Chosen and appointed to believe and do.

 

Sermon for Septuagesima, February 13, 2022

Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Jeremiah 1:4-10  ⁴The word of the Lord came to me.  ⁵ “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born, I set you apart.  I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations.”  ⁶But I said, “Ah, Lord God!  I really do not know how to speak!  I am only a child!”  ⁷The Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’  You must go to everyone to whom I send you and say whatever I command you.  ⁸Do not be afraid of them, because I am with you, and I will rescue you, declares the Lord.”  ⁹Then the Lord stretched out his hand and touched my mouth.  The Lord said to me: “There!  I have now placed my words in your mouth.  ¹⁰Look, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and to tear down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.” (EHV)

Chosen and appointed to believe and do.

Dear fellow redeemed,

            Philosophers and others like to debate questions like, “How did we get here?”  “Why are we here?”  “Why do people do what they do?”  And, “What is our purpose in life?”  Christians, on the other hand, should know the God-given answer to those questions.  For example, while still quite young, Jeremiah received the answer directly from God Almighty, and from these words, we can likewise know that we are Chosen and appointed to believe and do.

Jeremiah reported, “The word of the Lord came to me.  Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born, I set you apart.  I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations.”  While the world believes our origin is a mystery, the Bible makes it clear that we are a product of God’s design for God’s purpose. 

No one is born by random chance.  Instead, just like Jeremiah, we are a product of God’s creative power extended through our forefathers as God brings people into the world.  Before we were born, God also knew us, knew that He had a purpose for us, and designed us expressly for the fulfillment of His will in the world.  Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, St. Paul wrote to Timothy, “He saved us and called us with a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace.  This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.” (2 Timothy 1:9)

Now, we are not all formed to fill the specific office of prophet, yet we are called to a specific purpose in God’s salvation plan.  Peter wrote, “You also, like living stones, are being built as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, in order to bring spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2:5)  As Christian believers, we are each formed for a specific spot and purpose in God’s Church.  God has put us each in a certain place, time, and position to further the advancement of His kingdom.  Therefore, when the opportunity to serve the Lord is set before you, you can be confident that God wants you to serve faithfully. 

God has purposely designed you for the tasks He gives you and the time in which you live.  More than that, God doesn’t choose you because of any great skill or worthiness in your nature.  Rather, He chisels you to fit the role He appoints you to, molds you for the task He assigns, and empowers you to do what He wills.  The very fact that you believe in Jesus as your Savior is proof that the Lord God has changed you to be the Christian you are, for “no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12:3)

Now, the sceptic might ask, “Why, then, are there so many unbelievers?”  The answer is sin.  The sinful nature fights against the will of God to save.  Not that God cannot overpower the will of man, because no one can believe unless God grants that faith and works it in the heart, yet God doesn’t force faith.  The same sceptic would then like to blame God for all the evil in the world, but again, evil is a product of sin in man.  Jeremiah was being sent to deliver God’s word to a nation of people that would for the most part reject it.  It isn’t that God’s word is ineffective.  Nor did Jeremiah fail to do his work.  Rather, the sinful hearts rejected God and suffered for their rejection.

The call to serve the Lord often feels overwhelming even to the believer.  Upon hearing God’s call, Jeremiah cried out, “Ah, Lord God!  I really do not know how to speak!  I am only a child!”  How often have we felt the same way?  “I don’t know how!”  “We can’t afford it!”  “I am too timid to speak!”  “My neighbor, or child, might reject me!”  Even Moses pleaded when God called, “Please, Lord, send someone else.” (Exodus 4:13)  Again, it is the sin that resides in us that makes us timid or unwilling to do what God calls us to do.  Yet, we must note, God doesn’t expect us to perform miracles on our own.  Instead, He empowers us to serve.  He gives us ability and success as He sees fit.

