Keep Your Behavior in Line
Jeremiah 22:1?25:38
All of us have been treated unfairly at one time or another. In the world we live in, we see it all the time. The key, of course, is about our responses. This becomes much more difficult, however, when it comes from people in authority – parents, bosses, local authorities (in recent news, city shuts down kid’s lemonade stand in Maryland).
When the leaders of a nation or its spiritual leaders do this, everyone takes notice and is affected. In these chapters, we find the kings of Judah doing just that. After Josiah, four kings in Judah were responsible for:
– Conducting business without justice and righteousness.
– Using people and exploiting the poor, and at the same time they were making themselves very comfortable.
– More concerned about palace building than building God’s kingdom.
At the end of these, King Josiah denounced these leaders of Judah for the way they treated helpless people. These leaders of Judah exalted themselves and exploited people for their own personal gain.
Jeremiah then turned to the religious leaders – the false prophets. They had led the Northern Kingdom away, and now they were leading Judah down a road that would lead to judgment. Jeremiah said that his heart was breaking for what he was seeing in the false prophets (23:19). The false prophets professed loyalty to God, but practiced loyalty to other deities. What they did furthered evil, not the kingdom of God. Instead of being a moral challenge to Judah, they greased the slope with their words for Judah to slip into judgment.
At the end of this section, some continuity has taken place. Jeremiah has been at this thankless work now for 20-plus years. God is sending Babylonian forces to invade Judah from the North. This is fulfillment of what Jeremiah has been saying all through the book.
God will also deal with the nations other than Judah when He finishes using them. Destruction will be great. It will be impossible to even bury the dead. The judgment is centered, it seems, on leaders.
“Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11).
“Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24).
Things to think about:
– You become what you listen to. You act on who you are, thus the conflict in relationship and the treating of people unfairly.
– As we see the kings and leaders of Judah tremble, we must pray for our leaders that God would give them wisdom and they would have the courage to act on it as they make decisions for us.
– It is important to test who you are listening to. Even though someone is energetic in what they say and do, does it fit the Word of God?
– National leaders and spiritual leaders must live with integrity. We continually hear that the private life is none of our business as long as they are doing a good job. Not so. God says who we are is just as important as what we do.
Barker– Lessons by Ron Barker, evangelism and prayer strategist for the evangelization and missions team of the South Carolina Baptist Convention. Barker also taught evangelism at Southwestern Seminary.