SS02-12-06.

STUDY THEME: SERVING ON PURPOSE. 2-12-06

“PAYING A PRICE TO SERVE GOD.” JEREMIAH 26: 1-16.

JEREMIAH 26: 1-7, 8-14, 15-16.

Last Sunday we learned that before Jeremiah was born God formed him, knew him, set him apart, and appointed him as a prophet to Judah and to other nations. When God told Jeremiah about this, he at first said he wasn’t a good speaker and that he was too young.

God told him not to say that. God called him to a ministry that would tear down many things but that would construct other things. God caused Jeremiah to see a branch of an almond tree as a sign of God’s watchfulness.

Jeremiah also saw a boiling pot as a symbol of invaders from the north. Judgment was coming on Judah because of the nation’s idolatry. God told Jeremiah not to be intimidated by the enemies who opposed him. God also promise to strengthen him.

God calls every believer to serve Him. God equips His servants by assuring them that He stands behind His word. Now is the time, not later, for God’s people to get ready and to get busy serving Him. We need to get started NOW. Please listen to a poem written by

By Annie Johnson Flint, called: “Christ…and we.”

Christ has no hands but our hands to do His work today:

He has no feet but our feet to lead men in His way:

He has no tongue but our tongues to tell men how He died:

He has no help but our help to bring them to His side.

Most Bible students think Jeremiah 7 and 26 are closely related. Ch. 7 tells the setting and content of Jeremiah’s famous temple sermon. Ch. 26 records the responses to that sermon. God sent Jeremiah to preach His words in the temple. He said that perhaps the people would listen and God could spare them. Jeremiah obeyed, and he warned that failure to obey the Lord would make their temple like the destroyed place of worship at Shiloh.

The prophets, priests, and people in the temple told Jeremiah that he must die for saying such things about the temple. Government officials arrived and allowed Jeremiah to speak in his own defense. He explained that he was following God’s orders and warned that taking his life would be shedding innocent blood. The government officials and the people concluded that Jeremiah did not deserve punishment for delivering God’s message.

However, serving God faithfully is costly. We know more about the price Jeremiah paid to serve faithfully than we do about any other prophet. How he was able to serve so faithfully is the subject of today’s lesson.

1. PLEASE READ JEREMIAH 26: 1-7.

King Josiah, under whose reign Jeremiah was called to become a prophet, was killed in a battle in 609 B.C. He had tried to turn back the evil tide of his grandfather, King Manasseh. Josiah had tried to reform the people using royal power, but shortly before the temple sermon, the young king was killed.

The people elected Josiah’s son Jehoahaz as king. However Jehohaz’s reign lasted only three months, for he was deposed by Pharaoh Neco of Egypt, who made Jehoahaz’s brother Jehoiakim the king. Jehoiakim had great disregard for God and His word.

After defeating Egypt at the battle of Carchemish in 605 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar marched through Judah and made Jehoiakim, king of Judah, his vassal for three years. This was only his first year (609-608 B.C.) as one of Judah’s last king’s evil reigns. Nebuchadnezzar also took captives back to Babylon, including Daniel (Dan. 1: 1-2). After three years Jehoiakim rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, and Nebuchadnezzar marched his army once again to Judah and Jerusalem.

Jehoiakim, however, died before Nebuchadnezzar’s army reached Jerusalem. Jehoiachin then became king of Judah in place of his father, Jehoiakim.

Nebuchadnezzar’s army finally reached Judah, seized Jerusalem, removed the temple’s treasures, and took Jehoiachin prisoner to Babylon

Whereas Josiah had been a great king, second only to David, and had led Israel in many good reforms, both his sons Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim did evil in God’s sight. About the time that Jehoiakim began his reign, a word came to Jeremiah from the Lord. That word or prophecy was a message of great importance to Judah. Jeremiah 7:1-8:3 is the record of the contents of the message. Jeremiah 26 is the record of the people’s response to the message of God, spoken by Jeremiah.

Jeremiah had begun his ministry during Josiah’s reign and had probably supported his reforms, but the prophet saw the evil and hypocrisy of all the groups in Judah.

Where could Jeremiah deliver God’s message so that many would hear?

