Word of Salvation – Vol. 44 No.30 – August 1999

 

Healthy, Wealthy And Wise

 

Sermon by Rev S Bajema

on Jeremiah 9:23-24

Scripture Readings: Jeremiah 9:1-24

 

Dear Church of our Lord Jesus…

Isn’t this world we live in one huge ball of confusion?  Never before has there been so much insecurity in our nation as to who we are, and where we should be going.  The traditional values of progress, the belief that the scientists will find the answers, and we’ll arrive in this great modern dream – it’s all gone!  The latest theory to hit our universities is called deconstructionism, because we’re now in a post-modern age.

Congregation, we as Christians are not immune to these things; we can’t escape them.  Simply in relation to our faith it comes in the challenge, “Give up!  Put away your old-fashioned belief in God!  If He really existed and were in control of this world, then we wouldn’t be in such a mess!”  Others say, “We’re a lucky country, a civilised nation.  Don’t worry about the world’s crises.  She’ll be right!  We’ll take care of Australia.”

Even some who call themselves Christian say, “Everyone has a right to his own religion you know.  Let’s put aside our particular theology, and be tolerant.  That will bring the peace we need.”

What is a genuine, honest, true Christian meant to do?  Does the Bible give us some help for our situation?  Or is it true, like they say, that our times are unique, and we must work out our own special answers?

The answer to this last question is a loud and resounding NO!  There has been before a time just like the one we live in now.  There has been before a decaying culture, a nation in decline; a country upset by political and religious troubles.  These troubles were everywhere then.  There was no one untouched by the confusion which dominated all around.

And as we look at our world, as we reflect on the state we live in, we say, yes…  that’s the situation we’re in.  If someone were to deny that our nation and this world isn’t in political turmoil, I’m afraid he hasn’t been reading any newspapers lately.  And if someone were to tell me that the Christian Church was sailing in pretty smooth waters at the moment, then he’s lost all sense of touch up to his chin, because the storm-waters are crashing up against his neck.

The Bible speaks of such a situation as ours.  There was a nation with equally vicious political and religious turmoil.  And there was a prophet of God sent to that nation.  A man through whom God spoke harsh words of judgment, wise words of advice, and great words of hope.  His name – Jeremiah.  The country – Judah.

Congregation, let’s consider the religious situation of Judah.  The worship of YAHWEH, the one true God, had been abandoned, or watered down, by the worship of the gods of the Canaanites and the Assyrians.  Even the priests had abandoned the faith of their fathers that much that the voice of God was no longer heard in the land.  The average man in Judah wouldn’t have had a clue about God’s laws.

The verses 12 to 16 of our chapter 9 spell it out:

“What man is wise enough to understand this?
Who has been instructed by the LORD and can explain it?
Why has the land been ruined and laid waste like a desert that no one can follow?
The LORD said, ‘It is because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them; they have not obeyed me or followed my law.  Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts; they have followed the Baals, as their fathers taught them.’  Therefore, this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘See, I will make this people eat bitter food and drink poisoned water.  I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will pursue them with the sword until I have destroyed them’.”

Many of us might now be thinking: Boy, God’s sure got it in for those Judeans!  Actually, congregation, He hasn’t!  The Judeans have got it in for themselves!  They know quite clearly the path they should be going.  But they don’t go God’s way, and so God heaps all these punishments upon them.  The people couldn’t expect anything less.  God had long ago warned them of the consequences if they left the ways of His covenant.

And, yet, at the end of this list of punishments that will come upon the people, Jeremiah points the way that leads to safety.  It is this way leading to safety which is the theme of our text.  As we look at the verses 23 and 24 of Jeremiah chapter 9, we’ll note two points:

Firstly – What the World boasts in;
Secondly – Who the Christian believes in.

Understanding the difference between what the world is like and who a Christian is like, enables us to see again the direction that we individually need to go; that we, as a church, need to go; and that we, as a nation, need to go.

Firstly, then – What the world boasts in.

This comes to us from verse 23, where the LORD says: “Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man of his strength or the rich man of his riches.”  The emphasis here is of one boasting upon his own resources.  The wise men, the warriors, and the rich men of Judah, had forgotten their covenant LORD.  Instead, they focussed on their own achievements and activities.

