19th Sunday after Pentecost
October 20, 2019
Jeremiah 31:27-34; 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5; Luke 18:1-8
We usually remember Jeremiah’s call story for the first
part.[1]
That’s the exchange between the Lord and Jeremiah when God says, “Before I
formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I
appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” And Jeremiah replies, “Who, me? I’m
no good at public speaking. I’m too young. They won’t listen to me.” Then the
Lord tells Jeremiah, “Do not say, ‘I’m too young.’ You must go to everyone I
send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am
with you and will rescue you.” And we often stop the call story right there
with the reassurance of “Go where I send you. Do not be afraid. I am always
with you and will rescue you.” While that seems like a nice stopping point, the
conversation doesn’t end there. Next, “the Lord reached out his hand and
touched Jeremiah’s mouth and said to him, ‘I have put my words in your mouth. See,
today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to
destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.’”[2]
Those six verbs, four destructive: uproot, tear down, destroy, and overthrow;
and the two constructive verbs: build and plant; show up again in today’s
Jeremiah reading. Now in chapter 31, the Lord declares, “Just as I watched over
[my people] to uproot and tear down, and to overthrow, destroy and bring
disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant.” God watched over his
people while they uprooted, tore down, destroyed, and overthrew. Now it is time
for God’s people to build and to plant. God watched over them through the bad
times; now God is going to watch over them during the good times.
In
addition to watching over his people while they build and plant, God is going
to make a new covenant with them. The Lord declares, “I will put my law in
their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be
my people. No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another,
‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the
greatest.”[3]
“In other words, this is to be a relationship guided by an internal voice,” not
by external words and actions.[4]
“God will relate to each person as an individual, not just to the community as
a whole,” because each person will know God and have access to God. We don’t
need to go through the priest as an intermediary. We will each have God’s laws
written in our hearts and on our minds. That’s where the internal voice comes
from.
So,
how do you develop your internal voice? Where does it come from? Whose voice is
it? Does it sound like your mom or your dad? Is it a voice of criticism or one
of encouragement? Maybe it’s a character like Jiminy Cricket who serves as
Pinocchio’s conscience.
You know what’s interesting about that is the origin of
the phrase “jiminy cricket.” Anyone ever heard someone say it? You have if
you’ve ever watched Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.” One of the
dwarves says it. Jiminy Cricket is a minced oath for Jesus Christ. You know,
like when you stay gosh or darn instead of something stronger? That’s called a
minced oath. The minced version of taking Jesus’ name in vain is jiminy
cricket. It’s not one you hear anymore, perhaps because Disney took it and made
it into a cartoon character, but isn’t that interesting to think about Jiminy
Cricket, Pinocchio’s conscience, as another name for Jesus Christ? It’s
interesting because your internal voice should
sound like Jesus. That’s what it means to have God’s laws written on your heart
and mind. And the answer for how you develop your internal voice is found in
our other Scripture readings this morning.
In
his second letter to Timothy, Paul wrote that “Every scripture is inspired by
God and is useful for teaching, for showing mistakes, for correcting, and for
training character, so that everyone
who belongs to God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”[5]
In other words, Scripture is inspired by God and it’s helpful. These stories
didn’t get written down just for the sake of writing them down or to make money
publishing books. Scripture is helpful and effective at helping you grow in
your faith and grow closer to God, and you shouldn’t let others read it for
you. You need to read it for yourself, whether it’s a physical book on your lap
or you download an app or you listen to it on audible. It’s important to spend
time with Scripture not just on Sundays but every day, whether you following a
reading program or you just pick a random passage. Read it and meditate on it;
this is what our ancestors in the faith called lectio divina. Holy reading. You
read the words, or listen to them, and you let the holy words of Scripture read
you and influence you and affect you, not just cognitively but in your heart.
That’s how God’s words get written on your heart. That’s how you develop your internal
voice. And, in turn, this develops character, just as Paul said. Because it’s
not the ethics case study of what are you going to do in a crisis; instead you
are already formed as part of God’s people, you already know God’s Word, and in
any scenario, you’re going to love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus said that
was the second greatest commandment, after the first one, which is to love God.
One way you love God is by reading scripture and letting those words be written
on your heart and mind.
And maybe
you’re not a reader and audible books put you to sleep, well, how about music?
