Theme: To
Speak Faithfully is Better Than Any Dream
Today we focus
on Christian education, particularly as it applies to our children. This past
week we conducted VBS at Redemption, which is one of the biggest undertakings
this congregation pursues in the realm of education. No one doubts the
importance of education. It is always one of hottest political issues. It is on
the minds of parents. It is a goal that is worthy to be pursued. But, when we
talk about Christian education, the
level of importance ratchets up even higher. Now, no one here doubts that. But,
let us ask ourselves the tougher question. What kind of Christian education are we giving our children?
Our final
lesson at VBS was about the Good Shepherd Psalm, Psalm 23. In that psalm, as
many of you know, David depicts God as His Shepherd, who provides for both his
physical and spiritual needs. David ended that psalm with a closing note that I
hope is always on your minds and hearts too: “Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and
I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” David’s hope for Christian
education, began and concluded in the LORD’s house; both the temple on earth
and the halls of heaven in eternity.
Our text for
today is given in a much different circumstance. The beginning verses of
Jeremiah 23 are really the anti-shepherd psalm. In these verse God chastises
the prophets for being false shepherds. They led the people astray. They gave
them false hope and lies. They did not provide for the people’s spiritual needs
as the Good Shepherd does. Notice the stark contrast from David’s psalm to
Jeremiah’s chastisement in these verses:
Jeremiah 23:1 "Woe to the
shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!" says the LORD.
2 Therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel against the shepherds who feed My
people: "You have scattered My flock, driven them away, and not attended
to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings," says
the LORD.
What a
difference from the Shepherd who leads His flock to green pastures and quiet
waters so that no need is left unfulfilled and unfaithful shepherds who lead to
destruction. Our text for today picks up later in chapter 23, where God shows
the reasons why these prophets failed in their duties:
Jeremiah 23:23-29 "Am I a God near at
hand," says the LORD, "And not a God afar off? 24 Can anyone hide
himself in secret places, So I shall not see him?" says the LORD; "Do
I not fill heaven and earth?" says the LORD. 25 "I have heard what
the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My name, saying, `I have dreamed, I
have dreamed!' 26 "How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who
prophesy lies? Indeed they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart, 27
"who try to make My people forget My name by their dreams which everyone
tells his neighbor, as their fathers forgot My name for Baal. 28 "The
prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; And he who has My word, let him
speak My word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat?" says the LORD.
29 "Is not My word like a fire?" says the LORD, "And like a
hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?
In these verse
the LORD reminds us: To be faithful is better than any dream. Do we teach this
to our children? Dreaming in America is almost a national right. I’m not
talking about the dreams of the night, when your mind escapes to a different
reality. I speak of the dreams of the day; the intentions we have in life which
direct our decisions and our goals. To pursue a dream is to set your sights
high, to work for something that is currently beyond your grasp. Is this not
one of the chief reasons for educating our children? We want them to aspire to
something in life. This is Christian education too. God desires us to use our
talents and abilities to serve one
another and through that, serve Him. It is good to dream for this.
I believe this
was the way the American dream starting in our nation and that idea of an
American dream has spurred on the need for quality education for our children
ever since. But in recent times, this dreaming has taken on a different
meaning. Instead of dreaming for something this intrinsic, truth-based quality;
the American dream often turns into a hot pursuit for personal glory and
self-esteem. This doesn’t mean that everyone who dreams or encourages others to
pursue their dreams, has the wrong intention. What it does, though, is reveal
the inherent danger is relying so much on our dreams. If not motivated by God’s
love and truth, even our dreams can separate us from Him.
This is where
the nation of Judah found themselves in this chapter, or more appropriately
where God found them through His prophet. Listen to the way God described their
situation. He had to rebuke them by reminding them first of His eternal
presence because they were living like He didn’t exist. So He asks them, “Am I a God near at hand, and not a God
afar off?” If you’re trying to resist the Lord’s will and supplant it with
your own dream, then the first step is finding a way to ignore His presence. On
the surface, it’s pretty easy to do this. So many things in life are driven by
what we can sense on our own. Since we can’t see God or hear His direct audible
voice, it’s pretty easy to act like He’s distant. But deep inside all people
know better. Our sense can lie to us all they want, but God created us with an
inner knowledge of His presence and of His will.
God breaks
away this false sense of sinful security. As Jeremiah recorded, no one can hide
themselves. God is present everywhere. He fills heaven and earth. Lesson
learned; don’t try to hide from Him just because He is beyond your physical
senses at times. Don’t let your dream lie to you.
But here’s
where the danger heightens. It comes to a completely different level when
prophets begin teaching the lie. It’s one thing to feel it in your heart, but
to hear it proclaimed by someone else, especially a member of the clergy,
really gives it credibility. This is ultimately why God was so furious in His
anger against these false shepherds. To those whom He has given His Word, He
expects a much stricter attention to conduct and truth of the message. A
prophet, pastor, teacher, or any public spokesperson for God is expected to put
in the extra time and go the extra lengths to ensure the faithfulness of their
preaching. It’s not just their faith and life on the line, but those whom God
has entrusted to their care.
What got in
the way of these shepherds’ messages? What led them and the people off the
track? It was their dreams. God Himself said, "I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My
name, saying, `I have dreamed, I have dreamed!' 26 "How long will this be
in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Every prophet issues some
type of claim for the people to listen to them. For these prophets, their claim
was based on their title. They said, “We are prophets and we have dreamed, so
listen to us!” Their request to the people had nothing to do with the truth or
the validity of their message. They had to encourage the people this way
because all they had to go on was their own dream.
