Preaching to the Rich

September 21, 2025 15th Sunday After Pentecost Jeremiah 8:18 – 9:1 Preaching to the Rich Year C Prelude Greeting Call to Worship Turn us, O God, away from the world’s temptations and distractions Return us, O God, to the quiet calm of your presence Restore us, O God, to the path you call us to follow Orient us, O God, to the hope of all that is possible through you (Presbyterian Outlook, Terri Ott) Invocation Great God, who gathers us together in spirit and in truth, sanctify our time together. Grant us wisdom and discernment. Open our hearts to receive and to give. Be glorified in our worship and the transformation that moves us forward as your people. In your glorious and precious name, we pray. Amen. (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Cheryl Lindsay) Song There is a Balm in Gilead UMH 375 Children's Sermon jeremiah 8:18 - 9:1 For a children's sermon on Jeremiah 8:18–9:1, you can focus on how Jeremiah and God felt sad and hurt by the choices of the people. The key idea is that when we make bad choices, it hurts not only ourselves but also the people who love us, especially God. The main point: God and Jeremiah were so sad over the people's bad choices that they wept, showing us how much God's heart can be broken when we turn away from him. Children's Sermon: A story about a friend (Visuals: A happy face drawing or emoji, a sad face drawing or emoji, and a drawing of a heart with a Band-Aid on it). (Start with the happy face) "Imagine you have a best friend. You and your friend do everything together and have so much fun. You know what makes your friend happy and what makes them sad. But one day, your friend starts hanging out with new people who aren't very nice. These new friends start getting into trouble, and your best friend starts making some of those same bad choices, too. (Switch to the sad face) "You feel really sad about this, right? Your heart hurts because you know the good person your friend is, and you know these choices are going to get them into trouble. You want to tell them to stop, but they won't listen. When something bad happens to your friend, you feel their pain right along with them. (Show the heart with the Band-Aid) "This is a little bit like what happened to the prophet Jeremiah and God. Jeremiah was God's friend, and God's people were making some very bad choices. They weren't listening to God anymore and were worshiping fake gods instead. Jeremiah felt so much sadness and pain for the people he loved, the people of God, and he cried and cried. "In the Bible, Jeremiah 8 and 9 tells us about this. It's like Jeremiah and God are saying, 'Oh, if only my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears, I would weep day and night'. They were so, so heartbroken. Bringing it home • God's heart gets hurt, too: We sometimes think of God as so big and powerful that our choices don't affect him. But just like our hearts hurt when a loved one makes a bad choice, God's heart hurts, too. • The path to healing: Just like we would want our friend to stop making bad choices, God wants us to turn away from our sins and back to him. The Bible talks about a 'balm in Gilead,' a kind of medicine that could heal wounds. God is the only true physician who can heal our broken hearts and the hurt our sin causes. • Jesus wept: The sadness Jeremiah felt reminds us of Jesus. Remember the shortest verse in the Bible? 'Jesus wept' (John 11:35). He wept over the pain and sin in the world, showing us that God deeply understands and shares our suffering. (End with a question) "So, when we feel sad about a choice we've made or when we see someone we love making a bad choice, we can remember that God is with us and understands our pain. And most importantly, we can remember that turning back to God is the first step toward healing for our own hearts and for the world around us. What choices can you make today to show God and others that you care about their feelings?" (AI) Affirmation of faith (from a Brief Statement of Faith) We trust in God the Holy Spirit, everywhere the giver and renewer of life. The Spirit justifies us by grace through faith, sets us free to accept ourselves and to love God and neighbor, and binds us together with all believers in the one body of Christ, the Church. The same Spirit who inspired the prophets and apostles rules our faith and life in Christ through Scripture, engages us through the Word proclaimed, claims us in the waters of baptism, feeds us with the bread of life and the cup of salvation, and calls women and men to all ministries of the Church. In a broken and fearful world the Spirit gives us courage to pray without ceasing, to witness among all peoples to Christ as Lord and Savior, to unmask idolatries in Church and culture, to hear the voices of peoples long silenced, and to work with others for justice, freedom, and peace. (Presbyterian Outlook, Terri Ott) Welcoming of Gary and Sherri Eich. – Page 50 Prayer for illumination Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on us. Open us to your life-giving Word. Quiet the voices within us that do not align with your will. Focus our minds on the message you intend for us, so we may faithfully discern your way. Amen (Presbyterian Outlook, Terri Ott) Scripture Jeremiah 8:18 – 9:1 Sermon Preaching to the Rich In 2023, the surgeon general listed loneliness as an epidemic in the U.S. More and more people feel isolated and disconnected. Theologian Henri Nouwen says The wound of loneliness (to repeat) is like the Grand Canyon - a deep incision in the surface of our existence, which has become an inexhaustible source of beauty and self-understanding. The Christian way of life does not take away our loneliness; it protects and cherishes it as a precious gift. The painful awareness of loneliness is an invitation to transcend our limitations, and look beyond the boundaries of our existence. The awareness of loneliness might be a gift we must protect and guard, because our loneliness reveals to us an inner emptiness that can be destructive when misunderstood, but filled with promise for him who can tolerate its sweet pain. Have you found some sweet pain in your own loneliness? Our