Jeremiah 30:9 – Free to Serve Our Kinsman King

8
‘For it shall come to pass in that day,’
Says the Lord of hosts,
‘That I will break his yoke from your neck,
And will burst your bonds;
Foreigners shall no more enslave them.
9
But they shall serve the Lord their God,
And David their king,
Whom I will raise up for them. Jeremiah 30:8-9, New King James Version


"As long as we secretly adore ourselves," admits Thomas Merton in No Man Is an Island, "our deficiencies will remain to torture us with an apparent defilement. But if we live for others, we will gradually discover that no one ever expects us to be 'as gods.'"

Thus the smooth but perhaps unexpected transition between Jeremiah 30:8 and 9. Yokes are broken. Bonds have been burst. Slavery is over. The human heart is ready to swing to the opposite extreme and assert its individual supremacy. NOBODY is the boss of me.

But verse nine shows us what freedom in Christ looks like. We, likely freed Israelite exiles we are grafted into as Christians, are free to serve. Our service, often rendered to other Christians in fairly ordinary ways, is our opportunity to honor the supremacy of Christ as the Better David. Putting acknowledging Him before our various impulses allows us to grow beyond ourselves looking at ourselves, to find our service acceptable as it is washed in His grace.

This happens as we receive the Son of David raised up. Jesus is raised up in our eyes as we focus on the fact that He beat death, and so every lesser inclination of the flesh. Jesus is raised up as we praise the perfect righteousness He lived out in the same every day interactions we face, how He validated them and showed us their purpose. He is raised up as we use life's routines and rituals to follow after Him Who came not to be served, but to serve.

Christ is raised up as we recognize He can inhabit the decidedly mixed legacy of David with purity. Our main focus does not need to be on critiquing our ancestry or that of others. In Christ, we are part of the new, and redeemed, family. In the Resurrection, He rose as the firstborn of many brethren. In serving them, we get to serve Him, and loosen the grip of our own flesh.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Enthusiasm, Even If We Have To Work At It

On Fixer Upper, a real estate renovation show, perpetually upbeat contractor Chip Gaines faces the usual list of hassles incumbent in his work with the reflection that his father's greatest gift to him was to show him that work could be fun. Conversely, as I asked my usual questions of a new acquaintance in Bible study about what he looks for in new hires, he shared separately that enthusiasm can't be trained. I can't, he said, teach you to have fun at your job. The two insights are not necessarily contradictory. Chip's father had a prolonged impact on his attitude toward work at a time when Chip's child heart was as flexible as the body of an infant who can peacefully fall asleep in postures an adult would find uncomfortable if not crippling. The cafeteria manager spoke to the rest of us who either were not presented with that inspirational outlook or who have been distracted from that by work's more aggravating aspects. For those of us who don't come b
Read more

A Hobby Or A Habit?

Chris is a firefighter's firefighter.  He is passionate about the equipment. He is passionate about the people he gets to help. He is passionate about the honor of a career in the fire service. He is passionate enough to attend a training to sharpen his skills on his vacation time. When a college kid at the same training referred to firefighting as a hobby, Chris was not passionate in affirming that kind of divided enthusiasm. Would he have my back, Chris questioned? Would he rescue someone on the second floor if doing so involved in some personal risk?   Chris didn't have a chance to ask these questions or confront this attitude during the brief training. Perhaps someone else in a more long-standing relationship with this kid will have the opportunity fo model professionalism and to extend it to confrontation where necessary. If not, the progression is predictable, and extends far beyond firefighting. Observing a similarly nonchalant attitude in a young pitcher, Michael Lew
Read more

The Next "Why" Determines the Next "How"

"You don't remember me, do you?" is a loaded question. Often the answer is no. Saying this aloud is a confession that I don't prioritize people over my own thoughts. Nevertheless, this time the answer was a "yes" that was both emphatic and reluctant. This figure, tall, deep-voiced, and with a calm that could have been command presence was memorable, indeed. Twelve years ago, I hung my hopes on him in pumped full with the helium of heady optimism. As I was bringing my work gifts recognized, finally, and three years of experience into a new chapter in life in which I was also getting married, he stood in for a nice supporting role in my projected happily-ever-after narrative. He was a military veteran who, after retirement, had transitioned into the same human services field in which I worked. Since I was not physically built for military service, there was already, before I met him, masculine validation in the fact that we were going to be working toward the
Read more