The Lord sent the prophet to the courtyard of the Lord’s temple. This was where the worshipers gathered to worship. This location was at the heart of Jerusalem and Judah. Any chance of acceptable change had to begin at the house of God.

In Jer. 7:20 Jeremiah was told to stand at the gate of the temple, which was probably the gate leading from the outer court into the inner court.

God’s second instruction was for Jeremiah to speak all the words that God gave him to all Judah’s cities represented by the people who were coming to the temple to worship. God commanded His prophet not to hold back or diminish or omit a single word of the message.

Vs. 3 magnifies the patience and mercy of God. The Lord’s first purpose in sending this message to the people of Judah was to call them to repentance. God was giving them one last opportunity to listen to the message and return to Him from their evil way of life. The Hebrew word translated return is used in Jeremiah 111 times. The idea has two actions: turn from evil and turn to the good. God’s hope and Jeremiah’s was that the people would hearken and turn every man from his evil way. God called them to walk in His law. In the actual sermon, Jeremiah stressed how they had broken God’s laws. Read Jeremiah 7: 9 for specific commandments they had broken. If the people listened and returned to God’s ways, the Lord might relent on His decree of disaster. (In our Dec. 4 lesson we learned that God did not carry out His threatened judgment against the people of Nineveh because they repented.)

Nothing short of real repentance would do, for their deeds were evil in His eyes. God’s holy standard remains unchanged today. God desires our repentance and promises to forgive all those who confess their sins. John wrote in 1 John l: 9: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Judah’s repentance would permit God to show mercy and grace, not judgment and destruction. Through the message of judgment and destruction, God was offering His people yet another opportunity to respond to Him in repentance and faith.

Vs. 4 begins the summary of the message Jeremiah delivered in Ch. 7 and 8. God told Jeremiah to begin his message by saying “This is what the Lord says.” That instruction was to say up front that this was a message from Judah’s covenant God (as he name Lord or Yahweh implies). God had a right to call His chosen and covenant people to accountability for the way they had dishonored and broken His covenant with them.

God explained clearly what would happen if they did not listen to Him by living according to His law that He set before them. The word law stands for the covenant demands God made with Israel under Moses. In the content of this message in Jeremiah 7, God mentioned in Jer. 7: 9 specific laws, such as stealing, murder, committing adultery, swearing falsely, burning incense to Baal, and worshiping other Gods.

The word “repent,” when used of people refers to a change of heart and life by turning from sin. When used of God it refers to a change in God’s dealings with people based on their response to Him.

If people continued in sin, they would experience the wrath of God; but if they repented, He could forgive them. This call to repent was not new in Judah. God has sent prophet after prophet to call the people back form the edge of destruction. In spite of this the people “did not listen”. Both the Lord and Jeremiah knew that repentance was unlikely now. Yet the Lord sent Jeremiah to try one more time, and Jeremiah went.

Jeremiah warned his listeners in the temple of the consequences if they refused to repent. God told them He would make this house like Shiloh. He also would make this city accursed or “an object of cursing,” to all the nations of the earth. That means that when someone would want to place a curse on some one or some-thing else, he would say, “May you become like Jerusalem.” God had essentially placed a curse on Jerusalem by saying in effect: “May you become like Shiloh.”

Shiloh was a town in the territory of Ephraim. It was the location of the first tabernacle, the site of Israel’s central worship established during the conquest in Judges 18:31 and during the time of the judges.

Shiloh was where Hanna prayed in 1 Sam. 18: 1-3 for a son and later brought Samuel to live with Eli the high priest. The Ark of the Covenant was taken from Shiloh in battle with the Philistines in 1 Sam. 4. The Bible does not describe Shiloh’s destruction, but Jer.7: 14 and 26:6 refer to its ruins. Ps. 78: 60 says God forsook Shiloh because of Israel’s sins. The Philistines destroyed Shiloh around 1050 B.C. Jeremiah used the destruction of Shiloh as an object lesson. God warned the people of Jeremiah’s day that the same fate would befall their temple and city if they refused to hear His message through Jeremiah.

Who were the groups who heard Jeremiah’s temple sermon? They were the priests who served in the temple. The listeners included the prophets who supported the status quo and all the people who happened to be in the temple on that day when Jeremiah delivered the Lord’s message.

