Being a believer means we do not rub out the hard lines between right and wrong in the mistaken belief that this Is kindness and mercy made real In the lives around us? It is not, it is condemnation and spiritual death to those we treat so wrongly.
To live like Jesus is to invite conflict from within the family, the wider group of friends and the society around us and even the Church (universal). The most obvious place of conflict is among those we spend time with and are closest to, and so the ‘family’ and the households within it are a logical place to focus the divisions and conflicts within.
Being a disciple is a commitment to ‘living differently’ not some flaky ‘pie In the sky’ promise of an eternity which escapes judgement. We have conned people for too long that Jesus is a ‘get out of hell free ticket’.
Now I know this won’t be popular because that’s how so many of us probably came to faith in the good old ‘turn or burn’ Christian evangelism methodology but what we need to be giving away Is the call to look and live and be like Jesus (and you know what happened to Him, don’t you?).
So you know what rain clouds look like, don’t you?
But what about the end times? Wars, rumours of wars, deceitful politicians and leaders, nationalism, the rise of selfish ambition In Individual, people groups, nations and the like.
Let’s not seek to escape the fires of hell but Instead welcome the fire of the Spirit
Let’s live as witness not as those waiting to receive the prize won for us by Jesus, the Christ’s, death on the cross. And stop living dodgy lives.
Speaking of ‘dodgy’, our Jeremiah passage sees God dealing with a bunch of dodgy prophets as then, and throughout the history of people’s dealings with God, there were a bunch of influential people with influence but little integrity, godly character and anointed leadership. They challenge wrong living (we call that sin) and seek to correct it. Like politicians (and some with dogcollars today) they preached security, prosperity and peace. They told the people, “Relax, all is well.” But of course it wasn’t!
This is, I fear a passage for today as some called to lead the people of God behave in a similar fashion. One of the big things about gods in the Old Testament is that they are ‘little gods’ who are tied to one place. But when YHWH, the God we serve, came on the scene those who took on the people who followed Him found that this God was powerful everywhere. Much as the words of psalm 139 tell us, there was nowhere that God wasn’t and nowhere that His power or influence was limited or restricted. As David proclaimed before Goliath and Solomon did again before the temple.- our God is everywhere!
The false teachers have created for themselves a small and ineffective god and preach from the ‘delusions of their own minds’. Many are as guilty today as the prophets were in Jehoiakim’s reign (609–598) in the way we mislead the people before us. Perhaps we think we are safe from God’s anger or perhaps have created our little god in honest attempts to win favour and bring people to God.
But be assured that without the consuming fire and brick-breaking word of God, everything we have is misleading, impotent and useless. So how does this passage help us with today’s other reading?
Turning to our Hebrews (11.2. 9-12.2.) passage as it continues to hold up the mirror of faith to help see if we have any breath in us. The examples of salvation, victory and winning through – all fuelled by faith and obedience – all draw us in to an understanding of God and the way relationship with Him works.
Being obedient to God’s call and keeping faith in God and His promises, even though the reality of them may not be seen in this life, is essential if we are to continue to run the race until we reach eternity with our one true and living God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit).
Unless we have a real relationship with God we will not have real revelation from Him, and this means that people will merely utter words from, “the delusions of their own minds!”
Is the promise faulty or our God fallible and flawed?
The writer of Hebrews tells us that this is all occurring in such a manner to ensure that it all comes together at the right time – and that time is the Coming of Jesus as the Christ (aka the second coming). So we persevere and 'keep the faith' and looking at the example of those who have gone before (that great cloud of witnesses) and distrusting and 'throwing off all that hinders' let us run the race of faith until the day dawns and the Christ returns.
Jeremiah 23.23-29
“Am I only a God nearby,” declares the Lord, “And not a God far away? Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?” declares the Lord. “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the Lord.
“I have heard what the prophets say who prophesy lies in my name. They say, ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’ How long will this continue in the hearts of these lying prophets, who prophesy the delusions of their own minds? They think the dreams they tell one another will make my people forget my name, just as their ancestors forgot my name through Baal worship. Let the prophet who has a dream recount the dream, but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. For what has straw to do with grain?” declares the Lord. “Is not my word like fire,” declares the Lord, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?
Psalm 82
God presides in the great assembly; he renders judgment among the “gods”:
“How long will you defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked?
Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.
Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
“The ‘gods’ know nothing, they understand nothing.
They walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
“I said, ‘You are “gods”; you are all sons of the Most High.’ But you will die like mere mortals; you will fall like every other ruler.”
Rise up, O God, judge the earth, for all the nations are your inheritance.
Hebrews 11.29 - 12.2
By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.
By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days.
By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.
And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.
These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Luke 12.49-56
“I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed! Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”
He said to the crowd: “When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, ‘It’s going to rain,’ and it does. And when the south wind blows, you say, ‘It’s going to be hot,’ and it is. Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don’t know how to interpret this present time?
Post Communion Prayer
Holy Father, who gathered us here around the table of your Son to share this meal with the whole household of God: in that new world where you reveal the fullness of your peace, gather people of every race and language to share in the eternal banquet of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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