Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] I'm going to have you turn in your Bibles to the book of Jeremiah this morning. We're going to go to chapter 40 and we're going to talk about something that is happening around our world, but it's also happening in individual lives. And those are those devastating moments. But you know, the challenge in life is not that we are going to be immune from them, but how we're going to respond to them, how we're going to deal with these things that happen. I think right now our minds are probably shifting in so many areas. You know, we get so much news coverage about Los Angeles and the huge devastation that's happening there. And I know it creates a focus on our lives and they're experiencing pain and tragedy and loss there. But in the bigger picture, I just want to remind us that, you know, stuff that we're not always hearing about like 1 million Africans in war torn Sudan, Southern Sudan and Mali who are experiencing famine. And you know, it strikes me between 7,000 and 21,000 people are dying daily from malnutrition. But we rarely hear these kind of things. And it's generally created by areas in the world where there's regional conflicts. And so war has a way of having such a negative impact. And many of the times that the victims are actually people that are not in the conflict and often the infrastructure is destroyed and then people are struggling just to survive and feed their families and there's a lot of pain. You know, we can actually feel overwhelmed and wonder in those situations, what can we do as an individual? And I think in our lives we have to decide. There are small things that all of us in this room, being some of the wealthiest people on the planet, we can do to help individuals and other people. We can find ways of doing that. And I would encourage you to pray and say, God, how would you want me to support people? How would you want me to be involved so that I don't become indifferent to the plight of those around us? But I want to think today specifically of those who are being challenged individually. I know I received a phone call here this past week from one of our missionaries where they're undergoing tremendous persecution and were able to share with me some of the challenges that they're facing. And immediately, you know, it's created a deeper concern in my heart for what's happening. Especially when you know people personally, it really affects you in a profound way. But moving away from these larger issues, then there are the personal ones. A loss of a loved one, battling life threatening illness, addictions, that wrack havoc on relationships, marriages that are struggling or even ending. And how can we move forward in moments such as these? And, you know, it really hit me this week as I was meeting with different families in our church family, how often I heard a devastating situation occurring in their lives. And it brings a deep awareness, you know, and then I was looking at this passage of Scripture and recognizing that there are some immediate, powerful things that we can glean from this experience that Jeremiah and the people of Judah had after experiencing this war ravaged experience with the Babylonians in the 7th century and 6th century BC. So in Jeremiah 39, that's where we were last week. We saw the final destruction of the city of Jerusalem in 586 BC. Many leaders were taken into exile, into captivity, but not all of them. Some remained behind. And so we're going to pick up the story in chapter 40 with a group we'll call the Remnant. Those that were left behind. There's always people left behind in situations. And how are they now going to respond to the destruction that just happened to their nation? And maybe the more important question and the relevant question we're going to ask today is how can we respond to after we experience devastating circumstances in our lives? So we can have one of two responses. We can either see it as a moment of opportunity, we can learn from the experience, or we can allow hurt, pain and anger to dominate our thoughts and affect our future decisions. So what I'm basically saying is you cannot control what happens to you, but you can respond to what's happening to you in order to move forward in your life. And sometimes people allow pain and trauma to totally define their entire lives. Or we can sit down and look at this pain and trauma, and we're going to look at some of the things that we can glean from these experiences, learn from those experiences, and actually grow from those experiences and be able to handle things in the future without, you know, bringing pain, hurt, anger, all this baggage from our past into our present. And it begins to totally define our entire lives. And so that's what I want to focus in on today. So I think this is an extremely relevant message for all of us to be listening to. Robert Davidson, in his introduction on this chapter, says this chapters 40 to 44 describe a series of incidences set in the days, months and perhaps years immediately after the destruction of Jerusalem. For Jeremiah and for the people, the period ought to have marked a watershed in their lives. Think about it. The city's in ruins, the countryside is ravaged. But if the external circumstances had changed. Much else, including the people's attitude to God and the prophet's uphill ministry remained unchanged. So in other words, all of this stuff happened, but they didn't get anything from it. How many think probably the greater tragedy in a tragedy is we don't learn anything from the experience?
[00:05:47] That to me is a sad story because, you know, we know in life there's going to be difficulties, but if we don't learn from those things, we're just going to keep repeating these things over and over and over again.
