Pastor Sherry’s message for 1/30/2022

Scriptures: Jer 1:4-10; Ps 71:1-6; 1 Cor 13:1-13; Lk 4:21-30

The story is told that the devil was going out of business and would offer all his tools for sale to whomever would pay his price. On the night of the sale they were all attractively displayed—and a bad looking lot they were: Malice, Hatred, Envy, Jealousy, Lust, Deceit and all the other implements of evil were spread out, each marked with its price. Apart from the rest lay a harmless looking wedge-shaped tool, much worn and priced higher than any of the others. Someone asked the devil what it was.

“That’s Disappointment,” was the reply.

“Why do you have it priced so high?”

“Because,” replied Satan, “it is more useful to me than any of the others. I can pry open and get inside a man’s consciousness with that when I could not get near him with any of the other tools. When once inside I can use him in whatever way suits me best. It is so much worn because I use it with nearly everybody, as very few people yet know it belongs to me.”

It hardly need be added that the devil’s price for disappointment was so high that it was never sold. He is still using it

This story puts disappointment in an interesting light, doesn’t it? We tend to think of it as a fact of life, something that happens to us from time to time. Those of us who are resilient, bounce back from disappointment; while those of us who aren’t may get so discouraged we give up and quit trying.

Our Old Testament and Gospel passages today have a lot to say to us about how we might deal with disappointment. Let’s take a look at them together:

A. Jeremiah 1:4-10 lays out God’s call to the young man, Jeremiah, to serve Him as a prophet. Jeremiah was probably somewhere between17-20 when God ordained him. He had already been serving as a priest in his home town of Anathoth, located just a few miles north of Jerusalem. King Josiah was on the throne then. He was just 22, in 626 BC, and reigned until he died at age 39. He and Jeremiah were contemporaries and probably friends. Jeremiah served all during the remainder of Josiah’s reign, and also during the reigns of kings Jehoahaz, and Jehoiakim (sons of Josiah), Jehoiachin (Josiah’s grandson), and Zedekiah (a third son of Josiah). Josiah was a good and godly king, and had led his people in a revival which turned their hearts back to God. His sons, however, were another story. Because of their idolatry and wicked behavior, God allowed the last to be defeated and carried off into slavery by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.

Notice how God called Jeremiah into His service: Verse 5: Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born I set you apart. This verse gives me chill-bumps! It states that God knows us before we are even conceived, and that He has a plan for our lives. This is true for all of us, not just Jeremiah! The Lord tells Jeremiah He had determined–even before the young man’s birth–that he would become a prophet and deliver to His people God’s words.

Jeremiah is a humble young man who tells God, (v.6) I am only a child. He essentially says, “Yes, I will do it, but I am young and inexperienced; I won’t know what to say!” God’s response must have been very reassuring (v.7) Do not say,’ I am only a child.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you. In other words, the Lord was telling Jeremiah that He would supply the words he was to speak. Furthermore, God promised to take care of him, even though He was calling him to prophesy divine judgment on Judah and her heretical kings.

If we skipped ahead 40 years to the end of Jeremiah’s life and career, we would find that he apparently never made a single convert. After Josiah’s death, the people ignored or ridiculed his preaching entirely. He was rejected by his own countrymen, hated, beaten, put in stocks, trown into a dry well, imprisoned, and charged with being a traitor. He was later called “the prophet of the broken heart” because God’s judgments on his people—and their rejection of God–were so distressing to him. Once, King Jehoiakim cut his painstakingly hand-written, prophetic scrolls up. The king then destroyed them by throwing them into the fire (but God just retold the contents to Jeremiah so he could write them down again).

I don’t know about you, but though I would have been honored to speak the Lord’s words to His people, I would also have been very disappointed that my ministry would have had such little effect. What is noteworthy, though, is that Jeremiah may have gotten depressed, but he persisted! He may have been disappointed, but he kept on giving out God’s messages. He may have gotten discouraged, but he never gave up!

