Sermon Summary

In this sermon we jump into a prophetic text, namely Jer. 18:1-11. Here the prophet is preaching to Israel a warning of coming disaster (Babylonian invasion of Judea and exile) and calling them to repent. They have forgotten the covenant with their God. The sermon draws a parallel between Jeremiahʼs preaching and the gospel, to repent and resubmit to the Lordship of God. Within this there is also a contrast drawn between the typical evangelical rhetoric about our relationship with Christ that speaks of “inviting Jesus into our heart” as a guest or “accepting Jesus” as if he is the passive recipient with low self esteem. Here we are called back to a theology of lordship that recognizes God for what he is, the giver, not the receiver and the Cross is placed front and center. Jesus only came as a suffering servant the first time, the next time as a conquering king. For this reason we are challenged that the question of Jesus is not something we can escape, that all men must someday deal with Jesus, if not in this life, at death when it is too late.