The Lutheran Hour
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"Hold On to What Is Precious"
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Text: Jeremiah 15:15-21
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Patient and long-suffering God, in our lives we face a continual test of distinguishing what is precious from what is worthless. So often we are quick to follow paths that are least painful, even though the release that they bring to our lives is only momentary. So often we chase after stuff instead of pursuing a deeper and closer walk with You, O Lord. Forgive us for our continual wandering into things that are worthless, pardon us on behalf of the precious blood of Jesus shed for us at Calvary. Send your Holy Spirit to daily guide and direct our faith to extract what is precious – You and Your mercy – from what is worthless – the concerns and attractions of this life. Then use us; speak through us, Holy Spirit, to redirect others who have wandered after the worthless back to Jesus the Savior. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Have you seen the show, Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel? It’s where host, Mike Rowe, takes on some of the dirtiest of jobs for a day. He might be diving for golf balls in alligator-infested waters, or he might be cleaning up an oil spill in Alaska. Many times when there is a popular reality show like that, it seems that in a short time, someone else comes along and spins off a new show similar to it. If somebody does that to Dirty Jobs, here’s the show that I’d like to see created – a show called “Tough Jobs.” There is a whole list of tough jobs, that I personally want no part of, but I’d love to see how others would handle: Like the tough job of being a doctor who has to go in to a patient to tell them about their terminal cancer. Man, that’s a tough job! Or how about the tough job of being a caring boss who has to go to some 20-year employees to tell them that their career jobs with the company are being phased out? How about the tough job of being a teacher to a class of special needs kids, who don’t even want to be in class, let alone learn something. Those are real life tough jobs. If such a show were ever created, one episode would have to feature the tough job of a man named Jeremiah.
Jeremiah was the mouthpiece of the Lord, at a time when hardly anyone wanted to listen to what the Lord was saying. The prophet Jeremiah had the tough job of telling God’s people, Israel, that the days of them ignoring the Lord and paying attention to worthless things of this world were coming to an end. Jeremiah had to speak tough words from the Lord, like that recorded in Jeremiah 15:14: God says, “For a fire has been kindled in My anger, (and Israel, for your wandering from Me), My anger will burn upon you.” Those are tough words to speak to people. No one wants to hear bad news that there are consequences for doing your own sinful thing and wandering from God. But that was the truth about God’s people of old. They had wandered into worthless things – substituting other gods for the Lord, focusing only on themselves, living a life apart from the Lord. Jeremiah had called to them over and over again, “Turn back to God,” but the people wanted to keep doing their own thing.
Not surprisingly, in his depression, Jeremiah himself had some weak moments in which he turned to worthless things as well. We meet one of those moments today in this text. Jeremiah starts out praying strongly in chapter 15 verse16. He prays, “Your Words, LORD, were found and I ate them. Your Words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart. For I have been called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts.” Translation: “Lord, I know that You love me. I know that You’re with me. I’m hanging in there.” In verse 17 Jeremiah goes on: “I did not sit in the circle of the merrymakers…” That is: “I’m staying faithful to You, O Lord.” But, and here’s where it goes south. Verse 18: “Lord, Why has my pain been perpetual, and My wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will You indeed be to me like a deceptive stream with water that is unreliable?” Whoa! Jeremiah just said that the Lord has let him down! Don’t you pick up one stone to throw at Jeremiah because he’s had his eyes focused on worthless things like his pain, instead of precious things like the Lord, who will bring Jeremiah through this tough time. Don’t throw one stone, because we’ve all been right there with Jeremiah.
Haven’t you had those moments like I have – where we let the focus of our life wander into worthless things instead of what is truly precious? For Jeremiah, worthless things meant his search for a painless life. Why is that a worthless thing? Because God never promised that life would be that way this side of heaven. Acts 14:22 says that “it is through many tribulations we must enter the Kingdom of God.” God’s promise isn’t stress free life but strength for life. What are the worthless things that your life has wandered into? All the stuff that this world says we need to have to live the “good life,” or this world says that we need to provide for our children, in order to be “good parents”? According to Jesus, that’s a worthless pursuit – to be so focused on stuff instead of the Savior. Jesus said, “What does it profit a person…” so you gain the whole world, all the stuff, “…yet forfeit your soul”? You still die, and nothing you acquired goes with you – worthless!!
