Things became extremely wicked among Gods people. To introduce yourself to conditions in Jerusalem, read Jeremiah 1 and 5. These were the people who were supposed to be Gods people, but they were an extremely wicked people. Through Jeremiah, God expressed His contempt for the horrible lives these people lived. Jeremiah was to make them aware of their utter moral failure. Jeremiahs task was unpleasant and discouraging (read Jeremiah 8:18-22; 15:15-18; 20:7-18).
Because we say we belong to God and do religious things does not mean that we cannot be wicked people. Perhaps one of the biggest and easiest roadways to wicked values and conduct is an arrogant belief in our own goodness. Jesus biggest confrontation in his earthly life was with people who were regarded to be societys most religious people.
A significant part of the problem was introduced in Jeremiah 7. The reasoning seemed to be this: (1) The temple contains Gods presence on earth. (2) The city of Jerusalem, the capital city of Judah, contains Gods temple. (3) God will not permit anything bad happen to His temple, therefore God will not let anything bad happen to Jerusalem (and Judah). The people are safe from harm because Jerusalem contains the temple. (4) Thus, it does not matter what any prophet (or anyone else) says against the city and the people because we have Gods temple.
Stress that when Christians reason that they are protected from Gods anger because of what they have done or have given to God instead of who God is, those Christians likely are making God extremely angry. Note these people thought they were protected because their forefathers gave God a temple. The gift, not God, was their protection.
Note that Gods anger with them was not focused on the temple, or HOW they offered sacrifices, or the practices they used in their religious rituals. With all the evil in Jerusalem, the probability was quite high that there were glaring flaws in the temple worship/practices. If people are deeply flawed morally, typically their worship practices are not A-Okay. If their worship was less than what God expected, those flaws were NOT the priority problem with God. The priority problem was the way they lived! Worship is reflected in ones life. Worship is not a substitute for a godly living!
It is simple foe Christians to think that the key to divine protection is found in correct procedures. Worship must be an outgrowth of who we are. We worship God because we appreciate what God has done for us. For Israel, it was deliverance from Egypt that led to their formation as a nation. For us, it is the deliverance from sin that permits us to be in Gods family.
(a) To believe that God would not act against Jerusalem because the city contained Gods temple was to be deceived. To hold that conviction was to trust deceptive words. The moral cure for Gods anger would not be found in reforming temple practices!
They were deceived because they were temple-focused rather than God-focused. (It is simple for us to be church-focused rather than God-focused.)
(b)The problem would be addressed only if they amended their ways, their deeds, addressed the unjust way they treated neighbors, stopped oppressing those who were not Jews, stopped oppressing powerless Jews who had no social status, stopped shedding innocent blood, and ceased worshipping idols. The foundation problem was to be seen in what they did every day in their lives. How they lived was reflected accurately in how they treated other people.
They thought correct temple practices replaced godly behavior. (We can think correct church practices will replace godly behavior.)
The end result was they stole, murdered, committed adultery, and engaged in idolatry in the conviction that they made everything alright if they went to the temple and offered the right sacrifices in the right way. Appealing to God had nothing to do with how they lived. Appealing to God only concerned going to the temple. Thus, they caused temple worship to be a fraudulent misrepresentation of God. God Himself saw what they were doing!
They thought doing temple right was the key to making God happy. (We can think doing church right is the key to making God happy.) If we are ungodly people, the key is not the temple or the church, but how we behave as people. The key to correct worship in any age begins with godly living. Worship and behavior hold hands.
(c) God said, Look at Shiloh! It contained My tabernacle before the temple ever existed. Note the wickedness of those people. Note what I did to them even though they had My tabernacle.
God proved in Shiloh that ungodly behavior would bring destructionand having the tabernacle would not protect them! Read and be familiar with 1 Samuel 1 through 4. God already had demonstrated it took more than a correct building to produce divine protection. Wicked behavior caused the downfall of Shiloh and Israel!
I have tried to tell you what the problem was, but you refused to listen. I called you, and you refused to answer Me. Your behavior has left me no choice. I will do to the temple and Jerusalem what I did to the tabernacle and Shiloh. I will have nothing to do with you! I forbid Jeremiah to pray or intercede for you! You will realize you have not hurt Me, but yourselves!
Their ungodly deafness forced God to take more drastic actions. Gods actions occurred after much patience. God sent them many prophets and disasters, and they refused to listen. Wicked behavior can turn God against a people, regardless of how much God loves those people. Divine love will not ignore the wicked behavior of a spiritually deaf people.
Wow! If you understand fully what God said, the appropriate reaction should be, Wow! Wow! If your impression is that the way they lived genuinely made God quite angry even after all He did for them, you are correct! (The way they acted really ticked God off!) Their behavior was nothing less than an abuse of Gods generations of kindness and trustworthiness!
