KING ZEDEKIAH: BARUCH A FAITHFUL SERVANT BUT WITH INORDINATE AMBITIONS

Text: Jer. 45:1-5

·         Jer. 45:5 And seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not; for behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the Lord: but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest.

·         Baruch (“Blessed”) was the son of Neriah and a member of a distinguished family in Judah. His brother Seraiah was a high-ranking officer in the court of King Zedekiah (Jeremiah 51:59)

Intro: Baruch was confidant and secretary of the prophet Jeremiah. When we become frustrated and focus on what we think the Lord is NOT doing in our lives, we need to ask ourselves the same question: “Do you seek great things for yourself?” Are we seeking great things- all those things we are asking for in prayer- for God’s Glory or for our own?

The faithfulness of Baruch in service:

·         When Jeremiah bought property in his hometown of Anathoth (Jeremiah 32:12-14)

·         Jer. 36, Jeremiah dictated to Baruch all the words spoken to him by God . Baruch then read the scroll to the people of Judah. After King Jehoiakim destroyed the scroll, Jeremiah again dictated the same scroll to Baruch.

The inordinate ambition of Baruch:

·         God did not mince words: “Stop seeking”. Jeremiah would shortly see Jerusalem in flames; Baruch would see it in ashes. Great things- fame, notoriety and money- would do Baruch no good in circumstances totally unlike the days of the fathers, when God had uprooted everything.

·         If you add a little ambition to the mix, and you have a recipe for covetousness.

·         Our covetousness and inordinate ambition will often lead us to complain against God- Jeremiah 45:3 states Baruch’s complaint: “Woe is me now! For the Lord has added grief to my sorrow. I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest”.

God’s warning and unfailing faithfulness:

·         Babylon “abundant in treasures”. (Jer. 48:1,7; 49:1,4; 51:1,13). But the fact is, God condemned those nations.

·         “Remember the wife of Lot”. Also ‘Remember Jeremiah and Baruch’. (Luke 17:30-33)

·         Jesus said, “What shall it profit a man, if he would gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36)

·         “Beware”, least your heart be overcharged with surfeiting, the dining pleasures, drinking, drunkenness, or the cares of this life, that that day come upon you by surprise” (Luke 21:34).

·         Now it is possible to grow “weary” in well doing. “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” Galatians 6:9

·         “Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatever state I am, therewith to be content.”

Philippians 4:11 And this too. “And having food and raiment let us be therewith be content”. 1 Timothy 6:8

Malachi 3:17 in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.