Standing at the Gate!

Surrender is a difficult thing, is it not? As a child, I remember many times singing the hymn written in 1886 by Judson W. Van DeVenter, "I Surrender All." Maybe its just a Pentecostal thing, but very few times do I remember singing that song that I did not feel the Spirit of God moving me, wooing me, speaking to me: "Surrender all, give Me everything." Surely, you remember the song:

1. All to Jesus I surrender;
All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him,
In His presence daily live.

* Refrain:
I surrender all,
I surrender all;
All to Thee, my blessed Savior,
I surrender all.

2. All to Jesus I surrender;
Humbly at His feet I bow,
Worldly pleasures all forsaken;
Take me, Jesus, take me now.

3. All to Jesus I surrender;
Make me, Savior, wholly Thine;
Let me feel the Holy Spirit,
Truly know that Thou art mine.

4. All to Jesus I surrender;
Lord, I give myself to Thee;
Fill me with Thy love and power;
Let Thy blessing fall on me.

5. All to Jesus I surrender;
Now I feel the sacred flame.
Oh, the joy of full salvation!
Glory, glory, to His Name!!

I think of that song this morning because I stand at the precipice of something greater, something more wonderful, yet terrifying, than I have ever known. My wife, lover, and companion spoke that into my spirit last night, and I knew, as the old timers used to say, deep down in my "knower" [sic] that what she said was true. I am not one to run rabbit trails but I am learning that my greatest asset and the one who can move my spirit the most, by His power, is my beautiful wife. I could write a book on the intricacies and all the things that fascinate me and intrigue me about that woman; all I can say today, however, is that I am one blessed man!

The whole time we were talking and reflecting, my mind was wandering off to a scripture that I had read, even preached, numerous times over the years. Jeremiah 6:14:

They have also healed the hurt of My people slightly, Saying, 'Peace, peace!' When there is no peace. (NKJV)

It is kind of odd because Jeremiah says the very same thing again, in the 8th chapter. This is obviously the time of the prophet's early ministry; a time when he is seeing things and hearing things that he doesn't fully understand. It's difficult to date. Men with more expertise than I have wrestled with the problem and the only consensus that seems to prevail is that Jeremiah began to speak sometime after the death of Josiah (639-608), a righteous man who fell in battle at Megiddo, and the eleven year reign of Jehoiachim (608-597). The important thing to note, however, is the state of the people. They had turned from righteousness to gross immorality and sin. God raises this prophet up to decry the injustices being perpetrated by the people upon a benevolent and compassionate God who simply did not deserve their disobedience or insolence. Sound familiar? It should; this is not the first time they had been there nor would it be the last, unfortunately.

While looking at these two parallel scriptures, I noticed something that had never really drawn my attention before. Chapters 7-11 are believed to be oracular fragments, inserted (perhaps late) to fully describe the state of the people, and presumably, to justify the utter destruction and calamity that would later befall them. Chapter seven caught my attention most. Listen for moment:

1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
2 Stand in the gate of the LORD's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah, you that enter these gates to worship the LORD.
3 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your doings, and let me dwell with you in this place.
4 Do not trust in these deceptive words: "This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD."
5 For if you truly amend your ways and your doings, if you truly act justly one with another,
6 if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own hurt,
7 then I will dwell with you in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your ancestors forever and ever.
8 Here you are, trusting in deceptive words to no avail.
9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known,
10 and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, "We are safe!"--only to go on doing all these abominations?
11 Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your sight? You know, I too am watching, says the LORD.

Jer 7:1-11 (NRSV)

Sometimes, I feel sorry for Jeremiah. He's been known as the weeping prophet, the one without a single convert, the unpatriotic man. Here, he is being called upon to stand in the very gate of the Temple in an unprecedented way and decry the sins of the people. Try that next Sunday! See how well it goes over. One commentator says that a practical atheism had overtaken these people. While they went through ritual and believed in the God of their fathers in some form, they had become cold and indifferent. Consequently, everything they did was an abomination to God.

