Tag Archives: Jeremiah 7-9

Daily Bible Study

August 9, 2023 Bible Study — Going to Church Every Sunday Doesn’t Save You

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Jeremiah 7-9.

In today’s passage Jeremiah addresses “church-goers”, those who regularly take part in official worship of God.  God sent him to stand in front of the temple gate and speak to those who went through the gate to worship God, which was more or less the equivalent of going to church services on Sunday.  Jeremiah told them that the temple would not protect them from God’s judgement and in the same way going to church services every Sunday, or even including weekday services, will not save us from God’s judgement.  In order to be saved from God’s judgement we must allow God’s Spirit to change our actions.  We must deal with others justly, we must not oppress those weaker than ourselves, and we must not follow other gods.  I want to expand on that last one a little bit.  Through Jeremiah, God tells us not to follow other gods, because doing so harms us.  The other things in that list of things bring harm to others, but following other gods brings harm to ourselves.

This passage highlights the danger of thinking that “faith” in Christ is all that you need.  We cannot earn our way into heaven by doing good deeds; none of us are good enough for that to work.  However, if our faith in Christ does not cause us to do good deeds, we do not really believe Him.  If we think we will get into heaven because we were wise enough to avoid the mistakes which others made that are leading them to Hell, we are mistaken.  We must seek to obey God and provide assistance to those in need.  Do not boast about your wisdom, nor about your strength, nor about your wealth.  None of those things will do you any good.  Instead, boast about the fact that God has chosen you to take part in the sufferings of Christ, boast about the fact that you serve a God who will accept any who humbly turn to Him.  I serve a great God, and so can anyone who chooses to do so, no matter how many mistakes they have made, no matter how bad the mistakes they made.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

August 9, 2022 Bible Study– We Harm Ourselves When We Sin

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Jeremiah 7-9.

Jeremiah prophesied against those who came to the temple to worship God.  They thought they were gaining God’s blessing by coming to the temple to offer sacrifices to God, without reforming their ways.  They thought that by offering sacrifices to God on the Holy Days, while stealing and murdering, committing adultery and perjury the rest of the time.  Jeremiah warned them that they were arousing God’s anger, but not because they were causing any harm to Him.  No, God was angry because they harmed themselves with their sins.  This passage presents two important lessons.  God does not give us commands arbitrarily.  He does not tell us “Do this, don’t do that,” just to make us jump to His tune.  He tells us “Do this” because He knows we will be better off if we do so.  And He tells us “Don’t do that” because He knows we will suffer if we do that.  God’s rules are not intended to limit our enjoyment of life, they are designed to enhance it.  But the prophet has a second message for us here: following the commands which cause other people to think we are righteous benefits us less than following those which no one notices us doing. Going to Church every Sunday won’t do you any good if you take advantage of people with limited options to save money.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

August 9, 2021 Bible Study — We Bring Harm Upon Ourselves When We Sin

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Jeremiah 7-9.

Since I am going to be on vacation from July 31-August 9 I have already written my blog posts for these days and scheduled them to be posted.  However, I may not be able to post a link to them on FaceBook, Gab.com, or MeWe.com during every day (or any day) during this time period.  So, please continue to visit my site to read my daily devotional.

The people to whom Jeremiah prophesied were convinced that they were safe from invasion because the Temple of God was in their midst, but God told them in no uncertain terms that they were mistaken.   Later, Jeremiah points out that some people think they gain God’s protection by making the correct sacrifices and following the correct rituals.  Today there are people who think they have God’s protection because they go to Church on Sunday, or because they attend BLM protests, or in some other way signal their “righteousness”.  Jeremiah tells them that God does not work that way.  Jeremiah reminds them once again (also reminding them that he is not the first to deliver this message) that God wants them to change their ways and deal with each other justly.

I was writing the above and was suddenly derailed when I reviewed the excerpt I had pulled out which framed my thoughts on this and saw the phrase I put in bold below:

Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!” 5 If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever.

All too often those of us who call others away from sin forget that part.  When we sin we do so to our own harm.  While treating others unjustly hurts them, and oppressing the powerless hurts them, it does as much harm to ourselves.  The same applies to other sins as well.

Overall, this passage can be frightening and depressing because Jeremiah essentially says it is too late to avert God’s coming judgement upon Jerusalem.  However, a closer reading reveals that Jeremiah was not saying it was too late.  He was saying that the people would not turn from their sins before it was too late.  None of them would acknowledge their wickedness, that they themselves had done evil, and turn from it, realizing the harm they had done to others.  Instead they would claim wisdom and follow after leaders who told them that their sins were godly.  They knew they were being deceived, but went along with it anyway.

