Glimmers of Old-Fashioned Faithfulness

Scripture: Jeremiah 35

Sermon: Glimmers of Old-Fashioned Faithfulness

Topics: faithfulness, idols, worldliness, struggle

Preached: March 28, 2004

By: Mike Abma

Jeremiah 35

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah: ²Go to the house of the Rechabites, and speak with them, and bring them to the house of the Lord, into one of the chambers; then offer them wine to drink. ³So I took Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah son of Habazziniah, and his brothers, and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites. ⁴I brought them to the house of the Lord into the chamber of the sons of Hanan son of Igdaliah, the man of God, which was near the chamber of the officials, above the chamber of Maaseiah son of Shallum, keeper of the threshold. ⁵Then I set before the Rechabites pitchers full of wine, and cups; and I said to them, ‘Have some wine.’ ⁶But they answered, ‘We will drink no wine, for our ancestor Jonadab son of Rechab commanded us, “You shall never drink wine, neither you nor your children; ⁷nor shall you ever build a house, or sow seed; nor shall you plant a vineyard, or even own one; but you shall live in tents all your days, that you may live many days in the land where you reside.” ⁸We have obeyed the charge of our ancestor Jonadab son of Rechab in all that he commanded us, to drink no wine all our days, ourselves, our wives, our sons, and our daughters, ⁹and not to build houses to live in. We have no vineyard or field or seed; ¹⁰but we have lived in tents, and have obeyed and done all that our ancestor Jonadab commanded us. ¹¹But when King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon came up against the land, we said, “Come, and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans and the army of the Arameans.” That is why we are living in Jerusalem.’

12 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ¹³Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Go and say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Can you not learn a lesson and obey my words? says the Lord. ¹⁴The command has been carried out that Jonadab son of Rechab gave to his descendants to drink no wine; and they drink none to this day, for they have obeyed their ancestor’s command. But I myself have spoken to you persistently, and you have not obeyed me. ¹⁵I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, sending them persistently, saying, ‘Turn now everyone of you from your evil way, and amend your doings, and do not go after other gods to serve them, and then you shall live in the land that I gave to you and your ancestors.’ But you did not incline your ear or obey me. ¹⁶The descendants of Jonadab son of Rechab have carried out the command that their ancestor gave them, but this people has not obeyed me. ¹⁷Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: I am going to bring on Judah and on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem every disaster that I have pronounced against them; because I have spoken to them and they have not listened, I have called to them and they have not answered.

18 But to the house of the Rechabites Jeremiah said: Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Because you have obeyed the command of your ancestor Jonadab, and kept all his precepts, and done all that he commanded you, ¹⁹therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Jonadab son of Rechab shall not lack a descendant to stand before me for all time.

INTRODUCTION

On New Year’s Day of this year, our family was traveling on County Road 86 in Ontario from Listowel to Waterloo. Suddenly we came upon a horse and buggy flying towards us. We slowed down to get a close look at them.

It looked like a 16 year old boy was driving with what looked like a younger brother and sister. But they were past us in a flash. The horse was clearly going at top speed – typical teenage driver.

Our kids were stunned. They were fascinated. They wanted me to make a U-turn so they could get a better look. But I didn’t want to look like dumb-American tourists so I said, “No, maybe we’ll see another horse and buggy.”

Well it wasn’t long before we did see another, and another, and another.

Then we passed one of their churches, one of their meeting houses. Clearly they had just finished having a New Year’s Day service that morning and everyone was on their way back home.

We didn’t tire of seeing all the different types of buggies – some with open

carriages, others enclosed.

We didn’t tire of seeing all the earth-tone clothes – all black or brown or

gray, nothing red, yellow, green or purple.

We counted something like 60 or 70 buggies that we passed.

The kids were full of questions.

Who were these people?

Why did they ride around in horse and buggies?

Why did they wear such funny looking clothes?

We told them that they were Old Order Mennonites.

We told them that in their church it was very important to understand that even though we Christians are in the world, we are not of the world.

We told them that to make sure that they were not of the world,

these Old Order Mennonites had many different rules they had to live by.

“What kind of rules?” our kids asked.

We told them that they probably could do some things like eat ice cream or play baseball, but they probably couldn’t do other things like watch a professional baseball game, or buy ice cream on Sunday.

We told them that they could sing hymns in church, but they probably were

not allowed to listen to the worldly music on a radio.

We told them that for sure they couldn’t watch a television, play on a

computer or own an automobile – that is why they rode around in horse and buggy.

They asked why not?

Well, we said, years ago, about 450 years ago, at the same time the Reformed churches broke away from the Roman Catholic Church, another group, known as the Anabaptists, broke away too. Some people called them radical reformers. One of those early radical reformers was a man by the name of Menno Simons. The people that followed his teachings became known as Mennonites. Many Mennonites were persecuted and ended up in the United States and Canada, looking for a peaceful place to live.

The Mennonites who still stick to the old ways and old rules are called Old Order Mennonites.

Our kids were fascinated. What an odd group of people?

But it wasn’t only our kids who were fascinated. Shirlene and I were too.

RECABITES

In Jeremiah 35, the Lord turns our attention to an odd group of people. They were known by their family name the Recabites. What made them so odd is that, even for their day and age, they were so old-fashioned.

They were the Old Order Mennonites, they were the Amish of their day:

Where most everyone drank wine – they were total abstainers.

Where most everyone planted a garden – they never planted a seed of anything.

Where most everyone kept a vineyard – they tended no vines.

Where most people settled down, built a house – they never built anything permanent.

They remained sheep and goat herders, roaming around the region, never putting down roots, always living in tents. Even though the time of Jeremiah was something like 1,500 years after Abraham, the Recabites still lived a simple nomadic lifestyle a lot like Abraham’s.

