February 11, 2007 Epiphany 6C
Sermon Title: “Then…and Now”
Series: None
Text: Jeremiah 17:5-10, Psalm 1:1-6, 1 Cor. 15:12-20, Luke 6:17-26
Dr. Steve Jackson
Delivered on February 11, 2007
“Cursed are those…Blessed are those….” Jeremiah 17:5,7
Then…and Now
I don’t know if it’s just me, but it seems there’s a growing interest in
our culture today in what are called “makeovers.” Do you know what I’m talking
about? It’s the “before and after” syndrome. It seems that practically every newspaper
or magazine I pick up, or every time I make a loop through the TV channels,
there are at least one or two “before and after” advertisements or “makeover”
stories. It may be a guy who got a hair weave, or a lady who lost 100 pounds,
or a young couple who were living in government housing who now live in a
mansion in
Although some have declared the “before and after” phenomenon over, I don’t believe it’s over now—nor will it ever be—because people always want something better in life. From a totally secular perspective you can never be “too thin, too rich, or too famous.” After all, hasn’t this perspective been epitomized this week in all the hubbub surrounding the death of Anna Nicole Smith? That’s the lure of “before and after” — everyone wants something more, something different, or something better. But you know what? It’s nothing new. I have some old Life magazines at home from the 1920’s and 30’s that contain testimonials and photos of people whose lives had been changed by some cod-liver potion or face soap. It’s like the writer of Ecclesiastes said, “There is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9-14 NIV)
Fact is, this phenomenon can be found going all the way back into the days of the Bible. Today’s texts, in fact, are the biblical equivalent of this “before and after” idea. Did you notice that as they were read? The dual, “before and after” nature of things is a fundamental motif of all the texts this week. There are those who trust in the Lord and those who trust only in human beings, and a description of the state of each (Jeremiah). There are those who are guided by the law of the Lord, and those who are guided by the desires of others, and a description of the state of each (Psalm 1). There are those who believe in the resurrection of the dead, and those who do not, and a description of what happens to both these groups (1 Corinthians). And there are those who are suffering intensely in this life and are the object of God's blessing, and those who have all they need, or act as if they do, and yet they live under a curse (Luke).
As I reflected on these Scriptures this week the “before and after” or
“then and now” idea took root in my heart. I thought about that immortal line
in John Newton’s classic hymn, Amazing
Grace, “I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.” Before
and after…then and now. Some of the most well-known characters in the Bible
were walking illustrations of the “before and after” phenomenon. I think of
Abram, the barren father of none who was transformed into Abraham, the father
of many nations. Then there was Jacob whose name meant “one who schemes” whom
God renamed
One of the basic truths of the Bible is that every believer could actually qualify for one of those “before and after” snapshots. These two states of being: pre-Christian and post-Christian—are polar opposites as described in the texts we read this morning. Look at the way the two modes of being are described:
|
Before |
After |
|
Cursed (Jer. 17:5) |
Blessed (Jer. 17:7) |
|
Parched (Jer. 17:6) |
Well-watered (Jer. 17:8) |
|
Fearful (Jer. 17:8) |
No Fear (Jer. 17:8) |
|
Anxious (Jer. 17:8) |
Confident (Jer. 17:8) |
|
Chaff (Ps. 1:4) |
Fruit (Ps. 1:5) |
|
Wicked (Ps. 1:5) |
Righteous (Ps. 1:5) |
|
Dead in sins, will perish, no hope (1 Cor. 15:18) |
Alive in Christ, will be raised like him (1 Cor. 15:20) |
|
Poor (Luke 6:20) |
Rich (Luke 6:20) |
|
Hungry (Luke 6:21) |
Filled (Luke 6:21) |
|
Weep (Luke 6:21) |
Laugh (Luke 6:21) |
|
Hated (Luke 6:22) |
Loved (Luke 6:22) |
|
Little/no reward (Luke 6:23) |
Great reward (Luke 6:23) |
When I look at that list the first thing that comes to mind is that the list could make anyone’s infomercial or sales pitch…couldn’t it? I mean, I can just hear some guy saying, in his most persuasive sales voice of all, “Mr. or Mrs. Everyone, if I could show you how you can go from this…to this, in just three short weeks, would you be interested in that?” I realize I’m poking fun at the way this is done in the secular world, but the truth is, God has made the kind of life and the future you and I long for; a very real possibility for each and every man, woman, boy, or girl who has ever lived. So the question is, why don’t more people take advantage of this opportunity? And furthermore, why is it that so many of us who have already settled this issue long, long ago still struggle in our lives?
The answers to these two questions are contained in our Scriptures for the day. Besides giving us a very clear illustration of the “before and after” condition of humanity, today’s texts provide for us the why and the how of this makeover and they do so by offering us the cause, the cure, and the crux of our “then and now” condition. Let’s look at those.
