Was It Really
Worth It for Jeremiah?
Jeremiah
probably never imagined that he would ever be in the situation he was in. He was sunk in mud at the bottom of a well! And he was sunk so deep, in fact, that he was
completely stuck. And even if he would have
been able to free himself, there was no way he could climb up the sides of this
deep hole in the ground to get out anyway.
But he wasn’t there by accident.
He had been purposely thrown into that well by those who hated him because
they knew he would get stuck, they knew he wouldn’t be able to get out, and
they wanted him to die. And so as
Jeremiah sat there in the dark, completely helpless and all alone, without any
food or water, he must have thought to himself, “Was it really worth it? Was repeating God’s words to the king and to
the people really worth being thrown into the mud at the bottom of this
well? Was opening my big mouth really
worth dying for?”
That’s
why Jeremiah was there, after all: he had opened his big mouth. Jeremiah just couldn’t help but tell the king
and the people what he knew they weren’t going to want to hear. “This
is what the Lord says: ‘Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword,
famine or plague, but whoever goes over to the Babylonians will live. He will
escape with his life; he will live.’ And
this is what the Lord says: ‘This city will certainly be handed over to the
army of the king of Babylon, who will capture it.’” The city officials didn’t like that a whole
lot. Because it was unpatriotic! It was an admission of defeat before the war
even started! And so the city officials
went to the king and said, “This man
should be put to death. He is discouraging the soldiers who are left in this
city, as well as all the people, by the things he is saying to them. This man
is not seeking the good of these people but their ruin.” And the king agreed. And so Jeremiah and his big mouth were thrown
into a muddy pit and left for dead. Was
it really worth it for Jeremiah to say what he said? That prophet of the Lord must have seriously considered
that question as he waited to die in that deep hole in the ground.
But then
a man named Ebed-Melech burst onto the scene.
He heard about what happened to the prophet Jeremiah and he made his
appeal to the king for the life of God’s chosen servant who was dying at the
bottom of a well. The king granted
Ebed-Melech’s request and allowed him to take 30 men and hoist Jeremiah out of
the pit. But I would have to think that
Ebed-Melech considered the same question that Jeremiah did: “Is this really
going to be worth it? Should I really be
going to the king himself who just put his stamp of approval on Jeremiah’s
execution and stick my neck out as Jeremiah’s supporter in front of the city
officials who had no qualms about murdering a man of God? Is saying what needs to be said really going
to be worth finding myself in that pit next to Jeremiah?” I think any normal human being would have
struggled with that likely possibility if they were in the position Ebed-Melech
was in. But this faithful Christian
obviously decided that it was worth it.
Saying what needed to be said was worth any potential punishment, it was
worth dying for - because someone’s life was on the line! And Jeremiah too must have come to the same
conclusion: Saying what needed to be said was worth any potential punishment,
it was worth dying for - because people’s lives were on the line! When it comes to speaking God’s Word, people’s
lives are always on the line. And so saying
the words of God that need to be said is always worth it - no matter what the consequences
might be.
Do We Act as if It is Really Worth It?
Jeremiah
and Ebed-Melech were not the only ones with the words of God to say. We too have been given God’s Word to share
and spread and offer to those around us.
Words that are certainly true, but words that many people are not going
to want to hear. And so the question is
the same: Is it really worth it? Is
saying what needs to be said really worth sticking our necks out and opening
ourselves up for criticism and possibly having to defend ourselves against
verbal attacks? It’s easy to say “no” to
the question, isn’t it? “No! It’s not worth it! It’s not worth the trouble or the effort or
the emotional stress. It’s not worth
putting myself through all of that for no reason.” And hey, I’ve used all of the excuses
myself. “He’s not going to understand
anyway, so it’s really not worth the time I would have to spend trying to
explain it… She has a completely
different take on religion and this world, so it’s really not worth the effort
if she is already stuck in her ways…
They aren’t going to agree with me anyway, so it’s really not worth the
argument we’d undoubtedly get into… They
don’t want to hear it from me again, so it really isn’t worth another awkward
conversation… I don’t want him to
challenge my beliefs… I don’t want her
to ridicule my faith… I don’t want them
to look at me funny or ignore me just because I want to share with them the
gospel… It’s just not worth it. I’ve got better things to do than to put
myself into uncomfortable situations.”
I can’t
tell you how many times I’ve passed up an opportunity to say what needed to be
said by using one of those excuses. And
saying what needs to be said doesn’t always mean pointing out someone’s sin;
saying what needs to be said can be good news too, it can be a few words of encouragement
from Scripture, it can be the positive comforting promises from their
Savior. But I’ve convinced myself many
times over the years that it just wasn’t worth it. I didn’t want to have to deal with their
possible negative reaction or their critical feedback or anything that might
make me feel uneasy. How many situations
have you been in where you convinced yourself it really wasn’t worth saying
what needed to be said? How many of
those excuses have you used? How many
possible consequences have scared you away?
Were We Really
Worth It for Jesus?
