Obedience, Not Burnt Offerings: Jeremiah 7:21-28

Jeremiah 7: 21-28 is a frightening text.  This passage, similarly to most of the book of Jeremiah, consists of God being quite angry with Israel.  The first portion of the passage speaks thusly:

22For in the day that I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to them or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. 23 But this command I gave them, “Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk only in the way that I command you.” 24 Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but, in the stubbornness of their evil will, they walked in their own counsels, and looked backward rather than forward.

As a Baptist, this is an easy passage to yell “Amen!” to.  For our entire history, Baptists have railed against placing ritual and tradition as more important than obedience to the voice of God.  In this respect, I am very thankful for the Baptist heritage and tradition.  However, I wonder if we ever are guilty of this very same sin, do we ever put our traditions and practices over obedience to God’s voice?  I think we do.  In fact, I think it probable that we bow down to many practices and doctrines that are far more rooted in culture or tradition than in Scripture. 

It is a fact that in the past our spiritual forefathers were guilty of allowing and encouraging the presence of slavery among their members because it was not expressly forbidden by Scripture.  Even a hundred years after the Civil War, a massive percentage of Baptists were still guilty of allowing and encouraging segregation and blatant racism for many of the same reasons and motivations.  But in the process of these evil actions and hatred toward their brothers within their hearts, Baptists (along with many others) still continued to faithfully attend church and participate in all of the rituals and acts of worship within their tradition. 

Perhaps this is a good example of what God is dealing with in this passage: God’s commands for us do not involve hymnals, fiery Baptist sermons, prohibitions of alcohol or card-playing, contemporary worship bands trying their hardest to sound like U2, church growth, our willingness to drink beer to fit in with hipsters, church committees on committees, Sunday potlucks, or the fact that we don’t curse or associate with the filthiest members of society.  No, God’s commands involve our obedience, but I fear that we often do not even detect our disobedience, even when confronted with the gospel.  The end of this passage deals with this issue:

27 So you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you.  You shall call to them, but they will not answer you. 28 You shall say to them: This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, and did not accept discipline; truth has perished; it is cut off from their lips.

As ministers of the church, much of our responsibility lies in finding the areas where we as a church are not obeying God’s voice, and speaking truth into the body.  This is a difficult task, because the ministers are often the worst culprits in injustices, legalism, and raising human traditions over God’s commands.  I cannot imagine many more trying or difficult tasks then receiving a call from God to speak truth to people who will not listen to you, and I hope that none of us will have this same task.  But the principle in place is undeniable, we must seek and proclaim the truth whether it will be well-received or not.  I pray that I might develop the discipline and bravery to find and shed light on the points where we as a church are lacking.  With enough humble, servant-oriented leadership, the church can continue to become a more united and obedient vessel for God to use in the world.