The Cause – Our Cold Cruel,
Crooked Hearts
Jeremiah teaches us what causes our “before” picture to look so dreadful. I mean, have you ever noticed how bad those before photos look? The person is never smiling, they have no color in their face, their hair is unkempt. They have big bags under their eyes. I think they doctor up the photos to make the people look worse then they really did to begin with to make the “cure” seem even more powerful.
What really causes the “before” picture to look so dreadful? It’s not trick photography. Jeremiah says it’s caused by a heart condition. I call it our cold, cruel, crooked hearts. Look at Jeremiah 17:9,“The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse—who can understand it?”
Jeremiah uses the word “heart” here to mean our spiritual, emotional, moral and intellectual core. He calls that core “devious” and “perverse.” “Perverse,” according to the dictionary means “directed away from what is right or good” and “obstinately persisting in an error or fault; wrongly self-willed or stubborn.” Jeremiah is telling us that the reason our “before” picture looks so bad—the cause of our problem—is because at our very core we have a tendency to turn away from what is right or good, and sometimes to even take a path that we know for certain will lead to trouble.
Jesus certainly agreed with Jeremiah. In Mark 7:21-22 Jesus said, “Out of the human heart come…evil intentions, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly…”
Jeremiah foreshadows the apostle Paul as well, who says in Romans, “For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate” (Romans 7:15, NRSV).
I’m so thankful for verses of Scripture like these. Verses like these help me practically every day of my life because without them I would seriously think I was some kind of weird misfit who was the only one in the world who thought and acted as I sometimes do. Do you know what I mean? Do you ever think about that?
What causes us to erupt in anger sometimes? Guys, what causes our eyes to linger and our minds to wander when we look at a beautiful woman? Ladies, what is it that brings that mean, catty, judgmental thought to mind when you run into certain friends? Students, why is the temptation there to plagiarize, or to cheat off someone else’s paper?
We have a million excuses; things like: “The devil made me do it.” “I was just tired.” “Everyone else is doing it.” What’s the real reason? Jeremiah tells us, it’s because “the heart is devious above all else; it is perverse—who can understand it? In saying this Jeremiah isn’t giving us an excuse, he’s simply giving us an explanation for why it is so.
Bottom line, we look all
around us for who is trying to deceive us, or bully us, or trick us, but the
truth of the matter is that the root of the problem lies in our own heart.
We’ve got no one else to blame for why that “before” picture looks so bad
except our own heart.
The scary thing about that is
that whenever you have a major decision to make, what is everyone’s advice? “Trust
your heart” they say…Oh.. what a mistake can be.
Jeremiah 17:9 says our hearts
need continuous examination. Verse 10 assures us that God knows the heart, and
further that he searches our hearts to help us make the right choices. The
thing to do, therefore is to seek God at all times and that leads nicely into
the “cure” for our “before” condition.
The Cure – Confidence in Christ
(trust in the Lord)
The cure for our cold, cruel, crooked heart is also found in the Jeremiah passage and echoed in our Psalm of the day (actually Jeremiah is echoing the Psalm). The cure I’ve labeled confidence in Christ. Look at Jeremiah 17:7 “Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.”
Want to know the difference in the spiritual “before and after” picture? It wasn’t a diet or a tummy tuck or a million bucks. Want to know what the difference is in “then” versus “now” is according to Jeremiah? It isn’t having a huge trust account at the bank, it’s having complete trust in Christ instead of trusting in yourself or others. “Blessed are those… whose trust is in the Lord.”
It’s so much easier for us to trust in “man” or “technology” or own ability than it is in God though, isn’t it? There’s a great commercial out right now on TV, I believe it’s an auto insurance commercial, and it shows this cool guy tooling down the road in his brand new car and he has one of those built-in navigation systems. The female voice of the navigation system is guiding him: “Left turn in 100 yards,” “Veer right at next intersection” and he’s totally trusting the system, barely aware of his surroundings. Then you hear “Turn right” and the guy turns his car right into a building and just destroys a restaurant or something. And after all the falling glass sounds end you hear the female voice conclude her instructions “in fifty feet.”
There are countless stories of pilots who trusted the man-made (but possibly flawed) instruments of their aircraft and end up flying them straight into a mountain or the ground. There are stories of pilots who have bailed out of aircraft because the fuel gauge said the plane was out of fuel even though the pilot had just refueled. There are stories of primitive people dying because someone cursed them and they believed in the curse.
Why do we place our confidence in man rather than in God? I suppose there are lots of reasons, but I think one of the biggest reasons has something to do with our deep need for approval from others. This is true even among some very intelligent people of faith.
