The power of the prophetic call. Jeremiah 1

What are your signature moves? That is to say, actions that are hallmarks of who you are, born out of defining moments in your life. Signature moves can be forms of self-expression because like other forms of self-expression, they enable you to live out who you are. For example, expressing myself through practicing my clarinet, spending adequate time in prayer and preaching, and loving my wife-to-be, all find their genesis in defining moments across my life’s history.

God has signature moves as well, but they are not born out of defining moments in his life’s history because God has no history; he is eternal. God’s signature moves have their genesis in eternity. God is a speaking god, so we can expect one of his signature moves to be the calling of things into existence, such as at creation and the call of a chosen person into a faithful relationship with himself. It happened to the prophet Jerimiah in the year 627 BCE when God’s word came to him saying, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.

What strikes me about these words is that they are determined in eternity. They did not come from an invitation of the synagogue, or something Jeremiah had done, something he had earned or a successful job application. But rather, God chose, consecrated and appointed Jeremiah before he was born. These are the perquisites for the job: God’s full and complete knowledge about Jeremiah – more than he knew about himself, and his election to God’s purpose. That’s what made it Yahweh’s sovereign choice. And it is for this reason that God’s signature move of election and calling carries the power and authority to speak and to act in his name.

What were the marks of Jeremiah’s call? God knew him, meaning that he chose to enter in to a deep, personal commitment with Jeremiah, Jeremiah belongs to God; God set him apart, meaning that Jeremiah was made holy and distinguished for service to Yahweh; and Jeremiah was appointed, meaning that he was given to the task. In other words, God had got his custom-called Jeremiah for his purpose.

Now Jeremiah, being a human person existing in space and time like the rest of us, did not have the whole of history open to his inspection. He saw things from where he was and from his own perspective. He saw himself as too young and inexperienced to be God’s foreign secretary on the world stage – the prophet to the nations. But God pre-empted Jeremiah’s perspective by putting his calling into another perspective.

When I was learning to ski, I would hang on to the lift tows for dear life, bent forward desperately trying to stay upright. You can always spot a learner skier because they are bent forward on the ski tows – as I was. Then one day a ski instructor said to me, you’ve got to shift your centre of gravity. It is too far forward and that’s why you keep falling of the lift. Bring it back into your pelvis where your natural centre of walking balance is – your natural centre of gravity. Then just stand there and let the tow do the work of pulling you up the mountain.

So when I listened to that and tried it, low and behold it worked. I was able to stand upright and relax while enjoying the ride up the mountain and being able to look around at the scenery at the same time. My centre of gravity had shifted, producing a whole new perspective on the matter of skiing. My use of the ski tow improved 500 percent, not because of my ability as a skier, but because of the instructor’s skill in knowing more about me on the slopes than I knew about myself.

Jeremiah at first could only see things from his own perspective, but God shifted Jeremiah’s centre of gravity – as it were – away from himself and on to God’s foreknowledge and elective purposes by saying, before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I consecrated you. Nothing to do with Jeremiah’s ability to speak or any self-confidence he might have had to go and shirt-front Jehoiakim and Zedekiah, kings whom he had to deal with when Jerusalem was finally captured by the Babylonians in 587 BCE.

Now why did God have to shift Jeremiah’s center of gravity like this? Well he’s not just answering the prophet’s objections and encouraging him to build some self-confidence. These are typical of human nature aren’t they. But this signature move call of God doesn’t have its genesis in human nature. It is the power of God given so that, as St Paul puts it in his letter to the Philippians, I can do all things through him who gives me strength, to which there is only one response needed: awed acceptance, obedience and gratitude.

God’s choice of Jeremiah was less about the prophet’s ability, but much about his availability. Yahweh’s gracious touch of Jeremiah’s mouth was as dramatic as the seraph’s cleansing of Isaiah’s lips. The word that God put in his mouth burned its way into his heart and made itself an indispensable and irresistible part of the prophet’s existence. And that’s why the prophet Isaiah said of God, my word shall go forth and not return to me empty.

So where does this leave us today?

Well the prophets of old have long since disappeared into history, yet God has not left himself without a witness of old. There is a witness, one with the prophetic role of advocate, counsellor and guide. One whose existence is grounded in eternity, who is - yet has already been, and who will be - yet has been before. And his name is the Holy Spirit.

Friends, it makes sense to me that if we immerse ourselves in prayer with the Holy Spirit, our centre of gravity – as it were – will shift away from self-focus to being more God-focused. We will experience a fresh perspective in our home lives, our working lives, our ministries, and our understanding of time.

A shift in our centre of gravity from self-perspective, limited by space and time, to God’s perspective, which is not limited by space and time, will open up new possibilities, new ways by which God will do new and surprising things. He is not limited the way we are. That’s why Jesus promised that whatever we ask for in prayer in his name, and believe it, we shall receive. Nothing is impossible for God. Or as God said through his prophet Isaiah, is my hand too short that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? In other words, surely you don’t think I’m a powerless god, do you?

Ok. So we have the Holy Spirit as witness to God’s word and activity, and we have the promise that nothing is impossible for God. But what about God’s church today? What about God’s community on earth today? What should we do? Does the church have a prophetic role to call out Kingdom ethics that need to be called out, to tell the good news of Jesus Christ and what he has done for lost mankind?

Friend’s, the church faces a world that is hostile to God, a society that seeks to silence the church and pressures it to compromise its Kingdom ethics message. The voice of authority is being replaced by the voice of opinion; proclamation is replaced by discussion; the Word of God is replaced by words of men; the call to faithfulness to Yahweh is turned into religion; the kings of the earth do not worship the Lord their God. In other words, the church is losing its prophetic voice. It’s increasingly being sidelined as irrelevant to today’s post-modern living. What are we to do?

Well, ladies and gentlemen, let us not loose hope, even in our small corner here in Lara and Little River. Remember that we have the Holy Spirit as God’s witness to who he is and to his action in our lives. Jesus called his church into existence, beginning with his chosen apostles, and that call did not have its genesis in any man or woman, but in eternity, God’s eternity, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Remember that by the power of the Holy Spirit, we have the authority to speak of what we know, what we’ve heard, and what we’ve seen. And that means we, who are the church, have a prophetic role in society today. We won’t always be listed to; we will suffer the world’s attempts to silence us; our message of Kingdom ethics will be opposed, but we must continue to speak and not be afraid to do so.

Brothers and sisters, the church’s message, our message, is organic, that is to say, we witness in our own time to the redemptive work of God in our lives. Tell your story.  Our message is theocentric, that is to say, it bears witness to humanity’s need for God’s forgiveness, wisdom, revelation, blessing, protection and rule. Without those, mankind is indeed lost, anxious and does not know to whom it belongs or where its real security is to found. Our message is also progressive, that is to say, it is like a seed that germinates, grows and develops.

Now I think we’re making inroads in our parish on this score. Groups of us are engaging with Alpha, a program that tells the story of Jesus Christ, who he is and what he had done; people seeking a connection with God have recently joined us; our three-year mission action plan is about to explore other ways of our church’s call to prophetic work in our local community. And with prayer in fellowship with the Holy Spirit, our work will be a seed that germinates, grows, and develops.

What about you?

Philip Starks
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