Church Sermon - February 15, 2004

Rev. Mark F. Bartels

Epistle Lesson; 1 Corinthians 15:12, 16-20
Gospel Lesson; Luke 6:17-26
Sermon Text; Jeremiah 17:5-8

Remember when you look out your window, and see the tomato plant that you forgot to water? There in the scorching heat, in the drought, it has withered. The leaves are all curled up. There are no buds or blossoms at all. About five feet away, is that big, sturdy tree, with its limbs uplifted, green leaves blowing in the hot wind, totally unaffected by the heat and drought!

That is what today’s scripture reading is getting at. Today’s scripture reading wants everybody here to ask himself or herself, "Which of those plants am I? When ‘the heat comes, when the drought comes’, in other words, when the things that normally give me strength and joy in this life are gone, am I like that tomato plant that withers up, and looses its strength, or am I like that tree, with the limbs spread out, and green leaves growing?"

God contrasts two different types of life, in today’s scripture reading. I want to read that first paragraph, again.

This is what the Lord says: "Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD. He will be like a bush in the wastelands; he will not see prosperity when it comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives."

It says, "Cursed is the one that trusts in man, who depends upon flesh for his strength." Here, God is talking about people who find their strength in themselves, or those around them.

"I can succeed."

And as long as everything is going well, that person is strong, flourishing, and growing.

Scripture says, "Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength."

When we trust in man and depend upon others for our strength, three big Fs, on the report card of life, start to show up. They become obvious to a person, who trusts in man, who trusts in his or her own strength.

Life is futile, my failures are fatal, and death is final. That is a curse, not a blessing.

Someone, who has been trusting in his or her own strength and now that strength is gone, begins to realize how futile life has been.

And, this drives a person to despair. That is not blessing. It is a curse.

Failures are fatal. We all remember the planes crashing into the Twin Towers. And, we probably all felt some anger in our hearts. What were you angry about? They didn’t do anything to you. We were angry because they hurt our fellow countrymen. They hurt our people. And that made us rightly and justly angry. When we fail against other people, which we call sin, we may wonder why that makes God angry. We didn’t sin against God. We sinned against someone else. But, you know that those people, we sinned against, are God’s people. Jesus has paid a huge price, the price of His own blood, to redeem them. When we sin, when we fail against other people, we fail God. We sin against God. And that makes God angry.

King David felt that. He was a man who was flourishing. But then, he fell into deep sin. He committed adultery, with Bathsheba. And, then he murdered Uriah. David did not repent of that, for a while. He lay on his bed, the Bible tells us, sleepless at night. His conscious was bothering him. He was tossing and turning, sweating and troubled over what had happened. And why was he so troubled? He was troubled, because in his conscious he realized that his failures are fatal.

My failure against God brings God’s wrath and judgment upon me. Cursed is someone whose failures are fatal.

Death is final. What a curse it would be, if you thought that last good-bye, were your last good-bye. "I’ll never see them again. We’ll never hold hands again. That was it. And, what was it all for? Now it is good-bye." Cursed is the man who doesn’t have his roots deeply planted in Jesus, his Savior, and the in Word of God.

But God goes on and makes a contrast now. He says, "But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when the heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit." Now here God is talking about someone who has sunken their roots deeply into the Word of God, deeply into trusting God, and deeply into trusting in their Savior. God says someone like that is "blessed". When the heat, the drought, and the scorching time comes that person is going to stand firm, and be blessed. When those things that normally bring us joy and happiness are gone, that person is still going to be blessed. Let us look at those three Fs on the report card and see how God takes them all away, in Jesus Christ.

It is true that Christians fail too. It is true that Christians sin against God. It is true that our failures, if left to ourselves, are fatal. It is true that God can be so angry at our sins that He could curse us for eternity in Hell. There is that big, giant F on the report card that God sees.

Kincaid, a pastor friend of mine, was telling this story, the other day, and I thought it was such an appropriate story. He said that when he was a youngster in grade school, he didn’t do so well. He had a friend, named Jimmy Ogg, who was just brilliant. The two boys used to walk home from school together, everyday. And on the day they would get their report cards, as they would be walking home from school, Jimmy would look at Kincaid and ask, "Well, what did you get on your report card?"

And Kincaid would say, "Well, I got some Bs, a couple of Cs, and some Ds."

And then Kincaid would look at Jimmy, and ask, "What did you get on your report card, Jimmy?"

And, he would say, "Straight As."

Kincaid would be thinking about taking his report card home and showing his dad. He would think to himself, "Wouldn’t it be nice, if Jimmy and I could just trade report cards for the day? If I could take home Jimmy’s report card and show it to my dad, he would be so happy!"