The priests were defensive about any criticism of the temple, especially any warning of judgment. There were many false prophets in the land. And the people followed their leaders.

Jeremiah went into this assignment with his eyes wide open to the danger. He knew that God’s message, especially the warning about the destruction of the temple, would infuriate these groups.

A lesser person might have watered down the message, but Jeremiah presented all the words the Lord told him to say. He obeyed even though the consequences to him would be costly.

Military people often speak of being in harm’s way. This happens when they engage the enemy knowing they could suffer great losses. Jeremiah did not choose to put himself in harm’s way; he had no death wish. He went to the temple under divine orders. His courage came from the assurance that he was doing God’s will.

Sometimes believers are called to serve God in some way that could be costly to them. Jeremiah is one of many examples from the Bible and Christian history of a person being willing to pay a price to serve God faithfully.

One day a man came to Jesus and said that he would follow Jesus anywhere. Jesus must have sensed a superficial promise. Therefore He told the man in Luke 9: 57-58 that

“Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but He had no place to rest His head.”

Jesus wasn’t trying to frighten away the would-be follower: He was trying to help the man realize that following Him was costly. Jesus challenged would-be disciples to count the cost and then pay the price.

God’s assignment to Jeremiah was much like the assignments He gives to people today. The reasons it was difficult for Jeremiah are many of the same reasons God’s assignments are difficult to us today. In Jeremiah’s case, he was a young man prophesying God’s judgment to his elders. He was a priest, denouncing the evils of other priests. He was a prophet, denouncing the lies of false prophets. An extremely sensitive person, Jeremiah had to cry out messages of judgment and disaster to his people.

As a citizen, he had to confront his governmental authorities about their sins. He had no previous experience. Not many other people were proclaiming the same message God told him to proclaim.

His past efforts to assist in bringing about reforms with Josiah had ended in virtual failure. The Judeans did not want his message. They wanted the messages of peace from the false prophets. God warned Jeremiah in the beginning that the people would reject him and his message because they were rejecting God.

Jeremiah had to fight his own doubts from time to time, opposition from his own family, his religious and political leaders, his fellow citizens, and his fellow priests and prophets.

Jeremiah’s assignment was indeed a tough assignment. It also proved to be a costly assignment, as he would find out over the 40 years of his active service. He would see many changes, but most of them would not be for the better.

God’s efforts through His servants to win a rebellious world and to defeat the power and influence of Satan, is destined to involve tough and dangerous labors. God’s assignments are ministries that we can’t do by ourselves. That’s why He promises to enable us to serve Him faithfully. We need to accept whatever assignment God gives. Some will be tough and costly, and some will be joyful and a blessing.

2. PLEASE READ JEREMIAH 26: 8-14.

Baruch, Jeremiah’s scribe or secretary, was probably the one who wrote this chapter. He reported that Jeremiah finished the address. The prophet obeyed the Lord and delivered the entire message, to all the people. That meant he delivered the call to turn to the Lord and also the announcement of disaster upon the temple, upon Jerusalem, upon Judah as a nation, and upon all the people.

The initial reaction seemed to be immediate and came from the religious establishment-----the priests and the prophets---as well as from all the people who came to worship that day. God’s message had implied that priests, prophets, and people needed to turn to God Also, religious leaders as well as all the people of Judah were under God’s prophecy of disaster.

In many ways these verses have the main components of a legal trial. At first it looks as if the mob was prepared to kill the prophet. Surprisingly they allowed Jeremiah to finish all the Lord had commanded him to speak. Then the three groups previously mentioned in vs. 7 “took hold of him” or “seized him,” all the time shouting, “Thou shalt surely die.”

What about Jeremiah’s sermon had made them angry enough to kill him?

His predictions about the temple challenged one of their most cherished beliefs---they believed that God would never let anything destroy the holy temple.

Basically they were screaming: “Die, die!” The scene was volatile and ugly. They rejected the message and sought to destroy it by destroying the messenger.

God’s servants become identified with the service God asks them to do. When that service is beneficial people bless God and His servants. When it is about judgment and condemnation, people fight against God and His servants.

