Read: Jeremiah 1:4-10
I have put my words in your mouth. . . . to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant. (vv. 9-10)
When people use the word “worship,” often what they really mean is “music we sing in church.” But worship is much more than the music we sing. Worship is the praise that we give to God. Even deeper, worship is the way that God tends to his church, feeding us, healing us, and leading us by his grace. From this angle, the most important parts of worship are not the music, but the preaching of the Word and the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
Can you believe God’s graciousness, that he would choose to speak through human beings? But that’s just what God said he would do through Jeremiah. He put his words into Jeremiah’s mouth, into Jeremiah’s language, into Jeremiah’s culture, to tear down and build up the people of God.
Preaching is one of the key ways that God tears us down and builds us back up. Every time we gather to hear the Word, God pulls apart the sin in our hearts like rotted wood and remodels our souls with sturdy Spirit-filled desires. The Word of God breaks us up like old concrete and reconstitutes us as the people of God. Preaching, like all of worship, transforms us. When Scripture comes to us, we are never the same again.
As you pray, ask the Lord to speak to his church, tear down its idols, and build up his kingdom.
About the Author
Steven Rodriguez lives in Rochester, New York, with his wife and four children.
