Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20120923.htm

SPECIAL INTERLUDE
Personally Flourishing In A Troubled World
(Jeremiah 17:5-8 with Psalm 1)
    Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

    What we face in today's world can give cause for great concern, especially regarding the results of the upcoming national elections:

    (1) Stephen Mansfield's "Mormonism's American values," USA TODAY, 9/10/2012, p. 11A reported we may elect a Mormon as president in Mitt Romney, and this fuels "heated speculation" that if "Mormons believe their president' . . . is God's prophet on earth, will a Mormon president . . . be bound to obey whatever this man says?"

    (2) Yet, many conservatives voice great distrust of the person and agenda of the Democratic Party's candidate, President Obama.

    (3) At the Democratic National Convention, three votes to reinsert God' and Jerusalem' into the party platform met with loud opposition from the floor, taking even "party officials by surprise"! (huffingtonpost.com, "Democrats' Efforts To Reinsert God' and Jerusalem' Into Platform Met With Loud Opposition," 9/5/12)

    (4) Mortimer Zuckerman's piece, "Those Jobless Numbers Are Even Worse Than They Look" in The Wall Street Journal, 9/7/2012, claimed the official 8.1% unemployment figure does not include those who quit looking for work, that the real number is "closer to 19%" so that "(w)e are experiencing, in effect, a modern-day depression."

    (5) Past Treasury Department experts claim our national debt is so high, the next Secretary of the Treasury will "confront problems so daunting that even Alexander Hamilton would have trouble preserving the full faith and credit of the United States." ("The Magnitude of the Mess We're In," The Wall Street Journal, September 17, 2012, p. A10)

    (6) The September 17, 2012 USA TODAY lead story (Gregg Zoroya, "Panetta: Curbing suicides is a top goal," p. 1A) reported "Enormous stresses' created by more than a decade of war are key factors behind the unprecedented rate of military suicide . . ."

    (7) On top of all this, many complain of bias in the mass media.

    (8) Oren Derell's report, "Islamists vying for power through embassy protests" (Ibid., p. 4A) cites a former State Department official as claiming the anti-American riots in various nations are "a struggle for power in the Arab world . . . set in motion by the democratic openness . . . President Obama and former president George W. Bush . . . tried to usher into the region.'"

    Thus, to prepare for this sermon we ask, "How does God want us to think and live in today's troubled world?!"

    Need: "How are we believers to think and live in our troubled world?"

