We are a First Generation Church

It’s been a long time since I’ve blogged.  I still have much I want to write about, but taking the time to blog hasn’t been making the list.  I do apologize for this, both to you and God.  There is much I want to rejoice about, share with you, and give glory to God.

Some time ago I came across Jeremiah 6.  Much of the Old Testament writing of the prophets is pretty dismal to read, lots of warnings of what will happen to Israel if they do not return to God, sprinkled with some promises of God’s goodness and faithfulness.  One paragraph in Jeremiah 6 struck me as particularly dismal:

²⁷ “Jeremiah, I have made you a tester of metals,^[c]
that you may determine the quality of my people.
²⁸ They are the worst kind of rebel,
full of slander.
They are as hard as bronze and iron,
and they lead others into corruption.
²⁹ The bellows fiercely fan the flames
to burn out the corruption.
But it does not purify them,
for the wickedness remains.
³⁰ I will label them ‘Rejected Silver,’
for I, the Lord, am discarding them.”

There are many places in the bible that mention the refining fires of God, a good thing meant to purify us and make us more Christlike.  What struck me about this passage was that it says the fires were ineffective.  When nothing good can be found, what does he do with the metal?  He labels them rejected and discards them!  What’s surprising here is he’s not talking about some heathen group of people, he’s talking about his beloved, Israel.  The idea that Israel, who time and time again experienced first hand the power and the love of God, had become so corrupt that God was telling Jeremiah that it didn’t matter how hot he stoked the refining fires, there is nothing left to refine!

Wow, this is amazing to me.  If God’s chosen people are at risk of being labeled Rejected Silver and discarded, then how much more so are we who have been grafted into the family as Gentiles, and so distant in time from the miracles recorded in the bible, at risk of falling into this same corruption?  It means that every generation, no matter how well rooted in the Lord their ancestors may have been, is at risk of falling away from the Lord.  I was so moved with compassion and concern for the salvation of my own children that I felt moved to share this at a Prayer and Praise, essentially what I have shared here.  But also felt moved to lead the group in a corporate prayer.  This turned into praying in tongues, my first public tongue.  Paul tells us that if we give a public tongue we should also ask for the interpretation of the tongue, so that the body can be edified.  However, I wanted to test the Spirit and see if anyone else would receive the interpretation, trusting that my spirit would discern whether it was a correct interpretation, even though I did not know myself what the interpretation was.  I wasn’t disappointed.  A lady in the congregation, who speaks English as a second language, said she received the interpretation in Spanish and translated it to us as “”if you hear my voice, you will not be discarded.”  Very appropriate I thought, and much like the character of God to express love, peace, and assurance, and the same simple truth expressed to the Israelites time and time again.

Afterward my pastor spoke with me and shared a comment that sums it up well.  He said “we are always a first generation church”.  Every generation must decide to accept God on their own, there is nothing we can do to assure their salvation for them.  This makes Deut 6:6-7 all the more important:  “And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.”  This and prayer are the only hope we have to prevent them from being labeled Rejected Silver.  I intend to do my part.

-Nate