To Jeremiah, the Lord answered, “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’  You must go to everyone to whom I send you and say whatever I command you.  Do not be afraid of them, because I am with you, and I will rescue you, declares the Lord.”  Jeremiah was Chosen and appointed to believe and do.  Because He was God’s choice for the task, the Lord would be with him, and the Lord would enable him to do the difficult work assigned to him.  Notice also, however, this didn’t mean that it would always be easy.  This world is full of trouble and full of people who reject God and His servants.  However, because God was always with Jeremiah, we too can be confident in His promise that He will be with us. (Matthew 28:20)

Being a Christian does not in any way mean that we won’t face hardship in life or persecution from the world.  We can expect that any discipline God pours out on a population will also affect us, and like all of God’s prophets of old, we will be blamed for the bad things that happen and receive little to no praise for any good that the Lord might send down for the blessing of His people.  This should not concern us, either, because the Lord has a better place waiting for us in His heavenly mansions, and He will shelter us in His holy care until He calls us to our everlasting rest in heaven.  Jesus gives us confidence in this for He promised, “In this world you are going to have trouble.  But be courageous!  I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

About this time, you might be wondering how we are to serve and what we are to believe and teach.  The answer is always found in God’s Word.  We can be confident in every word given to us in the Bible, because not one dot of it comes to us by man’s imagination.  We can be confident of everything Jeremiah spoke because it is God-given.  Jeremiah reported, “Then the Lord stretched out his hand and touched my mouth.  The Lord said to me: There!  I have now placed my words in your mouth.” 

Likewise are all of the Scriptures, for the Holy Spirit emphatically declared through St. Peter, “No prophecy of Scripture comes about from someone’s own interpretation.  In fact, no prophecy ever came by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were being carried along by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:20-21)  Thus, any teaching that conflicts with God’s word marks itself as a product of sin and Satan’s deceptions, but the pure word of Scripture is both our guide and the power that brings us faith and life.  Therefore, as Christian believers, Chosen and appointed to believe and do, we place full confidence in the words God has put in our hands.  We want to trust God’s word in the whole and in each part, never setting one part against another or making selfish decisions about which part to follow, for all of God’s Word is given to work faith in Jesus in us for our everlasting good.

The Lord God said to Jeremiah, “Look, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and to tear down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”  God appointed that young man to a lifetime of preaching law and gospel to a rebellious nation.  It would not be an easy life.  Nor would there be great earthly reward.  In fact, while Jeremiah faithfully served the Lord all his days, he also suffered grievous persecution and personal, even physical, attacks by those who rebelled against the Lord.

Therefore, let us be warned, if we ever go against what the LORD has spoken, we too will be subject to His condemnation.  Likewise, even if we are faithful like Jeremiah, we may have to endure the affliction that a rebellious world brings against God’s chosen believers.  Having said this, we all confess that we have sinned against the Lord and deserve only His condemnation.  However, we also have received the promise God has spoken about faith in His only begotten Son. 

Jeremiah was sent to call people back to trusting the God who saved them from slavery in Egypt.  You and I are being called, regularly through Word and Sacrament, to faith in that same loving Lord.  Our Lord and Savior lived and died so that He could promise us with great assurance, “If anyone loves me, he will hold on to my word.  My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:23)

Dear friends, as young children, God picked you up out of the muck and mire of the human condition, and washing you clean of your sin in Baptism, He claimed you as His own precious child.  Having been cleansed by the blood of Jesus, God credited to you the faithful life of His dear Son.  Now, He calls you to trust and to serve.  The specific roles He will reveal to you as you go through life: student, parent, servant, teacher, helper, giver, leader, proclaimer, and many more.  Each of us have roles in God’s assembly of believers.  Guided by the Holy Spirit, Paul wrote to the congregation in Rome:

We have different gifts, according to the grace God has given us.  If the gift is prophecy, do it in complete agreement with the faith.  If it is serving, then serve.  If it is teaching, then teach.  If it is encouraging, then encourage.  If it is contributing, be generous.  If it is leadership, be diligent.  If it is showing mercy, do it cheerfully. (Romans 12:6-8)

Each of us, as God’s adopted children, are Chosen and appointed to believe and do.  Amen.

Now to Him, who is able, according to the power that is at work within us, to do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever!  Amen.