These are the three paths to greatness identified by the hapless Malvolio in Shakespeare’s famous comedy. Malvolio thought he was a man with a great calling. However, he was self-deceived.

I know many people who have the opposite view of themselves. Perhaps you’re among them. Have you ever felt that God was calling you to do a task for which you were particularly unsuited? To be in spiritual leadership at church—such people are to be “blameless,” you know. To witness to your family…to give a speech about your faith in speech class… You knew that God wanted you to do it, but you felt inadequate. “Why me?” you asked.

It was like that for Jeremiah. He wasn’t born great. He was the son of a country preacher, Reverend Hilkiah of the remote parish of Anathoth. Nor was he naturally gifted with a dynamic charisma. He had, in fact, a rather introverted personality, prone to pessimism and depression. Some say that if he were alive today, we’d send him for therapy as a chronic depressive. If he were in high school, he wouldn’t have been elected “most likely” to do anything.

And Jeremiah didn’t achieve greatness, either—not in the normal way we speak of achievement. Oh, he was a man of great personal dedication but, measured by the world’s standards, Jeremiah’s grit and tenacity proved to be utterly fruitless. In human eyes, his life was a total failure. He was mocked as a fool, accused as a traitor even, and rejected by his own family.

And yet, greatness did come to Jeremiah. Malvolio might say it was thrust upon him. But, as we shall see, the greatness of his life came about because of God’s call upon him and his willingness to obey a very difficult calling. It all began one day in the year 627 B.C., the 13th year of the reign of good King Josiah in Judah. That was the year God’s summons came to young Jeremiah.

We’re going to look at his turning point this morning as described in Jeremiah 1. I hope at the end that you will feel as I do: that we could do with a few more people in our generation, and in our church, like Jeremiah. Perhaps you are one of them.

To His Glory,

Dr. Greg Waybright
Senior Pastor