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September 27th, 2009                                                            Mission Festival                           Seventeenth Sunday After Pentecost

Jeremiah 38:1-13                                                                                                                                         Rev. Matthew C. Rauh

ENCOURAGE THOSE WHO PREACH THE GOSPEL!

         What does it take to field a football team?  You would think a couple dozen players and a coach and that’s it.  But it is much more complicated than that.  Look at our own Minnesota Vikings.  There are 53 players on the roster.  The Vikings also have 24 coaches.  There are 7 owners or co-owners of the team and six Vice-Presidents.  There are 26 people in administration ranging from video coordinators to the receptionist.  There are 2 community relations people, 1 director of dining, 3 in charge of the equipment, 3 in charge of the facility.  The Vikings have 7 medical professionals which includes 4 doctors.  4 in charge of security and travel, 1 player developer, 26 involved in sales and marketing, 11 in charge of ticket sales, 5 in the accounting office, 4 public relations personnel, 1 human resources director and 2 technology specialists.  To my count there are 187 people involved in entertaining us with a three hour football game on a Sunday afternoon.  187 people, and that does not include the personnel at the Metrodome, the police for crowd control, the venders and souvenir sellers, sports writers and cameramen.

     What does it take to make disciples of all nations?  Just a couple missionaries?  No.  It takes thousands, hundreds of thousands of Christians like you and me to spread the gospel.  Today is our “Mission Festival.”  We also want to continue our theme for the year of encouraging each other, and this text before us helps us to do both.  We want, we need to encourage each other, especially those who are called to spread the gospel.  First, let’s look at the difficulties they face.

I.  The difficulties they face.

   “Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malkijah heard what Jeremiah was telling all the people when he said,  “This is what the LORD says: ‘Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine or plague, but whoever goes over to the Babylonians will live. He will escape with his life; he will live.’  And this is what the LORD says: ‘This city will certainly be handed over to the army of the king of Babylon, who will capture it.’”  Then the officials said to the king, “This man should be put to death. He is discouraging the soldiers who are left in this city, as well as all the people, by the things he is saying to them. This man is not seeking the good of these people but their ruin.”  “He is in your hands,” King Zedekiah answered. “The king can do nothing to oppose you.”  So they took Jeremiah and put him into the cistern of Malkijah, the king’s son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah by ropes into the cistern; it had no water in it, only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud.”

    Jeremiah had his enemies.  At first you would think their opposition to him and his message is understandable, even justified.  The Babylonian army was approaching.  Jerusalem and all of Judah was in jeopardy of complete defeat and here was Jeremiah telling the people to give up and surrender.  I mean, if that happened today, our young people would all enlist in the armed forces and be willing to die to defend our nation and we all would pitch in to defend ourselves.  If somebody said we should just surrender, we would label him a traitor.