The prophet Jeremiah was God’s messenger in a time of national, ecclesiastical, and familial downgrade. The spiritual state of the people of God had declined so far that she was described as a fountain, not pouring out a river of living water to bless the nations, but a fountain of wickedness, violence and spoil, grief, and wounds. (Jeremiah 6:7)
This stirred up God’s anger. He warns “Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee; lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited.” (vs. 8) But tragically they now lacked the capacity to hear his warning.
The American church and its churches are clearly in a similar place. If you know and love the Lord and his Law, you cannot help but see that the fruits of our nation and its churches are foulness and rot, flowing as a river into the world. There is little savor, if any, left in the salt, as holiness is passé and Christians often excel in wickedness and worldliness.
We live in downgrade days, and we should understand from God’s Word these downgrades, these apostasies, stir up his just anger. He announced on Israel a judgement traditional Americans are already now living under:
“And their houses shall be turned unto others, with their fields and wives together: for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord.” (vs. 12)
But like the old Jewish church, it seems Christians now lack the capacity to hear and heed God’s Word, so their profession of faith and inclusion in the church does little but elevate the wickedness of their wickedness, adding on top of sinful worldliness the sin of hypocrisy.
“To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it.” (vs. 10)
In our day there is little to no concern for or appetite for God’s commands and way of salvation. A million other matters, feelings, desires, plans, and concerns choke out the most important things. The show must go on. The grift must go on. The brand wars must go on. The good ole boys must be affirmed. There are ears to be tickled, consciences to be assuaged, false comforts to dole out. Ministry is SUCH HARD WORK, we hear, but we see little tears, little wisdom, little faithfulness. Just the grind of religion flavored activities. When the Bible is used, it is used for our own concerns and feelz, massaged into a new shape to fit today’s hot topic of interest. It’s certainly not to know the mind and will of God and his deliverance in Christ. There’s no time or energy to know God! But there’s loads of energy for stuff we care about and are troubled by!
There’s no energy for what is actually needed when the churches, families, and towns are flowing with filth and wounds: trembling at God’s warnings of his anger and soon-coming, surprise judgment that will sweep all comforts away in a moment: “Arise, and let us go by night, and let us destroy her palaces” (vs. 5) he forewarns. But she will still not be ready.
Amid this spiritual downgrade, inability to care, and warnings of impending judgment, we ought also note that this horror has been propagated by a kind of church ministry God hates. So on to the main point of this essay.
What are three marks of a ministry God hates?
First: God hates a ministry oriented around itself and its success rather than the fear of Lord.
“For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.” (vs 13)
When churches and ministers succumb to this particular evil it may not be first noticeable, as they are busy about good work, preaching, writing, leading, organizing, counseling, etc. But under God’s searching sight, he finds the reason for this religious activity is that the church or minister might get more: money, esteem, self-assurance, power, recognition, or maybe just pay the bills. The heart of this ministry God hates is self-service based in desires for what he has either not promised or has wisely withheld in his providence.
The desire, the coveting is hiding in the heart, but God sees it, yet it bursts out in lies. “…every one dealeth falsely.” Often these are the lies of overt false doctrines, long ago rejected by the faithful but resurfacing anew like the shameful foaming of waves. Or it is the deception seminally in that first lying question, “has God really said?” This is the oft repeated in many forms, basic lie of what we call “liberalism.” Or it may be the lies of silence where the clear and sharp edges of God’s Word are shaved off as not to offend. Or it may be the simple, flashy lies of the salesman who has turned his ministry, sect, brand, or denomination into a business to be sold to consumers. However it plays out, a ministry arising from a covetous heart is a ministry that lies.
Second: God hates a ministry that values superficial peace and comforts rather than thorough reformation and renewal.
“They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.” (vs. 14)
“Sermonettes from preacherettes” might be an apt enough phrase for this sort of evil, and the churches are full of those. This superficial Christianity shows itself in many forms, but I’ll highlight two: a managerial approach to the church and a therapeutic approach to the Christian life. From the managerial standpoint, the minister and presbyters begin to behave as if what really matters is simply keeping the organization going with minimal disruptions. Uncomfortable conflicts, hard matters, difficult people, divisive questions or disagreements all become matters to address primarily through strategies that bring consensus, cooperation, or at least a less uncomfortable resolution. But, there is an order to peace in the church: it begins in the peaceful holiness of the life of the triune God. Individually it begins in peace with God through faith in Jesus Christ and the experience of that peace more and more as the Spirit conforms us to the image of the very beloved Son. When this God-ward vision of peace is replaced with a managerial approach, organizational, interpersonal, and brand concerns create a superficial “peace” that mimics the deeper healing of sanctification but leaves a deep festering infection just under the surface.
In the same way, the therapeutic approach to the Christian life is another ministry of superficial peace that God hates. This is where the Law of God and the thorough sanctification Christ brings, gets replaced with more momentary concerns like feelings, temporal success, interpersonal dynamics, styles, outward conformity, mantras, mimicking each other, self-improvement techniques, and mutual affirmations. All of these things have their place, but they each can easily mask a heart that is not healed from its self-service, pride, and works-righteousness. Jesus still saves, and it goes all the way down into the very recesses of the soul. No superficial salvation will save us from God’s wrath, and in fact God hates ministry’s that announce “peace” when peace isn’t REALLY there, especially peace with God.
Third: God hates a ministry that has lost the grace of shame.
“Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the Lord.”
If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard a Bible believing minister make a joke or giggle about sin or another holy matter, I’d be rich. But, fathers and brothers, God hates it. He hates that you can be involved in wickedness and not humble yourself in dust and ashes. He hates that your people live like heathens and you parade around as the faithful elect ones because of what your church is on paper. He hates that your assemblies include rank unbelief, ungodliness, and foolishness of every sort and you are not sensible enough to blush. He hates the effeminate way you turn on the tears for interpersonal gain or position, or when you suffer some loss, but have NO REAL SORROW OVER ACTUALLY SORROWFUL THINGS like people going to hell!
Can you still blush? The old ecclesiastical leaders of Jeremiah’s day couldn’t. Is your heart so hard not to see or feel shame anymore? They were unable. Have you given up seeking the convicting work of the Holy Spirit? They had.
There is a solution for those who still have ears to hear:
“Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.” (vs 16)
Do you have a heart for that work: standing, seeing, and asking for the old, good ways of the one holy, catholic and apostolic church? And knowing the old, stable ways, will you walk in them. The church of Jeremiah’s day answered, “we will not” and fell under God’s just judgments.
This call to see and walk in the old paths encapsulates the mission of The Daily Genevan and its friends. We’ve been privileged to stand together for this mission despite persecution the compromised and compromising. The Lord has convicted us that there is a better way, a well worn holy path, that believers may go amid our modern apostasies, and it is privilege to walk in that way. The true way of life is narrow and can feel lonely at times, but the Lord has given us a great cloud of witnesses who’ve lived before and is preserving his own remnant in our time. “Walk therein” the Lord says, and “you will find rest for your souls.