What only God can do...

I hadn't posted on here in a while because I had switched over to preaching from notes for a while instead of writing the sermon out; but this week I switched back for my first sermon at Bethesda United Methodist Church, so here's the text
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Jeremiah 1:4-19

        My preaching style changes from time to time. As I mentioned when I first met with some of you, I’ve tried out a few different approaches over the past several months that I’ve been ministering to the kids out at Gibault. When I first started out there, I had an idea or two about things I’d like to talk to the kids about; I wanted to talk about God’s presence in the midst of their suffering, I wanted to talk about how God still loved them, even if it didn’t always feel like it; I wanted to communicate hope to them. And, I wanted to address their spiritual needs as best I understood them.

            So after a few weeks of preaching on randomly selected texts, I started considering ways in which I could structure my messages week to week in order to address some of the larger needs. The first need I saw, the one that stood staring me in the face, was that these kids, though sometimes exposed to church and Christianity, were on the whole ignorant of the actual story of Jesus Christ. Christ dying for their sins and being raised back to life were pretty foreign concepts to them.

            Thus, I decided that my first project would be to familiarize them with the story of Christ; and I set out to do so by preaching straight through the Gospel of Luke. I had no idea how incredibly difficult it would be to do that. When you preach straight through a text you always struggle with whether or not to jump ahead in the text or not, or you ask yourself over and over again “am I giving to much information and not enough message,” or, when you start hitting the major holidays, you wonder if you should’ve just stuck to the lectionary in the first place, because what good is it to preach about the woman at the well when it’s Easter?

            As I worked through these issues, I toyed with a variety of different approaches to preaching. Preach from notes, or write it all out? Pick a handful of bullet-points, or stick to the flow of the passage, verse by verse? And I’ve floated back and forth between these styles, sometimes using notes, sometimes writing out every word, sometimes going verse by verse, sometimes creating my own outline of how I think things should go. Each has their pros and cons.

            Preaching from notes allows me to be more engaging, make more eye contact, the personality comes out a little bit more. Writing it all out before hand, however, produces a better quality of content when it comes to the actual message itself. As you can probably tell, for this morning, I opted for writing the whole thing out, a decision I made late last night, after I had already completed a fairly detailed outline of notes. As you’ll see later, I also opted to preach verse by verse through the passage rather than sticking to a bullet-point style.

            In both cases I made this decision because, for as long as I’m here, I want to give you guys my best in terms of the actual message I preach to you. I think, above all, that is the one reason so many churches are struggling these days. It’s not that they don’t do cool light shows and have an impressive band, it’s not that the pastor isn’t hip enough. I’ve been to churches with horrid music and a ridiculously uncool pastor that looked more like the Biblical idea of a church than anything else I’ve seen.

            All of this, however, is to note that, here, in this new position, I’ve got a lot of worries, a whole new set of concerns. That’s why I’m glad our passage this morning is this one from Jeremiah.  This passage is about a man who’s just starting out in a new ministry, and as far as I can tell it’s one of the most difficult prophetic ministries in the whole of the Old Testament. But we’ll get more into that here shortly. Either way, he’s reluctant, he’s worried about what it is that God is calling him to and whether or not he’s really prepared for it.

            And while I hope my time here will be a much more positive experience then the doom and gloom mission that Jeremiah was sent on, there are still some ways that, at this moment, I can relate to him.

            Even though I’m not new to ministry in general, of course, I’m new to Pastoral ministry. This brings it’s own unique set of worries for me. You see, from the time I was 15, I was pretty sure I wanted to be a Pastor. I never had what I like to call the “deer stand moment” where the clouds parted, a beam of light shown down, and I just knew that God was calling me to the ministry. Instead, ministry has just always seemed right, it’s always seemed like I was suited for it in some way. I’ve always been fairly confident about it. I came into the candidacy process guns blazing. When they asked me why, already being a chaplain, I wanted to pursue ordained ministry, and I told them it was because I wanted to perform the sacraments and be connected with others in ministry- you don’t get a more Wesleyan-Methodist answer than that.

