A brief overview for Sunday School teachers & Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Jeremiah 1:4-19, for Sunday, June 4, 2023, with the title, “Prepares.”

A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRO:  When I was first in college at Oklahoma Baptist University years ago, I was a political science major, looking to go into law or politics. But I love to sing, and I had been on a mission trip, so I felt like God might be calling me to music ministry. It was winter, and we had a heavy snow and everything was closed, and I was basically snowbound at school for a week. I had just recently begun having a daily time in God’s word & prayer, and was enjoying it, so I basically spent that whole week, snowed in, reading my Bible. I thought, “Maybe the Lord will show me whether I should continue studying law, or go into music?” One of the places I read that week was the Book of Jeremiah, 1:4 says “Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” And the Lord showed me outlines of messages to share, from what I had been reading. So that by the end of the snowbound week, I knew I wasn’t going into law OR music ministry, but that the Lord had called me to preach. 

So Jeremiah 1 is a special chapter to me. God used it to call me to ministry. If you want to share that story, you are free to.
OR you might share how God called YOU to a special place of service — and ask others in your group to share their experiences of being called to serve Him as well. 

Then I’d say: Today we are going to look at the call God gave Jeremiah to serve Him in Jeremiah Chapter 1.

CONTEXT

We are starting a new book today: the book of the prophet Jeremiah. Chapter 1:1-3 gives us quite a bit of background on Jeremiah and his times:

— :1 tells us he’s the son of Hilkiah, one of the priests who was in the town of Anathoth in the land of Benjamin. (Just 3 miles north/northeast of Jerusalem, a city given to the priests.) So Jeremiah was basically a “PK,” his dad was a priest.

— And :2 says “the word of the LORD came” to him in the days of Josiah, King of Judah … and Jehoiakim, Zedekiah (who was the last King of Judah before the exile.

Now, when it talks about “the exile,” it means the Babylonian Exile. You’ll want to make sure that you/your group are familiar with the historical context here. As you may know, Israel (the northern kingdom that had split off) and Judah, the southern Kingdom, had fallen away from the Lord for many years, worshiping false gods and disobeying His word. God had sent prophet after prophet to them, exhorting them to repent, but for the most part, they did not. So Jeremiah had unenviable assignment of preaching during the last days of Judah before God finally sent Babylon to destroy Jerusalem and carry many of them off into captivity as punishment. So Jeremiah ministered during a very difficult time. The people were rebellious against God, so they didn’t want to listen to him; there were also many false prophets who would tell the people whatever they wanted to hear; and so when Jeremiah would speak the harsh truth, they either didn’t listen, or persecuted him for it — and  we’ll see some of that in the weeks ahead. But he had a difficult ministry.  

(It may be that some of US are going to have a ministry similar to his in the United States of America in the years ahead …)

But that is the background and context of Jeremiah. 

Today we’re looking at the first chapter. So after the introduction of :1-3 we see: 

OUTLINE

I. The Call To Serve  (:4-10)

II. Pictures of Judgment  (:11-16)

III. The Exhortation to Courage and Perseverance  (:17-19)

I. The Call To Serve (:4-10)

:4 says: “the word of the LORD came to me saying.”

This is important, because this wasn’t something that Jeremiah just “made up” or decided to do on his own. This was GOD’S idea, not HIS. 

This is a HUGE point. Christianity is NOT “pick out what you want to do and do it.” It is NOT “follow your dreams.” It is often “give UP your dreams to do what GOD has planned for you instead.”

So the point is, this all came from GOD, not Jeremiah. (And similarly, we need to make sure that what we are doing comes from God, and is not just our own dream or invention.)

:5 has a couple of very important points:

??? What does God call Jeremiah to do here in :5???
(“I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.” So God was calling him to be a prophet. Now, when we think of a “prophet,” many of us think of someone who tells the future. And sometimes God did have prophets tell the future. But the role of the prophet was not just “foretelling,” but “forth-telling” — sharing God’s message with His people. It’s what we would call a preacher.)

??? WHEN did God say He made this plan for him???
(“Before I formed you in the womb … before you were born …”

So God had this all planned, even before Jeremiah was born. 

That’s significant. God has plans for us that He made before we were ever born. That’s an amazing thought. 

+x Ephesians 2:10 “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” 

The GOAL for every Christian, should be to find that thing/those things that God planned for us to do, before we were ever born.

And when we do them, there is a great sense of fulfillment and joy in it. 

??? Do you ever do something, and you feel so good about it, and get a real joy from doing it?? For me it is teaching this class; preaching in services; leading our Discipleship classes; sometimes seeing people in the hospital, and so on, and I think: “This feels good; this is what God made me to do.”

??? Does anyone want to share something like that in YOUR life??? 

