What Does a Christian Life Look Like? A Life that Shows I’m Different
Sep 26
A movie came out about 20 years called Dead Poets Society. It starred Robin Williams who played a teacher who used poetry to teach his students about life. One day he had his class go outside and told three of the students to walk around the courtyard. At first they walked differently, but then they started walking to the same beat, as if they were in the military, and all the rest of the students even clapped out the beat for them. The teacher asked if they noticed that. And then he quoted Robert Frost: “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” He was teaching them to be nonconformists, to be their own person, to be different from others even if they might be called odd or ridiculed for it, to stand up for what they believe is right.
Just think if Thomas Edison was a conformist—would we still be using torches or lanterns in our homes at night? If Henry Ford was a conformist—would folks like you or I be able to own a car? If Mark Zuckerberg were a conformist—would we be able to live because we wouldn’t have Facebook? (I hope you catch the sarcasm there.) If Noah was a conformist—would any of us be here right now?
The prophet Jeremiah was told by God to be a nonconformist; he was told by God to be different. And it made Jeremiah’s life not just different, but difficult to say the least. And God has called us as Christians to be different as well in what we believe and in how we live. Jeremiah 15:15-21 will give us some insight into how our lives can be different.
Text: 15 You understand, O LORD; remember me and care for me. Avenge me on my persecutors. You are long-suffering—do not take me away; think of how I suffer reproach for your sake.
16 When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, O LORD God Almighty.
17 I never sat in the company of revelers, never made merry with them;
I sat alone because your hand was on me and you had filled me with indignation.
18 Why is my pain unending and my wound grievous and incurable?
Will you be to me like a deceptive brook, like a spring that fails?
19 Therefore this is what the LORD says: “If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me; if you utter worthy, not worthless, words, you will be my spokesman.
Let this people turn to you, but you must not turn to them.
20 I will make you a wall to this people, a fortified wall of bronze;
they will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you to rescue and save you,” declares the LORD.
21 “I will save you from the hands of the wicked and redeem you from the grasp of the cruel.”
What would happen if you wore your pajamas to school or work? I’m guessing you’d attract all kinds of attention—and none of it good. Jeremiah didn’t have to wear pajamas to work to attract a lot of attention; he just had to be the prophet God called him to be. And he sure got plenty of attention, but it made his life miserable.
He says: 15 You understand, O LORD; remember me and care for me. Avenge me on my persecutors. You are long-suffering—do not take me away; think of how I suffer reproach for your sake. The message God called Jeremiah to preach was a difficult one. For 41 years, Jeremiah told God’s people that his wrath would come on them because they had turned away from the Lord. Turn to the Lord in repentance and be healed. Did they listen? No.
I’ll give you an example of how that might play out today. We just observed the 10th anniversary of the Islamist terrorists killing 3,000 people on 9/11. Was that a judgment of God on America’s turning away from the Lord, as shown by atheistic evolution being taught in our nations public schools, as shown by over 50 million (50 million!) babies having been aborted since abortion was legalized in 1973, as shown by almost any force of God’s law being taken out of the public sphere because that’s promoting Christianity or Judaism against other religions. It very well could have been God’s specific judgment on America, although we can’t say exactly what God was doing by allowing those attacks. But if you even hint at the possibility of the 9/11 being God’s judgment on America’s sins, what kind of reaction would you get? “”That’s not American! You’re not a patriot! You hate the U.S.!” And that’s just talking about America’s lack of following God’s will in the law. That says nothing about God’s will that all be saved through belief in the Son he sent, which is coming under attack more and more in our country.
Now you can see why Jeremiah said, “15Avenge me on my persecutors. … think of how I suffer reproach for your sake. If we said against our countrymen what Jeremiah said against his, we’d be ostracized as well for being unpatriotic and hating our nation, and especially for pointing out people’s sin. But God’s judgment did come, and we know that was because of Israel’s sins—it came in the form of Babylon who took God’s people into captivity.
The false prophets of Jeremiah’s time were proclaiming “Peace, peace. Don’t worry about the Babylonians.” Jeremiah proclaimed God’s wrath was coming. Not a popular message. He says how it affected him: “17 I never sat in the company of revelers, never made merry with them; I sat alone because your hand was on me and you had filled me with indignation.” Because of his message, Jeremiah knew that he couldn’t live the way most of the Israelites were living, reveling at their parties, not heeding Jeremiah’s warning of what was to come. We think of Noah preaching for 120 years that God’s wrath against sin was coming, and how his message fell on deaf ears. Noah didn’t have a very big congregation—eventually it was only 8. Jeremiah didn’t enjoy numerical success either—only a faithful few who still believed in the true God, repented of their sins, and trusted his promises of the Savior to come.
