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Sermon series: The Person God Uses

1. Make No Excuses - Jeremiah 1
2. Let Your Heart Be Broken - Jeremiah 8, 9
3. Rise Above Discouragement - Jeremiah 20
4. Sermon: Persevere in Obedience - Jeremiah 37, 38

Scriptures: Jeremiah 20:1-13

Introduction
Discouragement is part of life. Discouragement comes most often when you do
right things but experience poor results. You work hard, but you don't make
progress. You show up to practice every day, giving it your all, but you lose
every game. You spend time with your child - going out of your way to parent
the best you know how - but she rebells.

Discouragement eats a hole in our hearts. It makes us want to quit, saying

things we shouldn't say, shaking our fists at God. That's how Jeremiah felt. God
called him to speak a harsh message to a rebellious people. He was obeyed. Yet
on one occasion Jeremiah so angered an assistant to the high priest and chief
security officer for the temple, Pashhur, that the man arrested Jeremiah, beat
him, and threw him in jail, locking him in stocks so that his body was
contorted, writhing in pain. Here was a man in deep distress. He endured
physical, emotional, spiritual, and professional anguish. He walked into deep
despair, all for doing God's will.

Jeremiah was released the next day, emerging with a sentence of his own. He
gave Pashhur a new name: "Terror on Every Side." This name described the
terror Babylon would inflict on Judah, specifically the fate Pashhur would suffer
when God's judgment fell. He would die and be buried outside Israel, which was
difference would that make? He had been preaching lies in the name of God and
encouraging idolatry in the temple. So, why not live in a land of lies and idols,
and eventually be buried there?

Enough about Pashhur - it is Jeremiah's rise above discouragement on which we

want to focus. In this last of his recorded laments, which is similar to Jesus'
Gethsemane experience, we find the highs and lows of human emotions: grief
and joy, despair and delight, perplexity and praise. Like Jesus, Jeremiah
reminds us that even a faithful servant of God can become discouraged.
Jeremiah lived above his feelings and fulfilled God's will.
We, too, can rise above discouragement. Here's how.

I. Be honest - tell God how you feel (v. 7)

Jeremiah was honest. He felt deceived by God. The word deceived means to be
enticed or seduced. Obviously, God does not mislead or trick people, but
Jeremiah felt that God had lured him into the ministry only to make him a
laughingstock. He felt like a helpless girl who had been seduced and
overpowered by a deceptive lover. He felt ridiculed and offended. His voice was
not making a difference. He was crying out for the people to repent, yet they
continued toward destruction and judgment. Jeremiah's intense lament was
private – for God alone, not public.

God wants us to talk to him, even when we are angry, upset, and frustrated. He
wants us to tell the truth. A lot of dishonesty goes on in relationships, even
with God.

People ask me: Is it wrong to be angry with God? First, we must remember that
anger is an emotion, and oftentimes emotions are neither right nor wrong: they
just are. What we do with our emotions is a separate issue. People are
sometimes surprised by the answer I give them: "If you feel anger toward God
you should tell him. God is big enough and strong enough to handle your hurt
and anger. So tell him about. He wants you to pour out your heart to him. He
wants you to express what is in your heart."

Didn't Jesus pour out his heart to the Father in Gethsemane and on the cross?
We should do the same. Hold nothing back when you pray. Tell the Lord exactly
what's in your heart, especially the bad feelings. By pouring out these emotions
we are freed from their hold, and we enter more deeply into the loving embrace
of the Lord.

God does not want us stuck in anger or any other negative feelings we may
have. This is why we should be honest with God in prayer. We should go before
God as we are, not pretending to be someone we are not. If we are honest with
God in prayer, we will feel a sense of deep freedom, and we will find ourselves
having a deeper relationship with God and less discouragement.

To bottle up our anger - even anger toward God - does only harm, never good.
To be dishonest - even in our prayers - clouds our relationship with God. God
desires real people, honest and forthright, who pour out their hearts before
him, bringing him all their motives and emotions. The truth is that God knows
the depths of our hearts - our thoughts, our motives, our emotions - even
before we speak them. So ,if we fail to be honest with God then we are only
deceiving ourselves. Honesty with God is liberating.
II. Be obedient - keep doing what you've been called to do (v. 9)
Because of Pashhur's unjustified actions, Jeremiah was ready to let go of God
and leave him out of all conversations. But he couldn't do that. He would not be
at peace doing anything else. God's message was like a fire in his bones that he
could not put out. He could not be quiet about it. Jeremiah did not preach
because he had to say something, but because he had something to say. Not
saying it would have destroyed him.

Do you know why most pastors keep at the task despite rejection and anger?
Plain and simple, the call of God upon their lives keeps them going. I spent time
with a group of pastors. We bemoaned the struggles of our vocation. One said:
"Do you want to know what I tell everyone who comes to me asking if they
should go into the ministry? I tell them, ‘If you can do something else, do it.'"
Another pastor piped up, "You know why I don't do something else? Because I
am called."

When you are called, you can't ignore that call.

The call comes first from the heart - internal - as a result of the continued
drawing from the Holy Spirit. This conviction is as deep within the innermost
being of a person. Eventually, it becomes unshakeable. It marks a person for
life. In time the inward call of God is reflected outward, as the Christian
community confirms it. No one can fulfill the difficult role of ministry
adequately who has not been called and commissioned by Christ (internally)
and the Church (externally).

