Jeremiah 20:10 “I hear many whispering, ‘Terror on every side! Report him! Let’s report him!’ All my friends are waiting for me to slip, saying, ‘Perhaps he will be deceived; then we will prevail over him and take our revenge on him.”

Rock star Frank Zappa once said, “When you see the little fish sign on the car ahead of you, you know you are looking at the enemy.” Perhaps it doesn’t surprise us when the non-Christian world around us rejects our faith, values, and warnings about sin. If anything, we might be surprised that they tolerate us as well as they do.

The world that rejected Jeremiah included some less likely figures, or so we might think. Jeremiah was not only a prophet, he was also a priest. In the first part of chapter 20, a fellow priest by the name of Pashhur had ordered Jeremiah beaten and put in stocks for preaching against the city of Jerusalem and its people. Here Jeremiah confesses that even his friends were plotting against him because of the things he said.

There is a great temptation for us here. Religion and relationships are deeply important to us. We would like to think that “men of God” are all deeply moral, deeply trustworthy people. But they are still fallible human beings. Sometimes they can be grossly on the wrong side of a moral or doctrinal issue. Don’t be overawed by how spiritual or well-educated they seem to be. Don’t be pressured to give up what God’s word clearly says.

And we may treasure our deepest relationships with family or friends. We may put a high priority on family and friends, but God’s word must be higher still. Jeremiah didn’t back off on God’s message even though it turned friends against him. Jesus still says to us, “He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and he that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” Don’t let the world’s rejection, whether it’s the world out there, or the world in here, or the world in your own home, stop us from speaking against the things that need to be confronted.

At the same time, we have Jesus’ promises to those who hold to his word faithfully. “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31). We are always on the right side when we believe and profess Jesus’ words. He himself continues to claim us as his own. He continues to provide the freedom of his grace and forgiveness. Human opposition cannot change his own approval and acceptance of those who remain faithful to him. “Whoever acknowledges me before, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven” (Matthew 10:32).

They crucified him for his teaching. It is no surprise that his teaching continues to attract hostility today. That may be a clear sign we are believing and speaking the right things.