Grace Lutheran Church

Sermon Proper 8a June 29, 2008 Surviving Conflict

+ In Nomine Jesu +
The Rev. Evan Gaertner
Proper 8A
Jeremiah 28:5-9
“Surviving Conflict”

Last week I shared in the sermon Jeremiah’s personal struggle with how to be a prophet for the Lord when he faced so much conflict in his faith. We found that Jeremiah did not get a lot of answers to all of his questions, but he did get one very important answer from the Lord, “I will be with you to deliver you, declares the Lord.” With the confidence that the Lord would be present in his life Jeremiah went forward by the grace of God.

So if last week we searched for how Jeremiah handled his conflicts with God, this week we are going to search for how Jeremiah handled the conflicts he had with people that opposed his message.

I had looked at our lesson from Jeremiah and struggled with how I could bring the points of this lesson to play in our lives today. After all it is a story about Jeremiah wearing a yoke around his neck talking to Hananiah a false prophet who was telling Jeremiah he was wrong. I did not want this sermon to become a Biblical history lesson. I found how another pastor has outlined a sermon on this text and thought that his approach fit with my desire to bring Jeremiah’s conflict to play with our own struggles today. The basic outline for this sermon will be to look at how Jeremiah dealt with Hananiah as a model for own behavior when involved in a conflict with another person.

Many people especially like the children’s messages when I use an object to illustrate the message. The use of objects to make a point is not a new development and in fact it was a common method for the Old Testament prophets to make a point. Hosea married a prostitute to show how the people of God had adulterated themselves to false religions. Ezekiel shaved his head and beard and then burned and scattered the pieces to represent the fate that awaited the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Jeremiah used many different actions to illustrate the situation of God’s people. Jeremiah hid a linen belt in a rock crevice to show how Judah would become ruined and useless. In a gate into Jerusalem he shattered an earthenware jug to show how God would destroy both people and city.

In the situation of our lesson today Jeremiah is wearing a yoke of the type that ox would wear to be harnessed to work on the farm. The yoke showed the way that Nebuchadnezzar would bring the nations under his power. Jeremiah called to the messengers of the kings of the region and said, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: This is what you shall say to your masters: ‘It is I who by my great power and my outstretched arm have made the earth, with the men and animals that are on the earth and I give it to whomever it seems right to me. Now I have given these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and I have given him also the beasts of the field to serve him.”

Jeremiah also spoke to the priests and the people of Judah saying, “Thus says the Lord: Do not listen to the words of your prophets who are prophesying to you, saying, ‘Behold, the vessels of the Lord’s house will now shortly be brought back from Babylon.”

Jeremiah was frustrated that the false prophets were giving the people a false hope and encouraging armed resistance against Babylon. Jeremiah was encouraging the people to live under the yoke of Babylon and respect the time as one ordained by God. But the false prophets kept insisting that Babylon was going to collapse and everything was going to be okay within two years.

Hananiah said in response to Jeremiah, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.” Hananiah and Jeremiah both claim to be speaking for God.

How does Jeremiah handle this competing message?

The first principle in fighting fair is found Jeremiah’s choice of words. Does Jeremiah with his words demonstrate respect for the other person? Jeremiah says to Hananiah, “Amen! May the Lord do so; may the Lord make the words that you have prophesied come true.”

Jeremiah reflects back to Hananiah what he is saying and hopes that Hananiah would be right. Jeremiah hopes that they will only be captive by Babylon for two years and that the exiles and the temple treasures will then be released and returned to Jerusalem. With respect Jeremiah speaks to Hananiah attempting to show that they are both on the same side, they both want the truth of God and the good of the people preserved.

When in conflict with another person, how can you demonstrate to that person respect and illustrate the common goals that you share?

The second principle in fair fighting is for everyone involved to envision what things should look like after the dust settles. When we are in conflict we should consider the possibility of what kind of relationship we will have once peace and harmony is restored. The words and actions we take within a conflict should not irreparably harm the ability to have a relationship with the other person once the conflict has passed. Jeremiah attempts to respect Hananaih and talk to him in such a way that they could be together in ministry again.

The third principle is related to the second principle of envisioning peace and harmony being possible. The third principle is about leading the resolution towards bringing the glory to God and that the gospel of God’s mercy in Christ Jesus is magnified. Jeremiah demonstrates that his desire is that God’s Word would be kept and that the people of God in Israel would find continuity throughout the Babylonian captivity and afterwards.

Jeremiah did not need to be right and make sure that Hananiah was wrong. Jeremiah said, “Amen! May the Lord do what you ask.” Jeremiah knows that in the end the false prophets will be revealed by the emptiness of their promises.

Jeremiah asked Hananiah and everyone to look at the consistency of the message of the prophets in the past. Jeremiah pointed out that if Hananiah was right that would mean Hananiah’s message was different then the message of the prophets that have gone before them.

Jeremiah was concerned that if people trusted in Hananiah’s promise of a two year struggle with everything restored so quickly that the people not only not trust Hananiah but that they also would not trust God. Throughout our struggles we should ask ourselves, “Am I keeping God’s name holy in my actions and in this community through this conflict.” It is possible to become so entrenched in keeping our positions that we stop caring about God’s name and instead only stay interested  in our personal survival. Jeremiah did not care about being right, he cared about God’s name being kept holy in his midst.

Fighting fair means knowing that our words, methods, and expressions not only reflect on who we are but also on God who we say we stand on. We do not want in the middle of a conflict to become empty of our integrity. Some of St. Paul’s letters deal with conflict and his concern that conflict within congregations tears them apart from the inside out. To the Galatians Paul wrote, “If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.” Also to the Ephesians he wrote, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs.”

We must be ready to suffer in a conflict rather than respond back to angry and hurtful words with our own angry and hurtful words. The Apostle Peter wrote, “If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or as a gossip. However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.”

Jeremiah through the conflict with Hananiah kept his focus on magnifying the Word of God. Hananiah later took the yoke bars from around the neck of Jeremiah and broke them. Jeremiah did not fight back in response to this aggression but trusted in the victory of God. In fact Hananiah that same year died. Now not always do our adversaries receives such immediate judgment from God, but we can trust that God will be the judge of the living and the dead.

Hananiah had promised two years and Babylon would be finished. Jeremiah was proved right by history, because 1 decade past and then another and indeed it was not till after seventy years that Babylon was destroyed and the people were able to return to Jerusalem

Possibly you may think the standard that Jeremiah and indeed what we can see in the life of Jesus is too impossible to follow. I would say you would be right. It is hard to respect our adversaries, keep envisioning peace and harmony as a possibility and keeping our integrity if we had to rely on our own strength in the middle of conflict. Jeremiah succeeded in remaining a man of integrity throughout his conflicts with Hananiah and others because he kept his faith on God and not himself.  God will be victorious through all conflicts. Have faith in the victory of Christ over the greatest conflict of sin, death and the devil and draw upon him as your strength. I am not telling you to be the victory in your conflict, I am inviting you to trust in the victory of God on the cross. Christ on the cross was not just his victory but what he came to share with you.

Sermon help provided by Homilitic Helps from CPH, Deane Schuessler.

Soli Deo Gloria