05.09.10 - Growing Confidence In God

Last week we look at a passage in Jeremiah 17. I’d like to read it again. READ Jer 17:5-8

Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him.

The first couple of verses say, Cursed are those who trust in mortals, who depend on flesh for their strength. We either trust God or we trust something else – our skills, our bank balance, the fact that the government will come to our aid if we get into trouble, or whatever. There is a choice: God or something else. I don’t want to focus on the curses but on the blessings. How can we grow our trust in God?

In the 2010 Reader’s Digest survey of the most trusted professions in New Zealand, religious ministers ranked 25th just after roof insulation installers and one place higher than weather forecasters!

Why would that be? Why aren’t ministers higher? Well, we could list things like the sex scandals in the Catholic Church (and other churches. The Catholics don’t have it all on their own), American televangelists who have failed morally either with money or sex, a high profile pastor/politician in this country imprisoned for child abuse, Brian Tamaki and the suspicions (warranted or not) of control and of fleecing his congregation so that he can live in luxury. And we could go on.

Trust is based on previous experience – either our own experience (including what the person has said to us) or what we have heard of other people’s experiences. Some people will have had their own bad experience at the hands of a pastor. But, most people’s lack of trust is based on what they have heard – other people’s experiences.

But two questions need to be asked about those experiences or reports of experiences. Firstly, How reliable is the information? Or, how reliable is the interpretation?

I might be influenced by misunderstanding, misinformation, even deliberate slander. I might see a person doing something, completely misinterpret it and conclude that I can’t trust that person.

I might have a bad experience with a fireman and stop trusting firemen– whereas they came out on top of the Reader’s Digest survey. I might be told that you can’t rust people whose eyes are too close together, and I might believe it. Many women have been shamefully treated by men and now don’t trust any man.

Or someone might tell me a story. How reliable is that story? How reliable is the person who told me? Might he have been deliberately trying to damage the reputation of another person? Whatever the motivation, personality attacks are designed to damage a person’s credibility.

The second question is: How complete is the information?

We tend not to trust things we don’t understand. We might not trust people who are different from us, including different races – or different religions.

Do you trust Muslims? Why or why not? Do you have personal experience? Are you going by other people’s experiences – such as New Yorkers’ on Sept 11, 2001? How accurate is your knowledge? Might some of what you have heard be distorted – maybe intentionally distorter? How complete is your knowledge? How much do you actually know about Muslims?

So, coming back to Jeremiah, do you trust God? Why or why not? Do you have personal experience? Do you know what God says about Himself? Are you going by other people’s experiences? How accurate is your knowledge? Might some of what you have heard be distorted – maybe intentionally distorted? How much do you actually know about God?

Blessed are those who trust in the lord, who have confidence in Him. How can we grow our confidence in Him? How can we be people of faith? Let’s work our way backwards through these things.

1. Find out. Seek Him.
God is a pretty big topic. A little bit of information isn’t going to give you a good understanding and not really going to convince you that you can have confidence in God. Those who know God well are the ones who trust Him most. Knowing God should be a life quest.

Jeremiah knew something about this. He wrote:
Jer 29:12-14 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity.

Jeremiah foretold the time when the Jews suffering in exile in Babylon, would rediscover God. God said that He had plans for them, plans to prosper them and not to harm them, plans to give them a hope and a future. God said He would come to them to fulfil His promises. When He did, the Jews would call on God and pray and seek Him with all their hearts. And God would be found by them.

God is gracious. Even after their sin and exile, He still had good plans and He gave them yet another opportunity. God is good but the people still had to want God. They still had to seek with all their hearts.

A couple a weeks ago I mentioned some disturbing figures about how little New Zealand Christians read their Bibles. It is questionable how much Christians are seeking God with all their heart.

2. Get reliable information
There’s an awful lot of rubbish talked about God. Be discerning. How reliable is the stuff you read? How reliable are the people who are influencing you?

I am not going to say any more about that, except the obvious. There are some sources that are far more reliable than others. Top of the list is the Bible. It is good to read books and listen to podcasts but, actually, seek God with all your heart first and foremost in the Bible. We need to be people who know the scriptures well and therefore know God well.

Be like the Bereans in
Acts 17:11 Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.

