Caught with Our Hands in the Cookie Jar

We all know what it means to be "caught with our hand in the cookie jar." It means that we were doing something we knew was forbidden...we just thought we could get away with it. That's the situation God addresses in Jeremiah 3. The sister kingdoms of Israel and Judah have both been guilty of putting their hands into the "cookie jar" of idolatry.

As I read this chapter, it strikes me that God's wrath was NOT primarily stirred up because of the idolatry...but because of the DENIAL of the idolatry. Consider the following pronouncements from God:

You say..."I haven't worshiped the images of Baal!" But how can you say that? Go and look in any valley in the land! Face the awful sins you have done. (2:23)

Israel is like a thief who feels shame only when he gets caught. They, their kings, officials, priests, and prophets--all are alike in this. (2:26)

Your clothing is stained with the blood of the innocent and the poor, though you didn't catch them breaking into your houses! And yet you say, "I have done nothing wrong. Surely God isn't angry with me!" But now I will punish you severely because you claim you have not sinned. (2:34-35)

Then the LORD said to me, "Even faithless Israel is less guilty than treacherous Judah! Therefore, go and give this message to Israel. This is what the LORD says: 'O Israel My faithless people, come home to Me again, for I am merciful. I will not be angry with you forever. Only acknowledge your guilt. Admit that you have rebelled against the LORD your God...Confess that you have refused to listen to My voice. I, the LORD, have spoken.'" (3:11-13)

Reading from the vantage point of hundreds of thousands of years after Jeremiah, I must ask myself: Has anything really changed? Don't we, as the modern day people of God, all too often deny our own Sin? Aren't our pulpits all too often filled with bold and prophetic denouncements of the sins of non-believers (and other believers) while a deafening silence regarding our own communal sins continues to hinder our prayers and our witness to a dying world?

Currently, American society is still the most religious of the industrialized nations. However, recent surveys have shown that non-belief in modern America is on the rise. The saddest part of this, in my opinion, is that I don't believe this is an inevitable trend. While materialism surely plays a part in this trend, no less does fickle and shallow Christianity. I would suggest to you that the numbers of unbelievers are growing not because our claims are so fantastic...but because our lives are, all too often, so un-credible.

It is my prayer that God is refining His people during this time...that the chaff is being burned away, and that He is forcing both individual Christians and churches to face who we truly are. I know that there are those who are (and always have been) true to the LORD. (Even in Jeremiah's day, at least there was Jeremiah.) But I also know that far too many of us have sold out our ethics and our faith for...what? popularity? money? corporate and/or political advancement? Even as this has happened, we have continued (just as people of Jeremiah's day) to surround ourselves with the external trappings of faith, in the vain attempt to keep up the delusion of our own sanctity. We build buildings. We start programs. We pack venues with thousands of people. We turn up the music. We turn down the lights. We market our faith. We insist upon only hearing "positive messages" and we will brook no prophet in our midst who might challenge our self-absorption. Despite our most strenuous efforts, however, deep in our spirits we know things are not as well as we would like to claim. When will we return to our LORD? When will we "acknowledge our guilt and return to our LORD"? He remains merciful to this day. His greatest desire is that we will come home to Him again.

I ask all of you who read this to pray for me, that I will return home to my Father; And if you too find yourself in the midst of pigs, what say you return with me?

-- justin

Undo by Rush of Fools

January 5, 2009 (Matthew 13:1-9)

From the perspective of a person who has spent the last twelve years of life deeply-engaged in ministry of one form or another, the Parable of the Sower has especial meaning and poignancy for me.

I have never yet been what would be popularly-considered “successful” as a minister. I’ve never landed the big name job. I’ve never had a group that quadrupled in size in a year. I’ve never had money start flowing into any ministry that I was responsible for heading. Not only have I never measured up to the typical standards of ministerial success, I have all too often been reminded of that fact (both by my critics and myself.) All of these facts have conspired to make me succumb to recurring bouts of mild depression. In my quiet moments, my mind is tortured by voices that whisper: “You’re a failure.” “You’ve wasted your life.” “I told you. You should have gone to med school.”

When these voices begin to croak now, I try to return my mind to Jesus’ parable. He told of a farmer whose desire to make things grow. He was so passionate in this desire that he left no ground untouched by his seed. He scattered seeds in the thorns, along the path, among the rocks, anywhere that his pitching arm could send them. After he had spread all the seed he had, the farmer sat down to watch what would happen. I wonder how the farmer must have felt when he first began to realize that at least 75% of his labor was completely in vain. His precious seeds were trampled, eaten, choked out, and starved to death. I suspect that he was disappointed…perhaps even grieving. Perhaps he regretted all the time he had “wasted” sowing seed upon such inhospitable ground. Perhaps he heard voices of his own: “If only I’d listened to my parents and become a carpenter…” Yet, in time, the farmer would have come to see that although most of the seeds he planted fell to the ground never to rise again…a minority was different. There were a few seeds that sprouted. I have to assume that these seeds didn’t look particularly “special” when they were still in the sack. They looked like all the other seeds. There was no way to predict that these would sprout while the others would fail. Yet here they were, a season later—young, and green, and reaching for the sunlight.

Jesus tells us that those few surviving plants went on to produce “thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted!” What the parable does not tell us, however, is whether the farmer lived long enough to see just how much his hardy survivors produced. Perhaps he did…perhaps not. Jesus leaves that part of the story unanswered. In a similar way, the spiritual fruit we bear may sometimes be evident to us…but other times it does not emerge until years after our death. The calling…the challenge for us…is to simply take joy in the act of sowing itself. In the act of trying to help things grow. As you go through this day, remember the words with which Jesus ended this parable: Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand. (13:9)

-- Justin

For the Kids: On-Line "Parable of the Sower" Coloring Page
For Everyone: Picture 1 Picture 2 Mary Picked the Roses video