[00:06:02] So they hadn't learned anything from their rebellion. The result led. And as we're about to learn in the few weeks coming, greater tragedies are going to happen in their lives because they're not learning from this one. And I say, if so, we don't learn from life's experiences. We end up living a life of vicious circles. And I remember years ago doing a management course. And in this management course they basically said most organizations have two means of making decisions. Some make decisions, they go from crisis to crisis, or others make decisions based on objectives. And, you know, I thought about that a lot and I realized, you know, some people, and I've been related to, and they go from crisis to crisis, their whole life is just learning how to manage crisis. They're just going from crisis to crisis to crisis. And there's other people, yeah, they have crisis come into their lives, but crisis is not defining them. And so they're living a life with a totally different aim, a totally different goal. They're getting different resourcing. And I believe as we tap into what God wants us to learn and glean from this, it'll help us not to live life of crisis management. So let's take a look here how we can avoid going from one tragedy to the next or one crisis to the next. And the first thing I believe in handling devastating moments in our life is to acknowledge that part, if any, we had to play in the failure. Now why I say if any, because, you know, sometimes things happen to us, we didn't have anything to do with it, so we can't take blame for it. We can't live in guilt or shame about it. It's just there it happened to us, okay? But then there are other things that happen. We help contribute to the problem. We help facilitate the crisis in our lives. And so we want to ask that question, you know, what really is causing this? What can I learn from it if I'm not causing it? What could I have done differently? Or how can I handle this tragedy maybe differently than I did those in the past. What can I learn from these things? And help me, Lord, not to keep making the same mistakes over and over again. You know, some people, they don't learn anything from these experiences. And it was interesting just recently. And I don't usually read the Daily Bread. We have a little printed devotional that's put out by the Daily Bread, but lately they've been sending me an electronic digital version. It comes to my email and, you know, I get up in the morning. It takes a moment to read it. You know, I like reading. So I just scanned it. And on the 13th of January, I really was captured by the little illustration they use. And they said it this reflecting on why people tend to be entirely convinced they're right. Have you ever met people like that? They're never wrong. They're always right, you know. Okay, so this is what author Julia Galef suggests. She says it has to do with having a soldier mentality or mindset where we're focused on defending what we already believe against what we see as threats. In other words, we have a certain viewpoint in life, and if anything comes against that, we'll defend it to the hilt. We're not open to any sort of ideas that may be different than what we are holding. We just become defensive. The problem with that viewpoint is we don't grow, we don't change. We're not open to instruction. We just keep doing the same things over and over again. We're kind of stuck. You know, contrast that with, as she argues, a more helpful mindset is that of a Scout, someone focused not primarily on eliminating threats, but on seeking the complete truth, comprehending what's really there as honestly and accurately as you can, even if it's not pretty, convenient or pleasant. In other words, we look at something and we go, okay, I gotta respond to this and learn from it. And maybe, you know, I need to make some changes in my life. But, you know, we're not going to change unless we recognize the need for change. The only people that are changing and growing right now are people who are willing to admit themselves there's room for improvement.
[00:10:13] You have to come to that place. There's room for improvement. And I would argue that if you're still on the planet, there's room for improvement. Because I don't think there's one person in this room that can honestly say you do everything right all the time, including your pastor. I have to admit, there's times I make mistakes and I have to own up to them. And that's the only way you're going to continue to grow and change in your life. So here in these first few verses of Jeremiah 40, we're going to find out how Jeremiah makes a decision to remain with this remnant rather than head off to Babylon. And the reason I'm saying that is he's one of the few people that is given the option. Isn't that amazing? Because this man now is held in high esteem by his captors, which is really fascinating.
[00:11:01] Now, Roland Harrison writes this.
[00:11:08] Oh, excuse me, I must have added that in. Okay, people with this outlook, that's back to the scout mentality.
[00:11:16] So Roland Harrison says this about Jeremiah. We're going to look at what this commander says to him. The commander of the guard now undertook to care for Jeremiah should he accept the offer to go to Babylon.
[00:11:31] To be recognized as a patron and benefactor of such a powerful prophet would add to the status of the commander in his home city. In other words, you're going to hear an offer.
[00:11:41] Come with me to Babylon. I'll make sure I take care of you. If you know anything about these ancient civilizations, you have very affluent people, and they become patrons of. Of other people, and it elevates their level of social status. And that's why he's going to invite Jeremiah to go with him. So Jeremiah here is going to be freed from his captivity. So once they recognize who he is as a prophet, and we're going to see he's actually been captured by the Babylonians, but they don't know who he is. But Nebuchadnezzar, the king, recognizes one man who's been telling the people to surrender to the Babylonians. And so he seems to have a sympathetic heart towards God's prophet. But let's just move past Nebuchadnezzar. God had promised Jeremiah at the very beginning in chapter one. I want you to share my message. And even though people are not going to like it and they're not maybe going to respond to it, I'm going to protect you. And so Jeremiah, being faithful to God, experiences God's amazing protective care. Let's pick up the story in verse one here.
