Jeremiah 25:6-7 – A Passive Aggressive Theology
4 And the Lord has sent to you all His servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear. 5 They said, ‘Repent now everyone of his evil way and his evil doings, and dwell in the land that the Lord has given to you and your fathers forever and ever. 6 Do not go after other gods to serve them and worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands; and I will not harm you.’ 7 Yet you have not listened to Me,” says the Lord, “that you might provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt. Jeremiah 25:4-7, New King James Version
"Men can be content to be anything," deduces Thomas Watson in The Art of Contentment, "but what God would have them be."
There doesn't seem to be this sense of purposeful spite in Jeremiah 25:6-7. He created us with a need for the transcendent to be fulfilled in Himself. Yet we, according to verse six, "go after" other gods. We are, in our fallen nature, always seeking in each new experience the fulfillment He told us would be found in Him. Not finding it and wearied in our going, it is our bitterness we reserved for Him in passive-aggressive fashion. Why am I tired? Why am I lonely? Why am I estranged? It's Your fault.
Our actions flow out of such a heart, and God predicts as much. He says not only do we go after other gods, but we serve them. Our actions pantomime our deeply flawed theology. Our speculations which we prefer to the real intimacy God would provide are pantomimed in our idea of service. Rather than be certain, by faith, of the, "Well done," and the reward which are promised to His in Scripture, we work no less then the denizens Paul confronted on Mars Hill to please the god we do not know. Our efforts are today in this direction, tomorrow in that. We wear ourselves out with little sense of fulfillment, and again we subliminally blame God, while provoking Him to anger. The works of our hands fashioned by such vain imaginations do little else.
Our provocation is so incessant, it so habitually shapes our nature the interactions we model for our culture and the generations that come behind us that the grace of the Godhead dictated modeling different alternative. Our forbearers provoked, and, as the Father, the Son, and the Spirit were robbed of the glory they deserved, they were provoked. There would have been no hope of ending the cycle, except that God came near.
God came near in Jesus to show us that His Father also smiles while meeting the needs we would sweat and grope to provide for. God came near to validate with purpose, in place of our lurching after our latest fascinating distraction. He came near in Jesus to speak with authority on how men were initially created. In the beginning, He said, seeing through our patterns of degradation, this was not so. He could and did speak with intimate familiarity on the works on the works Abraham did by faith as the friend of God, and the way in which these works had been put to false purposes by succeeding generations.
Even Jesus, our forbearers and representatives provoked. They mocked Him as a pretender, reaching for an impossible relationship with the Father, and a bastard among men on entitled to even basic social respect. They evaluated Him at the price of a handicapped slave. They provoked Him with slaps, and pulled hair, and nails. Yet what their provocation elicited from Him was forgiveness. Forgive them, He said, for they know not what they do. At our worst, He showed His best.
"Men can be content to be anything," deduces Thomas Watson in The Art of Contentment, "but what God would have them be."
There doesn't seem to be this sense of purposeful spite in Jeremiah 25:6-7. He created us with a need for the transcendent to be fulfilled in Himself. Yet we, according to verse six, "go after" other gods. We are, in our fallen nature, always seeking in each new experience the fulfillment He told us would be found in Him. Not finding it and wearied in our going, it is our bitterness we reserved for Him in passive-aggressive fashion. Why am I tired? Why am I lonely? Why am I estranged? It's Your fault.
Our actions flow out of such a heart, and God predicts as much. He says not only do we go after other gods, but we serve them. Our actions pantomime our deeply flawed theology. Our speculations which we prefer to the real intimacy God would provide are pantomimed in our idea of service. Rather than be certain, by faith, of the, "Well done," and the reward which are promised to His in Scripture, we work no less then the denizens Paul confronted on Mars Hill to please the god we do not know. Our efforts are today in this direction, tomorrow in that. We wear ourselves out with little sense of fulfillment, and again we subliminally blame God, while provoking Him to anger. The works of our hands fashioned by such vain imaginations do little else.
Our provocation is so incessant, it so habitually shapes our nature the interactions we model for our culture and the generations that come behind us that the grace of the Godhead dictated modeling different alternative. Our forbearers provoked, and, as the Father, the Son, and the Spirit were robbed of the glory they deserved, they were provoked. There would have been no hope of ending the cycle, except that God came near.
God came near in Jesus to show us that His Father also smiles while meeting the needs we would sweat and grope to provide for. God came near to validate with purpose, in place of our lurching after our latest fascinating distraction. He came near in Jesus to speak with authority on how men were initially created. In the beginning, He said, seeing through our patterns of degradation, this was not so. He could and did speak with intimate familiarity on the works on the works Abraham did by faith as the friend of God, and the way in which these works had been put to false purposes by succeeding generations.
Even Jesus, our forbearers and representatives provoked. They mocked Him as a pretender, reaching for an impossible relationship with the Father, and a bastard among men on entitled to even basic social respect. They evaluated Him at the price of a handicapped slave. They provoked Him with slaps, and pulled hair, and nails. Yet what their provocation elicited from Him was forgiveness. Forgive them, He said, for they know not what they do. At our worst, He showed His best.
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