            But now that I face the thing itself, I’m wondering, what if this isn’t right? What if I’ve been wrong all along? What if God really has something else in mind for me? And, even if all that turns out alright, then there are the more personal questions, like, what if you guys really get to know me?

            A few months ago I was reading one of my favorite blogs and I came across a link to an article in Psychology Today about this thing called “Impostor’s Syndrome.” Apparently, even though it’s not officially recognized in the DSM manual that Psychiatrists use, it’s a fairly widespread problem. People who are in positions of authority or have achieved some sort of success in their professional lives have difficulty internalizing their successes. They seem to constantly feel like it’s all a mistake, like they’ve been let into some exclusive club of successful people by accident and that sooner or later someone’s going to find them out and show them for who they really are.

            In some ways, I feel like I can relate. Even though I certainly haven’t achieved any great measure of success, I look at where I am, standing here in front of you all, and I feel like someone got the papers mixed up, and I ended up slipping into a job that was meant for someone else. I mean, what if it finally dawns on you all that I’m only 27, or worse, what if you find out that, shock of all shocks, I am a sinner. And when I say “am a sinner,” I do mean “am” and not “was.” I am still, like I’d be willing to bet all of you are, a work in progress. I have to face facts; no matter how hard I wish it were not the case, regardless of the fact that I intend to give my very best at this pastorate, at some point, I’m probably going to disappoint some of you.

            It’s a very scary business, standing up here, and just as I have good reason to be scared, so did Jeremiah. If you don’t know Jeremiah’s story, here’s the Wikipedia version:

      God appointed Jeremiah to confront Judah and Jerusalem for the worship of idols and other violations of the covenant described in Deuteronomy.^[4] According to Jeremiah, the LORD declared that the covenant was broken and that God would bring upon Israel and Judah the curses of the covenant.^[5] Jeremiah’s job was to explain the reason for the impending disaster (destruction by the Babylonian army and captivity),

God’s personal prediction to Jeremiah, “Attack you they will, overcome you they can’t,”^[7] was fulfilled many times in the Biblical narrative as Jeremiah warned of destruction of those who continued to refuse repentance and its more moderate consequences. In return for his adherence to God’s disciplines and speaking God’s words, Jeremiah was attacked by his own brothers,^[8] beaten and put into the stocks by a priest and false prophet,^[9] imprisoned by the king,^[10] threatened with death,^[11] thrown into a cistern by Judah’s officials,^[12] and opposed by a false prophet.^[13] Yet God was faithful to rescue Jeremiah from his enemies.

            So, what can we learn from these first few passages of Jeremiah’s story? Well, let’s take a look at the text. Starting at verse 4 he writes:

Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
 ^5(A) "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,and before you were born^(B) I consecrated you;I appointed you a prophet^(C) to the nations."

            “Before I formed you, I knew you.” So, first and foremost, God knows what He’s doing. Often we want to turn back on God and ask Him “what were you thinking? Why did you put me here? Surely, God, all-powerful, omniscient Lord of all that exists, you have made a mistake this time. This is not what I’m supposed to be doing, this is not where you were supposed to put me."

            We get so wrapped up in our decisions, in writing the story of our life, that we forget that we aren’t the author, we’re not the one who moves the plot along. Likewise, God knew what He was doing when He put me here, speaking to you folks. Now, that purpose of God may be the intent to communicate just what sort of pastor you don’t want next time around, but either way, He knows what He’s doing.

            Surely you can think of examples from your own life. Think of your own job. Do you ever despair over it? God knows what He’s doing there too. He’s in charge there as well. All things belong to Him. But Jeremiah thinks he has the one up, he believes he’s found the one thing God overlooked. He continues:

 ⁶Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Behold,^(D) I do not know how to speak,^(E) for I am only a youth."⁷But the LORD said to me,

“I’m too young for this.” Perhaps we could say it this way, “I’m to (blank) for this” and insert our own weaknesses. I’m too old, I’m too slow, I’m too scared, I’m too whatever. But how does God reply? He says:

   "Do not say, 'I am only a youth';for to all to whom I send you, you shall go,and^(F) whatever I command you, you shall speak. ^8(G) Do not be afraid of them,^(H) for I am with you to deliver you,
         declares the LORD."

