God needs His church to be engaged!
“Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me,
‘Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.
See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms,
to pluck up and to break down,
to destroy and to overthrow,
to build and to plant.'” (Jeremiah 1:9-10 ESV)
Why did God set Jeremiah over nations & kingdoms? Was Jeremiah given the power as an individual, chosen by God to rule that the people would bow before Jeremiah? Was Jeremiah set up to be reverenced as the One Representative of God? The obvious answer to each of these is, “No.”
This was not about Jeremiah, it was about God and God’s word. Jeremiah was not over the nations. The point was the word of God is over the nations. It was the power of God’s word that could pluck up, break down, destroy, overthrow, build and plant.
Jeremiah was made the “steward” of God’s word, and thus he was “over” the nations and kingdoms. Jeremiah was called to be just what he had been before God called him to be a prophet. This young priest was faithful in his duties, and now he needed to simply be faithful to do whatever God called him to do. It did not matter if the powerful of the day listened to Jeremiah or not. If the people chose to listen and follow, they would be planted and built up. If the people chose to ignore God’s word, they would be plucked up and broken down.
The same is true in 2016! God has not called His church to pluck up, break down, destroy, and overthrow a culture and society that is rebelling against God. What is needed for our time is a faithful army of disciples. We need to faithfully declare the word of God to a world that is rejecting His truth, His glory and His grace. We also need to faithfully declare that word and study it carefully among ourselves. A faithful army of disciples is an obedient one. It is not perfect, for we are human.
The army God seeks is one that warns the world of danger with empathy and tears, an army that pours out its life seeking to bring the Kingdom of God into our neighborhoods and into the business districts of our towns and cities. Let us become that army of disciples, not a reclusive body withdrawn from a lost world.
May we seek to heal the broken hearted, take the good news to the poor, and proclaim liberty to the captives. May we go with hearts broken because of our own failures and hearts filled because God loved us in Jesus – inspire of ourselves. You think about that!
Praying for more to be His,
Reggie Hundley
Executive Director
Mission Services Association, Inc.
the missions network
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