You say, “Well, wait a minute, I can do both. I can love the Lord above all else and still chase after stuff!” Can you? Can you “Serve two masters”? Listen up for a moment, especially those of you who are still working: Isn’t it true that today we work more hours for less buying power, and hence, we have less free time than our parents ever had? So, how are you and I using our lives? What are we investing in – worthless things like power, pleasure, possessions? Worthless things like pity parties because the Lord hasn’t given us our way, even though He’s already promised that the way He’s working for us, is “for our good, we, who love the Lord, and are called according to His purpose”? It’s so easy for us, even as followers of Jesus, to get caught up chasing after worthless things because we still live in a world where worthless things are king. But here comes the Lord, today, to Jeremiah, to you, to me, with a powerful word. He says: Let go of what is worthless. Hold on to what is precious. More accurately: Return to what is precious.
Jeremiah 15:19: “Therefore, thus says the Lord, ‘If you return (Jeremiah), then I will restore you – and before Me you will stand…'” Now watch this: “And (Jeremiah) if you extract the precious from the worthless, you will become My spokesman.” That’s really what all of life is about – distinguishing the precious from the worthless. Let’s leave no doubt what the precious is: The precious is God’s faithful love for us – His faithful love for us. Even after Jeremiah, calls God “unreliable,” the Lord didn’t move from Jeremiah. In fact, Jeremiah’s situation shows us again how passionately and faithfully the Lord loves us. He loves us even independent of how we are. Let me explain. For most of us we love, if the person we love will love us back. That’s not the way God loves. He loves us even despite our failure to return love to Him.
Case in point: Jesus at the cross. Jesus loves us enough to die for us. Jesus gives His life as a payment for our sins. But remember the audience in whose presence Jesus died? They weren’t loving Him, they weren’t worshiping Him. You want to see what is precious – even surrounded by people who hate Him, people who have lied on Him, people who have hurt Him, people who are putting Him to death, Jesus’ love is faithful! Jesus prays, “Father, forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.” Here’s what is precious – “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us,” to make a way for us to eternal life and a right relationship with God. Here’s something precious – “not that we loved God, but that He loved us first.” Look what God says: “(Jeremiah) If you return to Me…” Not, “Jeremiah, go out and find Me.” Not, “Jeremiah, you better make it up to Me.” But, “Jeremiah, I’m still right where I was before all of your wandering…Jeremiah, I haven’t gone anywhere…Jeremiah, I’m still the same Lord who knew you even before you were ever born…Jeremiah, I’m still the same God who called you and put My Words in your mouth…Jeremiah, I’m still Your Savior…Jeremiah, maybe you’ve tried to ‘shake Me off,’ but I love you and I will never shake you out of My Heart.” A God who loves like that – that’s precious. Hold on to what is precious!
Maybe, you have been wandering in the worthless, recently. At one time, you were in church, were baptized, but in recent days, you’ve been away from the Lord and away from His Church. In the process, perhaps you’ve drifted into some real worthless stuff of this life, and right now, find yourself in an addiction, a broken family, or simply all alone, wishing there was someone to turn to. The Lord who called you to be His, when you were baptized; the Father, who sent His Son, Jesus, for you, to the cross, says to you and me today, “I haven’t gone anywhere… I still love you …The new life that Christ won at the cross is still for you…” says God. And even though life on this earth will still be tough, sometimes just plain hard, just as the Lord said to Jeremiah, He promises you and me, “I will give you strength…” In verse 20 God says: “I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze; And though they fight against you (Jeremiah), they will not prevail over you.” The Lord says to you and to me today, “I will be your God…I will protect you…I will provide for you…I will take care of you… There is hope, because you are Mine.” And there is nothing more precious than that, to hold on to. Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for August 31, 2008
Topic: When Did Jesus Know?ANNOUNCER: When did Jesus know He was God? Pastor Ken Klaus responds to questions from listeners. I’m Mark Eischer.
KLAUS: Hello, Mark.
ANNOUNCER: Today’s question is very simple: “When did Jesus realize He was God? And was there ever a time He didn’t know?
KLAUS: That is an interesting question, and one people have asked for a great many years.
ANNOUNCER: Is there an answer?
KLAUS: I can’t point to a specific passage in the Bible and say, “And it was revealed to Jesus at that time that He was the Son of God, the Savior, and He would suffer, die, and rise to save people from their sin.” It’s not spelled out like that.
ANNOUNCER: OK, I understand. But I think we can probably come up with a more complete answer than that, can’t we?
KLAUS: Well, we can try. But to do so we have to start out with some basics. We believe Jesus is true God, begotten of the Father from eternity. We also believe that He is true man, born of the Virgin Mary.
ANNOUNCER: I hope there would be very few Christians who would question that.
KLAUS: I would hope. Well, when Jesus was born, became true man – incarnate – if you prefer. During His life on earth He didn’t fully use all of His Divine attributes. One of those attributes would be “all-knowingness.” I know that’s not a real word, but it is descriptive.
When Jesus was a baby, it is accurate to say He was a real baby… not God frustrated and trapped inside a baby’s body. Once again, Jesus had all of the Divine attributes, but He didn’t use them all the time.
ANNOUNCER: So far, so good.
KLAUS: Now, we also know that Mary and Joseph had been told who Jesus was. You can find that in the opening chapters of Matthew and Luke. Being a perfect child, which Jesus was, would have been hard on Him. His playmates might have thought Him a “stick-in-the-mud” a “holier-than-thou” kind of person. It would seem likely that Mary and Joseph would have conveyed some of their revealed information to Jesus as He grew.
ANNOUNCER: Although, thinking about it, “holier-than-thou” certainly applies to Jesus more than any other person.
KLAUS: And that would absolutely be the case.
ANNOUNCER: And we do know that when Jesus was in the temple at the age of 12, He gives every indication that He understood He had a very special relationship with the Heavenly Father.
KLAUS: Yes. That story you will find toward the end of the second chapter of Luke. Jesus referred to the temple as being His Father’s house. And so it was.
ANNOUNCER: So we’re saying Jesus always knew he was God, but, in a way which some school teachers might call in an “age-appropriate way”?
KLAUS: Agreed. I think we have to state that there is nothing that says exactly that in the Bible. On the other hand, it is the best way I can put together the brief facts Scripture gives to us of Jesus’ boyhood and youth, while He was growing up in the town of Nazareth.
ANNOUNCER: We don’t have to talk about those New Age theories about Jesus going to India or China to study mysticism, do we?
KLAUS: I would prefer not. There isn’t any reason to take a perfectly good question and muddy it up with stuff that has no support at all. Jesus was – and is – the Son of God. He didn’t wander around the Far East trying to get things figured out. He didn’t have to. Jesus knew He was the Son of God.
ANNOUNCER: And He knew His mission was to offer His life as payment for our sins.
KLAUS: He makes it clear He knew He was going to die for us; He knew when He was going to die for us; He knew how He was going to die for us. Should I go on?
ANNOUNCER: Well, I think we can certainly say He knew He was going to rise for us.
KLAUS: Yes, we dare not forget that. It is the key to everything else.
ANNOUNCER: How would you sum this up for us today?
KLAUS: Mark, we can say this: Scripture tells us that Jesus, according to prophecy, was born in Bethlehem. Before Jesus was born, people like Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth, and Zacharias knew why He – the Messiah -was coming. The prophet Isaiah had been pretty clear about what would happen to the Messiah. After Jesus was born there were others – the shepherds to whom the angels appeared and spoke of Good News of great joy for all people, the Magi who followed the star and ended up wrongly in Herod’s Palace, the Biblical interpreters of King Herod, Simeon, Anna – they were all given insights into Jesus’ divine purpose. If Jesus had known nothing else other than these things, He would have known a great deal about Himself and His future, His destiny, His purpose. But as God’s Son, He knew – He knew He was humanity’s ransom and Redeemer.
ANOUNCER: Thank you, Pastor Klaus. This has been a presentation of Lutheran Hour Ministries.
Music selections for this program:
“A Mighty Fortress” arranged by John Leavitt. Concordia Publishing House/SESAC
“What Is the World to Me?” arranged by Henry Gerike. Used by permission.
“Precious Lord, Take My Hand” arranged by Henry Gerike. Used by permission.
“Almighty Father, Bless the Word” From Every Voice a Song (© 1995 Concordia Publishing House)
“Oh, That I Had a Thousand Voices” arranged by John Behnke. Concordia Publishing House/SESAC