Epiphany 4 - You Are Where God Has Placed You

Text: Jeremiah 1:4-10
Series: ILCW C – Epiphany 4
Theme: You Are Where God Has Placed You!
Place: Amazing Grace Lutheran Church, Myrtle Beach, SC
Date: January 31, 2010

Parents, your God says to you to bring up your children in the training and instruction of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4b). That’s what God says and so you do it. You teach them about Jesus. You clothe them; discipline them, feed them. You love them. But what does it get you? Is the Sunday morning routine met with rebellion? Are the food and clothing met with complaints; while the teaching is met with apathy and the loving discipline received with hostility?

Children, your God says to you to obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right (Ephesians 6:1). That’s what God says and so you do it. You go to bed when they say it is time. You turn off the TV or stop playing the video games or get off the computer when they say “homework.” You come home at the time they’ve set. You make their word your delight even when you may not like what they say. But what does it get you? Does their rule making leave your friends laughing? Does it frustrate you when one Friday night they let you stay up till midnight, but the next Friday night its 9pm? And no reason is given why? Does their lack of saying, “thank you” or “I love you” leave you with tears in your eyes?

Employees, your God says to obey your employers with respect and fear, just as you would Christ. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart (Ephesians 6:5,6). That’s what God says and so you do it. You are faithful to your job assignment, working hard for your boss and honest in your reports. But what does it get you? The contempt of those who do as little as possible to get by? The same paycheck as the lazy or maybe even less than the liars?

To each of you, God says to love your neighbor as yourself. That’s what God says and so you do it. When hurt, you turn the other cheek. When blessed, you share your wealth. When sinned against, you rebuke and forgive. But what does it get you? Is the cheek-turning mistaken for weakness; generosity goes unnoticed? Does addressing sin reward you with ridicule?

Are you a father, mother, husband, wife, son, daughter, employer, employee, retiree—the list could go on? So could the list of responsibilities you have in life: raising your kids, obeying your parents, running a company, working as a laborer, teaching a class, studying for class—the list could go on—do you ever find yourself wondering, “What is this getting me? How did I get here? What purpose am I serving here? I’d rather be anywhere else but here.”

To Jeremiah God said, Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. That’s what God says and so you preach for forty years to a people that do not listen. A people who had seen their northern neighbors (Ten Northern Tribes of Israel) carried off into captivity by the Assyrians. A people who were plotting down the same path. A people who disregarded with Word and will of God and did wicked things. So God sent the prophet Jeremiah for forty years of preaching that God’s patience was coming to an end and their destruction was around the corner. Their time to repent, to turn back to the Lord was now or never and still they would not listen. Forty years of preaching to a people that would not listen.

To Jeremiah God said, Before I formed you in the womb I knew you … I set you apart … I appointed you. You must go to everyone I send you to. That’s what God says and so you go. But what does it get you? He would go and preach God’s Word from the heart only to hear, “We are going to kill you for telling us we’re wicked (Jeremiah 18:25). He would read a portion of Scripture only to have the king cut them off with a scribe’s knife and threw them into the firepot, until the entire scroll was burned in the fire (Jeremiah 36:23). He would tell of the coming destruction only to be lowered in a well and left for dead.

Do you think he might have wondered, “What is this getting me? How did I get here? What purpose am I serving here? I’d rather be anywhere else but here.” Or maybe you’re thinking, “Pastor, if I knew this is what you were going to tell me today, I would have stayed home.” It just so happens God shares Jeremiah’s call into the ministry with you and me today – not to belittle the crosses you bear for living as God would have you, but to show you the strength of God’s hand and the depth of God’s love and protection for you no matter what. For here in these words of Jeremiah’s call into the ministry, God shows us, too: God has placed you where you are! 1. With a command to be faithful; and, 2. With a promise to be faithful.
Ever ask yourself, why am I here? Why am I in this circumstance in life at this time? A parent? Struggling to raise my child or love my spouse? A child? Struggling with the rules or lack of friends? An employee? Struggling to survive from week to week? A retiree? Struggling with so much time or so little money? That you are where you are is not by chance or fate, but by God. That’s not to say you are a robot whose every decision and motion is controlled by someone else. You make decisions every day that impact your life as I do. But ultimately every individual is where they are because the almighty God, the ruler of heaven and earth, has placed us in those positions.

Remember what God told Jeremiah, Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you were born I set you apart. I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. That Jeremiah was a prophet in the 6th century BC and you and I are what we are and where we are in the 21st century is God’s doing. And whatever station you occupy, whatever your situation, all God requires is that you be faithful where you are.

Are you a parent? Be faithful to God and to your children. Are you a spouse? Be faithful to God and to your mate. Are you a friend? Be faithful to God and to your friend. Are you and employee? Be faithful in your work? Are you a student? Be faithful in your studies? No matter what your position, no matter what your abilities, no matter what your budget, be faithful to God, be faithful to your neighbor. As Jesus put it, Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself.

