You are always righteous, Lord, when I bring a case before you. Yet I would speak with you about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease? You have planted them, and they have taken root; they grow and bear fruit. You are always on their lips but far from their hearts. (Jeremiah 12:1, 2 NIV)

I find this interesting. Jeremiah complains to God about the wicked, namely, that they are prosperous. Now, this is not new or unusual, for we find Job saying similar things. We also read this from Asaph in Psalm 73. But what is unique here is that these wicked are not unbelievers per se. Jeremiah writes, "You are always on their lips." In other words, they are often speaking of the LORD. Now, some may argue that the LORD is on their lips in the sense that they are cursing Him as the enemies of God. But I don't think this is the case, for the contrast of lips and hearts is a familiar theme. It is a contrast between real worship and pretentious worship. Isaiah writes about this in Isaiah 58, where God rebukes Israel for fasting and praying while, at the same time, practicing injustice. Again Isaiah writes,

The Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught. (Isaiah 29:13 NIV)

Jeremiah is disconcerted because the people of God are only giving lip service to God. They are following rules, but only ones that they have made. Their rituals are empty because they are not accompanied by justice. Their humility and worship are detestable because they have neglected obeying God's Law. Jeremiah complains because these false worshippers of God are prospering rather than suffering the discipline of God.

But God's response is a little surprising. He does not say, "You are right, Jeremiah. I should judge them." No, He actually, perhaps gently, chides Jeremiah:

"If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan? (Jeremiah 12:5 NIV)

To summarize in contemporary jargon, God seems to be telling Jeremiah, "Stop being a wimp. Man up! It's gonna get harder from here on out. And you will change your tune." After this God says,

Your relatives, members of your own family—even they have betrayed you; they have raised a loud cry against you. Do not trust them, though they speak well of you. "I will forsake my house, abandon my inheritance; I will give the one I love into the hands of her enemies. (Jeremiah 12:6, 7 NIV)

Would Jeremiah still call for judgment when it is against his relatives and even his own family? God is about to hand His people over to the enemies in mass death, destruction and exile. Would Jeremiah still complain? Quite the contrary, Jeremiah's complaints against God's people, we discover, soon turn into a lament (e.g. He writes the Book of Lamentations) and a plee for God's mercy. Jeremiah's complaint and change of heart are also vividly depicted in Minor Prophet Habbakkuk, where that prophet has a similar dispute with God about His justice. If you recall Asaph in Psalm 78, he too complained about God's justice. Even Job. And Jonah. In every case God's justice is vindicated, and the servant of God is left speechless or ashamed.

I confess that I too have complained. I have complained about preachers teaching a distorted, prosperity Gospel, yet they command thousands in their congregation. I have complained about evangelists making false claims to signs and miracles, duping thousands into giving money to bankroll their jets, their mansions, and their lavish lifestyles. I have complained about them and the people that, generation after generation, blindly follow them without taking the time to see that previous generations have proven them false. They do not read or learn history, so they continue to repeat the errors of their foolish ancestors. 

Yet, as I read about Isaiah, Jeremiah, Asaph, Job, and Jonah, these servants of God, I realize that my complaints should rather be pleas for mercy and grace, even as I only stand by His mercy and grace toward me. God does not call me to complain but to proclaim the truth to those that God has given ears to hear. If I faithfully do this, then I can live and die in peace, having done what God has assigned me to do for at least my generation.

I've always asked for God's will for me and heard many people ask the same question. The answer to that question is very clear in today's reading: Obey. Our obedience, however, is not based on blind faith in futile idols but on the sovereignty of our living Father who is the Maker of heaven and earth and directs our path. I used to think of Christianity as a religion that makes me happy all the time and if the expected happiness is not there, then I thought that God was punishing me for my wrongdoing and also believed that feeling good or happy meant the healthy relationship with God. Everything about christianity was me-oriented. God still loved me who is a selfish child but I know now that he wants total surrender from me whether I feel happy or not. I desire to make my heavenly Father happy. Doesn't He deserve our effort and whatever it takes to make Him happy? Why? He loved us first even when we didn't deserve it and is God!