And eventually it took its toll on Jeremiah in his personal life and his relationship with his God. At first he was happy to hear and proclaim the message God gave him. “16 When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, O LORD God Almighty.” He ate them in the sense of them becoming a part of him—that’s how important they were to him. But eventually, after many years of faithful preaching, God’s prophet became despondent. And then Jeremiah says something that shocks us: “18 Why is my pain unending and my wound grievous and incurable? Will you be to me like a deceptive brook, like a spring that fails?” Jeremiah’s differentness gave him pain, like a wound that continually festers and never heals. And in his pain, he began to blame God for giving him such a difficult message to proclaim. He compares God to a deceptive brook. In the hot Middle-eastern climate, the spring rains and thaw would give way to the dry season of summer. In that climate in Israel even today, there are streams called wadis, that eventually dry up because they don’t have continual water to sustain them. They eventually become dry river beds with no more water in them than a desert. That’s what Jeremiah is comparing God to, as if God’s promises are worthless and his power absent. Not a good way to describe God.
So God says: “ 19 Therefore this is what the LORD says: “If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me; if you utter worthy, not worthless, words, you will be my spokesman. Let this people turn to you, but you must not turn to them.” He calls Jeremiah to repentance. For all his knowledge of the truth and persecution at the hands of the enemies of God and his message, he was becoming just like they were. How easy it would be for Jeremiah to fall into that. How easy it would have been to simply say, “I don’t want to proclaim this message any longer, all it brings me is ridicule.” Actually, it would eventually even bring him death because his enemies didn’t want to hear it, so they would eventually kill him because of it.
Have you ever had those thoughts? “Why are you allowing this misery into my life, Lord? I don’t deserve this. I’ve been faithful to you, and this is the result? I’d be better of turning away from you if all I receive is scorn. Or at the very least, I’ll stop proclaiming your message because people just don’t want to hear it. My life would be so much easier.” But God hasn’t called us to an easy life. Our Savior God has called us to pick up our cross and follow after him. Our Savior God has called on us to turn the other cheek when we are mistreated, not to get personal revenge. Our Savior God has called us proclaim a message of salvation in Christ alone that some may accept, but the vast majority will ridicule and reject as something cavemen maybe used to believe long ago, that we cling to our religion in ignorance, that we are intolerant of other religions and are therefore the enemy, not those other religions that are so peaceful.
Does that get to be a burden proclaiming that message? Does it get to be a burden under that cross as we proclaim Jesus Christ and him crucified as the only way to heaven—that’s taking our cross and following Jesus. Is it tough being different that we won’t want to engage in abortion because we know it’s murder, or joining every religion because we know they are teaching falsehoods? Is it tough remaining a virgin until you’re married, or not living with someone outside of marriage? Absolutely it is!
I can still remember when I was just out of college and I lived near Stevens Point, WI. There was a debate on abortion rights, so I went to it. At first, the moderator was being even-handed about both sides of the issue—whether abortion is the mother’s right to choose because the fetus is just tissue, or whether life begins at conception which means that abortion is murder. The pro-life position wasn’t getting a whole lot of support by those present, and the moderator asked if anyone was pro-life. I sheepishly raised my hand. I was the only one. Immediately anger filled the room. People who were pro-choice literally turned their chairs around to face me better so they could direct all their anger at me! I held my own (as the sweat was running down my back), but I’m sure I didn’t change anyone’s mind that day. That’s what our children can expect when they go to a public school of higher learning in our country, or even high school or grade school. How will our kids do? How did you do?
All those things are tough, and we will be ridiculed for how different we are. You bet we will.
So it is easier not to be different, but just to go with the crowd, the world? You bet it is.
So why do we choose to carry that burden, that cross? Because Jesus carried our cross first. Every time we didn’t carry our cross, but just blended into the crowd, into this world, and didn’t raise our hand to propose a different point of view, so that no one could tell we were different, that was a sin. And for those sins we deserve death.
Jesus took that death on himself. He carried the cross we deserve. He suffered the rejection by God that should have been leveled on us—and he paid that terrible price in full, drank that cup of God’s wrath against our sin to the very bottom. And now God tells you, as he told Jeremiah, repent and believe the good news, and I will restore you. Repent of those sins, and hear the good news that your sins are forgiven in Christ Jesus and heaven is your home. Now, as Paul says, “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). Our sins of blending into this world are all washed away by the blood of Jesus, and simply believing that gives us life now and life eternal.
And that makes us different. Do you think we could find something else to do than spending a few hours every Sunday in church while most people are sleeping or getting ready for the game? Do you think we could find something to spend our money on besides putting it in that plate that somebody passes down the aisle? Of course, but we do it because we’re different. We’re saved by Christ and we believe it, and so we live a different life. And people will notice. And hopefully we’ll use our opportunities not only to live different lives but also to tell folks that that there is something that unites all of us as sinful human beings—Jesus died for us all. As Paul says, “There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:23-24).
There are all kinds of reasons why we would want to follow poet Robert Frost’s advice about not conforming to this world. As Christians, we have a better reason for being different and showing we’re different. Two roads divide in our lives, and I—I choose the one less traveled by, because Christ has made all the difference. Amen.
Sermon on Jeremiah 15:15-21 preached at Living Word Lutheran Church in Waukesha, WI on 9/25/2011.