[00:12:52] Oh, I see. Yeah, I'm jumping over. I'm going to skip that. Anyways, it's not that, you know, it's amazing how much you study for a sermon. I can tell you you don't get all of what I'm reading every week. So Jeremiah 40, verse 1 says the word came to Jeremiah from the Lord after Nebuzaradan, commander of the imperial guard had released him. At Ramoth, he found Jeremiah bound in chains among all the captives from Jerusalem and Judah who were being carried into exile to Babylon. And when the commander of the guard found Jeremiah, he said to him, the Lord your God decreed this disaster for this place. Isn't that amazing? So basically, the enemy is agreeing with God's message. You know, it's almost like God is, you know, is telling these guys, this is why these guys were defeated. They were disobeying their own God. And now the Lord has brought it about. He has done just as he said he would. All this happened because you people sinned against the Lord and did not obey him. In other words, the reason why we were able to be victorious was because you were disobedient to God. Now, I recognize this is in the book of Jeremiah, and I know that these are theological statements, but it's interesting that even the enemy recognizes why Christians get defeated because we're rebelling against God. And when you rebel against God, you're going to live in defeat. And people recognize that goes on to say here, well, freedom is probably one of the most valued elements in the human experience. How many say that's true? You know, how many people have died for political or social freedom? And yet how many people living in a free society are actually living in bondage because of their sinful state? Freedom always brings with it a responsibility that must be embraced or we will lose our freedom. It's a very, you know, that's true, and I think we need to understand that. See, let me just give you some illustrations of what I'm talking about here. It's true of every realm of life. I mean, politically, if we want, if we're going to remain a part of a democratic process, we will. We have to be a part of it. We have to be involved in it. Otherwise we will eventually lose our freedom in that area.
[00:15:09] Did you just hear what I said? You know, a lot of people living in democracies don't participate in the process. They don't vote, they don't take any responsibility. And, you know, if you don't get engaged and involved in things like this, eventually one day you'll lose these things. You know, we can say the same in the physical realm. If we don't take care of what we're managing in the way of the material world or the assets that God brings into our lives, including our bodies, we'll suffer for it. If we just neglect things. Neglect brings about suffering into our lives. But the greatest area that has Eternal consequences is how we take care of our soul. We have to maintain freedom. Now listen to me very carefully. The only free people are believers on the planet. We're the only ones that have the choice to do right and wrong. Non believers, they're dead in their trespasses and sins. They just can't seem to overcome this. There needs to be a power greater than sin at work in our lives. And let me tell you this, only God's spirit living inside of you can enable you with his nature, to overcome sin in your life. You can't do this on your own.
[00:16:17] You can manage to deal with some aspects. You may not go so far in certain areas, but to really walk in true freedom requires the presence of the living God dwelling within you. It's the way it works. And listen to what Paul says regarding this condition. In the book of Romans, he says, don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves to the one you obey, whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness. But thanks be to God that though you used to be past tense slaves to sin, you've come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. So in other words, we're obeying something. We're either obeying our sin nature or we're going to obey God's word and his nature living within us. And even non believers, I think they can moderate their lives and have some measure of manageability, but it's not the freedom that the gospel provides in the human heart. The freedom to be free, to serve God and to serve people wholeheartedly. It's an amazing thing, and many of us have experienced that. But let me move on to the second thing in handling devastating moments in their life. First of all, you know, what can I learn from this moment? Or what part did I play in it? Number two, from that point, we have to make wise choices.
[00:17:42] This is where a lot of people really struggle. You know, we're in the middle of a crisis and we have to move forward. What are we going to do? What choices are we going to make? Are we going to be obedient to God's plan and purposes? Let's say, you know, the devastating experience was because someone, you know, did something towards you and you were crushed by their bad, evil behavior. How are you going to respond to that? You know, a lot of people, you know, have they allow unforgiveness to rule and reign in their heart, and they're devastated. You know, they're allowing that experience now to continue to move forward in their lives. They live with the past, defining their present because they can't let go and forgive. And I'm going to just point out something. The only person that's being wounded now at this point going forward is the unforgiving person. You know, I was listening to someone talk about, you know, the idea of unforgiveness. It's like, you know, sitting at a table, looking your enemy straight in the face, having one cup of poison in the middle, and then the offended person grabs the poison and drinks it and waits for the other person to die.