We should
understand that these prophets’ dreams were different than our dreams. They
were speaking of divine visions; of something revealed to them from God. This
is what they claimed, even though it was a false revelation. When we speak of our
dreams, we don’t often mean that something has been supernaturally revealed to
us by God. Our dreams in life are more of a hope or goal that we have. But,
even though these prophets claimed to have a higher type of dream, a vision or
revelation if you will, they were really no different than our dreams.
God tells us
the source of these dreams. They were not from Him, but rather from the
prophets’ own hearts. The intention of these supposed divine revelations
revealed their hollowness as well. God went on to say that the prophets
intended to have the people forget His name. Earlier in the chapter God gave an
example of this. In verse 17 He says, The
prophets continually say, You shall have peace, and to everyone who walks
according to the dictates of his own heart, they say, “No evil shall come upon
you.” That is what it looks like and sounds like when people are led to
follow their own dreams instead of God. When God levels the accusation that
these prophets led the people away from His name, that was a serious problem.
Remember what God’s name is. It reveals not only His title but who He is and
what He does. God said in time past to His people, “I am Yahweh, that is My name, and my glory I will not give to another,
nor My praise to carved images (Isaiah 42:8).” God’s name is power, not
just a title. It is a status that equals holiness. To use His name in a false
way or to lead others away from it is to mess directly with the person of God.
The importance
of God’s name is found best in Jesus. Listen to how Paul described the
significance of Christ’s death and resurrection. He explains this monumental
achievement in terms relating to the name of God. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became
obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God
also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of
those on earth, and of those under the earth. To have God’s name in our
lives is the goal that all believers have. That’s what it is to have faith;
it’s to have God’s name in the same way that Jesus earned it for us on the
cross. The opposite is to lead people away from that name; away from the
standing that faith in Jesus gives us before the Almighty God.
Now, that
sounds like a pretty bad place to be in, but why then wouldn’t the people
quickly reject these false prophets? It seems like these lies were pretty
popular. The people jumped on them right away without thinking twice. They were
eager to share this pseudo good news, so much so that everyone told his
neighbor. How could it be that such a dangerous belief, one that would lead
people in the opposite direction from God, would be so popular? The answer was
that it was the delusion of the dream. The dream that came first from the false
prophets and then directly to the peoples’ hearts.
Think about
your own dreams for a moment. They are strong in your heart because you desire
them. They are personal. They are on your mind regularly. That doesn’t mean
they’re bad. But, it doesn’t guarantee that they are good either. The feeling
that our dreams attach to us only indicates their hold on our lives, it doesn’t
indicate their quality. And it certainly doesn’t mean they have any
effectiveness to get us through life’s problems.
God gives us
the proper balance for our dreams. He says, The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; And he who has My
word, let him speak My word faithfully. It’s okay to dream. In fact, it’s
necessary. If you don’t have dreams, you drift through life without purpose. If
you don’t dream you miss out on opportunities to serve God. But, don’t let
those dreams interrupt your faithfulness to God’s Word. He will not desire an
expectation from you that contradicts His will. In other words, something that
would lead you away from His name. To be faithful in our goals and activities
is to be sufficient in Jesus, the true Good Shepherd who does not lead us
astray but rather leads us to the water of life and the bread of life in the
forgiveness of our sins.
Let us return
to our original question. What kind education do we desire for our children? To
adequately answer that you must first ask, what kind of education does God
desire for my children? He is clear in His answer. Let them dream. Given them a
goal. Help them grow. But, show them and teach them what faithfulness means
too. No dream is worth sacrificing faithfulness. Your children see that example
in your lives; as they learn from you and as they witness your sanctified walk
in life. But, they see it best in their Savior. Don’t let dreams over shadow
Him. Dreams to be popular. Dreams to fit in. Dreams to make a comfortable living
in life. There are many dreams, but there is only one who is faithful.
When a dream
gets in the way, are we content enough in God’s grace to look the other way?
Are we okay sacrificing the popularity and the feeling of desire in order to stay
closer to God’s name? What would we rather have for our children and where are
we leading them? Do we teach them to think and act like God’s present, or do we
care more about what others around us think? Have activities like sports
practices or social clubs become more important than learning and sharing God’s
Word. Is your primary objective rest for your body or for your soul? Which is
the first you lay aside, pursuit of the dream or time around God’s name?
The message of
these false prophets spread like fire. Jeremiah had a difficult ministry to say
the least. He was constantly under attack and under pressure to conform to the
popularity of the time. I’m sure it often felt like he had no help. And yet,
none of these pressures really made things any different. The truth was the
same as it had ever been and as it is today. And despite the seemingly out of
control lies of the false prophets, God’s Word endured, the gospel promise
survived, Jesus came and destroyed sin, death, and Satan, and we live in that
victory today. Error and deception do spread like fire under the right
settings, when people are starved for truth and righteousness. But, God’s power
remains as strong as ever. His Word is the true fire which ignites hearts with
hope. His name crushes the false intentions of the human heart like a hammer on
stone.
May God break
down the sinful exteriors to our hearts and keep the bright flame of faith in
Jesus constant and the faithfulness to teach our children the same. Amen.
The peace of
God which surpasses all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ
Jesus. Amen.
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