WHAT HAVE WE GOT TO LOSE?

Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations."

Then I said, "Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth." But the Lord said to me,

"Do not say, 'I am only a youth'; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Be not afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord."

Then the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me,

"Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.'' (Jeremiah 1:4-10)

In each of the major prophets we can find a passage similar to this. God calls the prophet – the prophet confesses his inadequacy. Then God touches his mouth, or puts a coal on his tongue, or gives him a scroll to eat.

"Now you're ready....Go....Speak....Don't be afraid.... I am with you."

And we say, "How wonderful!"

But we forget that from the moment of his call, for the rest of his days, that prophet's life is no longer his own. He is utterly at the beck and call of the Word of God.

If God tells him to do some costly thing, or some heartbreaking thing,

he does it.

He's not a prophet Monday through Friday from 8 to 5, but all the time.

- If he has a wife, it's as if he doesn't have a wife.

- If he has a house,

or a pair of shoes,

or a horse to ride, he knows that these things are about as permanent as the morning mist.

The only solid, permanent thing Jeremiah had, or Ezekiel had, was the Word of God. Everything else kept fading and falling away.

The price of being a prophet, a mouthpiece for God, is that God assumes possession of everything in your life that you would normally think of as yours and he gives you only one thing to possess as your own – his Word. Indeed, you don't even possess the Word of God so much as that Word possesses you.

Now the call that came to Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, each at a crucial time in the history of Israel, and wrenched them forever from what might be called a "normal" human life, is now coming, not to an individual man or woman, but to an entire people.

The Spirit of God is now laying hold of a people who are scattered over the earth and doing to this entire people exactly what he did to his prophets of old – wrenching them out of what might be called a "normal" human life, assuming possession of all the things they thought of in the past as their own, and giving them but one thing as their own: his Word.

This prophetic people whom God is now raising up will bring that Word of God to bear on the whole earth before its judgment hour, even as the prophets brought God's word to bear on Israel.

This people will be in sharp contrast to the uninspired, flat, loveless, cowardly, vain, self-indulgent crowd which has claimed to be the church in so many places for so long.

This people which God is now calling out of the lives they've been living – out of the allegiances they have formerly had – will be a burning witness to the reality of the living God, to the lordship of Jesus the Messiah, and to the presence on earth, right now, of God's Holy Spirit.

No one will be able to withstand their word – for it will be verily God's word. They will be hated as the prophets were. despised, often killed. But the more violently the world comes against their message, the more awesome their message will become, until suddenly the Messiah they proclaim will appear and their job will be completed.

Until the Word of God came to Jeremiah and took hold of him, Jeremiah was free to be half-baked. He could excuse his cowardice by saying,

"I'm only a youth."

But once the Word came to him, he was no longer free to be half-baked. It's either go along with God's program, or forget about God.

This is exactly what's now happening to us. Most of us still think of ourselves as God's little volunteers. We consider ourselves heroes because, as we say, we've committed ourselves to Jesus Christ. We say that,

- our possessions are his,

- our plans for the future have been turned over to him,

- our habits,

- our loved ones,

- our virtues,

- our claim to fame,

have been surrendered, and now we're walking the "Calvary Road." And yet, we know that so far our commitment to Jesus Christ has been more a thing of words than a thing of deed.

"Take me Lord, and use me,"

we've said perhaps a thousand times. But when he reached down to take us he found that we were clinging so tightly to where we are that he couldn't take us.

"Lord, I want to be used for your glory. I'll go anywhere, do anything."

But when Jesus comes to use us as we asked him, he finds us clutching our set ideas, our set ways, and our stagnant life so tightly that he simply can't use us.

But now God is doing a new thing. God is calling out a people exactly as he called Jeremiah. And once we've heard that call we can never again be half-baked.

"Do not say, 'I am only a youth.' For to all to whom I send you, you shall go. And whatever I command you, you shall speak."