Warren Wiersbe, former pastor and author, writes, "The work of ministry is too
demanding and difficult for a man to enter it without a sense of divine calling.
Men enter and then leave the ministry usually because they lack a sense of
divine urgency. Nothing less than a definite call from God could ever give a man
success in the ministry." (Howard F. Sugden and Warren W. Wiersbe, When
Pastors Wonder How (Chicago: Moody, 1973), p. 9.

Four questions emerge to evaluate whether one has a call to the ministry. Is
there confirmation from God and by others? Are instructional shepherding and
leadership abilities evident? Is there a longing to serve God with one's whole
heart? Is there a lifestyle of integrity? Ministry is more about being that it is
about doing.

H.B. London in his book, The Heart of a Great Pastor, writes: "In those times
when we stumble for our footing in the awful swellings of the Jordan, and the
Evil One whispers in our ear, ‘Why did you ever decide to be a preacher
anyway?' the right answer can only be, ‘Cause I was called, you fool!'" (H. B.
London and Neil Wiseman, The Heart of a Great Pastor)
When called, obey. Obedience is difficult and painful, yet I suppose
disobedience is moreso.

III. Be watchful - know that the Lord is with you (v. 11)
Jeremiah realized that he wasn't alone. "But the LORD is with me like a violent
warrior" (Jer. 20:11). He was not on the losing side. He was going to win
because the Lord was with him like a mighty warrior. God would deal
effectively, in his own way and time, with his enemies.

Often in our discouragement we look inward - to our problems, our

frustrations, and our situation - when we need to look upward to a God who has
not abandoned us. He is with us. He accompanies us. He is a present-tense
God.

Can you imagine the difference it would make in your outlook if you remained
consciously aware that God is with you? Imagine going into a difficult board
meeting knowing that God is beside you. Picture entering into a stressful
presentation knowing that God walks with you. Envision confronting the status
quo with the mighty arm of the Lord surrounding you.

Knowledge of God's presence can help us accomplish significant things despite

our discouragement. It provides courage, valor, guts, strength, tenacity, and
perseverance.

A. W. Tozer writes:

Living in the glow of God's presence will enable you to fight on despite
discouragement.

IV. Be worshipful - praise God with your whole heart (v. 13)
Jeremiah's despair turned to joy, his defeated attitude turned to triumph, his
dismay to courage. The key that unlocked the door to victory was praise.
Jeremiah triumphantly proclaimed, "Sing to the Lord! Praise the Lord" (Jer.
20:13).

Praise is the one weapon in the Christian's arsenal against which Satan has no
defense. When we praise God we acknowledge that he is in charge - he can do
what he wants, when he wants, and how he wants.

Praise is more than just acknowledging God for the good that comes our way.
Praise is accepting from God all that comes our way, both the good and the
bad. The praise we offer when things don't go our way is far more precious to
God than the praise we offer when all is well.
Praise does four things:

A. Praise recognizes a Provider

Praise takes our minds off our situation and focuses them on God. It gives God
the right to rule and to reign in our lives how he sees fit. It acknowledges that
God knows more about what he is doing than we do. It accepts that God can
take all the bad stuff of life and make something beautiful out of it.

B. Praise acknowledges a plan

A few chapters later Jeremiah records God's words to Israel: "'For I know the
plans I have for you' - this is the LORD's declaration – 'plans for your welfare,
not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope" (29:11). God weaves a
tapestry of our lives. We don't always see the finished product. Sometimes to
get to the end we have our share of difficulties. When we realize God has a
plan, we have two options: we can fight it, or we can embrace it.

C. Praise accepts the present

Praise is based on a total and joyful acceptance of the present as part of God's
loving, perfect will for us. Praise is not based on what we think or hope will
happen in the future. We praise God, not for what we expect will happen in our
around us, but we praise him for who he is and where and how we are right
now.

D. Praise releases the power

Prayer opens the door for God's power to move into our lives. But the prayer of
praise releases more of God's power than any other form of petition. The
Psalmist wrote, "But thou art holy, O thou that inhabits the praises of Israel"
(Psalm 22:3 KJV). God actually dwells, inhabits, and resides in our praise. God's
power and presence is near when we praise him.

When we praise God for the present situation as a part of God's plan, God's
power is unleashed. This power cannot be brought about by a new attitude or a
determined effort of self-will, but by God working in our lives.

Conclusion
Let me close with a legend that reveals the source of discouragement.
Supposedly, the devil put his tools up for sale, marking each for public
inspection with its appropriate sale price. Included were hatred, envy, jealousy,
deceit, lying, and pride. Laid apart from these was a rather harmless looking
but well-worn tool – discouragement - marked at an extremely high price. Why
the costly price? The devil answered: "Because it is more useful to me than the
others. I can pry open a person's heart with that when I cannot get near her
with the other tools. Once inside, I can make her do whatever I choose. It is
badly worn because I use it on almost everyone, since few people know it
belongs to me."

Many people succumb to this infamous tool of Satan. Maybe you feel its effect
now. You can rise above discouragement. Will you:

 Be honest - tell God how you feel?

 Be obedient - keep doing what you've been called to do?
 Be watchful - know that the Lord is with you?
 Be worshipful - praise God with your whole heart?