Trust - May 12th, 2013 Sermon

By Pastor Greg

                I was sitting in my office one day last week, and as I looked out across the parking lot, I noticed a couple of young boys playing by the furnace room at our neighboring church across the road.  They must have been outside for recess (there is a Christian school that meets in that church).  As I watched them play I began thinking that this was a part of the church parking lot where the playground monitors could not see them.  And at any moment a stranger could drive up and kidnap these three young boys.  Or they could dart out onto the road into traffic.  Truly this was not a safe place to be playing.  The bottom line is that I simply did not trust that these boys would be safe on their own. 

          There was a time in our lives when we did trust, especially when we were young; when we were children.  And it was our mother who taught us to trust.  She provided everything for us.  We trusted our mothers to feed us, to cloth us, to hold us, to comfort us, and to love us.  She was someone who would not abandon us nor turn us away.  She was there to guard and guide us.  As a child we honored our mother as we trusted her.  And every time we opened up our heart in unrestrained trust, we confessed to the rest of the world that our mother was truly a woman of noble character.  But then we grew up.  And sadly some of us have lost that ability to trust.  Oh, we may still trust our mothers, but that’s about it.  We don’t trust strangers.  We don’t trust politicians.  We don’t trust salesmen.  And it seems the list of people we no longer trust grows longer and longer, making us more miserable day by day.

          As I watched those boys play I began to realize just how much I miss having their kind of trust.  I want to have that same level of trust that I used to have when I was young; like back when I had unwavering trust in my mother.  When a gentle kiss and those loving arms could make all the troubles of the world go away.  But I have grown up; we have grown up.  And in the process we have forgotten what it means to trust.  We've become self-sufficient, self-reliant, and independent.  We no longer trust anyone.  And the problem is that this lack of trust has affected our relationship with God.

          Luke chapters 18 and 19 speak about trust, and how it affects our relationship with God.  Jesus calls us to pray trusting that God will hear our prayer no matter who were are.  Jesus says we should not trust in ourselves for righteousness, but trust in the mercy of God.  He tells a rich young ruler to stop trusting in his money and wealth for security in life.  We read about a blind man named Bartimaeus who trusted Jesus and had his sight restored.  We read about a small man named Zacchaeus who was asked to trust Jesus. But most notably, there is the incident with the children in Luke 18:15-17, where He calls every believer to regain that trust which they had when they were young.

          And they were bringing even their babies to Him so that He would touch them, but when the disciples saw it, they began rebuking them. But Jesus called for them, saying, “Permit the children to come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.”   Jesus is calling us to completely trust Him; to place all of our life into His hands, believing that He will supply all our needs, watch over us, protect us, comfort us, and love us (things we used to do with our mothers).  And He says that if we don’t or if we refuse we cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  That’s because if we don’t trust Jesus with all of our heart, then we are trusting in ourselves.

          Right after this lesson about child-like trust with the children, a wealthy young ruler asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life.  Jesus says to trust in Him, not in his wealth.  Yet the man would not let go.  He trusted in what he could hold in his hand instead of letting go of these "things" and trusting Jesus.  Zacchaeus, on the other hand, let go of what he was holding on to (wealth), took hold of Jesus with both hands, and found the joy that he had been looking for.  He learned to trust all over again; to trust in Jesus with all of his heart, mind, and soul.

          I am convinced that God is looking for opportunities to teach us to trust in Him as we did with our mothers when we were children.  I’m not exactly sure why we have lost the ability to trust, but I do know that God asks us to simply trust Him.  Yet that trust is so hard for some to give.  Some trust only in part; trying to hold on to the world in one hand and hold on to God with the other.  Some claim to trust; saying that the Lord is in control, yet they have no peace in their life.  They continue to worry and fret about things they cannot control.  Some claim to trust in the Lord, but believe with all their heart that the Lord helps those who help themselves.  But the truth is this; to trust Jesus is to allow Him to be the only Master in your life. No one can serve two masters.  To trust Jesus is to let God be in control.  To trust Jesus is to realize that we are indeed helpless.

          Trust in the Lord is so very important for us.  And this trust is something we must work to regain.  We had it once, and with daily submission, I believe we can have it once again.  I believe God places us in situations where He simply asks us to trust Him.  Through these times of testing and proving, I believe we can learn to trust the Lord to provide what we need, even though the economist in us says we can’t.  We can learn to trust that all things will work together for the good of those who love God.  We can learn to trust that He will take care of all things in His time.  And we can learn to trust in the Lord for our salvation, not our good deeds or our good name.

We must take the words of Jesus very seriously.  If we refuse to place all of our trust in Jesus, we will not enter the Kingdom of God at all.  Like an infant who cannot walk or cannot speak or cannot even feed itself, we stand before the Lord.  We need to learn to trust Him.  Just as we trusted our mothers when we were young, we must relearn this ability when it comes to trusting God.