Community - Jeremiah 32

Have you ever wondered how much of you is you? Or how much of you is influenced and created by the people around you? I remember when Sara and I first got married we lived in Chicago. And in my heart I’m a big ol’ city boy. I loved living in Chicago. Public transit, weirdo’s everywhere, instant access to all kinds of different cultures, absolutely insane driving techniques, worst drivers I have ever seen and I fit right in - I thrived on city life. Sara and I were living downtown in a neighborhood called China town, when I got appointed to my first church - which some of you know, was in the UP. Talk about a culture SHOCK. Here I am this freshly married, scrawny little city boy moving up to God’s country. I barely knew how to change a tire. I didn’t watch football. I drove like a maniac and I didn’t own a single piece of flannel. [pause]. But while we were up there we found an incredible community. I grew a lot in those years - and those people had a major influence on my life. Those were the years where I learned to calm down and have a little patience in my driving, I started watching my lions with dedication and yes - even my wardrobe changed. So let me ask again - how much of you is you? And how much of you is influenced by the people you surround yourself with?

This is actually a phenomenon we can study with science. Long time ago there was this super famous social experiment that came out called the Asch Conformity Experiments. Basically what they did was they put seven people in a room and held up a poster with a line on it. Then they held up a second poster with three lines on it and asked the group “which line matches the first poster.” And it was very obvious, the answer was very easy. But here’s the secret - in the group of seven, six of them were actors. Only one person was actually the test subject. And the actors were instructed to give wrong answers for some of the questions. Now in the control group, over 99% got the answers right. It’s not a tricky question. They always got it right - BUT if the people around them chose the wrong answer, 74% of the time people would go with the crowd. Even if they KNEW it was wrong, 3 out of 4 people would get it wrong. You know that old line, “if all your friends jumped off a cliff, would you jump off a cliff too?” - the answer for most of us is.. Yes! Yes we would!

Today we are deep into our study on the Fear of God and how it can help our growth - and I’m just going to give it to you at the top - what we are going to find is that a community based on anything less than God will lead to disaster, but a community bound together by a healthy fear of God will lead to prosperity. Let’s dive in.

If you want to grab your bibles, I’m going to be in the book of Jeremiah, chapter 32 - and we’re going to be in this chapter pretty much the entire time, so you can put your finger in there and keep it open if that helps. But while you guys are looking that up, let me paint a little bit of the backdrop for the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah was a prophet in Israel, and you might remember we’ve talked about prophets a little bit before, we were in Isaiah a couple weeks ago. But if you weren’t here the biggest thing you need to know is that Prophets are the mouthpiece of God. God would give them a message and they would deliver it to the people. And Jeremiah is a pretty famous prophet - scholars often call him the “weeping prophet”, because he’s a bit of a cry-baby. This is the guy I was named after. [shake head]. But actually there’s a reason - Jeremiah was called the “Weeping prophet” because he warns the people over and over and over that destruction was coming. And he was very specific - “if you don’t knock it off, if you don’t stop sinning - the babylonian army is going to come in and destroy everything” - and then it happens. We’re not there yet, we’re in chapter 32, but over in chapter 39 Jerusalem falls. The Babylonian army destroys everything and Jeremiah actually witnesses his prophetic words come true. I’d probably cry too, if it was me.

So this is the story of Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, and we get to chapter 32, verse 30, [read v.30-31]. Now I’m not going to get into all the dirty details - but there’s two big things we learn here. First - the people of Israel are doing really, really bad stuff - evil things. And second - those evil things are ticking God off. This is old testament wrath of God stuff - but here’s the thing, I want you to see that the wrath of God is tied to the presence of evil. And it’s actually the same in our lives. I think some people look at the wrath of God in the Old Testament and they think, “my goodness, he’s just being so unreasonable” - but let me challenge you with this: Think of an evil. Abuse of a child, lying and stealing from someone, murder - if you were to witness these things, what would that stir inside of you? If I see a news report, especially if it involves little kids, because I have little kids, it stirs something in me. An outrage - because I know it’s not the way things should be. Does this happen to you? Have you ever seen a news story and you’re just equal parts broken-hearted and furious about it? I think about stories of abuse of children or even abuse of a spouse - and I think if I was in the same room that person would be in physical danger… from me. Now I’m not an aggressive dude, but when I hear these stories it stirs something in me, an anger, almost a violence within me. I think I’ve got a mama bear side, you know? You threaten children in front me, mama bear comes out. The presence of evil ticks God off, and it’s not because God is unreasonable, but because he is holy. And that’s really what I’m getting at - the holiness of God, repels sin. When he sees injustice, when he sees evil - because of who he is, because of his character and his goodness and his mercy and his love - because of all that, evil stirs God to anger, just like it does on a lesser level in us. The holiness of God repels sin. 