For some reason, unbeknownst to me, God likes shining forth in the midst of our weaknesses. He likes showing up in unexpected people. You don’t have to look any further than the Gospels and Acts to see that God likes using screw ups to get the job done. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 12 “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me”

In fact, God’s most powerful intervention in the course of human history, His coup de force, happened in the midst of incredible weakness and suffering. “It doesn’t matter that you’re young, it doesn’t matter what borders and boundaries you see standing in the way of my work, I’m going to do what I’m going to do, and I’m going to do it through you.”

Furthermore, He says “don’t be afraid, for I am with you.” This is one of the things that I try to drive home often with the kids out at Gibault, this idea of God with us. We’re so often fooled by appearances when it comes to God. We look at our situation, whatever it may be, and though we may not say it, we start to doubt whether God could possibly be here, with us, now. We look at all these crazy things that surround us and scare us, and we forget that God is bigger than all that, and that He’s promised to be with us in the midst of it.

Ultimately, it is God’s work, not ours. Jeremiah continues:

 ^9(I) Then the LORD put out his hand and^(J) touched my mouth. And the LORD said to me,

   "Behold, I have put^(K) my words in your mouth.

We often fall back into this trap of thinking that it’s all about us, about what we can do, what we can handle, and forget that it’s God who’s the one truly at work in these situations. It’s almost paradoxical, like what we read it in Philipians 2: “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”

It is God who put the words in Jeremiah’s mouth, and likewise it is God who has put His grace in your heart. It is God who has done the work for you, it is God alone who can heal you. It is His Word, His Son, that He has put in us.

And just in case you might be mistakenly led to believe that God gives us the raw material and then lets us do as we like, He continues:

 ¹¹And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,^(N) "Jeremiah, what do you see?" And I said, "I see an almond^[a] branch." ¹²Then the LORD said to me, "You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it."

        He’s watching over the whole process. He’s the one at work around us, in us, and through us. God does not leave His work alone. He watched over Jeremiah, and, as Paul tells us in Philipians 1:6 “And so I am sure that God, who began this good work in you, will carry it on until it is finished on the Day of Christ Jesus.

 He tells Jeremiah:

¹⁸And I, behold, I make you this day^(AA) a fortified city,^(AB) an iron pillar, and^(AC) bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land. ^19(AD) They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for^(AE) I am with you, declares the LORD, to deliver you."

So what are we going to do now? And believe me, the irony in not lost on me, preaching a whole sermon about how it is God who does the work, and then asking what it is we should do. But, here are some pointers just the same. First, we should recognize our weaknesses, and our sins, with real humility and not surface level humility. We need to face up to the fact that, if it’s just up to us, things are going to get real screwy. We ought to evaluate our lives, not only in light of our circumstances, too young, too old, et cetera, but also in light of our sins and weaknesses.

Next, we need to change our prayer life. Prayer is one of the central, if not the central, components of your spiritual life. Try this, think of one thing each week, or perhaps each day, that worries you, that keeps you awake at night. And instead of asking God to help you out a little, throw you a bone every now and then, commit that one thing to God. Ask God to do for you what you cannot do for yourself.

Lastly, put yourself, as Wesley put it, in the way of the means of grace. Receive communion as often as possible, read the Bible as often as possible and as indepth as is feasible. Develop good prayer habits, like setting aside certain times for prayer throughout the day.

The rub, of course, with this last bit is that, when we try to do these things, we find we stink at doing them. We often forget, or fall out of the habit, or get distracted. That’s part of the weakness, and just one more thing that we must trust God to work and accomplish in us.