Let’s look now at each of these different groups.  There are the wise men.  These men are shrewd in making business deals.  They can think one step ahead of their opposition.  They think they’re very clever, that they’re going to get on in life.  The prophet Ezekiel once described one of these.  He says of that person, in chapter 24 of his prophecy: “In the pride of your heart you say, ‘I am a god; I sit on the throne of a god in the heart of the seas.’  But you are a man and not a god, though you think you are wise as a god.  Are you wiser than Daniel?  Is no secret hidden from you?  By your wisdom and understanding you have gained wealth for yourself and amassed gold and silver in your treasuries.  By your great skill in trading you have increased your wealth, and because of your wealth your heart has grown proud.  (vss.1-5).

This wise man certainly boasts in himself!  He is proud, a self-made man and, naturally, very egotistical!  He believes he’s made it all on his own!  As someone once quipped, “He is a self-made man, and worships his maker!”

The same goes also for the second man described in verse 23, the strong man.  In the time of Jeremiah, for a man to be strong was an important attribute.  Through physical strength, victories were won over enemies.  And through physical strength, such an exploit as that of David’s three mighty men breaking through the Philistine lines to bring him water from Bethlehem, was an important psychological event.

The strong man described in our text is one of these.  He’s important in society, and he certainly lets the others know.  After all, they wouldn’t be able to sleep safe at night if it weren’t for men like him!  Boys and girls, it’s not so different than the god-like gladiators or Hercules on the TV screen.  People look up to them and want to be like them.

Then there is the rich man.  I think all of us would be able to relate to this man.  He’s done well for himself.  He has a beautiful house, several cars of a European brand, a successful business.  He, too, is a self-made man.

Mind you, congregation, it’s not being rich which is condemned here.  The evil isn’t in one’s own riches, but instead in one’s own attitude toward them.  As Proverbs 28 says, “A faithful man will be richly blessed, but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished.” (vs.20)

Each of these men is condemned for their boasting in what they have.  But what is it they should be boasting in?  After all, are these skills and talents something they themselves achieved?  Certainly not!  They didn’t have these skills and talents naturally of themselves.  That was the crux of the situation which Jeremiah condemns here.  You see, these leaders of Judah’s covenant people had turned their backs on the One who had given them their talents and skills – the very Covenant God who time and time again had rescued them and blessed them ever so richly.  They had followed the thinking of the world around them.  To put it frankly, they had fallen into the trap of the evil one – Satan himself!

Now, to fall into a trap you need to be deceived.  So these men had allowed themselves to be tricked into thinking that what they had was the ultimate in wisdom, in strength, and in riches.  But they couldn’t have been further away from true wisdom, true strength, and true riches.

Psalm 107, after telling of the great deeds of the LORD, says, “Whoever is wise, let him heed these things and consider the great love of the LORD.” (vs.43) And in psalm 33, the strong are told: “No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength.” (vs.16)  And, as we’ve heard, in Proverbs 28 the rich are told, “…no one eager to get rich will not go unpunished.” (vs.20)

We may be bright, with many degrees behind our name; we may be rich; with a big bank balance; all the electronic gadgetry in our homes; a house that’s paid off.  But what are they?  We may be beautiful in appearance, able to attract boys easily, or vice versa for that matter; you can wear the coolest gear… so?

Brothers and sisters, young people, hear these words from our God: “…let him who boasts, boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight.” Wisdom, strength and riches, however valuable they may be when properly used, are nothing compared with knowing God.  To know God is to have insight; to understand who God is.  This is what we have through faith in Jesus Christ.  The man who would boast of anything should boast that he knows the Lord.

This is our second point – this is who the Christian believes in.

And what does knowing God consist of?  Knowing God means that we conform our lives constantly to the character of God.  You see, it comes from our hearts!  To quote Alexander Whyte: “Jeremiah was, of all the prophets of the Old Testament, the supreme prophet of God to the human heart.  In season and out of season, for a long life-time, he laid siege to the hearts of his hearers.  The cure of all your famines, he cried, and all your plagues and all your defeats and all your captivities, the cause and cure of them all is in your own heart; in the heart of each inhabitant of Jerusalem and each captive in Babylon.”

That person who has a right relation with God, confesses Him and obeys Him.  You are living in Jesus every day, all day!  You look forward to meeting Him, having His Word and fellowshipping in His family.

That brings us to the second half of verse 24, where the Lord says: “…I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight.”  Kindness, justice and righteousness.  These are important attributes of God, and attributes that He also requires of us.  They were personified for us in the life of His Son, our Saviour.

