Coney Hill Baptist Church
Demonstrating God’s Love Together
13th April 2008
Encountering God:
Afraid & Convicted
Jeremiah 5:20-25
Intro:
Maybe, in thinking about the consequences of encountering God, we are being a little presumptuous. How on earth would we know? Who among us knows, if we were to come unambiguously, unequivocally before the Living God how we would react? Like the song says, we can only imagine.
I’m sure we would be inspired, and that subsequently all sorts of impacts would be felt, but there and then I suspect we would be simply awed. And that’s important to note, because when we come to meet with God in worship, that same sense of awe is sometimes difficult to generate. In some ways this is an old fashioned point, its occasionally said in our modern casual culture we’ve lost a sense of reverence and respect, in worship like so many other things. That may be true, but I don’t think it’s the point here. A previous generation’s smartness and solemnity was just as capable of missing the wonder of God as ours is.
Jeremiah’s base point when meeting God, like so many of the prophets was to say … ‘Oh no!’ To be suddenly and cataclysmically aware that everything now has to change, things aren’t good enough as they are. The fear of the Lord isn’t just some sort of Old Testament punctuation it was real.
Jeremiah lived his life acutely aware of it. A century or so after Isaiah, in the same area, he lived though the days that finally saw
But all of that paled into insignificance before what he knew of God, his encounter with his Lord had left him with no option but to speak. And he pleaded with others to do the same:
If only you could See and Hear who He is!
Cultivating an Awareness of God…
Know that he is real, alive and active. (v.21)
If only you could Appreciate what He’s Done!
Ascribing an Authority to God…
Recognise his creative power and ability to make a real difference. (v.22)
If only you could Answer His Call!
Ensuring a Response to God …
Allow him to change us, to turn us around and give us a fresh start. (v23-25)
Conc.
You don’t have to be a prophet to see the same needs all around us. The same doubts as to whether God is really there. The same suspicion that, even if he is, he’s not particularly interested in me and doesn’t make much impact. The same reluctance to give up the reins of our lives and go His way.
Jeremiah might still weep, and wonder. But his awesome God still waits, and offers.
Office Address:
Coney Hill Road
West Wickham
Kent
BR4 9BU