[00:18:47] It makes no sense. You know, we need to be free from all of the unforgiveness in our life. You go, yeah, but they don't deserve to be forgiven. Yeah, I totally agree with that. Forgiveness is not something people deserve. But I would argue that none of us in this room deserve to be forgiven by God. But yet he's willing to forgive us. It is a gift that we give to people who don't deserve it. So if you're hanging on to unforgiveness in your heart towards others, you need to say this. Don't wait for them to apologize. That may never happen in your lifetime. And number two, I said, you know, don't let them mess with your mind. Move on. It doesn't mean you have to trust them, but you need to forgive them. And you need to be free from letting them play in your brain and walk out of that prison cell of unforgiveness. And so you can walk in freedom. Now look what happens. Jeremiah actually gets a choice. Nobody else in the whole picture of this whole story is going to be free enough to make a choice. Look at verse four. But today the commander says, I'm freeing you from the chains on your wrists. Come with me to Babylon if you like, and I will look after you. I'll be your patron. But he said, but if you do not want to, then don't come. Hey, isn't that great, Jeremiah? You got options now. This is what happens when you walk with God. You walk in freedom and you get options. I love this. You have a choice. Look, the whole country lies before you. Go wherever you please.
[00:20:16] Let me tell you, most of the Jewish people didn't even have a choice. Most were in chains and were going to be brought to Babylon. And then the ones that were going to remain in the land, they were going to be taxed by the Babylonians. We know that. But he says Whatever you want to do, Jeremiah, you're free to do it. I love that about walking with God. God gives us a lot of choices in life, and it's a gift, really. It is. Jeremiah rejects the offer and he heads back towards his own people. It says. However, before Jeremiah turned to go, Nebuzaradan added, go back to Gedaliah, son of Ahikim, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has appointed over the towns of Judah, and live with him among the people or go wherever else you please. He's still got the option, right? Then the commander gave him provisions and a present and he let him go. Now, that's pretty good. When your enemies are giving you provisions and a present and sending you on your way, I don't think the rest of the people are being treated exactly the same way. So Jeremiah now is in a favored position. Even with technically his enemies, he's in the favored spot. So Jeremiah went to Gedaliah, the son of Haakim, at Mizpah and stayed with him among the people who were left behind in the land. So Jeremiah now chooses to stay in the land. And the question would be, why would he do that?
[00:21:42] Well, it's interesting. Think about this. I'm going to quote from Warren Worsbee. He just basically shares this little bit of an insight, and it tells you a little bit about the man himself. And he says it this way, being a man with a shepherd's heart, being a caring person, concerned about the people he's been speaking to. You know, he chose to dwell among the people. So was Jeremiah violating his own message when he remained with the people in the land? What do you mean? Well, in chapter 24 of the book, Jeremiah had pointed out this.
[00:22:15] Why stay with the bad figs? He said, basically, the bad figs God gave him a vision of two baskets. Bad figs, good figs. The bad figs were the people who stayed in the land, and the good figs were the people who were taken into exile. So why would you stay with the group that seemed to be not doing very well?
[00:22:34] Isn't that a great question? Jeremiah certainly knew to discern God's will. He had heard God's voice. And the Lord knew how much the prophet loved the land of Israel, the land, because the land represented something. It represented the presence of God.
[00:22:50] And he loved the people. Even though he warned them, he wept over them. God said, stop crying over these guys. They're not worth it. Jeremiah was just that kind of a person.
[00:23:00] Ezekiel, another priest and a prophet, was taken to Babylon in 597 and his ministry would start five years later. So he had already been taken. There was actually in the Babylonian exile. There was actually three stages to it. It wasn't all done at one time. They conquered, they took some of the nobles into exile. They took Daniel and his three friends into exile. Then later on they came back, there was another rebellion. So they took some more, which included Ezekiel in another exile. Now this last time, when Zedekiah, the very end, when Nebuchadnezzar destroys the city, why does he do that? This is the third time these guys have been in rebellion. And so he says, I've had enough of these guys. Okay, so now you've got Ezekiel and Daniel, they're both in exile.
[00:23:47] And Jeremiah, according to Wirsbe, this is his opinion, was probably right to stay with the people in the land. There were already people ministering to the people in exile. But now you got these people in the land. How many know they're in a state of confusion. It's very chaotic if you're thinking about it. If you were living in a country and your country is defeated by an oppressive group and now they're taking over, how are you going to pick up the pieces from that point? This is really the essence of the story. And Jeremiah remains behind to guide these remnant group of people. So prophets though, are often rejected even though they're God's servants to people. Notice the respect, first of all, that the Babylonians pay him. He gets a present, he gets provision, he gets invited to be blessed, to be taken care of. But he refuses all of that. And as we're about to see in chapters ahead, the people that he remains to take care of, they are a very difficult group of people.
[00:24:51] I'm amazed. Sometimes you have to be called of God to be in ministry.
[00:24:55] A lot of people don't understand that because, you know, people can treat you very nicely or they can treat you not so nicely.
[00:25:03] But listen to what Jesus said.
[00:25:05] Jesus said this. I tell you the truth. He's talking to his own community. He's in Nazareth right now, his own hometown, where he grew up. He said no prophet is accepted in his hometown.