Friends, the first sixteen verses of Jeremiah 10 give the stark contrast between the emptiness of idols versus the true, incomparable and preeminent God of Israel. When the foolishness of idols are described, as well as the foolishness of the people that make and worship them, I can't help but shake my head at such blatant idiocy. I can just imagine a craftsman carving out the image, chipping away the imperfections so that it will have a smooth surface. Whose the real god here? I can just imagine the wind knocking the wooden image over just as the craftsman bows down to it such that he has to hold it steady while worshipping it. Jeremiah writes, "They fasten it with nails and hammers so that it will not topple" (Jeremiah 10:5). Clearly, Jeremiah is making a mockery, concluding,

Do not fear them; 
they can do no harm
nor can they do any good." (Jeremiah 10:5 NIV)

You almost have to pause here for effect. It's as if Jeremiah is saying, "Don't be afraid of the idols, because they can't harm you. [Pause] Actually, they can't help you either. [Pause] In fact, they can't do anything at all."

While I laugh within myself, I am given pause by the thought that perhaps in some respects our lives are not much wiser or saner than these foolish idolators? Consider, for instance, 1 Timothy 6:6-10,

Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

This is merely an elaboration of Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on the Mount: "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you" (Matthew 6:33). Yet, knowing everything we have will soon perish, how little time, energy and attention do we give to the things that will last into eternity? So Jesus also taught,

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal (Matthew 6:19-20).

Jesus does not merely say, "Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven," He also says, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth." The two displace each other in time, energy and attention. You cannot be doing one while doing the other and vice versa. Or as Jesus also says, "You cannot serve God and mammon (i.e. wordly things)" (Matthew 6:24).

Just as the foolish idolators in Judah and the surrounding nations fashioned images, which could not save them, haven't we fashioned our lives around material things, which cannot benefit us one bit in eternity? If we cannot understand the foolishness of these ancient idolators, we only have to look at ourselves. Jeremiah could very well say to most of us in our generation, "They are altogether dull-hearted and foolish" (Jeremiah 10:8).

This past Sunday, our brother Dan Kim, who has chosen to give his life and family to missions to Mali, told me in private conversation that he feared that if he continued much longer in his comfortable life in Atlanta, it might be tougher for him to obey God, who calls all of us to fully live for Him. A number of us are approaching or have arrived at the midpoint of our lives, and the crisis that we face is the crisis of significance. As Dan and his wife, let us all reflect on our present course.

God said through Jeremiah to His wayward people, "Obey My voice, and do according to all that I command you; so shall you be My people, and I will be your God" (Jeremiah 11:4).

The persistent idolatry of Judah has risen to such a level that God tells Jeremiah, "Do not pray for this people... for I do not hear you" (Jeremiah 7:16; cf. 11:14). The general theme of these chapters is DECEIT, where people say one thing and do another. They are self-deceived, they deceive others, and they think that perhaps they can deceive God as well. The charges against Judah, even Jerusalem, the capital city, are severe. The people are "wicked," "stubborn", "stupid," "foolish," and "devoid of knowledge." They have repeatedly broken the covenant they made with God at Sinai and in the Plains of Moab. So God is bringing terrible judgment on His people. Yet, in every case, unlike God's dealings with the other nations (cf. Jeremiah 10:23-25), God reserves hope for His people: "And it will come about that after I have uprooted them, I will again have compassion on them, and I will bring them back..." (Jeremiah 12:15). This is the hope of every believer. God does not have compassion on us because we are more righteous than unbelievers but because we have a relationship with Him and are called by His Name (cf. Jeremiah 14:7, 9). So, in the midst of judgment God continues to appeal to  His people:

    This is what the LORD says:
       "Let not the wise boast of their wisdom
       or the strong boast of their strength
       or the rich boast of their riches,

    but let those who boast boast about this:
       that they understand and know me,
       that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness,
       justice and righteousness on earth,
       for in these I delight,"
       declares the LORD (Jeremiah 9:23-24; cf. 2 Corinthians 10:12, 17-18).

Judah was called to forsake worldly wisdom, strength and riches and to trust in God alone. Rather than walking "in the stubbornness of his evil heart" (Jeremiah 11:8), God commands Judah to "hear the words of this covenant and do them" (Jeremiah 11:6). Hear! Obey!

This message is for us too. We are adopted into the family of God by virtue of the cross of Christ. The message of the NT in this respect is the same as the OT. We are to hear and to obey, to read and to practice, to believe and to follow. Faith and discipleship are not mutually exclusive but two sides of the real deal.