Why Were You Formed? - 11/6/2016

WARNING PREACHY…

Jeremiah 1:4b-9

The word of the Lord came to me, saying,

⁵ “Before I formed you in the womb I knew [chose] you,
    before you were born I set you apart;
    I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

⁶ “Alas, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.”

⁷ But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. ⁸ Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.

⁹ Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth. ¹⁰ See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”

It’s common for Pro-Life Christians to use this verse as a rationalization that every human has been formed in the mother’s womb by God Himself, and they do this as to say that murdering a baby is destroying what God is actively creating.  While I am UN-apologetically on the side of the unborn life of a baby over the supposed “rights” of the mother, I do not think it is correct to infer this very specific discussion from God to His chosen Prophet, Jeremiah, on our own lives today.  Not specifically anyway.

When God speaks to Jeremiah here, He is doing so as He is commissioning Jeremiah to the very specific task of being His prophet among Israel and the nations.  God’s words here are not to emphasize his general creation of babies in the mother’s womb, but rather God is emphasizing that He had chosen Jeremiah for the specific task of being His mouthpiece.  

And so it seems disingenuous to me to force this verse to be a specific generality for all of mankind.  However, I do not think it is wrong to use this passage as a general way in which we can learn about God – and ourselves.

Quite simply, this verse tells me that God chooses those whom he wills for His own purposes.   

And then, we read some thousand years later, the Apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Church in Ephesus.

Ephesian 1:4-9

⁴ For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love ⁵ he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. ⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace ⁸ that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, ⁹ he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, ¹⁰ to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

Paul is writing to the Church; the congregation of the Baptized, the assembly of the faithful, the gathering of the Christ followers, and He tells them that God has chosen them from the beginning of Creation.  That God has predestined their assembly to be adopted as His sons.

Paul’s words to this Church in Ephesus seem to parallel the words of God to Jeremiah; they are specific to the person or the group.  However, unlike God’s specific language to the Jeremiah personally, the words of Paul are to the Church as a whole, of which when we become part of the congregation of the Baptized, the assembly of the faithful, and the gathering of the Christ followers then we are retroactively counted among the children of God for we have been “adopted into sonship through Jesus Christ.” 

I heard a quote the other day that said that we humans spend too much time defining ourselves by who we are not rather than focusing on who were are.  I agree with that, I think we Christians do spend too much time talking about who we are NOT and spend too little time knowing who we are.  If you are a follower of Jesus then YOU ARE a son of the living God, and I believe that it isn’t a stretch to believe that just as God touched the lips of Jeremiah for His purposes, that we too, as the church, have been touched by God to accomplish His purposes upon our communities here today.

So, don't be afraid today for God is with us and for us and it is He who rescues us in our times of trouble.  Be blessed this week and don’t fret about who you aren’t, but rather, take a moment and know who you are by faith in Jesus.