(Maybe some can/maybe some can’t. But I believe God wants every person to be able to find “that thing” that He designed them to do from before they were born; and when you find it and do it, you get that sense of fulfillment and joy, because that is what you were created to do.)

So encourage your group to keep looking for that thing that God is calling to you to do — remember it is not just “your dream,” but what GOD designed you to before you were born. There is a BIG difference!

:6 shows us Jeremiah’s response to this call: GOD is calling him; was he thrilled or what?  NO; he was NOT thrilled. He said: 

“Alas, Lord GOD! Behold I do not know how to speak, because I am a youth.”

So he had a couple of objections here:  

— He did not know how to SPEAK. 

— He is a YOUTH

??? Does this remind you of anybody???
— It might remind you of Moses, from Exodus 3 & 4. When God called him he gave excuses: he can’t speak, etc. 

— But it also might remind us of US!!  ??? What are some of the excuses that YOU give when God asks you to do something???

(I might say: that’s not really my “gift;” or I am so busy, or have too much else to do; or am too tired … What are some of YOUR favorite excuses???   You/your group can think of many others …

But look at GOD’S response to Jeremiah in :7:

“But the LORD said to me, ‘Do not say “I am a youth,’ because everywhere I send you, you shall go, and all that I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the LORD.”

WHY does God say Jeremiah can do it? Because HE is with him. That makes all the difference. 

See: our main problem is, we focus on “I … I … I …” can’t do something. But God wants us to see that HE … HE … HE CAN! 

EXERCISE: copy Jeremiah 1 (my NASB Bible has it all on one page) and ask your group to go through and circle every time GOD says “I” in this chapter:  (Be careful not to circle Jeremiah’s “I’s”!)   But I came up with:  16!  16 times in :4-19 God says “I”! 

So I think we see here that God’s message to Jeremiah is: No, Jeremiah, YOU CAN’T do this; but I, YHWH, CAN! I can do it through you. 

+x Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” 

We need that message today too: when we give OUR excuses why we can’t do what God asks us to do, we need to realize that God CAN do it, despite our weaknesses and excuses, just like Jeremiah. 

II. Pictures of Judgment (:11-16)

Next God begins to give Jeremiah some of the messages that He will have him give Judah. He gives him two pictures in these verses of the judgment that He is sending on them:

A) :11-12 God asks him what he sees, and he says “An almond tree.” And God says “I am watching My word to perform it.” This is a “play on words.” “Almond tree” in Hebrew is SHAQED. “Watching” in Hebrew is SHOQED.” So God says, Let the almond tree (SHAQED) remind you that I am SHOQED (watching) My word — and I will do what I say I will do. 

Then He gives a second picture:

B) In : 13-16 God asks Jeremiah what he sees, and he sees a boiling pot facing away from the north. God tells him in :14 that out of the north evil will break forth on all the inhabitants of the land.  And in fact, that is the direction that the invasion of Babylon came from, into their land. All the invaders came that way. They came around the “fertile crescent” and down the coast from the north. (You might want to have a map ready to show your group how it would come from the north like that.)  

In :16 God says I will pronounce My judgments on them.

??? What reasons does God give in :16 that He would judge them???
— “wickedness,” specifically:

— “they have forsaken Me”

— “offered sacrifices to other gods”

— “and worshiped the works of their own hands”

This is just what we were talking about in the introduction. For hundreds of years, Israel & Judah had worshiped these idols.

Do we do anything like that today? Surely not, right? We don’t worship idols like that. But surely we DO things just like it:

— What does it mean to “forsake” God? (To not pay attention to Him.  What are some ways that WE TODAY can “not pay attention to God”?  NOT spend time with Him in His word & prayer. NOT worship Him. NOT sing to Him. NOT go to worship. NOT thank Him for what He blesses us with. On and on …

— offer sacrifices to other gods. Do WE give to other things, what we should give to God?  ??? Can you think of some examples???

(We can give the time that belongs to God to other things; we can give the money that belongs to God to other things; we can give the LOVE that should be God’s to other things!

— “worship the works of their own hands.” Many today worship the works of their hands: their house/yard; worship their car; worship their “collection” of various things. They are just “things,” but we can sure give them our love and attention — and if we are not careful, we can give them the time and attention and love that belong to God, and that is idolatry.  

God says here in Jeremiah 1 that He JUDGES this kind of wickedness. So we need to make sure we aren’t doing the same things! We don’t want God coming after us like He did Judah, for worshiping things other than Himself.

But passages like this one in Jeremiah 1 should cause us to pray for our country; because we are becoming more and more like Israel & Judah were before God judged them. And God has not changed; what He judged then, He will judge not. Like He said in that first picture of the almond tree: He is watching His word, and He WILL perform it! 

III. Exhortation to Courage & Perseverance (:17-19)

So now God gives Jeremiah His final Exhortation here: 

:17 “Now gird up your loins”.  We’ve all probably heard this phrase, but what does it mean?

