The Prophet Overturns False Hope (Jeremiah 7:1-29)

We are continuing our series on Jeremiah this Sunday, and we’ve come to Jeremiah 7:1-29.  And over the past couple of months, as Jeremiah confronted the people of God with their sin, we also were confronted with ours.  And this Sunday is no different.  To be honest, this week has been difficult to prepare because it’s telling me something that I don’t want to hear.

 Jeremiah called out the Israelites for going through the motions of religious observance without any of the spiritual transformation that was supposed to go with it.  The Israelites had all the trappings of being devout, but they weren’t actually genuine in their devotion and faith.  And honestly, this is an issue that I don’t think that I have much trouble with.  I love the Lord and have devoted my life to it.  But as with most things, I’m wrong.  My focus on the Gospel and on Jesus Christ often wanders as life happens.  I get caught up in the trappings of church life, and I lose focus on the whole point of church life.  There’s always a lesson to prepare, people to meet with, a project at home to complete, and this week, a sermon to prepare.  What ought to be joyful worship changes to going through the motions to survive.

 And Jeremiah 7 is calling us, and particularly me, to focus on a genuine, real God who is there for us.  When it comes down to it, the trappings may be important, necessary and required even.  But everything must be put in its place, for there is only one reason that I do anything at all: Jesus Christ.

 My hope is that as we go through this passage, we would take to heart what Jeremiah says about being focused on the trappings of religious observance instead of the core of the Christianity.  Come Sunday to see what Jeremiah has to say about how we deal with our focus drifting from the fundamentals of the Faith to the trappings of it.