Paving the Way with Complete Trust :: Proverbs 3:5-6

By

The word for our meditation comes to us from the confirmation verse for Courtney Niemann: 

Trust in Yahweh with all your heart; Do not lean on your own understanding. 

In all your ways know him; He will make straight your paths.

5. There was a time in our lives when our society taught us to trust our elders, our leaders, our media, our tradition. 

Tradition, some say, can be a valuable source of knowledge and cultural heritage. When we hold the Bible in our hands and hold to the truths of Jesus Christ in our lives, we stand firmly in a long tradition we can trust. 

Today, our society teaches us that it’s a virtue to trust only yourself ... that it’s a virtue to chart your own course ... to pursue what we think is good ... to do it for ourselves. Society thinks this is innovative. 

As we heard in our Old Testament reading this morning, after the waters of the great flood had dried up, God commanded Noah and his sons to disperse and repopulate the earth (Gen 9:1). Trust me with all your heart, he was saying to them. You can trust my covenant (9:9-11). Of course, like Adam and Eve, they wanted to be innovative.

Now the whole earth had one language, and one tongue. And it came to be in their journey from the east that they found a valley in the land of Shinar, and they settled there (11:2). They didn’t spread out. They chose to trust themselves. 

And [they] said [to one another] ... Let us build a city ... Let us make for ourselves a name lest we are dispersed upon the whole face of the earth a name (11:3-4). They refused to trust God alone. 

4. Trust. ... Trust is a word that some people have eliminated from their vocabulary. 

They refuse to trust God. They refuse to believe his Word. They ignore his covenants. 

They refuse to receive Jesus.

I bet we all know someone who used to trust, who used to be trustworthy. But then they may have been robbed multiple times ... or who trusted a spouse until all of a sudden they were dumped for someone else. ... I bet we all know someone who had a child who swore over and over and over again that they would stop using drugs. I bet we all know someone whose mother or father or brother or sister was cruel. We seemingly face endless blows and bruises in life that virtually erode our trust in people. 

3. Who can we trust? 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, listen to Courtney’s confirmation verses again. Wisdom writes ... Trust in Yahweh with all your heart; Do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways know him; He will make straight your paths (Prv 3:5-6).

This word of wisdom ... this word of God ... from Proverbs 3:5-6 is a challenging text. But it is one we all need to hear. It is a trustworthy saying. It is filled with Law and Gospel. That means it is very good.

Some of you might hear only the Law in this word of God because the key verbs here are imperatives, that is, verbal commands ... TRUST and KNOW. As the Psalmist says, those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, Yahweh, have not forsaken those who seek you (Ps 9:2). ... Yes, Trust. ... Know that the Lord, your God. Know that he will take care of you.

2. The good news is ... that’s Gospel!.

The word we translate as trust is not a blind word. This word for trust is rooted in confidence, security, and hope. 

There is nothing you can do that will give you confidence, security, or hope. These are gifts of God. That means they are Gospel. The Law says do. The Gospel says done. These are done. You can trust him, because all of his promises find their yes and amen in him (2 Cor 1:20). 

Brothers and sisters in Christ ... especially you, Courtney ... God has given you a new heart ... a heart of flesh. It is done. He took our hearts of stone. It is done. He sprinkled clean water upon you in your baptism, and made you clean (Eze 36:22-26). Now you can trust him. He gives you clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, land, animals and all that we have. He daily and richly provides for all our needs of body and soul. He gives us reason to trust him. 

He has been doing this ... intervening in human history from the very beginning ... giving us reason to trust. When man and woman refused to trust God in the garden, choosing to lean on their own understanding of what is good ... seeking knowledge apart from good, and thus learning evil ... God provided for them anyway. When they couldn’t go to him, je came to them. He found them in the darkness of shame. When they tried to cover themselves, he gave them a better way ... he promised them a savior and then covered their shame (Gen 3:1-21). 

The only God in whom we can trust then stayed true to his promise, sending us Jesus. God’s only begotten son was born into the world through the Virgin’s womb, just as promised. 

Whereas all of us like sheep have wandered away. ... [Whereas, each one of us have] turned our own way ... Yahweh imposed upon [Jesus] the iniquity of us all. [Jesus] was oppressed ... [Jesus] himself was afflicted ... [Jesus] did not open his mouth. [Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,] was led to the slaughter (Isa 53:6-7; Jn 1:29). God crushed our sin and iniquity on his cross (Isa 53:10a). ... And in this way, by his knowledge, the Righteous One will justify the many (Isa 53:11b). 

