This will just be a quick little note. This morning I was reading in the book of Revelation chapter 2 where Jesus is addressing the church in Ephesus. He begins by commending them for their works and patient endurance, but the line that caught my eye and gripped my heart was this, "But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first." Whenever I read scripture, especially when God is specifically and directly addressing His people, I read that word as if it was written to me. It doesn't matter how much it actually applies to me or my situation, at some level it always does and leaves me filled with a holy fear of the Lord. So in this situation I imagined myself standing before Jesus and Him delivering those words to me. In that moment I noticed how my heart was devastated by that line "But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first." In that moment of embracing the pain of His rebuke I realized afresh how much I needed His rebuke in my life- His discipline. I was reminded yet again of the Father's love in that He disciplines those He loves and does so for their benefit.
So often we reject discipline; we run from the pain we know it brings. We stop up our ears to the honest, critical words delivered by those close to us. If left to our own devices we will create a world for ourselves where only comfort and convenience abound, because none of us like pain or discomfort. But I've found that God isn't afraid of pain or discomfort at all and he isn't afraid to use these elements in our lives to sanctify us. Hebrews 2:10 states that God the Father perfected His own Son through suffering, so I would be so bold as to guarantee He will perfect us through a similar means.
Knowing what I know about ourselves and knowing what I know about God makes me slightly concerned about our American Church/Christian culture. It seems we have become imbalanced somewhere along the way. Take Christian radio for example.. I have searched high and low to find a Christian radio station whose slogans and messages don't have something to do with being exclusively positive and encouraging. I've yet to find one. Many of the sermons I've heard in many of the churches I've visited have a similar feel to them; the emphasis is grace and unconditional acceptance (certainly not all churches, but a lot of them). My concern is not that we are promoting positive and encouraging messages or that God's mercy, grace and unconditional love/acceptance of us is proclaimed. After all, these the foundations of the good news we've received! My concern is the exclusive focus on these wonderful attributes of our Faith to the exclusion of equally vital aspects. I'm concerned that we have lost our appetite for the harder sayings of Jesus because our diet has been so absent of them; because they are the least pleasant of foods to feast on. We'll gladly take another helping of good news apple pie but we avoid the spinach of rebuke and correction like the plague.
But Oh how we need His discipline in our lives!! Let us not cast off His love for us by shirking His discipline. Let us embrace the hard, piercing, sayings of Jesus. Let us ponder them. Let us grieve over them. May they bring us to repentance. May they produce holy fear in our lives. May they further shape us into the image of the Son that we may shine on earth the way He did.
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Thank you for your message. I agree many people in church desperately need to remember what you are saying, including, of course, myself jeje. In my specific case Gods correction which I was trying to ignore was related to how I am so obsessed with planning everything well in my life, a perfectionist, trusting in my own "smartness". Prudence is a virtue, but not when it tries to substitute God.
I see God's attitude that you described kinda like our friends... there's always that friend who never says anything to you when you're going the wrong path, thats not God. There's always that friend who's angry and "scorny" and you think about what he'll say instantly in fear as you do something wrong, thats not God either. God is like that friend who always warns you and corrects you pretty straightforwardly but you're not afraid of him because you know he has a good hart and he is loving. Just He's God and not a friend which makes it so much greater jeje.
Also like the virtuous woman of proverbs 31,
"26 When she speaks, her words are wise,
and she gives instructions with kindness."
Thanks a lot for you for your blog, I hope you keep on postig.
- Maria (from Costa Rica, the painting girl jeje)
P.S.: Your instructions are more valuable to me
than millions in gold and silver. (Ps 119:72) All Psalm 119 shocked me the first time I read it, in terms of holding on to the correction and instruction of God.
Amen brother,
I needed to read your blog tonight. This is so necessary for me now as I have just accepted some new responsibilities at our church of late and with these responsibilities requires me to have my focus firmly set on why I am here. It is His Love that has called me and draws me to my knees in repentance. It was repentance that brought such dramatic changes in our lives and when we stop changing so much we need to hear those words of 'Have you lost your first love?'
Bless you mate
Jeremy: Outstanding message in your blog. You've said it as well as the most eloquent preacher, and you've said so much in just a few short paragraphs.
Hebrews 12:4-11 doesn't taste very good either, but the end is sweet if we are willing.
Hopefully you'll have an opportunity to blog a little more. I think many of us will be encouraged and strengthened if you do. It is refreshing.
PLM in Texas--steadfastandfaithful.blogspot.com
Just wondering, brother.. why don't you have any contact info anywhere? Why does your "official website" only have other people's contact info?
Why, if you sing music that belongs to the Lord can WMG remove Sweetly Broken from YouTube? If it's God's.. I want it.. If it's yours or WMG's, frankly, I don't want it.
I can tell you that I was so choked to see that it was removed due to a copyright issue.. I'll never buy music from any artist associated with WMG.
I want music from the Lord.. not man's.
too bad you allow that.
Amen, Jeremy. The Word says that God is good to correct us, because in doing so we become 'partakers in His holiness.' What a privilege, not just to be loved by God, but to be trained by Him.
Evening Jeremy, my wife Aroea and I just got back from your concert in Cedar Falls, Iowa. We drove a ways to see you and were blessed to hear you sing. We stayed after and spoke with you for a bit. We thanked you for singing though you were sick. I could tell it was a strain for you to perfom at the level you did, but you did for the sake of those who came. THANKS!
I got to say as much to you that night, but what I didn't get a chance to say, was thank you moreso for singing to the Lord. I can tell in your singing and in your lyrics that you truly write and play for Him, and not us your fans. I know Jesus loves it, because you exalt Him and you're sincere. Thanks for letting us listen as you give your gift back to him. As strange as it may sound, I bet had my family been given the opportunity to know you, we'd be friends. With that in mind, I'd like to extend to you an offer to help you in anyway. If by way of helping arrange things here in Iowa, a way we could donate to a ministry you personally have, or simply in prayer. We can all use prayer and the larger the covering the better. Often times its the best thing we can give.
Anyway, consider it. We'd love to stand with you. Thanks for staying, shaking our hands, signing our CD and taking a picture with us. We are just two of many, but it meant a lot to us.
LORD PLEASE CONTINUE TO BLESS JEREMY IN ALL HE DOES, MAY YOU PROSPER HIM, NOT FOR HIS GLORY BUT YOURS, AS HE EXALTS YOU, JESUS EXALT HIM. BLESS HIS WIFE AND KIDS WHO SHARE HIM WITH THE WORLD. THANK YOU DADDY. AMEN
Kevin & Aroea
Amen on the "let us grieve over this". If our hearts remain unbroken (aka hard), our lives won't ever actually change, even though our will may cause our behavior to change for a while.
But I am convinced that we must let our hearts be broken by the sin in our lives and the lust of our flesh, so that He can take the pieces and heal our hearts. And so that we will see and acknowledge plainly our desperate need for a saviour.
I have found, in my life, that great transformation has occured only after great brokenness. That is our amazing God...such grace, such mercy, such discipline, such perfect love.
Hi Jeremy, great message, so thanks! I am sending a big hello from the East Coast! I remember you as the musical boy who taught me how to play "El Shaddai" on the piano. To this day, it is the ONE song I can play two-handed. Please say hello and send my well-wishes to your parents, Josh and the family. Congrats on your maturity in Christ and your musical success!
May the Lord continue to bless you and yours! Tara(Gessleman)Barlow
Thanks for you blog, brother. You really hit the nail on the head. Our worship team just "disbanded" for a season because of the same thing that Jesus corrected the church of Ephesus on. It's amazing what God will show us when we get ourselves out of the way and realize why we began a specific ministry in the first place...to glorify Jesus.
Jeremy,
Thank you so much for your music. I have been so blessed by it.
I totally hear what you're saying about the need for discipline in the Church. It's totally true and on many levels holiness is lacking. But I find that too often our tendency is to administer discipline with the Law (which is not what I'm claiming you're saying). But the Cross is always the answer! The Good News is always the answer! The real trick is to learn to discipline people with the Cross, otherwise we just put people back under the Law, which in turn nullifies what Jesus did on the Cross.
Keep singing about Jesus!
Jeremy, I too see the "feel good" and "possitive thinking" mentality of the leadership of our Church as a distraction from the real pain that comes from being a Christian. Jesus Christ Himself said that those that weep now will rejoice. We are living in the end times. Yes we can celabrate Jesus' return, but we also must understand that even the elect will be deceived if possible. This is the Anti-Christ's last chance to destroy the Church, and if he can get the entire Church to become passive, then he has won.
Hey Jeremy! This is totally unrelated to your blog post. We met back in the fall when you were New Brunswick hanging out with Dan Wilt. I drove you from the airport to meet up with Dan and his students at Gary and Joy's place.
Anyway man, I just wanted to let you know that I got your new album off iTunes a couple months ago and, quite honestly, it's the best worship album I've heard in years (in my wife's and my opinion). We introduced Christ Is Risen on Easter Sunday and people really grabbed on to it. I'd like to start using As Above. I have the instructional video that came with the album, but am wondering if there is a chord chart for it, too?
Hope all is well with you and your family.
All the best,
Robin Ellingwood
Why did you write the song "Sweetly Broken"? By the way, IT IS AWESOME
Your words are so true. It seems that some Christians don't want to hear and reject the Hebrew 12:6 "For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." For those ready to cover the meaning of "chasteneth" with much positive, pleasant to the ear sounds, let's remind that the meaning of the verb "chasten" means "to correct by punishment; to punish; to inflict pain for the purpose of reclaiming an offender; as to chasten a son with a rod."
I've been punished hard enough, and many times I knew exactly for what. Signs were sent to me to know. (You can imagine how that feels.) And He was perfectly right. I have never disputed His righteousness or His choice to punish me and I was glad that He still cares about me. Yes, He inflicts pain as He extends incomparable love, that love you sing about in the song "I am Redeemer" – your best song on the new album. Greetings from Romania!
Thank you. I really needed to hear this message today.