3. Be inspired by other people’s experiences
The Bible is a record of God’s dealings with other people. When we hear about God creating the whole universe just by speaking, or rescuing His people by dividing the Red Sea does that increase our faith? When we hear about God giving barren Hannah a son or protecting Daniel all night in the lions’ den does that give us confidence in Him? When we read that God answered Elijah’s prayer sending down fire to consume his sacrifice or about Jesus healing a synagogue ruler’s daughter, are we more able to believe that God is powerful and loving? When we read about Jesus hanging condemned and bloodied on a cross, doe that reinforce our knowledge that God loves? And when we read about the empty tomb or about the spread of the early church, are we excited about God?

God has given us a book of other people’s experiences of Him, so that we might be inspired.

Romans 10:17 ... faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.

There are other ways, of course, of hearing about other people’s experiences – books, web sites, recordings. There are a million inspiring resources that can really grow our faith. Let’s be inspired. Let’s seek God wherever we can find Him.

Of course, when we get outside the Bible we again have to ask the question about the reliability of our information. The Bible is 100% reliable. Nothing else is. We do need to be discerning but God has given us many opportunities to be inspired. People’s testimonies build faith.

That is also why fellowship is so important. We benefit greatly by mixing with other Christians. God has deliberately put us into a family with others because He knows that their stories and their example can build, brick-upon-brick, our own faith.

Heb 10:23-25 23Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess. We have a confidence in God’s promises for the future. We believe God will keep His promises. We believe that on the basis of what we know of God’s character: He who promised is faithful.

But Hebrews recognises that our confidence might wane and so the writer says, “Let us hold unswervingly to it. Let us grow in our confidence.” How? What does he recommend? That we spur one another on. That we don’t give up meeting together.

4. Experience God yourself
Other people’s experiences and other people’s encouragement are tremendously valuable. But it is never a substitute for our own experience. In fact, if all we hear about are other people’s experiences of God and we don’t have those same experiences, it can be very disappointing. It can make us doubt if it is all real. Why doesn’t God do these things for me? We need our own experiences.

How can we experience God?

Pray. It is faith-building when we pray and God answers that prayer. Of course it is a risk. If God doesn’t answer, we will be disappointed. If we would rather not be disappointed we won’t pray but, by doing that, we also rob ourselves of the opportunities to see the answers. If we don’t pray, we demonstrate that we don’t trust God. The way to correct that is to take the risk and experience God’s faithfulness.

How else can we experience God? Read the Bible. Have you had the experience of hearing God speak as you read – knowing that God is saying something specifically to you. That might not be your experience every time. God might sometimes test your faith by not speaking. Will you still trust Him if He doesn’t speak? But if we don’t read our Bible, we won’t have that experience of hearing Him speak.

How else can we experience God? Taking risks. Being obedient. Doing what we believe God is telling us to do. Yes, it is a risk but if there is nothing ventured there will be nothing gained. Faith comes from taking those risks and finding that God is faithful.

Often that obedience might be responding to prompts to serve others or to minister to others. If God is asking us to speak to someone or help someone, we might be scared. We might fear that it will be rejected or that God won’t use that. But taking the risk puts us in a position to receive what we will never receive if we don’t take the risk. It is those who give who receive.

Times of trial can be the most profound growth times. It can be when we don’t experience God; when it seems that God is absent, that we find that if we hold onto Him He has not let go of us.

1 Peter 1:6-7 6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Jeremiah says, “Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him.” It is true. Having confidence in God is a great blessing and leads to great blessing. Do we have confidence in God? Can I suggest you do your homework? Go looking. Go and find out. Make it a life quest.

You will hear all sorts of things. Test their reliability.

Find out how others have experienced God. Read the Bible. Mix with other Christians. Read books.

But seek you own experience of God. Listen to Him. Talk to Him. Obey Him. And see if He doesn’t prove Himself faithful.

Col 2:6-7 6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

If we have received Christ Jesus as Lord that is great but Paul says, “In the same way, continue to live your lives in Him.” Live by faith. Live trusting God, rooted and built up in Him. Strengthen your faith. Whatever your faith level today, seek to increase it tomorrow.

The first step is receiving Christ Jesus as Lord. Maybe you have never done that. The question is whether we have put our faith in Jesus. If you are not sure you can do that, do your homework; talk to a Christian you know; read the Bible. Our eternal salvation depends on our faith in Jesus. Either we trust God or we don’t.

Maybe God has led you to the point of knowing you should put your trust in Him. If so, don’t delay. Do that today. Tell Him you know He loves you and you are willing to trust Him. If you would like someone to pray with you as you make that step, there will be people at the front of the church, on the right hand side, at the end of the service.