that despite the outside culture and outside forces that are against him, God is greater. God is to be praised. God is the mighty warrior that will prevail. God is the one who rescues the needy from the wicked.
And what’s great about that is we serve the same God as Jeremiah. The God who is greater than a hostile culture bent on everything but community. That means we don’t have to shut our doors. We don’t have to close ourselves in from the outside world, but we can face it head on. Because God is greater. God has a vision for us. God has a plan and nothing but us can stop it.
Now I put that last part in there because the state of the church in our country is somewhat our part. We have a responsibility to it as well. We have failings as the church and I think the favored state we had with culture masked some of those and we didn’t take the time to fix them. There have also been times when the church has not been faithful to its calling and when one part of the body weakens, the whole church weakens.
So there is a part that we as members of the Body of Christ must realize and seek repentance about. We haven’t always shown the love of Christ as fully as we could have. We haven’t represented Jesus very well at times and we must claim that for ourselves before we can see new possibilities in front of us. We must see that we are not victims, but part of the problem, and then we can begin to see not only possibilities, but what God can do with people that claim they need him. People that must rely on him alone.
So, I want to take a moment right now for each of us to begin anew. To repent that we haven’t always been the church and represented God well, which has partly caused all that we see in our society today. So join me prayer.
Now this year is going to be different from others. This year we are going to start over with God as the head. This year we are going to begin to redefine what church needs to be for our culture and time, because as I said earlier it has changed. We are going to look at how we can impact our community and the world with the love of Christ. We are going to be intentional and you are going to hear that word a lot. We are going to be intentional about seeking God in every moment. Making time to listen to him. Making time to hear his guidance and move on it, but I cannot do it alone. I need your help as well.
And the first thing I’m going to ask of you is to pray. And I truly mean this. God is not going to speak to the people outside our doors if we are not speaking to him about them. And I know our church is not full of door to door evangelists, but I know we have many people here that are very good at living the love of Christ out and building strong relationships. As we begin this year to impact our community, we first need some faces to impact. This week I want you to take this sheet that’s in your bulletin, that says time to pray on it, and begin to put names on it. Put the names of the acronym FRAN that was made by the Methodists. Friends, relatives, associates, and neighbors. Write them down and simply begin praying for them. We aren’t in one sense trained to do evangelism and that will come as we move forward this year, but we need to begin any movement of God with prayer. As you pray for these people, also pray for that God’s movement will become clear as well. That we would have the strength to do what he calls us to do and do it faithfully.
Now I know I’m asking you to put some work into this and that’s because we don’t have time to waste anymore. Our culture is not getting any more favorable to the church and we need to start now, because the more people that have a relationship with Christ, the more impact we will have not only on our culture but on the world.
So today we begin anew. Today we commit to what God has in store for us. We take responsibility for our part of the downfall and we move forward with what our great God is about to do in us and through us. I’m excited by the new possibilities in front of us and can’t wait to see what God is going to do. Join me in that excitement and let’s expand the church to be our community. Amen.
