The Yes Man

The “Yes man”

Jeremiah 1:4-10

 Feb 10, 2013

This church just went through the process of searching for a new pastor-- so you probably remember very well what that was like.  But I’m going to ask you to imagine again that you’re interviewing for a pastor-- what would be on your list of qualifications? 

  Here are a few things that would be on mine: 

Some experience

Willingness to get his/her hands dirty

Optimistic/ vision for the future

Good with folks

Ideas to further the church’s mission.

Now imagine that you have interviewed some very interesting prospects, and this fellow named Jeremiah is the last on your list for a “first round” interview.  He comes in, and doesn’t seem to have any experience, and doesn’t even offer much about his background or why he would be a good choice for the church. Rather, he mumbles something about only being a youth and not really knowing what he’s doing.  And if all that weren’t enough, he mentions nothing about the way he might improve what is already at the church.  Instead, he uses words like uproot, tear down, destroy and overthrow. 

If I were interviewing a prospective colleague to be an associate, it’s about this point in the interview that I’d say something like, “Well, yes.  Thank you for your time, Mr. Jeremiah. Ummm.... we’ll let you know.”  Jeremiah would not be my top pick for a candidate.  Heck, clearly he wouldn’t even be his own top pick.  But for some reason, he does seem to be God’s top pick. 

I sure don’t envy Jeremiah.  Not only is he young and inexperienced, not only is he quite certain that there are 1000’s of more qualified applicants, but he’s charged with saying some really difficult things to the people.  Read the book of Jeremiah some time, and tell me you’d be anxious to say the things he was charged with saying. 

We get a hint of these things in our passage today:  in a really important order, God makes it known through Jeremiah that things are going to change.  First, there will be all sorts of destruction, and then there will be a new creation. 

Think about how uncomfortable we get with the idea of change.  This might surprise you-- but I’m not a big fan of change. I could say it makes me nervous, but a more exact truth would be that it often scares the living daylights out of me. In fact, hearing Jeremiah’s words from God this morning make me nervous.  

But Jeremiah isn’t talking about change, not really.  What he’s really been charged with telling the people is that there is going to be a total transformation.  All the former things will pass away. 

Imagine how uncomfortable we’d be with that!  We’d much prefer building additions over razing the whole building and starting over.  We’d rather build on to what we already are, than to have everything that we stand on destroyed.  But God has another picture in mind.   God wants to completely remake the people (and us) because only then can we be the children of the promise that we were designed to be.

1. The Lord happened to Jeremiah

I wonder why Jeremiah went.  He was young and inexperienced.  He felt ill equipped.  And he had a message to bring which if people paid him any attention might just get him killed.   But he goes.

I’ve been thinking about Jeremiah, and because he’s sort of “everyman’s” prophet, I’ve been thinking about us too.  Why did Jeremiah go?  Why do any of us go?  After all, we’re all called too.  

Not to be captain obvious, but something happened to Jeremiah.  And not to be captain obvious-er, that something  that happened to Jeremiah was the Lord. 

I wonder what it would be like if we stopped long enough to think about what it means to each of us that the Lord has happened to us? Wonder if that changes anything?

For me, when I think about the Lord happening to me, I am reminded first of all, that a calling from God is nothing that can be taken lightly.  Oh, we’re great trivializers--especially once we truly believe that God calls all of us.  We play down our call to this or that, saying “It’s really not that big of a deal.”  Or perhaps we make excuses like Jeremiah tried (unsuccessfully) to do.  “But I don’t have time” or “But I don’t feel prepared” or whatever else.   But if the LORD is happening to you, it kicks things up a notch. 

Another thing that happens when the Lord happens to someone is that they are given a very clear opportunity to say yes to God’s call.  I don’t know that this always feels like a blessing, and if sometimes it seems like more of an interruption than an opportunity, know that you are not alone.  The scriptures are full of people whom God interrupts with a change of plans.  But with the opportunity to say yes to God comes the very clear moment of definition.  We feel like we are, to quote a hymn, “Called as partners in Christ’s service.” . 

But there is something else that happens when the Lord happens to someone: they are in the Lord’s hands.  When I think about what it means to be in God’s hands, I am reminded that this is God’s party-- that God is going to work it out how and when God sees fit. 

I think of the many places in scripture that talk about not being afraid, and it happens in the passage we read today.   But as I was thinking about Jeremiah and these words to him, I also thought about the 23rd Psalm.  Jeremiah, in a lot of ways, was standing in the valley of the shadow of death by agreeing to take God’s words to the people. Yet, as the Psalmist writes, Jeremiah seems to fear no evil, because “thou art with me.”  When the Lord happens to someone, I don’t think they are any longer overshadowed by death.  I think they are overshadowed by Christ. 

Does that change anything? It does at least for me, because Christ, and not death, always gets the last word. 

I wonder if the people to whom Jeremiah preached could tell that the Lord had happened to him? I wonder if they could tell that Jeremiah was overshadowed by something other than death?  Sometimes my imagination gets the best of me, but I think of Jeremiah like I described him earlier: lacking confidence or direction, embarrassed by his calling.  But when I read his book, that’s not the person I meet.  It feels like either my first impressions of Jeremiah were wrong, or that he’s been changed and empowered and made bold. 

That makes me wonder-- can people tell that the Lord has happened to us? I’d like to believe so, but some days I wonder-- at least about myself. 

Do you remember some of the times the Lord has happened to you? When you’ve been filled with holy heartburn?  I am certain that the Lord has happened to you-- maybe in small ways, maybe in bigger than you felt prepared for ways.  Do you remember what that was like? Do you remember how you felt? Do you remember how bold that made you--as if you were ready to do whatever the Lord asked, even if it was hard or terrifying. We’ve had those moments.  

And just as certainly as we’ve had those, we’ve had their opposites.  We’ve had moments when we were plagued by doubt, when the word we’ve been charged to speak has felt much too big and much too hot.  We’ve had moments when we’ve chosen the comfortable. If we’re honest, haven’t some of these moments changed the direction of our lives? 

Still God calls, and interrupts, and changes our plans. And does so unapologetically.  But in the moments when the Lord happens to us, something changes. Suddenly we remember that we are sent.  Suddenly we remember that God’s word and very life dwells within us. Suddenly, we know that we have a purpose, and it’s bigger than we can either imagine, or accomplish on our own.

Today we will have our annual meeting-- we will see the things that God is up to in the life of this church.  My prayer is that it will also be a time of unstopping our ears, of allowing our hearts to be melted, of remembering that the Lord has happened to us and for us, in us and through us. 

We are concluding the season of epiphany-- which began with the words, “Arise. Shine.  Your light has come.”  I’ll take it a step farther.  And I’ll say “Arise, Shine. Not only has your light come, but the Lord has happened to you.”  The Lord has happened to this church. 

We’re sent to show the world, with our lips and our lives, the fullness of God’s words.  We’re sent to say the things the world doesn’t know it needs to hear. 

Because when the Lord happens-- everything changes.  Arise, shine, children of God.  The Lord has happened-- is happening-- to you. 

Charge and Benediction:  One of my favorite praise songs has a chorus that goes like this, “ Yes, Lord, Yes, Lord, Yes, yes, Lord.  Yes lord, Yes, lord, Yes, yes, amen.”  My prayer is that, trusting God to overshadow us and our fears, that be our answer too.