primary task together in the church, as Nouwen puts it, is not to take away pain, but rather to deepen the pain to a level where it can be shared. In the sharing of our wounds will our healing come, not in the hiding of them, or the pretending that they do not exist. As God made visible in Jesus his wounded heart and showed us the stigmata way of suffering communication, so only as we are willing to suffer the baring, the sharing of our wounds, will the healing power flow; but it will flow. That’s when it flows. As Nouwen puts it, "The wound which causes us to suffer now will be revealed to us later as the place where God intimated his new creation." Henri Nouwen is famous for using the term wounded healer. For him, in our hearts, we all experienced some level of deep ache. ROBERT A. RAINES is a prolific author, currently Director of Kirkridge Retreat and Study Center in Bangor, Pennsylvania, following twenty years in parish work. His sermon, God’s Wounded Healers, was preached on a return visit to First United Methodist Church of Germantown, Pennsylvania, where he had been co-minister from 1961-1970. In it he lifts up the principle that our preaching has its greatest strength and integrity sometimes when we are speaking from the experiential knowledge of our own wounds such as loneliness; when we are invoking the compassionate authority of Henri Nouwen’s "wounded healer." One night several years ago, at a group meeting at our house here in Philadelphia, a man shared his personal pilgrimage with us, his own struggle with suffering, and he concluded with a comment that I remember. He said, "I am one of the walking wounded." When that man spoke those words years ago, I didn’t realize that I was one of the walking wounded, too. I wasn’t conscious of the wounds in my heart or in touch with my own inner ache. But today I realize that I, too, am one of the walking wounded. Are you also in the ranks of the walking wounded? Are you in touch with your inner ache? Kazantzakis writes somewhere, "Every woman has a wound which will never heal" - and every man does, too. Recently I came to know a young Dutch Roman Catholic at Yale Divinity School. Henri Nouwen is his name. He is a man of rare depth and warmth. He has written a little book called The Wounded Healer, in which he suggests that loneliness may be the deepest and most painful wound in the human heart. He writes: "The wound of loneliness is like the Grand Canyon - a deep incision in the surface of our existence, which has become an inexhaustible source of beauty and self-understanding." Robert Raines says that loneliness and other dark conditions of the soul can affect everything in our lives, and can have physical, mental and spiritual symptoms. I would imagine that a prophet or either ancient or modern times would know the ache of loneliness very well. In challenging people to think in a new way, they would feel isolated and alone. The bible records every season of the prophet Jeremiah’s life. And it seems that dark emotions followed him all of his life. There is no biblical character that embraces dark emotions like Jeremiah. As he gives God word to his community his words still haunt us even today. He says, no healing only grief. Listen to the weeping of my people. The harvest is past, the summer has ended, yet we are still not saved. Jeremiah so personifies that part of the human condition that we named it for him. The word for the words spoken by such a soul as Jeremiah's is "jeremiad." The dictionary defines a jeremiad as: "a lamentation; (or) mournful complaint."3 That's Jeremiah: a mournful complainer! One who laments even as he lambasts the situation of his people. Who cries as he cries out the wrath of God. One who is sorry for the sorry state of affairs in which he is called to minister, but to which he must still speak the truth. Jeremiah speaks the truth in tearful lamentation and in tender love. During Jeremiah’s lifetime, his country was being attacked and oppressed. The attackers prevented them from coming outside the city walls to get food. And when they tried to grow food themselves, it was so hot and it never rained. – nothing grew. So when it came time for the harvest, there were no crops. Jeremiah is so sad for his people that he says that he wishes his tears were a fountain to give water. Jeremiah’s tears were not just for the outside circumstances of life, he also cried for the soul of his nation. He saw that people started to live dark lives- there was no hope, no compassion, no love, no community. People lived isolated lives. Seeing this internal darkness leads him to ask the famous question – is there no balm in Gilead? His prayer was for relief – he prayed that people would be nicer. That they would put God first in their lives. The crisis was not the famine, the crisis was for people to return to the ways of God. I am sure that today we can all relate to that same prayer. There is a lot of things going on in the news. And no matter what side we are on, we are distraught. I have heard many stories of people who feel the need to come back to the church and to get in touch with God. The old testament asks the question is there no balm in Gilead. We sung the Christian response to that Question – there is a balm in Gilead. That balm, we profess, is none other than Jesus the Christ, the Great Physician. His was a ministry of touching the untouchable, embracing the social outcast, healing the bent-over, and forgiving the unforgivable. His was a death of suffering for the cause of the kingdom so that the unredeemable might find redemption. And, his was a resurrection which proved God's own commitment to the salvation of humanity. In Jesus we encounter a God who has not abandoned us even in our sin, but rather has become invested in restoring what has been broken. Our God stands not only for "Law and Order" but for mercy and compassion. Because of that, we find the strength to look beyond our fountain of tears and live for the day when joy shall be restored. Rather than the "ching-ching" of Law and Order we await the sound of the trumpet announcing the day when "he will wipe every tear from [our] eyes," when "death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things [will] have passed away" (Revelation 21:4). CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Sermons for Sundays after Pentecost (Middle Third): The Hard Task of Truth-telling, by Lee Ann Dunlap Christ’s message to us there is indeed a balm even today – the balm, the relief, the healing here in the church. Jeremiah spoke to the heart of a nation, Jesus speaks to the heart of the church. There is indeed salvation – and it is up to us. Salvation is in who we are, how we live, how we treat others, more importantly in who we bring into the arms of God. Dwight L. Moody, the great evangelist, told a story of how one time he was preaching a crusade in a large city, and he was preaching on this text, Jeremiah 8:20. When he gave the invitation, the man's wife who was sitting next to him, who loved the Lord Jesus, begged him with tears to go forward and give his heart to Christ. But he adamantly refused to do it. Many many years later Moody was back in that same city preaching a crusade. There was an older man who had contracted a terminal illness, and he asked to see the great evangelist. Well, Moody and his song leader, Ira Sankey, went to see this man whose hair was now gray, whose face was now wrinkled, whose body was now withered with age and disease. When Moody walked into his bedroom, his sweet godly wife was kneeling beside his bed pleading with her husband. The man was mumbling something. Moody leaned down to hear what this man was mumbling. He was repeating over and over: "The harvest is past, summer is ended, and we are not saved." Moody asked this wife why he was repeating that verse. She said, "You preached on that text the last night of your crusade here many years ago. My husband heard that sermon and adamantly refused to be saved. That's why he is repeating it now." Moody got on his knees and began to plead with that man to come to Christ. But the man just kept shaking his head and repeating over and over, "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved." Dwight L. Moody said that man died about sundown with gritted teeth and clinched fist, saying as he went out into eternity, "The harvest is past." Is it too late? I heard about a young man that started out of his house and he was lost, rebellious, had no use for God. His mother who loved the Lord with all of her heart, with tears in her eyes, knowing that he was going out for a night of sin, placed a little gospel tract in his hand. He cursed through clinched teeth and said, "Why did you give me that?" Today at the job somebody gave me one of those blank things." He said, "I want to tell you I am so sick and tired of gospel tracts. Where can I go where someone will not give me a gospel tract?" His mother, with a broken heart, said, "My son, you can go to hell. Nobody will give you a gospel tract there." The sun is setting on the harvest. Even now the golden grain of the harvest is falling to the ground. That's why Jesus said, "We must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work." (Jn. 9:4) Robert Moffett, a great missionary and a great statesman, said, "We shall have all eternity in which to celebrate our victories, but only one short hour before the sun sets in which to win them." The sun even now is setting on the harvest. The harvest is passing and the summer is ending. The book of Jeremiah tells a tale of the seasons of a man. The seasons of a man are childhood, youth, maturity, and old age. Sometime in childhood we are supposed to learn about the Lord, so that we can begin to understand that the same God who made this world made us and provided for us all that we have and all that we need. Sometime in youth we are supposed to learn to love the Lord, just as we learn to love our father and our mother, our sisters and our brothers. We learn to love the Lord who gave us our family and included us in his family through Jesus. And then sometime in our maturity we are supposed to learn how to serve the Lord. As we appreciate what God has done for us, we begin to do things for him. As God has given to us, we learn to give to him. Then in our old age we can have joy in the presence of the Lord. We can then stand firm in the faith that God is with us and that, as the songwriter wrote, "He is very present help in the time of trouble." But in Jeremiah chapter 8, something has gone wrong with the seasons. In verse 13, God tells Jeremiah, "There will be no grapes on the vine, there will be no figs on the trees, and their leaves will wither." In verse 20, we find out what is wrong: "The harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we are not saved." There is something very special about the harvest. The harvest is the culmination of all the seasons that precede it, and the preparation for all the seasons that follow it. The reason that there is the season of Spring is so that the seed that is planted in spring will become fruit for the harvest. The reason that there is the season of Summer is so that the fruit will become ripe, and the vegetables will reach maturity. The reason that there is the season of Fall is so that the fruit can be picked, and the vegetables can be gathered, and then there will be food in the storehouse for winter. Friends and Family, Family and Friends, the Lord sent me to ask you this question: "Is this the season to seek salvation?" A single mother had to ask this question concerning her teenage daughter. At age eleven, her daughter began to ask questions about God. She told her mother she wanted to go to church. But her mother wasn't religious and did not see any reason why her teenage daughter should be so religious. So she kept her out of church, but she couldn't keep her from the parties. Two years later at age thirteen, her young daughter had a baby. As she looked at her teenage daughter, the mother had to ask herself this question, "Did I miss the season to seek salvation?" A young man had to ask this question concerning his family. The young man was 25, raising a good family. The woman was a good wife for a good husband. He had no faults, except that he worked all the time. He was trying to excel in his job so that he could build up his home and take care of his family. He never had time for church. He believed in God, but he also believed that he would have time for God after a while -- after he got his promotions, after he built his new home, after his family was settled. But one day before he got his life together, time and circumstances tore his life apart. A driver missed a brake pedal, and his car went out of control. The car struck the young man, paralyzing his body from the waist down. As he was lying in the hospital bed, he had this thought: "Is this the season to seek salvation? What happens if we don't have a season of salvation? What will happen to the abused child, if our children don't find salvation? What will happen to the motherless child, if our children don't find salvation? What will happen to the babe born out of wedlock, if our children don't seek salvation? What will happen to our youth, if we don't have a season of salvation? What will happen in our schools, if our youth don't find salvation? What will happen in the neighborhood, what will happen in the "hood," if our youth don't seek salvation? What will happen to our families, if fathers don't seek salvation? What will happen to our homes, if mothers don't seek salvation? Who is going to meet us in heaven, if our old folks don't seek salvation? Who is going to be left down in Hell, if we all don't seek salvation? Is this the season to seek salvation? Maybe winter is too cold. Nobody wants to go to church in winter. Maybe spring is too wet. Too much rain, we need to stay inside. Maybe summer is too hot. And we have to enjoy ourselves sometime. Maybe the fall is too busy with baseball and football. Maybe, maybe ... The harvest is past, and summer is ended, and we are not saved. The only place to seek salvation is here; the only time to seek salvation is now. So somewhere in the here and now, we need to seek salvation." CSS Publishing, Lima, Ohio, Lord, Send The Wind, by James McLemore The title of this sermon is preaching to the rich. That is not a physical statement, but a spiritual statement. Let us be rich in God’s love, in Christ’s teaching and in being the community of the church. When we live Christ for the world we can make a difference. There is hope in difficult circumstances. There is hope in Christ. Today is the last day of summer. Summer is over and the harvest begins. But the good news is that there is salvation. Last Friday, I was moved by Billy Graham’s sermon at the National Cathedral in Washington, D. C. He has been called The Nations Pastor. Presidents look to him for guidance and wisdom. And yet, even Graham struggles with the problem of evil in our world. Let me leave you with his thoughts, “I have been asked hundreds of times in my life why God allows tragedy and suffering. I have to confess that I really do not know the answer totally, even to my own satisfaction. I have to accept, by faith, that God is sovereign, and He’s a God of love and mercy and compassion in the midst of suffering. The Bible says that God is not the author of evil. It speaks of evil as a "mystery." In 2 Thessalonians 2:7 it talks about the mystery of iniquity. The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah said, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" He asked that question, "Who can understand it?" And that’s one reason we each need God in our lives.” Though it is hard for us to see, especially during our sorrow, there is hope. There is a balm in Gilead. A physician whose hand can heal. A teacher whose words are sure. A healer who will make us whole. A savior to save our soul. He is Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. www.Sermons.com, Collected Sermons, by Brett Blair Let us pray….. Song Jesus, Lover of my Soul UMH 479 Prayer of the Day Healing God, when dismay is our daily companion, you come to touch us with your healing hope. When grief falls on us like a wall of bricks, you rebuild our joy with your comfort and love. Jesus Christ, Faithful Spirit, when bullies pick on us, you stand by our side. When neighbors taunt us for choosing to be faithful, you commend us for our wisdom. Teaching Spirit, when we are heart-sick over the brokenness of our lives, your compassion races to bring your gentle balm. When our joy is gone and we are stained by the world's cruelty, you bathe us in the tears flowing from God's broken heart. God in Community Hear our Prayer. (Lectionary Liturgies, Thom Shuman) Lord’s Prayer Stewardship Moment There are two things you will never have an opportunity to do in heaven. First of all, sharing is over in heaven. I mean by that, giving. There are no offering plates in heaven. That's why a lot of people will be happy to get there. There will be no talk of tithing. There will be no stewardship campaigns. There will be no buildings to build, no land to buy, no mission projects to finance. That's why you had better do your giving when you're living so you know where it's going. But also in heaven soul-winning will be over. There's is no more obligation for soul-winning in heaven, because there is no more opportunity for soul-winning in heaven. When the saint goes to heaven he can never rescue a sinner from hell. In heaven there is no sowing. In heaven there is no reaping. Therefore in heaven there is no harvest. But the summer's also ended when the sinner dies. You see, you can only have a harvest where seed is sown, and there is no gospel seed sown in hell. Prayer of Thanksgiving Generous God, you provide in abundance for us. Thank you! Help us make the decision each day to use our resources as opportunities to share your goodness with those who suffer from a lack of resources. Please receive these gifts and help us put them to full use as we seek to co-create your Realm on earth, as it is in heaven. AMEN (Disciple of Christ Center for Faith and Giving) Announcements Sending Forth Prayer for Facebook God has filled us with joy and wonder. We will go to let it overflow in the lives of others. Jesus has filled us with comfort and hope. We will go to wipe away the tears of those around us. The Spirit sends us forward in faith to share the truth of God's presence in our lives. Alleluia! We will live everyday as God's own. Amen. (Lectionary Liturgies, Thom Shuman) Community Time – Joys and Concerns Benediction Go out into the world to love and serve the Holy One In word and in deed In season and out of season In trust and in stewardship Go, faithful servant of God Go in peace (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Cheryl Lindsay) Additional illustrations Yes. Yes - again and again. Wherever we went there were children in search of visions and people in search of affirmation. Grief, steadfastness of soul, a yearning for the balm of Gilead. Laughter and picnics. Supper of Bread and Wine. The Book. The community which, when we make it our own, transforms the world and what we come to expect of it. CSS PUBLISHING COMPANY, THE ROMANCE OF PREACHING, by James Angell One night several months ago, I came into the garage and on into our house to sounds of fighting and arguing and hollering, and found Cathy, our eighteen-year-old, and Nancy, our thirteen-year-old, in a real fight. Quickly, too quickly, I felt for the younger, the littler one, and took her side, and went over to Cathy, by the sink. There must have been something else in me that day - some frustration, some emotional power, or whatever - because all of a sudden as I was talking with her and angry with her, I slapped her face. I was appalled at what I had done! She burst into tears and ran upstairs to her room. I thought to myself, "I’ve really blown it. She’s tough and strong, and she’ll hold that against me for weeks, and she’s got a right to." So I moped around for a few minutes and then went upstairs and knocked on the door of her room, expecting it to be locked. She said, "Come in," and I opened the door and walked in. There she was, sitting on the floor, with tears on her cheeks, and I said to her, "Honey, look, I’m sorry. Forgive me will you? Can you forgive me?" Through her tears she nodded and said, "I forgive you, Daddy." I stood there for a moment, receiving her forgiveness, and then through the evening, I tried to do little things, like ask her what time it was, or bring her some cookies, or - you know - something. One time I was standing in the doorway, and she grinned at me and said, "Daddy, you don’t have to do those things. I really have forgiven you." There’s nothing you and I have to do. God really has forgiven us. And there really is a balm in Gilead - and right here - to make our wounds whole. In biblical tradition, Jeremiah is known as "the weeping prophet." More than any of the others, he expressed the heartache, the tragedy, the sorrow of being right in his truth-telling. For years, he warned his people about the consequences of worshiping false idols and abusing the poor and the helpless. For years, he had ranted and raved to kings about placing their trust in political gamesmanship rather than the God of the covenant. For years, he had condemned the religious institution and its leaders for receiving the people's sin offerings without condemning sin or teaching righteousness. Sometimes, it is as devastating to be proven right as to be wrong in our warnings. For the hurt of my people, I am hurt; I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me. Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears; so that I might weep day and night for the slain of my poor people! — Jeremiah 8:21; 9:1 Even those of us who have committed ourselves to faithful living by God's commands may wonder at times if such faith makes any difference. We pray for years for the soul of a friend or loved one; we implore God to defend us amidst "office politics"; we tithe faithfully but still struggle to find a job that can pay the bills and provide for the family. We live the wholesome lifestyle prescribed by the scriptures but still experience chronic pain or sickness. We do our best to "trust and obey" but still we sometimes wonder if God even knows or cares. But clearly the scriptures, both Hebrew and Christian, reflect a God whose heart aches for the abuser as well as the victims; for the lawbreakers as well as the enforcers. That is a place where few of us are willing to go emotionally unless forced there by circumstances in our own lives and families. When the accused is someone we love, even when they are guilty as charged, we weep a fountain of tears. And, even when our fountains run dry and all our compassion is spent, God continues to care. I am afraid the church looks at buildings, budgets, and baptisms, and has frozen the ball of evangelism, when we ought to be in a full court press, because we really are behind. Let me ask you a question, the answer to which will astound you. Who is the best known person in the world today? If you said Billy Graham, you would be wrong. If you said Mohammed Ali, you would be wrong. If you said the Pope, you would be wrong. If you said Elvis Presley, you would be wrong. If you said Jesus of Nazareth, you would be wrong. The answer is Mickey Mouse!1 Think about it. A figure who does not even exist, is better known than the Son of God who died for the sins of this world. Someone has well said that they have no fear that the church will not succeed, but that it will succeed in those things that do not matter. No matter how many barns are built, how much cattle is bought, how much seed is sown, or how much land is cultivated, that farmer is a failure who does not bring in the harvest. We have here before us, one of the most haunting statements in all of the Bible. "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved." (Jere. 8:20) Jeremiah warned the people that only God could deliver them from the armies of Babylon that were marching toward the city. But they did not listen. Instead they formed an alliance with Egypt to fight the Babylonians. But Babylon defeated Egypt and marched on Jerusalem. They surrounded the city and laid siege to the people. Now back in those days people lived within the walls of the city, and the crops were outside the walls. The army simply waited for the people to run out of food and surrender. All the people could do was watch the crops spoil, the harvest wither, the summer end, and say, "We are not saved." They learned the bitter lesson that there is no loss like the loss of the harvest. I want you to see in this text before us three things about the loss of the harvest. The first statement says "the harvest is past." Right before our very eyes the harvest is passing away. The harvest is passing globally. I want you to listen to these statistics. The unevangelized population of the earth called "World A" is growing at a rate of 23,600 persons per day faster than they are being evangelized. Of the 95 invitations given to people to become disciples of Christ, 87 will be extended to people claiming to be Christian already (World C); 7.7 will be extended to people who have already been evangelized, but are non-Christians (World B); only .3 will be extended to individuals who have never heard the gospel (World A).2 There are 4.4 billion people in the world who have never heard the name Jesus. Now think about this: 23 people a minute, 1,400 people an hour, 32,600 people a day, 235,000 people a week, 12,230,000 people a year will die without ever hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ. The harvest is passing nationally. Here in America the harvest is passing. Listen to these facts: Fact: Since 1980 there has been no growth in the proportion of the adult population that can be classified as "born again" Christians. Fact: Since 1970 there has been no appreciable change in the proportion of adults who attend church services at any time during the week. Fact: The fastest growing churches in America are not Christian. Among those that are expanding most rapidly are the Mormons, the Jehovah's Witnesses, and various cults.3 The harvest is passing individually. It is a proven fact that the harvest is greatest during the prime of life, that is, during the early years of life. Wise old Solomon said, "Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth." (Eccl. 12:1) Several years ago a famous evangelist concluded after many many years of surveying the crowds that came to his crusades, that if a person isn't saved by the time he is 21, the chances are 5,000 to 1 that he will ever be saved. If he isn't saved by the time he is 30, the chances are 15,000 to 1 that he will ever be saved. If he isn't saved by the time he is 40, the chances are 30,000 to 1 he will ever be saved. If he isn't saved by the time he is 50, the chances are 150,000 to 1 that he will ever trust Christ as Lord and Savior. For some of you the harvest is passing, and you don't even realize it. You're getting older and your heart is hardening, and you don't even realize it. You think about it. We are a soul-winning church. We baptize hundreds of people a year, but how many do we baptize over 60? Just a few. How many over 70? Hardly any. How many over 80? None Why is the harvest past? Because "the summer is ended." The time to harvest wheat was primarily May and June. After that, the burning sun would dry out the wheat and cook the life out of it. So when the summer was ended the harvest was past. The reason the harvest was past was the season for harvest was gone. Just as there is a season for harvesting grain, there is also a season for harvesting souls, and when that season is over the harvest is past. When is the summer ended? When the saint dies his summer is ended. But the summer's also ended when the sinner dies. You see, you can only have a harvest where seed is sown, and there is no gospel seed sown in hell. I read a poem years ago that has stuck with me and it really is haunting. I want you to listen to it: When the choir has sung its last anthem, and the preacher has prayed his last prayer, When the people have heard their last sermon, and the sound has died out in the air. When the Bible lies closed on the altar, and the pews are all emptied of men, And each one stands facing his record, and the great Book is open, what then? When the actor has played his last drama, and the mimic has made his last fun, When the film has flashed its last picture, and the billboard displayed its last run, When the crowd seeking pleasure have vanished, and gone out in the darkness again, And the trumpet of ages has sounded, and we stand before Him, what then? When the bugle's call sinks into silence, and the long, marching columns stand still, When the captain repeats his last orders, and they've captured the last fort and hill. When the flag is hauled down from the masthead, and the wounded afield checked in, And a world that rejected its Savior, is asked for a reason, what then?4 I read a long time ago a true story of a young man and his wife who are very much in love. They lived in Alberta, Canada. They went out one moonlit night in the time of harvesting to walk in the golden moon as it was shining there upon the wheat fields. The wheat fields were like a golden ocean waving in the breeze and in the moonlight. It was so beautiful. They had their little son with them. This couple, so much in love with each other and that little boy, were walking through the wheat fields enjoying the beauty. They just forgot where the little boy was; he was just a little tot, not even old enough to go to school. All of a sudden they realized their little boy was no longer with them. At that particular moment the wife went in one direction and the husband went in the other. They started calling him, thinking they would find him immediately. But instead they got further and further away from the spot where they first missed him. They realized that they had misplaced him in thousands of acres. They realized that before long the coldness of that Canadian night would be settling in. Their little boy who was not heavily dressed would probably freeze to death. So while the wife stayed there, the husband hurried back to the village and called the people and said, "Would you please come help us? We've got to find our son." So as many of the people as could came there to that wheat field to help them look for that little boy. It seemed as though they literally were threshing the wheat as they were looking for that lost son. They prayed, they searched, they looked, they called, and finally as the night grew on in its bitterness, one man said, "I believe there is a better way to do this. Let's get organized. Let's make a human chain. Let's stretch out and join hand to hand and then sweep these fields. We will go up one side and turn around and come back the other and if he's in here we'll find him." Up and down they went until suddenly there was a cry "I found him." Everybody rushed together to find the lifeless form of that little fellow who had died of exposure. According to that story strong men wept, and one voice was heard to say, "Oh God, why didn't we join our hands together sooner?" There are people all around us and all over the world who are slipping out through the jaws of death into a Christless eternity. Would you say with me today, "We will join hands for the harvest that people might come to Jesus?" 1. D. James Kennedy, The Gates of Hell Shall not Prevail, p. 215. 2. Networker, April/May 1993, p.1. The name, Albert Einstein, is one of the most well-known names in all the world. Time magazine chose him as "Person of the Century." His influence is seen in every life around the world. The atomic bomb, the big bang, electronics, quantum physics all bear his influence. He will probably be considered for all time the standard by which all scientists measure themselves. But as tall as he was in scientific theory, he was equally as small in spiritual theology. Because even though Einstein believed in a being who had "superior reasoning power" he once said, "Certainly there is a God. Any man who doesn't believe in a cosmic force is a fool. But we could never know Him."1 Einstein believed in a "cosmic force" that was intelligent and powerful. But he denied that He was a personal God that could be known. Now contrast that to what the prophet Jeremiah was told by God Himself. "Thus says the Lord: ‘Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, exercising loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth, for in these I delight,' says the Lord." (Jere. 9:23-24) This verse is not only an antidote to the wrong kind of pride; the pride that either denies God or denies that God is a personal God, or denies that God is a personal God that we can know. It is a prescription for the right kind of pride. There is a pride that is right, and it is the pride of knowing God. You see, there are two things about human wisdom that make it a poor place to place your pride or your trust. First of all, human wisdom alone can never know God. V.21 of this same chapter says, "For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God." Prov. 1:7 says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction." But there's one other thing that we do not know that puts a limit on all that we do know, and that is the future. The most brilliant Ph.D. at Harvard University does not even know what is going to happen in the next sixty seconds. That is why no wise man should glory in his wisdom. When he was the Heavyweight Champion of the world, he got on an airplane, and he was walking up and down the aisles signing autographs and enjoying the adulation of the people on board. A stewardess walked up to him and said, "Mr. Ali, you'll need to take a seat and fasten your seatbelt. We're about to take off." Muhammad Ali said, "Listen, superman don't need no seatbelt." The stewardess said, "Superman don't need no airplane either, now sit down and buckle up." Let not the mighty man glory in his might. Well, the reason why God wants us to know Him is that we might become like Him. Because to know God in your heart is to show God in your life. Now that raises a practical question. How can you know God? I mean really know God; not know about Him, but know Him personally. Let me give you three steps: Number one: By listening to Him – God has given us His word not just to put facts in our head, but to put faith in our heart. This word is God's revelation to us. When you read it, not just with your eyes, but with your soul, you will begin to know God. Secondly, by living for Him – Did you know the more you obey God the better you'll get to know God, and the more you'll be like God. 1 John 2:4 says, "He who says, ‘I know Him,' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." Finally, by loving God – That is the real mark of knowing God, because to know God is to love God, and to love God is to want to listen to God and live for God. When there is nothing left but to grieve, as Christians our call is to accompany the suffering through their grief. We love them through their journey and grieve with them — but we grieve as a people who have hope. We grieve as a people who know that there is "a balm in Gilead" to make us all whole. We know that the Holy Spirit has the power to revive our discouraged souls. We know that the love of God shown us in the death and resurrection of Jesus will carry us through — through suffering and even through death to life and to peace. In the name of Jesus. Amen. When a person is diagnosed with a serious disorder, one that threatens their very existence, life as we know it is turned upside down. There is research to conduct about traditional and alterna¬tive treatments. There are specialists with whom to consult. Some¬times there are changes in lifestyle and in priorities to be consid¬ered, as Tim McGraw sang in his 2004 hit, "Live Like You Were Dying." I have watched this process in many parishioners over the years. Quite often everyone, including the person with the terminal diag¬nosis, is amazed when they outlive their prognosis by months and sometimes even years. Medical science and mental attitude can do amazing things to sustain and extend the quality of life and the number of months a person has to live. But there comes a point, when treatments can no longer fend off the threat ... or the prospect of death becomes more tolerable than the treatment of the disease. At this point, hospice organiza¬tions can be a tremendous resource to a terminally ill person and their family. Hospice care encompasses nearly every aspect of a dying patient's needs so that she and her loved ones can simply be with one another. Hospice's ability to manage pain is a great bless¬ing that enables loved ones to be as present with one another as possible until the end. It is at this point in a terminally ill person's journey that he and his family often truly begin to mourn. There has been grief work going on since the moment the words of the diagnosis fell upon the ears of those in the physician's office, but the stage of grief that Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross calls "acceptance" is the stage when there's nothing left to do but keep watch and mourn. nd now, for the first time, the prophet Jeremiah acknowl¬edges that there is nothing left for him to do but mourn. Although his ministry with the people of Judah will continue on for several years, he knows that no matter what he says or what he does, Judah will not listen. Judah will not own up to her condition. Judah will not seek healing. No, Judah will be destroyed, or at the very least, she will be severely debilitated. She will eventually fall to the forces of Babylon. The treaties previously forged with neighboring na¬tions will do her no good. Even her claim of holiness as the place that is home to the temple of the Lord will mean nothing to the Lord. The Lord can raise up another temple in three days. All of this is not to say that Jeremiah won't continue to warn the people of Judah, won't continue to call them to repent. Jeremiah will continue to serve God's purposes, even as it causes him pain and anguish and grief to do so. His life will be threatened. He will forego the joys of marriage and family. He will face ridicule and despair, but Jeremiah has been called of God, called to a ministry for which he would never have asked. And he cannot help but ful¬fill it. I don’t know why the suffering in Sudan is so widespread, so intense. Who could explain it? I don’t know. But I do know that Angelina is right. I do know that Christ is present there. I do know that Christ will help, even when no one else will, when no one else can. There is so much I do not know. But I do know that our lives are in God’s hands. I do know that God’s love for us has no boundary. I do know that there is someone to heal us. There is someone to make us well. There is someone to soothe the pain and mend the heart. I know it is so. The weeping prophet Jeremiah, who wishes his eyes might be like fountains because his need to cry for his people is so great, asks with sorrow in his voice, “Is there no balm in Gilead?” Is there nothing to make it better? Is there no one to save us? Know the answer? I do. This answer is yes: Yes, there is a balm to make the wounded whole. Yes, there is something, someone to make it better. Yes, there is someone to save us. Yes, there is a balm to heal the sin-sick soul. The answer is yes. I know it is so. That’s why I’m here. And I suppose that’s why you’re here, because you know it is so, too. Or you suspect it is so. Or you hope it is so. Friends, the tear-stained face of Jesus is a reminder that our suffering is God’s suffering. Our pain is God’s pain. God became flesh in Jesus because God has promised not to leave us alone. The cross is the sign of God’s commitment to this world, God’s commitment to us, God’s commitment to you. In the cross, God’s love intersects our sorrow. In the cross, our lives are inextricably linked with God’s life. You can see that for yourselves. You can see that in every cross. You can see that in your own life. The summer is past. The seasons are changing. Time is moving. The one whose love heals and soothes and makes us whole gives us a new chance to keep those promises and follow through on those good intentions and make those dreams come true and see those hopes come to pass. Friends, we have been saved. The news is good. I know it is so. There is a balm in Gilead. Hallelujah! Another season has come and gone. Promises that were made have not been fulfilled. Good intentions haven’t yielded any tangible results. Dreams have not come true. High hopes have proven to be only wishful thinking. Nothing has really changed; nothing has really improved. The time keeps moving along, but we seem stuck in the same ruts. Old routines remain, prejudices persist, dullness and anxiety continue to be constant companions. Lingering in the air is that nagging sense that things aren’t quite right, not as they could be, not as they should be. As Jeremiah says, “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved” (8:20). Time has moved along, the seasons are changing, but nothing has really changed for us. Same old people in the same old lives. Sin still has us in its grip, running our lives, ruining our lives, confusing our sense of what matters, leading us away from God. Why aren’t things better? What about those promises God has made? Why haven’t we been restored? Why haven’t we been made whole? Is there not a balm in Gilead? Is there no one to heal us? Nothing to make us well? No way to soothe the pain and mend the heart? "There is a balm in Lima to make the wounded whole, there is a balm in Lima to heal the sin sick soul." Thanks be to God for that balm, who is Jesus, his Christ. The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved (Jeremiah 8:20). At the beginning of his ministry, Jeremiah hoped that the destruction would not come. But alas, he knew it could not be stopped. Israel had gone too far and God’s decision had now been made. In his grief Jeremiah remembered Gilead—a region to the east where great spices grow, which physicians use to heal wounds. Is there no balm in Gilead? He asked. Is there no physician, no healer, no prophet, no priest, no teacher that can cure Israel’s wound? The answer is “No.” Israel will not know healing until she has paid for her sins. Jeremiah stood at the crossroads of history. His great nation came face to face with an angry God and with good reason. They had forgotten God and worshiped idols. They stopped defending the fatherless and protecting the poor. They had become violent and sexually promiscuous. For these reasons and more God judged his people. But it is not the end of the story. There was a promise that God would one day forgive the people and heal the land if they would repent while in exile. So you see God’s relationship is no longer to a nation but to a people—his church. Does that mean that God is not somehow involved in the affairs of nations?