November 20, 2008

• (9) Kingdom-Obsessed People don't seek "great things" for themselves

  Jeremiah 45 is a short chapter (has only five verses), but it packs a big punch. There we find the story of Jeremiah's secretary, Baruch. Chronologically Jeremiah 45 comes after Jeremiah 36, when King Jehoaikim had burned Jeremiah's scroll once and then after Jeremiah rewrote it, the King burned the second scroll as well.

  Baruch was a minister of the Lord, but he had a problem we all struggle with at one time or another: Baruch was self-centered and self-seeking.

  After the incidents with King Jehoaikim, in Jeremiah 45 we read that Baruch felt forlorn and cast down. But Baruch's feelings were not so much because Jehoaikim had rejected the LORD and the LORD's word, but because Baruch took the rejection personally. Baruch was seeking acclaim and recognition (some might call it ministry "success"), and when he didn't get it, he went into a funk, even to the point of just about blaming the LORD himself for his depression and lack of peace (see v. 2-3).

  As is always the case, the same LORD who knows all things and knows what is in man and knows the thoughts and intents of our hearts, also knew Baruch's problem, and through Jeremiah, He gave this stark word to Baruch:

   And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not...
  

  
  I've read Jeremiah many times and I really like the book in part because I can relate to Jeremiah's emotional ups and downs. I also really appreciate God's continuing covenant mercies showing forth throughout the book, both in His faithfulness to Jeremiah despite his questions and doubts, and in His faithfulness to His people despite their perpetual backsliding. But only until I reread Jeremiah earlier this year (in conjunction with H.A. Ironside's commentary) did God begin to use Baruch's story to shine His purifying light deep into those dark parts of my soul that seek acclaim, recognition, position and power. Ironside wrote this about Baruch:

  In Baruch's case, it would seem that he felt the king's rejection of the Word of God as an insult aimed at himself and his matters, rather than at the Lord who inspired the writing that was in the roll. The result was sore discouragement...It was quite right that the son of Neriah should feel, and feel keenly, the wretched state of his people, and their departure from holiness and truth. Every godly soul must of necessity have thus felt...But the grief of Baruch is more personal, like that which threatened to consume the prophet [Jeremiah] himself in chapter 15. It was prompted in large measure by disappointment. he had not received the recognition as Jehovah's servant and the amanuensis of Jeremiah that he looked for. Hence he faints in the day of adversity, because his strength is small. He has not yet learned to deny himself, which is quite another thing to merely being self-denying...Baruch was seeking a measure of recognition from man.
  
  It is so easy to slip into this, especially if one is serving the Lord in the gospel, or in the teaching the children of God. There is the secret desire, often, to be accorded a place, with the corresponding grief when that place is refused and one's ministry is unacknowledged...
  
  ...He [Baruch] felt the personal slight, the setting at nought, the despising of his ministry––always so hard for a sensitive soul to bear, if out of the presence of God. Therefore he fainted, and could find no rest.[1]

  I can relate to much of that. Can you?

  Baruch forgot that all who are godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution...

  Baruch forgot that the disciple is not above his Teacher, nor the servant above his Master...

  How often do we do forget?

  Matthew Henry described Baruch as

  ...a young man setting out in the world; he was well affected to the things of God, and was willing to serve God and his prophet; but, when it came to suffering, he was desirous to be excused. Being an ingenious man, and a scholar, he stood fair for preferment, and now to be driven into a corner, and in danger of a prison, or worse, was a great disappointment to him. When he read the roll publicly he hoped to gain reputation by it, that it would make him to be taken notice of and employed; but when he found that, instead of that, it exposed him to contempt, and brought him into disgrace, he cried out, "I am undone; I shall fall into the pursuers' hands, and be imprisoned, and put to death, or banished: The Lord has added grief to my sorrow, has loaded me with one trouble after another...
  
  God takes notice of the frets and discontents of his people and is displeased with them. Baruch should have rejoiced that he was counted worthy to suffer in such a good cause and with such good company, but, instead of that, he is vexed at it, and blames his lot, nay, and reflects upon his God, as if he had dealt hardly with him...
  
  ...[God] searched the wound, and shows him [Baruch] that he had raised his expectations too high in this world and had promised himself too much from it, and that made the distress and trouble he was in so very grievous to him and so hard to be borne. Note, The frowns of the world would not disquiet us as they do if we did not foolishly flatter ourselves with the hopes of its smiles and court and covet them too much. It is our over-fondness for the good things of this present time that makes us impatient under its evil things...[2]

  Oh, how often I court and covet too much the hopes of the world's smiles and allow the frowns of this world to disquiet me! What timeless words from over three hundred years ago (Henry's commentary was published in 1706).

  And, of course, we can't help but see how such self-seeking and self-serving attitudes are in marked contrast to life and teaching of our meek and humble Lord, the Son of God who came not to be served but to serve, to pour out His soul to death, the Lamb who did not shrink back from His Father's purpose but steadfastly set His face for Jerusalem where He gave His life a ransom for many.

  Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, 8 When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, 9 and he who invited you both will come and say to you, Give your place to this person, and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. 10 But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, Friend, move up higher. Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. Luke 14:7-11, ESV.

  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Philippians 2:5-8.

  For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. II Corinthians 8:9.

