[Drama idea: Frame as a cheesy commercial. Three people on a pew, two getting convicted and visibly uncomfortable (squirming, facial agitation), one blithe and unconcerned. After a while, the other two ask him how he’s not bothered. He shows off his steel-toed boots. He got the extra-strength “Baptist preacher special.” “I haven’t felt convicted since 1998!” Go to screen with voiceover like a commercial – “Get your’s. Three easy payments of $29.95!”]
- Prophetic rebuke scenarios:
a. In a morning service in a megachurch in Arizona last Sunday, a man stood up as the pastor began to read the morning Scripture and yelled, “You have all bowed down to the god of the dollar. You’re living your life for things and you’ve forsaken the Giver of all that is good. Turn from your wealth and your abundance and seek the face of God.” He was escorted from the building.
b. In Delaware a month ago, an Episcopal church’s early service was interrupted by a woman who came to the altar at the invitation. After praying during the song, she asked the pastor if she might say something. He happily agreed. She then faced the congregation of 30 and said, “Your church and your empty traditions make God want to vomit.” She then walked down the aisle and out the back door.
c. In North Carolina, a Pentecostal church was an hour and a half into praise and worship when the oldest man in the congregation slowly walked to the front. The congregation was so filled with the joy of their worship up to that point that they were completely taken aback when the man quietly said, “You give what costs you nothing. God wants you to give what hurts.”
d. In Oklahoma, the pastor at the most prominent Baptist church in town had just finished up his sermon that detailed why they were the ones that had things right in proclaiming the Kingdom of God, which was why their church was almost 500 now on Sunday mornings. He called on a deacon to close the service in prayer and the man said, “Before I offer the closing prayer, God spoke to me last night and said, ‘I will not send true revival to your church until you humble yourselves and fast twice a week. It is your fault there is no revival because you refuse to fast and seek Me.’”
e. In Kentucky, a suburban Methodist church’s pastor was sharing how great their food pantry was when a woman stood and said, “Preacher, God told me that it is a sin for us to be living lives of comfort and abundance when there are children going hungry in our county.” The preacher mumbled, “Ok” and then continued with his announcement.
f. In New York, a Lutheran pastor had an honest moment in the sermon as he lamented the lack of growth in their church. A young woman raised her hand. The preacher was surprised but called on her by name. “God says it’s because we play at prayer. We don’t passionately seek Him, doggedly refusing like Jacob to let go until we get our blessing. We ask to ease our burden but we don’t pray with expectation that God is going to pour out His blessings. And He says He will not answer such pathetic prayers.”
- In each of those scenarios, you can see where the prophetic words (even if they were directly from God) would not exactly be welcome news.
- We don’t mind reading prophetic words when they are chastising other people (or in the case of our passage for today – people long gone). When the words are directed at us, though, we quickly get defensive.
AN UNPLEASANT TRUTH: Sometimes the words from God step on our toes.
- Jeremiah 18:15-17.
- Among the sore toe words here:
a. v. 15 – “forgotten me”
b. v. 15 – “worthless idols”
c. v. 15 – “stumble”
d. v. 16 – “land. . . laid waste”
e. v. 16 – “appalled” and “shake heads”
f. v. 17 – “scatter”
g. v. 17 – “show them my back and not my face”
h. v. 17 – “day of disaster”
WHY WE DON'T LIKE WORDS OF REBUKE: We naturally prefer comfort to conviction.
- Jeremiah 18:18; 2 Timothy 4:2.
- The response that the people have to Jeremiah’s words shows up in v. 18:
a. They plot against him.
- v. 18a.
b. They hold to their traditions.
- v. 18b.
c. They attack him and ignore him.
- v. 18c.
- These two things seem contradictory. They are. But that’s the way that we are. When the subject comes up, we attack the person more often than we unpack what he’s saying. We use ad hominem arguments.
- At the same time, we also say that he’s not worth talking about. We say we’re just going to ignore him.
- It reminds me some of the current crop of atheists writing best-selling books about how there is no God. They simultaneously say that God is irrelevant and a fiction and yet won’t stop talking about Him. If He’s irrelevant then stop talking about Him!
- We like words of comfort and encouragement much more than words of conviction and rebuke.
- No one likes hearing, “You’re wrong.”
- We get cemented within our tradition.
- We’re certain that we’re right and that anyone attacking our tradition must be wrong. More than just wrong, they’re an enemy of God.
- We need to be open to the fact that we’re not right about everything.
- In medical circles, the typical response to a malpractice accusation is called “deny and defend.” Deny any wrongdoing and defend all your actions as being right.
- Without thinking through the accusations, we dismiss the accusations as false and libelous.
- Most religious discussion almost immediately devolves into defending your previously-decided position.
- There is very little faith conversation that is actual give-and-take.
- I am not a big Joel Osteen fan because he is more of a motivational speaker than a preacher.
- Being a preacher requires that you bring the good news and the bad news. It requires that you take the hard news with the easy news.
- Even among churches, though, that like to talk about how they “preach the whole gospel” there can be a tendency to avoid controversial issues: the sections of Scripture that might make some of the tithers mad.
- I’ve preached through books of the Bible and come across passages that you just think, “Wow! This is going to hack some people off.” Fortunately, I’ve served churches where they wanted the hard truths and so I’ve never gotten flak for preaching texts that stepped on people’s toes.
- Just to give one example, I preached a sermon on divorce once that carefully unpacked what the Bible has to say on divorce. It was Biblical and lovingly shared, but it was hard truth. One man told me after service, “Preacher, you didn’t step on my toes this morning. You cut them off.” He didn’t say it angrily or out of a desire that I wouldn’t have preached it. He was just saying that was hard for him to hear. The good news in that story, though, is that he and his ex-wife reconciled and got remarried.
- 2 Timothy 4:2 tells us that one of the purposes of preaching is “rebuke.”
- That doesn’t sound very pleasant (because it isn’t very pleasant). But it’s part of what God expects the Word to do.
- We need to quit asking, “Do I like the word?” and start asking, “Is it true?”
- Sometimes it’s unjustified. It may be someone’s opinion and not be based in fact.
- Sometimes it’s justified. It may be God speaking to us.
WHY SHOULD WE WANT TO HEAR HARD WORDS? It means that God is not done with us yet.
- Even though it may be initially uncomfortable, the larger picture is that it’s a good thing.
- The news may be hard, but it means that God is still working on us and still moving us closer to Him.
- It means I have another chance to get rid of what’s holding me back.
- Remember that the original goal of our spiritual walk is Christlikeness.
- Are we in this to reach the goal? Do we want to see God move us to greater spiritual maturity, even if it’s costly?
THE RIGHT RESPONSE TO SORE TOES: Have enough humility to admit that sometimes we are in the wrong.
- Psalm 139:23-24.
- Have enough humility to acknowledge that you may be the one that’s wrong.
- We need to be willing to repent.
- We usually approach the situation like we have all the answers.
- Be motivated by the hanging negative consequences.
- Put spiritual progress before spiritual comfort.
- The goal is not to have an easy life, but to have a life that reflects the love, peace, and joy of Christ.
- Honestly pray Psalm 139:23-24.
- The natural state of the church is growth. That’s not an extraordinary thing. It’s what happens when we’re as we need to be.
- So if we’re not growing then something must be wrong.
- This is a reason why humility is so essential. We have to start with acknowledging that we don’t have all the answers and that we need God’s help.
