The 18^th Sunday After Trinity

SERMON

Text: Jeremiah 17:5-10

Thus says the LORD: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the LORD. For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land which is not inhabited. Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose hope is the LORD. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but her leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.”

In Christ Jesus, the One in Whom we can trust without reservations, dear fellow redeemed:

In sixteen days we will elect a new President. While there are numerous candidates on the ballot, it is reasonable to assume that our new President will be either Al Gore Jr. or George W. Bush. Many people in our country remain undecided concerning whom they prefer to hold the highest political office in our country. It seems to be the consensus that for many undecided voters it will simply come down to the question: “Whom do you trust?” In his closing remarks at the third Presidential debate, Vice President Gore assured those listening that they could trust him. He stated that he would keep this one promise, “You ain’t seen nothing yet!” Governor Bush followed with a statement in which he too assured those listening that he could be trusted and, if elected, will push for his program of lower taxes, less governmental control, and a stronger military. Perhaps the most memorable political quote of the week came from former First Lady, Barbara Bush. While campaigning in Michigan and dealing with the trust factor she stated, “They (Voters) know he’ll (George W. Bush) keep them (his promises) in real life or his mother will come get him!”

Trust will be a major issue when it comes to the person or persons for whom we vote on November 7. But, my dear friends, trust and the question of whom we trust is not just an issue for November 7. It is not an issue we can choose to ignore, for day by day we must answer that question and, quite frankly, it is not always rightly answered even by professing Christians. Where and in whom we place our trust has both temporal and eternal consequences for us. Let’s ask ourselves the question, therefore, and seek a God-pleasing answer: WHOM DO YOU TRUST? Our text tells us that it is foolish to put your trust in man, while it is wise to put your trust in the LORD!

I.

Jeremiah lived at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem in the sixth century BC. In those turbulent years prior to that destruction, God’s people in Judah were not making good and proper choices with regard to those in whom they placed their trust. Instead of walking humbly before and trusting in the LORD God, as they had been encouraged to do by their prophets (cf. Micah 6:8), they were looking to the Egyptians to save them from Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. They had made alliances with Egypt and had attempted to buy Pharaoh’s protection with their silver and gold. Instead of trusting in the LORD, they were relying upon men!

Jeremiah responded under the inspiration of his God, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the LORD!’” There is an interesting play on words here that is lost in our English translations. Jeremiah uses two different words for “man,” both of which have special meanings. He first refers to man as someone who is viewed as possessing physical strength, but then he refers to man as the one who was created out of dust and who will eventually return to dust. Such a man, while perhaps appearing to possess strength, really is frail and has no lasting strength at all! So “cursed is the (mighty) man (of apparent strength) who trust in (mortal) man and makes flesh (that which is essentially dust and will return to dust) his strength!”

My dear friends, we are not living in a time of great national peril, but the same choices facing God’s people back then face us today. WHOM DO YOU TRUST? It is a First Commandment issue, is it not? Luther explains the First Commandment with the words, “We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.” To whom then do you look for leadership and direction in your life? To whom do you go to turn for safety and protection? Do you place your trust in elected political leaders? Do you place your trust in financial counselors? Do you place your trust in the individuals you love? In one sense we all can answer and say, “Yes, to a certain extent I do that.” But we ought never do so in any absolute sense of the word. Human beings are limited as to their strength, their wisdom, and their mortality. A man with great physical strength may well trot on to a football field this afternoon only to be carried off in a stretcher with everyone wondering whether or not he will ever walk again! A man with great intellectual gifts can be working one moment and slumping over his desk dead of a heart attack the next. It is absolutely foolish to put your trust in men!

Jeremiah provides a vivid picture of just how foolish such a decision is when he describes those who place their trust in men as a “shrub in the wilderness.” Such a shrub will never thrive; it will never grow; its circumstances will always be precarious, for there simply aren’t enough resources available to enable it to flourish. When you or I place our trust in men, we are like a “shrub in the wilderness.” We will ultimately wilt and wither away!

