Blessed or Cursed? | The Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany | Jeremiah 17:5–8
February 13, 2022 | 10:45 a.m.
The Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany
READINGS
Jeremiah 17:5–8
Psalm 1:1-6
1 Corinthians 15:1–20
Luke 6:17–26
message presented by Rev. Frank C. Ruffatto
+Points to ponder
- Have you ever had a time when you trusted in the Lord as a ‘last resort’? How did He help you overcome that?
- What helps build your trust in the LORD?
- How can we as a congregation help each other to first and foremost rely on the LORD? How can we be a witness to that in our greater community?
+Sermon Transcript
Grace, mercy, and peace be unto each of you from God our Father and our Lord and King, Jesus the Christ. Amen.
Let us pray: Lord of the hosts of heaven, our salvation and our strength, without you we are lost – guard us from all that harms or hurts and raise us when we fall; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
It goes without saying that these are challenging and complicated times in which we now live. Economic insecurity and uncertainty, political unrest, corporate media misinformation, governmental malfeasance, financial hardships, anxiety about health and safety can all amplify any personal turmoil we might be facing.
When faced with these challenges, where do you go or what do you do to get through them? Whom can you trust to help you get through these difficult times? Yourself? Others? Or is it to the Lord you go for help in times of trouble?
There really are only two ways: either wholly trusting human abilities or trusting first and foremost the Lord. And
TO TRUST IN THE LORD IS BETTER THAN TO TRUST IN HUMAN STRENGTH.
The difference, the LORD says, is either blessing or curse.
Again, there really are only those two ways: trusting in man or trusting in the Lord. The Lord said to his people, through the prophet Jeremiah: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD.” In other words you are cursed if you only trust in humanity to the neglect of the Lord and His wisdom.
On the other hand, the LORD says: “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD.” That is, you are blessed when you commit yourself to the LORD and trust in Him first and foremost.
The LORD then paints the picture of what being cursed or being blessed looks like. The one who first and foremost trusts in himself, “He is like a shrub in the desert and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.”
Conversely, the one who first and foremost trusts in the LORD, who commits his life to the LORD, “He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”
The question then, for you and me is, ‘In whom do you put your trust?’ Is it yourself? You wouldn’t be alone if you trusted yourself first and foremost to get yourself through difficult times, or any times in this day and age.
“People [throughout history] have sought and trusted in other helpers, but to no avail. In his better moments even the Roman Emperor Nero, notorious for his brutal disregard for human life, looked about him for a savior. For a time, he chose Seneca, the sage, to be his teacher. But preserved in the museum of Naples is a caricature of a butterfly holding the reigns of a dragon, representing Seneca trying in vain to curb the passions of Nero, that profligate and brutal ruler, with the velvet wings of his philosophy. So must ride to ruin today on the dragon of selfishness and greed and unhallowed pleasure and usurped power and science falsely trusted for solutions to every problem those who trust in other helpers and refuse to give the reigns of their life into the hands of God.”
And so, people will say, “I’m smart enough; I’m good enough. People like me. I’ve got enough money. I’ve got friends; I’ve got my networks. I can do just fine, who needs that religion stuff anyway? – I am the captain of my destiny.”
If we’re not careful we can get caught up in the same mentality. But then what gets forgotten? What’s left out of the equation? If these creaturely things are what you trust in, God says, “Cursed are you!” For one thing, they will all eventually fail you. They won’t last forever; they’ll die with you, and then what? Secondly, will they help you in the life of the world to come? No! Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God.” Not as a last resort, but first! Cursed are you! Not only will they fail you, but you also have not turned to the Lord, who made heaven and earth. Turning from the Lord means we have despised and neglected the Lord and His Word. We have sought help only in ourselves. Will that be enough on the Last Day? When we stand before the Lord, who will our help be? Ourselves? The LORD says, “Cursed is the man who trusts in man.”
In contrast, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord.” for the Lord only is able to prosper and protect you. He is the one who will give you full life now and eternally. Not only will all others – in the end – disappoint and fail you, but your turning to others first, is really a turning away from the Lord.
Trusting in the Lord is like being planted by an ever-flowing river of water, like a palm tree next to the Nile River in Egypt. It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t rain; there’s always water. But go just a mile from the Nile and there’s no vegetation at all because there is no water.
So where would you want to be planted? Or where would you plant your crop? By the Nile or inland, in the desert? So it is, with trust in the Lord. Where would you rather be planted?
That is again, in whom do you put your ultimate trust? We say, “the Lord,” but do we? You might say, “Well, not at first, but if all else fails, I’ve got the Lord to fall back on.” But think about that - You wouldn’t like to be anyone’s second or third or last choice, would you? How do you think that attitude reflects on your trust in the Lord?
The LORD, through Jeremiah, is reminding His people that He rightly judges those who trust in themselves, and it is right to condemn them. As the saying goes – ‘We get what we deserve.’ When we put the LORD to the side, we deserve to be parched, to wither and to die, because we have not trusted in God, who says to you and me, “Come unto Me, and I will give rest” and “I will give you life.”
“C.S. Lewis in A Grief Observed wrote: ‘You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death. It is easy to say you believe a rope to be strong as long as you are merely using it to cord a box. But suppose you had to hang by that rope over a precipice. Wouldn’t you then first discover how much you really trusted it?’”
Truth be told we have too often seen the LORD as a cord for a box instead of a strong rope that pulls us from the precipice of hell, of sin, death, and the Devil. We have, too often, failed to trust in the Lord; we have failed to seek Him first.
But there is One who did all things well, who trusted in the LORD with all His heart, soul, and mind. That is, our Lord Jesus. He trusted His heavenly Father with all His life. In the temptation in the wilderness, Jesus trusted the Word of the LORD to take care of Him and His life. And when He died on the cross, parched, and thirsty, not because of any sin in Him but rather for us and for our salvation, Jesus still said even then, while suffering on the cross: “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.”
In what Dr. Luther calls ‘the glorious exchange,’ Jesus suffered on the cross all the curses we deserve and, in their place, gives us all the blessings we have not earned. He poured out His life that we may have life from Him, from His body and His blood. When Jesus rose from the dead, he breathed the Holy Spirit on His disciples, empowering them to preach the good news of forgiveness of sins.
And so, the call, for me and you, is that we would repent of our sin of not first and foremost trusting in the LORD and instead trusting in ourselves.
Let us then be quick to repent and believe the incredibly wonderful, good news that our sin of mistrust and lack of trust, and trust in ourselves, is forgiven and paid for on the cross by Jesus.
Beloved, know that life, true life, life never failing, comes from God. We need to get off of our proverbial couches and get and stay personally connected to Him and His Church, for He is your life and salvation and will prosper your life and growth for His purposes. He will lead you to streams of living water and green pastures in the house of the Lord forever. Blessed is the man, Jesus, who trusted in the Lord. Blessed are you who trust in our Lord, Jesus. Amen.
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”