Why did the religious leaders demand Jeremiah’s death? In their minds, Jeremiah had committed two grave sins that merited and even required that he be put to death. He had claimed that he spoke in the name of the Lord. That is, he had said that his message was from God and that he spoke on behalf of God. Also, he had prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem, the temple, and all of Judah. The temple would become like Shiloh and Jerusalem would become as an uninhabited ruin. Jeremiah said these sinners used the temple the same way robbers use their den. After committing their crimes, robbers went to the safety of their hideout. After committing all kinds of sins, the people came to the temple, thus making it a den of thieves. The people who had assembled for worship that day joined the priests and prophets against Jeremiah. They concluded that Jeremiah was a false prophet because he claimed his message was from God and that God was going to destroy the temple and Jerusalem. Their law in Deut. 18:20 declared that a false prophet must be put to death.

King Jehoiakim’s palace was near the temple. Someone either told his government officials what was going on over at the temple or they heard the shouting. They left the palace, went to the temple, and sat at the entrance of the New Gate to hold court.

The temple authorities could not put someone to death. The verb sat indicates that these government officials came to Jeremiah’s rescue and conducted a legal inquiry. Such legal matters and inquires were conducted at a city’s gates.

The mob might have killed Jeremiah if the princes of Judah had not intervened. Who were these officials of Judah? Some believe that members of the royal household intervened. Others believe that they were only court officials, civil rulers, or heads of influential families. Whoever they were, they were recognized as having the authority to judge in such disturbances. Fortunately for Jeremiah these judges listened to both sides.

Court was in session. The judges were there. Jeremiah the accused was brought before the officials, and he religious leaders brought their charges against him.

Their charge? Jeremiah had prophesied against Jerusalem. He had said that Jerusalem and the temple would be destroyed. They implied that everyone knew that nothing like that could ever happen, for God would not allow His city and house to be destroyed by an enemy.

The temple sermon in Jer. 7:4 shows more about this false confidence, which is sometimes called, “temple theology.” This view seemed to have been validated when the Assyrian army came to Jerusalem in the days of Hezekiah and Isaiah. Hezekiah prayed and Isaiah gave God’s answer in Isa. 37:33-35 concerning the threats of Assyria’s king. Thus the people thought they probably had Scripture on their side, but they overlooked Isaiah’s prediction in Isa. 39: 5-7 of a coming time of destruction and exile.

Jeremiah pointed out how this false trust, led to hypocrisy of the worst kind. He condemned their sins, but what made them so evil was that the worst kinds of sinners went to the temple with no sense of shame. Instead their attitude said in Jer. 7: 10, “We are delivered to do all these abominations.”

The witnesses even called on the court officials to be witnesses to Jeremiah’s prophecy, for they said that the officials had heard his message with their own ears.

After hearing the accusation from the religious leaders against Jeremiah, the government officials heard from Jeremiah. Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and the people. He reiterated his claim that the Lord had sent him to prophecy and that all the words that he had proclaimed the Lord commanded him to proclaim.

Jeremiah did not back down or buckle under pressure. He was brief and factual in

making his defense.

While Jeremiah had their attention, he proclaimed again God’s call to repentance. In vs. 13 Jeremiah gave a step-by-step description of the act of repentance. First, they were to correct their ways and their deeds. The word correct can be translated “amend” or reform. Ways refers to their daily lifestyles that were made up of their daily deeds. If they stopped doing their evil deeds, their way of life would change.

Next, after they changed their ways and evil deeds, they were to begin to obey the voice of the Lord their God.

The use of the name Lord (Yahweh, God’s covenant name) suggests that Jeremiah was calling Judah back to obedience to God’s covenant with them. Jeremiah promised again that if they would repent and turn back to God, God would relent and not send the disaster God had declared against the temple, the city, and the nation.

Jeremiah had his trust in the Lord. He cast himself upon the mercy of the court by putting his fate into the hands of the officials. He asked them to do to him what they thought was good and proper.

He had answered humbly the charge against him. His testimony had been the truth. He had issued a last call compassionately to the people to turn to God and thus escape disaster. Jeremiah took his stand for God, willing to pay whatever price that entailed.

On a deeper level, Jeremiah knew he was in God’s hands and what ever the verdict he would be all right.

