Perrydox.com is devoted to the pursuit of truth, whether plain or paradoxical, whether simple or sublime, or simply absurd yet absolute.
Jeremiah 7 – 5 Lessons From Jeremiah’s Temple Lesson
Jeremiah’ s temple sermon (Jeremiah 7) is still challenging for us today. Here’s 5 lessons from Jeremiah’s lesson:
1. “Correct your ways and your deeds, and I will allow you to live in this place” (7:3). God is a God of grace. Sermons should emphasize that. Just think of Jesus.
2. “Do not trust deceitful words, chanting: This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord” (7:4). Thinking God needs our worship and won’t destroy what is His, is as about as deceitful and self-delusional as you can get. God loves us more than things and is willing to destroy to save us. Just think of Jesus.
3. “Instead, if you really change your ways and your actions, if you act justly toward one another, if you no longer oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow and no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow other gods, bringing harm on yourselves,” (7:5-6). Here we once again how God emphasizes the 2nd Great Command along with the 1st. Just think of Jesus. Plus sin is often seeking pleasure when the reality is we bring harm on ourselves.
4. “Then do you come and stand before Me in this house called by My name and say, ‘We are delivered, so we can continue doing all these detestable acts’?” (7:10). Worshipping God is not about 5 acts on Sunday and acting how we want Monday-Saturday. Most of what we know of Jesus is outside the synagogues.
5. “But return to My place that was at Shiloh, where I made My name dwell at first. See what I did to it because of the evil of My people Israel” (7:12). Remembering God’s grace (see first point) is essential. Remembering God’s wrath is equally inseparable from learning God’s history with humanity. Just think about the cross.
The above are just 5 quick but important lessons. The Jews did not listen. Let’s make sure we do.
Comments