Series: Living missionally
Scripture: Jeremiah 31:27-34 and 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
Where do we turn to know God and God's good will?
To the Bible (that we maybe know only a little about)? To preachers and teachers (both inside and outside the church, both helpful and unhelpful)? To our own heart (which has been shaped and informed by who knows what and how many influences)?
The prophet Jeremiah (around 580 BCE when the city of Jerusalem and the kingdom of Judah were in the process of being overthrown after centuries of superficially-faithful, mostly-unfaithful life) sees how ineffective it is for the people to put all their trust in only the written Scriptures, the handed-down traditions, and the way their leaders interpret them. He looks forward to a day promised by God when the knowledge of God and of God's good will for life will be written in every human heart, and people's own hearts will lead them to do God's good will for all life on Earth.
Centuries later, Timothy is a young man who started out knowing God and Christ in his heart from the teaching and example of his mother, his grandmother and a few godly elders. But now as a teacher and leader in the church himself, he is worn down by church politics, the influx of "other teaching" and casual immorality among the church members, and plain indifference on the part of church members to the kingdom of God. His heart is full of doubt and wavering, and he is not sure how to be of any help to himself or to others.
Where do we turn to know God and God's good will?
Do others need us at all (or do we need them) to know God and do God's good will for life on Earth?
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