Let's listen to the prophet. What is he saying? "You're going through the motions, perhaps even doing the right things, but your heart's not in it." Sounds like a church I recall in Ephesus who had lost her first love. (Rev 3) Jeremiah is standing in the very doorway of the temple complex and he's essentially saying, "God is not here! Amend your ways, change, turn around, repent; and He will once again dwell in this place and in you."

This is a rhetorical question, but an important one. How many churches are going through the motions, pastors sitting at their desk on Saturday night constructing polished sermons, worship committees putting together liturgies for the next day, without God, any semblance of life, or the slightest bit of change in the lives of the people? I read earlier this morning of a Presbyterian minister and church who had chosen to study the Koran in 2010. Now, please don't misunderstand me here; I don't really care what you call yourself. But, if your faith, your religion is nothing more than a catalog of intellectual pursuits and ideals and mechanistic refrains to a set of platitudinal constructs, then maybe, you need to hear what Jeremiah is saying.

He's speaking to the congregation, but I feel that he is talking directly to me. The people obviously respond, "Look! See! We still have this temple - this monument resident within our midst! Surely, you are wrong, Jeremiah! This is His very dwelling place..." Obviously, they had forgotten the words of the Psalmist, "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God." Psalms 20:7 (KJV) "I can still quote John 3:16; I remember way back when when God did 'this' or 'that'. I go to church. I attend Sunday School. I have this position or that. I sing on the worship team, for God's sake!"

The horrifying thing to me about this passage and their arrogant response is that they had no clue that God wasn't there and that impending doom and destruction (the likes of which this southern kingdom had never known) was knocking at their very door.

Jeremiah continues, in spite of their objections: "Amend your ways, stop doing what you're doing! The Temple isn't going to save you, but if you change (repent), God promises to dwell with you." Let's step out this for a moment and into the New Testament. There's a fledgling Christian faith, built upon the person of Jesus (once considered a rogue Jewish sect), that begins to assert its own identity. Obviously, Paul writes to the Corinthians prior to the destruction of the second Temple in 70 C. E., and most scholars date the writing sometime in the mid first century.

Paul defines a new paradigm:

16 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? [you is plural; i.e. church] 17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.

1 Cor 3:16-17 (NRSV; "you" is plural; i.e. church)

Paul introduces this concept while dealing with dissension - sin (a word we've almost completely written out of faith altogether). Those of us without Jewish origins or roots can not fully appreciate the magnitude of what Paul says here. While most within the Corinthian church were not necessarily Jewish, they no doubt understood what Jewish faith was all about. Jesus was a Jew. Paul was Jew. Almost all of the men that the Corinthians's were arguing over regarding whose baptism was more relevant, were Jews.

These gentiles knew enough to know that, for a Jew, the Temple was a complex of buildings in Jerusalem where ritual and worship took place. While it stood, it was the central focus of Jewish worship and spiritual identity. Here, Paul turns the tables on them and says, "You're the temple, individually, and collectively." Another Jew, Peter, who often had difficulty embracing his non-Jewish position within the church, writes:

5 And now God is building you, as living stones, into his spiritual temple. What's more, you are God's holy priests, who offer the spiritual sacrifices that please him because of Jesus Christ

1 Peter 2:5 (NLT)

There is some very intriguing information contradicting the fact that Peter wrote this, which is interesting but not consequential, to me at least. However, if Peter wrote this, then he also probably did so, prior to the destruction of the actual second Temple (perhaps in mid 60 C.E.?). And I can assure that this was sovereign divine revelation to Peter; it was no doubt a much bigger deal to Peter than to Paul. But even Peter has made this transition and He tells them that they are lively stones (KJV) being built together as a spiritual house (a perpetual habitation) for the Lord of Glory! (my paraphrase)

Now, let's once again, briefly, turn our attention back to the Jerusalem of the 6th century B.C.E and Jeremiah as he speaks to the people. "Let me dwell with you in this place..." I find this interesting. You would have thought that God would have constructed it the other way around, right? I mean, His Temple, His earth, His people... but no, He tells them that if you change, amend your ways, I will dwell with you.

