Misplaced confidence

Misplaced confidence #1

The people of Israel at the time of Jeremiah believed they were invincible. After all, God had chosen them, made promises to them, and brought them into the promised land. They could live as they pleased and worship who they wanted because they had something that made them untouchable. They had the temple of the Lord.

But God had a message for them in Jeremiah chapter 7:

⁴ Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!”

⁹ “‘Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, ¹⁰ and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”—safe to do all these detestable things?

Misplaced confidence #2

The people of Australia in 2012 believe we have a right to dominate world sport. After all, we’re the sporting nation, we hold the world records, the championships. We’re the best at AFL, swimming, cycling, tennis, rugby, shooting, hurdling, triathlon, netball, basketball, sailing, cricket… aren’t we? Even when we lose, we’re still the best! It’s our right. Of course we’re better than South African, New Zealand, England…

But maybe there’s a message for us:

Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “We have Michael Clarke, Michael Clarke, Michael Clarke!”

Will you perform badly, fail to score tries, get out for ducks, take performance enhancing drugs, throw away privileged contracts, act like prima donnas and then blame it on a bad day, the coaches, the umpires, the poor training facilities? What gives?

Misplaced confidence #3

The religious person, the church goer, the ‘Christian’ can become confident in their position. After all, we believe in God, we go to church every week, month, at least every Christmas and Easter. We don’t think much about God at home, or at work, or when we’re out with their mates. We’ve been baptised, we have communion, we’re a member of the church. We’re decent people really and never really do anyone any harm.

Well, let me paraphrase Jeremiah’s words for a modern audience:

Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “I call myself a Christian, I go to church, I do good things!”

“‘Will you worship your careers, your wealth, your relationships, your reputations, your entertainment, your retirement plans. Will you give more attention to ‘stuff’ than you do to God? Will you trust in your basic goodness, and forget about Jesus? Will you live as you please during the week, then turn up to church, and assume God will be pleased with you?”

Well placed confidence

One place only. The promises of God fulfilled in Jesus Christ!

Check out Hebrews 10, quoting the words of Jeremiah:

¹⁵ The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:

¹⁶ “This is the covenant I will make with them
after that time, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds.”

¹⁷ Then he adds:

“Their sins and lawless acts
I will remember no more.”

¹⁸ And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.

¹⁹ Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, ²¹ and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²² let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.