God knew you even before your parents knew you.
There are some words every single person needs to hear and understand. This includes you, every person in this room, every person in your family, and all the people we meet. You may only get one opportunity to express these words. Some people live their entire lives without ever hearing them.
In Jeremiah 1:5 (NIV) God says to Jeremiah, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." In Jeremiah 29:11-14 (NIV) God says to Israel, " 'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you...' "
Regardless of what you think about yourself, regardless what other people think or say about you, regardless of your past, regardless of your sin, shortcomings, the abuse you have received from others, or the abuse you've given to others, you were not an accident. Regardless of how many friends you have on Facebook or followers on Twitter, regardless of your grades, height, weight, skin color, nationality, brokenness, confusion, IQ, or credentials, you were not an accident. God (not Mother Nature, but God) formed you in the womb. God knew you before your mom and dad knew about you.
God set you apart, uniquely, from all eternity, in order to bless you, to prosper you, to breathe his life into you, to cause you to flourish, and to give you an eternal hope that will never perish, spoil, or fade. God lives, and in fact he died, so that you would call upon him, and come to him, and pray to him, and seek him with all your heart. God wants to be found out by you. He is listening to see if you call upon his name. He has a plan for your life-- a plan that is far better than anything you could come up with for yourself.
Despite your sin, you matter to God.
Last week we wrote some really dark things on red pieces of paper, and set them at the foot of the cross. We did this to remind ourselves of how deep and profound is the love of God. We did this to remind us that he has the power and willingness to forgive us, if we'd seek only him. He has the power and desire to wipe away our shame and wash us, and make us as white as snow.
Your life may not matter to some people-- but even after all your sin, even your most egregious, dark, and shameful sin, you still matter to God. I'll tell you something. Last Sunday I read and prayed over every single red slip of paper you wrote on. I studied the collective sins of this church to see if there was anything anyone wrote on a piece of paper that was too impossible for God to forgive. But you know that thing you wrote down, that thing you were too ashamed for anyone see you write, even your own spouse or your best friend, that thing you were so ashamed of that you were nervous even confessing it to God, it's forgiven. That thing that Satan keeps throwing up in your face, if you confessed and put that thing at the foot of the cross, it's forgiven. It's done. The rebuilding of your life has begun.
Let's not let the truth we spoke about last week get away from us. If you've confessed your sin, God has filled your boat so full of his grace and mercy that your nets are breaking, your boat is sinking, and you've got so much grace that you don't know what to do with it all. You could hand out God's grace to people all day long. You could share it with a crowd of 3000, even 5000 people, and you would still have grace to spare. You have not out-sinned God's capacity to forgive you. You haven't out-sinned God's capacity to redeem your life. And you are not so far gone that God can no longer use you.
Despite your excuses, God wants to use you as a tool for his glory and grace.
It's this last point that I want to amplify. God doesn't just want to forgive you. He doesn't just want to set you free from your sins. He wants to use you as a tool for his glory and grace. What God has started with you, God wants to overflow into the lives of many. In Jeremiah's case, God told him in Jeremiah 1:5 (NIV), "...before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."
Now some of you are sitting there saying, "I'm not Jeremiah. I'm no prophet. I'm certainly no prophet to the nations! No way God has in mind to use a country bumpkin like me to change the world." But how do you know that God doesn't have in mind to change the world through such a seemingly insignificant person like you or me?
Jeremiah's response to God in Jeremiah 1:6 (NIV) is, "Ah, Sovereign Lord..." I wonder how he said, "Ah..."? Did he say it with a big long pause? "Ah, Sovereign Lord, I do not know how to speak; I am only a child." Do you realize that is the oldest excuse on the books? I am only a child. I am slow to speak. The twelve disciples were teenagers. Jesus changed the world through teenagers! Paul told Timothy to not be timid and to not let people look down on him because of his youth and inexperience."
Maybe your excuse is, "Ah, Sovereign Lord, I am a senior citizen." Abraham and Sarah were nearly 100 years old. Moses was past 80 years of age. Stop making excuses! God tells Jeremiah in Jeremiah 1:7-8 (NIV), "Do not say, 'I am only a child.' You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you.' "
Jeremiah writes in Jeremiah 1:9-10 (NIV), "Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, 'Now I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.' "
By my estimate, there are easily 500-600 people regularly worshipping at Lakeside, who count this as their church home. Do you think I am the only person in 600 appointed to speak God's words? Absolutely not! Maybe you will never stand in a pulpit and preach a sermon, but I assure you, God wants each and every one of us to shine like stars in the universe, and hold out the words of life to those living in darkness.
Don't let your past, your insecurities, or your excuses sideline you from serving God.
Let's own some of the things that are true about serving God.
(1) Most of the people we know are moving farther than ever from God. You can skim the book of Jeremiah at your own leisure to notice the uncanny similarities between Jeremiah's times and our times. We live among ungodly people, in ungodly times.
People were worshipping what their hands made. See Jeremiah 1:16. They found fault in God and strayed from him. See Jeremiah 2:5. They followed worthless idols (Jeremiah 2:5), defiled the land (Jeremiah 2:7), lost their awe of God's name (Jeremiah 2:19), behaved without moral restraint like a donkey in heat, sniffing the wind (Jeremiah 2:24), denied their own sin (Jeremiah 2:35), refused to blush with shame, like a brazen prostitute openly working the streets (Jeremiah 3:3), became unfaithful to their wives and children, sending them away with certificates of divorce only to marry another (Jeremiah 3:8), became skilled in doing evil, and lied about God's wrath (Jeremiah 5:12). They stole and murdered, committed adultery and perjury (Jeremiah 7:9), and deceived, slandered, and wearied themselves out sinning (Jeremiah 9:5).
I was glad to see so many turning from sin last week by confessing and repenting. We need to help as many people possible turn from sin. Here's the reason why.
(2) God's displeasure is very real. People today say, "God loves, loves, loves me." We constantly sing about the love of God. And God's love is very real. What we forget is that God can love us while also being deeply displeased with us, even angry. The God of love weeps as people all around us turn against him and make themselves objects of his wrath. God's love is unconditional, but his mercy is not. To receive God's mercy, your heart has to turn to God in repentance, confession, and brokenness. In fact, in Jeremiah 1:13 (NIV) God likens his wrath to a boiling pot of water about to spill from the north, on the whole land. We dismiss the wrath and displeasure of God to our own peril.
(3) God can cure us of sin. In Jeremiah 3:22 (NIV) God makes an offer that stands to this day. He says, "I will cure you of backsliding." In Jeremiah 31:3-4 (NIV) God says, "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness. I will build you up again..." In Jeremiah 33:34 (NIV) God continues, "...I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts, I will be their God, and they will be my people."
(4) We have a decision to make, and we are to help others make the same decision. In Jeremiah 2:19 (NIV) God says, "Your wickedness will punish you; your backsliding will rebuke you. Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the Lord your God and have no awe of me." Call it whatever you want, but don't you dare call it love when you leave someone in the bitterness of their sins. Apathy isn't love. Complacency isn't love. Tolerance isn't love. Silence isn't love. Passivity, inaction, and indifference aren't love.
Love is helping people seek God while he can still be found. This is our calling, a calling we must wrestle with in prayer, but a calling we must answer nonetheless.