Consider. God had delivered then from Egypt thus ending their slavery, made them a nation, and made it possible for them to have a landjust as He promised Abraham long before a Israelite people existed. Their forefathers approached Canaan for the first time about a year after leaving Egypt, and faithlessness kept them from entering Canaan. Yet, Gods perseverance prevailed. The period of the judges was not a godly period, but Gods perseverance prevailed. Gods perseverance prevailed through King Saul, King Davids failures, and the divided kingdom. However, when the people trusted more in their gift to God than in God Himself, God abandoned them to the consequences of their own wickedness.
There is an end to Gods patience! Even God will end enduring abuse!
To delve deeper into the problem, read again 2 Samuel 7:1-7. Then read 1 Kings 9:3. When you read those references with Jeremiah 7:1-11, a reality becomes quite apparent. The temple was King Davids idea! God later accepted a human idea though He never commanded the idea. Thus a human gift was given to God, God accepted the gift, and the people placed their confidence/trust in their gift rather than in the God who lead their forefathers from Egypt and gave them Canaan. The people had more confidence in their gift than they had in God! In fact, they used the gift in an attempt to manipulate God so they could justify ungodly behavior. Do you blame God for being so angry?
When we place our trust in our gifts and actions instead of God Himself, the truth is that we trust in ourselves more than we trust in God. This is not an anti-obedience statement but a human motive statement. If we deceive in regard to our whys, we deceive ourselvesnot God.
That approach sounds so much like us it is scary! We sacrifice for buildings, furnishings, parking lots, and a host of other things that are not wrong of themselves. Then we declare our faithfulness because we gave to things that primarily benefit us. We are spiritually comforted when or if we can say, Look what we did, rather than devoting ourselves to living by Gods values. Often our lives do not reflect God and His values. It is so easy to trust our gifts instead of trusting the God to whom we give our gifts.
We find it very convenient to trust the good things we do rather than to trust in God. God accepts us for our dedication to holy living, not because we prove ourselves profitable. Gods acceptance always will be based on His mercy and grace, never on our deceived sense of profitability. It is not a matter of procedures but a dedication to holy living that depends on God.
Care to look honestly in the mirror with the determination to see yourself accurately? Do you trust what God did for us in Jesus life, death, and resurrection, or do you trust the gifts you have given to God? The message of this lesson is NOT anti-gift to God. It IS anti-trust in the gifts we give to God. It is an examination of our motives when we give to God.
The stress is on what God did for us in Jesus death, not on what we do for God. It is what God did that made forgiveness, redemption, reconciliation, sanctification, etc. possible. All we do is respond to what God made possible. While what we do is a necessary response, it did not create the mercy and grace of God.
Never forget that God cannot be manipulated. Trust God, not what you do for or give to God. The uniqueness of relationship with God is found in what He gave us, not in what we give Him.
If we deceive ourselves into thinking we can manipulate God, we revert to a basic concept in idolatry. We can respond to God, but we cannot manipulate God. We must never forget that God brought us into existence. We did not give God existence.
For Thought and Discussion
1. What do Jeremiah 1 and 5 say to you about the inhabitants of Jerusalem?
They were an extremely wicked people.
2. How did God express His contempt?
God expressed His contempt through the message of Jeremiah.
3. How do Jeremiah 8:18-22, 15:15-18, and 20:7-18 show Jeremiahs task was discouraging?
Jeremiah8:18-22discusses Jeremiahs grief and internal suffering.
Jeremiah l5:15-18discusses the pain of his persecution.
Jeremiah 20:7-18discusses his misery to the point that he regrets being born.
4. What seems to be the reasoning of Jerusalems inhabitants?
a) The temple contains Gods presence.
b) Jerusalem contains the temple.
c) God will protect the temple.
d) Nothing bad can happen to Jerusalem or its people.
5. God did not focus His anger in what ways?
God did not focus His anger on the temple or its procedures.
6. What belief was a deception?
To believe that God would not act against Jerusalem and its people because Jerusalem contained the temple was to be deceived.
7. How should Gods anger (the problem) be addressed?
It would only be addressed if they changed the way they behaved and treated other people.
8. What was the foundation problem?
The foundation problem was the way they lived every day.
9. Why should they look at Shiloh?
It proved God would act against the wickedness of His people regardless of what facility they had.
10. God tried to get their attention, but they responded how?
They responded with deafness to Gods warnings.
11. Discuss this statement: The people had more confidence in their gift to God than their God.
The discussion should include the understanding that to trust our gifts instead of our God is to trust in ourselves and to try to manipulate God.
Link to Student Guide
Lesson 5