Hasn't the Father coming down in the cool of the day to walk with Adam always been man's honor? Jesus accomplished the impossible on the cross. He bridged a gap we simply could not so that He could once again dwell with us. I think I understand now more fully what Moses meant when he heard God say that He was going to send the angel of the Lord before the people, but because of their impudence and rebellion, He would simply track them from afar. Moses cried, "If You don't go with us, then don't move us. How are we to be recognized as anything distinct, (different) than any other peoples on the earth if You are not with us?" (Ex 33, my paraphrase)

Oh my! Here's the rub. I don't care whether you're a Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, etc. It really does not concern me, at the moment, which path you walk. Sure, I could tell you what I think, but it's not my purpose here. But, I can say with utter certainty that what this world is lacking (and you can interject peace and unilateral prosperity, acceptance of others, and all the propaganda you can devise) is the presence of a God that is bigger than hunger, calamity, tragedy, and pain. The very same thing in our text, is happening in Jerusalem; the more Jeremiah preaches their impending doom, the louder the false prophets get. "All you need is peace. Learn to live together in harmony. Heal the planet, hug a Muslim, bridge the gaps between you and others. Peace, safety, all of it can be ours through our human genius and ingenuity!"

I don't know about you, but I can see the futility in that with little effort. Sure, I'd love to see it happen, but it never will - unless the glory of the Lord covers the earth as the waters cover the sea! It's the presence, the God among us, that spans the chasm of man's darkness and calls him forth into marvelous light! These sooth Sayers, these wicked lying clueless prophets were simply putting a band-aid on a rupture. Jeremiah tells them, "You've healed their wounds slightly; you make them feel better about themselves with the multitude of worthless platitudes and cliche's and songs about world peace--the end of war and famine and sending a few dollars here or there to feed the starving children. The calamity of calamities is about to befall you, and you're trusting in the wrong thing. "

A catalog of wrongs follow, and this list is repeated and revised and added too throughout the writings of Jeremiah. The laments of Jeremiah, the weeping of this Prophet much later shows us that these people never really listened; and it got so much worse. I can make excuses all day about why I don't do "this", why I can't forgive, why my attitude stinks, etc. but, in the end, it really is about surrender. In essence, that is all God was asking of these people. "If you truly change and if you turn around and stop oppressing the strangers and orphans among you, those who don't belong; if you will stop devouring one another, shedding innocent blood, and most importantly, choose your side. Stop following after other gods... if you're going serve me, serve me! Stop making excuses of why its okay for you do "this" instead of what I've asked of you. Stop! Listen! If you will, I promise, I will dwell with you right here! Right in your home, while you're sitting around the dinner table with your family. I will be a very present help in time of need. I will always be with you, even till the end of the aeon." How beautiful! God says that He will dwell in our place; right where we are!

Oh, so your Temple is ruined. Shame and guilt and condemnation has overtaken you and even your ritual doesn't mean near what it used too. He is standing at the door today - the door to my heart and to yours, and He cries through this beloved prophet, "Amend, change, stop, turn around! I treasure you and I will dwell in you again, just like I did before."

Lastly, this morning, one of the names of God came rushing to my mind at the same time as this scripture that I have shared with you: Jehovah Rafa. It literally means, the God who stitches back together. So you're torn, your garments have been weathered and battered, beaten and ripped from the events of life and your own choices. You are bleeding and bruised. Your bones are broken and you're hurting and you don't know where God is because it feels as if He is a million miles away.

The prophet stands at the gate this morning, today, and he says, "Change. Just stop. I will dwell with you; you will be the most blessed and hold within your being and spirit the greatest treasure the world has ever known. I will be their God and they shall be my people. I will dwell within them, walk in them, tabernacle within them; within you." Don't we create most our own messes? Surrender! Give it all; hold nothing back. Calamity, plight, pain and destruction does not, and hear me this day, have to be your latter end. The God who made you can stitch it all back together, heal you, and make you anew. His mercies are from everlasting to everlasting, and they're renewed every morning!