Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Sometime back, I read of an individual who was pulled over by a policeman for speeding. He apologized profusely to the officer and convinced the policeman that this was a temporary lapse and would not happen again.

The officer gave him a warning and let the man and his family go on their way. When the police car turned around and headed the other way, the driver proceeded to stomp on the accelerator, once again breaking the speed limit. Somehow he felt this was acceptable since he had just appeased the officer of his sincerity with words of apology and regret. Now that the law enforcement official was not in sight, he chose to go back to his old habits.

What this man and his family did not realize was that the policeman who had stopped him had radioed to another patrol unit several miles up the road, relating the whole incident. As the family’s car topped a hill, they found themselves facing a patrol car with its lights flashing.

As the officer came to the car, the man began his rehearsed routine again, but this time was interrupted by the patrolman. The officer informed him that he heard what had just happened with the other officer, and it didn't matter what the man said; he was going to be issued a ticket.

This man's actions spoke louder than his words of remorse. We will read about the same thing in the life of the nation of Judah. In fact, if people would be completely honest with themselves today, many would see the same thing taking place in their own lives.

God does not want excuses. God does not want pious platitudes.

God desires devotion from true believers that is expressed in action.

God Gives Explanation to the People. - 9.7-16

In this section, God explains that his people are going to have to experience judgment, or refining, due to their sin. And their sin is not just the blatant physical attacking of one another. Their sin was not those sins which we might label as horrible and atrocious. You might say that they were sinning with finesse or style. They were sinning with a proper demeanor. They were sinning with an aura of dignity.

Listen to Jeremiah 9:8, “Their tongue is a deadly arrow; It speaks deceit; With his mouth one speaks peace to his neighbor, But inwardly he sets an ambush for him.”

People might not have suspected any evil intent, or even that the other person had plans for evil against them. But the reality was quite the opposite. We read that God described their tongue just as it really is; "a deadly arrow."

We also see in these verses, the incredible sorrow that the Lord has for the land and the wildlife which he created. Unfortunately, all of that will also be affected by the judgment that God is going to inflict upon Jerusalem.

The main reason for all of this disaster to overtake the people in the land is found in Jeremiah 9:13 “The Lord said, “Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice nor walked according to it,”

What a sad commentary! My hope and prayer is that this type of thing would not be found in our own lives. In other words, God’s children cannot be a people who speak with silver tongues, or spiritual eloquence, while seeking ways to destroy or hamstring, a brother or sister in Christ, or anybody else, for that matter.

God Sees Recognition from the People. - 9.17-22

The "wailing women" found in these verses, were a unique group of people. They were professionals, if you will. Their whole purpose seemed to be to stir up or motivate those who were going through a trial or tragedy, or who were connected to a loss, in order that they would be able to weep and mourn and wail. This supposedly would give the grief-stricken more freedom to let their emotions go and truly weep, rather than trying to hold it in so as not to be obvious to others.

In this context, there is not a particular person who has actually died or an individual family tragedy. God is giving these instructions as an illustration because there needed to be a recognition by the community that disaster and death was coming to this people. They needed a wake up call that all was not peace and prosperity. They needed to be fully alerted to the pain that was about to come upon them. They needed to fully experience the sorrow of falling into the hands of an angry God, to borrow a phrase from the great preacher, Jonathan Edwards.

Sometimes in our own lives, we need the professional mourners, if you will. Sometimes we can become so callous in our sins that we no longer recognize certain things to be sin. I believe that is very much the state of modern day churches.

We might wonder as to who would actually be a professional mourner in our church culture? I believe that those in spiritual leadership in the local church have this as a responsibility. These leaders are people who need to point out sin, with a desire to be a help in correcting it.

I do want to offer a word of caution. It is not this mourner, or this person's responsibility to create problems. It seems that there are those who take some perverted delight in making mountains out of mole hills in order to get people away from the real issue of true devotion to the Lord. The modern vernacular might be "drama queens.” They are not happy unless they have been able to create a crisis.

The professional mourner in your life is anyone who genuinely cares enough to confront you when your walk with the Lord is not where it should be. A mourner will get busy with the task of recognizing a sin problem and deal with it together with you.

I want to add another side-note. An outsider, when seeing a group of people in genuine mourning, ought to have a difficult time distinguishing the people who are in anguish because of their sin, and those who were giving them the permission to mourn over their sin. That is a picture of how we should be when we are dealing with sin. We need to be willing to come alongside in such a way that other people will not be able to tell you apart. In other words, we have no need to put the bright red letter "A" on people, as the Puritans required for those suspected to be involved in adultery.

God Desires Devotion from True Believers. - 9.23-26

I would like to take a little bit of time and camp on these verses.

Jeremiah 9:23–24 “Thus says the Lord, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the Lord.”

It could be that you were asking yourself, why does this passage sound somewhat familiar? You're actually onto something. Turned in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 1:31: “so that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.”” Now you can certainly hear the similarity with the two passages.

My friends, it does not matter what your educational background is; we cannot boast about it. It doesn't matter what our accomplishments may be; we cannot boast about it. It does not matter how successful we may be; we cannot boast about it. It doesn't even matter how much time we may spend doing church activity; we cannot boast about it.

Have you read the Bible through every year for several years? That is wonderful! But don't waste your time boasting about it.

Do you spend 15 to 30 minutes every day in prayer? Again, that is wonderful! But don't waste your time boasting about it.

Do you give regularly to the church? Do you give even more than 10% of your income to the church? Praise God if you are doing that. But don't waste your time boasting about it.

By now, I'm sure you get the picture. Yet we have to ask ourselves, is it ever permissible or acceptable to boast? It might be helpful to know that a synonym for most is "glory." According to what the Lord shares with Jeremiah and with the apostle Paul, we should only boast in one thing. Paul says that can only be one thing; "the Lord."

Jeremiah explains it even more thoroughly. We need to understand and know the Lord. We need to recognize what the Lord does for his people. We need to consider that what the Lord says is important.

But but what does this entail? The last part of verse 26 gives a clue. Jeremiah 9:26 “Egypt and Judah, and Edom and the sons of Ammon, and Moab and all those inhabiting the desert who clip the hair on their temples; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised of heart.””

You see, God wants more than just lip service. God wants our actions to reveal the true circumcision that has taken place in our lives. That covenant relationship must be as a result of the circumcision of the heart. The Jewish people could probably recite the law and the books of poetry fairly well. They could probably speak the language religion quite nicely; or what we might phrase as "Church talk or churchese." The problem was the connection between the brain and the heart. Their will needed to be engaged and a decision needed to be made to give God complete rule and authority in their lives. There needed to be a knowledge and understanding of the Lord Himself.

Conclusion

We might find ourselves, asking the question as to how we can give God true devotion. We may be wondering how we can truly understand and know the Lord and experience this special relationship.

For some, it may be a need to make things right with God today. The life of a follower of Jesus Christ can be filled with struggles and unwanted battles in your personal life. You may be able to identify with the people of Jeremiah's time more than you are comfortable. You may be one who struggles with a certain area of sin in your life that is taking away the joy that could be yours. You may find yourself wondering if there truly is the possibility of fully living in victory every day.

I would invite you right now, in your seat, to ask for God’s forgiveness and to seek his help to give you victory over that area of sin today. Maybe you need someone to come alongside with you and help you to pray and to hold you accountable. After we dismiss this morning, following our closing song, you can come right on up here and bring someone with you, or I will come alongside with you and suggest someone who might be able to help you.

Maybe you are like some of the people in Jeremiah’s time and felt like you were chosen by God. Yet, when you are completely honest with yourself, you know that if you were to die today, you have no idea if you would be in heaven or hell.

If that is the case, you need to take this time right now to ask for God's forgiveness and admit to him that you are a sinner. Ask Jesus to give you the ability to surrender your life to him, placing your faith and trust in him and make you into the man or woman that He wants you to be. Surrender your life and your control to Jesus, asking for Jesus to take control of your life and to walk with you always.

If you make that decision, I would encourage you to come down to the front after the closing song and tell me or someone else what you have done.

My friends, God does not want excuses. Neither does he want pious platitudes.

God desires devotion from true believers that is expressed in action.