Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁵ Jeremiah replied to Hananiah, the prophet, in the Lord's temple. The priests and all the people who were standing there could hear him. ⁶ The prophet Jeremiah said, ‘Amen! I agree! I pray that the Lord would do that! I pray that what you have prophesied really happens. May the Lord bring back from Babylon all the valuable things that belong in his temple. May he bring back all the people that King Nebuchadnezzar took to Babylon as prisoners. ⁷ But listen to what I say to you, and to all the people here. ⁸ From long ago, there have been prophets, before you and I became prophets. They often prophesied that war, famine and disease would bring great trouble to many countries and kingdoms. ⁹ But it is different if a prophet says that people will live safely in peace. We would only agree that the Lord has really sent him if his message becomes true.’

This is a special song that Ethan the Ezrahite wrote.

God's special love^[a]

¹² So do not let sin rule your life in this world. Do not do the wrong things that your body wants to do. ¹³ Sin can use your body to do things that are wrong. So do not let any parts of your body serve sin as their master. Instead, be ready to serve God as your Master. You can do that because you now have a new life. Your old life is dead. So give every part of your body to God. Then he will use you to do right things. ¹⁴ Sin will no longer have authority over you. You do not have a new life because you obey the Law which God gave to Moses. You have a new life because God is very kind to you.

Be careful to do what is right

¹⁵ Someone might say: ‘So we have a new life because God is kind to us. God's Law that he gave to Moses does not rule us any more. Then maybe we should continue to do wrong things. It will not make any difference.’ No, that is not true! ¹⁶ Remember this: When you agree to serve someone as a slave, you have to obey that person as your master. You may choose to serve sin as your master. If you do that, you will die.^[a] Or you may choose to obey God. If you do that, you will live in a way that is right. ¹⁷ At one time, you were slaves to sin. But then you received God's true message, and you were happy to obey it. I thank God because of that! ¹⁸ As a result, God has made you free from the power of sin. You are now like slaves who serve everything that is right and good.

¹⁹ It is difficult for you to understand these things, because you are still weak. So I am using a human picture of slaves to help you to understand better. At one time, you agreed to serve bad things as your master. You let your body do wrong and disgusting things. You continued to do more and more bad things. So now, you must use your body to serve what is right and good. Then you will do more and more good things which show that you belong to God.

²⁰ When you were slaves to sin, you did not even have to think about what was right and good. ²¹ You did things that you are ashamed about now. Nothing good came from them. In the end, the result of those things is death. ²² But now God has made you free from the power of sin. You have become God's slaves. Many good things come from that, because God is helping you to live in a good way. In the end, the result will be that you will live with him for ever.

²³ If you serve sin as your master, it will pay you with death. But if you belong to our Lord Jesus Christ, God gives you a gift! That gift is life with God for ever.

Jesus teaches about God's gifts

⁴⁰ Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If anyone accepts you in his home, then he is also accepting me. And anyone who accepts me, also accepts my Father God, who sent me. ⁴¹ Somebody may accept a prophet into his home because the visitor is a prophet of God. God will bless that person like he blesses a prophet. Or he may accept a good man who obeys God, because the man is good. God will bless that person like he blesses the good man. ⁴² People may think that my disciples are unimportant. But God will bless anyone who gives even a drink of cold water to one of them. I tell you, that person will never lose God's help.’