Put your Money where your Mouth is...

Jeremiah 32:1-15...

Sermon #11

DRIVING THEME:

Genuine community is a realizable goal for the human family.

PROPOSITION:

God calls the community of faith to balance its proclamation with a concrete demonstration of the good news.

ANTITHESIS:

The community is in the midst of a giant exodus from the land. Disaster is near. Jeremiah is confident that God is about to fulfill that which was promised if the people did not heed the warnings. Jeremiah is at this time imprisoned lest his words undercut the war effort. The Babylonian army was pounding at the walls of Jerusalem. Bread was so scarce that the people had resorted to cannibalism (Lam. 4:10). Death stalked the streets and came in at the windows (Jer. 9:21). It was only a matter of hours until the sure doom would fall, pitiless and dark. This was no time to think of the future.

Hanamel, his cousin, with the proposition that Jeremiah purchase the family plot for future use, approached Jeremiah. But there is no future. If Jeremiah really believed that God will make a way out of no way, then, he says to Jeremiah, "Put your money where your mouth is." Individuals are asking the church to demonstrate the love of God.

THESIS:

What we preach with our lips is usually at variance with what we do. Our actions speak so loudly, no one can hear what we're saying. Evangelism is the proclamation and demonstration of the good news. No longer are people moved by our proclamation because we have not demonstrated by our actions, that we really care.

As the salt of the earth (Matt. 5:13-14), the church must demonstrate by deed, a proper regard for the rights of others.
As the light of the earth, the church is the uncompromising change agent of God, anointed to bring deliverance to the captive, recovery of sight to the blind, to bind up the wounds of them that are bruised and to proclaim the day of the Lord is upon us (Luke 4:18).

The ministry of the local church begins before birth and extends beyond death. Its ministries cover expectant parents; infants, children, and youth; marriage and the family; adults as they move through the stages of life--retirement, failing health, and death; and, finally, the blessed hope of the Resurrection.

Christian congregations live with the assurance that they are the instruments of God, designed by God to proclaim and demonstrate the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Opportunities abound for the church to validate what it says by what it does.

RELEVANT QUESTION:

Is it possible for Christians and the church to move beyond mere words to action in our heralding of the good news?

SYNTHESIS:

There is always cost involved in the decision to become agents of change in a society besieged by injustices and neglect. The world expects the church to act with eschatological hope. This story provides clear title that this community facing deportation has an inalienable piece of land.

Jeremiah purchased the land with actual cash (verse 11). Jeremiah invests in God's promised future exactly when that future seems completely closed off. The church cannot count success in the same manner as the world does. God has a crazy investment plan!

Jeremiah signs the titles and deeds. His word was backed up by his integrity of mission. There was no desire to manipulate or to mislead. Acts of compassion must be done with no strings attached. They must stand alone on the integrity of our obedience to the command of Jesus to build a compassionate society.

Jeremiah seeks the verification of witnesses. Resurrection stories of lives transformed by the power of the Spirit will bear witness to the validity of our ministry.

Jeremiah has a public filing of the copies of the transaction. What we do in ministry ought not be focused on the maintenance of the membership of our churches, but to the wider community of faith.

Jeremiah responds to hope for the future (verse 15). The land would be bought again. He believes that the secret to his crazy action is to be found in verse 17, "Nothing is too hard for the Lord."