Just this past week I read something about Abraham Lincoln. It seems
there is a box at the Library of Congress in
· A handkerchief, embroidered “A. Lincoln”
· A pocket knife
· A glasses case repaired with string
· A wallet containing a $5 bill—Confederate money(!)
· Some old, worn newspaper clipping
The newspaper clippings were all articles about the great things
A second reason we’re so susceptible to trust in ourselves or others rather than in God is simply fear. It’s no easy thing to place our trust in an unseen God when we’re barely hanging on, isn’t it?
You’ve heard me tell the story before about the man on a hike who slips off a steep trail and plummets several feet off a ledge before grabbing the root to a tree and hanging on. He begins crying out, hoping a passerby will hear him but no one is nearby. Then he hears the voice of God assuring him he’s there. And so the guy begs God to save him and God says, “Do you trust me?” And the man says, “Yes!” And God says, then let go of that root. And the man cries out—“Anybody else up there?”
It’s a scary thing to let go of whatever security we may find in this world to trust in an invisible God, isn’t it? But according to Jeremiah, that’s what we’re supposed to do.
He puts this profound truth succinctly but beautifully: “Blessed are those whose trust is the Lord….they shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green…” Jer. 17:7-8
The “cure” for your before picture is not to put your trust in money or man or machines or anything else. The cure is to put your trust—your total confidence—in God.
The Crux – Conviction that Christ
is Raised
The final piece of this puzzle – the hinge point upon which everything I’ve talked about this morning, according to Paul, is whether or not you believe Christ was raised from the dead. I say it this way up here on the slide: The crux is your conviction that Christ is raised. I base that on what the apostle says in 1 Cor. 15:13-14, “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain.”
Like I said, it’s the crux of the matter. The Latin word “crux” is the word we get our English word “cross” and “crucible” from. The idea is that it is something proven through a “trial by fire” so to speak.
In Paul’s theology, as in the rest of the New Testament, everything about the Christian faith hinges on one simple question—the crux of the matter—has Christ been raised from the dead or not? Did it happen or not?
Of course whether you believe it or not doesn’t make it true. It’s true if it happened whether you believe it or not, and conversely it’s not true if it didn’t happen even if you do believe it to be true.
In recent years as I’ve begun to do more missionary work—work with cultures vastly different from my own—I’ve had to learn to communicate the gospel at a very different level than I did when I first began teaching and preaching. I’ve had to learn go boil down my theology to the bare essentials. As I’ve done so, one factor in the gospel account has come to be more and more prominent—and that is that Jesus Christ died and rose again. In fact, it is the one essential piece. Virgin birth? Ah…probably. Walk on water? I sure hope so. Multiplied loaves and fishes? Yeah…I suppose so. But resurrection? You better believe it. In some kind of weird way I’ve known that the resurrection was central to the Christian faith all along, it’s been operating there in the background of my Christian understanding all along—in fact, it’s been the bedrock, it’s ground zero for the Christian faith although I don’t think I realized it until recently.
Perhaps the resurrection of Jesus Christ has been like that for you too. You’ve been taking it for granted, or else not considering it at all.
Every year thousands of people climb a mountain in the Italian Alps, passing the "stations of the cross" to stand at an outdoor crucifix. One day a tourist noticed a little trail that led beyond the cross. He fought through the rough thicket and, to his surprise, came upon another shrine, a shrine that symbolized the empty tomb that had been long neglected and forgotten. The brush had grown up around it. Thousands had gone as far as the cross, but most stopped there.
There is a parallel in the church. Far too many have gotten to the cross and
have known the despair and heartbreak. Far too few have moved beyond the cross
to find the real bedrock of the message of the Christian faith—the empty tomb.
What about you. Do you believe it happened? If not, then don’t waste your time
with Christianity! If so, then everything changes. If death does not have the
final word, then everything changes. That’s what Jesus was trying to explain,
in part, in his “Sermon on the Plain” which we read the beginning of this
morning.
If the resurrection is true, then “Blessed
are you who are poor, for yours is the
I promised you earlier that I would talk about why those of us who have settled the issue of our faith long ago sometimes live as if we don’t. Perhaps it is because we’re still interpreting our lives in light of the world’s standard. Let me ask you. Do you live in a way that seems strange to those who do not believe? If not, perhaps you haven’t fully grasped and embraced the significance of the resurrection. The fundamental message of the resurrection is all about change—transformation. It’s the hinge point that changes everything and makes up down and down up, it makes last be first and first be last. It’s only by this change that the world of Christianity make any sense at all. If the resurrection didn’t happen, then nothing matters. But if it is true, it changes everything. Has it changed you? If not you must come to believe that the resurrection is true and that—mind stretching as it sounds—God really can and does personally attend to each one of us. You can not just drift into such a life—you must decide to. What is your choice today? Let’s pray.