The Purpose of Praise Ruined by Rags

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been working a bit in our Dining Room, trying to fill in cracks and re-plaster a fresh smooth surface to our wall.  That is easier said than done.  Especially since my wall smoothing gifts with a trowel and joint compound are far from professional.  Yet with enough trial and error, it works just fine.  But “trial and error” means messy; so a good rag is essential to keeping things neat.  I was so happy when in the middle of one of those trial and errors this week, that I glanced at a family towel and saw written across the whole length – “RAG.”  It was no longer to be used for normal drying but for sopping up dirt and grime.  I chose not to use the curtains that are designed to make the window beautiful and pleasant.  I chose to use the old, dirty, ripped up towel designated “RAG.”

God used a similar illustration with Jeremiah.  Our Creator loves using illustrations to get our attention. 

“Thus the LORD said to me, ‘Go and buy yourself a linen waistband and put it around your waist, but do not put it in water.’  So I bought the waistband in accordance with the word of the LORD and put it around my waist” (Jeremiah 13:1-2).

To start the illustration, God asked Jeremiah to buy a new girdle made of linen.  This would be a costly garment, something that the priest would wear, actually something rather comfortable.  It was not the normal sturdy garment of a prophet built for long use – perhaps leather, something like Elijah was known for (2 Kings 1:8).  He is to use the priestly linen...  I see Jeremiah smile here, “Finally, a perk!”  But he is told not to wash it.  And so he wears it for some days waiting for further instruction.  It gets dirty but he does not wash it.  He wears it close to himself.  People recognize the garment.  It is different than Jeremiah’s normal garment.[i]  And they see he is not washing it.  And then further instruction comes.

“Then the word of the LORD came to me a second time, saying, ‘Take the waistband that you have bought, which is around your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a crevice of the rock.’  So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the LORD had commanded me” (Jeremiah 13:3-5).

The next step must have confused Jeremiah a bit.  God told him to go hundreds of miles and bury the garment in the rocks of the Euphrates river.  As the crow flies that is 315 miles from Jerusalem at the shortest point (thanks google maps for your distance tracker thingy).  And Jeremiah is not a crow flying.  So this trip must have taken weeks and no doubt a great expense.

 But Jeremiah did what the Lord said.  The place of burial is signifying the distance to which Israel went into captivity so it is part of the message.  But let’s move quickly to the application of the illustration rather than the specific details for Israel directly, because I think the application has a real message not just for Israel in Jeremiah’s day but for you and for me.

 

The application, the real message of the prophecy, comes after Jeremiah has made the trek back to Israel.  At that point, even after many days. God speaks to Jeremiah again instructing him to go and get the girdle.  When he finally makes the trip back to find the garment, it is truly ruined.  After months of sitting in the elements, it is not even worthy of use as work rag.  And the Lord draws that parallel to Israel.

“After many days the LORD said to me, ‘Arise, go to the Euphrates and take from there the waistband which I commanded you to hide there.’ Then I went to the Euphrates and dug, and I took the waistband from the place where I had hidden it; and lo, the waistband was ruined, it was totally worthless.  Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, thus says the LORD, ‘Just so will I destroy the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.  This wicked people, who refuse to listen to My words, who walk in the stubbornness of their hearts and have gone after other gods to serve them and to bow down to them, let them be just like this waistband which is totally worthless.  For as the waistband clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole household of Israel and the whole household of Judah cling to Me,’ declares the LORD, ‘that they might be for Me a people, for renown, for praise and for glory; but they did not listen’” (Jeremiah 13:6-11).

And so we get to the purpose of the picture.  A people designed to be close to their Creator rejected and distanced themselves from Him through sin and disobedience.  Literally, because they did not listen to His Words, they became worthless.  Why worthless?  They were not being used for the reason they were made.  And what was the reason they were made?  Verse 11 tells us.  They were made to be a people “for renown, for praise, and for glory.”  The purpose God had in bringing them close to Him was that they might exist to bring Him praise.  That they might exist to lift Him up.  That they might exist to make Him greater in other’s estimation (glorify).  This had not happened because they were little by little soiled by idolatry and sin... because they had not listened to His Words.  And so Israel marred the purpose God had in bringing them close to Himself – for His praise.

We could summarize the picture this way:

1. A garment is created for praise.
2. A garment is worn close to its Creator.
3. A garment neglects the Creator’s Words/ways.
4. A garment gets soiled and dirty.
5. A garment is worthless because it brings no glory to the wearer.

Let’s expand this illustration beyond Israel’s calling in the Old Testament.  This could be said of all who are brought near to God through our Lord Jesus Christ.  We are, each one of us, because of the death, burial and resurrection of God’s Son, priests (Revelation 1:6).  You too are brought near into the holy place, the very holy of holies.  The tabernacle curtain is torn at the death of Jesus from top to bottom and we now may boldly enter the holy place, the very presence of God.  Like this linen garment that is brought near to Jeremiah, God brings us near to Him.

But those who are brought near must realize that we exist for His praise.  We exist for God’s glory.  We exist to make others think better of our Creator, think more highly of our creator.  What a high and holy calling.  A garment is not very prestigious, unless it is a garment made to adorn a king.  So the purpose of being brought near as priests to our God is that we might glorify our God.   He brings us into close relationship to Him to listen to His words and become more like Him.  This is our calling to adorn well the character of our God.  We walk about as people reflecting on Him.

 

“Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).

Therefore, our lives match His character and are lived in keeping with His Words then we are living out our purpose.  When we are marred by the soil of this earth, we become worthless.  We are no longer giving our Maker praise.  We are worthless.  Your purpose is for praise.  Not just singing well in church, but living well at all times for the glory of your God.

"Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

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[i] Perhaps we could think of the use as in Ezekiel 23:14-14 “And she saw men portrayed on the wall, images of the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion, girded with belts on their loins, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers, like the Babylonians in Chaldea, the land of their birth.”