[00:25:16] We have a hard time accepting the fact that God would raise someone amongst ourselves to be God's spokesperson. We just have a little difficulty. Yeah, we know that person. He's not that great. Right. You know, it's really funny if you go somewhere else as a speaker, you know, I'm used to speaking here, but if I go somewhere else, all of a sudden, people Think you're an expert. You know, isn't that crazy? It means nothing to me. I listen to people all the time. I'm going, what are they actually saying? That's what really matters in my books. But, you know, it's interesting, so many people now were embracing this provisional government that Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians had set up under Galilea. And I think it was part of God's plan to actually bring stability and order. And the message of God, listen to me very carefully. Doesn't change. God had told them, you know, be at peace, submit to the Babylonians. I'm doing this on purpose. This is part of your discipline. But how many know sometimes we rebel against God's discipline in our lives? And so they had rebelled and rebelled and rebelled, and God finally allowed judgment to come in the sense that their nation, their capital, was destroyed, their land was ravaged. It was a bad situation, but the message hadn't changed. So now the Babylonians are in charge here. And Gedaliah, as we're going to find out, he's actually a godly person. He's a good governor, he's a Judean. He's caring about his people. And so now people are coming to him. In verse seven, it says, when all the army officers and their men who were still in the open country heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahiakim, as governor over the land and put him in charge of the men, women and children who were the poorest in the land and who had not been carried into exile to Babylon. They came to Gedaliah and Mizpah, and there's a name, a whole bunch of these guys. I'm not going to go through all their names. Gedaliah, son Ahiakim, the son of Shaphan, took an oath to reassure them and their man. Do not be afraid to serve the Babylonians. He says, settle down in the land and serve the king of Babylon. It's going to go well with you. By the way, this is God's message. This is what Jeremiah has been saying all along. So the governor is saying the same thing as the prophet, okay? These guys are in alliance now. They're saying, this is what we need to do. Then he says, I myself will stay at Mizpah, which is about 10 miles north of Jerusalem, to represent you before the Babylonians who come to us. But you are to harvest the wine, the summer fruit and olive oil and put them in your storage jars and live in the towns you have Taken over. So who is this guy Gedaliah and who were the army officers coming to meet him? And why were they coming? These are all great questions. So, first of all, Gedaliah is lineage. He's tied in his father and grandfather. If you go back a little bit in the history, you're going to find out his grandfather was an advisor to King Josiah. Josiah was the last godly king in Judah. So this is a godly line. These are people who are walking in obedience to God. Listen, I'm going to just say this to all of us. There will always be a godly remnant. There will always be people who fear God on the planet. Jesus made a promise. I'll build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. There's always a group of people who love God. So when you look at our world today and you go, oh, it's so terrible, blah, blah, blah, I'm going, yeah, but there's godly people all over the place. And you need to know that God has servants everywhere. That's good news.
[00:28:41] So he's actually mediating between the people and the Babylonians. He's actually advocating on behalf of his own people, but he's also listening to the Babylonians and, you know, he's required to do certain things and taxes are going to be a part of it. So he's trying to, you know, bring about order in the land. How many know order is a big deal, but you know, the enemy, the devil, you know what he tries to do? He operates by creating disorder and fragmentation and disunity, all of those divisive things. He brings those things about because every evil work always happens in times of disorder. That's when he operates at his highest level. So that's why it's important, you know, God is a God of order. Read the Bible very carefully. Read how he created the world. Everything is in its place. There's an order to life. Paul talks of the Creator, Corinthians, a church that was totally out of order. He says, do everything decently and in order. There needs to be a level of structure. Otherwise you got chaos. Could you imagine right now living in a country where you don't have leaders and people are vying for power all the time, and there's no order. Nobody knows who's in charge and everybody's doing what's right in their own eyes. Can you imagine how disruptive that would be? There would be no. The infrastructure would crash really fast. You know, it's a very fragile situation. You need A level of order, even though sometimes we don't agree with every decision people make as leaders. Boy, thank God we do have leaders, because it could get very chaotic in a hurry. But we forget all of this stuff. You know, we're just thinking we get on our little soapbox and we're focused in on one thing. It's a lot more difficult to be a leader than you realize.
[00:30:27] So let me just say this. So then Tremper Longman kind of explains in contemporary terms who these army officers were. And he says it this way. Today we would call them insurgents. They could still cause havoc even after the Babylonian defeat of Judah. And so the Babylonians issue a kind of amnesty through their Judean governor, and they appear to accept its terms. So now some of the guys that are still fighting, you know, guerrilla type tactics, he's calling them in and saying, guys, stop fighting. This is just pointless. You know, we have been beaten. And this is actually. God has been telling us all along to surrender. And we need to do that to bring some sort of stability back to our country. And Walter Brueggemann talks about the possibility of Jeremiah's influence in all of this when he said Jeremiah's choice about the future. In other words, staying in the land and endorsing the governor by going there and reinforcing the message of the governor by saying this is actually what God wants us to do, probably was giving some level of legitimacy now to the governor's leadership there in the country.
