Jer. 2:4-13 Aug. 29, 2010
Do modern problems stem from:
- Immigration policy,
- economic de-regulation,
- not allowing prayer in school,
- too much government,
- not enough government,
- educational standards slipping,
- women’s liberation movement…?….
Does anybody talk about
- GREED
- ARROGANCE
- SLOTH
- SELFISHNESS
- DISRESPECT…….?
Do you find your mind slipping into the categories more like the 1st batch or 2nd?
So, if Jeremiah were alive today, what would he say? Or better put, what do God’s prophets today say our problem is?
Idolatry? Really?We have people worshipping golden statues, burning incense and bowing down….?I’m going to be so bold to tell you now at the beginning of this sermon what I want you to think by the end: Low Anthropology.
Jeremiah 2
Think: 600 years before Christ, alive when the powerful Assyrian city of Nineveh was captured. Jerry saw some horrendous stuff: death of the last Davidic king, rebellion and then the destruction of nation, force-marched to Egypt. Not many would envy him.Who wants to sign up to be a prophet?Jeremiah was from a priestly family living in a village with deep roots in the priestly tradition. This would provide the future prophet with an education suited to his task. No dates in our section: suggests that the chapter is intended to “paint with a broad brush” and to function as a “sampler.” What is the overall thrust of oracles?
People in their totality are rebellious against the Lord.
“My people have committed 2 sins…..”Corporately Israel is accused of having defected from its first love (look at verse 2) in order to pursue “worthless idols,” that is, other deities. Baal, a popular Canaanite deity, is named specifically in verse 8. Also in verse 8 Jeremiah singles out Judah’s leadership for particular criticism. “Priests” had the sacred task of interpreting God’s presence and will among the people and teaching Torah. The word translated as “leaders” is more literally rendered as “shepherds.” God, who is the great Shepherd of his people, demands that the leadership of the people share in this shepherding role. Finally, the “prophets” are singled out for their disobedience in seeking inspiration from Baal rather than the Lord.
“My people have exchanged their Glory for worthless idols” (v. 11) and have committed two evils:
They have rejected the Lord and attempted vainly to support themselves (v. 13).How are they supporting themselves? They are building their own means of getting water. The figure is vivid for those in Palestine where rainfall is usually not very abundant and many people through the centuries have had to depend on cisterns. The image of broken cisterns in this verse is telling, since the care of cisterns was a laborious job in the hill country of Palestine, where earthquake tremors occurred periodically. Jeremiah compares the labor-intensive work of repairing cisterns with the idolatry of following other gods, whereas the Lord is a fountain of living water. How powerful then, when addressed to people in this situation. Incredible and utterly absurd that they would leave a constant and life-giving source in order to make a hole in an artificial basin.
Hot, stagnant, polluted: This is the picture of low anthropology.This is the way we are. My people have committed 2 sins……
Why would they do this? Why would we? I hear the cry of God-what wrong have I done? In my mind: to explore the dynamics of gift giving-relationships of unequal partners….
1st-they think they did it themselves. It requires eyes of faith to know that the thing we have really came as a gift from a God who loves us- Many don’t have that faith
2nd People don’t want to be in God’s debt-don’t like the feeling of vulnerability= humbling experience if you realize you didn’t provide for yourself. For kids-ok
3rd Don’t like feeling weak, that God has what they want. God has the life giving water, and we really want it, but we are too afraid to ask or accept it.
4th We fear the terms or conditions; what will God make us do to get what we want? Afraid of losing our dignity-getting disappointed. Lots of rules, humiliation?
Contemporary idolatry, what is it and why did I say this was our fundamental problem? And what makes idols worthless? The short answer is that they are not divine. They cannot solve real problems. Idols are a substitute for the real thing; they may be attractive and appealing to people. Jeremiah’s day was much like ours his contemporaries sought to be religious, as if more religious activities and devotion to more deities would usher in a more secure future. Among most Western Christians, idolatry is just as pernicious as in Jeremiah’s day, but the objects of attachment are more symbolic and subtle in nature. Instead of believing in nothing, they are tempted to believe a little of everything in their search for “solutions.” Technology and individual “do-it-yourself” spirituality are two seductions facing Western Christians. The stock markets of developed countries are good examples of a kind of secular polytheism in the modern world. It appears risky to trust all things to one Lord and more prudent to diversify. It is now common in certain Christian circles to incorporate prayers to the great spirit or the mother goddess and to downplay the uniqueness of the gospel in favor of a more generic religiosity. But what I have been saying up till now puts the bulk of us off the hook. After all I don’t pray to the mother goddess and I am certainly not like the power grabbing person as might be depicted on TV.
Contemporary idolatry as expressed in the average person as expressed here in this room. Most of us are seduced by the idols that group around power: like success, influence and control. Our greatest nightmare is being humiliated and our problem emotion is anger. Some of us are more prone to idolizing approval: we crave affirmation, love & relationships that meet our needs, acceptance. Our greatest nightmare is rejection and our problem emotion is cowardice. Some of us are enticed by comfort: privacy, freedom, and sexual pleasure. Our greatest nightmare is the stress and demands of fulfilling the comfortable life.
And what about the answer?
A legalist approach would be for me to tell you: repent. Just don’t do it. Moralizing. My telling you to change your behavior doesn’t go deep enough. Why do you want: power, or approval of comfort? Another approach would be psychologizing. You don’t see that God loves you as you are, so just rejoice. Believe it. But does this go deep enough either? You are still left with the question: why do I have such feelings of fear, anger or despair when these desires are not being met? The psychologizing approach of “rejoice” doesn’t make it happen either.
Answer lies within the passage: Living water. Do we know anything about living water elsewhere in Scripture? The New Testament builds on the theme of God as a fountain of living water. Jesus informs the Samaritan woman that he can give her “living water … welling up to eternal life” (John 4:10, 14). To any who believe in him, Jesus declares that “streams of living water” will proceed from them (7:38).Gospel approach then, would say both: repent of building your own cisterns-broken cisterns that cannot hold water. Rest in, accept the living water, drinking this living water. To reject his claim is to reject the offer of life that only God can grant. The Lord gives us this chance on earth to flee from the idols/the broken cisterns, and rest in the living water, but one day that option will not be available to us anymore.
Acknowledgements:
Dearman,J. Andrew. “Original Meaning” In The NIV Application Commentary: Jeremiah and Lamentations. By J. Andrew Dearman, 45-64. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, © 2002.
