Thoughts going in, Sunday Sep 12th

Jer 4:11 At that time this people and Jerusalem will be told, "A scorching wind from the barren heights in the desert blows toward my people, but not to winnow or cleanse; 12 a wind too strong for that comes from me. Now I pronounce my judgments against them." 22 "My people are fools; they do not know me. They are senseless children; they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil; they know not how to do good." 23 I looked at the earth, and it was formless and empty; and at the heavens, and their light was gone. 24 I looked at the mountains, and they were quaking; all the hills were swaying. 25 I looked, and there were no people; every bird in the sky had flown away. 26 I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert; all its towns lay in ruins before the LORD, before his fierce anger. 27 This is what the LORD says: "The whole land will be ruined, though I will not destroy it completely. 28 Therefore the earth will mourn and the heavens above grow dark, because I have spoken and will not relent, I have decided and will not turn back." (TNIV)

This week there’s a sentences that really stands out to me from the text. It’s from verse 22: "My people are fools; they do not know me. They are senseless children; they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil; they know not how to do good.” They are SKILLED in doing evil.
I’m reminded of a couple of my favorite tv shows: WHITE COLLAR, and LEVERAGE. Both of these shows have characters with incredible skillsets. WHITE COLLAR has Neal Caffrey, a skilled forger and world class art thief; and Mozzie, a jack of all trades expert at avoiding detection from the law. LEVERAGE has Hardison, an extraordinarily gifted computer hacker, Parker, a breaking & entering specialist/thief, and others. There was also, not long ago, a highly entertaining movie by the name of OCEANS 11 that had a complete cast of characters highly skilled at running a con, safe cracking, demolitions, and stealing. Whether or not we would go so far as to attach the word EVIL to these characters, there’s no doubt that we could say that they are “highly skilled” at…….bending and/or breaking the law.
Why do we admire such people? Oh, sure in the world of television or the movies, they’re usually “using their powers for good,” but ‘good’ is a pretty relative term. Laws are generally being broken, and sometimes the target of their ‘hit’ is just a darker shade of gray than the heroes.
Well, let’s get back to vs 22. Is this the sort of “evil” that God’s people are “skilled at” in the text? Are they the equivalents of Neal and Mozzie and Hardison and Parker? Very unlikely. We need to understand the PROPHETIC USE of the word EVIL. King Ahab, one of the kings of the northern nation of Israel, bears the distinction of being declared Israel’s most evil king. But this doesn’t mean that he was clubbing baby seals. The prophetic use of words like WICKED & EVIL has to do entirely with one’s SPIRITUAL CONDITION. Ahab was a fantastic ruler. He had a long and prosperous reign. He expanded his nation’s borders. The standard of living of his people rose during his reign. In all CIVIL matters, he was one of Israel’s most successful kings—but prophetically, he was the most wicked because he not only continued the false/syncretistic worship of Yahweh that the north was known for, but he also *imported Baal worship to the land. Wickedness/evil, prophetically speaking, is a SPIRITUAL CONDITION. God considered his people of Judah during Jeremiah’s day to be skilled in evil, because of their spiritual condition.
We cannot help but look into the mirror at our own condition. When are we—God’s people of today—skilled in the evil of a debased spiritual condition? We fall into the same category when our actions mirror the actions of God’s people of old. They routinely substituted false worship for the worship of the one true God. We routinely substitute almost ANYTHING for the worship of the one true God: sleeping in on Sunday mornings; prioritizing “family time” ahead of “family worship time,” succumbing to any and every temptation to choose ‘option B’ over gathering for worship together, as we should. This, in God’s sight, is EVIL. It’s evil because it offends against the first commandment not to have other gods; it’s evil because it fractures the worshiping community; it’s evil because it cheapens God’s grace—He called us and saved us by his grace, but we choose to ignore him at will. This, in God’s sight is EVIL.
Maybe we’ve never looked at it that way before, but these words of Jeremiah should be sobering for us. In our day & age we have a little myth we like to buy into. It goes something like this: “well, even if I am doing something wrong, I’m not hurting anyone else, I’m only hurting myself.” But the prophetic language of this passage says otherwise. Right after God says that his people are skilled in doing evil, he says: “23 I looked at the earth, and it was formless and empty; and at the heavens, and their light was gone. 24 I looked at the mountains, and they were quaking; all the hills were swaying. 25 I looked, and there were no people; every bird in the sky had flown away. 26 I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert; all its towns lay in ruins…” In other words, their actions AREN’T happening in a vacuum. In this very picturesque language, the prophet is reminding the people that when God’s people actively choose to walk away from him; when their spiritual condition becomes debased, they are hurting LOTS more than just themselves. When the light in a lighthouse goes out, there will be more problems than simply no light *inside the lighthouse. When our light, as Christians, goes out, our call and ability to shine in the lives of others also goes out. The evil of a debased spiritual condition hurts and effects LOTS more than just ourselves.
What’s the solution??