[00:31:45] But.
[00:31:47] And then what happens is those who had previously fled, because how many know when you're fighting wars, people are evacuating? How many know some people are bailing? And so then we pick up in the next verses here, when all the Jews in Moab and Ammon and Edom and the other countries heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant in Judah and had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahiakim, son of Shaphan, as governor over them, they all came back to the land of Judah because, you know, at their heart, this is our home. And now that the conflict has stopped, they're all moving back home. That makes sense from all of the countries where they've been scattered. And now they begin harvesting and an abundance of wine and summer flu. So now we have this moment where there seems to be a level of normalcy coming back into the land. There's order in the land, things are being restored, but not everybody's happy with this.
[00:32:40] How many of that's true? There's some people you can never win over. That's the nature of people. Some people are angry. Some people feel like Gedaliah is a traitor. Some people feel like these guys are accommodators, they're compromisers. Just telling you how people feel.
[00:32:57] Some people have personal ambitions, and maybe they felt slighted that they weren't selected to be the governor. We're going to find one of those characters in a moment. So the final thing in handling devastating moments in our lives is that we need to understand human nature.
[00:33:11] Because a lot of times in life, and I see this a lot with Christians, you know, we make really radical statements like, I don't understand why these people are doing this. You know, why are these Christians sinning? Human nature, you know, because we have a human nature, and it's a sinful nature.
[00:33:29] And so if you. If, you know, if you're extremely idealistic, everybody should be doing everything right all the time. How many say that's true? Is that life?
[00:33:39] No, that's not been my experience. And when you're a pastor, you start realizing life is very messy and people are not all doing what they're supposed to be doing. And you got all kinds of things happening, and you're dealing with this stuff all the time. Isn't that true? And some of you, you know, you've grown up, you're trying to oversee your families or your homes, and you're going, boy, things are not that simple. It's not black and white at all. It's pretty messy. It's gray. And not everybody's doing what they should be doing. That's the nature of life. Okay, why is this important?
[00:34:11] Because even though things seem to be heading in a healthy direction, which I think they were, some people had a very unsettling agenda. And I think we need to understand that in the Christian life there will always be opponents to God's purposes. You go, why is that, Pastor? Because I think sometimes people are unguarded. I think Satan influences people just like God influences people. And sometimes Satan even influences good people to make bad decisions, and it creates an unsettledness in relationships. As a matter of fact, this is going to be really shocking. And I read it this morning, so I thought I'd throw this in here. I was reading about the parable of the weeds. Maybe some of you have already read that this morning. And what happened was the Son of man comes along and he sows the seed. That's the good seed, that's you and I that are believers. He's sowing this good seed. But then you know what? God also Sows bad seed. I mean, Satan along during the night and sows bad seeds. And all of a sudden, the servants get up one day and they notice bad seeds are growing in among the good seeds. And they say to the Lord of the house, they said, hey, you know, we got a bunch of weeds growing here. What in the world's going on? We didn't sow bad seed. He said, no, but while we were sleeping, the enemy came during the night and he sowed bad seed. Well, you want us to go pull out all the bad seeds? No, don't do that. Because if you start pulling out bad seeds, you're going to uproot some of the good seeds. So just good crops, don't pull anything out. Because God says, I'll deal with all of this at the end. In other words, judgment will fall on the bad elements. The other thing I noticed about what's different between agriculture and the spiritual analogy is this bad weeds can never be converted to good crops. But in the Christian life, it's different, because I don't. I don't. It doesn't bother me if we have people here that maybe you're not, you know, you're not doing what you should be doing. You know why? Because I never know when God's going to talk to you and open your heart and you're going to get transformed from being a weed to wheat.
[00:36:16] Isn't that beautiful? It can happen. That's not my job. I don't convert anybody. I'm just giving God's message. God says, don't just leave it be. I'll address this the end. So you'll see. You always can tell by this, by the fruit of the individual's life. At the end, it always produces something. Now, does that mean you never address things? No, there's times you have to address things. If they're going to sow discord among other people, you have to stop them. But all I'm saying is, you know, I'm not a police officer. Just letting you know that. And a lot of people want you to be a police officer, but that's not our job. Okay, so then a secret plot now comes to light. What's going on? Well, Johanan, son of Kareah, one of those army officers still in the open country, came to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and he said to him, don't you know that Balas, king of the Amorites, has sent Ishmael, son of Nathanael to take your life? But Gedaliah, son of Ahiakim, did Not believe them? Well, you know, you say, well maybe why didn't he believe him? Well, first of all, he didn't believe him because maybe he felt like this was a rivalry between these commanding officers. So they have their own issues. That's one reason. But maybe the ultimate reason was things were going relatively well and he didn't want to believe that there was a potential problem.
