Jeremiah Chapter Six

Big Snow this Friday. We all slept in. But I'll still post a quick observation on this chapter.

this chapter has a verse in it that is really important. It's no. 14.

"they heal the wound of my people slightly, as if it were not serious. Peace, peace, they say; but there is no peace." At least that;s my paraphase...
This gets repeated in Chapter 8, too.

you know, there is a huge problem on this planet.
we are created in the image of god, fit for glory.
but we're stranded in a fallen world, a hostile land.
and our souls cry for freedom and comfort from it.

and we seek out that comfort in sin, so often.

Jeremiah is calling the nationto forsake sin and return from its false gods. this flew in the face of the established religious voice which proclaimed peace and comfort. jeremiah was warning them that their time was up. They were being given over to destruction for their waste of grace...

So, Jeremiah still cries to us. He cries that when a people forsake the straight ways of Yahweh for twisted paths: forsake the River of Life for "broken cisterns" (ch.2)...that when we do that, we will experience patience, but also, ultimately, destruction... there are voices like this. they cry to us today.

And how do we respond to the Voice?
Don't we see what Jeremiah is talking about?
Remember how James tells us to change our laughter to mourning? It's about our obedience to what we know. What we know far outweighs our obedience, as a national church... heck, even as a city church.
There is so much torepent over, why would we resist calling a spade a spade and just crying out in mourning over it.

but in Jeremiah's day, they were averse to bad news. They didn't want to hear it, even with an army encamped around them. They were unwilling to ADMIT that they had departed from Yahweh.

I'd imagine it was at least partly because they didn't see how they could FIX it. True. We can't fix it. We have no hope of making up for what we've taken. There's no fixing what we have ruined. To admit the truth of apostasy is to mourn without hope of fixing it, begging God to forgive and restore... it is UTTER HUMILITY, offering nothing else.

Jeremiah is calling us all to a life of utter humility: recognising that the WOUND is DEEP! Yet we still hear, all around us, the superficial healing of the false teachers and scribes of Jeremiah's day, "Peace, peace" they cry.

just because it brings a certain misery doesn't mean that a true assessment is wrong. it's not wrong to admit that we're ruined. it's not wrong to admit that we're undone. it's not wrong to admit that the american church has sold out, by and large, to materialism, traditionalism, classism, racism, -ism schism... it's not wrong to admit that we're all really worldly, too.

...as long as it produces in us a humble mournfulness that will call back the rains... the rains of blessing, eh? god opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble...

but there is a strong religious market infalse comfort, lately. as soon as the conviction of teh Spirit sets in, andyou start to feel that mournfulness come upon you, here comes the professional religious man to chase it away with comforting words that massage the status quo back into you... soften up that senisitivity and put you back to sleep...

woe to the false religion of comfort that has made the church in america pro-war, without being missional in peacemaking. Woe to the false religion of comfort that allows divorce without discipline... that winks at adultery...

woe to the false religion of comfort that dares denounce abortion, but keeps its extra posessions to itself and its extra rooms empty of orphans...

woe to the false religion of comfort that amasses huge quantities of wealth under this world's banks, but is poor toward God.

woe to the false religion of comfort that gives little, out of its abundance, leaving the workers in the field hungry and bereft of succour...

woe to us! we are the church in america. children in china have prayed for us today--FROM PRISON!!!! And we have not visited them..
Woe to us! we are the church in america. we criticise the prophets, and assassinate the character of our true teachers... we work our mules and oxen to death in the sun, with plenty more to replace them with, never giving them food, or a break, just working them till they die, then harnessing another with promises and cajoling...

woe to us! What's wrong with woe? too much of a downer for you? Steer clear of the prophets when you live in an affluent nation full of religious hypocrisy. What can i tell you?