Jeremiah (1-31) 9:23 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Jeremiah (1-31) 9:23

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‘Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches.’ That is what happens in times of unbelief and atheism. People glory in those very things. The intellectuals in their imagined intellectual wisdom, the men of power in their power, and the rich in their holdings.‘But let him that glorieth glory in this’ – this is the greatest thing imaginable in life – ‘that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord.’ Oh to understand and know the Lord. That is greater than all wisdom and might and riches: that illumination of the spirit that comes at conversion, when we see the gospel and spiritual things and the Lord, and we know by the work of the Spirit that these things are true. ‘That I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment [justice, let's say], and righteousness, in the earth.’ If we all exercise lovingkindness towards our neighbours: lovingkindness in the family, lovingkindness wherever God has set us; of course, in the church, works of mercy, good works in abundance, lovingkindness toward the lost, justice. If we are fair in our evaluations and righteousness; if we keep the laws of God before us; if we don't switch on to Christian autopilot and trust it will all work out. Where have I fallen today? If we come before the Lord in self-examination and in repentance, and ask for strength to be conscientious tomorrow, what blessing will be ours because we pay attention to lovingkindness, justice, and holiness, righteousness! ‘For in these things I delight, saith the LORD.’‘Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will punish all them which are circumcised with the uncircumcised;²⁶ Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that are in the utmost corners, that dwell in the wilderness: for all these nations are uncircumcised,’ – and listen – ‘and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.’ Here is Jeremiah saying that the days are coming when Israel will be treated by God like any of the other unbelieving nations. In spite of all his provision for them, they have profited nothing by it. They have learnt nothing in all their long history. All they have been through has not produced one single genuine response to God – at least not in the nation as a whole. They are as uncircumcised as the nations around them, because the flesh counts for nothing, the spirit gives life, and yet there has been no circumcision of the heart.

Application

‘Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches:’ – this is instruction to the preacher: Don't let these people do this – ‘But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD.’ Learning from Jeremiah and his commission, we are to exercise, all of us, a humbling ministry. We were all once in this position to some degree before conversion. It is a ministry designed to humble people before the Lord. Our business – and this is difficult – is to bring people who are proud and naturally pleased with themselves, to be humbled in the sight of the Lord, and to see that they have derived everything from him. They have received from him all that they are and have, and they have no merit before him. When you think of the pride of human beings: this is the hardest ministry. In fact, it would be impossible without the blessing and work of the Spirit, but it is a humbling ministry. It is intended to cause people to bow the knee before God.

That, again, is why we don't just preach comfort to people. While we are not being unpleasant, and we are not setting ourselves up above the people, somehow we have to so preach, so teach the children, so witness, that people by the work of the Spirit in their hearts are humble before God.

Now there are some simple practical applications of this. Our words had better be worthy of a great God. Sometimes they are not. Sometimes even preachers can be crashingly trivial, and intelligent people think that is ridiculous, and they despise the preacher for his poor little jokes, and his triviality and shallowness. That is not going to bring people to be humbled before the Lord. If the preacher would only preach the word and its depths and the gospel challenges, then by the work of the Spirit people will be humbled, and they will wonder at it, and they will reflect deeply on it. Even if they react against it and they don't like it, they won't be able to say, ‘That's trivial; that's nonsense; that’s something small.’ So as we are involved in a humbling mission, we had better make sure that the things we do and say are worthy. That is why even with the little children in the Sunday School, we don't draw scrappy things, and things that children will despise. This is especially important in this age of sophisticated media, where children can on their own computers, get fine illustrations and look into this and that, and even work some of these programs themselves. We have to be careful that what we present is good and worthy, and can be appreciated. If not admired, it can at least be respected by the people who hear, or even the little children who watch, because this is a humbling ministry. We can't afford to bring it into disrepute.

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Jeremiah (1-31) 9:23 Commentary and Bible Study