[00:37:32] Sometimes we can be a little naive about human nature. And why would this king of Ammon want to destabilize Judah? Well, because a little earlier in chapter 27, he was part of a group that was trying to foment rebellion against Babylon. He was another nation that wanted to rebel against the king of Babylon. And as Tremper Longman points out, what were Ishmael's motives? The text does not say explicitly, but it would be connected to the fact because he's being assigned to assassinate the governor here, that he was part of the royal family and was a high ranking officer in the prior kings Zedekiah's role army. He might have had his own royal pretensions. In other words, why did Gedaliah become the Babylonian governor? He's not even royalty. I'm royalty. Why am I being sidestepped? Or maybe he had simply hated and he didn't trust the Babylonians and those who would seem to be their puppets, including Gedalai. In other words, he's still fighting the Babylonians and he sees this guy's compromiser, an accommodator. He's part of the enemy.
[00:38:43] Also, Ishmael was in collusion with Bayless, the king of Ammon. It appears that Ammon was staunchly anti Babylonian in chapter 27. As already said, Ammon was a part of a coalition that considered rebelling against Babylon early in the reign of King Zedekiah. And this plot didn't materialize and Jeremiah had stood against it. He spoke against it and conceived that Gedaliah or his father had resisted it as members of the earlier government and as a family. In agreement with Jeremiah's position, this may have been an act of revenge. In other words, there's always a motive why people do what they're doing. In their mind, it's a legitimate reason. I've already said that when people think they're right, even if they're wrong, they'll still do what they're going to do because they think they're right. A lot of people do wrong things, but they think they're doing the right thing because they think they're right.
[00:39:38] Ever wonder why people do the wrong things because they think they're right. That's a lot of them. Not all of them, but a lot of them do. So how does that apply to us, Pastor? What am I supposed to learn from all of this? Well, things may not always seem clear to us here in our text. As I've said, there are two opposing positions.
[00:39:56] Walter Brueggemann says the narrative makes clear that biblical faith, including Jeremiah's advocacy, must be understood and practiced in the midst of real and difficult political realities. There was no supernaturalistic or transcendentalistic perspective which proved that accommodation was the will of God. In other words, what he's saying is there was no outward sign from God that this message from Jeremiah was accurate, except one little thing. Walter Bruegerman. I want to just point this out, that all along God had been saying, all through Jeremiah's ministry and other prophets, that God was sending this judgment because of their rebellion, and everything Jeremiah had said had come to pass. So you have to start paying attention. When people are saying, this is what's going to happen, and it just keeps happening, keeps happening, keeps happening. You start beginning to wonder, hey, this person maybe is lined up with God and is explaining to people the reason why we're experiencing these things is because he's pointing out we're violating what God? Our agreement with God, we're sinning against God. Why should we be surprised by what's happening to us?
[00:41:07] So having said all of that, though conflict now arises, it destroys the peace and order.
[00:41:20] Gedaliah, verse 16. I'll share the last verse here. He says what you're saying about Ishmael is not true. Why didn't he believe him? I've already mentioned that. But just say this many times. We want to believe the best in people, which is a nice thing. I think we should try to do that. But I think we have to be a little more wise than that. And I'm going to say it this way. I'm skipping things because I've run out of time here. But Jesus himself, remember when he fed the multitudes, they wanted to make him a king. Anybody that can turn a handful of loaves and fish into feeding a multitude, this is the guy we want to have as our leader. In other words, he's going to take care of our economic problems. But notice what Jesus, what John says about Jesus. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people.
[00:42:15] He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each people. What does that really mean? It just simply means this, that Jesus knows that we all can fail. So what I'm arguing is to explicitly trust everybody at all times may not always be a wise choice.
[00:42:35] What does that really mean, Pastor? It means simply this. You know, this may shock you guys. Maybe I'm a little cynical, but, you know, my attitude towards people is I don't expect anything from people. You know, I'm hoping for the best for people, but I'm never surprised by, you know, when people don't, you know, they mess up or do something. You know why I'm not surprised? Because I understand what we're made of. We're all made of clay here. We all have a human nature. We all have a sinful nature. And anyone at any time can do the wrong thing. So if we have this attitude, you know, oh, that person can never make a mistake, look out. And we set ourselves up for disappointments. Guys, I'll just be honest with you. If you, you know, if you're doing things and you expect people to appreciate it, you may be hurt and disappointed at some point. Better to just do it as unto the Lord. And if people do are responsive and are thankful for it, I say that's bonus. You know, if they don't do anything, I don't get excited because I didn't expect it. But some of you in this room, you get all wounded and hurt because you do nice things for people. They don't even thank you. And sometimes they even do nasty things to you. And you're going, wow, I can't believe they just did that. And then you're wounded and hurt.
