September 22, 2024 Text: Jeremiah 11:18-20
Dear Friends in Christ,
To what are you committed? What commitments have you made in life?
Dr. Paul Farmer grew up impoverished in an old bus his father, mother and four siblings lived in. Paul was intelligent with a photographic memory. He graduated from Duke and then Harvard with a medical degree and PhD.
His accomplishments are numerous. He dedicated his career to find ways to combat major health problems among the poorest of the poor. He started his work in Haiti, but it soon stretched around the globe. He became a world-renowned expert on the subject and by his mid-forties a best-selling book was written about him.
In February of 2022, Dr. Farmer died of a heart attack while working on a health project in Rwanda. He was 62. The public health community said they had lost a “giant.” Farmer spent his whole career committed to the cause of improving healthcare for the poor around the world. He was all in for the cause.
The prophet Jeremiah is committed to the cause of which God has called him. He is to make known the Word of God to the people of Judah. He is to call Judah to repent of their idolatry. Can we be like Jeremiah . . .
“COMMITTED TO THE LORD’S CAUSE”
Jeremiah is the weeping prophet. He cries a lot because his family and hometown are plotting against him. He will suffer hardship and persecution. Jeremiah gets just a taste of the betrayal that would happen to Jesus. Like the Lord God, Jeremiah was trying to bring salvation to the people, yet the more he did so, the more infuriated toward him they became.
Have you ever been betrayed by family or friends. Are there those who pull away from you because you are trying to share the Gospel with them? Do you have a certain challenge currently that you are up against?
God knew the scheming of the people before Jeremiah did. He revealed it directly to Jeremiah. God knows the troubles and challenges we face, even before we do. We can feel like Jeremiah, lost and confused; a lamb led to the slaughter.
Jeremiah was not married and had no direct descendants. The people still wanted him annihilated, “his name be remembered no more.” They hated Jeremiah, but their real hatred was toward God. Everything about God had to be eliminated. It looks overwhelming to Jeremiah, so he takes it to the Lord.
Things don’t look good for this prophet. But he does not waver in his commitment. I understand that. I have been called a “commitment-phobe” in my life. I got that from my parents. You say you are going to do something, you do it. At times it does not make life easy. How do you see yourselves? Committed like Jeremiah or a little more wishy-washy about what you should be doing? Being committed means sacrifice. Being committed can mean suffering. In being committed you need to see the difference it is going to make.
Jeremiah saw that. He trusts in the righteousness of the Lord of hosts. God cared about Jeremiah. God cares about what is happening in our world and what is happening in our individual lives. Jeremiah saw people becoming angrier and angrier. We see that same tone around us. People can lose it over the silliest things.
The townspeople of Anathoth, the hometown of Jeremiah are losing it. They are plotting to kill the guy, and Jeremiah still wants to work to save these people. That is commitment. I have been reading a book of Christian martyrs over the years and their commitment to the Gospel always stands out. I appreciate the groundwork they have laid. But I also tend to notice that maybe there was a better avenue not as dangerous. A way to stay alive and continue the work.
That is Jeremiah’s story. The Lord brought justice. The vengeance of the Lord was a fair retribution against those who had fallen away from God. Jeremiah put his trust in the lasting and final justice God would provide in the coming Messiah, the Savior, who would take away the sin of the world. We can have that same trust in the perfect life, atoning death, and victorious rising again of Jesus Christ. Like Jeremiah, we can commit our cause to the way of the Lord. We know that the Lord is our strength and shield. It gives us confidence just like Jeremiah.
Jeremiah would cover the reigns of the last five kings of Judah. He would continue to stay committed by denouncing the policies and idolatries of his nation. Can we do the same? Remember this: God is faithful, God is just, God is caring. It strengthens us to stay committed to the Lord’s cause.
Amen.