That’s hard for us though, isn’t it? Have you sometimes said, “God, I’m not cut out for this?” Children, God has asked you to obey you’re parents. Have you sometimes said, “God, you’re asking the wrong person?” Employees, God has asked you to obey your employers. Have you sometimes said, “I can’t! No way!” My friends, like Jeremiah’s response to God’s call, “Ah, Sovereign Lord I do not know how to speak; I am only a child, we sound similar.

Such responses to the responsibilities God has placed in our lives: “You don’t get it, God, I’m not cut out for this … you’re asking the wrong person … I can’t … no way!” Do you hear how faith-less such an attitude is? And though it may seem like a humble response, it’s really the height of human arrogance for the creature to tell the Creator he’s making a mistake. What does God say, Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker,” “Does the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you making?’ … Do you give me orders about the work of my hands” (Isaiah 45:9,11).

God is insulted when anyone questions his orders. You just have to page through the Bible to find out. When King Saul disobeyed God’s assignment, God impeached him. When Zechariah questioned God’s ability to keep his promise that Elizabeth would bear a son, God made Zechariah deaf and dumb for arguing. God chased Jonah the runaway prophet with a mighty storm.

Who am I to tell God what I can and can’t do? Who am I to disobey what God tells me to do – dear father, mother, husband, wife, son, daughter, employee, retiree? To accuse God of withholding ability where he has given responsibility is to try to trade places with him and be the judge! And it is to ignore what God requires from us: not results that bring us glory, but faithfulness that gives him glory.

Remember how God corrected Jeremiah, Do not say, ‘I am only a child!’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the LORD. Like a father patiently encouraging a worried child, God responds to a believer’s fear. The loving Lord knows how intimidating it can be for you to relate to other people, especially someone superior in ability or intellect or position, someone you don’t want to let down again, or someone who can change your career status with a snap of their fingers. But none of them outranks God, and he promises that he is part of the arrangement - the biggest part - when you relate to those people. Don’t be afraid.

Why is that? God the Father told his Son, “Go and confront your own family, friends, neighbors, and business associates about their misguided religious opinions. Condemn their false faith.” You heard him preaching, faithful to his God, calling sin a sin and you saw where it got him as we read the Gospel reading before. A furious congregation prepared to throw him off the cliff. God the Father told his Son, “Go, save sinners!” That’s what God said and so he did it. But after three years he had only 11, the other one was coming to get him, that followed him to Gethsemane and even then they all ran away. He might have thought, “What good is all this doing?” Today he might think, “I paid for the sins of all mankind, yet millions reject my free grace and instead choose hell. What good did my sacrifice do?”

With perfect faithfulness that flowed from a heart devoted to God! All alone! On a Roman cross! Forsaken by the world! Forsaken by his disciples! Forsaken by his own Father! With sin of the world on his back and guilt of the world on his shoulders, what should come out of his mouth? Not what is this getting me? How did I get here? What purpose am I serving here? I’d rather be anywhere else but here. No! Instead, It is finished. His faithful performance all the way to the cross is, by faith, your perfect forgiveness from all sins. His faithful performance under every one of God’s commands is, by faith, your perfect strength. Perfectly forgiven and fortified by Jesus. Now you’re ready, you’re able, you want to be faithful because your God has been faithful.

The phone rings. “Hi, I’m the producer of the biggest talent show in the world and we want you to win this year’s show, but you have to perform.” “But I can’t sing,” you protest nervously. “Fine. Can you dance?” “No.” “Can you juggle?” “No.” “Can you eat a handful of Madagascar cockroaches?” “Not without getting sick.” “What can you do?” “I can do anything God has planned for me and help, love, and serve anyone he puts in my life, at anytime he decides is best. Is that good enough?” “That’s all I want,” God replies, pleased at your confident spirit of willing service.

When it comes to fulfilling God’s role for you in this world, all God requires is that you be faithful where you are. You are where he wants you now and you’ll be where he wants you in 20 days, 20 wks, 20 mo, and 20 years. God’s focus isn’t on the results but on the faithfulness? After all, God didn’t say to Jeremiah, “Your ten-year plan is to have 50% of Israel converted and your twenty-year plan is to have the rest.” No, he said, You must go to everyone I send you to and you must say whatever I command you. The lesson: With God, success isn’t measured by results; success is in measured in faithfulness.

Employees, God isn’t looking for you to be the boss’s favorite and set record sales. He’s looking for faithfulness. Husbands and wives, God isn’t looking for you to supply your spouse with the finest money can buy? He’s looking for faithfulness. Parents, God’s not looking for you to bring up kids with the most As and the cutest smiles and the biggest trophies and the biggest adoration of you? He’s looking for faithfulness.
No matter what your position, no matter what your abilities, no matter what your budget, be faithful to God, be faithful to your neighbor. You are already approved assignment from your loving Lord. So this week when you are facing heavy responsibilities again, remember - you and God can do anything!

Amen!