Back in those days everyone wore these long, flowing robes, to keep the sun off of them in the heat. But they had a belt around their waist. So if they were getting ready to run, or do some difficult labor, they would take the ends of their robe, and tuck it into their belt, so they wouldn’t trip over their robe as they were running or working. THAT is what the phrase, “gird up your loins” meant. It was another way of saying, “Get ready!” You’re getting ready to do something!

THAT is what God was telling Jeremiah here: “Now gird up your loins.” GET READY! Get ready to get going where I’m telling you to go. Get ready to preach what I’m telling you to preach.  Sometimes it’s a physical thing you have to do to get ready; sometimes I think this can be more of “mental” thing for us: “get ready mentally for ACTION”! Get yourself ready to do something.  +x I Peter 1:13 “gird up the loins of your MIND.” In other words, get MENTALLY ready. Get out of a “lazy”, “do nothing”, “stay the same” mindset, and get ready to DO what God has for you to do! 

I think that could be a big step for some of us today: maybe we don’t even know just what it is that God is calling us to do — but we need to “gird up the loins of our mind.” GET MENTALLY READY, because God is about to call you to do something, so GET READY for it when He shows you!  Just being ready is a big deal. “Gird up your loins!” Get ready for what God has for you to do.

What was it that God wanted him to do?

“Arise, and speak to them all which I command you.” Jeremiah was a prophet, so he was to speak to the people for God.

And he was going to have some difficult things to say, and he might be tempted not to say them, so God told him: “Do not be dismayed before them, lest I dismay you before them!” Don’t you be afraid of them, and hold back what I’m going to tell you; or I’ll “dismay you before them” — I’ll give you good reason to fear them.

WE need this message today too. It is easy to be intimidated by the media, and all the peer pressure we face in a society hostile towards God. But we need to hold to God’s word. Don’t back off of His standards.  “Speak to them all that I command you” — share what His word says, in this wicked society. It’s a good word for me as a preacher, and you as a Sunday School teacher too! Don’t be afraid to teach them just what My word says!

In :19 God tells Jeremiah: “They will fight against you, but they will not overcome you, For I am with you to deliver you, Declares the LORD.”

A couple of things here:

— God tells Jeremiah he was going to have a difficult ministry. He just flat out tells him in :19, “They will fight against you.” This isn’t going to be easy. And he DID have a very hard ministry.

— BUT He says, though they will fight against you, they will NOT overcome you. He would win in the end.

— BUT HERE IS THE REAL DIFFERENCE MAKER: “they will not overcome you, FOR I AM WITH YOU to deliver you declares the LORD.”

If God is with us, it makes all the difference, just like we saw in our survey of all of God’s “I’s” in Jeremiah 1. In fact, if you don’t use that earlier, you might use it here near the end of the lesson, to emphasize: “I am with you” — and that makes all the difference.

Lewis Allen has a great book for pastors called The Preacher’s Catechism. It’s a kind of devotional book specifically for pastors. (Might make a good gift for your pastor!) But near the end of the book, Allen shares a story about the Scottish pastor Robert Bruce, who lived in the 1600s. His church service was about to start, but Bruce was nowhere to be found. Finally, a servant who was looking for him found him in the church bell tower, where he was praying, and pleading with God: “I won’t go unless You go with me!” 

I imagine Bruce, like Jeremiah, might have had something difficult to share; it was too hard for him; so he said: “Lord, I need YOU to go with me.”

That’s Biblical. If you remember, Moses basically said the same thing to the Lord in Exodus 33:15, “If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here!” He was like, God, we can’t do this without YOU. You have to go with us.

And we need to be the same way today. Sometimes the Lord gives us some difficult things to do, to go, to say — so we need to make sure of this one thing: that HE IS WITH US! If He’s with us, we can do it; if He’s with us, they won’t overcome us. SO we need to make sure He is with us:

??? HOW can we make sure God is with us???

— Make sure Jesus is your Lord & Savior

— Make sure you are spending time with Him every day

— Make sure there is no sin between you & God that would hinder His presence and blessing in your life

— Make sure that where you are going/what you are doing/saying are from HIM and not YOU!  HIS will, not YOURS — just like it was for Jeremiah.

__________________________________________________________

— If you’ll type your email in the blank on the blog under “Follow blog via email,” WordPress will automatically send you next week’s lesson, and you won’t have to search for it.

— And if you write something in the Comments below, I’ll be sure to pray for your and your group by name this week.

Per my licensing agreement with Lifeway:

– These weekly lessons are based on content from Explore the Bible Adult Resources. The presentation is my own and has not been reviewed by Lifeway.

– Lifeway resources are available at: goExploretheBible.com  and: goexplorethebible.com/adults-training

– If you have questions about Explore the Bible resources you may send emails to explorethebible@lifeway.com