  Ironside contrasts Baruch's attitude to that of the suffering Servant, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ:

  But the Lord goes on to give His servant [Baruch] a watchword that may well be kept in mind by all who endeavor in any way to contend for the faith once delivered. "And seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not" (ver. 5). A suited motto this for each of us. How apt is the heart to crave "great things;" but in doing so, how unlike the servant becomes to the Master who "pleased not Himself," but could say, "I do always those things that please Him;" and again, "I came not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me." And does not the position he took when down here determine our only proper one? What was it, then, as to the world? Alas, He was ever the Rejected One! For Him there was 'no room in the inn" at His birth; no place among the great in His life; and when dead, only room in a borrowed tomb. He was always the outside One––always getting wrongs instead of His rights; as one has said, always in a different path from that of the "dwellers on the earth" in His day of humiliation. And yet it might have been so different––if one dare allow the thought. He need not have taken the place of rejection they gave Him. He could justly have claimed and acted upon the rights that were truly His. Had there been in Him an atom of self-seeking (which there are not, for He was the Holy One of the Father), he might have claimed a place among the mighty here, as others did. All the kingdoms of earth and the glory of them were offered Him; but on what conditions? Conditions which involved some violation of the Word of God. How utterly abhorrent, this, to the Holy One of God! (Oh that we were more like Him!) And so, faithfulness to God kept Him ever the Rejected One, till at last He suffered outside the gate.

  
  

  
  ...Do we, then, desire a place where He had none?...
  
  If tempted to turn aside from the narrow path of subjection to the truth for an easier path, or to be better thought of in a world like this, let us remember these words to Baruch; if "great things" attract and would lure us on, remember the words––"Seek them not."[3]

  I confess that I am more much more like Baruch than I would like to admit. Much of the time I am much more like Baruch than the Lord Jesus. My heart craves "great things." I "desire a place where He had none."

  Do I really see such self-seeking as utterly abhorrent?

  When we put our lot in with the Lord Jesus, we should expect to be treated no differently than He was.

  Are we willing to go to Him outside the camp and bear His reproach?

  Are we willing to drink the cup with Him?

  Are we willing to give up on seeking great things for ourselves and seek great things for our King and His Kingdom?

  If we are Christ's we ought not to be seeking not our own glory but His glory. But how often do we seek our own glory?

  If we are Christ's we ought not to be seeking to hallow our own name, but to hallow His Name. But how often do we seek to hallow our own names?

  If we are Christ's we ought not to be seeking to build our own kingdoms but to build His Kingdom. But how often do we seek to build our own kingdoms?

  "And seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not"
  A suited motto this for each of us.
  

  Brethren, here is the path to the higher life. Down, lower down! This was what Jesus ever said to the disciples who were thinking of being great in the kingdom, and of sitting at His right hand and His left. Seek not, ask not for exaltation,; that is God's work. Look to it that you abase and humble yourselves, and take no place before God or man but that of servant. That is your work; let that be your one purpose and prayer. God is faithful. Just as water ever seeks and fills the lowest place, so the moment God finds the creature abased and empty will his glory and power flow into to exalt and to bless. He that humbleth himself–that must be our one care–shall be exalted; that is God's care. By His mighty power and in His great love He will do it.
  
  Men sometimes speak as if humility and meekness would rob us of what is noble and bold and manlike. Oh that all would believe that this is the nobility of the kingdom of heaven, that this is the royal spirit that the Kingdom of heaven displayed, that this is Godlike: to humble oneself, to become the servant of all! This is the path to the gladness and the glory of Christ's presence every in us, His power ever resting on us.
  
  Jesus, the meek and lowly One, calls us to learn from Him the path to God. Let us study the words we have been reading until our heart is filled with the thoughts, "My one need is humility." And let us believe that what he shows, He gives; what He is, He imparts. As the meek and lowly One, He will come in and dwell in the longing heart.[4]

  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Romans 12:1-2.

  If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, 2 Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. 3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. 4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. 5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Philippians 2:1-8.

  
  
  GET LOW
   by Lecrae [5]

  Yeah, yeah, humility, humility
  Get low boy
  Get low girl
  Humility, humility...

  So full of pride I disgust myself...
  
  Make sure you do a heart check man
  You trying to rep Christ though you reppin' your name
  You in it for his glory or you in it for your game
  Cuz God know the truth and if you doin' it in vain

  You may also be interested in:
  

  • Matthew 23; Mark 10:35-45; John 13:1-7; Luke 14:7-14; 22:24-30.
  • My other posts about Kingdom-Obsessed People
  • John Piper's message at Together for the Gospel '08, How the Supremacy of Christ Creates Radical Christian Sacrifice
  • Bible Reading: The Good Shepherd Recovers All, Disadvantages Himself & Is a Good Theologian
  • My posts on "What Is Success; What Is Making a Difference?" including:
  • Part 4: Idolatry and Lust: The temptation to seek after results rather than God
  • Naphtali News: Hallelujahs, Hosea, Humility, Hallowing, Hard Questions...
  • "He Will Come Again to Judge the Living and the Dead"–How Then Do We Work? (Please see under # 2. "WE WORK IN THE FLESH," where I list a series of questions we should be asking ourselves about our motives as we work for God.)
  • The Often Unwanted but Necessary Gift of the Broken Heart

  ---

  Scripture quotations unless otherwise indicated are taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.

  Scripture quotations marked "ESV" are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

  [1] H.A. Ironside, "Notes on Jeremiah" (Neptune, NJ: Loizaeux Brothers, 1977 printing; first edition 1906), 248-249, emphasis mine.

  [2] Matthew Henry, "Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible, Complete Commentary on Jeremiah," emphasis mine.

  [3] Ironside, 251-253.

  [4] Andrew Murray, "Humility: The Beauty of Holiness" (Fort Washington, Pa: CLC Publications, American edition, 1997), 36-37.

  [5] Lecrae, "Get Low" ©2006 Reach Life Music, Project Issachar.

  Lyrics are subject to US Copyright Laws and are the property of their respective authors, artists and labels. Commercial use prohibited

  • 11:37 AM
  • 1 Comment