But it keeps going, verse 32, [read v.32]. Hmmmm, seems to me that sin is contagious. This is not one person or even one group - but everyone! The leaders, the priests, the people - when those around you do something, it seems a lot more reasonable for you to do it too. And it gets worse, [read v.33]. God is over here pulling his hair out - “I have taught them over and over what is good. What they need to live right and flourish as human beings - but they won’t listen.” And what we see is that the peer pressure around sin often trumps God’s teaching in our hearts. Like the Asch conformity experiments, even if we know the right answer - we will cave to pressure from others. And I know, I know - some of you might be thinking “not me!” I’m not one of those “go with the crowd’ types, I’m impervious to peer pressure! If I can help you realize one thing this morning it’s this: you’re not being impressive, you’re being stupid. It’s a universal part of the human condition that we are influenced by the people around us. If you think you’re not - you’re fooling yourself. I wish I could say that I am a lone wolf, who carves his own path forward - but I’m totally influenced by the people around me. It’s a fact of life.

Verse 34, [read v.34-35]. Alright, now I need to pause for half a second and explain - because there were a bunch of words in there that I don’t know what they mean. Basically - the people of Israel are worshiping false gods in the place where they are SUPPOSED to be worshiping THE God. There are these false gods like Baal and Molek, and they were doing horrible things like sacrificing children on these altars that they called “high places.” In the Hebrew that word is “Bamah” - which was an altar built on a hill or a mountain, or maybe under a tree. Worship at high places included sacrifices, burning incense and rituals. These places usually contained objects associated with the false gods, like stone pillars, wooden artifacts, or images of heathen gods. And the people would gather at these high places - they would form community around what they were worshiping, and it was so attractive, so influential, that the jewish people - God’s chosen people - were abandoning the true God, and were falling in with this false religion.

Now - I know. I know, I know. Those stupid Israelites. Falling victim to the influence of those “high places” - thank God we don’t do that sort of nonsense anymore. Those dumb, primative Israelites. I mean, can you imagine? Can you imagine building, like your entire identity around something less than God - like a political party? Or a sports team? Or a job? No way! We’re more advanced than that - we have smart phones! We have social media! Good thing those networking sites aren’t controlled by algorithms that are literally designed to feed us like-minded voices that creates a little bubble for us to live in. Those stupid Israelites, falling victim to the high places. Good thing we don’t have that. [pause]. If you have a strong opinion one way or the other about Taylor Swift, cats or Haitian immigrants - you know exactly what a cultural high place is. We form community around what we worship. We may not sacrifice our children on the altar of Molek - but let’s ask the hard question - do you have high places in your life? Do we sacrifice our children on the altar of tiktok or social media? Or the altar of youth sports? Or the altar of politics? We form community around what we worship. What is it for you? Economics? Your job? Your car? Your beauty? Your vacations? Your image? What is your “high place”?

There’s an old story about a man named John Perkins - who was an African American pastor and community organizer back in the civil rights era. In 1970, he lived on “the black side” of rural Mendenhall, Mississippi - and one day he was nearly beaten to death by some white state police officers. More than bumps and bruises, Perkins was beat up spiritually. He couldn’t understand it - those white men who attacked him also called themselves Christians. Yet their SHARED Christianity did nothing to challenge the wall that racism had built between them. Their “high place” was not Jesus - it was racism. And in that moment, as he was lying in the hospital bed healing - he almost gave up. He almost started to believe that division was the only thing that could protect him. In 1970 John Perkins believed he was done with white people. Forget trying to be together - let’s just let the world split us into groups. But God interrupted his thoughts with a vision of an interracial community in the heart of Mississippi. People of all colors living together in harmony. He saw what it would be to have a community centered, not around the world’s “high places” but around Jesus. Over the next four decades, John Perkin’s organization and church “The Voice of Calvary Congregation’ maintained a vibrant interracial life across economic boundaries. And inspired by his vision, many others started similar communities in America’s inner cities, with thousands joining the movement. Are we building community around the “high places” of the world - or are we building it around a fear of God?

