Monday May 4, 2015

Coming up this Sonday: Jeremiah 7-10: False Confidence

Read Jeremiah 7:1-15

I went door knocking years ago and got to know the people in the area. I spoke often to a fit young man who declared quite brazenly that he put his confidence in science and didn’t need this Jesus fellow. Science had enabled him to build his body to ripped proportions. Science would enable him to live to a very old age, possibly even forever. It’s very interesting what people put their confidence in – money, their health, science, medicine, other people, their employment and so on.

In Churches today, in what or in whom do people put their confidence? Jeremiah was called to preach to a people who had put their confidence in religion, the practice of religious rituals that they thought would guarantee God’s blessings.

As Jeremiah stood at the gate to the Temple of the Lord he called people to genuine repentance which meant a genuine reform in their ways. At present the people were sinning and indulging their passions. They were committing theft, murder, adultery perjury and worshipping false gods. In the same breath they would stand in the temple and declare their confidence.

We read in Jeremiah 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!”

Verses 9-10 shows the gravity of the situation.

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?

I can’t help but wonder if our churches today are any different. I wonder if we have people who sin and steal and commit adultery and worship their idols at home and then sit confidently in God’s house thinking that they are safe and free. I see many people in many churches coming to church only on Communion Sonday thinking that they’ve done their bit for another 3-4 months and are ok to get on with their life. I see so many people thinking that they are ok with God because they were baptised into a certain religion. Others think that they are fine because they are good people and haven’t done anything wrong. Still others trust that they are fine because their parents go regularly to church. Still others think they are ok because they’ve done so many good and charitable things in the past.

Are we so stupid to think that God hasn’t seen our thin veneer of hypocrisy? Are we so dumb that we have failed to realise that God sees and knows all, even our behind the scenes actions? Do we really think that we’ve gotten away with those sinful acts that were committed behind closed doors? In verse 11 of chapter 7 God declares that He has been watching. He has seen and continues to see all that we do.

People put their confidence in many things. What are you placing your confidence in? Where is your certainty? If it is in anything but the work of Christ at Calvary, then it’s a false confidence.

Prayer Points:

Using today’s Bible passage and reading notes spend time in adoration, confession, thanks and supplication.

Adoration:

Confession:

Thanks:

Supplication:

· Ask the Lord to show you and each person in your cell and church what they are really putting their confidence in and pray that those who have a false confidence would turn to Jesus and put their confidence in Him.

· Pray that both you and your church would see more and more people moving away from religion to relationship with Christ Jesus.

 Discussion Questions For Families and Groups

1. Discuss ways that we can put false confidence in religion.

2. Why is religion so attractive for us to put our confidence in?

3. Jemma comes to you after a sermon at church about faith in Christ and says that she thinks she’ll be fine at the judgement day because she’s been born and bred in the church. What’s a pastoral way to respond to this?