1. Then he raised him from the dead. ... This is why you can trust him ... and know him.

To know is much more than having head knowledge that God in Christ is real. To know him is to have his being wrapped around you in absolute completeness ... you know, Baptism. To know him is a work of the Spirit, who gives us trust that God knows us. 

As we were reminded last week, we cannot by our own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ or come to him ... (to know him ... to trust him) ... but the Holy Spirit has called us by the Gospel, enlightened us with his gifts, sanctifies and keeps us in the one true faith. He enables us to know and trust him in the breaking of bread. He enables us to know and trust him in his word. He enables us to know and trust that we are indeed forgiven and free. 

This does not mean the Father guarantees that ... because you know him ... that everything in your life will be pleasant. As our Lord Jesus told his disciples, If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me (Mt 16:24). It can be disappointing when we discover that the cross is part of our life ... that the Christian life is not all milk and honey. But that isn’t a reason to stop trusting God.

God has united you with himself through baptism. As Paul reminds us, in baptism, he sanctifies you ... Making you holy just as he is holy (Lev 19:2). Now he will always be with you. Now he enables you truly to know him. Now he lives in you and you in him (Col 2:11-12; Gal 2:20; Rom 6:3-8). 

He [most certainly] will make your paths straight now. 

When you were dead in your sin and trespasses in which you once walked ... God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us ... made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved (Eph 2:1-6).

HE HAS PAVED THE WAY TO GIVE YOU COMPLETE TRUST

Brothers and sisters in Christ ... especially you Courtney ... always remember, today is not your graduation into the faith. We must never allow the catechesis that precedes the confirmation of our faith to come to an end. Do not stop studying scripture with your pastor. Do not stop returning to your baptism. Do not stop confessing your sins and seeking absolution. Do not stop looking into the perfect Law of Liberty (James 1:25). Dedicate yourselves again to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of the bread, and the prayers, when awe comes upon every soul and many wonders and signs are given by God. 

Through the Divine Service, God brings us together. He enables us to share the forgiveness of sins ... with glad and generous hearts (Acts 2:42-46). As Saint Paul reminds us in Titus 3[:8]: I desire that you insist on these things. In your devotion, you will show forth your love of God in Christ Jesus, knowing that the Helper, the Holy Spirit, will continue to make straight the path set before us, teaching us to remember all things ... in Jesus’ name. 

Popular posts from this blog

The Good Shepherd Comes to Rescue and Restore - Ezekiel 34:11-16

By
  For thus says the Lord Yahweh, “Behold, I myself will search diligently for my sheep and I will seek them. As a shepherd seeks out to care for His flock in the day he is among His scattered sheep, so I will seek out to care for my sheep, and I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on the day of cloud and thick darkness. 500 years ago today, Martin Luther answered the Roman Catholic Church and the Roman Emperor who questioned his teachings. If he were to recant and take it all back, the Diet of Worms would barely be a blip in history. If he did not recant, he would be putting his own life in absolute, mortal danger. Being held captive by the clear Word of God as found in Holy Scripture, Luther stood up before the authorities of the church and the of world and gave his famous “Here I Stand” confession. He rested his case on Jesus as his only Shepherd - not the leaders of the Church or the Government. He relied solely on the Good Shepherd who promised neve...
Read more

Don’t Be Discouraged: Salvation Is Yours :: Ephesians 3:13-21

By
Saint Paul writes: Therefore, I ask [you] not to be discouraged in my tribulation on behalf of you, which is your glory (v 13).  [Prayer] Lord, we know that everyone in heaven and earth will bow before you, and that those who confess your name will receive eternal life. Grant us courage to be faithful to you in the face of any opposition from a world hostile to the Gospel. Help us to remember those who have gone before us and who sacrificed much, even their very lives, rather than dishonoring your name by denying the faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.  [Introduction] It’s easy to become discouraged as a Christian ... Isn’t it? It’s easy to lose heart ... that is, to give up in the face of tribulation ... to say you want nothing more to do with the church and those YOU think are Christian in name only ... Isn’t it? It’s easy to feel persecuted for the faith that God gave you ... Isn’t it?  Whenever you feel this way, I think from now on, I will commend to you Saint Paul’s epist...
Read more