Jeremiah
found himself stuck in the mud at the bottom of a well for saying what needed
to be said. Jesus found himself stuck on
a cross with iron stakes through his hands and his feet for the same reason. Jeremiah was left there to die for what he
believed; Jesus did die because people believed in him. And while Jesus hung up there all alone, I
imagine that the devil must have been right there tempting him with the exact
same question Jeremiah struggled with so long ago: “Is this really worth it,
Jesus? Look at them! They’re mocking you, insulting you, spitting
on you! Can you believe it! You came down to this earth to save them and
they nailed you to a wooden board like you were a piece of paper! Are they really worth all of this pain? Are they really worth suffering the eternal
torments of hell? (Because it isn’t pleasant, trust me!) Are they really worth dying for? They don’t even care about what you’re
doing. And the millions upon millions of
people that aren’t here, those people that will be born for the next couple
thousand years after this, you know better than I do that they won’t care
either. And even those few who do, those
you might call your children, they’re going to be just as bad! They are the ones who will actually know what
your Word says but they’ll completely ignore it at times anyway! They are going to be selfish, nasty, and
rebellious every day! It’s not worth it! Listen to these people watching you
today! They are calling for you to come
down from the cross and prove that you’re true God. Do it!
Get it over with. Show them your
power and your wrath. You’re better than
this! You are God himself and you’re
bleeding to death! For what? For them?
For all people of all time? They
are not worth it and you know it.”
We don’t
know exactly what the devil said - if he said anything - to Jesus while he hung
on that cross, how he tempted him, what he did to try to disrupt what Jesus was
going to accomplish. But we do know
this: Jesus didn’t come down from that cross.
He could have, but he stayed up there.
And he bled. And he eventually
died. And because he stayed, his actions
proclaimed loud and clear: “They are worth it.
They are worth the pain and the torture and even death itself. They are worth every ounce of blood that drips
out of my body and every ounce of pain that I have to shoulder alone. All of this is worth it because their lives
are on the line.” And so in the end it
was his life for our life. We are saved
because he refused to save himself. We
are now forgiven because every one of our sins was held against him as he hung
on that cross. And to Jesus, it was all
worth it. And he would even do it again
if he had to.
But were
we really worth it? Were we worth the
pain and the torture and the death that Jesus had to undergo? Not a chance!
At least I’m not worth it! I’m
not worth God himself giving up his life for me! Who would be so arrogant as to say they there
worth that kind of divine sacrifice! No,
we aren’t worth it. But Jesus thought
so. He considered our lives worth saving
and so that’s what he did, no matter what he had to go through to make that
happen.
Are Souls
Really Worth It?
Our
souls were worth it to our Savior. Are
the souls of others worth it to us? This
beautiful gospel message - that Jesus considered us worth saving - is a message
that is true for every single person on this earth. Is it worth the time and the effort and the
unpleasant consequences to share this message with them? To maybe speak of their sins at times? To maybe comfort them with God’s love at
others? Jeremiah thought it was worth
it. Ebed-Melech thought so too. And thousands of other Christians - both in
the Bible and without - determined that saying the words of God that needed to
be said was worth anything and everything.
Is it worth it to us? Because
realistically there will be plenty of people who will not believe the words you
say. I wish I could tell you something
different! I wish I could tell you that
everyone will welcome that message of Jesus just as happily as you do! But that’s just not going to be the
case. Experiencing hardships for your
faith is part of being a Christian. And
so there will be people who will not want to listen to you. There will be people who will not want to
talk to you, and if they do it might not be pleasant. So is it really worth it? Is it worth the pain and the awkwardness and
the mental and emotional strain to share the Word of God with someone who might
throw it back in your face? Is it worth
it to share it with them again? How much
are their souls really worth?
It’s interesting
that after Jeremiah was rescued, almost immediately the king of Judah sent for
him - the same king who had allowed Jeremiah to be thrown into the well! And once there the king had the audacity to
ask Jeremiah what God had to say to him again!
What do you think Jeremiah did? What
would you do? Was it really going to be
worth it for Jeremiah to tell this king the exactly same words that had earned
him a death sentence just a few days before?
“If I give you an answer, will
you not kill me?” Jeremiah said. “Even
if I did give you counsel, you would not listen to me” (Jer. 38:15). “No, I won’t kill you,” the king said, “I
will listen.” And so Jeremiah told him
exactly what he had told him before. The
king didn’t order his death this time, but he didn’t listen either. And soon after the Babylonian army came down,
put Jerusalem under siege, destroyed the city, burned down God’s temple, and
took the people into exile. No one had
listened to Jeremiah for the 40 years he preached the Word of God. And he ended up suffering because of it. Jeremiah himself was taken away from his
homeland down to Egypt - against his will - and there he died. It was a sad end to a sad ministry for this
faithful man of God. But to Jeremiah it
had all been worth it. Because lives had been on the line and he had the
life-giving words of God to speak. How
could he do anything different?
Lives
are on the line right now. Millions of
them. All over the world and right next
door to you. And you have the
life-giving words of God to speak, to share, and to offer. Are those words of God worth offering even if
nobody listens? What if somebody does?
Amen.
“May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that Great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.” - Heb. 13:20-21
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