If You Seek Great Things for Yourself (Jeremiah 45:5)

God told Baruch, Jeremiah's scribe, "If you seek great things for yourself, seek them not" (Jeremiah 45:5). As we consider why God didn't want Baruch to seek great things, we can learn why God might not want us to seek great things. Read this material from Being Content God’s Way, or watch the accompanying sermon, to learn why God didn't want Baruch (and us!) to seek great things, and what He wanted him (and us!) to seek instead. https://youtu.be/WmIzUoHD0T4 God told Baruch, "If you seek great things for yourself, seek them not" (Jeremiah 45:5). Learn why God might not want us to seek great things. Table of contentsDiscontent Being Jeremiah’s ScribeWhy Didn’t God Want Baruch to Seek Great Things?God Might not Want Us to Seek Things Because We Seek Them for OurselvesGod Might not Want Us to Seek Things Because They Won’t LastGod Might not Want Us to Seek Things Because They Aren’t Part of His Plan“Great Things” Often Aren’t That GreatSeeking Great Things in God’s EyesMoses Sought Great Things in God’s EyesJonathan Sought Greatness in God’s EyesJohn the Baptist Sought Greatness in God’s EyesContent with Despised Roles that Please God Before doctors administer a shot, they say, “Try to relax as much as possible. This will be worse if you resist.” The doctor tells you to accept what will happen because resisting worsens it. Elizabeth Elliot said something similar: “There is joy in acceptance.” We can’t change certain circumstances, and resisting worsens them; therefore, it is best to trust that God wants to use them for our good and His glory. This is what it means to choose contentment, and it can bring great peace. Conversely, refusing to be content, which is to say choosing discontentment, can bring severe turmoil and suck the joy out of life. To some extent, all of us would say our lives are not exactly what we want. Maybe we wish we made more money, lived elsewhere, had a different job, or enjoyed a bigger house. If we are single, maybe we wish we were married. If we are married, maybe we wish our marriage was better. We all have something (or some things) we wish were different. There is a man in scripture, Baruch, who wished his life was different. He was Jeremiah’s faithful scribe, and we can learn much from him. Discontent Being Jeremiah’s Scribe Baruch is one of the unsung heroes of the Old Testament. Jeremiah was the most despised man of his day, and throughout much of his ministry, Baruch was his only friend. Jeremiah faced rejection and persecution from his countrymen. Being the closest person to Jeremiah meant that when Jeremiah suffered, Baruch often did too. At one point, Baruch wanted something different for himself. The Lord learned of his discontentment and had the following words for him: The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of Neriah, when he wrote these words in a book at the dictation of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to you, O Baruch: You said, ‘Woe is me! For the Lord has added sorrow to my pain. I am weary with my groaning, and I find no rest.’ Thus shall you say to him, Thus says the Lord: Behold, what I have built I am breaking down, and what I have planted I am plucking up—that is, the whole land. And do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not, for behold, I am bringing disaster upon all flesh, declares the Lord. But I will give you your life as a prize of war in all places to which you may go” (Jeremiah 45:1-5). Baruch was discouraged. The words “woe,” “pain,” “groaning,” and “find no rest” reveal that he suffered physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. I hate to be critical of Baruch because I’m sure I would have been worse than him if I were in his situation, but he should have been content with his circumstances. The phrase “the Lord has added sorrow” reveals that he attributed his suffering to God. How did God respond? Did He feel sorry for Baruch or apologize to him? No. Instead, He criticized Baruch for “[seeking] great things for [himself]” and told him to “seek them not.” This is the opposite of the Prosperity Gospel, Health and Wealth Doctrine, or Name-It-and-Claim-It Movement, which teaches people to “seek great things for [themselves].” In Joel Osteen’s New York Times best-selling book, Your Best Life Now, he writes: God wants us to constantly be increasing, to be rising to new heights…God wants to increase you financially, by giving you promotions…God wants this to be the best time of your life. But if you are going to receive this favor, you must enlarge your vision. You can’t go around thinking negative, defeated, limiting thoughts. If you will keep the right attitude, God will take all your disappointments, broken dreams, the hurts and pains, and