We have come to a fork in the road where suddenly the life we've lived, up to now, becomes impossible. This road we've been traveling where we've mixed God's Word with this world's safety,

this world's comfort,

this world's hopes, now divides, and the mixture ends.

- One branch leads along the way of bare faith, daily surrender, baffling and dizzying changes, with only one certainty: that Jesus is with us.

- The other branch leads through a land where the comforts and pleasures and dreams are multiplied tenfold, but faith is gone, Jesus is gone.

And we have to take either one branch or the other. This call of God – this fork in the road – may start with a phone call from someone who wants your help. Or it may begin with a knock on the door and someone standing there with a need. Or, it may hit you as you sit here, that you have to either take that step the Spirit of God has laid on your heart or quit pretending that you love God.

If we're married, we may have been hesitating by saying,,

"But Lord, I don't think my mate is ready for this."

Now you wake up and find that your mate has more guts than you do.

Then the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me, "Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant."

The price of being part of this Body which God is now setting over nations and over kingdoms is that God's hand has touched our mouths, meaning that what comes out of our mouths is jealously guarded by God. And the life which is behind the mouth is owned and ordered by God in a new way.

If you don't want God's hand to touch your mouth, then the best thing you can do is turn and run as fast as you can. Because for every one of us who is now being touched on the mouth by the hand of God, it's going to mean three things for the life behind the mouth.

1. Disruption.

If God is going to use us to pluck up and to break down, to prepare the way for the Messiah, there is first going to be some plucking up and some breaking down inside our lives. Life will not go on and on as it has been.

- Those things that have dulled our minds to God's word,

- Those things that have blocked the flow of God's love in us,

- Those things that have hindered our unity with each other,

- Those things that have made us slaves to our bodies and to our vanity,

will be plucked up and broken down. Deep roots of self will have to be pulled out.

2. To be touched on the mouth by the hand of God will mean discomfort.

If we are to be a people who, by means of the spoken word of God, will destroy and overthrow lies that have mislead this earth for centuries... those lies will first have to be destroyed and overthrown within us.

It will cause me discomfort to;

- have to learn that my idea that "me and my Christian friends" in this part of town can exist as a world unto ourselves is a lie.

To swallow my pride and confess my sin and try to get along with those other, rather strange, brothers and sisters is going to be uncomfortable.

My set ways that are locking me in this rut.... it's going to hurt as God begins to destroy and overthrow them, as he will.

3. To be touched on the mouth by the hand of God is going to cost us some dislocation.

God is going to move me from where I am spiritually, perhaps geographically, to where he wants me. He's going to fit me into a niche in the Body where he wants to put me.

- He's going to build me into the temple where he sees fit – and that's never quite where I see fit.

If we're going to be used by the Spirit of God to build and to plant, we first have to learn, by the Spirit, to be built and planted.

The wind blows where it wills and you can hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it's coming from or where it's going ..... so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.

There's not one of us who thinks about these things which are now taking place in our lives, and in our fellowships, who doesn't get scared.

How far is the Lord going to take me?

How fast is he going to make me move?

Can I survive all the changes he brings upon us?

But the real question is:

What have we got to lose?

You say, “This half-baked life is good, don't knock it. We'll miss it when it's gone.” The same could be said about drug addiction, alcohol.

Wake up and look at this mixed road we've been walking. What is it.?.... Nothing !......

If this is living, why go on?

If this is why I'm on this earth---to go through this routine over and over and over until I wear out, why not die and get it over with?

All Jesus is telling us to give up is this empty existence. And the death Jesus is taking us through is the death of this insipid stupor we've been in.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they might have life and have it more abundantly.

Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

Will we dare to answer that call? To believe that of all the calls that have beckoned to us since we were born on this earth, his call is the one we can really trust?

Will we dare to hold still and let him put forth his hand and touch our mouths and take whatever consequences follow?

Then the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me,

"Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant."