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11.28.21
[Jeremiah 33:10-16] River of Life (Outdoor Thanksgiving)
Prov.
30:7-9 “Two things I ask of you, Lord; do not refuse me before I die: Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread.
Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’
Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.
Amen.
Newness surrounds us as far as the eye can see, really.
New homes.
New businesses.
New restaurants.
New medical facilities.
New parks.
Newness surrounds us.
How can we see all this newness and not recognize these as signs of abundance & prosperity?
Especially during a pandemic.
Many communities in our country saw long-established businesses close their doors for good.
We experienced something different.
New businesses opening.
So many new homes were being built that we couldn’t keep up.
And still the builders can’t seem to keep up with demand.
Even though we are surrounded by all this new-ness we still face old struggles.
Traffic.
Crime.
Inflation.
Even when you’re surrounded by the many tangible proofs of newness and blessings, it doesn’t mean that we are filled with gratitude and appreciation.
That is the timeless struggle that the writer of the Proverbs puts his finger on in our opening prayer.
(Pr.
30:8-9) Give me neither poverty nor riches.
If I have too much I may forget it comes from the Lord.
If I have too little, I may not trust in his power & love.
The children of Israel faced this struggle often.
The Lord Almighty had always been with them.
He had always taken good care of them.
From Ur to Egypt to Canaan.
It is nothing short of amazing that such a small clan survived unrest and war, drought and famine, decades in the wilderness.
Not just survived but thrived.
The Lord Almighty provided for the people and animals of Israel.
But he did more.
He kept his good promises.
He brought them to the Promised Land, the land flowing with milk & honey, fortified cities & mature vineyards.
Then the Lord spoke a new good word to his people.
(Dt.
28:1) If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth.
(Dt.
28:11-12) The Lord will grant you abundant prosperity—in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground…The Lord will…bless all the work of your hands.
(Dt.
28:13) …You will always be at the top, never at the bottom.
But Israel wouldn’t obey the Lord Almighty or carefully follow all his commands.
When God blessed them with much, they forgot the Lord.
When God cut back on their blessings to call their attention to their wicked ways, they grumbled & complained, dishonored & denied the power, love, & goodness of God.
This is the Old Testament in a nutshell.
Eventually, their sinful and forgetful ways fractured their nation in two.
The northern 10 tribes kept the name Israel.
The southern two tribes—Judah and Benjamin—simply went by Judah.
Even though they were unwilling to live as one, both nations walked the same path of disobedience—just at different speeds.
Israel hastened headlong into idolatry.
Judah did the same, but convinced themselves that they weren’t as bad as their lost neighbors to the north.
The Lord knew better.
He sent prophet after prophet—men like Elijah, Elisha, and Isaiah—to warn the people of the consequences of their unfaithfulness and disobedience.
All the things that God said he would bless, ended up being (Dt.
28:15-20) cursed.
But even still, God’s people thought they knew better.
They put their trust in princes and property.
They made alliances with foreign powers instead of making sacrifices for their many sins.
They brought offerings to Baal, Asherah, and even Molech, instead of repenting of their forgetful and sinful ways.
They underestimated God’s faithfulness.
The Lord Almighty never makes idle threats.
When he sends his words of warning, it is because he is patient and abounding in love.
It is because (Ezek.
33:11) he takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked but rather that they turn from their evil ways and live.
It is not because the Lord Almighty makes idle threats.
During the ministry of Jeremiah, Judah learned that the hard way.
God sent Jeremiah to announce the coming destruction.
But Judah didn’t want to listen.
In fact, they threw Jeremiah in jail for it.
This is where we must stay on our toes, spiritually speaking.
Because it is easy for us to look at Judah with a kind of spiritual smugness.
To examine their defiance and rebelliousness with a How could they be so foolish?
How could they forget?
kind of attitude.
Let us not forget that is precisely what they did with Israel.
They fooled themselves into thinking that their spiritual heritage as God’s people, their claim to the chosen city of Jerusalem and the Temple insulated them from anything really bad ever happening to them.
They forgot that even these were gifts from God himself.
Blessings.
And sometimes, we do the same, don’t we?
We look at the wonderful blessings that God has showered upon us and we think these are proof of our spiritual superiority.
We think we have a great family, a good job, a comfortable life because we have done everything right.
We think life is good because we’ve done good.
We’ve confused blessings with rewards.
A reward is something you earn.
A blessing is something you’re given freely because the Blesser loves you.
A rewards mindset with God’s Law will always lead to sin.
When we have a rewards mindset with God’s Law, we will tell the truth, but only when it’s to our advantage.
Only when we are going to benefit.
When we have a rewards mindset with God’s Law, we will worship God, but only when we feel his presence.
Only when we feel good.
Or like we’re growing.
When we have a rewards mindset with God’s Law, we will respect authority, but only when they are telling us to do makes sense to us.
When we have a rewards mindset with God’s Law, we will be faithful to our spouses and loving to our family, but only when we feel like that love and respect is being reciprocated properly.
When we have a rewards mindset with God’s Law, we will distort the truth when it’s convenient.
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