And so we get to verse 36 in Jeremiah 32, [read v.36-37]. Okay, this is so important - Israel has been gathering around these “high places” - they’ve been influenced by the community around them nudging them further and further away from God. And God in his holiness, in his majesty and glory - repels sin. The holiness of God repels sin, BUT THEN it says, “I will surely gather them.” And this is so key - the holiness of God repels sin, but the grace of God attracts sinners. When we gather around cultural high places, when we worship the wrong things and are influenced by that community - one day we will wake up and find ourselves far away from God. But the promise we find in Jeremiah is that the grace of God attracts sinners. God gathers his scattered people.

And then hear this - Verse 38, [read v.38-39]. I wonder - did you hear it? They will be my people and I will be their God - those are the same words we get echoed in the very last book of the bible to describe heaven! Revelation 21:3, [read v.3-4]. This is why the bible is the coolest book ever written - those texts are hundreds of years apart. Amazing. Back in Jeremiah, verse 40, [read v.40-41]. Do you hear the contrast? Jeremiah sets it up as an either/or. First he talks about high places, where people are gathering and worshiping false gods and child sacrifices and all that - and then he talks about a community that is centered on the fear of God. A people who are united in heart and in action, a people who will never turn away from God. To those people, God says, [read v.41].

The good news that we find in the text this morning is that God gathers his scattered people. If you have drifted, or connected in the wrong type of community - if you have centered your life around a cultural “high place” and not on the fear of God - there is good news. God gathers his scattered people. And check this out - maybe you’ve been hanging out at the wrong “high place” for a really long time. Maybe you’re feeling so far away from God, you’re not sure you could ever find your way back. Or maybe you believe it’s too late. I’ve been listening to the wrong voices for years - I’ve got all these doubts and anxieties, self-worth issues, and hidden sins, but I want to show you one more thing about Jeremiah. 

Okay - so remember: Jeremiah has predicted that Jerusalem will fall, the Babylonian armies are going to come and destroy the city and deport all the people and the nation of Israel will disappear. That has been Jeremiah’s warning, and we know that it comes true. BUT - right before our passage. The first half of Chapter 32, God has some really strange instructions for Jeremiah. Back in verse 5 or 6, God comes to Jeremiah and instructs him - I want you to go and buy a field in a place called Anathoth. Buy it, sign the deed, pay for it, have witnesses watch you do the whole thing. And then in verse 13, [read v.13-14]. He buys the land, takes the deed and puts it in a clay jar. I remember when I first read this, I was like “what is he up to?” Why would you buy land that’s about to get conquered? The babylonian army is about to literally destroy the city - this is the OG real estate market crash. But he explains it in verse 15, [read v.15]. God tells Jeremiah and Jeremiah tells the people - yeah, there’s going to be consequences. You did some dumb stuff and listened to the wrong people, worshiped in the wrong community around the wrong high places - but someday we’re going to come back home. Because God gathers his scattered people. Even while sin pushes us away from God, the power and fear and holiness of God, that same power attracts sinners, attracts broken people.

We’ve been talking about this a lot these past few weeks - but our church, The Center Church in Byron Center, we are a part of a larger network of churches called the Zero Collective. We are united around 5 core zeroes. And one of those Zeros is that we want Zero Unconnected in Community. We know the power that community has in our lives and so we want to create in this place a community that is bound together by our fear and respect and awe and worship of the glorious God of heaven. This is one my dreams for this church. I’ve been here for about six months - and there are so many things to celebrate about this church. Kid’s ministry, worship ministry, outreach into the community through Hand 2 Hand. So many impressive pieces - but the greatest strength of any church is community. It’s the connection between believers that pulls people closer to Jesus. This church does so many things well - but the greatest privilege of being your pastor, it’s not that I get to be part of an amazing preaching team or the worship band or any of that. It’s you. My greatest moments as your pastor are not “woah, we had record attendance last week - we’ve never seen that many people in September” or “did you see the giving two weeks ago - that’s amazing” or “woah, pastor that sermon was incredible. You did a great job” - none of that matters. My greatest moments, the ones that mean the most to me - are when I get that message, “hey, I’m struggling with something - can you help me?” or “hey, can we have coffee because my extended family is driving me nuts, I need to talk about it” Or “hey, I’m going through something hard right now - can you pray for me.” And this isn’t about me - because you do this for each other as well. For some of you who have been here for years - you’ve been through some hard stuff together. And it’s inspiring to see how you have overcome together. The reason I’m excited to be here is not power or prestige - it’s because you guys are so good at loving each other, and I’m honored to have been welcomed into this community. I need you to hear this - you can get great music on spotify and you can watch awesome sermons on youtube. The part of this church that is irreplaceable is you. 

