“The Message At The Gate Of The LORD’S House!”

“The Message At The Gate Of The LORD’S House!”(Jer.7:1-15).
In reaction to the message of the previous day, one of our avid online believer, Mr TKA asked in one of the whatsapp forum, *”Please does obedience to the Lord mean the same as obedience to the church?”* When I saw the question, my quick answer was “two different things.”
There is no doubt that the church is the visible representation of Christ in the world. Obedience to the church means obedience to the teachings of the church. The teachings of the church should by its very nature be the expounding of the word of God as it is in scriptures. The teaching of the church is to make the message of salvation relevant so that no soul should be lost.
But then, who has to make this message relevant? It should be those who are called to lead the members by first learning the scriptures and by the help of the Holy Spirit making it relevant to the rest of the people.
While it is somehow obvious that obeying the church is obeying God, there comes a time when obeying the church is disobedience to God.
Every heresy is a disagreement on some formulated doctrines which some members consider to be misleading. That is why heresy is best understood as “contested interpretation.”
The reason for the schism and myriad denominations today is the result of contested interpretation. And contested interpretation is simply saying, “We do not agree with that interpretation!”
So does obedience to the Lord the same as obedience to the church? The answer is, “Not always!”
Today’s reading from Jeremiah explains it in a sense that when the interpretation from from within makes people comfortable in their sins, God sends a prophet who stands at the gate of the LORD’S house to proclaim what God wants and also denounce what has become abhorrent within!
It is important to note that Jeremiah was not a stranger to what was going on within. He was a priest, the son of a priest. He was from the priestly family and he knew what was going on.
Jeremiah is a prophet of reconstruction, called and appointed to “uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant”(1:10).
Like we have said repeatedly in the past, reconstruction presupposes a deconstruction of what has been constructed.
So here we go: God’s word came to Jeremiah, “Stand at the gate of the LORD’S house and there proclaim this message: “…This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel says: ‘Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. Do not trust in the deceptive words and say, “this is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!’ If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live…” We cannot continue to wallow in all kinds of sin, “trusting in deceptive words that are worthless,” yet, claiming that “we are safe”…” This can not be obedience to God!
Dear friend, we do not only need an about turn, but a complete overhauling as we return to the LORD!
The basic requirements for the overhauling in today’s message is: ‘Change your ways and your actions and deal justly…do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood… do not follow other gods to your harm…”
May God open our hearts to listen to the message at the gate when the message from within has become irrelevant!
Prayer: Holy Spirit help us to be relevant in our profession of faith; more by deeds than mere words. Amen!
Have a blessed day! Peace be with you!
Rev Babila Fochang.