Believers serving the Lord today are also challenged to refuse to buckle when they encounter pressure in their service for the Lord. Often their stand comes from a different understanding of the things of God from the beliefs held by their opposition.

Satan spreads false teachings. Some people will believe false teachings when those teachings appeal to their physical passions and desires. Paul warned Timothy in 2 Tim. 3: 12 “All those who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Some will pay with their lives. But God honors and blesses all those who pay the price to serve Him faithfully.”

3. PLEASE READ JEREMIAH 26: 15-16.

Vs. 16 is remarkable vindication of Jeremiah’s authenticity as a prophet. Jeremiah had undertaken this mission, knowing from the beginning that he might lose his life. In the face of death he did not falter.

He saw the coming of the officials as the hand of God. Throughout the whole ordeal he did not buckle under the pressure but used each crisis as another opportunity to reinforce the message from God.

Jeremiah continued his defense by pointing out that if his accusers took his life, they would be shedding the blood of an innocent person. Shedding innocent blood was strongly condemned in the law in Deut 19: 10, 13. This was to bring innocent blood upon themselves. All who were involved would be guilty of this heinous sin. Jeremiah repeated his central defense, “For it is certain the Lord has sent me to speak all these things directly to you.”

Now Jeremiah’s case was in the hand of the judges. The judges addressed the chief accusers, the priest, and the prophets. They declared, “This man doesn’t deserve the death sentence.” They were convinced that Jeremiah had spoken the truth.

They told his accusers, “He has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.” Notice that this was the verdict not only of the princes but also of all the people. This latter description is found several times in the story. In vs. 7-9 all the people joined with the priests and prophets to condemn Jeremiah. When the princes arrived, the people joined these officials in listening to the accusations of the priest and prophets in vs. 11-12. When the judges delivered the verdict of not guilty, the people agreed in vs. 16.

Were these the same group of people? If so, they were fickle. They wanted to be on the winning side. Very likely the number of people probably grew as word spread of what was happening in the temple. At any rate, in the final outcome the people agreed with the princes.

What an affirmation coming from the political leaders to the religious leaders! It should have been the other way around, had the priests and prophets been following the Lord.

Jeremiah 26: 17-19 shows that elders of the people also supported Jeremiah. They quoted Micah 3: 12 to show that Micah made the same prediction that Jeremiah had made, and no one punished him for what he said. However, in a kind of footnote, vs. 20-24 tell the tragic fate of a prophet named Uriah. He preached the same message that Jeremiah did, but King Jehoiakim killed him.

Jeremiah told his judges that he was in their hands. Actually Jeremiah’s assurance came not from his confidence in the fairness of his judges: his assurance came from his trust that he was in the hands of the Lord. He was in the center of God’s will. There is no better place to be. It is not the safest place to be as far as earthly safety is concerned.

Sometimes it is the most dangerous place to be. John the Baptist and Stephen were in the center of God’s will, and each lost his life. But their enemies could not keep them from going to be with the Lord. Therefore, commitment to God is costly and sometimes the cost is life itself.

Sometimes we think of men like Jeremiah as people of super human courage, whose courage never faltered, and who never knew fear. But we know from the Book of Jeremiah that Jeremiah had doubts and fears.

Someone has said, “Courage is fear that has said its prayers.” I like that definition of courage. I believe it fits most of the people who serve God faithfully no matter what the cost. This includes those whose testimony results in nothing worse than ridicule and those whose testimony cost them their lives.

Fear says its prayers when the fear gives way to the repeated biblical theme: “Fear not, for I am with you.”

Paul is an example of this kind of courage. He asked the churches to pray for him. His repeated request was for boldness to speak God’s message. This shows that Paul was not without normal and natural fears, but it also shows that his courage came from God through his prayers and through the prayers of others.

We are no responsible for what other people do. We are responsible for our own actions and responses. Jeremiah could not know the outcome of his temple sermon before he preached it. But he knew God wanted him to say those things and leave the ultimate outcome in God’s hands.

NEXT SUNDAY FROM JEREMIAH 20 WE ASK, “WHAT SHOULD I DO WHEN MY SERVICE TO GOD IS CLOUDED BY DOUBT? A. V. DAUGHERTY