Jeremiah explains exactly why this is the case. Human beings were not meant to be mortal when first created by God. His intention was that they live and thrive within the world and under His governing hand forever. Sin, however, entered the world through Adam and Eve and changed both the world and God’s plan. Man dies because of sin, and that sin has a deep root in every man’s heart. Jeremiah says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” It is difficult for any human being, even those who are under the guidance of the Spirit, to admit this truth. We have a problem and it runs deep! By nature our hearts are in a state of sinful rebellion against God. Consequently, we ought never place our trust in natural man, for inevitably he will be in opposition to God.

In Religion 11-12 at this time we are studying the religion of Hinduism. We have traced its source back to the religious writings of the Vedas. However, as we have considered this religion we have learned that its teachings over the years have varied and often contradicted themselves. That is because rather than being a religion revealed by God, it is a religion conceived within the heart of man—the sinful, deceitful, and wicked heart of man! Let us, therefore, dear friends not place our trust in man—what foolishness! Rather, when answering the question WHOM DO YOU TRUST, may we all be led to recognize that it is foolish to put your trust in man!

II.

It is wise, however, to put your trust in the LORD! Jeremiah writes, “Blessed is the man who trust in the LORD, and whose hope is the LORD.” We are blessed, that is most fortunate and happy, when we place our trust in the LORD. Why is that the case? First of all, this is true because our LORD God is the one, true God—the all-powerful God Who created this world and rules over it right now. He is in a position to respond to us right now!

Secondly, the “LORD” is our God Who has taken an interest in us personally. If you ever doubt that fact bear in mind that you are the only person in the world with your fingerprint and genetic code! You were, as Scripture testifies, uniquely created by your Savior God, gifted in accordance with His will, and are now protected by His governing hand. In view of His personal interest in us, He has seen our problem with sin and its consequence death and He has devised and fulfilled a plan of redemption to deliver us from this evil world with all of its trials and tribulations unto Himself in heaven! That plan, of course, involved the life and death of His dear Son, Jesus!

When we are led by the Spirit of God to confess our sins and to rejoice in the forgiving love of our Savior, we become His children. We are, Jeremiah says, just like a “tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but her leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.” It is interesting, isn’t it, that Jeremiah doesn’t say that when you trust in the LORD there will never be any “heat” or that there will never be a “drought.” Rather, he says that when such times come, and they will for Scripture has predicted they will, we need not fear for with our LORD will be present with us. He will guide and bless us so that we can still be productive members of His kingdom even in the midst of trials and troubles!

There are times, dear friends, especially when the “heat” and “drought” come, when we might be tempted to complain. Yet it is then, even more than at other times, that we must trust in the LORD! There was an incident in Jeremiah’s life, which demonstrates this rather effectively. At one point Jeremiah, whose messages of pending judgment were unappreciated by the rulers of Judah, was thrown into an empty cistern within Jerusalem’s prison. We are told that he sank down into the muck of the cistern up to the pits of his arms. His situation was aggravated by the fact that he apparently received little or no food and water while there. Who would come to his rescue? Was he to die—a prophet of God—in such a miserable way? No, he was not, but help came from a most unexpected place. An Ethiopian servant in the king’s house went to the king and pleaded with him to allow Jeremiah to be rescued from the cistern. The king amazingly granted his permission in spite of his hatred for Jeremiah. The servant, whose name was Ebed-Melech, promptly pulled Jeremiah out and so saved his life. Later, when Jerusalem fell, the LORD saw to it that Ebed-Melech was spared his life when many around him lost theirs! Truly, as Jeremiah, states at the end of our text, the LORD “give(s) to every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doing!”

My dear friends, Pastor Eichstadt’s theme for Gertrude Manske’s funeral this past Wednesday was that Gertrude by faith was in a “win-win” situation. Were she to have continued living, she would serve the LORD with His blessing. That she died, simply meant that the LORD had bestowed upon her the fulfillment of all of His promises leading up to and including life everlasting! We, too, can and do find ourselves in a “win-win” situation every time we turn to the LORD and place our trust in Him, our Savior God! He cannot and will not fail us! Whenever we fail to do so and, following the example of Old Testament Israel, place our trust in man, we will ultimately fail. WHOM DO YOU TRUST? It is foolish to put your trust in man, but it is always wise to put your trust in the LORD! Amen.

—Pastor Paul D. Nolting