 

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

August 9, 2020 Bible Study Jeremiah’s Message To Us: “Stop!”

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Jeremiah 7-9.

As I get older, I see more and more parallels between what the Old Testament prophets said to the people of their day and what is going on today.  Jeremiah told the people of Jerusalem that they must stop their evil thoughts and deeds, they must treat each other with justice, they must stop exploiting foreigners, orphans, and widows, they must stop murdering, and they must stop harming themselves.  In each of these I see parallels today.  On the issue of justice, all too often I see people hear a story and demand punishment for the “perpetrator” before they hear all of the facts.  By the time the facts come out indicating that perhaps the “perpetrator” had done nothing wrong after all, they have moved on and are no longer paying attention.  On the issue of exploiting foreigners, all too often those who speak out against it end up as political allies of those who do the most exploiting.  Rather than demand that the laws be changed, they demand that they not be enforced.  And on the last one, when people call for individuals to stop harming themselves, they are shouted down as intolerant because those people should be allowed the freedom to do as they choose without being condemned.

Jeremiah goes on to tell how the people refuse to stand up for the truth.  Again what he writes reminds me of today, where you have to carefully evaluate every piece of information which you come across, not matter what the source.  People are more concerned with whether something supports their argument than with whether or not it is true.  You cannot trust your neighbor, not even your own brother.  We see it time and again, friends slander friends when it becomes advantageous to do so.  Let us separate ourselves from these sorts of actions and be sorry for the wrong we have done.  Let us humbly turn to the Lord and beg Him for forgiveness.  Let us not boast of our wisdom, riches, or power.  Instead, let us boast of God’s mercy to us.

Daily Bible Study

August 9, 2019 Bible Study — Sin Is Self-Destructive Behavior

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.  I am going to be on vacation through August 10th.  I have prepared my daily Bible Studies for each day throughout that time in advance since I will have limited access to the Internet during this time.  The timing on when I publish these blogs may be erratic during this time.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Jeremiah 7-9.

Today’s passage warns those who think that they are safe and secure.  Those who believe they will never suffer any negative consequences for their sins.  God does not tell us not to do certain things because He desires to limit our pleasure.  God tells us not to certain things because those things damage us.  Sometimes that damage is physical, sometimes it is mental or emotional, and sometimes it is spiritual.  If we do any of the things which God has warned us against we bring damage on ourselves, even if we cannot see how.  Further, these self-destructive behaviors which we call sins are cumulative, both within the individual and in society.  The more sins you commit, the more each of those sins will damage you.  The more people in society sin, the greater the breakdown of society.  This will continue until an entire country becomes a wasteland.

Jeremiah speaks of the fact that people refuse to turn away from their self-destructive behavior.  I see it all around me.  I will use the discovery of AIDS in the 1980s as an example.  Initially, it was seen as a disease which occurred in those who had homosexual sex.  After a short time it was discovered that anyone who had sex with multiple partners was at risk (side-note: it is still more common among men who have sex with other men, but that is not relevant to my point).  However, people rejected the idea as “old-fashioned” that one should not have multiple sexual partners.  Those who held such ideas were often called “prudes” (and sometimes still are).  People recognized that certain behaviors were self-destructive, but refused to give them up.  Even many of those who claimed to teach God’s word twisted it so as to support this self-destructive behavior.  Worse, some of those who proclaimed God’s warning against such behavior twisted God’s word so as to justify failing to show God’s love to those who suffered.

The example I gave is but one such example, and not even the worst.  People commit sins and when they suffer the consequences refuse to change their behavior.  They lie and cheat, and, when they are cheated and lied use it to justify more lying and cheating.  God tells us that when we are cheated and lied to we should stand up for the truth.  Our society believes in treating the symptoms rather than the disease.  Those who point to the source of our problems is condemned as intolerant and hate-filled.

Daily Bible Study

August 9, 2018 Bible Study — Sin Is Self-destructive

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Jeremiah 7-9.

    The people of Jerusalem thought that they were safe because the Temple was in Jerusalem. However, Jeremiah told them that they were mistaken. If they did not stop wallowing in evil thoughts and deeds they would indeed suffer the consequences. Jeremiah spelled out the sins which would lead to disaster. That list could be taken from the headlines today. Time and again we hear about how people are not treated with justice, and there are always those who are cheering on the injustice. We have a major debate going on over illegal aliens. No one involved appears to care that they are being exploited and are being used to allow others to be exploited as well. As a people we worship many things other than God, to our own detriment.

