How Could Jeremiah Persist? Jer 25:1-7 Covenant Church Sunday, November 8, 2020 Zack Phillips, Pastor

Jer 25:1-7 (NRSV)

1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of King son of of Judah (that was the first year of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon), 2 which the prophet Jeremiah spoke to all the people of Judah and all the inhabitants of : 3 For twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year of King Josiah son of Amon of Judah, to this day, the word of the LORD has come to me, and I have spoken persistently to you, but you have not listened. 4 And though the LORD persistently sent you all his servants the prophets, you have neither listened nor inclined your ears to hear 5 when they said, “Turn now, everyone of you, from your evil way and wicked doings, and you will remain upon the land that the LORD has given to you and your ancestors from of old and forever; 6 do not go after other gods to serve and worship them, and do not provoke me to anger with the work of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.” 7 Yet you did not listen to me, says the LORD, and so you have provoked me to anger with the work of your hands to your own harm.

Introduction

How is Jeremiah able to preach for twenty-three years unsuccessfully, with no one listening to him and repenting, with everyone rejecting his message and even persecuting him (18:18-23; 20:2, 10; 26:7-9), and still keep at it?

I. How Does Jeremiah Do It?!?

1. Possibility #1 = Jeremiah was a superman.

Probably not. Consider 15:10: “Woe is me, my mother, that you ever bore me, a man of strife and contention to the whole land!”

2. Possibility #2 = Jeremiah was shaped over years by his daily disciplines

Eugene Peterson proposes that Jeremiah must have had daily “centering, discovering, exploring time with God” first thing in the morning.” Consistently, persistently, inexorably, Jeremiah awoke and “greet[ed] the present moment, every present moment, with obedient delight, with expectant hope.”1 Is this right?

a. Translation: “early in the morning”

Verse 3 reads:

1 Eugene H. Peterson, Run with the Horses: The Quest for Life at Its Best, commemorative ed. (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books), 122, 126.

-1- For twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year of King Josiah son of Amon of Judah, to this day, the word of the LORD has come to me, and I have spoken persistently to you, but you have not listened.

speaking ( אַ שְׁ כֵּ ֥ י ם) I rose early ,( אֲ לֵ י כֶ ֛ ם) to you all ( ָ ו אֲ דַ בֵּ ֧ ר) Literally, in the Hebrew, it says: “I have spoken In the vast majority of cases in the Old .שׁכם The part that is difficult to translate is the verb ”.( ְ ו דַ בֵּ ֖ ר) Testament, this verb, in the case in which we find it here (hiphil), means “to rise early” (e.g., Gen 19:2, 27; 20:8; 21:14; Exod 8:16; etc.) Does it have that meaning here?

Most English translators do not think so. Thus, for example, the RSV, NRSV, and ESV render the phrase, “…I have spoken persistently to you…,” and the NIV “…I have spoken to you again and again…”

here indicates something about early שׁכם Some English translators, though, disagree and do believe that morning action. So, for example:

• KJV “…I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking…”

• William Holladay: “… I have spoken to you early and constantly…”2

• Eugene Peterson: “The word hashkem (‘persistently’) has a sunrise in it.”3

b. Look to the book more broadly

Jeremiah’s disciplines:

• Jeremiah is a man of praise, gratitude, doxology. For example, in 10:6-16, he pours out his worship: “There is none like you, oh Lord; you are great, and your name is great in might…” (cf. 32:16-25).

• Jeremiah is a man of obedience. For example, when the Lord tells him to speak a word, he responds “So be it, Lord” (11:5). When the Lord tells him to buy a linen loincloth, to hide it by the Euphrates, to recover it again, three times the text says “So I [bought/ went and hid/ went and dug]…” (13:1-7).

• Jeremiah is a man with ears that hear. For example, he can hear God’s warnings to be wary of his neighbors (9:4) and even his family (12:6). He can hear God’s pointed answers to his specific questions (e.g., 14:13-14).

• Jeremiah is a man who delights in the word of the Lord. For example, he says that the Lord’s “words were found, and I ate them, / and your words became to be a joy/ and the delight of my heart” (15:16).

• Jeremiah is a man of prayer. For example, he reveals, “You know what came from my lips / it was before your face” (17:16; cf. 18:20).

2 William Lee Holladay, : A Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah, Chapters 1–25, ed. Paul D. Hanson, Hermeneia—a Critical and Historical Commentary on the (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1986), 662. 3 Peterson, Run with the Horses, 122.

-2- • Jeremiah is a man of faith. For example, he proclaims that, “the Lord is with me like a dread warrior… to you [oh Lord] I have committed my cause” (20:11-12).

c. Theological anthropology

i. Empirically, from experience

According to Dallas Willard, “We can only behave “on the spot,” “at the moment” if we have “ingrained tendencies,” developed character that allows us to behave in the ways that Christ calls us to. We cannot love our enemies unless such enemy-love flows is the “natural outflow” of “true companionship with Christ.” “[S]piritual growth and vitality stem from what we actually do with our lives, from the habits we form, and from the character that results.”4

ii. From Scripture more broadly

Jesus himself practiced the spiritual disciplines!

• Jesus retreated from crowds and prolonged, intense service in order to pray by himself (Matt 14:23//Mark 1:46; Mark 1:35: praying in the morning while it was still “very dark”; Luke 9:18, 29; 11:1).

• Jesus found it necessary to prepare himself for a trial/ordeal by praying to the Father (Matt 26:36//Mark 14:35//Luke 22:40: Gethsemane).

• Jesus also prayed all night by himself in preparation for selecting the twelve apostles (Luke 6:12).

• In a verse that we might gloss over, Luke the narrator informs us that, at one point in his ministry, “Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart” (Luke 18:1).

We do not think ourselves into new ways of living. We live ourselves into new ways of thinking. — Richard Rohr5

II. Our Calling Is to Faithfulness not Effectiveness

Gal 5:22-23 By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

4 Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives (HarperCollins e-book), 22-24, 39 (emphasis original). 5 Richrd Rohr, “Journey to the Center,” available at https://cac.org/journey-to-the-center-2015-12-28/.

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