Tanilba Bay Baptist Church
Worship

      • Jeremiah 9:1–16NIV2011

  • Broken Trust

    In this last week, Australia has been coming to terms with the actions of a child care worker in Melbourne. Joshua Dale Brown has been arressted and charged with more than 70 child sex offences.
    Over the last few years, he worked at 20 different child care centres in Melbourne , and now over a thousand children have been asked to be tested for STD’s, in part because it’s been alleged he has contaminated food and drink.
    For anyone with a child in one of those centres, the outrage is understandably huge.
    But something else happened. Even if your child never went anywhere near one of those centres… in fact, even if you are living here in NSW, many of us also felt this sickening reaction.
    Our preschool aged children are among the most vulnerable people in our society, and they are so precious to us. There is this natural instinct that a parent has - protect your child at all costs.
    When we drop that which is most precious to us off at a child care centre we are putting a huge amount of trust in them. We trust that the staff will protect our child.
    What we’ve been hearing has suddenly caused people to ask - is my child safe?
    Most people will still be able to acknowledge that actually, most centres are safe and most staff are there to protect your child.
    But such a breech of trust can make a massive difference. Many parents throughout Australia have shed a tear, not because they’ve been personally affected, not even because they know someone who has, but because one system that they need to be trustworthy has shown that trust can be broken.
    So how do we respond in times like this? While on one level we should be calling for reform to a system that can allow this, but there is another level on which all we can do is weep.
    But perhaps we might think - but what will weeping produce? Well, this is what I want to explore today, because as we come to Jeremiah 9, we’re going to see a lot of weeping.

    Context

    Now, last week when we looked at chapter 7, I was able to pin the content to a specific time in Jeremiah’s ministry. Today, however, the words we read in chapter 9 aren’t pinned to a specific time, but rather speak of an issue that was occuring throughout the the ministry of Jeremiah.
    You see, Jeremiah was speaking to a people that had largely turned their back on the one true God.
    But more than that, they were doing this half-half thing. If you were here last week when I looked at chapter 7, we saw them putting their hope in the temple of the Lord, (the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord). But actually, they were trusting in other gods.
    God had set them apart, and they even relished in the fact that they were different, but they weren’t. Their lives was a big fat lie.
    But there was something else going on. You see, there were prophets, and then there were prophets.
    What do I mean by that? Well, a prophet is someone who speaks the word of God. A prophet is someone who hears what God is doing in a particular situation, and speaks it so that God may be revealed.
    There were prophets who did this very thing. Jeremiah of course being one of them.
    Many of them got books in our bible, such as Isaiah and Ezekiel. But also others that didn’t get books.
    These prophets really did speak the word of God to the people.
    But, there were also so-called prophets.
    Later in the series, we’ll get to Jeremiah 28, and I’ll introduce you to one of these so-called prophets by the name of Hananiah.
    You see, these prophets weren’t so much interested in what God was saying, these prophets were interested in saying the words that the people wanted to hear.
    While Jeremiah was rightfully telling them that they were about to face judgement, Hanaiah was telling them they were about to break free. I’ll have more to say on that later in the series, but for now, I want you to see that this was part of the context that Jeremiah had.
    A context where these people were living a big lie that might have made people feel good, but in reality, was leading them down a very dangerous path.
    In chapter 9, we’re going to see, Jeremiah is concened with this deceipt and lying that is so rampant.

    The Weeping Prophet

    Now Jeremiah has a reputation. He’s known as the weeping prophet. Actually, in addition to the book of Jeremiah, he gets an additional book, albeit much smaller, which is effectively a bunch of lament. That’s the book of Lamentations if you’re interested.
    Our very first verse today is also part of the reason that he is known as the weeping prophet. It starts:
    “Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night for the slain of my people.”
    Now, just something interesting to note, it is a little unclear whether this is the Lord weeping or Jeremiah weeping.
    You see, Jeremiah is speaking the words of the Lord, and as you’ll see punctuated throughout the passage are the words: “declares the Lord”. So, an argument could be mounted that it is either Jeremiah weeping or God.
    However, I think in some ways you could say they are both weeping. Jeremiah might be declaring the words of the Lord, yet you get the distinct impression that in verse 1, Jeremiah is sharing the same sentiment.
    The weeping continues in verse 10. This time he says: “I will weep and wail for the mountains”.
    Now we might ask, why is he weeping for the mountains.
    Perhaps its the creation groaning. The people’s sin is having an effect on the environment.
    The full effect of sin on the world brings God to tears.
    We actually get to see this in full display in the story of Jesus raising Lazarus to life. It is often cited that the shortest verse of the Bible simply says: “Jesus wept”. It was in the context of Lazarus being dead in the tomb, but we’re often left wondering, why does Jesus cry at this point when Jesus knows that in only a few moments, Lazarus is about to be brought to life?
    Perhaps there’s a similar reason for Jesus crying in John 11 as there is with the crying we see in Jeremiah 9. And that is because horrible things are happening because we live in a sinful world.
    Sometimes, particularly in men, crying is seen as a kind of weakness - something that shouldn’t be done.
    But I want to suggest - crying has a place.
    Sometimes weeping is the only appropriate response to a situation.
    We might want to rationalise… or we might want to fix… maybe we might want to retaliate or get angry.
    If we do any of these things, we might feel we are making some kind of progress… that somehow we’re not allowing a wrong to stay a wrong.
    Why weep? Why weep when seemingly it’s not going to achieve anything?
    But then, if God weeps over a fallen world, maybe there is something in crying.
    Now, I’m no psychologist, but there does seem to be something almost therepeutic in crying. It’s an outpouring of emotions that sometimes can’t be expressed properly by other means.
    But have you ever thought of it this way? In your distress and tears, you are joining with God in his distress.
    You are standing with God and saying, this world is full of horrible things. It’s not right.