I think that he stands as an excellent example to us: He trusted in God’s promise to him and he persevered at a thankless task. Even though the apostle Paul wrote some 600 years later, I think what he said in 2 Timothy 4:7 was very appropriate for Jeremiah I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

B. Our Gospel lesson from Luke 4:21-30 picks up where we left off last week. Jesus had read His job description from Isaiah 61:1, and told the Nazarites, His friends and neighbors, that He fulfilled Isaiah’s prophesy. At first, they were impressed–until someone spoke up who reminded everyone that Jesus was the carpenter’s son. This man had placed Jesus in a box and would not consider that He might in fact be “more than a carpenter.” The nay-sayer was limited in his understanding and recognition of Jesus as the Messiah due to his own prejudices. The crowd in the synagogue were eager to see Him work some miracles, but they too were unwilling to alter their perceptions of Him. Mark tells us (Mark 6:5) He could not do any miracles there, except lay His hands on a few sick people and heal them…due to their lack of faith. Perhaps the ones He healed had had long term illnesses and were desperate enough to put their faith in the “hometown boy” turned itinerant rabbi. What a blessing they got when He healed them but not the others.

Jesus really gets the crowd riled up when He reminds them (v.24) I tell you the truth…no prophet is accepted in his hometown. He is claiming He is a prophet. Again, this was outside the box they had constructed for Him. Then He further incenses them when He gives them two examples of “outsiders,” non-Jews God had provided for. There were many widows in need in Israel during the famine and drought of Elijah’s day, but God sent the prophet to minister to a Phoenician woman instead of an Israelite. Similarly, there were lots of Israelite lepers, but God chose to heal the Syrian general, Namaan. In other words, Jesus is warning them that God will not bless them if they do not believe in His Son. They became so angry by this point that they attempted to kill Him by tossing Him off a cliff.

The fact that He could just disappear from an angry mob should have expanded the box in which they had confined Him.

I could be wrong, but I would bet that Jesus was disappointed with their reaction to Him. He was obviously willing to heal many, but their contempt and anger, their lack of faith, limited what His heavenly Father would allow Him to do. Just as with Jeremiah, His own had rejected Him. So, He moved His base of operations to Capernaum.

What is the example Jesus gives us in the face of disappointment and discouragement? Respond honestly, if given the opportunity. Then move on, move ahead with your ministry.

Jeremiah’s great example to us is to persist. Persist in being faithful. Persist in loving God and others. Persist in the office or role to which you have been called, whether that is as a Parent (be sure to watch the Christian movie, “Mom’s Night Out”), a Spouse; a Sibling, a Friend, a Pastor, healer, counselor, caregiver, etc. I remember as a young adult rebelling against the idea that we should “bloom where you are planted.” I strongly believed we should work hard to change the environment in which we found ourselves. I did not realize then that God has us each where He wants us. We are to do our best in that situation until He sovereignly leads us into a different environment. Like Jeremiah, we should persist in believing and trusting that God will and does care for you.

Jesus’ provides several great examples for us in today’s Gospel:

1. Speak the truth in love. He told them some truths they didn’t want to hear. He loved them as He told them, but they got angry and rejected His right, as God, to speak into their lives, and His true identity, because it was outside their usual way of thinking of Him. If we are to tell someone a tough truth, we need to be sure we can convey it from a place of love. If not, we are …only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal (1 Corinthians 13:1). If not, we are meeting some ego needs and not treating the other with love.

2. If people are disinterested or belligerent, let them be.

Jesus didn’t argue with his former friends and neighbors. He ministered to those who were open to Him, and He moved His base of operations to Capernaum.

3. If/when people disappoint us, we can respond like Abraham Lincoln. In 1858 the Illinois legislature, using an obscure statute, sent Stephen A. Douglas to the U.S. Senate instead of Lincoln, although Lincoln had won the popular vote. When a sympathetic friend asked Lincoln how he felt, he said, “Like the boy who stubbed his toe: I am too big to cry and too badly hurt to laugh.” Lincoln didn’t hold a grudge. He didn’t seek revenge. Instead, like Jesus,

He trusted God and quietly and calmly went about his business. Then, 2 years later in 1860, he was elected President of the United States. We don’t know if he prayed for the Illinois legislature, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he had as he was a great man of God. May we each be as gracious and Christ-centered. Amen!

©2022 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams