Sermon – We Know Where We Are Going
Jeremiah 31:1-6, 16-17; Romans 8:18-39
Farmville Presbyterian Church
10/12/25
I am going to begin today with a favorite school memory as I harken back to those early years. Remember those times when there was a group game to play and kids divided up. In very amateur team sports, there would likely be someone to be “captain” of each team, someone to pick others to be on their team. As choices are made back and forth, the size of the teams swells, but the pool of additional players shrinks. You know where this is going. Inevitably, there is a point where just a couple of options are left, and a choice must be made. Who is going to be the last one? That last one is in an interesting spot. Even in a collection of all very capable players, there is still going to be one who is last, someone who is least desirable for some reason. If you have ever been there in that position, then you know it is a lousy feeling. No one wants to be the last one picked. No one wants to be unwanted.
As someone who moved around a great deal growing up, I managed to end up on the outside more often than I would have liked. Of course, no one probably likes to be forced to be on the outside, but some people can be there more often than others. The new kid can be left out along with anyone else who is different. Even best of us has probably run across some time of being the last or the one not picked or the one who was unwanted. Job interviews for that greatly sought after position is another time we feel the sting. I imagine it did not seem right or fair or good, but it happens. Life can be cruel.
That can be exactly what people thought in biblical times, too. When Jeremiah was giving prophecy and speaking for God, the world for the Jewish people was falling apart. Literally, other armies were bearing down on them to destroy them. He told them again and again. There was no avoiding it. They should just prepare for the downfall of their nation. They should even go without a fight to Babylon, the foreign land that was going to become their new home. As you might imagine, NO ONE wanted to hear that, let alone accept it. They had always been God’s favored people – the ones God always chose. They were even the Southern Kingdom, the specifically special ones, the ones in King David’s line. They were the people who were closest to God’s heart, the ones who had received God’s promise and God’s covenant. There was an assumption that they were special to God, and now it looked like they were doomed. Jeremiah’s words sounded like God was abandoning them. They were no longer wanted or needed or desired. It might have been very tough to hear this kind of talk through Jeremiah. He was jailed for this, actually, and they tried to kill him, but the doom and gloom was not the only thing he was saying.
There was another message that Jeremiah gave that you heard expressed in the first reading today that reinforces the fact that they are wanted and needed. They are chosen and will be restored to God’s heart after the period of their captivity in a faraway land. They would be captured by the Babylonians, yes, but their children would return and be restored back in the homeland. They are the ones God has loved for a very long time and will continue to love, even with this failure now. God was not turning the divine heart off, but it was broken by what we as flawed, selfish, and sinful human beings had done.
This larger situation has plagued us as human beings for eons and generations upon generations. What is our self-worth? What do we matter to the world? Every single person who has ever lived has wanted to matter to someone. We have all wanted to be heard and considered and valued. No one wants to be the last kid picked.
The church has not been the best witness to our worth, either. So many traditions have placed the value of people on what they could do for the church. Those with money or connections would be especially important. Some church leaders might say those rich and powerful are most important to God. Certainly, the ones who are members of a particular church tradition can be called more important. The ones who are baptized or who have gone through certain programs can be called more important. The ones who are most active and involved might be seen as more vital to a church.
But that is not the way God sees any of this. I cannot underline that enough. It does not matter who you are, what kind of life you have lived, the choices you have made, or the company you have kept. It does not matter your convictions or your party or tribe or family or home.
Before we were ever born, we were valued. We were picked for Team God before we were ever born. We were locked into the heart of God before we ever drew breath or were even an idea in our parents’ imagination. This is what we call “election,” and it is very important to the Presbyterian branch of the Reformed tradition. Obviously, if God is choosing us before we are ever born, then we have no say in it. We can try to fight it later, but it is not based on anything we can say or do. It is all grace. Before we were able to earn anything, we were loved with an everlasting love. Nothing, absolutely nothing, can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
It is supposed to be a message of comfort. The entirety of the life of a child of God is supposed to be secure from before they are born to after they die. That is what that word “predestination” is supposed to mean for us – where we are going in the end is set by God. Some faith traditions try to connect our salvation to something we have to do – in essence, giving us the power to make it happen. If we fail to do the right thing or say the right thing, we are not saved for eternity no matter how much God wants us. That is not grace. This idea of God’s choosing us irrespective of our choice means no matter how much of a failure I might be, I cannot fail as a child of God.
That sounds very comforting to me and useful in a world of craziness and uncertainty. If I don’t have to worry about my ties to God, then I am free to serve however it seems appropriate. The Spirit may lead and I can follow without fear of losing my life. I am wanted and desired by God every moment of my existence. I am never the last picked. Even when the world should turn its back to me, I have a place and a future with my Lord. I actually find this especially useful in the chaos of the world where we have opened door after door without knowing where those doors might lead. I find God’s heart especially dear when we might not know where we fit into the hearts of others at times. I find the promise here especially comforting when we approach the later times of our earthly walk and are looking at an unknown, great beyond. That is how we are able to share in those moments of funeral or memorial confidence as we did Friday for Dotty Lash. We do not have to worry about the value of our lives now or ever. We who are elect are chosen.
Of course, this makes some nervous as it takes out our potential for choosing God. We do want a choice whenever we might have one, but this is a choice too big and too hard for us to make. This is Paul’s understanding. We are so sinful and broken and human that we are never able to make that choice well by ourselves. There is always a place for our free-will, but it is not to decide whether we live or not. That is not left up to anything but God’s certainty.
No, you do not have to believe any of this. No one is making you sign on to anything to be here as part of our family of faith. It is trickier for our church leaders to completely disagree with the notion, but I do want everyone to appreciate what we as a tradition believe God has done for us. This is comfort; this is security; this is love; this is grace.
My door is open if you have questions or struggles. It is hard sometimes to feel valued. Our lives may seem to be a long string of getting picked last, if at all. We are also very good at rejecting one another. This is not the way God sees us, however. For people who struggle to see the Way, we can know where we are going. To God be the glory. Amen.