Of course, it never did happen. But that is what our Savior has done for us! Our Savior has traded "report cards" with you and me. Our Savior has given us His "report card", with straight As, where He has been the perfect child, the Son of God, and kept God’s Law perfectly! He gives it to us. And we then appear before God the Father, with Jesus’ perfect life! And even though God knows that is not our "report card" and it belongs to His Son, by grace out of love for us, God declares it to be our "report card". He is pleased and happy with us.

Jesus has taken our "report card", with all of those Fs, all of those failures. He stands before the Father and holds it up. And even though the Father knows that it is ours, He declares it to be His own Son’s. In His anger, He poured out His wrath against us, on Jesus. And Jesus, on the cross, paid for every sin. They are wiped away, by grace, forgiven.

are not fatal!

Our failures are removed and God is our friend. God loves us so dearly, that rather than give up on us, He gave up His own Son. Therefore a Christian can say,

"I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor demons, nor present, nor future, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God, that is Christ Jesus, our Lord."

Someone who has that in their heart, and trusts in Jesus, is blessed, no matter what troubles may come. I know I am God’s friend. God is my friend. Heaven is mine. I am right with God. Blessed is such a person.

Life is not futile, for a Christian. Life is not futile at all. Life is not meaningless and empty. The Bible tells us that Christ died for all, that hose who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who loved them and gave Himself up for them. And, a Christian who is deeply rooted in the Word of God knows that. They know that my Savior gave up His life for me and now my life is not futile. My life is full of meaning, because I can go forward and live for the One who died for me.

I still have deep meaning and a purpose in this life. That deep meaning and purpose in this life is to live for Him who died for me. I know that His promises are deep rooted, and rock solid. They will not fail. They never have. I know that it is true that,

"All things

work together for good,

to those that love God."

This is going to work out for my spiritual good. And I thrive and am blessed. I know that troubles will come, but God promises He only uses those to draw me closer and closer to Him. And so, instead of withering, I thrive and am blessed, under those promises of God. I know that God promises to He hear and answers the prayers of His people. He is almighty. He is all loving. He is going to answer my prayers, in the best way possible, for me! We thrive even in the scorching heat.

We know what a beautiful opportunity it is to even bear fruit for our Savior, even in the scorching heat. What a wonderful opportunity, when troubles come, to look at your friends and tell them where you get your strength. A Christian can bear fruit, by witnessing! "I am rooted in Jesus, my Savior. I know God loves me."

There was a little girl named Barbara. She lived in the inner city. She was under privileged. And, poor little Barbara had a troubled, abusive family life.

One week, little Barbara showed up at a Vacation Bible School, because her mother just wanted to get rid of her and drop her off, for some free babysitting. During that week, all of the other kids would laugh, talk, play and answer questions, but little Barbara was different. She just sat there, with her mouth closed, her head down, she didn’t play, and she didn’t talk. She just sat there, and just listened. That went on for the whole week.

And then, on that last day, her teacher Joy was talking about Heaven. She was talking about how Jesus has made a place, where there are no more tears. She was talking about how Jesus has made a place, where there is no more death. Barbara raised her hand and for the first time the whole week she spoke. She asked, "Miss Joy?"

Since that was the first time she has said anything in class the whole week, Miss Joy’s heart skipped a beat, as she replied, "Yes, Barbara."

And little Barbara, with a pleading voice asked, "Is Heaven for girls like me?"

"Is heaven for girls

like me?"

Oh, God has paid for us all,

with the blood of His Son.

Those things will all be gone. And, the Lamb, who is at the center of the throne, will be their shepherd. He will lead them to springs of living water.

I will tell you, one of the most awesome times as a pastor, is to go to the hospital, when someone who is deeply rooted in their Savior and on their deathbed says to me, "Pastor, I know that no matter what happens, I am ok, I am ready."

They are rooted. They are ready. They are blessed.

Another awesome time as a pastor is when their loved one says to me, "I know that my loved one has died, but my faith is going to get me through this."

They are rooted. They are ready. And, they are blessed, because they know that God’s promise is true!

Jesus,

Himself,

will come back,

with the trumpet call of God,

with the voice of the archangel.

The dead will be raised and

we will be caught up

together

with the Lord,

So, which of those two plants most resembles you? All of us have to admit, "I am not as deeply rooted as I could be or should be."

The drought is going to come, some day. The scorching heat is going to come, some day. Now is the day to sink your roots deep, so that you are rooted, so that you are ready, and so that you are blessed.

Use God’s Word in your life. I encourage you to have family devotions at home, so that you and your children are rooted. You are ready. And, you are blessed.

I encourage you to come to church, on a regular basis, where we gather around the Word of God, in Bible Study, Sunday School, and our Christian Day School, so that you are rooted, ready, and blessed!

Amen.

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