  1. In a troubled world, we must heed the following stabilizing axioms:
    1. Stabilizing Axiom One - The whole world is in darkness (Isaiah 8:20), so we must not adopt its opinions and views as our ultimate reality!
    2. Stabilizing Axiom Two - Satan controls the world system (1 John 5:19 ESV), so we must expect it to produce godless ideas and actions.
    3. Stabilizing Axiom Three - The Holy Spirit in us is greater than Satan in the world (1 John 4:4), so we will function well if we rely on God.
    4. Stabilizing Axiom Four - Jesus builds His true Church versus Satan's work to the contrary (Matt. 16:18), so we succeed if we do God's will.
    5. Stabilizing Axiom Five - Thus, to be blessed in a troubled world, we must confidently heed God's directives on living in such a world.
  2. Then, the Jeremiah 17:5-8 context reveals its divine directives on living in a troubled era apply to our troubled era (as follows):
    1. Jeremiah's ministry began in the days of king Josiah, Judah's last good king, and after him, the nation declined in "idolatry and foreign intrigue" until it fell to Babylon, Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 1125.
    2. Assyria, "which had dominated the ancient Near East for centuries, was on the brink of collapse," creating a power vacuum, Ibid.
    3. Babylon was expanding, creating a power shift in the region, Ibid.
    4. Concerned about this, Egypt helped Assyria to try to check Babylon, and Judah sought a protection treaty with Egypt, all to no avail as, in time, Babylon defeated Assyria, Judah and Egypt, Ibid., p. 1125-1127.
    5. So, like today, many suffered in abandoning God for human solutions.
  3. We thus view Jeremiah 17:5-8 to learn how to live effectively now:
    1. Jeremiah 17:5-8 critiqued Judah's effort to turn to idols and gain foreign aid against Babylon instead of trusting in God, Ibid., p. 1151.
    2. Thus, Jeremiah 17:5-6 put a divine curse the individual who relied on man, claiming he would be like a lone "heath" (KJV) in a bare desert, the Hebrew word for "heath" being aroer, a "juniper," B. D. B., A Heb.-Eng. Lex. of the O. T., p. 792. Thus, the individual who relied on man would be left alone and unproductive in his life.
    3. In sharp contrast, he who relied on God would flourish, Jer. 17:7, 8:
      1. The individual who relied on God would be like a tree that had been "transplanted" (shatal, Ibid., p. 1060; pass. ptc.) onto an irrigated garden, the "garden" of Almighty God's care!
      2. The "stream" (NIV, ESV) ["river" KJV] is an "irrigation ditch" (yubal, Ibid., B. D. B., p. 385), so like a gardener levels the ground and plows a ditch to bring water, God nurtures such a person.
      3. The tree "sends out its root", so the Lord supplies room even in stressful times for the individual who trusts in Him to flourish in use of his own individual, God-given abilities to succeed.
      4. This individual will "not fear" ["not see" KJV] (yare', Kittel, Bib. Heb., p. 736; Ibid., B. D. B., p. 431) versus him who trusts in man.
      5. This individual will not fear the midday sun's "heat" (hom, Ibid., p. 328). A tree transpirates 96% of its root-acquired water into the air to cool its fragile leaf cells in the hot sun ( Compton's Ency., 1973, v. 12, p. 178), so God supplies much provisions for one who trusts in Him to offset the rigors of the trials he faces.
      6. The tree's foliage stays "green" [KJV, NIV, ESV], or "luxuriant" (ra'anan, Ibid., B. D. B., p. 947), and most of a tree's food comes from carbon dioxide intake by its leaves mixed with ground water and nutrients in photosynthesis (Ibid., Compton's, v. 17, p. 290f). So, God supplies much varied provisions for one to handle trials!
      7. In "the year of drought he will not be anxious": drought brings a tree great stress, and a year of it brings it prolonged, great stress, so God continuously gives much varied provisions to sustain the man who trusts in Him during lengthy, severe trials.
      8. The tree will "not recede (mish, Ibid., B. D. B., p. 559; Hiphil = causative) from fruit production." For a fruit tree not only to bear, but to retain optimum production in a year of drought, it needs much varied kinds of care than being given lots of nutrients: it needs well-drained soil, good subsoil and careful pruning to boost tree vigor and to fight disease and bad insects -- much varied kinds of care over other trees, Ibid., Compton's, v. 8, p. 475-476). God thus gives great varied care to individuals who trust in Him so that they can stay fully productive in prolonged, great trials!
  4. Then, the Jeremiah 17:7-8 simile closely resembles the Psalm 1 simile of a tree teaching how one is blessed by heeding Scripture.
Application: May we (1) trust in Christ to become a child of God, John 1:11-12. (2) May we rely on God the indwelling Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:16-23) for behavior control to (3) heed his axioms, to (4) hope in Him and (5) study and heed Scripture to flourish today.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

 To illustrate this sermon, we refer to a book by the late China Inland Missionary Isobel Kuhn titled, Green Leaf in Drought-time, 1957, p. 158-160. Mrs. Kuhn reported how fellow C. I. M. American missionaries Arthur and Wilda Matthews lived when they were caught in the communist takeover of mainland China.

The communist officials made the Matthews experience deprivations beyond what the national Chinese Christians faced. At one point, Arthur had to "mold sheep-dung and coal dust with . . . [his] bare hands" for fuel to cook the family's meals, something no Chinese man would ever be expected to have to stoop to do! After describing how the family survived two years of such mistreatment and were finally deported by the communists back to freedom, Mrs. Kuhn summarized: "God gave them two long years . . . of testing time . . . that others might see . . . how He is sufficient . . . He sent them to serve by life . . . It was a much more potent message" for the fearful, young Chinese Christian Church than the originally planned ministry efforts of the American missionaries.

As a partial result, the Chinese Church was well served -- it has blossomed even under communist control! Today, an estimated 50 million mainline Chinese are Christians, and around 5,000 of China's people are coming to trust in Christ as their Savior every day!



No, we do not know what the results of the November 6 national elections will be. We do not know what will occur at the State level, nor what will happen in the nation after the election. Only God knows those things.



However, taking our cue from Jeremiah 17:5-8 in its context with Psalm 1 as exampled by Arthur and Wilda Matthews in China, OUR part is NOT to WORRY about the future. OUR part is to rely on God to live an INDIVIDUALLY spiritually "green leaf in drought-time" life before a world that greatly needs to know our Lord Jesus Christ! That way, God can USE us like He did the Matthews to keep building His true Church, a body that the gates of hell will not overcome, Matthew 16:18!