16Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.
1. There is a debate that is highly prevalent in the modern-day church that has taken the Christian faith by storm. There seems to be a battle within the church on what is acceptable for the liturgical program. In other words, there is controversy surrounding the effectiveness of the local church with
regard to how the order of service is ran, what issues the church fights for, what values the church possesses, and what standards the church sets for those that attend the church. Within the last five years, the divide has been defined as what the millennials want, and what the baby boomer and
Generation-Xers want. This has created a type of in-fighting within the church, and, at times, has caused us to miss out on great opportunity within the Body of Christ to proselytize and make God known, because we
have been too busy trying to find out where we fit instead of focusing on who He is.
2. I believe our ministry is coming to a place where we realize that God must be in all that we do if we plan to be impactful. But we know that this current debate is one that must be addressed. On one side of the divide, you have people that proclaim that “anything that is too new is not true.” On the other side, you have people that will respond as say “but anything that is old grows mold.” And while we are busy comparing generations, fighting about who is right and who is wrong, missing each other’s points so
we can make our own points be heard, we are losing momentum and missing opportunity to truly minister to the lost. The church can say what it wants about the world, but truly, we are no better than the world if we can’t unify ourselves. If we come into the house of God looking for a reason to criticize instead of our God to glorify, we are missing the mark. If we come into the church pointing fingers instead of raising our hands to God in surrender, we are missing the mark. If we come into the house with unforgiveness in our hearts instead of showing the same grace and mercy that God shows us over and over again, we are missing the mark. And while we are working so hard to prove who is right and who is wrong, the
world is able to look at us and the presentation we are giving, and say I don’t want any part of that. The old song says “I can do bad all by myself.” We have to find a way to show the Light of Christ. The Bible in Jeremiah 6 calls this way “the old path where there is a good way and where we can find rest for our souls.”
3. The old way does not always mean the old way of doing things. The Lord is faithful, He is just, but He is also progressive, and has blessed us with the tools to be able to accomplish big things in our modern-day church. The old path described in this book is not as much about how we used to do things, but is more about how we should always do things. To provide context to this scripture, Jeremiah you may remember is known as the weeping prophet. Jeremiah had a reason to weep—he lived in some difficult times where God’s people routinely found themselves in a backslidden state. God is full of majesty and power. He is the transcendent one, meaning He is not bound by time, customs, traditions, or even emotions. He moves when He wants to move, how He wants to move, and the way He wants to move within the fullness of time, which is called eternity. And this is a beautiful thing—that God has total authority and power over all situations—until you allow your everyday living to make you lose sight in just how powerful God is.
A. Jeremiah knew he was called to the work of the Lord, but noticed those around him easily strayed when the troubles of life were around or when they felt as if God was not responding fast enough.
B. During Jeremiah’s time, God’s people:
i. Strayed from righteousness and started relying on their own strength
ii. Became materialistic and used any means necessary to acquire wealth
iii. Substituted rituals in place of relationship
iv. Became morally corrupt
v. Began to serve idols rather than the true and living God
vi. But the thing that made Jeremiah most troubled during this time was not just what the laity were doing, but that the leaders of the time also getting caught up in what was going on
around them.....
4. The Spirit of the Lord encouraged Jeremiah while also giving him a word for all who would listen once he saw how distraught Jeremiah was. He told Jeremiah to “find the old path and walk therein!” Now, remember this is not a debate about how we want our services to go. Finding the old path involves our relationship with Christ, not our preferences in the church. Finding the old path involves our intentions to do things in the way of Christ. Look at how this scripture gives us action words for our journey:
5. (MSG) Version “Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, ̃We will not walk in it”
A. Stand: stop for a second and consider where you are in your commitment to Christ; the road is branched.
B. Look: Take the time to look down the branched road and assess where each road leads
C. Ask: Find someone who knows where the old path is (stopping for directions analogy).
D. Walk: If you are going to take the time to consider where you are, assess where each road leads, and ask for help, you might as well walk the walk
E. Find: Only when you walk in the old path can you find rest for your soul.
6. What is the old path? John 14:6 provides an answer for us in which Jesus said “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father but by me!” While so many are trying to figure out what is the right way of doing things, Jesus lets us know that the old path is Him.
A. In the old path, when you mess up, you will ask for forgiveness and mean it by turning away from your sin and believing on God with all your heart.
B. In the old path, when someone asks for forgiveness, you will realize that if it had not been for Jesus, you would not be forgiven either, and will forgive them.
C. In the old path, you will understand that holiness is right.
D. In the old path, you will understand that Jesus is Lord, and there is one Lord, one faith, and one baptism.
E. In the old path, you will understand that baptism in Jesus name, not in titles, is what you need to begin the plan of salvation
F. In the old path, you will understand that you need the gift of the Holy Ghost to live your best life. That the Holy Ghost is more than a tongue, and more than a shout, but that the Holy Ghost is a He, and He will keep you when you want to be kept.
G. In the old path, you will understand the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.
H. In the old path, you will understand that God is not about religion, He is about relationship.
I. In the old path, you will want what is best for your brother and sister in Christ, and will shun foolish vain babblings that come against your brother and sister.
J. In the old path, you won’t be in the powerful presence of God in service, and then begin to gossip after service. If you meet to talk about someone, you will have a prayer meeting, not a bashing
meeting.