Jeremiah 29:24-26 – Dominion in Deliberations
24 You shall also speak to Shemaiah the Nehelamite, saying, 25 Thus speaks the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: You have sent letters in your name to all the people who are at Jerusalem, to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying, 26 “The Lord has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, so that there should be officers in the house of the Lord over every man who is demented and considers himself a prophet, that you should put him in prison and in the stocks. Jeremiah 29:24-26, New King James Version
"Until you can identify your idols," exhorts Tim Keller in Songs of Jesus, "you cannot understand yourself. Until you turn from there you can't know and walk with God."
The Old Testament is given to us replete with physical examples for our spiritual instruction, and we have this fleshed out in Jeremiah 29:24-26. Through Jeremiah, God reminds Shemaiah that he has been given authority over and responsibility for what happens in the Temple.
Apparently, Shemaiah has walked only partially in this authority, confronting false worship only by letter. With media as God's gift, and with much of the New Testament consisting of letters, He still reminds Shemaiah how crucial physical presence is. God's design, He says, is that there should be officers in His house to confront pretensions of false belief.
If there is a level of similar responsibility for those who orchestrate church worship services, and much of the content of Paul's letters insists that there is, how much more is each of us responsible for what goes on in our hearts and minds, worshipful expressions of our practical theology? How tepidly do we, given dominion from Eden and with it restored at the cost of the cross, confront demented thinking? Do we lose sight of the stakes as false belief makes itself at home, at once more subtle and more bold, woven into our thought patterns as errant prophecy?
The thoughts we tolerate which set themselves up against the knowledge of God are nothing less than idols, and talking, persuasive idols at that. Knowledge of God's Word in a tidy academic compartment in our brains is not enough, just as the ink of a letter cannot by itself evict deeply held false belief.
If even on occasion we are to embody the literal, physical Jeremiah 29:24-26 courage to confront in God's house worship practice and proclamation which does not honor Him, let us start in our hearts. Our call is to constantly, bravely, insist on Christ's rightful ownership of every part there. Let us be vigilant officers, noticing what is taking root, and confronting it directly with the Truth of the Bible.
Chris Tiegreen in Violent Prayer calls us back to our identity and authority in Christ with an emphatic tone similar to that of Jeremiah 29:24-26. "The only way to bring heaven's authority against hell's power," he charges, "is to be blunt and unyielded. There is no reason to make our prayers palatable and diplomatic. Our authority in Christ is a matter of decree, not a matter for discussion."
Tiegreen likewise warns us, as would Jeremiah who has carried forward a tradition from his prophetic ancestors of contending with his people morning after morning, that a one-time utterance of magic words, or verses, is not enough. "Our faith is insufficient if it prompts us to pray once, maybe twice, then let the matter drop after a couple of days. That's faith in a magician god, not faith in a warrior God. God told the Israelites he was their Warrior, not their magician, and he empowered them to fight for his kingdom and his righteousness. He told them the battle was his, not theirs, but he never told them there wouldn't be a battle."
We guard our hearts, beloved, as the wellspring of life. That we have the mind of Christ as God's sovereign gift does not relieve us of the practiced discipline of grateful maintenance, celebration by circumspection. What has entered the Temple of our hearts and minds recently and made itself at home there? Beyond sending satanic pretensions the equivalent of a letter to cease and desist, what ACTIONS can we take to remind our whole, blood-bought person that we are Christ's?
What habit need we lay hold of, as Shemaiah is charged to assert God's authority and put the false prophets in the stocks? What deliberate changes in our physical environment do we need to make in order to incline our oft wayward hearts more toward true worship? Is CS Lewis's fictional demon Screwtape still more aware than we are that we are physical creatures, and what happens with our bodies impacts our spirits?
To what physical, demonstrable celebration over false beliefs that previously entangled us are we being summoned now? Christ, our Captain led captivity captive. He rejoiced in the Spirit when He recalled seeing Satan fall like lightning from Heaven. CS Lewis reminds us, again in Screwtape Letters, that the devil hates to be mocked. Want to steel our spiritual spines for the next confrontation with false belief in our hearts, which surely isn't far away? Celebrate the last win.
