It's Lonely at the Bottom

Following on last week's theme from Jeremiah, I am once again confused--and more than a little disturbed--by what I read today. Perhaps that is as it should be. Consider this dialogue between God and Jeremiah from Jer. 15:10-21

Then I said,
“What sorrow is mine, my mother.
Oh, that I had died at birth!
I am hated everywhere I go.
I am neither a lender who threatens to foreclose
nor a borrower who refuses to pay—
yet they all curse me.”

The Lord replied,

“I will take care of you, Jeremiah.
Your enemies will ask you to plead on their behalf
in times of trouble and distress.
Can a man break a bar of iron from the north,
or a bar of bronze?
At no cost to them,
I will hand over your wealth and treasures
as plunder to your enemies,
for sin runs rampant in your land.
I will tell your enemies to take you
as captives to a foreign land.
For my anger blazes like a fire
that will burn forever.[a]”

Then I said,

“Lord, you know what’s happening to me.
Please step in and help me. Punish my persecutors!
Please give me time; don’t let me die young.
It’s for your sake that I am suffering.
When I discovered your words, I devoured them.
They are my joy and my heart’s delight,
for I bear your name,
O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies.
I never joined the people in their merry feasts.
I sat alone because your hand was on me.
I was filled with indignation at their sins.
Why then does my suffering continue?
Why is my wound so incurable?
Your help seems as uncertain as a seasonal brook,
like a spring that has gone dry.”

This is how the Lord responds:

“If you return to me, I will restore you
so you can continue to serve me.
If you speak good words rather than worthless ones,
you will be my spokesman.
You must influence them;
do not let them influence you!
They will fight against you like an attacking army,
but I will make you as secure as a fortified wall of bronze.
They will not conquer you,
for I am with you to protect and rescue you.
I, the Lord, have spoken!
Yes, I will certainly keep you safe from these wicked men.
I will rescue you from their cruel hands.”

Again: two or three things stand out to me.

"I am neither a lender who threatens to foreclose; nor a borrower who refuses to pay--yet they all curse me." (15:10) This reminds one of Paul's depressing New Testament prophecy that "everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution" (2 Tim. 3:12) It seems to me that people are far more willing to sacrifice money, than sin. Generally, we'd rather live in poverty than give up our pride. Consequently, Jeremiah--God's spokesman--found himself persona non grata in the very community he was trying (to no avail) to save from utter disaster. Such is the life of one of God's favorites, I suppose.

The more disturbing message is to follow. At first, it seems like Jeremiah will at least receive steadfast comfort from his God. He is told "I will take care of you, Jeremiah..." (15:11) God seems to have a rather different notion of what "I'll take care of you" means than Jeremiah had in mind. The LORD goes on to warn His prophet:

"At no cost to them, I will hand over your wealth and treasures as plunder to your enemies, for sin runs rampant in your land. I will tell your enemies to take you as captives to a foreign land. For My anger blazes like a fire that will burn forever." (15:13-14)

At first glance, it's tempting to read these words of judgment as simply a societal judgment (i.e., to understand God to be speaking them to Jeremiah only insofar as he is a representative of the reprobate community) It is tempting to almost imagine an oracle of judgment and exile being spoken to Jeremiah even as God gives him a "nudge, nudge, wink, wink" to let the prophet know that this is not meant to be his fate.

Such illusions are shattered, however, by the remainder of the dialogue. Jeremiah first pleads with God to "step in and help" to "punish [his]persecutors" (15:15) Jeremiah even seems to go so far as trying to "guilt" God by saying "It's for Your sake that I'm suffering." (15:15)

This is the moment at which we want God to clarify--to say, "Oh no, Jeremiah, I'm VERY pleased with you. You're a good and faithful servant. All that judgment stuff was meant for the OTHER people." The LORD's actual response, however, is rather different:

If you return to Me, I will restore you so you can continue to serve Me. If you speak good words rather than worthless ones, you will be My spokesman. You must influence them. Do not let them influence you. They will fight against you like an attacking army, but I will make you as secure as a fortified wall of bronze. They will not conquer you, for I am with you to protect and rescue you. I, the Lord, have spoken! Yes, I will certainly keep you safe from these wicked men. I will rescue you from their cruel hands.

If I'm understanding this correctly, God is telling Jeremiah that he (Jeremiah) will lose everything short of his life--and that, only because of the prophet's faithfulness to God. Furthermore, it seems that Jeremiah's life is being spared not so much as a reward or as "wages earned for faithfulness" but only so that he "can continue to serve" God. One suspects that, should Jeremiah fail to meet the conditions God lays out, the prophet might very well end up sharing the fate of the rest of Judah.

What does such a text have to say to Christians (and ministers, in particular) today? I feel it puts the lie to one of the most popular heresies of modern evangelicalism: that people (either individually or collectively) are the highest priority. It seems to me that God is, in fact, the highest priority. He is the priority not only of Jeremiah, but also of Himself. Perhaps this is as it must be. Could God be any different than He is and still be God?

I'm just not sure where to go with this text. I would appreciate your thoughts/critiques. I don't want my summation to be right...but even less do I want to go around believing a lie.

Extra: Is Evangelism a Panacea?

Normally I wouldn't break away from my weekly devotional series from Jeremiah, but an interesting thing occurred to me this evening. I was meditating on a frequent refrain I've heard in church almost my entire life. One hears it under various slogans:

We need to be more evangelistic!
We need to get out in the community!
Evangelism is the number one mission of the church!
We've got to get involved in personal work!

And so the sayings go. A number of years ago, however, I began first to seriously question--and ultimately reject--these arguments. Please don't misunderstand. I'm not saying that evangelism is bad, or that it ought not be pursued by the Church. Rather, I'm taking issue with this popular idea that it is the supreme work of the Church. I am rejecting the idea that the first and foremost duty of a Church is evangelism.

Why would I make such a heretical claim? For three reasons. First, in my experience I found that more and more often evangelism was being used as a slogan to distract the church from the call to be holy. It's similar to what happens when someone engages in systemic sin in their private personal life and then volunteers for every committee at church to "make up for it." It bothered me greatly when folks who didn't seem to bothered by racism, back-stabbing, et al. were greatly concerned that we get out and "evangelize" more.

Second, I began to learn a little more Christian history. Specifically, I delved more deeply into the story of the International Churches of Christ (sometimes known as the Boston Movement Churches of Christ). The ICOC was all the rage in the 1980s. They posted tremendous numeric expansion via their single-minded focus upon evangelism. Ultimately, however, the ICOC shattered under repeated allegations of a cult-like environment and abusive hierarchical relationships. The evangelistic success of the ICOC is unquestioned. The results of it, however, have proven to be quite mixed.

Third, as I was driving home this evening it occurred to me that Jesus never criticized the Pharisees for a lack of evangelistic zeal--quite the opposite in fact!

What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you turn that person into twice the child of Hell you yourselves are!-- Matthew 23:15

Apparently, Jesus' problem was not that the Pharisees weren't preaching the word...it was just exactly whose word they were preaching!

In conclusion, I want to make a radical suggestion: What the Church most needs is NOT more evangelism but more holiness,which is the only thing that makes our evangelism credible. In other words, we need to do the right thing simply because it is right. If we seek [to be] the Kingdom first, all this other stuff will take care of itself.