Jeremiah 6:14 "Superficial"

Lately I have been studying the Old Testament book Jeremiah during my quiet time with the Lord.  While reading through the sixth chapter the fourteenth verse really jumped out at me.  As I sat in my office I couldn't get this verse off of my mind. So I decided to share my thoughts.

They have healed the brokenness of My people superficially,
Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ But there is no peace. - Jeremiah 6:14 NASB

Let's face it.  We all know superficial people.  To some degree each of us are guilty of it ourselves--and probably more often than we would ever be comfortable admitting.  I could spend the next few paragraphs talking about the shallow superficiality of people; but that's not really what this passage is about.

Plainly Jeremiah is writing of superficial healing being touted about by the religious order of the day.  What does that mean?  It means that the religious leadership of Israel were not addressing any deep problems of their time.

We see this all the time in our era as well.  The human heart hasn't changed much in the last 2,500 years and we still have pretty much the same disposition toward wickedness that the prophet's contemporaries did--we've only came up with flashier ways to package and present them.  To remove this idea from a religious context for one moment it is very much like a physician who seeks only to treat symptoms and not the underlying problem, be it sickness, injury, or disease.

Now, think about this within the framework of Christianity.  Do we do this?  Do we try really hard to treat people's problems without addressing their condition?  Absolutely.  The movement I belong to is, I think, sometimes especially guilty of this.  We become incredibly concerned with seeing people respond immediately within a religious service, but often fail to find out or follow up with how they might be responding in a month's time.

When men encounter the genuine message of the Gospel, and through it--God, it forces a change.  I present this as a challenge to myself and my fellow believers: does the message we present to those around us go beyond the finite temporal struggles of a daily existence and address a deeper condition.  Is the Gospel, Tylenol for a moral headache, or Virtuous Healing for a diseased soul?




Other blogs in this series.

• They   
• Brokenness 
• My People
• Superficial 
• Peace
  
• Today 

Pessimism: the Not-So-Secret Cardinal Doctrine

"Things are terrible.  This is bad.  That is worse.  Our morals are in the toilet.  Our minds are in the gutter.  Our churches are in retreat."

Regular sermons, church speak, Christian literature, blogging, social media, and actual face-to-face conversations are flavored with this kind of language on a regular basis.  Funny (and by that I actually mean SAD), but I don't remember pessimism being a Cardinal Doctrine.

I understand that in a lot of areas of public thought and discussion it seems like some of our cherished values are under assault, and they are, although probably not by the overwhelming majority some of us think.  But there are three major difficulties with this kind of prevailing message.

1) There are now more Christians on the planet than have lived in all of history up to this point.  Current estimates put the number of Christ-followers at around 2.1 billion, a number that is consistently increasing.

2) God is sovereign and that needs no explanation.

3) The Gospel is a message of hope.  It is the Message of Hope.  It is the Good News.

I realize that this blog seems kind of ironic.  It probably comes across like I'm kind of being pessimistic about pessimism (don't think too hard on that one).  I also understand, that all too often I probably get the "woe-is-me" or "woe-are-we" thing going too.  But first and foremost the Christian message is one of hope and encouragement.

Jesus said it plainly one day in His local synagogue.


"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor." -- Luke 4:18,19 ESV

Anointing.  Good News.  Liberty.  Recovery.  Favor.

That all sounds a far cry different than a lot of the fearful defeatist drivel we hear, say, and share on a regular basis.  Jesus is the hope of the world.  Trivializing Him to be a rationalization for our political, private, and pessimistic concerns is a sad kind of twisted reverse idolatry.

Anointing cover you.  Good news guide you.  Liberty release you.  Recovery keep you.  Favor find you.

Everyone. Everywhere. Everyday.

I once heard a pastor that I have a tremendous amount of respect for give a lecture on his thoughts concerning evangelism. If you read the title of this entry, then you already have the gist of what the pastor I speak of had to say that day.

Everyone. Everywhere. Everyday. This means that anyone you cross paths with, at any location, or at any moment, could be depending on you to share the Gospel with them.

I do a lot of teaching about how to talk to people about Christ. Not all people you share the Gospel with will require, or need, to hear words from you. In fact, some will be impacted much more if you just live it out authentically in front of them. There are, however, those that need to hear someone put into words their reasons and results from living a life with Christ. Because of this, we need to be willing to share the Gospel with everyone, everywhere, everyday.

Share Your Faith: Connect Socially

Sharing your faith is one of the most basic principles of Christianity, yet it is largely ignored in terms of serious teaching or discipline.  I'm not suggesting the following is anything overtly intellectual or deep; but it is serious, and for those wishing to share their faith, it is practical.

One of the greatest stories in all of the gospels is recorded in John 4:1-26. This wonderful account details Christ's interaction with a Samaritan woman at a well. I believe that anything we do as Christians can be patterned after the way Christ did things.  There are some great truths we can take away from Christ's interaction with the woman that will help us in communicating the Gospel.

1) Connect Socially

In the Church-world we're getting really good at separating ourselves from the rest of the world; but separation doesn't mean isolation.  We live where we live, around whom we live around.  We work where we work, with whom we work.  I'm not sure why we feel like that simply because we're believers  that we are supposed to suddenly cease all connection with anyone that is not a believer.  It's like the only place that we feel comfortable interacting with non-believers is within the apparent safety of our churches.

When people aren't coming to Christ, it's usually because the Church is not taking Christ to the people who need Him most.  We really have to get rid of this naivety we have about thinking people will just show up and make life-changing decisions simply because we have a Christmas program, potluck, or Super-Bowl Party.  These are all great events, for building relationships, but if you're not actively trying to get non-believers there stop thinking they'll show up on their own.

Finally, withdrawing ourselves from those who have not heard or obeyed the gospel is completely, and entirely, contrary to the will of God.  Stop hiding behind the walls of this weird little Christian sub-culture we've whipped up in the last fifty years.  Get out there, connect with unbelievers, and build actual relationships with them that show Christ's love.

2) Common Interest
3) Spiritual Interest