JEREMIAH 11, 18-20
Because the Lord revealed their plot to me, I knew it, for at that time he showed me what they were doing. I had been like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter; I did not realize that they had plotted against me, saying, “Let us destroy the tree and its fruit; let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name be remembered no more.”
But, O Lord Almighty, you who judge righteously and test the heart and mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you I have committed my cause.
HOW SHOULD YOU HANDLE BEING PERSECUTED? Jesus told us it’s bound to happen. Following Jesus may lead to persecution, hatred, possibly even death! Maybe some of you have already been persecuted because of your faith! You say that abortion is wrong, and some of your friends, ridicule and attack you. Maybe you’ve lost friends because you started going back to church! Or maybe some of you have never been persecuted because of your faith. At least not yet!
So, HOW SHOULD YOU HANDLE BEING PERSECUTED? Well, maybe not the way I handled it when it happened to me! Maybe running home crying and depressed because some friends made fun of us, isn’t the way to handle it. Maybe getting angry and punching people in the mouth for the nasty things they said isn’t the way we should handle it. So, HOW SHOULD YOU HANDLE BEING PERSECUTED?
If any person knew about persecution it would be the prophet Jeremiah who wrote these words before us. He had been beaten a number of times, insulted, thrown into an empty cistern to starve to death, slapped, and put in prison. So, yes, Jeremiah knew something about being persecuted.
So, this morning we study these words, and look to Jeremiah to help us answer the question, HOW SHOULD YOU HANDLE BEING PERSECUTED?
I
God commissioned Jeremiah to proclaim His Word to Judah. But the message Jeremiah was to preach was not a positive message. God’s people had turned their back on God worshipped idols, and failed to follow God’s laws. So, Jeremiah told them, “Repent of your sins, turn back to God, follow God’s laws with your whole heart, or else you will be destroyed.” But God’s people didn’t like the message Jeremiah preached.
So they had three options. 1) Change their ways and turn back to God and listen to what Jeremiah said. That they did not want to do! 2) Simply ignore Jeremiah, call him a crackpot, and no one will take him seriously. That won’t work because too many people knew that Jeremiah was a genuine prophet from God. 3) Silence Jeremiah and get rid of him. That’s the plan they adopted.
“Let us destroy the tree and its fruit; let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name be remembered no more.” It wasn’t good enough that they would stop Jeremiah from preaching his message. They needed to kill Jeremiah in such a way that no one would even remember that he even existed. There would be no one to bury him and erect a monument to him. Jeremiah’s name would be forgotten. Like he never existed. That was their plan.
And as all this is going on, what is Jeremiah doing? “I had been like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter. I did not realize that they had plotted against me.” Jeremiah didn’t have a clue as to what these people were plotting. As far as Jeremiah knew everything is hunky-dory! Until God let him in on their plan.
Jeremiah “was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter.” A lamb will be loved and cared for, and fed and nurtured. Everything is going great. Life is good! People love me! I’ve got it made. And then, they take that naïve little lamb and lead it out to be slaughtered. That was Jeremiah. Life was good! People respected me. People said nice things about me. But little did he know that they were preparing to take this naïve little prophet, and kill him and destroy him.
How foolish can a person be? As God’s people we know that people will persecute us. So, we can’t be naïve like that gentle lamb. We can’t afford to just think that life is good, and allow wicked people to lead us to slaughter. HOW SHOULD YOU HANDLE BEING PERSECUTED? We should be suspicious of everyone, and trust no one! We should always be looking over our shoulders, being cautious, cautious, and judging everyone’s motives. We ought to not trust anyone, but suspect everyone. And maybe you can protect yourself.
Sounds good ! Sounds logical! doesn’t it? Sounds like good advice! But it is entirely wrong.
God wants us to be just that “gentle lamb,” even if it means being led to slaughter. God called Jeremiah to preach God’s Word, with his voice, and with his Godly life. To be kind, compassionate, and loving. God calls us to live the same way Jesus lived always looking for opportunities to help people. God calls us to talk about Jesus to everyone we meet, and to show Jesus in our lives to everyone we meet.
And we can’t do that if we are always suspicious of people, if we question every action, and judge every motive. Jesus called us to be that “gentle lamb.” So naively continue to walk, like that “gentle lamb” walk the path Jesus gives you, do the things God’s gives you to do, and don’t worry about what other people are doing. Don’t worry about possible persecution if I do this or that! Just do the work God gives you to do, and let God take care of the rest.