Many folks over the history of the Church have put Scripture to music. Another
way to learn God’s Word and develop that internal voice is by learning and knowing
the music that is inspired by Scripture. A lot of it is found in that red book (hymnal)
next to your bible in your pew. At the bottom of many hymns, along with the
author and composer’s names, is the scripture that inspired the author to write
that song. For example, our last hymn today, “Here I Am, Lord,” was inspired by
Isaiah 6:8, the part of Isaiah’s call story where Isaiah heard the voice of the
Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And Isaiah said,
“Here am I. Send me!” These hymn writers were inspired by God, some by how they
saw God moving their life circumstances, some directly by Scripture. Our choir
accompanist likes to say that there is a song for every mood, and there is,
because there is Scripture for every mood. “There is nothing new under the
sun,” as it says in Ecclesiastes 1:9, and if you look, you will find the word
that you need to hear. Jesus says, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and
you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks
receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be
opened.”[6]
Seek and you will find, but you’re not going to find if you don’t go looking. So
read your Bible and your hymnal. If you don’t have one, we have extras here J Scripture will help form your internal voice in a
healthy, life-giving way.
Our
Gospel story this morning talked about persistence. Sometimes you have to keep looking and keep praying and not
give up, even when it feels like it’s not making a difference. I mentioned last
week that health and wellness take time and work. You can’t snap your fingers
and you’ve got your Jiminy Cricket. I love the verse before Jesus told the
story of the unjust judge and the persistent widow. Luke wrote that “Jesus told
his disciples this parable to show them that they should always pray and not
give up.” Pray always and do not lose heart. Don’t become discouraged. After
all, this widow had to keep coming to the judge, keeping her case ever before
him, keep asking, demanding for justice. And for a time the judge refused. He
didn’t care about God or the people. But eventually, the widow wore him down. The
corrupt judge finally gave in, because she had pestered him to death. He said,
“Even though I don't fear God or respect people, yet because of all the trouble
this widow is giving me, I will see to it that she gets her rights. If I don't,
she will keep on coming and finally wear me out!” And Jesus says, “So what makes you think God won’t provide justice to his people who
cry out to him day and night? Will he be slow to help them? I tell you, he will give them justice quickly. But how much of that kind of persistent
faith will the Son of Man find on the earth when he returns?” How
persistent are you in your faith? If you don’t find a good Scripture the first
time you go looking, do you close the book and stop looking? If you don’t hear
a good song on the radio when you turn it on, do you turn off the radio? No,
either you change the station or you wait out the bad song to see what comes on
next! Don’t give up! In fact, I’m going to challenge you. From now until the
end of the year, that’s 71 days, read your bible every day. I don’t care
whether you sit down for an hour or you sign up for an email list that will
send you a verse a day. Read at least one verse every day. This may already be
your habit, in which case, great! You’re well on your way to developing your
internal voice. If it’s not your custom, it’s time to start. See what you can
do, whether it’s in the car or you set your alarm 5 minutes earlier or go to
bed 5 minutes later. Every day. And ask me how I’m doing, too. I use a morning
devotional, but probably only read it about 90% of the time. Hold me
accountable as well, and let’s see if together we can’t get to 100%.
Finally,
and you may have already figured this out, you don’t have to do it on your own
on Sundays. On Sundays we come together
to read Scripture, and sing, and pray. The morning bible study is reading a
classic book on Christian community, “Life Together” by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
The first chapter was on community and the importance of the physical presence
of other Christians. Last week’s chapter was on “The Day with Others,” and
talking about worship. For Christians the day begins with dawn, when Christ
rose in victory over the grave. So, therefore, the “morning does not belong to
the individual, it belongs to the Church of the triune God, to the Christian
family.”[7]
We’ve already covered Scripture, so let me touch briefly on singing and prayer.
First, when we sing together, “it is the voice of the Church that is heard in [our]
singing together. It is not you, [individually], that sings, it is the Church
that is singing, and you, as a member of the Church, may share in its song.”[8]
This is something to remember. We’re singing for Jesus, not for each other. It
does not matter how “good” your voice is or how well you know the song. The Church is singing, and you are
invited to join in. And the same thing goes for prayer. First, during prayer,
anyone’s prayer, do not be afraid to pray, do not be timid about having the
right words, and do not be critical of another’s prayer.[9]
Whenever a prayer is offered in the name of Jesus, Jesus receives it in the
spirit it’s offered, regardless of stammering or word choice or eloquence. We
are to receive and listen to and offer prayers in the same way and to do it
regardless of our mood at the time.[10]
I know there are times I’m a more eloquent pray-er than at other times. The
point is you do it, anyway. This is part of being the Church together, of
helping each other develop their internal voice, of reminding each other that
God’s words are written in our hearts and on our minds. Who knows? Maybe the
voice in your head does sound like Jiminy Cricket. Keep going. Be encouraged.
We’re all in this together and we’re here for each other.
[1]
Jeremiah 1:4-8
[2]
Jeremiah 1:9-10
[3]
Jeremiah 31:33-34
[5] 2
Timothy 3:16
[6]
Matthew 7:7-8
[7]
Page 41
[8]
Page 61
[9]
Page 62
[10]
Page 64
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