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Grace,
mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Today for my
closing sermon here at Mt Barker, I’ve chosen to preach on Jeremiah chapter 1,
which is not our appointed reading for Harvest Thanksgiving, but is actually
the normal Old Testament reading for this Sunday. So, since we haven’t read it
yet, I’ll read it now.
Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Before I formed
you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I
appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I
do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” But the LORD said to me, “Do
not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and
whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of [their faces], for
I am with you to deliver you, declares the LORD.” Then the LORD put out his
hand and touched my mouth. And the LORD said to me, “Behold, I have put my
words in your mouth. See, I have set you this day over nations and over
kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build
and to plant.”
Prayer: Dear Lord
Jesus, bless all of us with your Holy Spirit, to me that I may preach well, and
to all of us that we may preach well. Amen.
There was a
Lutheran Bishop from Sweden called Bo Giertz, who died in 1998, who wrote a
novel about young pastors called “The Hammer of God”. In it there’s a story
about an enthusiastic young pastor, who is all fired up about converting
people. He sits down with an older pastor and he says: (p122-p123)
“I just want you know from the beginning, sir, that I am
a believer,” he said. His voice was a bit harsh. He saw a gleam in the old
man’s eyes which he could not quite interpret. Was approval indicated, or did
he have something up his sleeve? The rector put the lamp back on the table,
puffed at his pipe, and looked at the young man a moment before he spoke. “So
you are a believer, I’m glad to hear that. What do you believe in?” Fridfeldt
stared dumbfounded at his superior. Was he jesting with him? “But sir, I am
simply saying that I am a believer.” – “Yes, I hear that, my boy. But what is
it that you believe in?” Fridfeldt was almost speechless. “But don’t you know,
sir, what it means to be a believer?” – “That is a word which can stand for
things that differ greatly, my boy. I ask only what it is that you believe in.” – “In Jesus, of
course,” answered Fridfelt, raising his voice. “I mean—I mean that I have given
him my heart.” The older man’s face became suddenly as solemn as the grave. “Do
you consider that something to give
him?” By this time, Fridfeldt was almost in tears. “But sir, if you do not give
your heart to Jesus, you cannot be saved.” – “You are right, my boy. And it is
just as true that, if you think you are saved because you give Jesus your
heart, you will not be saved. You see, my boy,” he continued reassuringly, as
he continued to look at the young pastor’s face, in which uncertainty and
resentment were shown in a struggle for the upper hand, “it is one thing to choose Jesus as one’s Lord
and Saviour, to give him one’s heart and commit oneself to him, and that he now
accepts one into his little flock; it is a very different thing to believe on
him as a Redeemer of sinners, of whom one is chief. One does not choose a
Redeemer for oneself, you understand, nor give one’s heart to him. The heart is
a rusty old can on a junk heap. A fine birthday gift, indeed! But a wonderful
Lord passes by, and has mercy on the wretched tin can, sticks his walking cane
through it, and rescues it from the junk pile and takes it home with him. That
it how it is.”
What a wonderful
story! And so it is with all of us Christians. We are all like rusty tin cans
on a junk pile, and the Lord picks us up with his walking stick and puts us in
his bag, for his use, for his purposes. And so it is with all of us pastors. We
are all rusty cans on the junk pile, which the Lord takes on his stick and
places in his bag. And so it is with Jeremiah here in our reading.
We read in this
chapter about a young prophet Jeremiah, who is called by God and sent by God to
go where he sends and to speaks what he commands. Last week, we were talking
about Jesus preaching in Nazareth, and we were particularly talking about
prophecy then. In the Old Testament, there were prophets, who were chosen by
God, and used by the Holy Spirit to bring God’s word to the people, but at the
same time their personalities and personal qualities were not destroyed. The
same goes for all the writers of the Old and New Testaments. The same goes for
all the apostles—Peter, Paul, James, John, Andrew—they were all different and
yet they spoke the same word of God, and they were all sent by the same Lord
Jesus.
The same goes for
us pastors. We are all called by the Holy Spirit to speak the word of God, and
yet our personalities are not destroyed in the task. Even to all Christians, we
are all prophets over and against the pagan unbelieving world. Jesus sends us
with a word on our lips, and yet our personalities are not destroyed. Jesus
sends us back where he places us.
The church is not
full of special people. It’s full of ordinary people—ordinary people like you
and me, who have a special Saviour, who have a special Jesus, who have a
special word, and a special call. To think that God uses a few rusty old tin
cans like us?
In the reading, we
read where it says: Now the word of the
LORD came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and
before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the
nations.”
