The Songs We Sing – When Will I Be Loved Jeremiah 2:25-32

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The Songs We Sing / When Will I Be Loved Page 1 of 8 Rev. Jan Brittain, Aug 16, 2020 Williamson’s Chapel United Methodist Church

The Songs We Sing – When Will I Be Loved

Jeremiah 2:25-32

INTRODUCTION TO THE SERIES Well, here at Williamson's Chapel, we've pretty much sung our way through summer. And we've had a lot of fun doing it. We've been using popular secular songs as the launching illustration for our sermons. Now, we've still been preaching the Bible, but we've just been making the connection of the Bible to life with the help of a fun song. Actually, every time we do a series like this – movies, commercials, Broadway plays and now secular songs – well, I'm reminded that God shows up in all kinds of unexpected times and places and we will meet him there IF we have eyes to see and hearts to comprehend. And, of course, we did not get to all the songs that surfaced as possibilities. I wanted to include some beach music and get some of you guys on tape shagging. Maybe the Four Tops – something like "Reach Out." Some of you will remember. I'll be there, with a love that will shelter you. I'll be there, with a love that will see you through. When you feel lost and about to give up 'Cause your best just ain't good enough

A preacher could sure work with those lyrics. Or going all the way back to 1954 and

Irving Berlin's song … When I'm worried and I can't sleep, I count my blessings instead of sheep And I fall asleep counting my blessings

As Paul teaches … be thankful in all things. And since we are preaching the Gospel – the Good News – we really do need to use Anne Murray's hit from 1983, "A Little Good News": Nobody was assassinated in the whole Third World today And in the streets of Ireland, all the children had to do was play And everybody loves everybody in the good old USA We sure could use a little good news today

Okay, okay, I know that's enough singing for me, but hey, singing is good for you. Psychologists are discovering more and more data to support what common sense has been telling us for years. Singing is good for you and especially when you sing with others. So, keep singing. Even when we can't be together physically, we can still sing together. We try to choose a song every Sunday that you can easily sing along with … ______Unpublished work ©2020 Julianne Brittain The Songs We Sing / When Will I Be Loved Page 2 of 8 Rev. Jan Brittain, Aug 16, 2020 Williamson’s Chapel United Methodist Church right there wherever you are sharing in worship. So, do it … sing, even when this series is over – keep singing. And today's feature song might just be worth singing along to as well. Written by Phil Everly and recorded by the Everly Brothers in 1960, the song made it to number 8 on the charts. Lots of other well-known artists have been part of recording this song ever since including Tanya Tucker, Vince Gill, even Bruce Springsteen. And countless others have performed the song like Dolly Parton, Martina McBride, Carrie Underwood, and Rosemary Clooney. And it's no wonder because it really is a fun song to sing. But it was Linda Ronstadt who took the song to number 2 on the charts in 1975, so we are using her version. Feel free to sing along.

INTRO TO SERMON When will I be loved? Fun to sing but not so fun to feel and yet – at one time or another, most everyone will feel at least a little bit unloved. It's a question I fear most of us will find ourselves asking at some point in our lives, When will I be loved? It's a question prompted by many different life experiences – • Exclusion • Rejection • Betrayal • Grief • Loneliness Simply being ignored or forgotten can prompt such a question, When will I be loved? And friends, if we all ask it of ourselves at one point or another, we Christians, we can be pretty sure that everyone else asks that question too. Even with God telling us, showing us, reminding us that we are loved – the world continually sends a different message. You can't be loved. You are: • Too fat, too thin • Too stupid, too brainy • Too old, too young • Too shy, too bold • Too plain, too flashy • Too different • Too dark • Too old fashioned • Even too religious

God says one thing – You are loved. The world says another. You can't be loved. And unfortunately, I'm afraid it's the world's voice that too often wins out. Which just means that we Christians aren't doing our job well enough.

QUESTION ANSWERED When will I be loved? We know the answer, don't we? That question has been answered over and over again in the Scripture. In the Old Testament Psalms:

Psalm 136:26 Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever.

Psalm 86:15 But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

It was a question answered by the prophets:

Zephaniah 3:17 The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.

Jeremiah 31:3 I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.

Isaiah 54:10 For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you,

As the early church took shape, the question was answered again and again:

Romans 5:8 But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.

Ephesians 2:4-5 4But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us 5even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved –

I John 3:1 See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are.

But most important is not what God said but what God did …in and through Jesus.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only son.

I John 4:10 In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Over and over again, the question has been asked: When will I be loved? And over and over again, the question has been answered. God declares His love. You can almost hear the frustration in these words from Paul. Seems to me someone is saying that God's love is limited, God's love is conditional, God's love can be hindered, hampered, even eliminated …. by what we do and what is done to us but no … no … no.

Romans 8:37-39 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

When will I be loved? Throughout the generations, the theologians have given the answer: • God loves each of us as if there were only one of us. – Augustine • Though our feelings come and go, God's love for us does not. – C.S. Lewis • One of the greatest evidences of God's love to those that love Him is to send them afflictions, with grace to bear them. – John Wesley • Jesus' love for us is close, familiar. He hangs on us like clothes, and He will never take His tender love from us. –Julian of Norwich

When will I be loved? A question most everyone asks at one time or another. And the answer? Well, to put it as simply as possible – always! God loves you and will always love you. No matter what. You can disobey God; you can disappoint God. You can dismiss God, but you can never, ever stop God from loving you.

THE PROBLEM So, what's the problem? If the answer is so clear and so readily available and so easily expressed – then what's the problem? Well, I think I can answer that question with a few words from another song. It would seem that most of us are – looking for love in all the wrong places, looking for love in all the wrong faces. And that my friends,

______Unpublished work ©2020 Julianne Brittain The Songs We Sing / When Will I Be Loved Page 5 of 8 Rev. Jan Brittain, Aug 16, 2020 Williamson’s Chapel United Methodist Church is what people have been doing since the beginning. The Bible calls it, chasing after foreign gods. Remember the words Kaye sang for us: When I find a new love that I want for mine, it always breaks my heart in two. It happens every time. That's what we do (and I'm talking about the people of God.) The Bible is a record of how God's people constantly try to find a new love, look for love in all the wrong places – go chasing after foreign gods. Prophet after prophet rise up to express God's dismay and disappointment over His people's unfaithfulness. I've chosen Jeremiah to be our spokesperson for today – we are using the translation The Message.

Jeremiah 2:25-32 25 "Slow down. Take a deep breath. What's the hurry? Why wear yourself out? Just what are you after anyway? But you say, 'I can't help it. I'm addicted to alien gods. I can't quit.' 26-28 "Just as a thief is chagrined, but only when caught, so the people of Israel are chagrined, Caught along with their kings and princes, their priests and prophets. They walk up to a tree and say, 'My father!' They pick up a stone and say, 'My mother! You bore me!' All I ever see of them is their backsides. They never look me in the face. But when things go badly, they don't hesitate to come running, calling out, 'Get a move on! Save us!' Why not go to your handcrafted gods you're so fond of? Rouse them. Let them save you from your bad times. You've got more gods, Judah, than you know what to do with. 29-30 "What do you have against me, running off to assert your 'independence'?" GOD's Decree. "I've wasted my time trying to train your children. They've paid no attention to me, ignored my discipline. And you've gotten rid of your God-messengers, treating them like dirt and sweeping them away. 31-32 "What a generation you turned out to be! Didn't I tell you? Didn't I warn you? Have I let you down, Israel? ______Unpublished work ©2020 Julianne Brittain The Songs We Sing / When Will I Be Loved Page 6 of 8 Rev. Jan Brittain, Aug 16, 2020 Williamson’s Chapel United Methodist Church

Am I nothing but a dead-end street? Why do my people say, 'Good riddance! From now on we're on our own'? Young women don't forget their jewelry, do they? Brides don't show up without their veils, do they? But my people forget me. Day after day after day they never give me a thought.

IDOLATRY The people of God go chasing after foreign gods – looking for love in all the wrong places. And God's heart – breaks again and again and again. This, Beloved, is what the Bible calls the sin of idolatry. And it's the Bible's number one sin. Do you remember the very first commandment? You shall have no other gods before me. And why is it the first commandment? And why do I call it the number one sin? Because I believe that it is actually the sin of idolatry that leads to every other sin. Here's how this works. When we put ourselves, someone else, or something (even some good thing) into that place that belongs to God alone, then we no longer need to obey the teachings and commands of God, and one sin just follows the other. But that's not the only problem with idolatry. Here's another big problem. When we put someone or something into the place that belongs to God alone, then that person or thing can no longer be the blessing it was created to be. As wonderful as people and things are, they simply don't make good gods. And when we turn to them for the blessings that can come from God alone, we will be disappointed, time and time. It always breaks my heart in two; it happens every time. But here's another terrible thing about idolatry. And since God's motivation is always love, I think this is probably why it's the number one sin. Idolatry prevents us from being able to fully receive God's love. Now it cannot stop God from loving us – nothing can stop God from loving us, not even our own foolish choices. But when God is not in the right place in our lives – and the only right place for God is number one – when God is not number one in our lives, then we are not able to fully receive the love and the blessings that God continually sends our way. It's like a water hose. My little grandson loves a hose. So, when he's at Gran Jan's house, guess what – he gets to play with a hose. I turn on the water up at the spigot on the wall and then hand him the nozzle on the other end of the hose. But you know what? Even though the water is coming into the hose from the faucet, it does not come out of the hose until the nozzle is squeezed. Just one squeeze of that nozzle, and the water comes rushing out. That's the ______Unpublished work ©2020 Julianne Brittain The Songs We Sing / When Will I Be Loved Page 7 of 8 Rev. Jan Brittain, Aug 16, 2020 Williamson’s Chapel United Methodist Church way the blessings of God work, friend. God is continually sending His love and blessings to us – just like that water is coming into the hose. But if God is not in the right place in our lives – the number one place – then we are not squeezing the nozzle right, and we just can't receive that love and blessing. That's when we find ourselves asking again that age-old question – When will I be loved?

POSSIBLE IDOLS It's a big, big problem. Always has been and I suspect always will be. It was the price God chose to pay in order to truly be loved by His people. He gives us free will. We choose what is number one in our lives. And not just once, but again and again and again. Today would be a good time to pause and think about that. What idols are the most dangerous to you? There are the most obvious idols – money and wealth. It could be something we own or even want to own. Work becomes an idol for many. Fame and recognition have been the foreign gods many have gone chasing after. Even personal appearance can be an idol. Now there are all kinds of good reasons for plastic surgery. But can you believe that in 2018, Americans spent over $16.5 billion on cosmetic plastic surgery and minimally invasive cosmetic procedures (plasticsurgery.org)? $16.5 billion with a B. Seems to me there is some foreign god-chasing going on in all of that. But idols don't have to be bad things. Maybe the idols that tempt you most are good things. Relationships – one of God's greatest blessings – can become an idol if we put a person into the place that belongs to God alone. And as I've confessed before, my greatest temptation is to make the church an idol by loving the church more than I love Jesus. Anything can be an idol. What's idols do you need to resist or perhaps even remove in your life?

CONCLUSION And how can we be sure that God really is in the right place in our lives? Is God #1 in my life? Well, if you really want to know, it's not hard to find out. All you have to do is honestly take a look at three things in your life. But be prepared. You might not like the answer. First, how much time do you give to God – His work in you and His work through you? Look back over the past week. How much time did you spend listening to God by reading His Word, studying Scripture? How much time did you spend talking with God in prayer? How much time did you spend honoring God by sharing His love with others through word (talking with others about Jesus) and through action (by serving others in Jesus' name)? Secondly, how much of your talent did you use for God and His kingdom purposes in the past week? What gifts and skills did you put to use for the Gospel? ______Unpublished work ©2020 Julianne Brittain The Songs We Sing / When Will I Be Loved Page 8 of 8 Rev. Jan Brittain, Aug 16, 2020 Williamson’s Chapel United Methodist Church

And finally, how much of your treasure did you give to the work of God? How much money did you give to the church or other true kingdom work? What percentage of the material blessings that came into your life last week did you return as a blessing to God? The church has been talking about this for generations, but it's still the best test. Just take an honest look at how you have, in the past week, used your time, your talent, and your treasure for God, and you will know if God is number one in your life. And if not, then you will know what changes to make to get God in the place that only God belongs. Do that, my friend – get God into that place that belongs to God alone and keep God there, and you know what? You will never, ever find yourself asking – When will I be loved? In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Life Application Questions: 1. How did you use your time for God this week?

2. How did you use your talent for God this week?

3. How did you use your treasure for God this week?

4. What changes do you need to make in your life to put God in first place and keep God there?