QT 15 Jun 11, Church Buildings Hinder Real Relationships with Christ

Jer 7:4-8 (NIV) Do not trust in deceptive words and say, "This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!" (emphasis mine) 5 If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, 6 if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, 7 then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your forefathers for ever and ever. 8 But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless.

NOTE:  What was the people's problem?  They were trusting in religion.  The put their hope on a building or activities or attendance to forestall God's discipline.  The biggest hindrance to a relationship with God is a church building.  Because we think that we meet with God in the church building.  And there is some truth to that since Jesus says that where two or three are gathered in his name, there he is.  But a church building is primarily for collective worship of the body.  Individual worship does not require a building or a special place.  People substitute church for a walk with God to their detriment.  And as a result become religious, but never become Christians.  They carry around the name, but not as ambassadors of Christ, but as self-proclaimed.  The real family of God have individual personal relationships with the Godhead, and the Spirit of God living within them.  Church buildings are nice but far, far from necessary.

QT 8 Jun 11

Jer 3:8-10 (NIV) I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear; she also went out and committed adultery. 9 Because Israel's immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood. 10 In spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretense," declares the Lord.

NOTE: In 722 BC, the Northern kingdom, Israel, is destroyed by the Assyrians.  It is now around 625 BC, about 100 years later and Judah (the Southern kingdom) is committing the same sins of her sister.  Rather than learning from Israel's mistakes, Judah repeats the sin.  God gave Israel her certificate of divorce, he is now about to do the same thing to Judah.  In 40 years, 586 BC, Jerusalem will be destroyed, along with the temple, because they refused to believe and to change their actions.

It is hard to be too critical of Judah, we are not so different.  Even though we have the HS within us, we still give in to certain sins, sometimes repeatedly.  But hopefully, we recognize our errors and repent of our sins.  We will never be free of this battle until we have new bodies, but we still must seek to do what is right and pleasing in God's eyes.

QT 7 Jun 11

Jer 2:13 (NIV) "My people have committed two sins:

They have forsaken me,

the spring of living water,

and have dug their own cisterns,

broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

Jer 2:20 "Long ago you broke off your yoke

and tore off your bonds;

you said, 'I will not serve you!'

Indeed, on every high hill

and under every spreading tree

you lay down as a prostitute.

Jer 2:29 "Why do you bring charges against me?

You have all rebelled against me,"

 declares the Lord.

NOTE: Even though Israel's situation is different, many of the statements made here apply to us as well.  Israel was in a covenant relationship with God.  As believers, we also are in a covenant relationship, albeit significantly different from the blessings and curses of the Mosaic covenant.  Finally, the last group, the world, is under no such covenant.  But the verses are very descriptive of man's primary problem (all three groups):  (verse 13)we did not like what God had to offer; we went out for something that we wanted; and we found our water but it never satisfies because the cisterns are broken and they need constant refilling.  In the garden (verse 20), we broke free of our bonds, choosing to be gods.  We brought death to ourselves and decay to creation, resulting in many of the evils today.  And finally (verse 29), when disaster strikes, we scream at God.  We say God cannot exist because of the evil in the world, and yet it is our rebellion which brought about the present state.  In the garden, there were no natural disasters.  Death did not exist.  But we rebelled against God's idea of life, and believed the lie of Satan that we could be like God.  If we are bring charges against anyone, it is ourselves for rebelling against God's rule.

QT 6 June 11

Jer 2:5b (NIV) ...

They followed worthless idols

and became worthless themselves.

NOTE:  Last night I read this same thought in 2 Kings 17:15.  The Hebrew word is hebel and comes from the root habal.  Habal (second usage in verse) means to be vain in act, word, or expectation (Strongs).  Hebel (first usage in verse) means emptiness or vanity, something transitory and unsatisfactory (Strongs).  In a sense, the worship of an idol is vanity, because it promotes the individual, and places the individual above his god.  He makes it with his hands, he places it where it stays, and he acknowledges it on his terms.  The idol is encapsulated.  It is not great, it is nothing.  It is not a creator, it is created.  That is the vanity part, where the individuals exalts himself above God by choosing his god.  The foolishness is that he goes to his idol with prayer requests, which can never be answered, unless some demon sees value in the task.

In modern times, we don't see idols in the sense of the biblical example.  But we still have idols.  They are created and exalted. They are ours and we alone control them.  They are protected, pampered, and cared for meticulously.  We go to them, not with petitions or prayer, but with an emptiness of soul that the experience or enjoyment of, we believe will fill our ache.  And so, in our vanity, we exalt what we have created, and we foolishly believe our "toys" will give us the happiness we seek.  We really are no different than our biblical counterparts. 

