Sermon by Rev. Alan Rudnick
Damascus United Methodist Church
Jeremiah 29:11-14a
Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Pentecost – November 11, 2007
I want to first thank the congregation for the wonderful words, food, thoughts, gifts, and prayers for our family and for our new addition: Rowan Alan. Chrissy and Rowan are doing well and resting at home trying to get use to the routine. I guess am still getting used to not sleeping too.
Well, if you have not noticed all the white t-shirts in the congregation, you might be wondering what is going on: it’s disciple now weekend. Disciple Now is a fall retreat for the youth were I have brought in college student leaders who are active in ministry or ministry groups who lead age based small-groups through the weekend. The theme for the weekend is “A Higher Desire”. During this weekend, youth and leaders have stayed in church members homes meeting in small groups. This weekend was full of fun, excitement, food, video scavenger hunt, and examining what it means to have a higher desire for God. They even got to watch the movie “Rudy” for their first discussion session.
If you had some part in preparing in the disciple now weekend whether it be hosting, driving, providing food, or if you are leader please stand. Let’s give applaud their help in the weekend…. Thank you adult volunteers.
All this weekend, the youth have been discussing and learning about what it means to seek a deeper desire with God. The youth have expressed their desires and have compared those desires against God’s desires for them.
The theme for the weekend has been based on Jeremiah 29:11-14a. The book of Jeremiah chronicles the story of how God called the prophet to preach to Israel in one of the most critical times in Israel’s history: the destruction of the temple, the dwelling place of God, and the exile of God’s people. Jeremiah is one of the most interesting prophets in the Old Testament because his story and his struggles are recorded in a detailed fashion. The prophet is reluctant to preach a message to the Jews that includes turning their hearts back to God. Israel ignored his call and turned their backs on God. Jeremiah passionately grieved his brother’s and sister’s decision to turn their desires away from God.
Jeremiah’s fervent message is underscored in Jeremiah 29:
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the Lord.
This message was a message of hope to the Jews because Israel has to witness the destruction of everything they knew that was holy. This scripture is also a message of hope to us because we too need to seek and trust in God.
You know, only by the grace of God has this weekend retreat has been successful. Rowan was born on Halloween and I have been trying to spend time with my family and to get this retreat off the ground. I had only a few days to get the last minute details worked out. I guess that is what being a dad is all about.
When I think about my son, I think about how awesome he is and how I am going to teach him to play lacrosse, the times we are going to spend on vacation, and how we are going to share a lot of sweet moments together. I also think about those tough times too. He is going to get lost in a department store at age 5? Will he be crying and afraid when he is looking for me? When he is 16, am I going to get that 3am call to pick him up from somewhere? Is he going to come to me with he has a serious problem? He is going to trust me to help him?
All of those thoughts run through my head when I think about the relationship that I will have with my son. When I started thinking about that, I starting to think about how much I desire for my son to be close with me. I don’t want him to be a rebellious pastor’s child… I don’t think that we have any of those in this church. I want him to be rooted in his relationship with Christ, to read scripture, and love others. I want that so much for him that I would do anything for him to grounded in God.
The way a father or mother desires to be close with their son or daughter is not unlike how God desire us to be close with Him. In Jeremiah, God communicates to us that he has great plans for our lives… plans that will prosper and give us future hope. God tells us that if we seek and find him to pray, God will listen, through good times and bad. Jeremiah also tells us that when we seek and desire God with all our heart he can enter into an amazing relationship.
It’s amazing how strong our desires are, aren’t they? I mean we do a lot in our culture to look good, to be successful, and to be on top. How much of that desire do we direct towards God? Honestly, how much energy and desire do you put into God? Do we desire to be in a deeper relationship with God just as much as we desire material goods? Over time, as we begun to understand that God’s desire is to be in a relationship with Him, we begin to understand God’s love for us.
We see in scripture how when people of God sought God’s desires they had a wholeness. For instance, David proclaimed 2 Samuel 23:
Is not my house right with God?
Has he not made with me an everlasting covenant,
arranged and secured in every part?
Will he not bring to fruition my salvation
and grant me my every desire?
And in 2 Chronicles 11 when Solomon’s deepest desire was shared with God, God said to King Solomon:
"Since this is your heart's desire and you have not asked for wealth, riches or honor, nor for the death of your enemies, and since you have not asked for a long life but for wisdom and knowledge to govern my people over whom I have made you king, therefore wisdom and knowledge will be given you. And I will also give you wealth, riches and honor, such as no king who was before you ever had and none after you will have."
How do we act on our deeper desire to be closer with God? First, you can start being honest with yourself. What is holding you back to be embraced by God? What do you need to do to begin to welcome and call God deeper into your life? Next, when we have let go of our earthly desires, we then begin to embrace heavenly desires. By spending time reading scripture, praying, being involved in a covenant group, committing to a Disciple group, worshiping God on a regular basis, loving others, and practicing spiritual disciplines, we begin to discover how amazing and awesome it is to be in a deeper connection with God.
This weekend, the youth of this church have opened their hearts to God’s heart. They have opened their hearts to God’s desires for them. They have learned that if they trust and seek God, then they can begin to discover God’s wonderful plan for their lives. We you do the same? Will you commit to seek God in the deepest if ways? Will you let God’s desire become your desire? Because if you will, you will begun to discover the power that comes through faithfully seeking God through prayer, faith, and love. Will you seek a higher desire?
Amen.