So, what is the kindness of God?  The kindness of God is that deep commitment that He has to His covenant people.  This deep commitment goes far beyond any obligation that He has toward us.  We just need to look through our Old Testament to realise the many times that God was kind far beyond what He needed to be.  Time and time again, the Israelite nation turned their back on God.  Yet, did God ever leave them?  Did He change His mind and say, forget it, blow those stupid Israelites who have gone and done it again?  No, He didn’t, and He continues His loving kindness even to us, His people today.

How often haven’t we ourselves flatly rejected the way of our Lord?  There have been times when we were completely rebellious.  And what did our covenant God do?  He waits, and in His grace, we turn aside to Him again.  You see it’s on our hearts; our bodies are now temples of the Holy Spirit.

I am reminded here of the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15.  Every day that young man’s father would be waiting for his son’s return, waiting to hug him and kiss him.  Notice it was the son’s heart that turned him towards his father.  This is a beautiful picture of God’s loving kindness.

Congregation, we are to follow our Lord’s example.  We, too, are to bend over backwards for the sake of the gospel.  This does not mean giving up our Reformed theology – quite the opposite.  We show how Reformed we are by giving up our boasting in ourselves.  It means getting rid of those stumbling blocks, those obstacles, that we put in our neighbour’s way, because God in Christ has removed what stands between us and Him in our sin.

Then there is the second word – justice.  God has laid down, in His Word, principles for us to live by.  We need only to think here of the Ten Commandments.  In His justice God makes judgment s that conform perfectly to the principles that He has laid down.  Anyone who was oppressed in the nation of Judah had a right to appeal to their covenant God.  And those who had a dispute between themselves could also be judged according to these principles.  So the rights of each person were perfectly established.

Those who boasted in their wisdom, in their strength, and in their riches, often had exploited others to become the people they were in the cut-throat world of business, for instance, that rich man has done many shady deals and has stepped on the property rights of others.  You see, for him, his next-door neighbour is of no concern.  He does what he likes.  He does what is right in his own eyes.  Anything for a dollar!

But God sees what’s going on.  He will judge that man for his wickedness.  Jesus Christ returns the second time as the Judge, not as the Saviour.  For them, it’s too late!

And we also, as God’s people, must make sure that this justice is carried out.  We can do this with the way that we live our lives, and also when we correct others who break God’s law.  God’s Word must be seen to be done in our lives, or else we fail to witness the way we should.  Isn’t the worst witness to an unbelieving world the believer who shows he doesn’t believe?

In the third place, there is the word, righteousness.  This refers to being made right.  The covenant God did this when He restored His peoples’ “right.”  He may have done this by the way that He acted in history, or by the defence of the weak, the oppressed, the poor, and the defenceless.  Take, for example, the way that God rescued His covenant people out of Egypt.  This rescue by God as a righteous act shows us that this righteousness means the same as “deliverance”, which is a “salvation.”

For the Israelites it meant that they were to behave as a saved people, a people for which a particular way of life was right and fitting.  What God wanted the Israelites to do was for them to live in such a way that His righteousness would dominate the whole world.  If that were to happen, the ideal ruler would be ruling with justice and righteousness.

Congregation, this is exactly the way Christ will rule!  Our text gives us a brief summary of true religion at its best.  Wisdom, strength and riches, though they may be very valuable when properly handled, are nothing compared with the knowledge of God.  Our following God’s way means that we acknowledge His total control over all our lives.

Having acknowledged that, we must then allow Him to fill life with the loving kindness, the justice and the righteousness which He possesses.  In these things He delights, and He desires to find them in His people.  It’s in our hearts to do this!

Congregation, of ourselves we wouldn’t be able to do this, but because God Himself, through Jesus Christ, gave us of His kindness, His justice and His righteousness, we can move humbly, yet boastingly, into a glorious future of continuing in our knowledge of God as we become more Christ-like in ourselves.

In this way, we can be the light in the darkness of the confusion that surrounds us on every side.  For isn’t it so true, dear believer, the darker the darkness, the clearer the light that shines through?

Amen.

Let’s pray:

Dearest Lord Jesus, how much haven’t we realised again how everything is in you?  And how much haven’t we been comforted by the good news that we are in you and we, too, share these attributes which show you in this world.  Oh Lord, do equip and guide us by your Spirit, that we will shine even brighter for you this week in this dark world.  In your precious Name we pray, Amen.