    The lack of truth

    Now, let me just pause this discussion on tears, I want to pull out a particular theme of wrong doing we find in chapter 9, one that I’ve already talked about earlier - the loose way they play with truth.
    Let’s look what he has to say.
    In verse 3, they make reayd their tongue to shoot lies. They might be triumphing in the land, but it’s not by truth they do so - it’s in lies.
    In verse 4, there’s a warning that you can’t even trust your friends because everyone’s a deciever or a slanderer. No one speaks the truth. Friend against friend.
    In verse 5, they’ve even taught their tongues to lie. It’s become so much that they are getting weary with all the sin they do.
    In verse 6, they are in the midst of deception.

    Our lies

    Now, let’s just think about this from our culture. Verse 3 to 6 could really apply to today’s culture.
    But let’s not just focus on the worst offenders. All of us are guilty of deception to some level.
    We might argue that we only tell lies so we don’t hurt someones feelings (you know, when someone says: does this dress look good on me?). But actually, I think our lies are more about either protecting ourselves, or serving our own advantage.
    Perhaps they’re little and inconsequecial. At least they can feel that way, until we see that someone else suffers while we benefit, just because we massaged the truth a little to suit my situation.
    If you’re being honest with yourself, and I mean really honest, can you really say that you don’t use deception as a means of personal gain?
    I want to also call out a practice that I see from time to time among Christians.
    Have you ever heard a Christian begin a statement “God said to me...” or “the Holy Spirit revealed to me...”
    Now, let me give a little disclaimer before what I’m about to say. I do believe that God speaks to people today and can give message for specific situations in our lives. Sometimes people can rightfully begin a statement “God said to me...”
    But sometimes, it can become clear that some peoplee use this type of statement to try to add weight to what they are saying.
    What they should be saying is: “what I’m about to say I really believe and really think is a good idea...”
    So let me state this clearly, when you start a statement “God told me...” but really you are only stating your opinion (as well intentioned as that might be), then you are telling a lie andd being deceptive. You are breaking trust and leading people astray.
    So don’t use that kind of phrase lightly. Only use it if you have really wrestled with it.

    Discerning truth

    Now, while we’re on the topic of truth, is worth thinking for a bit about how we discern truth.
    You see, we constantly hear different stories, and people will present different narratives. And we are then left to decipher, what is true and what is not true.
    This is difficult. The reality is, the approach most of us take is to figure out if the story you heard fits with your worldview, if it does, you believe it. If it doesn’t, you don’t believe it. Simple, isn’t it.
    But, it’s not exactly a good way to determine truth. In fact, I’d suggest it’s a good way to enable deception.
    Now I don’t have a fail proof way to find truth. Yes, of course I’m going to argue that the Bible is the turth, but I’m thinking about figuring out specific matters that we come across today.
    Now there are quite a few tips I can give, such as read articles or listen to people that don’t share your worldview. For example, if you lean towards the right of politics, listen to some left leaning writers, or vice versa if you lean towards the left.
    But what I really want to leave you with is the importance to value truth. We might be limited in our ability to unveil the truth, but we need to care about it.
    This means, if we hear something that differs to what we believe, don’t just dismiss it, but rather test it. SIt with it. Wrestle with the idea. Ask God that if it is true, then allow yourself to adjust your worldview accordingly.
    We are people of truth, and so we need to be people who care about what is true and what isn’t. Even when the truth might challenge us.

    When crying is the only option

    But let me come back to the idea of tears.
    In a world so full of deception, sometimes the only appropriate response is to cry.
    You see, there is no easy answer to the deceipt that happens in our world.
    Tears are not a sign that we’ve given up. They’re also not a sign that there is no hope.
    Just think about this in the context of Jeremiah. In chapter 9, God has not given up, and there is certainly hope for the future.
    Crying enables you to sit in the moment. To sit knowing that you are part of this deceptive world. To sit knowing that the deception is causing you pain.
    We sit in the pain, and we start to see God beside us. We start to see a God crying beside us because he too hates what things have become.
    We want to skip this part quickly because it is never nice. But don’t rush it, because we need to be here.
    A time will come when things will be different. But let that come in it’s own time.

    Conclusion

    I started this message reminding us of the horrific event in the child care centres in Melbourne.
    This was a deception. This was someone who presented as a caring person, but really was there for his own advantage.
    This is a pretty extreme case, but you see the absolute damage it causes.
    Many people shed a tear hearing about it. And you know what - those tears are justified.
    This sort of thing should never happen. But it does. Sadly, more than we care to imagine.
    But know that God is crying with us.
    He see it. And he is doing something about it.
    God will bring about restoration. But for now, just allow the tears to come.
    Let me pray...
Tanilba Bay Baptist Church
secretary.tbbc@gmail.com
+6149823022
http://www.tanilbabaybaptistchurch.com
9 members