Harbor. Seal.

“Sunday’s sermon.” It’s a phrase I use a lot in my blog posts. But this week I’ve found that, as I re-read my sermon notes, God pulls out points that I really was not conscious of back on Sunday. It’s like hearing a new sermon!

For example, Pastor Sam spent some time talking about the concept of sin in the camp and its dangerous consequences for communities. It’s especially dangerous in leadership. We see in the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles how nations’ destinies were tied in to the worship lives of their leaders.

I’d like to share a little phrase that the Lord put on my heart this Wednesday (the day I wrote this post) concerning sin in the camp. Whatever we harbor will seal our fate.

The Jeremiah 1:10 charge shows us that not everything can be harbored. If our first prophetic task is to uproot, tear down, destroy, and overthrow, then we are tasked to remove any thing that would impede our second prophetic task of building and planting. To go back to a farming analogy, and we’ve reflected on this in prior posts over the summer, there needs to be a breaking up of the ground before seeds are planted. Some weeds need to be uprooted. Some rocks need to be cast out of the field.

Our pastor shared a few points about what God has asked us to consider as we begin our enacted parable of Jeremiah 1:10:

*If it is God’s work assignment and God’s ability equipping us, then we have to do the work in the way God wants. As His faithful stewards, we carry out His policies and procedures.

*Even if we don’t understand God’s way, we are called to obey Him. His ways are sometimes “beyond understanding”, and that’s okay. We can still do what He says.

*We cannot wait until it is “convenient”. Ask any preacher and he or she will tell you that convenience is not part of the ministry’s benefits package.

*If we are harboring known sin, the prophetic will not occur. Joshua chapters 5 through 7 give a great example of this truth.

*We cannot work in God’s ability if we are nurturing sin. This echoes Jesus’s sermon point in Matthew 6:24, “No man can serve two masters.”

What does it mean if we decide we don’t want to carry out the assignment?

Our community center is a wonderful allegory here. Before any building could begin, there first had to be demolition of two existing buildings on Bronx Bethany’s campus. One of those buildings had a small room that, for me, held high sentimental value. But the sentimentality did not line up with the assignment, so my task was to let go of the sentimentality. Whether I let go or not, the building was still coming down!

God was very direct with Jeremiah. He says, “But you, Jeremiah, get yourself ready! Go and tell these people everything I instruct you to say. Do not be terrified of them, or I will make you terrified in front of them.” (Jeremiah 1:17) It is the echo of Psalm 27. Don’t be afraid! The LORD, Sovereign God, is on our side.

Does God find us pining for what was, rather than rejoicing for what will be? Is our personal satiation of more value to us than others’ salvation?

Lord, help us to harbor a strong faith in you. Give us grace to be sealed by Your Spirit. Accomplish Your work in and through us. In Jesus’s name we pray. Amen.