Jerusalem was lying in ruins. The walls were broken, the temple was burned and bodies were in the streets. Enemies walked past the smoking city, laughing and pointing and using her own worship songs against her.
Lamentations 2:15 “All that pass by clap their hands at thee; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men call The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?”
The mockers were not making up those names. They were quoting Israel’s own psalms.
“The perfection of beauty” came from Psalm 50:2 “Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.”
“The joy of the whole earth” came from Psalm 48:2 “Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.”
For hundreds of years, Israel had sung those songs about their own city. They bragged. And rightly so because Jerusalem was where God dwelt. Jerusalem was where the King ruled and was where the whole world was supposed to look to find truth.
Now Babylon had burned the city, and the enemies were throwing Israel’s own hymns back in her face. Her beauty had turned to ash and her joy had turned to hissing and wagging heads.
How does a city lose a good name like that?
More importantly, how does a Christian lose a good name like that?
A Good Name Is Precious
Proverbs 22:1 “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold.”
Ecclesiastes 7:1 “A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth.”
A good name is very precious. But a good name is not something you can buy. It is not something anyone can hand you. It is something that is earned. And it is not earned quickly. It is earned by doing right, over and over again, for years.
Jerusalem earned her good name over centuries. She lost it in one generation.
Lamentations tells us exactly how Israel lost their name and every one of them is a warning for us.
1. She Stopped Calling Sin, Sin
Lamentations 1:8 “Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she is removed: all that honoured her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness.”
She did not lose her good name because of one bad day. She lost it because she stopped calling sin what it was. What used to be shameful became normal. What used to be private became public. What used to convict her heart stopped bothering her at all.
Today, adultery has become “an affair.” Fornication has become “living together.” Lying has become “spinning it.” Gossip has become “prayer requests.” Drunkenness has become “unwinding.” Covetousness has become “self-care.”
When we stop calling sin what God calls it, we have already started to lose our good name. The world watching us takes note. The moment we start softening the words the Bible uses, the world knows we are no different than they are.
2. She Never Played It Out To The End
Lamentations 1:9 “Her filthiness is in her skirts; she remembereth not her last end; therefore she came down wonderfully.”
She never played out her actions all the way through. She never asked where her choices would lead. She lived for the moment and when the end came, she was blindsided.
Every Christian who has ever lost a good name failed to ask one question. Where is this going?
What will this text message lead to? What will this second look at that image lead to? What will this friendship, this drink, this small compromise, this hidden click lead to? The just walk by faith and look at the end. The foolish walk by feelings and get destroyed at the end.
Every Christian who has ever fallen said the same thing after the fall: “I never thought it would go this far.” This is what happened to Israel in Lamentations 1:9.
3. Her Preachers Told Her What She Wanted To Hear, Not What She Needed To Hear
Lamentations 2:14 “Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee: and they have not discovered thine iniquity, to turn away thy captivity; but have seen for thee false burdens and causes of banishment.”
The prophets went soft before the walls came down. They stopped naming sin, they refused to expose iniquity and they gave the people what the people wanted, not what the people needed.
Paul warned us the same thing would happen in our time.
2 Timothy 4:3 “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears.”
Today’s audience wants pastors who make them feel good, not pastors who call them out. And too many are giving them exactly what they want. A preacher who is more worried about hurting feelings than pointing people to Christ is a preacher heading toward Lamentations 2:14.
When a nation’s pulpits go soft, the walls will follow.
4. She Went Through The Motions
Lamentations 1:7 “The adversaries saw her, and did mock at her sabbaths.”
Her sabbaths were being mocked. She still kept the outward form. She still had the temple ceremonies and still had the songs, the offerings and the feast days. But her heart was somewhere else. And by the time the enemies were mocking her sabbaths, her own people had already mocked them by keeping them without meaning them.
We see the same thing today. People check the box on Sunday morning while our hearts are on our phones. We sing worship songs we do not mean. We take communion without examining ourselves.
Mocking the holy sometimes looks like familiarity without fear. A form of religion without reverence. When we treat holy things casually, we mock them.
5. She Thought It Could Never Happen To Her
Lamentations 4:12 “The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world, would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy should have entered into the gates of Jerusalem.”
Nobody thought it could happen to her. She had the temple, the priesthood, and they had the covenant. She had her history and a name, too! Surely God would never let His city fall.
Until He did.
Christians trust in false securities all the time. We trust in our jobs, our relationships, or our labor. But any Christian who trusts in the blessing instead of the blesser, is one step away from Lamentations 4:12. The name that made Jerusalem feel safe was the name that made her fall so hard. She believed her own reputation more than she believed God’s Word.
The greatest good name any of us can ever wear is the name of Christ. When we protect our name, we are really protecting His. When we lose our name, we drag His name through the mud with us.
Guard your name.
Any Christian can lose a good name. But the Christian who calls sin what it is, who plays it out to the end, who sits under preaching that tells the truth, who worships from the heart, and who walks with God today, will keep the name God has given him.
A good name is earned by doing right, over and over, for a lifetime.
Do not lose it in a moment.