Now why are the Recabites mentioned in Jeremiah?

You have to know the context of chapter 35.

In the last chapter (34), Jeremiah has just warned King Zedekiah that the Babylonians were about to sack the city of Jerusalem. Throughout this book, Jeremiah warns Judah not to rely on her military might to be saved but rather to trust in God. He warns her not to trust in her military alliances with countries like Egypt. He warns, but Judah never listens. Judah is always making alliances with other countries. She is always trying to build up her military might. For Judah, national security had become a higher priority than trust in God.

In the last chapter, Jeremiah tells King Zedekiah and the rest of Jerusalem that they were about to be destroyed because they had not been faithful to God’s laws. One of those laws stated that all slaves had to be freed in the 7^th year. But this had not happened. Why not? Because, it cost a lot of money to set your slaves free. There were market forces at work that made it very difficult for them to free their slaves. Clearly it had become more important for the people of Jerusalem to try stay wealthy than it was to stay faithful.

In direct contrast to the rest of Jerusalem

— who relied more on their military might than on the might of the Lord,

and who were more concerned about the health of the economy than the health their hearts

– in contrast to them,

God points to these odd, old-fashioned Recabites.

In a dramatic display of their faithfulness, Jeremiah puts wine in front of them, and they refuse to drink it. They stick to their old-fashioned but faithful ways.

God then holds up these Recabites, these sheep-herding, tent-dwelling, old-fashioned Recabites and says, “Look at these people. Learn from these people. They may seem odd to you, weird to you, but look how they listen and obey. Look how they listen and faithfully trust in my word.”

CHRIST AND CULTURE

A number of years ago H. Richard Niebuhr wrote his famous book Christ and Culture.

In that book, he describes that some Christians put Christ above culture. These are the idealistic liberals.

There are some Christians who put Christ against culture – the most dramatic expression of this are the old order Mennonites and the Amish.

And lastly, there are the Christians who proclaim Christ in order to transform culture.

This third position is the one Niebuhr liked the best.

This third position is the one this college/university and our denomination likes the best.

We are Christians called to proclaim Christ in such a way that we transform culture – that we make this world a better place.

This is true. We are called to transform culture!

But isn’t it true that there is another side to our attempt to transform culture?

Isn’t it the sad truth that culture has done a lot of transforming of us.

There used to be a day when Christians in our denomination worried about being too worldly. Remember the 3 great evils of worldly amusements 50 years ago: card-playing, movie-watching, and dancing.

Heavens, today the Fellowship Committee organizes euchre parties.

Today, our church has a Movie club.

I think the only reason we don’t have a dance club is because most of us are rhythmically challenged.

But truthfully, have we transformed card-playing (did you notice that poker

playing is now a T.V. sport)?

Have we transformed movie-watching (are they really getting any better?) Have we transformed dancing?

When we think back to 50 years ago and how many people in our denomination expressed their faith, we probably smile with amusement. We think about all those old-fashioned rules and old-fashioned ways, like Sunday observance – no riding your bicycle, no swimming, no shopping – and we think, how legalistic. But can we honestly say we are spiritually healthier today than we were 50 years ago?

ACCOMODATION

If we are honest, we have to admit that the world has been slowly

transforming us.

Slowly everyone has become a consumer.

Slowly everything has become a product.

Slowly the world we live in has been turned into a vast supermarket and we

are slaves to this market, addicted to all the idols of our time that promise to do things better, faster, cheaper.

Even churches have bowed to the strength of market forces so that churches

now spend much of their time developing market strategies for

meeting consumer demand.

If we are honest, we have to admit that the world has been slowly

transforming us in other ways too.

If 50 years ago many Christians were worried about becoming too worldly,

now it seems as if worldliness is hardly an issue.

Our greatest fears do not even seem to be closely connected to the

temptations of the evil one we pray about in the Lord’s Prayer, or the

tyranny of the devil we confess in the Catechism.

Suddenly our greatest fears are not about our hearts but about our homes.

Suddenly our greatest worries are not about threats to our faith, but about threats to our peace and security.

Suddenly our trust, our hope, even our comfort,

is in the strength of our military forces,

is in the depth of our intelligence gathering,

is in the resolve of our President.

We say we are Christians transforming culture, but culture has slowly but surely been transforming us. Isn’t it true that there now seems to be so little difference between a citizen of the City of God and a citizen of the City of this World?

CONCLUSION

Perhaps that is the reason we are so fascinated by those Old Order Mennonites:

Attracted to their distinctive way of life.

Attracted to how they put communal needs above individual wants.

Attracted to the courage this community shows in resisting worldly forces.

Attracted to their legacy of generations devoted to a creed,

a set of rules that honors God, honors their neighbor and honors this creation.

When Jeremiah called Jerusalem to look at the Recabites, he was not calling

them to imitate everything they did.

He was not calling everyone in Jerusalem to suddenly become sheep-

herding, tent-dwelling, abstainers from alcohol.

But what he was calling them to do is struggle — struggle to listen and

obey the Lord’s Word rather than listening and obeying the world.

When our eyes are attracted by these Old Order Mennonites, perhaps the

attraction is not so much that we need to imitate their lifestyle exactly, perhaps it doesn’t mean I have to trade in my Volkswagens for a horse and buggy.

But perhaps we are attracted to them because they remind us that we need to

struggle – to struggle to listen and obey Lord’s voice rather than

listening and obeying the world.

Perhaps if we have no struggle at all, we already know the voice we are

hearing.

Amen

Resources

Willimon and Hauerwas, Resident Aliens

Erin Miller, “Keeping Up With the Amish” Christianity Today, Oct. ’99.

Kraybill and Bowman, On The Back Road to Heaven. 2001