Lord, help me to recognize the idols in my life.  May I worship you alone.

QT 3 Jun 11

Jer 1:14, 16 (NIV) The Lord said to me, "From the north disaster will be poured out on all who live in the land. ...

16 I will pronounce my judgments on my people

because of their wickedness in forsaking me,

in burning incense to other gods

and in worshiping what their hands have made."

NOTE: God's second prophetic piece of information to Jeremiah is the knowledge that Babylon will be coming to attack Judah.  In vs. 16, God provides his reasons, and they are three-fold.  The first reason, God names as wickedness, and it is the act of forsaking God.  To forsake means to abandon or to renounce, give up.  Israel gave up on their faith in God.  Maybe they became too sophisticated, too knowledgeable to still believe.  More likely, and consistent with the next few verses, they found a faith that suited them better, that they were more comfortable with living.  God calls it wickedness.  The statement that there are many ways to God is another form of wickedness because it is untrue.  The God of the bible is the only way, and in these last days he has made himself known through his son, Jesus Christ.  Jesus is now the only way to the Father (John 14:6).

God's second reason for judgment is the burning of incense to other gods.  To burn incense is most commonly associated with prayer.  The people sought to have their prayers answered by other gods -- maybe they didn't like the answers that God gave them.  Maybe they did not like all the "no's" in response to their selfish prayers.  Rather than exercising faith that God knows what is best, they chose another god.

God's third reason for judgment is the worship of what man's hands created.  God exists only -- he is not created.  There is no creation, no feasible work, no imagined beauty, that can encapsulate the greatness and glory of God.  Any work merely brings God down to our level.  Any work dismisses the glory and power of God.  We worship created things rather than the creator.  We need to reserve our worship for God alone.

QT 2 Jun 11

Jer 1:11-12 (NIV) The word of the Lord came to me: "What do you see, Jeremiah?"

"I see the branch of an almond tree," I replied.

12 The Lord said to me, "You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled."

NOTE: This is a strange way to begin Jeremiah's prophetic ministry.  God asks him what he sees and then gives him the interpretation.  Yet, on the surface, the image and the interpretation do not seem to fit, nor does God ever use the imagery again.  One possibility is an illusion to Aaron's rod, which budded almonds.  In Ezekiel, God does use the imagery of a rod budding, and the rod turning into a rod to punish wickedness (Ezek 7:10).  Forgetting the image for a moment, God says that he is watching to see that his word is fulfilled.  That would place God in an active role versus a passive role that the deists argue, at least in relationship to God's word.  The imagery link to Aaron's rod may suggest a spiritual dimension to the fulfillment of God's word as opposed to an intervention in every small event of life.  Rom 8:28 suggests that God, rather than actively intervening in events, works to bring good out of events in the lives of believers, a sort of passive-active role.  Passive in allowing events to happen and active in using them for good.  But, in the case of his will and the development of history, God is actively involved in seeing that his word, his prophecies are fulfilled.  And maybe that is God what God is saying to Jeremiah -- "I will give you my word to prophecy, but I will be the one to ensure its fulfillment.  Your role is spokesman, not the executor of the prophecy, I will take care of that."

QT 1 Jun 11

Jer 1:7-8 (NIV) But the Lord said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a child.' You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the Lord.

NOTE: There is certainly an argument regarding the need for experience in most jobs.  And I would venture to say that spiritual jobs are no different.  Unless of course, God tells you otherwise, because God's command trumps convention.  In Jeremiah's case, God chooses a young man to take a message to a disobedient people.  The qualifications are fairly simple -- repeat what I say.  The working conditions are not so simple, and being afraid will be a natural condition, else God would not warn him not to be afraid.  Finally, Jeremiah will have tremendous management support.  God promises to be with him and to rescue him.  Which doesn't say nothing will happen, only that God will rescue him (when something does happen).  It is an interesting job.  There is no mention of pay or whether a second job will be required.   But the employer has promised to provide.  Also, at this point I can't remember whether there will be time to take a wife and have children.  The job will last, in Judah, for 45 years, after which the people are deported to Babylon.  Of course, while God knows that, I suppose it isn't a given, since the people could repent, but they won't repent, which must make the job especially difficult, to pour out your heart for something that no one will pay attention to.

It is not the results that matter in our life, but our obedience to what God has called us to do.  We could spend a lifetime with no immediate return, but if we have been obedient to God, he will be pleased.  Father, I want to serve you.  I want to see results, but I want to please you first.