Faithful Stewardship of God's Gifts :: Luke 16:1-13

By
How much do you owe? What is your total debt? Or as you just sang, What is the world to me? If you’re an average guy or gal, it’s probably staggering. The national debt this week was $30.6 trillion and rising ... in other words, $92,002 per citizen or $243,797 per taxpayer. Our households aren’t much better. We have $23.5 trillion in personal debt ... or $70K per citizen ... and only $8,500 in family savings. We are terrible stewards. Can we ever repay that? Of course, that’s all a pittance in comparison with what we owe the Lord. We can’t even begin to count the debt we have with him. We can’t begin to give an account for all the ways we’ve squandered his gifts. Even if we could enumerate our debt to him, we’d quickly recognize that all we have is his and become ashamed. Our Lord is the one who gives us food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods ... and all that we have. We owe him everything. How can we ever repay him?  Fortunately for us, on account o...
Read more

God Is Always With Us :: Acts 6:8-7:2a, 51-60

By
If I were to ask you to describe the message of Christmas in just one word, what would you choose? Just one word. Jesus is a good one. But I don’t think you can find a better word than Immanuel. Immanuel is the name God ascribed through the prophet Isaiah to the infant who would be born of the virgin (Isa 7:14). This single Hebrew word means “God is with us” or quite literally, “With Us is God.”  Immanuel is the message of Christmas: In Christ, God is with us in the flesh. God manifested himself in this way so that we can be with God. The Word, who was with the Father in the beginning, became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Father, full of grace and truth. God in Christ is Jesus, he is Immanuel. God came to us to be with us because we couldn’t go to him. We couldn’t find him. We couldn’t hear him. We couldn’t see him. So God came to us. He came to do what we couldn’t do, living in righteousness, dying on a cross, rising from the dead, asce...
Read more

The Mind of Christ :: Philippians 2:5-11

By
The next day, the large crowd that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming into Jerusalem, took the branches of palms and went out to meet him and began crying out: Hosanna! Blessed is the one coming in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel (Jn 12:12-13). No story has ever had a bigger buildup to a greater letdown than this one. The Jews were all of the same mind: They had been looking forward to this day for more than a millennia. And here he came! Jesus of Nazareth in Galilee (Mi 5:2)! The prophet like Moses (Dt 18:15)! The son of David (2 Sm 7:12)! Our Messiah (Is 61:1) ... Here he came, riding into Jerusalem on a donkey (Zec 9:9), fulfilling the scriptures. Zechariah, Micah, Isaiah, Deuteronomy, Samuel, the Psalms. This is the day the Lord has made! Let us rejoice and be glad in it (Ps 118:24). ... These things are written so that you will believe Jesus is the Christ, the son of the Living God and that by believing you will have life in his name (Jn 20:31...
Read more

Joy of a Living Hope :: 1 Peter 1:3-9

By
Can you imagine what life would be like without hope?  It’s good to have hope. We all need more hope.  Researchers have discovered that you are three times more likely to live LONGER THAN eight years after a heart attack if you consider yourself to be a HOPEFUL person. If you’re a pessimist ... I should warn you that 21 of 25 of the hopeless died within eight years of their first heart attack.  It’s good to have hope. We all need more hope. According to one psychologist, hope reduces feelings of helplessness, boosts happiness, reduces stress, and improves our quality of life. Students with high levels of hope are more likely to succeed at school, more likely to have high-quality friendships, and less likely to suffer anxiety and depression. Hope improves your immune system, reduces stress, reduces joint pain. Hope is the voice inside that says, “Yes, I can.”  It’s good to have hope. We all need more hope.  So ... what is hope?  Technically, hope is an optim...
Read more

The Eyes Have It :: Luke 10:23-24

By
What do you see? What do you hear? These are the questions of the day on this Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity. What do you see? And what do you hear?  Before we get ahead of ourselves by jumping to conclusions and declaring you can see and hear just fine ... you need to know ... not everybody sees what you see or hears what you hear. Every week your pastor gives three sermons: the one I write, the one I preach, and the one you hear. And each of you might be hearing a different sermon than the person next to you. More than that, some of you may be seeing one thing and others may be seeing something completely different. And some of us will just fall asleep not seeing or hearing anything at all.  As Jesus tells the disciples ... For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to witness what y’all see and they didn’t witness it, and to hear what y’all hear and they didn’t hear it (v. 23-24). That is to say they longed to see Jesus, living, dying, rising, ascending. They long...
Read more