    Jeremiah goes on to condemn the people of Jerusalem for killing their own children as offerings to their idols, much as our society today does in the name of convenience. Rather than turn back when we have discovered that we have chosen the wrong path we compound our self-destructive behaviors. Even those who claim to follow God twist His words to support doing wrong. Our wise counselors tell us that our problem is our feeling of guilt, not the sin which leads to it. Rather than teach people to change the behaviors which destroy their lives, they teach people to not feel bad for doing wrong.

    Jeremiah reminds us that if we must boast we should not boast of our wealth, or our power, not even of our wisdom. The only thing which truly counts is whether we know God and understand that He is Lord (“the one to be obeyed”). As Paul states in Galatians what counts is whether we have been transformed into a new creation by God’s Spirit. If we are going to boast, let us boast about God. When I speak to those around me who suffer from emotional and psychological distress, my lack of similar distress does not come from me being wiser, richer, more powerful than they. My lack of similar distress is the result of God transforming me. My lack of suffering is not because I am better than others. It is because God’s Spirit has changed me as He will do for them if they but ask.

Daily Bible Study

August 9, 2017 Bible Study — Are We Ashamed Of Our Sins? Or Are We Just Ashamed That We Got Caught?

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Jeremiah 7-9.

    Jeremiah warns the people of Jerusalem that God will bring judgment against them for their sins. There were those among them who thought they were safe because the Temple was in Jerusalem, that God would never let Jerusalem fall because the Temple was there. However, Jeremiah told them that unless they stopped exploiting foreigners, orphans, and widows God would bring suffering into their midst. Today in this country if you listen to the debate over illegal immigration you realize that we are guilty of exploiting the foreigners among us. Further, one realizes that the reason for the issue even being debated is because the foreigners are being used to allow those in positions of power to exploit the least powerless among us, the orphans and the widows(although, not just the orphans and widows). With few exceptions, those in power propose solutions appealing to one side or the other in the debate which serve to further this exploitation not correct it. There is one further point which the prophet makes on this specific subject. Those who are oppressing the foreigner, the widows, and the orphans (the powerless) are harming themselves. We will only turn away from our sins when we recognize that they cause more harm to ourselves than whatever pleasure they bring us. We will only convince others to repent of their sins when we both recognize and communicate this fact.

    Jeremiah speaks of the people of Jerusalem, from the least to the greatest, who are not ashamed of their sins, of their detestable conduct. Look around at our society today and you will see the same thing. People are not ashamed of having done wrong when they are caught. They are ashamed that they were caught doing wrong! They condemn others for doing wrong, but when they are caught doing the same sort of things, they place the blame on those who revealed their wrongdoing. They attempt to convince people that the person who revealed their wrongdoing did worse by revealing it than they themselves had done. It is easiest to see this behavior among our political leaders, but everyone does it. Until we value honesty in ourselves more than we value anything else, this problem will continue.

Daily Bible Study

August 9, 2016 Bible Study — Sin Is Self Destructive Behavior

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

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Today, I am reading and commenting on Jeremiah 7-9.

    As I was reading the first thing that I saw which I wanted to comment on was chapter 7 verse 19:

“Am I the one they are hurting?” asks the Lord. “Most of all, they hurt themselves, to their own shame.”

We need to really pay attention to this. If we truly love someone we cannot look the other way when they sin, because they are hurting themselves by their sinning. As I was composing my thoughts, Facebook put up as a “memory” from 2013 my blog for that day, which I had titled “Sin Is Self Destructive Behavior”. I was using a different read-through-the-Bible-in-a-year schedule then, so that blog was on a completely different passage. We need to recognize that those who are sinning are unlikely to listen to our warnings, but we must warn them anyway.

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    There are many people who think because they go to church, or do good things, they will avoid the harm that their sin produces. Such is not the case. No matter what else we do, our sin will have negative consequences for us. If we do not listen when God calls us to give up our sin, He will apply ever greater discipline to us. However, our sin does not just bring harm to ourselves. Our sins cause harm to others, either because we directly harm others, or because others are influenced by our bad behavior to sin themselves. Therefore, if we do not turn from our sin, from our self-destructive behavior, eventually God will destroy us.