Isn’t it an amazing
thing that God knows who each of us are, and that he appointed a particular
path for each of us even before we were made? Jeremiah was appointed a prophet
to the nations even before he was formed in the womb, and before he was born.
Jeremiah has not
made himself a prophet. God is the one who has called him. Even today, God is
the one who calls us for whatever purpose he has chosen us.
But listen to the
words there: I knew you. It’s not
that he knew about him, but he knew him. He knew Jeremiah intimately. He knows
us intimately. But not only that, but it also says: Before you were born I consecrated you. He didn’t just know us, but
he also set us apart for the work and the task and life that he has called us
to. “Consecrated” means “set apart”.
But it’s not as if
God makes a special call to fit us: he shapes us to fit his call. What God says
to Jeremiah indicates that his call to be a prophet is not through any works or
any contribution that he has given whatsoever, but it has come purely by God’s
action. God is the one who calls, and no one else.
A prophet who calls
himself is a false prophet. There are no Christians who have ever called
themselves to faith—God is the one who has called them. Pastors too do not call
themselves to the ministry. And even though pastors are called through the
church, they are not called into the ministry by the church. God is the one who
calls, God is the one who baptises, God is the one who ordains a pastor, God is
the one who installs a pastor, and God is the one who brings a pastor’s
ministry to a close. So a pastor is not answerable to the church, they are
answerable to the Lord of the harvest who has given them to the church in
answer to the church’s prayers. Jesus says: The harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few. Pray therefore to
the Lord of the harvest to send labourers into his vineyard. Jesus is the
one who calls and sends his workers.
This is very
important for us to think about as we farewell a pastor today, and look to the
future to call a new one. Sometimes it is said that the pastor is the servant
of the congregation. This is true, and it is not true. Yes, a pastor is the
servant of the congregation in that he serves the congregation with the word of
God and with the holy sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. But it is
not true, that a pastor is a servant of the congregation’s whims. What if a congregation
has 100 different opinions about what needs to be done? Who does the pastor
follow? The pastor must do what his conscience is bound to do by the word of
God. St Paul says: This is how one
should regard us, as slaves of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Sometimes
that means a pastor moves to the left, sometimes it means he moves to the
right. Sometimes it means he stands still.
St Paul also knew
this very well when he said: With me it
is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In
fact, I do not even judge myself.
So also a pastor
does not stay in a place as long as he wants. He also doesn’t stay in a place
as long as the congregation wants. He doesn’t stay in one place as long as a
bishop wants. The most important thing is that he stays in a place as long as
the Lord Jesus wants. When Ezekiel was called, he was called to speak God’s
word until there was no one left to hear him. When Philip the Evangelist spoke
to the Ethiopian soldier in the book of Acts, he was only with him perhaps for
a few hours, if that, before the Spirit of the Lord took him away, and the
Ethiopian went on his was rejoicing.
It is a very
daunting thing to be a called by the Lord. Jeremiah knows this full well and he
says: Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD!
Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.”
When Jeremiah was
called, he realised that he is completely and totally inadequate for the task
that God has called him to. He says: I
do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth. Perhaps the young pastor
Timothy in the New Testament also felt this inadequacy of being young, so that
Paul encouraged him with the words: Let
no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech,
in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.
But when we realise
our own inadequacy for any job that he has set before us, that is the best
place for us to be. Because God doesn’t make his power perfect in our strength,
but as it says in 2 Corinthians 12, My
grace is sufficient for you. For my power is made perfect in weakness. St
Paul also says: Not that we are
sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our
sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new
covenant.
And so, what does
God says to Jeremiah? It says: But the
LORD said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send
you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be
afraid of [their faces], for I am with you to deliver you, declares the LORD.”
Jeremiah doesn’t
have to worry that he is only a youth. Neither did Timothy. Neither does
anyone, because Jeremiah does not send himself, but it is the Lord who sends
him. Timothy also did not send himself, but it is God who sent him. And so, for
whatever time a pastor is sent to a particular place, whether it be for 20
years, 10 years, 5 years, or 2 years, God says: To all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you,
you shall speak.
God has a particular
word that Jeremiah was called to speak—the book of Jeremiah is one of the
largest books in the bible. But when God sends a pastor, we are called to speak
one thing. Jesus says: All authority in
heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of
all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
We teach everything
that Jesus has commanded us. He has commanded us to speak the law of God—where
God convicts us of our sin, but he has also commanded us to speak his
Gospel—where God shows us that we have a wonderful Saviour Jesus who has paid
the price for our sin with his own suffering, death and blood. This is the
message that all Christians give witness to for the benefit of the whole world.