[00:43:48] Lower your expectations of others.
[00:43:52] Just bring it down, okay?
[00:43:55] You'll be a lot happier with your life. Number one, don't be shocked by people's behavior. I never am now. Does that mean we don't? I'm not going to challenge you to live up to the best version of you. Of course I'm going to do that. I'm going to challenge me to live up to the best version that I can be. I think that's appropriate. That's what we want to do. But when people don't cut it, don't get upset about it.
[00:44:19] That doesn't mean we're just going to let them off the hook. No. Everybody suffers when they don't do what they should do. Everybody suffers. That'll happen. You need to know that. So let's stand as we close the service in prayer and just basically say, okay, Pastor, so I'm in a devastating situation. What am I supposed to take away from all this. Number one, what can I learn from it? Number two, what decisions do I need to make now? And you know what? Sometimes we need to make godly, wise choices, otherwise we're not learning from these experiences. And number three, understand the nature of people, your own nature and other people's nature. You know, some of you, you're just wonderful people. You love helping people.
[00:45:04] I'm going to tell on Patty here. She'll probably get back to me here with, why did you say that? But, you know, my wife is such an other person, centered person. She does a lot of things for people. That's just the way she's wired. But she assumes, and I keep telling her this, she assumes everyone's like her. I go, no, they're not like you. I'm not even like you. You're far more of a helper. You got far more. You know what I mean? She goes in a certain way, but see, I don't get disappointed when people don't do to me what I do to them. She does. So I'm trying to help her past that. You know, I think she's catching on. She's been married to me for a while, so I keep telling her that, you know, just relax, don't be so excited about it. You know, keep serving people, keep loving people.
[00:45:56] But if they don't love you back, that's okay. Don't get excited about it. That's what I'm trying to tell you. Learn from these things. Learn from these experiences. You know, you can see what's happens in this story.
[00:46:09] These people aren't learning. We're going to. We're going to keep traveling through the book. You're going to see how people are. You know, why do people keep rebelling time after time after time, you know? Well, we'll look at that.
[00:46:22] But I'm encouraging you today. Learn from your experiences.
[00:46:27] Say, God, what can I. What can I glean from this? What can I walk away from this? Well, you know, maybe the lesson is I just need to forgive this person. That's a great lesson. You know, maybe you come to the stage in your life where you just, you know, I decided as a pastor, I'm going to love everybody at all times, no matter what they do. Do you go, well, why'd you come up with that idea? Because that's the way God loves us, unconditionally. I got to love people unconditionally. If I don't do that, I couldn't be a pastor. Do you know that you have to love people unconditionally and you need to be generous to people even if they don't appreciate it. You know where I learned that from? God does that if you want to become like him, you got to look at what he's doing and then emulate that. Say, God, I want to be just like you. And with every head bowed this morning, you know how many here are saying, you know, I actually am walking through a devastating time. Pastor, I'm just going to challenge you. Just raise your hand. I want to pray with you right now. I know there's people walking through very devastating moments right now in our church. People have come to me, some of them, and I want to encourage you this morning. Learn from the experience.
[00:47:37] But I'm going to pray that God will give you wisdom. God will give you wisdom to make good choices in the days to come. Amen. So that you don't actually make the situation worse, just like these guys are about to do. And you'll see that. So, Father, I pray today in the most devastating moments of our life.
[00:47:58] You know, I've had moments where I just did not understand what you were doing, but you were teaching me to learn to trust you and to be patient and to wait and to watch how you were going to take these negative things in our lives and use them for good. Just like you did Joseph's story in the Old Testament. He was betrayed. He was falsely accused. He was in prison. But, Lord, you used all of those things not to harden him. He became softer. He became a man who learned how to forgive. And there was a day his character was shaped. He learned so many lessons in those difficult, adverse situations. He learned to be obedient to you. And he accredited everything that happened in his life to you. And he saw the goodness of God in the land of the living. He saw that. And he could say at the end of his life, even though you meant this for evil, God used it for good.
[00:48:54] God used it for good. Father, I pray today that all of the devastation that we've experienced, Lord, could you turn those evil, evil things around and use them for good? Because we have the right attitude and we thank you for that. In Jesus name, amen. God bless you as you leave today.