He will add up all the trouble and sorrow that’s been inflicted on you, and He will pay you back with twice as much peace, joy, happiness, and success…God wants to give you your own house. God has a big dream for your life. Joel Osteen, Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential (FaithWords, 2004), 5, 31–32, 35. If Baruch had Joel Osteen’s theology, he would be convinced that God wanted him to pursue something better for himself. But that could not have been further from the truth. God wanted Baruch to accept his current circumstances. Your Best Life Now was on the New York Times best-seller list for over two years and has sold over eight million copies. The popularity reveals how many people are deceived about God’s desires for them. Why Didn’t God Want Baruch to Seek Great Things? The Old Testament contains examples from which we can learn (1 Corinthians 10:6 and 11 and Romans 15:4). When we consider why God didn’t want Baruch to seek certain things, we can learn why God might not want us to seek certain things. God Might not Want Us to Seek Things Because We Seek Them for Ourselves God said Baruch “[sought] great things for [himself].” Because most people could not read or write in the ancient world, being a scribe was a respected and lucrative profession. More than likely, Baruch had high hopes for position, honor, and riches. He knew if he didn’t serve Jeremiah, he could have enjoyed a comfortable and perhaps even wealthy life. Maybe we have felt this way at times. If so, we should remind ourselves that this life isn’t about accumulating “great things” for ourselves. James 4:3 says, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.” This was the case with Baruch, and God rebuked him for it. If we want something, and our motivation is to “spend it on [our] pleasures,” maybe God would rebuke us, too. Motivation is one of the most important considerations when seeking something for ourselves. Why do we want it? Is it to be rich, famous, and powerful, or to serve Christ? In Matthew 6:33, Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.” If our highest motivation is to “seek first the kingdom of God” rather than “seek great things for [ourselves],” we can be confident we have the right motivation. God Might not Want Us to Seek Things Because They Won’t Last God told Baruch He was going to “break down [what He] built, pluck up [what He] planted, [and] bring adversity on all flesh.” God didn’t want Baruch to seek great things because they wouldn’t last! God was going to destroy everything, but he told Baruch, “I will give your life to you as a prize.” Baruch would not get all the “great things” he wanted, but he would get to keep his life. The same is true for us, not just physically but spiritually. Second Peter 3:10 (NKJV) says, “The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.” The universe as we know it will not last, but we get to keep our lives: “the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). God Might not Want Us to Seek Things Because They Aren’t Part of His Plan Being Jeremiah’s scribe meant giving up great things Baruch wanted, but they might not have been selfish or immoral desires. Maybe he wanted marriage, children, and a normal life. These are part of God’s plan for most people, but they were not part of God’s plan for Baruch. Similarly, we might have desires that are not selfish or immoral and are part of God’s plan for others but aren’t part of God’s plan for us. Because we have limited time and energy, saying “yes” to one thing means saying “no” to something else. Let me share an example from my life. I coached middle and high school wrestling during my first few years teaching elementary school. When I moved to Lemoore, California, I could only coach the middle school because the high school had a successful coach who had been inducted into the State Wrestling Hall of Fame. He had built an incredibly success program, and the facilities were some of the best I had ever seen. You can imagine my excitement when the coach moved on to the collegiate level and invited me to take over the high school program for him. The difficulty was that two other things happened around the same time: I started getting more involved in my church, and Katie and I started discussing marriage. The commitment to follow such a successful coach was huge. He built the program by investing his life in it. If I took over for him, I would be expected to do the same. I had to choose between coaching high school wrestling or marrying Katie and pursuing ministry. There is nothing wrong with coaching wrestling—I had done it for years earlier—but I could tell it was no longer part of God’s will for my life. Although coaching a top-tier wrestling program seemed like a “great thing” to me,