Visit the pitiful supposition in the stocks, and laugh out loud in gratitude to God that the assumption which once held you, by grace you are now able to hold in derision. Surely there are still dark corners in our hearts, but as gradually as He ordained that the Israelites take the Promised Land, He will be victorious and will reign supreme in each thought, in each emotion, in each heart to which His cross laid claim.
"Until you can identify your idols," exhorts Tim Keller in Songs of Jesus, "you cannot understand yourself. Until you turn from there you can't know and walk with God."
The Old Testament is given to us replete with physical examples for our spiritual instruction, and we have this fleshed out in Jeremiah 29:24-26. Through Jeremiah, God reminds Shemaiah that he has been given authority over and responsibility for what happens in the Temple.
Apparently, Shemaiah has walked only partially in this authority, confronting false worship only by letter. With media as God's gift, and with much of the New Testament consisting of letters, He still reminds Shemaiah how crucial physical presence is. God's design, He says, is that there should be officers in His house to confront pretensions of false belief.
If there is a level of similar responsibility for those who orchestrate church worship services, and much of the content of Paul's letters insists that there is, how much more is each of us responsible for what goes on in our hearts and minds, worshipful expressions of our practical theology? How tepidly do we, given dominion from Eden and with it restored at the cost of the cross, confront demented thinking? Do we lose sight of the stakes as false belief makes itself at home, at once more subtle and more bold, woven into our thought patterns as errant prophecy?
The thoughts we tolerate which set themselves up against the knowledge of God are nothing less than idols, and talking, persuasive idols at that. Knowledge of God's Word in a tidy academic compartment in our brains is not enough, just as the ink of a letter cannot by itself evict deeply held false belief.
If even on occasion we are to embody the literal, physical Jeremiah 29:24-26 courage to confront in God's house worship practice and proclamation which does not honor Him, let us start in our hearts. Our call is to constantly, bravely, insist on Christ's rightful ownership of every part there. Let us be vigilant officers, noticing what is taking root, and confronting it directly with the Truth of the Bible.
Chris Tiegreen in Violent Prayer calls us back to our identity and authority in Christ with an emphatic tone similar to that of Jeremiah 29:24-26. "The only way to bring heaven's authority against hell's power," he charges, "is to be blunt and unyielded. There is no reason to make our prayers palatable and diplomatic. Our authority in Christ is a matter of decree, not a matter for discussion."
Tiegreen likewise warns us, as would Jeremiah who has carried forward a tradition from his prophetic ancestors of contending with his people morning after morning, that a one-time utterance of magic words, or verses, is not enough. "Our faith is insufficient if it prompts us to pray once, maybe twice, then let the matter drop after a couple of days. That's faith in a magician god, not faith in a warrior God. God told the Israelites he was their Warrior, not their magician, and he empowered them to fight for his kingdom and his righteousness. He told them the battle was his, not theirs, but he never told them there wouldn't be a battle."
We guard our hearts, beloved, as the wellspring of life. That we have the mind of Christ as God's sovereign gift does not relieve us of the practiced discipline of grateful maintenance, celebration by circumspection. What has entered the Temple of our hearts and minds recently and made itself at home there? Beyond sending satanic pretensions the equivalent of a letter to cease and desist, what ACTIONS can we take to remind our whole, blood-bought person that we are Christ's?
What habit need we lay hold of, as Shemaiah is charged to assert God's authority and put the false prophets in the stocks? What deliberate changes in our physical environment do we need to make in order to incline our oft wayward hearts more toward true worship? Is CS Lewis's fictional demon Screwtape still more aware than we are that we are physical creatures, and what happens with our bodies impacts our spirits?
To what physical, demonstrable celebration over false beliefs that previously entangled us are we being summoned now? Christ, our Captain led captivity captive. He rejoiced in the Spirit when He recalled seeing Satan fall like lightning from Heaven. CS Lewis reminds us, again in Screwtape Letters, that the devil hates to be mocked. Want to steel our spiritual spines for the next confrontation with false belief in our hearts, which surely isn't far away? Celebrate the last win.
Visit the pitiful supposition in the stocks, and laugh out loud in gratitude to God that the assumption which once held you, by grace you are now able to hold in derision. Surely there are still dark corners in our hearts, but as gradually as He ordained that the Israelites take the Promised Land, He will be victorious and will reign supreme in each thought, in each emotion, in each heart to which His cross laid claim.
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