II
But OK, God finally informed Jeremiah of the plot against his life. So, now HOW SHOULD YOU HANDLE BEING PERSECUTED, when you know about it? Well, what did Jeremiah do?
First of all notice what Jeremiah did not do! He didn’t quit preaching the Word of God because it was getting too dangerous! He didn’t get so terrified that he ran and hid! He didn’t roll up in a little ball, and refuse to get out of bed in the morning. He didn’t even complain to God that “it’s just not fair!”
Nor does Jeremiah go off on the other direction, and start to fight fire with fire. He doesn’t start trying to get them before they could get him! Jeremiah wasn’t called to be a fighter! Jeremiah was not called to even the score. Jeremiah wasn’t called to make sure justice prevailed, and everything turned out fair in this world. Jeremiah was called to preach the Word.
So, even when Jeremiah found out about this plot, he kept on doing the job to which he was called. He continued to preach the Word of God.
But Jeremiah also prayed. “But, O Lord, Almighty, you who judge righteously and test the heart and mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you I have committed my cause.” The first thing Jeremiah does is “commit his cause to the Lord.” The Lord called Jeremiah to proclaim God’s Word. And Jeremiah did that. Now comes this issue that people want to silence Jeremiah and his preaching. Now that’s up to God! If God thinks that Jeremiah’s job is done, then the Lord may use these wicked men to accomplish what God wanted. But if God thinks that Jeremiah’s job is not done, then God will somehow stop these men from doing what they planned to do. That’s not Jeremiah’s job! That’s God’s job. Jeremiah’s job is to preach the Word of God, and that is what He will do. God’s job is to make sure that God’s will will get done. That is what God will do.
Jeremiah does pray, “Let me see your vengeance upon them.” It’s not just trying to silence the voice of Jeremiah. Jeremiah is just a man. One day his voice will become silent, like every other prophet of God. But the real tragedy is that these men are rejecting God’s Word, and God’s will. They are trying to silence God! And that will never happen. That’s why Jeremiah asks the Lord to take care of these men.
Sometimes, we wonder why we need to undergo persecution. Why must we feel the smart of being ridiculed or mocked, or even worse simply because we trust in Jesus? Well, Jesus tells us that’s just the way it’s going to be, because that’s the world we live in. Wicked people don’t like God or His rules, and Satan is quick to push people to retaliate and to persecute what they don’t like. And so, we brace ourselves, and prepare for the worst, simply because that’s the way it’s going to be.
But there’s something else that persecution does for us. It reminds us of what Jesus did for us. Anything we’ve ever suffered, Jesus suffered as well. This incident in Jeremiah’s life is a beautiful picture of what happened to Jesus, who was also “a lamb led to the slaughter.” For Jeremiah it was a matter of life or death, whether these men would have their way with Jeremiah and kill him or not. With Jesus it was the same thing. Would these wicked people who should have known better, because they were the religious leaders, have their way and kill Jesus or not? For Jeremiah there was vengeance. For Jeremiah there was salvation. Jeremiah was not killed by these wicked men. God took care of that! For Jesus there was no salvation! For Jesus there was no vengeance. For Jesus, God did not come to the rescue and preserve Him from the wicked powers that be! Jesus succumbed to wicked designs of wicked people who wanted to persecute God’s people. But in the end, God’s will was done! The world was saved! Sin and Satan were destroyed. The gates of Heaven are opened. And those who believe in Jesus, have free access to it. Satan thought he had won! Satan thought he had silenced Jesus for good! But when the tomb was empty because Jesus rose from the dead, Satan realized that he had accomplished what God had planned from the beginning of the world. And it’s the same every time God allows Satan and this sinful world to persecute us. They think they have won! They think they have silenced God’s Word. But in the end, they have only accomplished what God wanted, the gospel proclaimed in a powerful way, even while God’s people are being persecuted.
So, “HOW SHOULD YOU HANDLE BEING PERSECUTED?” Jeremiah tells is. “Do nothing. Continue being the “gentle lamb” God made you and keep on doing the word Jesus gives you to do. HOW SHOULD YOU HANDLE BEING PERSECUTED? Commit your cause to the Lord, and let Him handle the situation the way He wants it done! HOW SHOULD YOU HANDLE BEING PERSECUTED? Even with pain in our hearts, and tears in our eyes, we can still rejoice! For each persecution reminds you of what Jesus did for you and the eternal life you have because of it.