But God does not
send us anywhere: he sends us only where we are called. To all whom I send you, you shall go. God also does not let us say
anything: he sends us only with words which he has given. Whatever I command you, you shall speak.
Sometimes it
happens that people don’t want to hear what the Lord wants to speak. We all
know what a difficult task it is to share the gospel with people in our
community who generally don’t want to hear it. We are also living in a church
context where people in church often don’t want to hear the word of God either.
In some extreme situations, there are churches that say that if you put more
money in the plate, God will bless you with a Mercedes-Benz. But we are all
sinners altogether in the church, and we would much rather God let us keep our
idols than destroy them.
God said to
Jeremiah: I appointed you a prophet to
the nations. He wasn’t just called to his next-door neighbour, or to the
people of Israel, but to the nations. And there were many hardened idolaters
amongst the nations. Plenty of people are happy for people to talk about God as
long as God lets them keep this or that. Jeremiah knows that people will not
always be happy to hear what God has given him to speak.
And so God says: Do not be afraid of [their faces], for I am
with you to deliver you, declares the LORD.” Have you ever found yourself
in front of an angry face? No matter whether the world will grit its teach and
throw us out, the church of Jesus must stick with the voice of its good
shepherd, the clear, pure word of God, no matter what the cost. As Christians,
we must not compromise in our faith one bit, one scrap, one hair over against
the world. We must have no desire to appease pagans and to become one with
them. Unbelievers need one thing—and that is Jesus Christ, their Saviour,
crucified and risen from the dead. And even if their faces roars like lions, we
must not move an inch. Do not be afraid
of their faces. He also says: Do not
be dismayed, lest I dismay you before them.
But God also says: I am with you to deliver you. God will
stick with us in our hard times. He will not let us be tempted beyond what we
can bear, but will also provide a way of escape, that you may be able to endure
it. God also says to Jeremiah: I make
you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the
whole land, against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the
people of the land. They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail
against you, for I am with you, declares the LORD, to deliver you.
But then, let’s
look at the last part of our reading today, where God says to Jeremiah: Then the LORD put out his hand and touched
my mouth. And the LORD said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.
See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to
break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”
Isn’t it amazing
that God touches Jeremiah’s mouth? He says: Behold, I have put your words in
your mouth.
What a wonderful
gift it is to come here in our church here in Mt Barker and to hear the word of
God! And not only that but the word of God gives power to everything in the
church. The word of God is the power behind Holy Baptism, it is the power
behind the Lord’s Supper. We pray from God’s word, we are blessed with God’s
word, the word of God is the power behind our whole lives. God, even today,
puts his words in my mouth as a preacher, and he puts his words in all of
mouths as we join in praising God, praying to him, and pouring out our souls in
his holy presence, whatever happens to be on our hearts and minds. He places a
word on our mouth to take with us into our lives, wherever we are sent.
But once that word
of God is in Jeremiah’s mouth, what does the reading say:
See, I have set you this day over nations and over
kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build
and to plant.”
Now through this
word comes the power of the Holy Spirit. This is a power over nations and over
kingdoms. The power of the Holy Spirit is a power that is over hearts, which
tests hearts and breaks hearts and comforts hearts. This word will be powerful:
it will pluck up and break down, destroy
and overthrown. It will bring destruction. But it will also build and plant. God’s word is a
powerful word—it breaks and destroys idols. But where this happens, then he
also promises to build and plant.
This reminds us
Jesus and his life and his death. It was God’s will that he should be crushed
and bruised and nailed to the cross. His ministry and his life was not a
failure. And yet, he does not stay in the grave, he rises from the dead. Jesus
is plucked up and broken down, destroyed and overthrown, but then on the third
day, he is built and planted, he is risen from the dead.
The same thing
happens with God’s word and the same thing happens with the church. We protest
against God’s word, and they are plucked up and broken, destroyed and overthrown.
But that is not the end of the story: then God builds us up and he plants us,
and he makes us flourish into the most wonderful tree. This is the Holy
Spirit’s work which is accomplished through the pure and clear word of God.
And what a miracle
it is that God uses rusty old tin cans like us to speak it! As God says to
Jeremiah: To all to whom I send you, you
shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of
their faces, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the Lord. Amen.
Lord Jesus, we
thank you for the many gifts that you have given to us over the last two years
together here at Mt Barker. Keep us strong and faithful in your word, no matter
the cost, and shine us as lights into the world. We know that you Lord Jesus
are with us, both now and to the end of the age. Amen.
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