Think about it this way. A drop hits a pool of water, or a spark catches a tiny twig - and a little flame is born. It’s a small thing, too much wind would blow it out. But if you protect it, that spark can grow. And you feed it little twigs, and the flame gets bigger, stronger. And as it grows you can feed it more robust sticks, and then even logs until you have a raging bonfire. So it is with faith. There are moments when God shows up in life, the spark. And if you take care of that spark, nurture it and protect it - your faith turns into a little baby flame. Maybe you start attending church on Sunday. Trying to figure out this Jesus thing. You start learning the basics - how to pray, how to read your bible, start to figure out who and what God is - and your faith grows. You get to know Christ. That’s the first step.

But as the fire in your heart grows in strength, you start to add bigger twigs, little sticks - this is where you go beyond Sunday morning. You find your community. You start to get into the lives of the people around you. They open themselves up to you, and vise versa - and you grow, not just personally - but in connection with other believers. You move from the straight lines of a Sunday morning into a circle. Life is better in a circle. You have people to support you, challenge you, encourage you to grow. And as the fire continues to grow, people around you start to notice. Your life begins to change. The teachings of Christ, lived out through community pushes us towards our mission - and we do it together, so you could call it our Co-Mission. And that’s where we take what we have learned here out into the world! The teachings of Jesus were to share his love - feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and those in prison. Christ. Community. Co-Mission. This is a structure, a process of growth for all Christians. I call it the Center Circles, because Life truly is better in a circle. We move through the circles like ripples in a pond. Christ, Community and Co-Mission - and right there in the middle is the teaching of Jeremiah. Your community matters.

So let me ask you - what have you formed your primary community around? Social media algorithms are so good at connecting people who think the same way. If you punch in “i love to complain about politics” the algorithm will respond, “Oh, I got a whole bunch of people who love to complain about the same thing - here are your people” and it gives you a bubble. Or if you punch in “I just want to see news updates about the Lions football team and cat videos” the algorithm gets all excited, “Oh i know a bunch of accounts you should follow who talk about just those two things” - and gives you a different bubble. Like the people of Israel with their high places full of false Gods - we form community around what we worship. Our culture has an epidemic of loneliness created by tribes of weak acquaintances - connections forged over lesser things. And they fall apart so easily. So where have you formed your primary community? AND if I can give you nudge - is there a step you can take to find that community here with the people around you? The goal of Life Groups is not “hey we should offer lots of classes as a church” - no, it’s growing together in community. Life is better in a circle, so find your community.

How much of you is you? And how much of you is a combination of the people around you? When we see the truth - that we are people who are deeply shaped by the connections and community around us - what those connections are made of becomes really important. It matters a LOT who we surround ourselves with. The fear of God, the Holiness of God - it draws us together with a bond that is stronger than any other connection. You remember the Asch Conformity Experiments - with the cards that have a line on it, and the room full of actors with one guy who has no idea. There was one more level I wanted to tell you about to close. They ran a variation of the test call the “true partner” test. They had a room full of actors, 7 people, six of them are actors, giving an obviously wrong answer, but in one of the studies they had the majority give the wrong answer - but one person stuck with the truth. And what they found was that if the test subject had even just ONE other person sticking to the truth, wrong answers went from 74% down to 5%. Fill your life with that one true partner. BE that one true partner for someone else. I have friends from the older generations who look at life groups and think, “I don’t need that, I’ve been studying the bible for decades. I don’t need a mom group. I don’t need a discipleship group. I don’t need a financial class” - and I can’t help but come back and say, “but maybe someone needs you. Needs your voice. Needs your presence.” Maybe you are the one true partner for someone else in this church family. If we are going to ask God to build his kingdom in this place through Christ, Community and Co-Mission - it’s going to be all hands on deck. Let’s pray.