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Show TEIBLE SPEAKS L By DR. KENNETH J. FOREMAN SCRIPTURE: Jeremiah 8:4-7; 26; 31. DEVOTIONAL READING: Psalm 51: 1-13. Personal Religion Lesson for December 11, 1949 pLECTRICITY was discovered, long ago, but there are millions of people today who never use il and don't know anything about it. Modern plumbing has been in use ever since most ot us were born; but f t4 " most human be- vS" " ings still walk for ? their water instead p tH of getting it from " pipes. All inven- & t tions take quite a ,t v while to get around. Is.'V, I fo" So it is in the realm IL -'j i i J of the spirit. Jere-miah Jere-miah the prophet, Dr. Foreman it has been said, is the "man who discovered the individual." in-dividual." But 2700 years after his time, the individual needs rediscovering. redis-covering. Even in the church, some people live and act as if Jeremiah's discovery had never been made. A Man Stands Alone TlLTHOUGH JEREMIAH was a priest and aristocrat by birth, his own class disowned him. The story in Jeremiah 26 shows dramatically dram-atically why this was. He predicted doom for his nation, and since his own "upper-bracket" people were the nation's leaders, they considered con-sidered Jeremiah's attitude not only unpatriotic but a downright personal insult. If it had been left to the priests and the official prophets, the day of Jeremiah's sermon at the temple would have been his last. To put it bluntly, the difference between Jeremiah and all the other "prophets" and priests could be put this way: He knew the nation was too rotten to last, but they thought it was plenty good enough. - They probably could have agreed with him that a wicked nation deserves de-serves divine punishment; only they could see nothing wrong with Judah. Religion by Proxy? fHEY were mistaken many ways. Mistake number one: They thought the Temple, with all that went on in it, was much more important im-portant to God than it really was. The whole business Temple, white-robed white-robed priests, chanting choirs, the burning of animals, the incense and the mystic lights it had become be-come in their eyes a sort of immense im-mense good-luck charm. They thought: Surely God will not destroy de-stroy a city that contains this Temple! But Jeremiah saw through that mistake. Institutions, rituals, rit-uals, organizations, ceremonies, sacraments, these are all simply means to an end, they have no value in themselves. Everything Every-thing we call "public worship" is good only if and so far as it lifts and cleanses the spirits of the worhipers and brings them nearer God. The most perfect and impressive worship, engaged in by those whose hearts are evil, beomes a' blasphemy. blas-phemy. A fine church is no substitute substi-tute for fine people. A beautiful worship program will not conceal from God's eye unbeautiful souls. Mistake number two: The priests and prophets supposed there was such a thing as religion by proxy. They thought the priests by carrying carry-ing on their duties could take care of the situation. God. writes on the heart HNOTHER MISTAKE made by those poor fools of false prophets proph-ets and priests was in supposing they had the Law of God, when aU they had was two tables of stone shut up in a box (I Kings 8:9). They were proud of those tables of stone, they were the Commandments of God, and they were guarded most carefully in the Holy of Holies in the Temple. Surely, God would not destroy the city that possessed the Sacred Law! But Jeremiah knew better. In the Jong run, the only place the Law of God does real good is when it is written on the heart. In Jeremiah's most famous prophecy (chap. 31) he looks forward to the day when God's handwriting shall be not on tables of stone but on human hearts. That prophecy is being fulfilled day by day as persons turn their hearts to the Lord aiid open the book of their lives that God may write his laws there. Yt-i how many people have never learned this truth! Having a great tradition is good; owning and reading read-ing the Bible is good; but it is not the Bible on the shelf that counts, not carrying a testament in the pocket, but the Word of God "hid in the heart" of those who know, love and do what God desires. (Copyright by the International council Religious Education on behalf of 40 Protestant denominations. Released by VVNU Features.) |